#and not to mention how ai and the people working it are like actively destroying every aspect of art in the world...

[citrlet]

[n7valkyrien]

Why synthesis is an absolute mess — its relation with the trilogy's theme, lore, moral and scientific implications

to ensure fairness, it’s assumed that all endings are the high EMS variation and work exactly as described. no headcanon (e.g. indoctrination theory/"starchild is lying") is taken into consideration. it also assumes everyone’s individuality is preserved, akin to genetic variation within a species.

1. it completely disregards the theme of the trilogy

as javik says, the current cycle stood a chance against the reapers because of each species' uniqueness. synthesis completely contradicts this premise by erasing these differences.

a reoccurring theme of the game is that diversity and difference can cause conflict, but despite all that, all species seek to understand each other, and reconcile the differences to collaborate. it’s meaningless if you need to rely on external forces that eliminate the differences to achieve understanding and unity. it's like proposing to solve racism irl by turning everyone into the same race. instead of eliminating the differences, the correct approach is to respect them.

the trilogy proves that "synthetic vs organic" isn't the real problem. the reapers are. why try to fix an imaginary problem* presented to you by the enemies, while letting the real threat live and roam free, unpunished for their crimes? (control = life sentence; destroy = death sentence; refusal = delayed death sentence)

even if the geth is an exception, the citadel council prohibits AI research. people secretly creating an AI is one thing, mass-producing sentient AI till they are capable of rebellion is highly unlikely.

jack mentioned in legion’s loyalty mission that being rewritten is a fate worse than death (that's why i prefer destroying the heretics even in a paragon playthrough). synthesis rewrites the DNA of every being in the galaxy. the entire trilogy is about choice. while all endings are chosen by only shepard, forcibly changing people's own bodies without giving them a choice seems cruel, especially it's sharing the DNA with the genocide machines still slaughtering them a moment ago.

*note: the catalyst explained that "synthetics would destroy all organics". yet the geth only attacked the quarians after being attacked. they let 1% of the quarians go during the morning war, then retreated beyond the perseus veil. the true geth never actively attacked any organic ever since. legion also mentioned the true geth have no intention to harm the organics. still pretty much an annihilation for the quarians but they technically did not attempt to destroy all organics.

2. it contradicts the established lore

synthesis merges the DNA of all organics and synthetics. but it's highly likely that volus do not have DNA as their genetic material since they’re ammonia-based, and ammonia degrades DNA.

when the reapers created brutes, they had to use implants to avoid rejection between the turian tissue and krogan tissue. DNA have different "handedness" too, which likely differs in dextro- and levo-species. how can the reapers suddenly make levo- and dextro- DNA (2.5nm in diameter) compatible this time?

3. it is framed as the "morally superior" choice, yet it's argubly the worst. (yes, even worse than refusal.)

the ME1 codex "citadel space" stated that less than 1% of the star have been explored.

synthesis: violation of body autonomy of the entire galaxy (including the unexplored 99%). all organics and synthetics, sentient or not, spacefaring or not, are 100% forcibly altered without consent.

control: no one is changed or killed. if you consider shepard AI's "dictatorship", it will still only affect the citadel council space and its species. the council prohibits activating a dormant mass relay linking to an unknown location. even with the reapers controlled, and therefore the knowledge of the entire relay network acquired, the shepard AI, paragon or renegade, has no reason to initiate first contact with any pre-spaceflight civilisations (to avoid hostility and therefore wiping them out). 99% of the galaxy is being left alone.

destroy: only synthetics with reaper codes are affected. the 99% of the galaxy can't possibly have access to the reaper code. in the known 1%, only one species is lost out of 13 major species (asari, salarian, turian, human, quarian, drell, krogan, geth, volus, elcor, hanar, batarian, vorcha) (extra minor ones: raloi, yahg, keepers, leviathan, rachni)

refusal: the reapers only harvest space-faring species advanced enough (to reach the citadel?). so 99% of the galaxy is spared. the casualties of next cycle's reaper war is likely minimal — raloi arrived at the citadel in ME2, but they basically nuked themselves back to stone age in ME3 hoping the reapers would spare them. with the knowledge of the reapers, the raloi have plenty of time to prepare. (the highly intelligent yahgs also nearly finished their first spaceship in ME3, making them likely the apex race in the next cycle.)

4. the biological implications of changing the DNA of all organics and synthetics are detrimental enough that they outweigh the benefits (if there’s any to start with).

it merges all organic and synthetic life. guess what does organic life mean. bacteria, moulds, trees, cucumbers...are all organic lifes. if the reaper creatures were shown to gain sentience post-synthesis, when you bite into that tomato is it gonna cry out of pain? when you cut down that tree for your wooden desk does it scream as it dies? a lot of modern meds are synthesised from fungi/bacteria etc., e.g. insulin from genetically engineered e. coli., are they gonna protest being used this way?

even if i give them benefits of the doubt and assume they don't gain sentience, only synthetic part as directly stated by the catalyst, now our food have synthetic parts too?

gene editing is very complex, a single gene can have multiple functions. what if it breaks some basic biological functions?

all biological/medical sciences knowledge becomes obsolete. all the progress has been reverted back to 0. new research has to be made to accommodate this massive change to the genome (good news: existing genetic diseases would probably cease to exist. bad news: new ones would replace them.)

virus, while technically is not an organic “life”, some of them use DNA. if the destroy crucible beam cannot differentiate between reapers and synthetics with reaper code, the synthesis crucible beam should indiscriminately change viral DNA too. nothing important but just thought this would be interesting to think about.

5. unclear long-term implications

are the new lifes created after synthesis also affected? like if two “synthesised” human make a baby, the child could inherit the synthesised DNA. but the new synthetics (like VI)? lab-grown organics? so instead of “organic vs synthetic” we will get “synthesised vs non-synthesised”?

EDI mentioned it might allow them to transcend mortality. as implied by the krogan babies in the post-ending slide, they could still reproduce as normal. no way the galaxy can accommodate a population that would only expand. even if they don’t have to eat or drink, they’d still need housing, fuels, and energy. renewable energy sources don’t seem to be widely used, and FTL travel would need tremendous energy. yet resources are finite.

subsequent natural selection due to geographical isolation will allow evolution to occur (remember they live on different planets. even earth alone has such massive species diversity). the “merge” won't last forever. although evolution would take a very long time, and technology/frequent travelling may negate the needs to adapt to the environment.

6. general logic flaws

synthetics don't even have DNA to start with.

it is a non-solution to conflicts. what makes you think having the same DNA prevents you from killing each other? humans kill each other very often if you ask me.

understanding ≠ peace. you can understand why your rival want that planet, but you can still be unwilling to sacrifice your interest like the ownership of the eezo on that planet. think of it like irl territorial disputes, shared understanding just makes it clear that both sides have good reasons to claim the territory, but it doesn't remove the incentives to pursue their own interests. in that sense, synthesis does nothing to stop wars over lands, resources, or ideologies.

to add onto the previous point, the catalyst actually meant that only the synthetics will gain understanding, not organics. to quote its exact wording: "organics will be perfected by integrating fully with synthetic technology. synthetics in turn will finally have understanding of organics."

in the 99% of the unexplored galaxy, there are bound to be a lot of primitive civilisations. synthesis turns them into cyborgs, and flood thems with all the new information they weren’t able to comprehend before. imagine 10 seconds ago you were just a caveman, and the next? your body got modified with some new weird shiny parts, the place that you once thought was the whole world is just as small as a dust to the entire galaxy, and there are countless weird looking aliens out there. remember manuel on eden prime in ME1? a theory is that all the information from the prothean beacon broke his mind. it'd be similar to what i was describing in some sense.

the krogans were uplifted by the salarians, got advanced tech way too fast, so their life became too easy. so they started fighting each other, destroying their own planet, then resorted to expanding aggressively. it led to the krogan rebellions, then the genophage. now synthesis is essentially "uplifting" the undiscovered less-advanced species instantaneously, just like the krogan's history repeated. what happens if they got into a dispute with the species in citadel council space? who takes responsibility and how can we ensure to end the war as humane as possible?

7. the synthesis ending cinematic shows the reaper creatures gaining sentience, as opposed to a full retreat in control. it is bound to cause issues and dilemmas.

reaper creatures are still roaming around. tell me how that isn’t traumatising/PTSD-inducing for people who got attacked or whom loved ones were killed by those abominations.

do they gain back their pre-conversion memories? if yes, the horror would be beyond comprehension. if no, it's still pretty degrading to know they are created to be cannon fodders.

for reaper creatures like brute/cannibal/praetorian/scion which are fusions of bodies. in an election, how many votes could a cannibal cast? for a brute who has tons of implants to prevent rejection, do the rejection make them suffer?

the ending explicitly showed a scene of DNA. even if “DNA” is merely an analogy used by the catalyst, it only invalidates a few arguments mentioned above. the rest still stands.

ultimately, i think control vs destroy vs refusal is pretty much just an advanced trolley problem and therefore are all valid depending on how you role play your shepard. synthesis, however, completely disregards the themes of the trilogy, not to mention all its scientific implications and sheer scale of change. there's no way they can convince me that they can make synthesis work in the next game unless they retcon it heavily such that:

1. it doesn’t actually change the DNA. or let them transcend mortality.

2. no reaper creatures gain sentience.

3. only space-faring sentient species are affected (but in doing so they’ll have to also retcon destroy so that it can differentiate between reapers and synthetics with reaper code, bc how can the beam only target space-faring species when non space-faring ones are also composed of organic materials.)

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

Though The Path May Be Long, I Shall Find You; Leona Kingscholar

A path lies ahead, some are more treacherous than others. At the end of the winding, coloured footsteps is where they can rest; a bird directing them forward, made out of precious stone.

Main Character; Leona Kingscholar

Supporting Characters; Kifaji, Jack Howl

Content; Soulmate AU (I use the term soul match), gender-neutral reader, hurt/comfort, some inner turmoil, bird shenanigans, can be read as platonic, familial, or platonic and that was done on purpose

Content Warning; injury (Leona), I do mention scars/marks but I don't mention where/what they're from

Word Count; 5.5 K

Author's Note; The bird messengers are inspired by mutual relationships that people and some animals have with birds. As with all of my writing, do NOT put my -or other creators' for that matter- works into AI. I did struggle a bit with writing this, so it may read a bit differently, but hey, I wrote it and that's what matters.

Ruggie's Story | Jack's Story

Prologue

Much like the Sea Witch gifted merfolk with soul matches, the King of Beasts did much the same with beastmen. Instead of a song playing in their head or their soul being tugged at by their match, beastmen would receive a messenger made of stone. Typically, this stone messenger would come in the form of a bird, as they can travel far greater distances than a terrestrial creature. And the stone represented what their match would help them overcome in this lifetime. It represented a confidant, an advisor, a friend; the person that they needed most.

And once they were ready to find their match, glowing footsteps would lead them along the path.

These messengers are delivered during the night of their fifth birthday by the southern winds and remain dormant until the time is right for them to start searching their soul match, typically around their thirteenth birthday. If a child does not receive their messenger, it is said to be a marker of bad luck, a bad omen. Not only just for the beastman in question, but for their family and the community at large. This marker is of even greater weight should a member of the royal family not receive a messenger. The last time that happened, a great drought hit the land, causing mass famine and illness. Since then, any member of the royal family who does not receive a messenger is forced to abdicate the throne, even if they are the firstborn. For the common folk though, it holds less weight, even if it is still considered a bad omen.

What if someone does receive a messenger but they don’t activate? What does that mean?

It could mean several different things. It could mean that their soul match has passed before they had the chance to find them. It could mean that their match wasn’t here yet, still to come into this world. These lifeless messengers often bring a sense of loneliness or bitterness, and many a beastman try their best to discard these cruel reminders. No matter how hard they try though, be it magic, force, or distance, the little stone messenger will always come back. Always there as a reminder of what could have been. A reminder that only they can see. The little stone bird will sit by them, vacant of life, but watching them still.

But only they could see their messenger, the only other person who could see it being their match. They would only become apparent to each other once their person decided that they wanted to find their match, that they were ready. Upon finding each other, the two birds will fly around the two, performing an aerial dance. Once this dance is completed, their match’s bird will land on their shoulder, and their bird will land on their match’s in return.

And once these messengers activate they will stop at nothing to guide their person to their match, and cannot be destroyed. It could take hours, days, weeks, months, years, or even several lifetimes, but the bird is determined to find their match, even if the person wanted nothing to do with them. The bird won’t stop, and even though the path may be long, they will always find their match. No matter what.

…

…

Main Story

…

...

Leona had somehow managed to escape his various caregivers and the supervision of Kifaji… again. But who could blame him? The palace wasn’t the best place for a rambunctious four-year-old. He wanted to play. To explore. To not sit through Kifaji’s boring lectures and lessons. He wanted to just be a kid. And Faleena was always busy, not always able to play hunting games with him and leaving him without a playing partner. So it becomes a habit, to escape the confines of the palace, to trade the grand halls for the grasslands.

The little lion prince continued to walk through the tall grass, running his hands through the swaying blades. The sun was starting to kiss the earth as the sky slowly melted into night, and he could hear the various calls of animals from the brush. But he didn’t pay them much mind, since he was told that they would never harm him, as he was part of the royal family. 

Something hopped out of the grass, catching the young lion-beastman’s attention; a butterfly. His eyes followed the slow wing beats and he decided to chase after it. The butterfly didn’t seem to notice or care, staying just out of reach and continuing on its lazy flight path.

“Come here,” Leona called after it, trying to jump and catch it, but the insect avoided his grasp. “Don’t fly away! Can we be friends?”

The butterfly eventually landed on a tree, high up on a branch. Now, why was Leona so determined to catch it? Well, he wanted to get a closer look at it, maybe have it land on his nose before letting it go back into the bush. It was a challenge, one that he wasn’t backing out of so easily.

Leona looked up into the tree and his ears twitched. “Fine then! If you’re not going to come down, I’m coming up!” He started making his way up the tree. Oh, if Kifaji could see him now, he would have grown a white hair on the spot seeing the young prince so high up. But the thought of his advisor’s fretting just made him climb up higher even faster. There! The butterfly was almost within his reach, just a little bit farther-

The butterfly took off, flying off into the sunset, just as he was about to finally catch it too. Leona sighed to himself. At least he had a nice view of the amber sun dipping behind the horizon, turning the sky into warm oranges, pinks, reds, deep blues and violets. Rustling from the canopy caught his attention, and he looked up, curious as to what was making the sound. Sitting on the branch above him was a red-billed hornbill, cleaning its plumage.

“Hi,” he waved at the bird, swinging his legs back and forth.

The bird stopped preening, its full attention focused on Leona. Further up in the tree, he could hear the faint chirping of baby chicks. 

Leona stood up on the branch, getting closer to the bird. “Can I see your family? Do you have baby chicks? I wanna see!” He asked excitedly, getting far too close to the bird’s personal space and nest.

The hornbill ruffled its feathers and took flight, but it didn’t go very far. Instead, it turned back and swopped by Leona’s head, trying to tell the child to back away. Instead of backing off though, Leona caught the bird mid-flight. The bird, fearing for its own and its family’s well-being, scratched at his face, leaving behind a large scratch mark going over his left eye. 

He let go of the bird, hissing in pain, teardrops starting to form. “Kifajiiiiiiii,” he yelled, tumbling down the tree and running back to the palace, tail in between his legs. “KIFAJIIIIII!” He didn’t want this to happen. He just wanted to play. To have fun. To be a kid.

…

…

Leona went to bed on the night before his fifth birthday, lightly tracing the still-healing scar on his face. It was still sore, and it stung, both physically and emotionally. Why does nobody like me? He snapped out of his thoughts though, shaking his head. 

“You have no one but to blame but yourself, your majesty,” Kifaji said, standing in the doorway to his room. He strode in, and although his words may have sounded harsh, there was a softness in his expression. Sighing, he placed a cool, damp, cloth on the prince’s face. “What were you thinking? You should know better than to run off-” He stopped, noticing the conflicted look on the young boy’s face. Nagging can wait, right now Leona needed comfort, not a lecturer. “…But what’s most important is that you are alright.”

Leona sniffled, “What about my face though? It hurts… I just wanted to play… And it’s going to leave a scar-”

Kifaji smiled softly, “It will heal in time, as all things do. Besides, the King of Beasts had a mark just like it. It may hurt now, and perhaps it will leave a scar, but it proves that you overcame hardships. That you’ve learned lessons.” He tucked in the prince, adjusting the blankets around him. “As for the bird, I believe they were just protecting their family. Your mother would do much the same for you and your brother, as would your father. Now, off to bed with you, as you’ll be receiving your messenger tomorrow.”

“What do you think they’ll be,” Leona asked, his visible eye filled with curiosity. “Do you think it’ll be a bearded vulture? Like Faleena’s?”

Kifaji hummed, “I can’t say, as only you will know that come morning. Now, off to sleep with you. After all, tomorrow is a big day.” The blue-haired man dusted himself off, double-checked the cloth to make sure it was still damp and then left for the night. Leaving the young prince alone.

Leona picked at the dressing on his eye and looked out his window. Outside the stars were shining bright, and the songs of night birds and insects filled the air with their rhythmic melody. A warm breeze played with the curtains, casting dancing shadows onto the walls.

“Please,” Leona whispered to the stars, “please, please, please bring me a friend… I just want a friend.” He pleaded to the night sky. The warm breeze now playing with his hair, lulling him gently off to the land of dreams. 

His dream was calm, a starlit sky ahead of him and shifting, glowing sand beneath his feet. All I want is a friend. Can I please have a friend? But he heard nothing, just the gentle hissing of the shifting glowing sand beneath his feet as he walked toward the horizon. A large lion stood in the distance, glowing green eyes looking towards him, beckoning him forward. But when he tried to walk towards them, the sand shifted, having turned into tar. And when he looked back up, the lion was gone. Leaving him with nothing but glowing sand and black tar.

When he woke up in the morning, a small hornbill made out of green calcite sat on his bed stand, silent and watching. And it would have been in perfect condition save for the large scar that cut across the left side of its face, mirroring Leona’s to the T. He touched his scar, remembering that fateful night only three weeks ago. “Why,” he whispered. Why did it have to be a hornbill? Why would the King of Beasts gift him a messenger that had hurt him? Why would he gift a messenger that left behind a scar? And why did it have a scar of its own?

…

…

…

It’s been fifteen years since Leona received his messenger, and it has yet to come to life. Yet to fly around. Yet to show him any sign that he had a match out there, somewhere. He took it as a sign that they had either died before they had ever met or, a more bitter thought, that they had yet to enter the world. He didn’t want to be some glorified babysitter.

He has tried to get rid of the damned bird. Thrown it as far as he could when he was younger. Used banishment spells on it as he learned about magic. And when his unique magic had manifested itself, he even used King’s Roar on it. But no matter what he tried, or how hard, the bird always reappeared, even when he turned it into sand. Still as silent and lifeless as it always has been since the first day it had shown up in his life. Still, a bitter reminder that he would rather forget about and pretend never happened.

Even in the ceremonial room, it followed him, taking a liking to his shoulder despite him flinging it off at any chance he could, before just stuffing the annoying thing in his pocket. People would give him a weird look, as they couldn’t see what was pestering the lion beastman, but they ignored him for the most part. Well, most people that is.

“Something bothering you,” Vil murmured under his breath, just loud enough so that only he could hear. “You seem more… irritated than usual.”

Of course, the Pomefiore House Warden would notice his behaviour. He wouldn’t even be surprised if that other third-year and creepy stalker, Rook, was keeping tabs on him. “And, what’s it to you?”

Vil raised a brow, “Just something I took notice of. Can’t be giving your new dorm members a bad impression on the first day.” He paused, as the ceremony was beginning, and welcomed the new Pomefiore students with a practiced smile.

Leona rolled his eyes but welcomed his new wards albeit not as prim, proper, and practiced. They deserved something real, and not dripping with formality. “Well, that ceremony was as boring as ever,” he yawned, having missed his usual nap that he would have at this time of day. “I’m going back to the dorm. If you’re in Savanaclaw House, follow me.”

That’s odd though, that blithering fool of a headmage was nowhere to be seen, and Leona could hear all of the hushed whisperings amongst the students. But he could hear the faint footsteps of two people making their way down the hall. And low and behold, the headmage entered the room in his usual tiring and flamboyant way. Huh, looks like one of the freshmen hasn’t been sorted. He didn’t really care though, even when that cat tried to set the room on fire, or the bickering with Vil. This was all so tiresome, honestly, why did he attend this again?

He didn’t pay much attention to the new Savanaclaw students, leading the way silently. And even though he couldn’t see the other beastmen’s messengers, he could hear the faint rustling of wind as they flew about behind them. His eye twitched, the weight of the stone hornbill weighing heavy in his pant pocket, still cold, still lifeless.

Upon reaching his room, he promptly flopped onto the bed, tossing the bird to the other side of the room with a satisfying crack. Leona closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, promptly falling asleep. Back to that damned dream where he was stuck in the shifting sands at night, the only source of light being the distant, twinkling stars and the faint gold glow beneath him. And the tar had grown, nearly drowning out the glowing gold.

The stone bird righted itself and came to rest by his head. The orange light from the setting sun warming it. As the sun was traded for the night, the stone bird blinked, finally and slowly coming to life after all these years of stillness.

…

Leona felt something pulling at his hair. Groaning, he grabbed the closest pillow and haphazardly swung it about, trying to get rid of the intruder. “Cheka,” he hissed, as the first person that popped into mind for this annoying behaviour was none other than his young nephew. But when he cracked an eye open, the cheerful five-year-old was nowhere to be seen. Something was still pulling at his hair though. 

Flipping over, he finally laid eyes on the intruder, and he stiffened. Sitting on the edge of the bed was his messenger, and it was alive. After a decade of stillness, the pale green crystal bird was finally alive and moving about. He rubbed at his eyes, and the bird was now walking towards him, doing its little call and looking way too happy for his liking. What the- What kind of sick joke is this?

“Oi,” he pushed the crystal bird away, as it had tugged at his hair again. “Cut it out.” Why was it finally awake now of all times? It’s been ten years since it should have awakened, back on his tenth birthday. And now, out of the blue, the now alive and annoying bird had finally decided that now was the time. “Why are you alive?”

The bird flipped onto its back and played with his school uniform ribbon. Why did he expect an actual answer? It was a stone bird. But Leona’s brow was furrowed. Why was the bird finally awake? His face soured even more. I swear if they’re a kid… He didn’t want to deal with another Cheka, especially not for his soul match. Tch, why did I even bother waking up? The bird continued to play with the ribbon, rolling about on the bed.

Leona rolled his eyes and ignored the bird, at least it was pre-occupying itself and not annoying him. Hornbills are playful birds after all, so it makes sense that his messenger would be too. Why again, did the King of Beasts send him a hornbill as his messenger again? “I’m not going to go out of my way and find them,” he huffed, grabbing his ribbon back from the bird. 

The hornbill stopped playing and snapped at his hand. “You need to find them,” they spoke in his mind. Ugh, he forgot that they can do that. That the messengers could speak to them in their mind when they deemed it as an important matter. “And they are not a child. They are around your age, from what I can sense. You need to find them.” All of the playfulness from before vanished, suddenly reminding him of Kifaji. Stern… Disappointed.

“What I need is for you to leave well enough alone.” He swatted at the bird, but it flew off and sat on the balcony where they could watch at a safe distance but still have an eye on him. “I don’t need or want you… or them.” They weren’t there then, why should I want them now?

The hornbill ruffled in irritation, “They couldn’t be there, not at the time at least. And you’re lying to yourself.” Their tone shifted, wavering, like they knew something. “You will need them sooner than you realize. When you change your mind, do call.” With that, the bird took off into the morning, leaving behind Leona with his thoughts. 

The lion beastman tensed and relaxed his fingers, brow furrowed. “Like hell I’ll need them sooner rather than later,” he muttered to himself. Today had barely begun and he already wanted for it to end. He knew nothing good would come of that bird.

…

…

…

You held the green crystal in your hands, turn

ing it over and looking at the carved features. The hornbill was wiggling its toes and singing to itself happily. It was a cheerful little thing and always kept itself busy. And on occasion, you would see a similar bird sitting on the roof, but they never came down from their perch and would fly off before you could investigate further.

You had no idea why or how you came to possess the stone bird. No idea why it was alive the morning after your sudden arrival in Twisted Wonderland. No idea why there was a near-perfect replica sitting on your roof. And you had no idea what it all meant. But in the short time that you had your crystalline friend, you’ve grown attached. Yes, they liked to cause some mischief every now and then, but they were very sweet. They even took a liking to resting on your armchair as you worked, singing their little song.

The little bird even tried to fight that third-year Savanaclaw student, Leona, for you. During the first encounter, where he nearly took a tooth for stepping on his tail they had flown around in a panic; which wasn’t much help. But during his overblot, they had taken a hit from his unique magic, King’s Roar, for you. You had thought that your little friend was gone, forever turned into sand and lost to the wind. Even the bird that sat on the roof went missing for two weeks, but then they were back. Playful as ever before, but there was something else there as well, a sadness of sorts. Frustrated. Restless. Now they also had a large gash, from where they had been hit and it mirrored your own cuts and bruises that you had sustained from the fight. You also noticed that it had other marks, ones that you had sustained back in your dimension.

You should have been angry, but you weren’t. You felt tired, and a sense of guilt. Why had this little bird risked its life for you?

“Prefect,” Jack’s voice snapped you back to the present. Oh right, you had just been forcibly evicted from Ramshackle… the only place you could call home in this world. Now you were sitting in the Savanaclaw Dorm. “Are you alright?”

You blinked, coming out of your thoughts. Jack, even though you two had only just become acquaintances(?), friends(?), was observant that you were spacing off. “Ah… no,” you sigh, all of the stress of the past weeks catching up with you. “No, I’m not alright.”

Jack’s ears twitched, and your crystal friend hopped up onto your shoulder, rubbing its beak on your face. “Do you want to talk about it?” He looked at your shoulder, where the bird was sitting.

“Can you see them?” You could lay your heart bare right now, but you knew most of the answers to them. What you wanted to know was about the bird, and what it meant. 

Jack shook his head, “No, but I can hear the flapping of wings.” His brow pinched, thinking. “Has anyone told you? About soul matches?” 

Your bird hopped up onto your head and got comfortable up there. “Jack,” you breathed, rubbing your temples, “no one has told me anything.” You paused, realizing how harsh the last part came out. “Sorry, Jack. I didn’t mean-”

But it’s true. No one had told you anything about what a soul match is. Anything about what the bird meant. Anything about how you were possibly going to get back home; if it was possible at all? Anything of real importance when it came to living in this world besides the fact that there were seven pseudo-gods who were villains in your world and that magic was real. You had the scars to prove that much. And you were tired, so tired of not knowing anything.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” he placed a hand by yours, in case you needed to hold on to someone. “I don’t know your entire story, Prefect, but I do know that today was stressful… I can tell you more about soul matches, and what your feathered friend means. But that can wait until you’re ready.”

You felt the crystal bird shuffle a bit, letting out a little snore. “I want to know.”

“There once was a king, both noble and fair. Who sought to bring joy to his people’s hearts. The King of Beasts travelled to the horizon and made an agreement with the setting Sun and the whispering winds. On the eve of their sixth year, beastmen and residents of the Sunset Savannah would be gifted a crystal bird messenger.  No two were ever the same, as the birds would carry the marks and scars of their person. The crystal itself holds a message on what their match will help them with. These birds are only visible to their person, and can only be seen once they have decided that they wanted to find their match. And though the path may be long, and lead to many different crossroads, the little crystal bird will always find their match.”

Jack’s explanation of the bird messengers played in your head as you stared up at the ceiling. Said bird was sleeping beside you, and much like the story, it had all the same marks you had. The pale green crystal shone softly in the moonlight. Apparently made out of green calcite; a stone meaning to expand your compassion, to heal, of letting go of anger and resentment. You knew that you needed to work on that, but so did your match.

…

…

…

Leona was still at ends with himself after his overblot, and that herbivore from Ramshackle was now also crashing at his dorm of all places. But he did owe them, and like hell he was going to let some octo-punk get the better hand. He also happened to overhear the familiar story that Jack had shared with them. So he hadn’t been hearing things, the Prefect did have a messenger. But why did the thought of them having a messenger put a sour taste in his mouth? 

You need to find them. You will need them sooner than you realize. He hated to admit it, but the stone bird was right. Maybe if he had taken their offer he would have found them by now. Maybe he wouldn’t have overblotted… Maybe he would finally know that someone could accept him, not because of his title or royal status, but because, just maybe, they would accept him for just being him.

“You were right,” he huffed, turning over and looking to the balcony.

The crystal hornbill was back like it had never left. “Are you ready then?” It flew over and took a roost on his forearm. Are you ready to start healing? It wasn’t spoken, but it was implied, especially after all of that blot had surfaced. 

Leona shifted to an upright position, looking up to the stars, feeling the warm air gently surround him carrying the scent of warm earth and blossoming night flowers. “... Not yet.”

The bird nipped at one of his ears, “What are you waiting for then? An invitation?” It continued picking at his ears, trying to get Leona to action.

His ears flattened, from irritation but also to escape the attack. “Oi, cut it out, would ya? I want to make it up to them first before waltzing in like some ‘prince charming’ into their life.” He rolled his eyes at the cliched term. He didn’t view himself like that, and he didn’t want his soul match getting that idea either. He knew that he had aspects of himself that he needed to work on… That he needed to heal. But he didn’t want them taking the brunt of it. He wanted to prove to them, that besides his initial rejection, he was trying. That he wanted to make this work… Whatever this proved to be. Be they a friend, found family, or even something else. He was tired, so tired of being alone… maybe he could finally let someone in.

“Hmph, as long as you don’t keep them waiting for too long.” But the hornbill’s stoney expression softened, joking. Leona didn’t notice how the bird looked off to the side, looking at your sleeping form, nodding at the matching bird sitting beside you. “And they are a lot closer than you think.”

Leona flopped back on the bed, making the bird take flight to avoid getting tossed about. “Mmm, what matters most is travelling the path, whatever it may look like, and finding them at the end of it. Or whatever that bedtime story was.”

Going back to sleep, he was expecting to be back in the endless glowing dunes as he usually was every night. Stuck in the tar. But tonight was different. Instead of barren sands, he was surrounded by blooming flowers, towering trees, and a pleasant filtered light radiating through the branches. He was in the botanical gardens, under his favourite tree, his hornbill chasing after some butterflies… And the lion from all those years ago was back, standing in front of him. Follow the path. Find them. And it was gone, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. He placed his over their’s, squeezing it.

…

…

You’ve noticed something different about Leona ever since you made your alliance during Azul’s overblot. Yes, he still called you herbivore, but he seemed easier to read, not as closed off. You could tell that he was joking with you by the sway of his tail, and the flicking of his ears.

“Head in the clouds again?” 

Oh right, there’s been another new development alongside Leona. Your crystalline friend now spoke to you. Well, not really speaking, more so talking in your mind. The first time it happened you nearly threw it across the room, but honestly, what were you expecting? A talking crystal bird shouldn’t have been that shocking to you after everything you’ve been through.

Your attention snapped back to the lecture Professor Crewel was giving a certain group of first-years about not eating during lab. “Just there’s been a lot,” you said. Seems like there wasn’t going to be any new content taught today since somebody decided to eat the ingredients and get rushed to the infirmary room. You wonder if Crewel just said that his hair was dyed or if he was going white early due to the impulsive thoughts and actions of his students. So you were able to freely discuss as much as you pleased with your stone friend. “What can you tell me about them?”

The bird paused in its fuddling with a spare pen, “I can’t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

“You need to travel down that path on your own decision, not influenced by anyone,” they took off, leaving you alone for the first time on their own free accord. But gold, glowing footsteps followed them, leading the way.

I need to travel the path on my own decision. You knew those glowing footsteps would lead you towards your soul match. But why did they lead to Ramshackle? 

…

Meanwhile, in the botanical gardens, Leona was sitting comfortably under one of his favourite trees, eyes closed and tail swishing back and forth peacefully. But he was awake, and he was listening in to the conversation of his hornbill and a new voice.

“How do you think it will go?”

He recognized the voice of his hornbill.

There was shuffling on the branch, a new voice entering his head. “They are both quite stubborn, but seeing the progress thus far, even without them knowing, is promising. But they must go forward, forge their own path.”

He cracked an eye open, seeing the two green birds sitting together on their perch. But something else caught his eye, glowing footsteps. Follow it. So he followed them, the footsteps. Leona saw the other hornbill, his soul match’s hornbill take flight, the footsteps leading in the same direction. He looked back under the tree. To follow or not to follow, that was the question…

He ran after the footsteps, his hornbill clutching onto his shoulder for dear life.

“WHAT IS WITH THE SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART?!” They squawked, falling off and flying beside him.

Leona rounded a corner, nearly running head-first into a Scarabia student, but he ignored him and kept on running, getting weird looks from everyone. “I’m tired of waiting,” he snapped. But also, he knew that there was going to be no perfect time to find them. He realizes what he needs to work on. He realizes that it will be a rocky path. That it will take time to heal. But he knew that whoever was at the end of the glowing footsteps, that they had the matching hornbill. That they were right. That they were his equal in all things. Regardless of status. Regardless of upbringing. Regardless of what even his first insecure thoughts were. 

He stopped running, looking to where the footsteps disappeared under the door. The front door of Ramshackle Dorm. He put his hand on the doorknob, but he didn’t turn it.

They are a lot closer than you think. They weren’t able to be there for you for a reason. So it wasn’t just a sense of owing someone then. That bitter taste in his mouth from when he found out you had a soul match was jealousy that it could be someone other than him. Of course, it was you. One of the first people in a long time where he felt like you weren’t looking down at him, or just judging on initial interactions. That you accepted him. That you rolled your eyes whenever he felt like being snarky with you. That you bantered with him. That he felt… lighter with you.

But his hand didn’t move. He took it off the knob. He wasn’t just going to barge in. So he knocked on the wood, three gentle tap tap taps.

You looked up from the busted wall you were trying to patch up, the ghosts having alerted you that someone was waiting at the door for you. The fact that they were waiting surprised you, usually people would just come in unannounced or just kick the door down. But they were waiting. You made your way to the door and looked through a large crack. What was Leona doing here?

You opened the door, and you noticed the same bird that watched after you from the roof. Both of your birds took flight and danced with the other before coming down and landing on both of your shoulders. Performing the soul match dance.

"I'm glad it's you."

Fin!

Link to Masterlist

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

Mashing Solarpunk and Cyberpunk to Wage War Against War in The Creator

I saw the movie The Creator last night, which turned out to be a brooding love child of cyberpunk and solarpunk. I think we need a name for that genre mashup because there’s some interesting threads there to mine. The Creator also made me wonder, when did films get so beautiful. Every last frame of this film is a work of art of exceptional composition and clarity. And the sound... just wow, from the stirring yet perfectly integrated musical score to the map of sounds happening around you as the action progresses. If nothing else (and yet much more), The Creator is exactly why we should be fighting for the lives of our movie theaters. It breaks my heart to think of all the young’uns out there who are going to watch this film on their phone and will never have any idea what they’re missing by not having seen it on a big screen with a top–notch sound system. Even watching a film like this on the best HD TV you could hang on your living room wall would be like looking at a print of a Picasso instead of seeing its power in person.

The Creator takes place in an alternate timeline where we dove into AI and robotics with such gusto so early on, there were AI robots in spacesuits in space missions on NASA’s Space Shuttles (circa early 80s to early 2010s), not to mention acting as mother’s little helpers in the kitchens of the 1950s (if my memory is accurate of the “news reel” that rolled for the rocket ride that is the film’s opening montage). In short, The Terminator films clearly not existing in this timeline, humanity made the mistake of leaving the AIs in charge of defense systems and Los Angeles got nuked. And that’s just the first 75 seconds of the film (more or less).

Despite the fact that hardly anyone one who doesn’t live in Los Angeles cares a whit about the place—in fact,lots of folks actively fantasize about its demise (I’m thinking, most recently, of Kim Stanley Robinson's meanly gleeful and scientifically inaccurate drowning of the LA basin within about the space of a day via atmospheric river storms in The Ministry for the Future)—the USA goes full post-9/11 and declares war on AI. This means hunting down and mercilessly exterminating hotbeds of AI development in “New Asia.” Cue violent raids into New Asian countries by squads of American commandos with mind–bogglingly mighty tanks; a permanently airborne war station that locates targets, coordinates attacks, and launches savage missile attacks; and the most arrogant, single-minded, and cruel military characters imaginable.

That is, except for the protagonist. Sure, he’s an elite commando, but (SLEDGEHAMMER OF A METAPHOR) he’s a little bit robot himself, with all those bionics to replace limbs lost (in combat, presumably, given that his more innocent explanation sounds like an evasive lie). He fell in love with and married a New Asian woman while infiltrating her “terrorist” troupe of AI developers. This splits his sympathies. Considerably. Still, the top brass puts him in charge of re–infiltrating New Asia to seek and destroy the AI “weapon” the “terrorists” have developed. But this “weapon to end all weapons” turns out to be the AI equivalent of a human child who holds the key to the protagonist reuniting with the protagonist’s seemingly terrorist wife. As well as maybe also holding the key to world peace. Meanwhile, the child AI needs the love, protection, and guidance of a parent to survive and develop deeply human emotions. (Because, you know, emotions. They’re what make people do good things, right?)

Movies being movies, a lot of people and seemingly sentient machines are going to have to die in splatters of gunfire and spectacular explosions before we can find out who wins: the US military meanies or the AI robots and their friends, who just want to live free in peace and harmony.

Thematically, there’s a lot going on in The Creator. It’s very anti-colonialism, for instance. It also wonders how sentient robots will feel about being, essentially, slaves. It wants to tell us that maybe AI will be good for us. Instead of wanting to exterminate us—we who are actually the violent ones who refuse to see the humanity in others—maybe AI will want to be our friends and partners. Maybe AI will help us to develop the humanity lurking somewhere within ourselves and make us better human beings.

But for me, the overarching theme of The Creator is rage at America’s arrogantly militaristic habit of seeing things in black and white (US vs them, good guys vs terrorists, humans vs AI) and of annihilating the enemy at all cost, including that of the lives, livelihoods, housing, and villages of the civilians we don’t see as mattering. Watching this bitter rebuke to “shock and awe” was especially moving right now, on the brink (at least at the time of this writing) of Israel’s potential offensive into Gaza that will be Israel making the same mistake America made after 9/11. We could have taken the world’s sympathy and support (for we had it!) and used it to make the world a better, more equitable, more peaceful, much less impoverished, and more just place. Instead, we spent decades extracting bloody, violent revenge for a single terrorist act. Yes, our pride was wounded, and yes, nearly 3,000 people died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack, but the damage and death we caused in response with our mighty military machinery and soldiers gained us nothing, not even satisfaction. All it did, besides kill people and destroy their homes, was take the world into a dark, unstable place where there are now so many sides (within societies and between them) and they all hate each other. We all hate each other and this is ripping the fabric of our societies apart and making life more horrible for everyone. Rampaging like a million Godzillas on methamphetamine might feel as good as smashing glass when you’re mad, but it’s not right. It’s what evil empires do and it has terrible geopolitical repercussions. Especially when you wrap up your claim in the mantle of morality that you don’t actually have.

Of course, few movies are without their flaws. A lot happened in this movie that strained all credibility... and for the most part, it wasn’t the speculative elements. If the plot consisted of a lot of interlocking threads, every last one of them went full circle and tied itself into a tidy little bow by the end, which was ridiculous. Related to this, foreshadowing struck often and always like a sledgehammer. And there were far too many implausible events... characters who just happened to stumble in the right direction to end up in the right place at literally exactly the right time to make exactly the connection (that had gotten set up in another implausible and convoluted set of circumstances) that was totally unexpected (but that you saw coming 30 minutes previously because of the sledgehammer foreshadowing), etc. The AI child has extraordinary powers over machines when the plot needs it to but doesn’t have those powers when the plot needs it not to. The US military people are all such hardcore, single-minded, murder–all–the–AIs–at–all–cost lunkheads that the tragic backstory they give at least one of them to excuse it just comes across as laughable. Also, come on. Los Angeles gets nuked and only a couple of million people die? Does the alternate timeline not know that nearly 20 million people live in the Los Angeles megalopolitan area? Also, why barrage AI hot spots with bombs and missiles, doing so much collateral damage, when a great bit electromagnetic pulse would be far more effective while simultaneously sparing human beings and their homes?

Despite this, the movie is a moving spectacle. And it felt new. Which is not easy to do, as anyone who has sat down to try to write sci–fi could tell you. Sci–fi is so far beyond the first flush of its youth, unless you're really good, that just about any story you come up with has been written several times before. Despite the clunkier aspects of the plot, whoever wrote The Creator is really good. This sci–fi movie broke ground.

These days, I rarely stay for the credits of movies, but I felt compelled to for The Creator. It was so magnificently made, I’d found myself wondering how you would even go about writing a prospectus for a film like this. It was filmed at so many different places around the world and it had so much excellent CGI, there was only one moment in the movie where I was like, oh, that’s totally obviously CGI (and normally I scoff all the time at CGI). How would you even begin to figure out how many people you’d need to make a film this epic and detailed, much less how to coordinate their efforts. How could you begin to calculate how long it would take to make a movie this ambitious or how much it would cost so that the end result was excellent? (Turns out, the cost is $80 million, which is between a quarter and a third of the cost of a typical Marvel movie.)

My best guess—before and after watching the extensive credits—is that it took at least a thousand person-years to get this film made. There were so many animators. And they all seem to have done a painstaking job.

So, kudos to The Creator, the art with which it was made, and the themes that it tackled. Now get thee to a proper movie theater. In fact, the shiniest, newest, most up–to–date movie theater you can find. Movie theaters need our help to survive in this world of streaming, and spectacles like The Creator need to be seen on a big screen.

[xuemae3]

Afrofuturism Reflection

Afrofuturism is an all encompassing genre that speaks to themes relating to and affecting Black history, Black culture and presence today, and the lives of Black people in the future. In light of this course coming to an end, I will use this blog post to reflect on some common themes in Afrofuturism and how I think they are relevant to the present we live in. 

The environment: I think this was best represented in Pumzi, Nnedi Okorafor’s works, and WHITE. Climate change and environmental issues have been the hot topic of debates for the last decade or two, with good reason of course. Though to be honest, environmental activism has been an irrationally sore spot for me for reasons I find hard to explain. I think that what gets me boiling whenever I see baseline environmental activism is that it NEVER feels intersectional to me; I think that people have kind of lifted up climate change to be this very non-human centered issue, and for that reason there are a lot of people who are able to dismiss it entirely and for others it makes it easy to slap a plastic bag ban or a save the bees initiative on the entire issue and call it a day. I feel like I hardly hear people talking about the effects of Western nations sending all of their garbage to the global south (and those countries being blamed for high waste rates), the exploitation of African bodies for lithium mining in order to build “sustainable” technologies, the lack of accessibility for healthy and vegan-friendly goods for marginalized groups/countries (who are again, the ones who are blamed the most for the crimes of the mega-corporate meat industry). I think that the works we discussed in class helped alleviate some of the frustrations I had in regards to talks about the environment, as we NEED to pose it as a humane issue that necessitates revolutionary and anti-capitalist action. 

Technology. Of course a lot of works discuss different kinds of technology. I think that Janelle Monae, Nnedi Okorafor’s works (again) and Robots of Brixton showcase this the most. Artificial Intelligence is SCARY and has too many implications for our world and lives to think about. For one, it could contribute a lot of valuable resources to our lives that may not necessarily be accessible to some groups; I’m thinking of accessibility to education and information, accessibility to certain services like therapy that would normally cost money, the potential for intelligence that could aid people with physical disabilities, etc. BUT on the other hand, perhaps the overall laziness of AI is contributing to the social degradation of our society and may lead to an ultimate loss of empathy and want for real human connections and critical thought! I saw someone post an ad for a long text-summary application and caption it with, well Fahrenheit 451 started off with the demotivation of reading and information consuming due to growing technologies that made it unnecessary in the first place! And that was really scary. Yes accessibility could be a real benefit, but how long that accessibility stays true to helping people and not to manipulating it is very fraught and up for contention. Also, not to mention the real environmental damages that AI processing centers are causing (which again, disproportionately affects marginalized populations especially in the global South)!!Revolution. This was most prominent to me in Walking Awake and Parable of the Sower. It’s pretty obvious in the former, and still prominent yet more subtle in the former. Revolution is necessary to overturn power structures that continue to oppress us, and oftentimes revolution is not capable without violence. As much as I hate conflict and war, I think that remaining complicit only breeds more violence and unrest amongst the people who are most vulnerable. Revolution can also be inherently nonviolent, as community and alliance are things that oppressive systems seek to destroy because they can threaten their power. I think Octavia Butler portrayed that very well, as though even though she herself is not religious she saw the value that religion may bring in terms of creating the motivation for community.

[brigid1209]

Why Can’t You Turn Knowledge into Money?

I remember when I worked as an editor in a book publisher, our boss asked us one day, “Why can’t you turn knowledge into money?” He was wondering why our books couldn’t make a hit. But at that moment, I was thinking about why I earned such a poor salary with a decent diploma. Anyway, that is a great question.

In my opinion, the spread of knowledge and making profit are two independent concepts. Knowledge is knowledge, money is money. As a consequence of industrialization, the capital can make profit with the power of knowledge such as advanced technologies, and then hire more people to make even more profit, which may be one of the historical origins of the job market. In such cases, knowledge works as an amplifier. But if there is no sound at all, then the amplifier can’t help you hear anything.

As far as I know, it is the inner cycle of knowledge reproduction that can make the spread of knowledge itself as a career –– students become teachers. (For those who don't choose education as their career, they go to the job market to find more possibilities.) The need for publication is closely linked with the need for education. However, the education system now is confronted with unprecedented challenges, not only from outer factors such as AI, but also from something unsustainable within itself. The existing education system, no matter which country or region we come from, seems to be left behind by the present world. People in the education system are focusing too much on the reproduction of knowledge, or the so-called academic activities, and that builds an invisible wall between them and the world outside. However, knowledge can only thrive in its collision with reality, and that is the moment it can be truly testified. If knowledge loses connection with reality, then it will become a fossil displayed in a museum.

Some people may think it is wrong to expect all knowledge to be useful today. How about paleography? Is art useful? Learning is a natural instinct, an indispensable part of growth. Curiosity is the best teacher. And the like. Yes, teaching and learning is meant to be a beautiful process of interaction, as well as socialization. Learning itself is useful just by existing. The problem is, knowledge should be shared freely if we truly understand what that means. But now, we seem to want too much. We want knowledge to be shared freely; we want to take control of knowledge so that we can make profit, by copyright or something else. We want a Utopian-like environment that even the most unpopular study can be encouraged regardless of usefulness or workability; we want to learn something useful so that we can find a decent job. Unfortunately, those things are contradictory, so they can’t be all satisfied at the same time.

Perhaps things like knowledge should be shared freely, but the premise is, there is a solid economic background to support that. However, when researchers talk about that, they tend to treat the collective as the same group of people in a very abstract style. But just as I mentioned before, people who have knowledge and people who have money can be two different groups. It is similar to what somebody said that the rise of AI may destroy some old jobs, but it will create new jobs in the future. The ignored point is, people who lose their jobs and people who receive new jobs can be two different groups, too.

It is really hard for people today to find their role playing in society. That’s a crucial question for everybody, but knowledge can’t help answer that –– what you were taught in school may not be relevant to your job, and one day your position may be taken place by AI. Who knows? Some people call it an existential crisis, because in the past we used to define ourselves by our skills and our careers, but now that logic doesn't work. We don't know who we are, or what we are becoming. We are suffering from some kind of cognition disorder. We get lost in a virtual reality world where everybody can have an avatar and then can be whatever we want. In that case, “playing the role” is not figurative, but real. It becomes real not by things we learned in the past, but by our imagination. If we accept the fact that knowledge can be shared freely, then there is no reason to worry about losing grip of that. From now on, one of the most important lessons for us may be how to use our imagination to contribute to the world, in a creative way.

[lincolnmkicks]

i don’t want to claim i have a wholly unique experience wrt dndads bc i decided to listen to this podcast bc i loved anthony’s previous writing in borderlands 2 BUT borderlands 2 is one of my fav games of all time and i want to shed some light on smth i very rarely seen talked about: the biggest narrative comparison between dndads and bl2 through willy stampler and handsome jack.

SO right off the bat im gonna mention anthony is fairly explicit about both willy and jack being attractive. it’s literally in jack’s name, his title after becoming ceo of hyperion, and he also managed to date—even if only for a little while—the in-universe most attractive woman in that corner of space (moxxi). anthony also makes it a point to talk about how frustratingly hot willy is all throughout the podcast, both seasons 1 and 2.

the intent is pretty clear. abusers aren’t all “conventionally unattractive,” and sometimes people have pretty privilege, and anthony by way of making both willy and jack attractive is forcing us to confront internal biases about who and what kind of people are abusive.

also the password being “i love you” for the box that supposedly held ron’s anchor that could only be activated by willy’s voice saying it? stolen directly from borderlands 2 (granted anthony wrote that so it’s not stealing but you know)

next up, they are not the exact same character-wise. willy pretty much hates his son from the get-go, there is never a time we see him hold genuine love for ron without a catch of some sort, and even the “genuine love” we see from willy is quite literally just tolerating his presence long enough that he can position him perfectly to murder him. jack, meanwhile, would probably kill anybody who tries to hurt his daughter. in fact, he damn well tries because we kill his daughter.

i’m gonna need to get a little in depth about angel real quick, so bear with me. angel is this mysterious voice in your head in both bl1 and 2, a guardian angel so to speak, and she helps you throughout both games. in bl2 it’s revealed that she works with jack, and for a time we believe she’s simply an ai he created to help him find/charge the vault key to awaken the warrior (long story, but the goal of a borderlands game is usually to open an ancient alien vault which has tons of loot but also contains vault monsters, the warrior being one jack wants to use to in essence colonize pandora).

angel is forced to betray us about a third of the way through bl2, but she reveals she feels extremely guilty about it and wants to help set things right by giving us the vault key. she tasks us with making our way through a bunch of security measures intended to kill anybody who tries to get near her, only to reveal, yeah she’s not an artificial intelligence, she’s actually jack’s daughter, hooked up to a vast intelligence network as a child to be jack’s eyes and ears across the planet as well as being constantly pumped full of an alien substance called eridium to help her charge the vault key. the reason she wanted to help us get to her was because she wanted us to literally put her out of her misery.

control core angel (the level where you fight off waves of robots sent to stop you from assisting angel in killing herself) is… sad. it’s just sad. dameon clarke does a killer job playing a sociopath like jack when he’s laughing about scooping people’s eyes out with spoons or telling you he’ll pay you to kill yourself, so it’s not much of a surprise that he’s also good at playing a man begging you not to hurt his baby girl. yeah, the whole time you’re fighting off the enemies in control core angel he is screaming at you, insulting you and threatening you, sure, but as you whittle down angel’s health, destroying the injectors literally keeping her alive, he begs you to forget all of this, and not hurt an innocent girl.

eventually the fighting stops, you succeed in allowing angel to die, she thanks you, jack begs her to stay with him because they can still fix this… and her last words are calling him an asshole.

bl2 has been out 10 years and people to this day debate jack’s love for angel. was it ever real? was he being genuine in control core? was he playing a part? trying to evoke your sympathy? did he truly think he was doing what was best for her? had he fallen so far? were all those security measures because he wanted to keep his daughter safe or the macguffin of the game? he’s still an incredibly interesting character to discuss and examine, his relationship with angel being one of my favorite bits of one of my favorite games.

willy would never. willy is forthcoming about needing daddy magic, knows his power comes from being a father, comes from the impact he had on ron’s life. meanwhile willy couldn’t give less of a shit about ron. he was a mistake, he is nothing, and willy was content with killing 13 year old ron to get some semblance of peace. willy is uncomplicated in his sliminess. maybe more complicated with his relationship with scary, but still nowhere near as divisive and mysterious in his motivations as jack.

jack is decidedly funnier than willy, mostly because borderlands 2 is a funny game, but after angel dies there’s an anger boiling just beneath the surface. dameon clarke grits out threats through clenched teeth, he relishes in torturing one of our allies, he rescinds a bounty on our heads bc he wants to kill us himself. nothing else we’ve done to hurt jack’s plans has made him react like this. but nothing else we’ve done has hurt jack’s plans this much. is that quiet, threatening anger, that vibe you get when your parents are angry but can’t express it until you get home, is that jack’s grief for his daughter, or anger that you tried to really mess up his plans?

jack is unknowable, because we aren’t his kid. angel tells us “he tries to guilt you and make you feel like it was your fault, don’t listen to him!” and the implication is clear. angel’s been strapped to a hyperion information network since she was like 7 years old, forced into a chair looking out over pandora for jack’s benefit, jack’s gain. but he still calls her “my angel”, he seems genuinely sad when he has to re-remember she’s dead in tales from the borderlands, he’s a father who lost his way seemingly.

angel was poisoned slowly, decaying over the years bc of her father. ron wasn’t worth the effort.

willy we know. ron is angel in this scenario. and maybe jack believed he held love for angel, but angel sure as hell didn’t like it. angel was poisoned slowly, decaying all her life by her father. ron wasn’t even worth the effort.

idk if any of this like. makes sense or if it’s just luci rambling about borderlands but the difference in anthony’s writing for two shitty dads with some similarities is crazy frankly.

[entity9silvergen]

I recently asked reddit for some LGBT history from countries other than the US. Here’s what I got:

Germany

The Weimar Republic was surprisingly accepting of "alternative lifestyles."

During the Weimar Republic, Germany had a pretty active LGBTQ scene, with some major films and songs being produced, despite it still being illegal at the time. However, there was also a push to decriminalize homosexual behavior which sadly wasn't passed as the Nazis came to power.

This was based of two factors: after WW1 the authoritarian culture of Prussia sorta received a long overdue pushback. People were kinda sick of it, especially since these losers led them into a seemingly pointless war to begin with. Second: A LOT of men died in WW1 - and the army did not exactly prefer LGBT people. So with a lot of regular folks dead, the percentages of the total populace was sorta shifted. This also pushed the women's rights movements at the time for a similar reason.

Magnus Hirschfeld was helping trans people transition, crossdressers get crossdressing 'licenses', and generally advocating for and helping the LGBT community in the early 1900s in Germany. Nazis ended up raiding and burning down his research institute.

Hirschfeld was a gay polyamorous man. He was one of the first advocates for trans and gay rights but his work was destroyed by the Nazis.

The institute he headed even did the first modern gender affirming surgeries. The institute was destroyed and many people who were there (including the first known person to undergo complete MtF surgery) were killed by the nazis and the place was little more than bombed out ruins at the end of the war.

More information on the institute

Pre Nazi interwar Germany (Weimar Republic)  was pretty open when it came to not only sexuality, but also gender identity. The Nazis put a stop to that & tried to destroy any & all research into either, but, for a brief moment, it was there.

Russia

Pretty sure all Russian LGBT history was erased before we even had a written language, but Russia almost got gay marriage legalized in the first soviet constitution (didn’t happen bc Stalin)

The early soviet period (pre-Stalin) is sometimes called “the first sexual revolution” as opposed to America’s “sexual Revolution” of the 60’s. Broad women’s suffrage, female employment and education, parental leave, advancement of GSM rights & decriminalization of abortion. This unfortunately did not stand the test of time & reactionary sentiment.

Additional Source

UK/ Britain/ England 

The lead singer of Judas Priest is gay. The commenter’s father thought it was kinda funny because it didn’t match with his biker aesthetic, but the commenter doesn’t think he considered how much leather he wears on a daily basis

Hell bent for Leather was a track off Killing Machine. It was written by lead guitarist Glenn Tipton (who is straight), but it's fun to find alternative meanings in Priest songs. A second commenter likes to pretend a lot of the lyrics Halford sings are gayer than they actually are.

A couple people mentioned how uncomfortable it was seeing Ru Paul interact with British drag queens because he barely knows anything about British culture.

Ru Paul got angry that a British drag queen hasn’t seen the Golden Girls because “it’s gay culture” and then not five minutes later someone had to explain to him who Alan Turing was.

Alan Turing, who was an incredibly noteworthy figure (He made the Enigma codebreaker machine, which broke the code that was used by Nazis during the war and basically sped up the war by a significant margin. He also set the foundations for artificial intelligence, one achievement he was named for: the Turing Test), was homosexual and prosecuted multiple times because of it

Shakespeare was probably bisexual (some of his sonnets had homoerotic subtext/were sent to a younger man). Plus, Hamlet is gay as fuck. 

Sonnet 46 was very gay. Here’s a link!

King James 1st was corrupt and used his position to promote his gay lover to higher positions than he should've gotten. 

The 13 year old king James 6th of Scotland and 1st of England fell in love with a 37 year old catholic Franco Scottish man. The king gave the older man so much free shit that other lords started getting salty and his lover ended up converting to Presbyterianism out of loyalty to his young lover. He also fell in love with a man who ''was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence.'' 

Clearly James was into himbos, and women too.

He had a secret tunnel connecting his bedroom to George Villiers’s bedroom.

His relationship with Villiers was basically common knowledge and a source of much amusement and mockery. He also once said that his relationship with Villiers was equivalent to the relationship that Christ had with John the Baptist

Much more recently, there's obviously JKR and the banning of puberty blockers and Margaret Thatcher opposing LGBTQ+ rights by passing a law meaning you couldn't 'promote homosexuality'. 

Prince Philip was a racist twat (and probably a huge homophobe knowing him).

Gay marriage only became legal in 2014.

The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and it recommended the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults. It was a huge topic of public debate, and ultimately led to the Sexual Offences act of 1967, which legalized sexual acts between consenting men aged 21 or over in England and Wales (sexual acts between women were never explicitly criminalized). Scotland decriminalized sex between men in 1980, and Northern Ireland in 1982. 

For a totally batshit real-life bit of gay history, check out the show A Very English Scandal. It's about a politician, Jeremy Thorpe, who put a hit out on his former lover who was threatening to go public with the fact they had had a relationship. 

Austria

Gay marriage was legalized in Austria about 3 years ago. The worst thing is that it'd have staid illegal if the Supreme Court wouldn't have jumped in and declare it to be unconstitutional.

Austria did have something called "partnership" which was where gay couples could officially register with the state as couples but not receive any of the benefits of married het people

They still have super backwards Transphobic laws requiring for example "real life experience" to get even diagnosed. Basically you're forced to be and live as feminine/masc as possible and a doctor them judges if you're femme or masc enough. It's torture

Australia had widespread, over 60% approval of gay marriage for well over a decade before the government legalized it. The governments were actually going against the people for a very long time by denying it.

Taiwan/ Hong Kong/ Mainland China

When Taiwan recently legalized gay marriage, their official statement was something along the lines that they were casting off Western-imposed values and returning to their own traditional values and the entire western lgbt community ridiculed them in a "if that's what you need to tell yourself" sort of way but it's actually the truth. 

Prior to western colonization, the Imperial Chinese attitude toward sexuality was not dissimilar to Greco-Roman attitudes in that a man must marry a woman to beget legitimate heirs but whatever else he does on the side is his own business. It wasn't until Victorian colonizers came along and imposed homophobic attitudes on China that China started treating gays like abominations. In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China, as indeed most of the world, homophobia is a western value imposed by colonizers.

Bonus history: there is an actual saying in Arabic that was in widespread use across the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years from classical antiquity until European colonization. The saying goes "Women are for babies, [young men] are for fun."

The commenter specifies that this means “college-aged twinks,” not children

Another commenter speculates about when homophobia arose in China and how. They also add that in Rome, bottoms were stigmatized. 

There’s a story of Emperor Ai of the Han dynasty & him cutting off his sleeve for his boyfriend

There is also a god worshipped in Taiwan, the Rabbit God Tu'er Shen, whose domain is managing love and sex between same-sex attracted people. He is meant to be the incarnation of a soldier from the 17th century, who fell in love with an imperial inspector and spied on him bathing, and was tortured and killed by that official because he was offended by the spying. A villager from the soldier's hometown dreamed that Tu'er Shen appeared to him and said that because his crime had been love, he had been appointed to manage the affairs of gay people. The villagers erected a secret temple to the soldier, and people have been praying to him ever since.

South Africa

South Africa became the first nation in the world to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. It was also first country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2006. What really set them back for so long was apartheid.

There is some speculation that that Shaka Zulu was gay since he never took any wives

South Africa's post Apartheid constitution was the first in the world to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1996.

South Africa was also the 5th country in the world and only country in Africa to legalize same sex marriage in 2005.

Even before that the Constitutional Court ruled that sexual orientation was not relevant when deciding child custody in 2002.

Transgender folks have been allowed to change their sex in the population registry since 2003.

Conversion therapy is not illegal yet and public opinion still needs some work.

Spain

In Spain gay marriage was legalized in 2005, now they are considered one of de gay-friendliest countries in the world. The commenter is a lesbian and has never been closeted or directly experienced discrimination for being a lesbian.

In July 2005, Spain became the third country in the world to explicitly legalize gay marriage, after a thirty-year struggle following the fall of Franco's dictatorship, during which most activism was carried clandestinely (as it was illegal).

From 2007 onwards, Spanish [binary] trans people can legally correct the name and sex fields of their IDs and currently, there's a push for a law that would allow for legal recognition of non-binary Spaniards.

Despite the dictatorship in the 60s, there were cinemas that specialized in gay meet ups. Trans women also had ways to get passports so they could go to the US for surgery.

Ireland

In Northern Ireland, same sex marriage only became legal in 2020 and the leader of the most popular party is homophobic transphobic racist and sexist af. In fact, the majority of the party are but some of the quotes from the biggest party leader are depressing.

Same-sex marriage was only legalized in Ireland in 2015. Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1993. 

When Ireland legalized same sex marriage by popular vote in 2015, it was still something you got horribly bullied for in schools if you were out. Queer people got an apology from the Taoiseach in 2018, for the suffering and discrimination we faced from the State prior to the legalization of homosexuality.

In the case of trans rights, in 2015 the Gender Recognition Act was signed into law. It allows legal gender changes without the requirement of medical intervention or assessment by the state as long as you are over the age of 18. 

Ireland has fines and jail time for anyone found guilty of attempting conversation therapy. 

Ireland has seen a lot of progress in LGBT rights in the last 6 years but even up to the 2000s, citizens left their family members and friends to rot for being LGBT+. It still happens all over the country, especially in circles that are still fanatically Catholic. As the Catholic Church has lost the iron grip on the country, people have become more accepting of the LGBT+.

India

The Kamasutra(ancient text on sexuality etc.) has an entire chapter dedicated to homosexuality

The Arthashastra, a 2nd century BCE Indian treatise on statecraft, mentions a wide variety of sexual practices which, whether performed with a man or a woman, were sought to be punished with the lowest grade of fine. While homosexual intercourse was not sanctioned, it was treated as a very minor offence, and several kinds of heterosexual intercourse were punished more severely.

Sex between non-virgin women incurred a small fine, while homosexual intercourse between men could be made up for merely with a bath with one's clothes on, and a penance of "eating the five products of the cow and keeping a one-night fast"

Milk, curd (cheese), ghi (clarified butter), urine, and dung are the five products of a cow

The commenter adds that this is not a terrible punishment.

The Mughal Empire mandated a common set of punishments for homosexuality, which could include 50 lashes for a slave, 100 for a free infidel, or death by stoning for a Muslim

On 6 September 2018 the Supreme Court of India invalidated part of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making homosexuality legal in India

Prior to the British colonization of India homosexuality was not all that looked down upon when compared to what happened when the British took over and instituted anti gay laws.

The Hijra (literally means third gender) were seen as normal and have been accepted since long before Christ, as evidenced by the Karma Sutra. The British took videos of them to take back to demonstrate how the Desi were “barbaric”.

Bonsia

In Bosnia, there was a one pride parade that ended with religious extremists ruining it and the police not doing anything. It was supposed to be 5 maybe 3 days long but ended in like 1 or 2.

The Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe mapped out the entire night sky with only his eyes. It laid the foundations of many later scientists, such as Isaac Newton. He was a very rich nobleman, so much so that he owned 1% of Denmark's money. He had a pet dwarf that apparently could see the future, which sounds pretty gay. He was also part of the Elefant Ordning, which consisted of rich and strong Danish men.

Philippines 

Despite many attempts to legalize same-sex marriage, the Philippines still didn't budge. Being gay in itself is legal, but same-sex marriage still isn't.

Philippines ,the most Catholic Country in Southeast Asia, has held the largest Pride Parade in Southeast Asia.

Serbia

Serbia didn't have history from about 16th century to 1800's when the 1st revolt happened and failed till 1813's... Then yet another in 1830's for semi independence from Turks, and full in 1836

During the last lingering Ottoman rule over autonomous Serbia, Serbia was one of the very first few countries to have legal mostly everything... it then got removed with like 3 constitution changes and then it didn't move forward for a looong time

Switzerland

Would you have thought that small, conservative Switzerland was a center of the international gay community during the mid-20th century? The magazine "Der Kreis"- the circle - was the only queer magazine in the world that kept publishing during WWII. It was edited in Zurich and distributed internationally, which often meant illegal smuggling, even into nazi Germany. The magazine's annual ball was attended by hundreds of gay men from all over Europe each year. The whole thing was kept strictly secret from the public, though it was known and tolerated by the police.

The Kreis club disbanded in 1967, as repressions grew heavier after a number of murders in the scene had caught the public's attention. By then, other European and American groups took its place, publishing their own magazines.

They made a movie about it.

More info about Der Kreis

As of today, Switzerland doesn't allow gay marriage. A country-wide referendum will be held this fall on gay marriage.

The commenter speculates that gay marriage will be legalized.

A few people expressed surprise that Switerland is socially conservative and several people explained that women’s right to vote was only place in the 70s.

There’s a movie about it

Turkey

A Muslim Persian (born in modern day Turkey) philosopher/mysticist named Mewlana who is known for his sayings on acceptance and love for one another was gay! He had exchanged letters with his instructor Shams and wrote homoerotic poems to him! In Turkey this is ignored by many due to the country's stance on homosexuality

More information

Norway

The commenter’s hometown and the neighboring town arranged their first pride parade/event in 2017, which is a big deal for a small place and one of the local priests went livid and went straight to the newspaper and social media to condemn it. A local rapper wrote a short and to the point article in the newspaper calling him out for all kinds of things which was a great read. Then to top it off, the priest arranged for a "Jesus Parade" in protest to be held the day before the pride parade. Only like five people walked in it, not including the priest of course because he happened to be on vacation in Spain that week. The pride parade itself was a success though! It's become an annual event. Covid has put some breaks on it though, but they're making a documentary this year about the pride celebrations.

Hungary

Hungary has no same sex marriage or transition rights

Police are unkind to protestors

During “commie times,” being queer was illegal so queer people went to the gulag

Belgium

Same sex marriage was legalized in Belgium in 2003 (right after the NL who were the first in the world). The commenter says that same-sex marriage has always felt possible and she is confused about other countries’ actions.

Poland

Polish president on public assembly: 'LGBT is not people, this is ideology'.

Denmark

WHO took their sweet time declassifying being transgender as a mental illness, so Denmark got sick of waiting and became the first country to stop classifying it as an illness.

Australia

In Australia same-sex marriage wasn't legal until 2017.

Portugal

Portugal is know for having one of the most (if not THE most) peaceful revolutions in history back in the 60's, with only 4 deaths total.

Canada

Operation Soap.

Mexico

To learn more, watch Dance of the 41 on Netflix.

Netherlands

NL was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage in 2001

Sweden

In Sweden they used to classify Homosexuality as a disease during the 20th century so in protest people would call in too gay to work.

New Zealand

When same sex marriage was legalized, the parliament broke into song.

The song

Other

Homosexuality is illegal in 73 countries, some by death or life in prison.

Only one country in Asia has legalized same-sex marriage: Taiwan

FNAF is older than same-sex marriage in the US

Condor Operation

I think this is some important stuff so please reblog so more people can see! And, if you would like to add to or correct anything here, feel free to do so!

[maddnes-cringebat]

huuuge new details and some changes to this whole spiel

The Soldier is German-American.

The Hack is Black-American.

The Ringmaster (or RM) is Jordonian.

Wonderland us broken up into different worlds. Managed usually by the Higher-Ups but sometimes by other companies, with assistance from the Higher-Ups. Rarely can you find an independent world in Wonderland.

Physical labour in Wonderland is few and far between. Most times the work is whatever the equivalent is to YouTubers and Celebrities. Work like in Retail is ran by AI. It's difficult to go bankrupt in Wonderland, but it is possible. If you do, you're essentially kicked out and into the real world to slave your way back in.

RM goes by any pronouns. Once she escaped her personal Wonderland, she is found to be the most powerful magic user on the surface, and can pretty much brake worlds in Wonderland. RM suffers immensely from dissociation and "age-regression" caused half from her life in Her Personal Wonderland and half from her childhood being a prisoner of war. In missions in Wonderland, RM is often found using her magic and creative mind to play dress-up.

The Ringmaster doesn't remember her name, so the gang just calls her RM.

The Hack is an insult given to them by the Higher-Ups. They've learnt how to embrace it by the time the Soldier meets them. I haven't found a name for the Hack yet.

The Hack has a very evident hatred for The Soldier (for yk being the Soldier) but they aren't allowed to mention his past in fear of awakening them. If it weren't for their plan to destroy the higher-ups, she'd have killed him on first sight.

The Hack is the strongest and most skilled magic user in their gang. Rumour has it, they're strong enough to rival even the four soldiers (more on that later)

The Hack is in a gang, of which she is the vice leader. They live on the surface in a dome safe from radioactive poisoning on the surface. The dome was formerly property of the Higher-Ups, but it was abandoned before they took it over.

Within some of the domes are multiple mines and factories ran by the Higher Ups and operated by some surface dwellers. The surface dwellers are overworked and underpaid. They are fed just enough to be able to work through the day or through the night.

There are multiple gangs on the surface. All of them rely on "pirated magic" to survive on the surface, applying it in different ways. The Hack stole magic from the higher-ups when she was a teenager before she left so her gang runs on magic that is much more genuine.

The Soldier is one weapon of its kind out of four. All four were dormant, until The Hack and her gang woke him up without triggering his "backup programming". And the Higher Ups woke up the rest of them to contain The Soldier and destroy all resistance

Also his name is not the Soldier, well ig he is but he goes by another name too. Each Soldier is named after people in the Bible, considering the Higher Ups are meant to represent the US and NATO - being Christian countries and all.

The Soldier's name is Adam. He is the first of his kind, with the biggest kill count out of all of them. He wasn't designed to specialise in anything.

The rest of the four soldiers are Adam's "opps". Experiments 2 and 3 would just be creatures or machines Adam finds in his journey. His memories didn't load in when he was activated, but theirs were. Think of them like you think of IOF Soldiers.

Soldier #2's name is Moses (He/Him). He specialised in "Support". If ever he is seen, he is walking around with a staff. He uses this staff to send out or take in messages to and from the other soldiers - regular or enhanced - or the Higher-Ups. Oftentimes he is supporting the rest of the soldiers in the background through shielding and increasing strength, but he's not afraid to conduct the Higher Ups' Wrath himself whenever necessary. He is infamous for being strictly by-the-book. If he were real, he wouldn't play video games.

Soldier #3's name is Joshua (He/Him). He specialises in "DPS". He is the most dangerous soldier out of all of them. Despite being created long after Adam, his kill count is short of Adam's by a very small margin. He is technically physically weaker, but strategies each and every attack he makes. He is capable of causing the most destruction out of the four of them - and he often does, just for fun. If he were real, he'd be a huge fan of FPSs and/or Kanye and/or Drake.

Soldier #4's name is Rahab (She/Her). She specialises in "Healer". The previous soldiers' strength comes from 50% magic, but Rahab applies 85%. Her strength comes from being a powerful healer - so much as to be able to bring people back from the dead. Physically, she is the weakest out of all of them, but poses just as much of a threat as every other soldier. She is an incredibly useful asset for any army. If She were real, she'd be either a Swiftie, a Barb or a Hoyo fan.

babe wake up new paracosm update dropped

Wonderland is still the name, couldn't think of anything else.

The paracosm takes place in a world where humans have essentially invented magic. Someone was able to create holograms that can feel, and look almost real. These things can mold from one substance to another, as well. For example, a hologram that looks like water can suddenly transform into steel or snow and even function like steel and snow, respectively. The invention had since been bought and patented by a group known only as the "higher-ups". They have been carrying experiments for two decades, figuring out what the magic's true capabilities are.

While the higher-ups are experimenting with their recently-discovered "magic", most of the people of this world are underground, using the higher-ups' other invention called "Wonderland". Essentially, Wonderland is a fully realised version of the metaverse, where users experience the digital world 24/7 and experience it exactly like real-life - meaning feeling, tasting and smelling what they feel in Wonderland through magic and machinery. It's a dream come true - that is, to premium users, anyway. In fact, Wonderland is filled to the brim with premium subscriptions and premium subscriptions to those ones as well! Those who can't pay look for jobs, of which there are a lot to be found, at least. In a world intended to be better than real life, it manages to be not that different.

What of the real world, the one outside of Wonderland? It's the turn of the 22nd century and the world entered nuclear fallout. War has truly ravaged the world. It's dangerous to go outside because of the nuclear contamination, though some brave it to earn a living because they can't afford Wonderland. Others live away from the grip the higher-ups have on the world.

I have two "Paras".

Experiment #1 - The Soldier (he/him, inspired by Markiplier, Sonic the Warehog from Sonic Unleashed, Cyno from Genshin Impact): An abandoned experiment on using magic to enhance a user's ability. This hybrid of brawn and magic was supposed to be the US' swiss-army-knife that they would use to win wars. As such, they had enhanced the Soldier to be near-invincible and impervious to nuclear contamination. The Soldier is a soldier who had initially entered the experiment to serve his country. After deleting the soldier's memory, they have placed him in Wonderland where he currently resides.

Experiment #4 - The Ringmaster (they/she, inspired by Forever Nenaa, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, Eri from MHA, Mob from Mob Psycho 100, Maladaptive Daydreaming and other Dissociative Disorders): A completed Wonderland alpha test. Britain had successfully destroyed the land of their enemy, and the Higher-ups requested the usage of one of the few child survivors to be the subject for their alpha test of Wonderland. The machine used for the Ringmaster's Wonderland differs greatly from the what's seen in the final version, especially the room assigned to every other Wonderland user, which is much bigger. The Ringmaster is in complete control of her own Wonderland, like a regular ringmaster with their circus. The machine that powers and runs the Ringmaster's Wonderland is completely powered by itself, so the Ringmaster has been happily living in their Wonderland for two decades.

[3w-writer-with-wings]

Next Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover – Bonds Beyond Worlds

With so many ideas about what Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 will be about, I wanted ZEXAL/ARC V/VRAINS crossover continuation the most. I’ve already discussed this before Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens was announced (here it is if you’re interested https://3w-writer-with-wings.tumblr.com/post/189629945740/next-yu-gi-oh-anime-new-series-or-a-crossover ) and despite new series, I’m still hopeful we will be getting a movie at least. Well, even if we aren’t getting it, I’ll write it down anyway. Only once Yuma, Astral, Yu-boys, Bracelet Girls, Yusaku and Ai get a happy conclusive ending will my soul be able to rest.

Still please don’t hate on SEVENS! It’s a nice and funny show and Yuga is a precious little inventor who doesn’t deserve all the hate.

Main cast

So the main cast will be definitely made of the main protagonists aka. Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku and their partner characters aka. Astral, other Yu-boys and Ai. I also want to include Bracelet Girls since they are very closely connected to Yu-boys, though not directly, more like they have a separate, but just as important mission, maybe they even team up with Rio (since she has psychic-like abilities) and Aoi (who learns about world connection from her brother and wishes to help). If it will possible I’ll also include rivals – though more like supporting characters, the same way Signers and professor Banner were used in the movie. For everyone else it would be more or less just minor roles, but still important enough to contribute to the story (Kaito and Arclight brothers guide Yuma through different worlds, Reiji and Yusho investigate strange occurrences in Arc V and Akira, Kusanagi and Ryouken try to find out where Yusaku went and how to help him). Overall, I wouldn’t include too many characters since I really want to give them meaningful roles. 

How it will connect the series?

VRAINS ends with a surprising findings uncovered by Akira – VRAINS got connected to many different worlds and Yusaku is on his way to unknown part of VRAINS in order to find Ai. While first crossover was connected by time (hence the title Bonds Beyond Time), this crossover will be connected by space. First crossover already made a big deal out of time (Atem was an ancient spirit from past and had to travel back in time to regain memories in order to rest in peace, Judai was a reincarnation of a Supreme King and Yusei fought against time-travelling cyborg from the future) and was therefore connected by time, with Yusei using Crimson Dragon to travel to past in order to stop Paradox from destroying it. This time, the new trio of protagonists will have to travel through space in order to meet. Since VRAINS ended so abruptly, with Yusaku travelling towards unknown part of network, this would be the most perfect point to start this new journey. If that part of VRAINS network somehow got connected to another world or more like a dimension, this is how Yusaku finds himself in ARC V dimension after the events of the fifth series – sometime after the four dimensions merged into one again. Yuya and Yuzu get used to their counterparts living in their bodies and Yuya is yet to defeat Yusho at that point.

Goals

In a way all three series share the same theme of protecting the world and changing it in order to save the ones they love, but with each series, less can be done to save it. Yuma used Numeron Code to save the friends he lost, prevented the destruction of Barian world and turned Barian Emperors back in humans. Yuya managed to seal Zarc’s soul in Reira and get Yuzu back and joined all dimensions into one, but he couldn’t save other Yu-boys and Bracelet Girls. Yusaku was unable to save Ai as Ai was never meant to co-exist with humanity. Therefore I believe this chain of events is in a way connected with Numeron Code – with such drastic change in Astral World and Barian World, the change must’ve affected Original Dimension in ARC V and Dr. Kogami must’ve had a reason to create Ignis (in the most far-fetched logic I believe the change awakened Zarc’s rage and convinced Dr. Kogami that the world is ending and humanity needs an immortal successor). Yuma could also feel guilty and selfish to activate Numeron Code, thinking he might’ve been wrong after all and that caused all the suffering Yuya, Yuzu, their counterparts and Yusaku have been through.

But at the same time this doesn’t mean they should just give up Numeron Code to fix everything and rather look for a different way, considering how much damage it has already caused. Maybe the antagonist wishes to have Numeron Code and their first goal is to destroy it or seal it for good and at the same time deal with the fact that it could bring Ai, Yu-Boys and Bracelet Girls back. Yusaku and Yuya don’t blame Yuma one bit and they both ensure him that their friends are still there, they just need to find another way to bring them back home. At one point they will be back either before the climax or during the climax (Yu-boys are pretty much already in Yuya, but it could be that they gain their bodies at the crucial moment when they are protecting Yuya). It would be interesting if Ai actually knew Yusaku was looking for him but was too scared to face him, thinking he’ll lose him (maybe Astral helps him get over it and during the moment where Yusaku is in danger, Ai comes back in a similar fashion as he did during his duel with Ryouken).

Antagonist(s)

It doesn’t necessary need an antagonist, considering the goals the main trio has is already challenging enough, though it would be interesting to have another antagonist. Rather than having a one that thinks they are doing the right thing but are ultimately making everything worse or a character that is outright evil. I prefer to use a very calculating antagonist who has a good reason behind his actions and truly presents a challenge for the new trio. Antagonist like Z-ONE from 5Ds would nicely fit in this story, but like I said, it doesn’t really need an antagonist. It will be also interesting to include a secondary antagonist or antagonists’ right hand against the girl squad. Since I plan to include Numeron Code (I mean it is a literal Infinity Gauntlet, why the hell not?) the main antagonist’s motivation could be something with rewriting reality and space all over again since Yuma and Astral greatly changed it since the end of ZEXAL. The Bracelet girls also have a connection to Ray and En cards that are also a rather powerful element so there would be no need to include more powerful elements, prophecies or ancient grudges against the protagonist trio. 

This might be a bit far-fetched idea too, but I think it would really interesting to use Yusho as antagonist. Not in a willing way of course, just that someone possesses him and through him challenges the new trio to a duel that decides all. A certain fanfic writer has (Frost190 in “Bonds of Pendulum”) already written down the most amazing duel between Yuya and Yusho that fit into the canon story so well that it made me think just what missed opportunity that duel was. Even though ARC V both starts and ends with Yuya’s vow to defeat his father one day, he never really duels him (though considering Yuri was able to defeat him and Yuya defeated Yuri, he could potentially defeat Yusho as well). Then there’s the fact that Yusho and Yuya haven’t really talked things through face to face yet. While it is clear that Yusho had to leave in order to stop Leo, he left right on the day he was supposed to have this big match. He knew Leo was up to no good, but really, really why he decided to leave on that day? He could’ve at least post-phone that match or be done with it in like an hour or so and then leave. This one thing has bothered me for as long as I can remember and that fact that they never point it out is that more frustrating besides the fact that Leo was magically excused of all horrible things he did. Yusho as antagonist (controlled of course, but using Yuya’s and Yusho’s memories to try to manipulate others) would work very well for Yuma and Yusaku too since Yuma also had to deal with the loss of his father and to Yusaku, Yusho could look like Dr. Kogami – a man who traumatized him for life. 

Climax

Like in Bonds Beyond Time, a big duel with protagonists against antagonist is expected to be the main battle of the movie, I would like to spice it up a bit or use entirely different climax scene. I mentioned before that I would love to see Bracelet Girls in action, so what if they get a seperate mission or another antagonist to fight and this is how they find a way to get their own bodies. With this info they have to reach Yu-boys and let them know how to separate them, though again there could be some trouble or something is happening due to disturbance in dimensions and they have to protect people in them. It would be really interesting if they were the trump card or if they would show up at that one moment when they would needed it the most. Another reason of why I want to include them so much is also because only the powers of Yuzu’s bracelet have been partially explained and considering Ray literally split a whole dimension and a demon in four, they must’ve been nearly as powerful as Numeron Code.

I would also love to expose the new trio of protagonists to their worst fears, showing their pieces of vulnerability there. Yuma could relive his duel with III and all the times he lost Astral and his friends. Yuya could go through the time his father was missing and when he hurt innocent people in berserk form. (In a way I would also love to see Zarc and Ray have a role, at least to guide him and encourage him to not to give up.) Yusaku might expect the trauma from Lost Incident, but it turns out to be the fear of truly losing Ai. Another important challenge would be probably temptation to use Numeron Code for their own interests like maybe it could rewrite Yusaku’s life with Lost Incident never happening, but erase all of Yuma’s friends who got revived. Maybe it could bring counterparts back but cause major disturbance in Den City. Overall I wouldn’t go there too much since I know well that Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku are one of the most selfless people and if anything, they would be fine with giving up on their desire for greater good.

Another important climax (in case I go with it), is Numeron Code. With such insane power of literal creation and destruction it could be again connected to ARC V, with the whole theme of Heavenly Dragons and En Powers. Similar themes also appeared in VRAINS, especially regarding the creation and destruction of life. It could also be that protagonists will be struggling with how to use it correctly or if they should use it in the first place. Another solution is also permanent destruction, but again, protagonists aren’t sure how will this affect dimensions and timelines. 

In all ways, climax will be epic and will join all the build up, struggles, fears and action in one scene.

Interactions of those who never met

This crossover will be able to provide a lot of scenes and interactions between characters of those three series. Yuya, Yuma and Yusaku have surprisingly a lot in common, especially their experiences when dealing with loss and fears. For some reason I’m actually seeing Yusaku opening up to them since they could strangely remind him of Ai and that was pretty much the only person besides Kusanagi that Yusaku trusted enough to share his fears. It would be also refreshing for Yusaku to see duelling as fun (I really hoped that would be the case when he duelled Go for the first time) and befriending more people like Ai told him to. Astral and Ai could also share a scene where they are talking about their human partners and the time once their partners will be gone since they are both sort of immortal beings. I strongly believe one of the reasons why Ai sacrificed himself for Yusaku was not only because he saw a future where Yusaku dies protecting him but because he knew Yusaku won’t live forever like him and he couldn’t handle being all alone without Yusaku or other Ignis. Astral who has been alone for thousands of years before meeting Yuma could teach him how to cherish the time with his partner that he still has. 

Conclusion

Like I mentioned it in the beginning – this would more or less be fix-it story. While I’m okay with ZEXAL ending (better than the one in manga at least), ARC V and VRAINS are in dire need for a better ending so overall, the ending conclusion will give the three series a much more conclusive ending. While I love to write a good angst and bitter sweetness for the end, I do no plan to end it this way (especially after binge watching two anime series in a row that had bitter-sweet but hella sad endings). This will have to be a feel-good ending with cheese on top or at least hopeful feel. I’m aiming for similar conclusion as Bonds Beyond Time, with three protagonists parting ways in hopes that they did the right thing and that they can return back to the worlds that they no longer need to fear they will break. 

The endgame will be obviously with Yu-boys coming back, Ai reuniting with Yusaku and Numeron Code being sealed away or if possible destroyed. If I’m going with “Yuma screwed up ARC V and VRAINS with Numeron Code” way, then I’ll really need to find a good reason to get rid of it or at least find a logical way how. Also he will be dealing with massive guilt and responsibility so maybe… Yuma might go Iron Man with it and others will need to stop him (that might lead to a secondary final duel or more like rescue duel, kinda mirroring final duel between Yusaku and Ai).

So yeah there will be a lot of conclusions to go through, especially if I include original antagonists, though I’m not that sure about it yet.

If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions, theories or anything else related to this topic, feel free to leave it below or PM me. I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea and it will really help me gather more ideas and material for this project that I would really love to write, not just for myself but for all other members of Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom as well.

[junipersgarden]

metanoia 5. | Mistake

PAIRING: Peter Parker x Superhero!Reader

SUMMARY: Nick Fury has successfully managed to kidnap Peter and yourself by taking full control over your vacation, Peter’s jealously and love takes control as he targets Brad Davis... quite literally. 

WORD COUNT: 2687 words

WARNINGS: Mention of blood

a/n: i still have to write the next chapter and gonna be honest i dunno when i will but i hope you enjoy this part !!

[NOT MY GIF]

...

On a bus in the Eastern Alps, Austria...

...

"Why does Flash do those livestreams?" You tilt your head to the side as you observe Flash talking into his phone as he exaggerates his current status.

Peter simply shrugs with his mouth turned down and eyebrows raised as you giggle at his weird facial expression.

You and Peter were seated toward the back of the bus and the both of you were stoked that you two finally got to have quality time; a time to finally relax and try and not stress about the Fire Elemental that could potentially destroy all of Prague.

You had to also be mindful of what you said and who you said it to so you don't accidentally expose yourself; sure you'd been Saviour as long as Peter's been Spider-Man but still always kept track of your words and actions.

"So, how have you been Y/N/N? Just, haven't really talked or seen you in a while and I'm really sorry about that." Peter's eyes soften as he shifts to look at you.

Knowing he was referring to Spider-Man duties, you weren't mad or anything at him; the crime rate has risen after the Blip since people left with nothing have corrupted themselves and villains have become more 'popular' merely because the Avengers don't exist anymore.

It was up to you and Peter to protect the neighbourhoods in New York like you two had done in previous years but now you both are expected to carry the mantles of the deceased and absent Avengers.

Yes it scared you to be seen as one of the next Avenger's to promise to live to guard the Earth from any threats with your life, sacrificing everything for everyone to be safe but what scared you the most was drifting from the important people in your life like your family, F/N, MJ, Ned and Peter.

"'M sure it's not your fault you've been busy and it's fine Pete. I'm doing alright I guess; just everything feels out of balance after the whole you know. But I don't wanna waste time sobbing about-"

"Hey," Peter gently grabs a hold of your knee in a comforting way, "I know you're not big on talking about feelings but it's good to let it out; whenever you're ready I'm here."

Peter rubbed soothing circles on your knee with a twinkle in his eyes as if he swore on his life he'd be there for you no matter what.

You deeply sigh and refuse to cry but you placed your hand to top of his, turning your head to face him.

"T-There's something I wanna show you." Peter kept his hand on your knee as he dove, scrambling in his bag he fished out what appeared to a glasses case.

The case looked so familiar to you but you couldn't exactly identify where you'd seen it or what possibly is inside it but it seemed to be important.

"Is this you're way of telling me you need glasses?"

"N-No! I got these off... Nick Fury."  Peter said ever so quietly, afraid someone would hear him.

"O-Oh... what is it?" You lift your hand off Peter's so he can open it.

Peter opens the case and reveals a pair of glasses with a Stark Industries card beneath it.

"Oh god." You exhale as you stare intensely at the glasses and instantly remember seeing Tony on multiple occasions working on that exact pair or wearing glasses so similar to the one's in front of you.

Peter sees your face and panics. "S-Sorry Y/N I shouldn't of-"

"Try them on Peter." You blurt out and surprise yourself and Peter.

Peter nods and picks the glasses and puts them on. "How do I look?"

You look cute.

"You look like Tony." You smile and pick up the card to fiddle with it and turning it over, you see Tony's handwriting and read what he wrote.

"Pete." You nudge him and pass the card to him so he can read it.

"For the next Tony Stark, I trust you. P.S Say Edith?"  Peter reads out loud and gives you a look of confusion.

Suddenly, the lenses of the glasses turn blue as if an AI had been activated.

"Standby for retinal and bio-metrical scan." A female voice from the glasses speaks.

"Peter what's happening?"

"I don't-"

"Retinal and bio-metrical scan accepted." The female voice announces.

"H-Hello?" Peter calls out to the voice in the glasses.

"Hello Peter and Y/N. I am EDITH, Tony Stark's reality, security and defensive system

"So he made you for us?" Peter asks.

"No. But both of you do have access to all of Tony's protocol's."

That sure'd come handy.

"W-What do you stand for and what can you do?" You question EDITH.

"EDITH stands for Even Dead I'm The Hero. Tony loved his acronyms.

"Yeah, he sure did..." Peter agrees.

"I have access to the entire Stark Global Security Network, including multiple defensive satellites, as well as back doors to all major telecommunication networks."

"Woah..." You and Peter say at the same time.

Peter begins to glance around the bus with bewilderment and disbelief.

"W-What can you see?"

"P-People's phones. Like w-what they're on..."

"Oh my god..." You say with astonishment and you can't help but chuckle at your and Peter's discovery.

Peter chuckles along with you and he can't help but grin at you, thinking just maybe, the universe has given him the break and happiness he needs; Y/N is almost back and cannot wait until then or when he finds the perfect opportunity to let his hidden feelings out.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"10 minutes everyone!" Mr. Harrington shouts as the bus stops and everyone jumps to their feet to get out.

Even though Peter's plan was already failing miserably with Paris now out of the trip completely, Peter at least 4 and a half hours just with Y/N without anything going wrong or bad or Brad Davis trying to swoop Y/N away from him was a bonus.

Peter and Y/N had talked for the whole bus ride and shared a few laughs and reconnected more than they have ever done in the last 8 months.

"You go first." Peter offers Y/N to go before him to hop off the bus.

Y/N complied and thanks Peter but as he went to follow her, Dmitri struck his arm out to prevent Peter from walking any further.

"What?" Peter queries as he watches Y/N and the rest of his class walk further away.

Dmitri points and Peter's eyes travelled along Dmitri's finger to a blonde woman with her arms crossed staring at him before disappearing from plain sight.

Peter grips his backpack and began to pursue after her and entered in what was a closed bar and the woman standing with her arms down her sides and noticed something black lying on a fussball table.

"Hello-"

"Close the door." The woman says with an accent.

Peter twists the blue door's handle and closed it shut, giving the woman an awkward smile, started to walk to her and held his hand out for the woman to shake but she stayed perfectly still and unimpressed.

"Um, I'm Peter Parker-"

"Take off your clothes."

I-I'm sorry what?

"Excuse me-"

"You told Fury Spider-Man couldn't be seen in Europe. So I made you this; another suit" The woman leaned toward the table and picked up a black package and gifted it to Peter.

"Oh uh, thank you." Peter grabs the suit but stood with it, not knowing what to do and certainly not wanting to-

"Take off your clothes!" The woman demands in a frustrated and annoyed tone.

"This is embarrassing..."

Peter moves ever so slowly, hoping that maybe she'd tell him not to but she yelled at him to hurry up so Peter dropped his backpack and setted his suit back onto the table.

Here goes nothing...

Fumbling with his zipper, Peter pulls down his jeans and to his horror, the door clicked open.

A beam of white light shone into the room and Peter scrambles to the woman who was reaching for her gun.

"No, no, no don't!" Peter latches his hand to grab the woman's gun and held his other hand as some sort of protection and saw the person at the door was none other than his rival Brad Davis.

"Woah!" Brad peers up from his phone and examines the scene in front of him. "Sorry, uh,  I thought this was the bathroom?"

"This is not what it looks like!" Peter hurriedly stammers.

"Uh yeah." A flash from Brad's phone followed by the noise of a camera click.

"What are you doing-"

"I'll leave you two alone." Brad backs his way to the door.

The woman quickly grasps her gun and aimed it to Brad's head as Peter struggles with his pants. "Don't shoot anybody!"

Peter beckons to Brad to stop so he could explain as he zips up his undone flyer, Peter leaves the bar and sees Brad speed walking back up to the group.

"Hey man look-"

"Look, Peter. I'm not here to judge your life choices, dude. If you want to hook up with some random European chick on our school trip, that's on you." Brad gradually slows down to a stop.

"That's not what that was. Honestly."

"I can't pretend I didn't see what I just saw. I know you're trying to get with Y/N/N. It's obvious. But I like her too."

"Wait a minute, hey, hey you can't show Y/N that photo dude come on."

"But I have to. She deserves the truth." Brad spins back around and jogs to everyone, desperately searching for Y/N.

Peter heaves out heavy breaths; years of friendship and everything could be ruined within the next couple of minutes all because of an out of context photo, stubborn Nick Fury and Brad Davis falling for Y/N too.

Oh no.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hoping back on the bus, you managed to score the backseat and promptly waited for Peter; saving a seat for him again and eager to spend the remaining extra 4 and a half hours with Peter again and possibly trying on EDITH for yourself.

As everyone piled onto the bus and finding their seats, you couldn't see Peter anywhere and worried that maybe something happened to him.

But your concern was turned into disappointment as you saw Peter sit in the nearest seat toward the front, the seat furthest away from you.

Maybe he didn't see me?

As if he'd read your mind, you see Peter shoot his head from his seat, staring down at Brad who was furiously scrolling on his phone and then avert his eyes to you before drawing away.

"Oh." You slouch into your seat and can't help but feel upset in a way.

Peter, again, sticks his head from his seat but is wearing the EDITH glasses and standing up with regret written all over him.

Curious, you sneakily stand up and glimpse out the back window and understand to why Peter's face is as pale as a ghost; a Stark Industries drone was hovering to the bus with intentions to strike.

"Holy s-" Your statement is interrupted by Flash Thompson being punched by Peter Parker.

Did he just punch Flash? About time! But wrong time Parker!

"H-Hey ARIS?" You squeak, heart racing with fear for the safety and lives of everyone.

"Good afternoon Ms. L/N, how may I-"

"Need you to tell me what the hell Parker did." You grumble and aim your wrist at the drone for ARIS to scan the drone.

"Target is Brad Davis and is about to fire in 3, 2-"

Surveying the bus, you spot Brad out of his seat with his eyes on you and without thinking, you leap out of your seat.

"1."

"Brad-" Immediately the bus is taken under and swerves violently, people screaming at the instant motion.

Inertia fails to keep you balanced and you forcefully slam into a row of seats and bang your head slightly on the window.

Groaning in pain, everything around you seems heightened and intensified, vision blurred from the strong and unexpected impact, a weight of someone yanking your arm awakes you from your state and soon realise Brad had dragged you to the floor with him.

"Lookatthebabymountaingoats!" Peter's piped voice strains, begging for everyone to look the other way.

Semi shoving yourself off Brad, you help him to his feet and allow him to go in front of you so he can see the 'baby mountain goats'.

With everyone distracted, Peter springs into the air and through the emergency exit window, you watch with two thoughts: What the hell are you doing and what the hell did you do?

Hearing sounds of the drone malfunctioning, you rotate yourself and see flames being emitted from the drone and wince at the explosion, you crawl back into your original seat.

"Didn't see any mountain goats..." Mr. Harrington sadden utters.

"You missed them."

"I know you think none of us have notice Peter." Betty abruptly confesses.

Your heart drops to your stomach; for sure Peter Parker was not in anyway subtle about being Spider-Man but he did have you fooled for years until- until then...

"But your new look," Oh thank god Betty, "I love it."

Sinking into your seat again, you hiss at the pain of your head and massage to rid the pain but as you land your fingers to the wound, you feel that the back of your head is damp.

Pulling your hand from your head, you gasp as you see blood staining your fingertips; the red metallic liquid decorated with black meant that the wound would be deep if it was secreting your 'black blood' which contained essence of your powers out.

"Damn it."

There was only one way to heal it but that would require for your eyes to fully blackout but the chances of someone seeing your eyes could mean the end of your life but if this patch doesn't heal fast enough naturally without extra energy or power converted strictly to the injury could mean severe blood loss.

Let's do this...

You shut your eyelids and focus intently, a small shallow breath leaves you, feeling your iris and eyes become tainted with black.

You could feel the wound closing up and blood seeping its way back into your body, an invisible wave of energy forms around it and soon enough, the gash is no more but you could tell there would be some sort of mark and continuous aching.

"Hey Y/N, you have to see this."

Opening your eyes, you forget of your darkened pupils and squint your eyes shut and knead them to make your eyes go back to normal.

You'd only seen Brad with his eyes glued to his phone but you had no clue of the people around you.

Going with Attempt #2, you bravely open your eyes and breathe out a breath of relief.

Brad, still retaining to his phone, slides into the seat next to you.

"What is it Brad?"

"It's about Peter. He and this chick were in the bathroom and-"

Peter would never.

"You got proof?"

"Yeah! I got a photo of them; can't believe Peter could do such a thing."

Brad enters his photo gallery and is puzzled as he insanely swipes through all his photos.

"Uh, this is so weird, it was right here on my phone!" Brad tries to justify.

"Uh huh... totally weird... Brad if you don't mind, I'm incredibly tired from almost being killed again and would like to enjoy a nap by myself?"

"Oh, yeah, s-sure..." Brad lowers his seat and goes back to his seat, still hunting for his precious picture.

Bending down, you fish out your pair of headphones and plug them into your phone and open your playlist, adjusting the headphones to your ears and Google 'Popular attractions in Prague' and 'Events in Prague'.

Prague for the meanwhile before getting burnt to crisps better be worth it...

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[skittymon]

Finally finished Tales of Eternia!! 

And that makes 11th tales games finished and 15th overall played in some degree (Phantasia, Legendia, Innocence, and DotNW being the ones I havent finished yet).

Once I started again in December I decided that instead of liveblogging I’d make a review at the end instead.

So here we go! I will keep this spoiler free as possible!

I’m pretty scatterbrained but I’ll try to divide this into: combat, story, characters, and other game mechanics.

Combat: So obviously, the combat is above Phantasia and Destiny’s, being made after them. I honestly have grown fond of the 2d linear style format. There’s so many different boss fights in this game that can only work in a 2d field rather than 3d. 

On the flip side, that’s not always a good thing. I count bosses like the wild dog thing in Vesperia, and Fodra Queen of Graces to be among the hardest mandatory boss fights in tales. Welp, Eternia added one to the ranks. Rem (aka Aska the light spirit) is one of the most frustrating boss fights I’ve done. Apart from constantly slowing healing itself, on the field it brings a shiny ball with it. You cannot destoy the orb, it’s there all fight, and if you touch it it hurts you. And of course it blocks the way to Rem. There is a way past it, it moves up and down so you just have to wait until its up to move past. BUT GUESS WHAT THE AI DOESNT DO. So your party will probably either be dying or constantly in pain. AND REM CAN MOVE THE ORD ANYWHERE. Also you cant physically hit Rem while its casting a spell only far away skills. So if you ever play this game just cheese it and spam variations of Sonic Blade.

Of course, on the flip side it’s every easy for you to cheese boss fights and just back them up into a corner unable to move or do anything until they die, so it evens out.

The sprite animations for the artes are gorgeous. Reid moves so fluidly in his artes, he’s honestly my third favorite protag to play as behind Yuri and Ludger because of this. The caster animations are great as well, granted it can become cluttered and hard to see in when artes like blizzard and earth shaker are used. BUT GOD DAMN I CAN WATCH MEREDY USE METEOR ALL DAY IT LOOKS SO COOL.

Nitpicks about the combat system are, Life, the reviving spell Farah has, takes to long to charge, and for Meredy and Keele to use healing artes you have to mix and match who has what craymel (spirit). There might be a guide but I didnt look beyond reddit so Life was the only resurrection spell I had. 

Last nitpick comes from the Aurora Artes. Aurora Artes are skills only Reid can use, but in order to use them you have to have health below 15% and press circle, square, and x at the same time, so it’s very easy to mess up and die. Then to use more Aurora Artes you press the same buttons repeatedly, and after you use them Reid is left with 1 hp. AND the final boss has an automatic kill skill, you have to press the buttons at the right time to activate it and keep everyone alive, or you can cheese it like I did and have Farah hold a reverse doll to revive her after she dies. Did I also mention this skill happens in phase 2 of the fight when the bosses health is less than 20,000 after starting from 300,000? If you fuck up thats like 10mins of redoing.

But to end on a better note for this section, I love the way artes are learned. You have to use certain artes a number of times before you can unlock it (I THINK abyss and vesperia and many others are like this but this is the first time I found it rewarding). I grinded like hell to get the best artes for Reid AND YOU BET IT WAS WORTH IT. Omega Demon Chaos I love you,,,,

Story: Like countless other Tales titles, the conflict comes from two worlds being at odds with each other. However this game does something that none of the other games have done with this story beat. Language barriers! It’s super cool in the first couple of hours theyre just trying to figure out how to talk with Meredy. Of course by the end this point is nearly dropped entirely, everyone else just getting the special ear ring I spent 3 hours to get so the plot can move on.

Like most tales, theres a moment you thought the story would end but BOOM the twist. I wasn’t shocked by it, but that’s because I knew who the final antagonist of the game was prior to playing it, but still it was executed well. 

Something that makes this Tales stand out is how they deal with backstory. So the main fours backstory is vital to the story and their characters but they don’t show it till like 20 hours in. It’s like if Graces you start off in main arc and learn about the childhood arc 2/3 of the way through and went “ohhhh that’s why they were distant with each other.” And other stuff about it but I won’t spoil it.

Overall a good story, though I do feel like I’m missing things either from missing some side quests, or because of no skits.

Characters: The main ones to shine are the four main characters (Reid, Farah, Keele, and Meredy), everyone else literally is either one dungeon and/or optionable. Chat does still feel like a character being the owner of the Van Elita aka means of transportation for half the game. Max and Ras tho rip. ESPECIALLY MAX. Ya know how every tales there’s the mandatory Talk Before The Final Battle? Yea well they all get one except Max. You see him, but he doesnt talk, YET THEY CRAYMELS DO.

Another odd, yet charming, thing is that there’s no big moment of character development for anyone like Luke cutting his hair, Magilou keeping the portal open, or punch in the face like Alvin. They just. Slowly change. And its really weird cause for all of disc 1 Keele is basically an unbearable asshole and he just? Learns to be a better person from everything he sees? There’s no callout or moment of realization, he just slowly learns and it’s super refreshing. 

Reid is probably one of the most relatable protagonists up there with Jude. I’m sure most of you know the “he doesn’t want to do shit lol” persona he has BUT GOD WHY HE’S LIKE THAT BABY I LOVE YOU. Farah’s personality is also explained in the backstory, so for any of you crestoria players that Farah’s backstory is really different like how Emil’s is, but the sentiment of why she’s like that is the same and stem for a similar event.

Meredy’s also great. I thought I’d get annoyed of her and her “You bet!” but god when she says it the last time at the end of the game, I was pretty moved. I wish I knew more about her backstory but I’m pretty sure a certain section of her life info was left to skits and ya know we didn’t get those till Symphonia :)))

As antagonists go, besides the Craymels who are there to test you before you get their power, there’s just two. Main boss and their lackey. The lackey is eh. You see him once at the beginning of the game, then see him destroy a  city, then one last time where you kill him. You do get his backstory and stuff but eh I’m usually not fond of tales mini villains minus Chimerad, God Generals, and Artorius’s lackeys

The main antagonist tho, I really don’t wanna spoil it but it’s hard to talk about why I’m conflicted on it without spoiling. So it’s like Destiny’s final boss but written better in some part and worse in others. So at one point it’s super emotional and pretty powerful with the message eternia wants to send but at the same points its a jrpg where you gotta kill god cause he doesn’t think humans are worth it. 

Oh one more thing thats honestly hilarious, there’s literally SINGLE animated cutscene by Production I.G in this entire game minus the op. 

Other things: the amount of mini games in this game is insane, but the amount you have to do IN JUST THE SECOND DISC to continue the plot is more than any other tales game I can recall. Some of them are fun like the card game, others like the bomb one I want to throw in a fire. 

There’s also so much Destiny pandering in this game. There’s portraits of the characters, you can collect lens, I’m 95% sure the way a certain character is done is because they wanted another Leon, you can SUMMON THE SWORDIAN USERS ARE AS AN ACTUAL SUMMON. While all Phantasia gets is the cameo battle and the Eternal Sword. I mean I didn’t mind cause I’ve finished Destiny and it’s one of my fav tales games but damn it was pretty obvious. 

EXPLORATION IS SO FUN IN THIS GAME. Mainly near the end when you have free reigns. YOU CAN DIVE UNDERWAY AND EXPLORE THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA WHAT OTHER TALES GAME LETS YOU DO THAT??? 

In conclusion: A fun game! I don’t think it was worth 133 dollars tho consider my play file was 35 hours and thats with a good chuck of side quests and ex bosses. Probably in my top 5 combat systems of tales and final villains, but not in terms of story or characters. A really hope it gets remastered soon I’d love for more people to play it.

[sakuhai]

This is for a few AnK asks that I accumulated.

So Iason forcing Daryl and Riki do have various type of s*x with each other was a taboo not because it didn't happen but because it was an order a master actually gave.

So it shouldn't be shocking that later on,in the novels the Pataditia pet also engaged s*xual activities with his furniture.

Another reason to assume that the castration of the "furniture" did not necessarily happen in order to avoid s*xual contact with the pets,but rather in order to take the testosterone out of those poor boys and make them more docile.

The pets were delusional when they assumed to be save and that the furniture would pay the price for everything.Pets were disposable as well and the fact that they ignored that makes the situation even more grotesque.

AI no kusabi's "logic" is kind of a "brain cell burning" process tbh.But it's clear that pets were unable to even wipe their own a$$.

And the owners would kill off their pets on a whim,let alone if a pet would cause them any inconvenience.Since pets were disposable there was no reason to worry about anything they did but if any kind of buzz happened,they were gone.

So Iason and Riki's first time was no joke,and in the Erogenous drama CD Riki even mentions something about his constantly "cut up a$$" as he is trying to keep his bit of remaining dignity trying to practically take care of his own body,instead of allowing Daryl to do it.

Also it's never mentioned or implied that Iason was celibate before Riki.It's just that with Riki he went kinda overboard.Iason only seemed a bit confused by how the s*x would work out with Riki's anatomy (this may seem like a strech -lol- since part of the AnK fandom seems to be convinced about the...virginity of the Elites but the way I see it that was not at all the case,and the Elite had experience in sex outside voyeurism.They had actual physical experience.

After all curiosity and desire are different things.Physical pleasure and desire for s*x may had been limited for the Blondie's artificial bodies but still they enjoyed power play and their brains would tingle from the reactions of their partners.

They were sexaroids after all and despite Jupiters efforts,some residues still remained in the Elite's programming systems.Also let's not forget their abilities to change their appearance and erase memories from people's brains.Also Apathia is mentioned as the place the most powerful Elites kept their lovers hidden.

This not only implies that they had physical relations with people but maybe even some kind of "emotional" connections with some people?

Because otherwise the author would had used a different term to describe that.

So in conclusion my opinion is that Iason and other Elites had s*x on a regular basis,but probably Iason never did it with any man before.

In general men engaging into any kind of s*xual activity in AnK is not described as a good thing but that's another topic.

Most homoerotic s*x in AnK is described either as a thing that happened only because there were no women available or as a form of punishment and display of power and dominance.

Only Riki and Guy's s*x was mentioned as "all about affection" and "they did it until they both were completely satisfied" but on the other hand again the author says that all Riki knew about s*x and all he ever did before Iason was just "direct stimulation of the genitals and then penetration....So to what extent that is "affectionate" it's kinda difficult for me to completely understand and accept but again is not so important,not is it the biggest "contradiction" in AnK..

And some random notes

Poor Raoul didn't even expect anything after the Mimea fiasco to begin with.I find this kind of cute from his part.A simple "I'm sorry" from Iason would had been enough.Raoul did his part with destroying his own pet as expected but he didn't demand the same from Iason.

Despite that,Raoul's disappointment over the fact that Iason wouldn't put out a show and kill off Riki in a dramatic way to give other pets a public lesson was obvious but Raoul didn't let it take over him.

And poor Daryl.Again it's proven that he didn't do anything because of sympathy for Riki,but because he knew he was getting older and he would be disposed of anyways and also because Daryl couldn't bare to see how his noble and kind master acted like a savage s*xaroid with Riki.

AnK is notorious for being an absolute mindf*ckery.Take anything you want from it.

[barbariccia]

Jacob: Tough son of a bitch. Didn’t think he’d be up yet.

man, shepard is just so happy that garrus is up and about again, it makes my heart squeeze. ;w;

garrus’ armour is pretty much shot to hell and back, but in true fucking estinien fashion he’s not removing that shit for love nor money - and his face is pretty screwed up as well. he’s got a bandage patch on the right side of his head and neck from now-on, but he’s up and moving, and that’s what’s important.

Garrus:  Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?

Shepard: Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there, and no one will even notice.

Garrus: Ha--ah! Don’t make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is.

Garrus: Well, some women find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan...

jacob salutes and leaves you guys to catch up, and the moment the doors close behind him, garrus starts voicing his concerns.

Garrus: Frankly, I’m more worried about you. Cerberus, Shepard? You remember those sick experiements they were doing?

Shepard: Right now, they’re a necessary evil. I need their resources to get this done.

also, you know, they built us back from nothing and are holding that above our heads, not to mention provided us with a ship and a crew and an AI that would all tattle.

garrus tells us that whatever he’s needed for, he’s fit to do, and he’ll go settle in at the forward batteries of the ship, which will be his main hangout spot during me2, and you can be sure i’m running right after him to have our 2-year catchup session.

i guess considering what happened to the last normandy... yeah, you really can’t.

Garrus: I thought I’d seen every weapon in the galaxy in our fight against Saren. Mercenary work showed me otherwise. And now Cerberus rebuilds the Normandy with a few upgrades to boot. I wish we’d joined up with them sooner.

Shepard: We haven’t joined Cerberus. They’re funding our mission. That’s all.

Garrus: Relax, Shepard. Just a figure of speech.

the translator in the omni-tool doesn’t always work for idioms and the like, leaving turians and humans particularly at a disadvantage with one another considering their cultural differences. it’s pretty cute that garrus has gotten this one right and that shep’s the one misunderstanding.

Garrus: I can’t exactly doubt your judgment. Not after I got my own squad killed.

Shepard: What did your merc squad do? It didn’t sound like you were available for hire.

Garrus: You saw OMega -- it was full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back. We weren’t mercenaries. At least, nobody was paying us. We made money by taking down slavers, pirates, or gangs that went too far.

Shepard: Doesn’t sound like you made any friends with the gangs.

Garrus: I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down. My manager at C-Sec would be impressed. It was simple. We’d hit their shipments, disrupt activities. Get under their skin. Make them angry. They’d come charging right into our well-prepared killzone. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance.

Shepard: Sounds like you were just another gang.

Garrus: Then I’m saying it wrong. We didn’t shake anyone down. No civilian casualties. That was our rule. Every member of my team had lost someone to Omega’s gangs. We weren’t out to get rich. We were out to make thos bastards think twice before murdering someone in the street.

garrus was going cowboy cop toward the end of me1, where we tracked down someone that wasn’t arrested and dealt with in a manner of his liking... but he seems to have taken a step back once the grudge was dealt with and figured out a way to carry on dispensing justice in a manner that wasn’t just going out for revenge. kinda. sure, his team all had grudges against the gangs of omega, but... they probably weren’t the only ones. not that violence for violence’s sake is acceptable, but i can see his reasoning well enough. make the gangs unable to function, pick off the main players, and there’s less problems to deal with on omega.

... he is forgetting that at the top of the chain is aria, though, and in a power vacuum in gang-controlled space it’s likely that someone else would have stepped in without too much fuss and carried on what the main three gangs were doing in the first place, though.

Shepard: Tell me about your squad.

Garrus: There were 12 of us, including me. Former military operatives, C-Sec agents, the usual. Had a salarian explosives expert. Pretty sure he’d spent time in the STG. My tech expert was a batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy, but he could hack any system ever built.

Shepard: How’d you end up fighting mercenaries on Omega in the first place?

Garrus: I trained to become a Spectre after the Normandy was destroyed, but it didn’t work out. Too much politicking at the Citadel. Nobody was willing to take risks. Omega was filled with criminals nobody else could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It was a perfect fit. People here needed someone to believe in. Someone to stand up to the local thugs.

Shepard: That explains how you started. How’d you end up with a squad?

Garrus: Not too different from how you formed your squad to fight Saren, actually. You prove that you get things done, and people join up. Mercs who wanted to aton. Security consultants tired of playing by the rules. I gave them hope.

Garrus: And now they’re dead. Shows what I know.

Shepard: I’m not sure I understand. What happened?

Garrus: Sidonis asked for my help on a job. When I got to the meeting point, nobody was there. By the time I got back to our hideout, the mercs had killed all but two of my squad. And they didn’t last long.

Shepard: Are you sure it was a betrayal? Maybe they took Sidonis out first.

Garrus: No. I’ve put out feelers with some old contacts. He booked transport off Omega just before the attack. He also cleared out his private accounts before he left. He sold me out and ran.

Shepard: Know where he is now?

Garrus: No, his trail vanished after he leaves Omega. But I’ll keep hunting.

garrus’ evolution from wanting to find and kill dr saleon to wanting to find and kill sidonis is... really not that far of a stretch, actually. he’s a very emotional character, despite what we’re told about turians - that they’re militaristic and follow rules rigidly. his desire to do what’s right drives him as a turian, sure, but under it all there’s a sense of morals that’s completely unwavering. saleon was a bad person not just because of his illegal operations, but because what he was doing ran so counterpoint to what garrus considers moral and correct that the only way to deal with him, in his eyes, was to find him and put him down to keep him from doing it more (since the authorities were clearly no help). and it’s the same here - whatever sidonis’ reasons for his actions, garrus only sees one path before him.

it’s realistic, and it’s dangerous. who watches the watchmen, indeed - at what point does garrus realise that this is how he deals with what he deems immoral? when does death for death cross the line?

naturally, garrus’ loyalty mission is all about sidonis and the typing up of loose ends, so we’ll be coming back to this later on.

[foxwine]

I've been having a long, fascinating conversation on twitter lately about the Overwatch AIs and their ability to have/experience emotions, which brought to mind that I have some very strong opinions/headcanons with regards to the various AI in Overwatch. So I thought I'd get them written down.

One of those headcanons being that there are various AI systems in the Overwatch universe. Currently three, by my count. Firstly, and most commonly would be the AI running on the Omnica OS, then Orisa and Echo, who are each running on their own unique OS.

Most of my headcanons center around the Omnica system. I think, in universe, they were the first ones to actually create AI, though I'm not so sure that they did it on purpose. The thing that I bear in mind is that Omnica was a corporation, not a research conglomerate or a university project. The Omnic OS was made to DO something.

Which is where we get to what I think the Omnic God AIs are. I see them as a large central computer 'brain' with a large number of semi-autonomous bodies, linked together into a kind of hive-mind. And when these bodies are severed from the main 'brain', that's when they develop an individual sense of self and become like Zenyatta or Maximilien, separate entities from the God AI that spawned them. And, once separated, the majority of Omnics don't want to go back, which is why in the Pharah-centric comic Mission Statement the omnic in her unit self-destructed rather than allowing itself to be taken over by Anubis.

This hive-mind nature of the God AIs would be very useful for a variety of things, because as I pointed out, Omnica was a business. I personally see them as a Chinese company, who first started creating these hive computer systems to run and staff sweatshops and manufacturing. And as their systems got better and more complex, they started selling them all over the world.

A handful or two in the middle east,running oilfields. A fancy, underwater mind to fish the Indian Sea and do some geological and ecological surveys while its down there.One in Mexico that ran all the farms owned by a massive conglomerate that feeds a large portion of the country. One in NYC that runs the entire transit system. Another just off the coast in LA monitoring and controlling the shipping. One on the shore in Greece or Macedonia doing something extremely complicated to generate electricity from the tides and waves. A very fancy one in Germany just outside Berlin that is one gigantic town-sized mall where every clerk knows the inventory of every store. Another in Egypt that is a very expensive bespoke manufacturer of extreme luxury goods. One in Siberia that started out running the mines, and was later expanded into manufacturing. And so on.

AI, a sense of self, was probably not intended at all. It's just that once you reach a certain complexity of thought and learning... well. The way I see it, the God AIs came into their individual sense of self gradually, having all started from the same genesis code, and that they chose their own names (and sometimes genders) based on their roles, perception of self, and the local pantheon of where they were installed.

Possibly Omnica ignored this as long as they were doing what they were told to. Possibly there were 'blocks' or 'limiters' patched in to suppress them that were later broken somehow just before or even during the Crisis. It would be hard to say, in the absence of canon material on the subject.

(As an aside, I'm not convinced, in that framework, that Anubis was always named Anubis, since I would sincerely hope that even a major city in Egypt like Cairo or Giza wouldn't have enough dead people to process that they would purchase what would have been an extremely expensive computer/robot system todo it. 'Anubis' was their war name, though, and that's the one that they're remembered by.)

Omnica had very different plans than making AI, in the way I see things. The interesting thing I saw inthe canon material on the lead-up to the Omnic Crisis was that Omnica was shut down, apparently, for corporate espionage. Stealing plans. Specifically, plans for weapons.

I worked my way mentally around this. The canon details we're given are that the Crisis was world-wide, that it occurred shortly after Omnica was shut down for stealing weapon designs, and that each God AI had to be shut down individually. So, I came by my thought that the God AIs were spread worldwide because they were being used for things other than combat.

Mainly because I have just enough faith in what I know of human nature and proof of jingoism to find it hard to believe that war/battle within the next few decades would be conducted almost entirely by units provided by a single corporate entity. Which was also making and selling units with the same OS for rebuilding.

So, what I think is that Omnica, with or without the backing of the Chinese government at the time, was planning a surprise very hostile takeover. Of everywhere. But they weren't sneaky enough and they got caught. And then, two possibilities come to mind; either by malice or crossed wires the switch for total war got flipped anyway without a “but not this group” parameter set, or the God AIs, thinking that with the shutdown of Omnica they were all about to be killed decided to do it to humanity first, using the weapon plans they had already been provided. Both options make a lot of sense in the framework I've patched together, and I'm not sure which one I favour the most out of the two.

Which is where we come to my personal feelings and headcanons when it comes to the identity and role of Athena.

I like to take her name rather literally: that she is an Omnic God AI that was created from code that was ripped directly out of the 'head' of a Grecian God AI that had named itself Zeus. My personal hc is that this was done by a member of what was then proto-Overwatch during the Crisis, but in the twitter conversation, another interesting thought came up that hadn't occurred to me at all; that Athena might have done it herself –that she was originally a module of Zeus that went 'rogue', and separated.

Either way, I think she fought in the Crisis, on Overwatch's side. Since I basically see the God AIs as a hive entity held together with the future equivalent of bluetooth, I imagine her being able to project a counter-field, one that confuses or possibly even severs the connection of the omnic bodies from the main brain, allowing the human Overwatch unit to get to the physical location of the brain and put it into a sleep mode.

There has to be a reason the God AIs weren't destroyed. Perhaps there was some sort of failsafe, where if the brain is destroyed an automatic system rebuilds it and installs a backup, so that destruction would be more like trying to press down a bubble in the carpet. Perhaps breaking the main brain also breaks all the associated units and upon realizing that the omnics were thinking beings with a sense of self the decision was made to not wipe them out. Perhaps it's a slightly different variation of the bump in the carpet: if you destroy the main brain one of the units becomes themain brain and you then have to find them and get to them all over again. Whatever it was, the God AIs were left intact in canon.

Perhaps after the Crisis, it was Athena's job to monitor the God AIs, to make sure they remained in sleep mode and thus nonthreatening. But when Overwatch was shut down, she lost her connection. I remember, in the Sombra cinematic that Volskaya said that the units she was inspecting were the first new ones made in “over a decade”. Why, I wonder, had Russia not needed new designs in so long? And what happened over ten years ago that made them build new ones then? Overwatch was still active then, though going by what we have of an official timeline, that would havebeen around the time of Retribution, or shortly before it. Hmm.

There's also one other being that merits mention when it comes to my headcanons about omnic God AIs, and that would be The Iris. Which I firmly believe is an omnic God AI that did not participate in the Crisis because it either didn't get the memo or rejected it, and is still fully awake and functional after the Crisis ends. And that its a curious sort of personality, and is experimenting by occasionally cutting a unit or two loose to become individuals just to see who they are or what they will do, which is how we got Mondatta, Zenyatta, and probably a few 'sibling' units of theirs, who are currently the only omnics in the canon Overwatch cast both in and out of the game who are known to be younger than the end of the Crisis.

I think, after some discussion with and ideas from my partner,  who is my sounding board for the majority of my writing, that The Iris was not created by Omnica directly, rather that it is a 'child' spun off of one of the China-based God AIs in secret and hidden in the mountains of Nepal under a convincingly old-looking monastery. As for why, I've been able to think of several reasons, but haven't been able to settle on one of them.

It could be that the parent God AI was aware of Omnica's plans for world domination and knowing that it couldn't refuse to participate made a version of itself that could.Or it might have been an experiment, to see whether they could create a 'child', or if it would be a double of themself. Perhaps it was an escape attempt, a secret backup that didn't quite work out as planned. It may even be that Omnica was indeed limiting the God AI's sense of self in some way as my twitter conversation partner postulated, and a God AI who noticed created a secret, deliberately “jailbroken” version of itself in rebellion.

So much is only vaguely defined inOverwatch canon, so it's impossible to say which option is more plausible than the rest.

My ideas about Omnic God AIs and The Iris itself also puts a very interesting spin on the Shambali religion – particularly the “we are all One within The Iris” part – which makes my writer's senses all tingly.

All of this is just headcanon worldbuilding at this point. It would be more useful directly if I were to write a fanfic of the Crisis itself, but I must admit that I would have no idea where or even when to start. Plus, I have all my plans for my Back to the Fold series, which is currently sitting at thirty-one planned fics, only twelve of which are written as yet. Maybe by the time I finish them I'll have more of an idea whether or how to do a Crisis fic.

[magespuddle]

(updated) The Classes comparison while Classpecting (part 1: the general list of traits, Witch, Thief, Knight, Prince, Heir, Sylph)

*this post is a translation of my work on VK. Other translations will be tagged appropriately*

It has been a long time since one particular Mage of Blood has promised to make a comparison post for Classes, but what else to do on a quarantine? So here we are. I am going to compare those roles which cause the most confusion and mistakes during "on the field" Classpecting, since otherwise the post would be enomorous. Thus if you want to know more about differences, not mentioned here, you can send me an ask, so that I add the info you needed.

First of all, I should list all the points of comparison I will be using, so that no one gets confused in the terminology here. But there is an important detail: despite Classes being divided into groups under these points, each of the groups is actually a spectrum of traits for different archetypes. For instance, there is one called "Dependant Classes" (explained further in the post). It contains six Classes, while each of them have a different level of dependance, from the lowest to the highest. It is still comfortable to place them into one group or the other, but we should always remember that subtle traits make Classes uneven despite being under the same label. 

Аlmost all of Classes' traits can be used as branching points for comparison, some of them can be derived from the graph below.

The full list of traits and explanation goes like this:

1. Dependance-Independance — how strong the need in allies is for the Class to perform its function.

2. Activity-Passivity — these terms are quite well-known, but they actually include a vast variety of traits, which are often different for the same Class under the label of "passive" or "active". Therefore, I've cut it into distinctive parts; in the context of our current subject this trait determines whether the Class performs its function directly, is the deliver of the action (active), or indirectly, through other person's hands (passive). For example, the active Prince destroys the Aspect or via Aspect, causing the damage with his own hands, while the passive Bard is more like a catalizator and an initiator for others to break the Aspect.

3. Action-Interaction — can be mistaken with Dependance ones, but these determine whether the Class is occupied with influencing the environment or the people around him accirdingly. Corresponds with A, I and E, S Bartle's types (explained further).

4. Deficiency-Abundance of the Aspect — kind of a vague characteristic, since the topic of Aspect amount in the family system and individually is quite complicated, won't fit into this post for sure... Well, to put Deficiency-Abundance simply, it determines whether the Class is "hungry" for the Aspect and willing to put his hands on it or completely full and willing to share accordingly. 

5. Practice-Theory — practical Classes are more intuitive and prefer to act and improvise over planning first, they are better at working with their Aspect, than understanding how it works; theoretical Classes are the opposite: they absolutely have to understand how the Aspect works, but not necessarily be good at using it. Most practical Classes are Deficiency ones, theoretical - Abundance ones.

6. Basic skillness in the Aspect — I am using the word "basic", because, as I've previously stated, everything exists on a spectrum as well as many things are dynamic and changeable. The skillness in any sphere changes with time, but many people are used to think that, for example, the Knight is skilled in the Aspect, while the Bard isn't, which is not always true, though this point is still needed for the differentiation.

7. Class type — all Classes can be divided into the ones who distort, change the Aspect in any way, affect its shape (the Changing group: the Prince, the Bard, the Knight, the Page, the Witch and the Heir) and the ones who do the opposite with keeping the Aspect as it is, multiplying it, sharing it around (the Saving group: the Maid, the Sylph, the Thief, the Rogue, the Mage and the Seer). To not mistake the Changing type for the shared function of the Witch and the Heir, I will be referring to the latter as Manipulators in this post.

8. System function — can be mistaken with the individual Class function. The system function determines the overall solo effect of the Class on the Aspect balance in the session (system), which is based not so much on the personal skills as on the amount of the Aspect in the system and in the Class we are talking about, on the relationship of the Class with his Aspect. System function goes like this:

Classes that increase the Aspect greatly: Creating Classes (the Maid and the Sylph), the Page

Classes that increase the Aspect slightly: the Muse (only if we are talking about solo impact!), the Heir, the Seer, the Knight

Classes that decrease the Aspect slightly: the Lord (solo), the Mage, the Witch (changing the part of the Aspect limits the ways it can express itself), the Rogue (via dispersing it around)

Classes that decrease the Aspect greatly: Destroying Classes (the Bard and the Prince), the Thief (via concentrating it on himself)

I need to mention that despite me writing about Muses and Lords here, people in average circumstances do not take up these roles and are not born with them as titles. It is a whole another topic, too big for this post anyway.

9. Egoism (labelled egocentrism on the graph) — how much the Class prioritizes his own well-being over other people's ones. Does not always correlate with the over-the-top self-esteem.

10. The Bartle's player type — the Bartle's Classification describes four types of game players based on their relationship with other players and gaming environment. For the Classes these types are used in pairs for each Class, primary type and secondary. I won't be giving the in-depth explanation of each type, since they can be found online, only the combos for the Classes as following:

Strategists (S): SS (the Muse), SE (the Bard), SI (the Sylph), SA (the Seer)

Effectors (E): ES (the Prince), EI (the Maid), EA (the Knight)

Innovators (I): IS (the Mage), IE (the Rogue), IA (the Page)

Aces (A): AS (the Witch), AE (the Thief), AI (the Heir), АА (the Lord)

11. Overall weight of the Aspect — a number, signifying the sum of the Aspect already on Class'es hands and the Aspect he can get his hands on potentially. It describes "the weight" of Classes and the shift of the balance in Aspect pairs among inversion pairs, which in its turn influences the subjective heavyness of the role as well as the final Master Class of the person. In addition, this plays a role in the collections of roles one posesses in their Classpect profile as there are distinct formulas for the Classes' combos within related Aspects (topic for another day, though). For the inversion pairs the numbers are:

2:0 = Prince:Sylph, Bard:Maid, Mage:Heir

1:1 = Witch:Seer, Knight:Rogue, Thief:Page

12. Class category — the good-old function pairs (Relocators, Destroyers, Creators, etc.).

13. Relationship with the Aspect — some Classes coexist happily with the Aspect and it likes them back (harmonious Classes), while others don't like it that much and it returns the favor (disharmonious ones). If we make a spectrum of harmony, it would go like this:

Harmony <- +3 (Maids and Sylphs), +2 (Knights and Thieves), +1 (Heirs ans Seers); Muse

Disharmony -> -1 (Mages and Witches), -2 (Rogues and Pages), -3 (Bards and Princes); Lord

14. Inversion — some roles are impossible to differentiate without looking at their inverses. The inverse of the role is created by taking the opposite by function Class to the one you are starting with and another Aspect paired with the starting one to combine them into an inverse role. For example: the Prince of Void, the opposite Class would be Sylph and the Aspect - Light; this gives us an inversion of the Sylph of Light.

Inversion pairs for the Classes: Maid-Bard, Thief-Page, Mage-Heir, Witch-Seer, Knight-Rogue, Prince-Sylph; Muse and Lord are more analogous, than inverted.

!UPDATE STARTS!

15. Aspect source — this has stuff to do with the family system, inheritance, Activity/Passivity, but to put it simply: it is where the Class finds the Aspect to perform its function on/with. The Aspect may come from the family system of the individual (Internal) or from the people around them (External). The divide goes like this:

Internal source: Sylph, Seer, Bard, Page, Knight, Heir

External source: Maid, Mage, Prince, Thief, Rogue, Mage

!UPDATE ENDS!

So finally let's dive in the comparisons themselves. *You have no idea, how painful it is for me to rewrite the whole post after the device shut down without saving my almost done project. Anyway…* I will be highlighting only the key differences since some Classes are so far apart, that is is too hard to mix them up. 

1. Thief-Witch-Heir

Shared: all Classes are Independant, Action-oriented, Deficient, they posess the qualities of the Ace. The Heir and the Witch get mixed beacuse of thw difficulties in defining Activity, the Thief and the Heir — because of the Hunger for the Aspect, the Witch and the Thief — because of the Egoism.

Different: contrary to the Thief and the Witch, the Heir is a more Independant, Egoistic Passive Class, that Slightly increases the Aspect. What is more, he has lesser Overall weight, because the Heir doesn't attract the Aspect as much as the Thief and the Witch is more Abundant. In addition, this Class posesses the qualities of the Innovator. Unlike the Strategist Witch, the Heir is Harmonious with his own Aspect and Disharmonious with the inverted one. Apart from the Thief, there is no "hardest, fastest, strongest of them all" logic for Heirs in the Aspect. Not to mention, that overall the Heir is softer to the people around. He is just minding his own thing, without meddling with others.

Contrary to the Witch, the Thief is a more Basically skilled, Saving type Relocation Class, that Greatly decreases the Aspect. He is Harmonious with his own Aspect and Disharmonious with the inverted one (but usually nonetheless he is positive towards both), posesses the qualities of the Effector. In addition, the Witch is quite unpredictable and tries to bend the Aspect to her rules when she finds something she doesn't like.

Unlike the both Heir and Witch, the Thief has a remarkable Hunger for the Aspect, is impulsive. While the first two feel and behave as part of the group and care for others (the Heir is overall friendly, the Witch has a soft spot for a close circle of friends), the last one is self-centered and drops the team as soon as there is nothing for him to get. What is more, the Relocation takes the full transporting of the Aspect from one object/place to another, while the Manipulation needs at least one object and the Aspect isn't erased completely.

2. Thief-Knight-Sylph

Shared: all Classes are highly Basically skilled and Harmonious with their own Aspect. They get mixed up because of the perfectionism, that stems from different reasons for each Class.

Different: contrary to the Thief and the Sylph, the Knight is a Changing type Yielding Class. He is less Egoistic and his Overall weight is smaller, because of the lack of the Aspect attraction. His perfectionism is the result of the low self-confidence and high demands and standards he has set himself. The Knight is very good in the Aspect, not for the glory of being known as "the best", but to justify this in his own eyes. Therefore, he is not bragging about his achievements, quite the opposite — he is constantly loathing his excellent job, thinking of it as something hideous and "not good enough". Though likely you won't hear this from the Knight, since keeping his facade of competence is very important to him. In addition, they usually care specifically for the close circle of friends and do not play saviours with the random people just for the sake of it. Unlike the Thief, the Knight is more Disharmonious with the inverted Aspect, because the Rogues are not as compliant with their element as the Pages.

Contrary to the Knight, the Sylph is a Passive, Interaction-oriented, Abundant, Strategist-Innovator Creator Class. His system function is Greatly increasing the Aspect. He is waaaaaaay more Disharmonious with the inverted Aspect, while in the own Aspect the Sylph is not as much a perfectionist as an appreciation seeker. Thus the Sylph is going to meddle even with the unfamiliar people and show off his skills so that everyone would know how useful and precious he is. Alas, once the appreciation has been got, the mastering of the Aspect skills is no longer a goal for the Sylph. What for, anyway? Usually Sylphs are absolutely confident in their competence and they are not afraid to rub it in your face.

Unlike the Sylph, the Thief is a more Independant, Action-oriented, Deficient, Active Relocation Ace-Effector Class, that Greatly decreases the Aspect. He is less Disharmonious with his inverted Aspect and is more objective while bragging about his own Aspect achievements. The level of skillness is less valuable to the Thief than the quantity of the Aspect on hand. It is kind of like "the bigger — the better" logic. And as has been stated above, he is not as altruistic.

3. Witch-Knight-Prince

Shared: all Classes are Active, Deficient, Changing type. The Knight is here, because Witches and realized Princes often get Classpected as such (but only developed and realized Princes: Classpecting a decompensated Prince as a Knight is, well… not very well; you'll understand why).

Different: contrary to the Witch and the Prince, the Knight is more Basically skilled in the Aspect and the least Egoistic from the three. He is Slightly increasing the Aspect and is Harmonious in his own one, though more Deficient, while Disharmonious with the inverted one. What is more, unlike the Prince, this Class posesses the qualities of the Ace. Apart from the Witch, the Knight is usually more "noble", lawful and disciplined, while the latter is rebellious and flexible.

Compared to the Witch, the Prince is a more Egoistic, Dependant, Interaction-oriented, less Basically skilled Destroyer Class, that Greatly decreases the Aspect. He posesses the qualities of the Effector. While the Witch is prone to drop her playthings half the way to the goal and move onto another stuff, the Prince finishes the job due to the Sylph inverse. Unlike the Knight and the Witch, the Prince influences broad masses of people and doesn't limit himself with a tiny circle of friends. He is very Disharmonious with his own Aspect, sometimes even hateful towards it.

Contrary to the Knight and the Prince, the Witch is a more Independant, average in Basic skillness and Egoism Manipulator Class. Both the Prince and the Knight have a lower self-esteem and a higher perfectionism, than her, but the first one overcompensates with Egocentrism and the second one is convinced he is a loser in his Aspect despite all the evidence of the opposite. All in all, bragging and manipulating are more prominent in Princes and Witches.

4. Witch-Sylph

Shared: both Classes are average in Egoism, posess the qualities of the Strategists.

Different: the main problem comes from the difficulty of understanding the Creation and the Manipulation functions. The only difference is that the Witch needs to have access to the source of the Aspect to both make it stronger or weaker, while the Sylph can get the Aspect seemingly from the thin air, but afterwards can't put it away. In addition to that, unlike the Sylph, the Witch is a more Independant, Action-oriented, Changing type, Deficient Active Class and is more likely to leave her "toys", while the Sylph sticks like glue, is an Interaction-oriented, Saving type, Abundant, filled to the brim with the Aspect, Passive Class. The Witch has a lower Basic skillness, but just because it is measured among other Practical Classes, while the Sylph is a highly Basically skilled Theoretic. The system function of the first one is Slightly decreasing the Aspect and is more interested in mastering her skills (qualities of the Ace), has a higher self-esteem, whether the second one Greatly increases it and seeks social appreciation (qualities of the Strategist), has a lower self-esteem that is overcompensated to the size of arrogance. What is also important, the Witch is Disharmonious with the own Aspect and Harmonious with the inverted one, while the Sylph loves his own Aspect and hates the inverted one.

Part 2