#arctosz

[arknights-archive]

5th anniversary celebration artwork by 团表哥 - The Rides to Lake Silberneherze / So Long, Adele

[alinaartorius]

Kjerag

[sunder-the-gold]

[Break the Ice] Arctosz Paleroche taking the fall for General Valais

Initially, I boggled at the idea that the leaders of Kjerag stuck Arctosz (the Ursus head of the Paleroche clan) with the blame for poisoning the Great Elder. I needed to think about that to see the sense in it.

First of all, someone has to take the blame for poisoning the elder, and Silverash had already told the crowds that Arctosz did it. They watched it happen with their own eyes.

People won't forget what they "saw" so easily, but they can more easily change their minds about motive. Especially if Silverash (who's gotten everything he wanted anyway) can later claim that he had jumped to false conclusions in the heat of the moment.

Arctosz would never want to be seen or remembered as a traitor who tried to usurp the government, but he can more easily tolerate being seen as a criminal avenger.

The Great Elder murdered one of Arctosz' generals by giving the clan head poison in the guise of medicine, letting the clan head unwittingly murder his own man. The revelation devastated Arctosz to the point that General Valais (the white Caprinae) took time out of her mutiny to tell him pointblank that she doesn't blame him at all for her father's death, to keep Arctosz from doing anything drastic in penance.

As the dust settled, I can definitely see Arctosz accepting the false charges against him to protect Valais. It's a way to atone to her and her father by taking the fall and protecting the man's daughter. Arctosz could even, in his own heart, retroactively take some responsibility and satisfaction for the poisoning, as he would have wanted to punish the Great Elder in a fitting fashion for the crime.

The Ursus general (Gulo) won't be happy about the lies, but he should be able to accept the convenience* as easily as he accepted that Valais wasn't his enemy even when she was his opponent. Even with Arcotosz forced to step down, his generals should be able to present a united front as they lead the clan in his absence.

*And let's be clear. Others might call such lies a 'necessity', but it's really just a matter of expedience and convenience. It's EASIER to lie than to do things honestly.

But lies are exactly how Silverash and Ratatos ended up in a burning house in a civil war when none of that actually needed to happen.

[werfenspeer]

New art to commemorate Break The Ice rerun on CN!

(Source)

[animalpetcel]

KJERAGKNIGHTS GAINS A NEW MEMBER

I was worried that she would have went back to Kazmierz or Lethania or just not be aligned with Karlan but yeah SA offers her enough benefits!

Now I just need the 6 months to pass quickly

[legofrans]

Do you think Kjera and Enya ever explored each oth-

[kindauglypikachuicon]

Everyone’s ears look so cute and fluffy in Break The Ice event, I wanna touch them!!

[yakourinka]

so these are apparently leto's parents and arctosz being her dad is why she's showing up in a kjerag event. but more importantly leto's mother is, dare I say, very hot

[chatonarya]

Aside from the Forerunner connection, there are two smaller details in SilverAsh's Never-Melting Ice skin that are very significant lore-wise that I would like to point out.

First, the emblem on his shoes.

This is the symbol of the Vine-Bear Court, represented by Kjerag's three mountains. It's most significantly seen in this CG from BI-ST-1 during the Tri-Clan Council. See it behind the Great Elder's seat in the hall, and also in Karlan Square.

(As a side-note, three is a significant arc number in Kjerag: three clans; three mountains; the three Silverash siblings; the three main Browntails Ratatos, Sciurus, Yucatan; the three main Paleroches Arctosz, Gulo, Valais; the three Karlan Trade founders; the three-year gap between BI and RS.)

I'd also like to draw attention to the crests of the three clans here, so we can see how their shapes are represented in the triple mountain symbol with the triangles and circles (green is the Paleroches, blue is the Silverashes, red is self-explanatory). (Source: Terra: A Journey.)

Next, the emblem on Enciodes's belt, seen most clearly in the promotional spread for "The Pilgrim."

This is the same emblem as one of Degenbrecher's medals, specifically, the third one, as seen in her module and on her E0 art.

This is the "Warrior of Kjeragandr" medal, which is a medal of honor issued by Vine-Bear Court, and if I understand correctly (limited MTL), is implied to have been given to Degenbrecher by Enya.

So here in this skin, Enciodes is wearing not just one, but two symbols of parties who have historically opposed him: the Vine-Bear Court, and potentially the Saintess as well.

Perhaps, at last, be it though in the hour of necessity, he has received their blessing? Perhaps, at last, they have made peace?

[shuttershocky]

Doctor, doing a now very practiced song and dance: Hey heyyy I'm just a weird dude! Just a funny lil guy! You wouldn't hurt a funny lil guy would you?

Arctosz: Hmm. I still do not trust you, weird foreigner, but you have proven your lack of mischief. Forgive my rudeness, you are the Paleroche clan's honored guest. Whatever you need, I will provide.

Kal'tsit, 2000 kilometers away with veins throbbing in her head: How. The FUCK. Do they keep doing that?!!!

[thatmaritime]

I don’t think Silverash’s deal with the doctor just comes down to a belief that he’s found a worthy, strategically-minded rival.  The doctor has a combination of two weapons that Silverash is incapable of wielding at the same time: good faith and trust.  I’m defining good faith not as just peoples’ ability to trust in another person, but also the belief that what they’re doing is the right thing to do.  Break the Ice is about highlighting how good faith and trust get used, and what happens when you can only wield one or the other.  

On the good faith side of things, you have people like Enya (in the beginning of the event) and Arctosz.  Enya is emblematic of good faith—she’s the Saintess.  She has the good will of the people of Kjerag by merit of her connection to Kjeragandr.  Silverash installed her there in hopes of using that good faith by association as her brother.  Arctosz has the good will of the Paleroche Clan who, even when he gets framed for something he didn’t do, still stick by him because they know he’s driven so firmly by his morals.

On the trust side, you have Silverash and Gnosis.  The subordinates they have are loyal to them not necessarily out of any belief that they’re good people, but what they’re doing is something they can accomplish successfully and something that needs to get done.  In turn, they reciprocate that level of trust with one another.  They believe the other to be competent enough to achieve their goals and be a boon to their plans.

However, neither of them have trustworthy reputations, and both of them are very much aware of this.  Silverash’s entire plot revolves around trying to curry the good faith of the people of Kjerag by making the other people in leadership positions look morally bankrupt.  He and Gnosis make Gnosis out to be totally morally bankrupt so when Silverash seemingly ousts him, he looks like he cares about integrity (though neither of the other clans’ leadership fall for this). 

The Doctor wields both good faith and trust.  The operators around them don’t just know that the Doctor will get the job done, but that what they’re doing is the right thing to do.  Sharp doesn’t care that stopping Silverash’s plan is morally correct.  He cares that when the Doctor says “I need you to hold off Degenbrecher for my plan to succeed” that that plan will be successful.  Ensia cares that the Doctor will help her sister because being manipulated like she’s been is unfair; the political ramifications of what happens to Kjerag aren’t her main concern.  The Doctor earns the good faith and later the trust of the Paleroches by demonstrating their competence as well as the fact they’re willing to step in and stop Silverash even though it doesn’t particularly benefit Rhodes Island to do so.  

At the end of the day, things don’t go to plan for Silverash and Gnosis because they can’t wield both of those weapons.  Gnosis loses the good faith of Monch and she leaves him.  Silverash never had the good faith of Enya, so when she does ascend to power, he can’t influence her. 

Enya succeeds because she learns to use good faith and trust by the end of the story line.  She earns the trust of Kjera that she’ll be an excellent Saintess for the country.  The good faith the people have in her is validated by the miracle at the end of the conflict.

Anyway, what I’m getting at is that one of the reasons Silverash comes to Rhodes Island to be an operator is so that he can see good faith and trust being applied and how to use them properly via the Doctor.  

[rontra]

Your Pramanix comic is really cool! Do you mind if I ask what the un-translated parts mean, and what's Ensia saying on page 6? What language is it even? And timeline-wise, when is the final scene set? :O

thank you!!

ah...now i must answer for my indulgence... BHJDGKJNMG SORRYYY THIS IS LONG BUT

in the dream sequence, everyone's speaking norwegian. i thought overlaying the translated text gave it a cool like "echoey" feel 😳 since it's a distant memory and a dream at the same time, that sort of separation between sound and meaning feels bigger. it's a vibe

(also it's my first language so it's easy to use without having to study up beforehand LMAO)

(there's obviously several various different cultures that serve as inspirations for kjerag's visual design and lore, but sort of, linguistically(?), it borrows some from norwegian (such as Kjerag being a real place--and popular hiking spot!--in norway, not even super far from my family lol). you could say this all started when Arctosz dropped a norwegian "fy faen" right into the Break the Ice script, implying some things about the language that is Spoken there, which i'm Still Recovering From bc it was Very Funny)

(let enya say faen)

Speaking Of, that's one of the untranslated bits huh. BHJDFDN there's a couple

fy faen - a high tier curse word, everybody's favorite. "faen" is the main swear, "fy" is an intensifier to amplify the profanity. on page 9, it might be most thematic to translate it as a truly heartfelt "god (fucking) damn it"? LOL (i could also see myself rendering it as simply "fuck" depending on mood; neither is a direct translation). let enya say faen

kjære kjeragandr - this repeated refrain is the title of the comic, "dear kjeragandr"

ensia on page 6 - she's trying to say "kjære kjeragandr" too, but she's very young here--she's started talking but hasn't grasped all the sounds yet. i sort of fudged the rendering of that to try and make it identifiably "an echo" of what enciodes said, even if you couldn't understand what it meant. (she can't say R yet, so it's skipped entirely, while the remaining vowels are repeated as another Æ to simplify it for herself.)

the main loss here is "KJ", which is a very difficult sound--often the one kids acquire very last--which is being substituted with the far easier to say "SJ" sound. this is sort of niche detail, but basically KJ being so difficult is probably the reason "kjerag" in most ingame lines and text is written/pronounced more like "Yerag"; "kj" is not typically a shared phoneme between these languages, so you can't easily transcribe it and many can't pronounce it. because it's a sound you acquire late in the game, ensia doesn't have it down yet at her age and replaces it with a simpler one.

(a SJ (pronounced "SH" as in SHH or HUSH) is the common substitute for KJ, and in some dialects it's beginning to replace KJ entirely even among adults as the language changes. 🧐)

anyway.

as the memory segues into its more erratic form and finally into direct reality, the ethereal sensory gap between sound and meaning in the early memories diminishes and the text is rendered entirely in english. i imagine they're still speaking another language though (whatever they call their language in-universe HSBFHDB THEY ARE SPEAKING KJERAG)

the final scene (where enya wakes up) is set before Break the Ice. it's only after this that kjarr will become more proactive and strike out on her own with the doctor and such... 😏 go funky little goddess go

anyway sorry for rambling i just accidentally put a lot of thought into my gacha catgirl comic. thank you for giving me the excuse to talk about it. HJBDFGFDKMJGB

[knockoffmordred]

Even if the colors are all muted and grey except for the patches of red-orange on Arctosz, the Doctor somehow manages to stand out. They're just there, vibing in the frontlines.

[sunder-the-gold]

[Break the Ice] is a rather unusual story about 'faith’

'God' is not presented as a powerless figment of imagination; Kjeragandr did exist and still does exist, and she does have superhuman, supernatural power. The first people of Kjerag made a very pragmatic choice in hitching their wagon to her star.

On the other hand, Kjeragandr is not a spirit, or at least not an equivalent of the Jewish/Christian God. Her power is not omnipotent, her knowledge is not omniscient, and even with her ability to teleport freely about her nation she is not omnipresent. Furthermore, she can likely be killed. As I opined earlier, all of these limitations led Kjeragandr to eventually quit ruling the country as its goddess, after she came to recognize her inadequacy as a god.

It's unknown if her people began to overestimate her abilities before or after she vanished. But either way, [Break the Ice] is typical of atheistic explorations of faith in the spiritual, in that it showcases people holding to a dangerously futile belief in a 'god' that cannot live up to the hype.

[Break the Ice] is also typical in presenting worship of a god as something outdated, though it takes a more nuanced approach in that the practice is not outdated because 'people learned better' or 'people learned the truth about the world', but that the practice was flawed from the start since the 'god' couldn't be God, and even she realized it and stepped down.

What’s more, her inadequacies as ‘God’ only increase as the outside world rapidly develops technologies and infrastructures that surpass Kjeragandr's power, and she's helpless to keep up with the pace on her own.

However, co-existing with Kjeragandr and honoring her blessings (and listening to her advice in person) is not presented as a mistake. Even if she's no longer the overwhelming advantage for her people against outside forces that she used to be, she's still willing to help her people, and she's perhaps even stronger and wiser than she was before... she's capable of growing alongside her people.

In that sense, [Break the Ice] seems rather moderate in attitude, suggesting that humanity not only has room for both spirituality and technology, but that humanity is better off for embracing both.

This same moderation seems to be applied to the idea of faith itself. Not specifically faith in a spiritual reality, but faith in 'higher powers'. Including merely mortal institutions and figures like the Vine-Bear Court and its Great Elder.

The Great Elder and Enya Silverash agree in their final clash (and Kjera herself says to the Doctor much earlier) that people are eager to invest their faith into someone or something that promises them stability and safety, and that people are loathe to question that decision afterwards.

But the Great Elder is the only one who wants to abuse that faith to maintain his own authority and legacy. He's the only one who cannot imagine Kjerag changing without completely falling apart as a culture or society.

Arctosz has a less extreme view; he has the same fears as the Great Elder, but those fears are fed largely by the Great Elder, and by his own distrust of Enciodes Silverash. Arctosz isn't even wrong to question Enciodes' loyalty to their country, because Enciodes is absolutely terrible at sincerely garnering trust in other people. Narratively, Arctosz steps off the stage as an actor once he learns the Great Elder betrayed his faith, and once Enya Silverash steps forth to bridge the divide between Arctosz and her brother.

Ratatos is another step removed; her reservations have little to do with faith in Kjeragandr or the Great Elder, and everything to do with her distrust in Enciodes. Narratively, Ratatos steps off the stage as an actor once she and Enciodes finally have an honest heart-to-heart where her fears are laid to rest.

Completely unlike the Great Elder, Kjera knows her people can and must change to adapt to the times; she's witnessed them change from the people she found into the original Kjerag in the first place, and she's watched them slowly change ever since unto the modern day.

Enya Silverash likewise insists that the nation of Kjerag must start to question itself again, test itself again. Their ancestors developed traditions based on the needs of the day, through trial and error, but now Kjerag must seek out new trials and challenges before the wolf arrives at their door.

They have to identify the traditions that still work, to keep for the sake of practicality and for serving as a bridge between the different living generations and between the legacy of the dead and the identity of the living. But traditions that no longer benefit the people must be discarded, and new traditions must be enacted. Modern Kjerag cannot go back to the days of their forefathers, and if their forefathers had founded Kjerag now, they would have done so according to the demands of the modern world.

[arya-jaeger]

Yucatan Browntail / Gnosis / Great Elder / Monch / SilverAsh Alt / Arctosz Paleroche Squirrel / Red-Crowned Crane / Snow Lynx / Musk Deer / Snow Leopard / Bear

[druidquest]

arctosz is boyfriend shaped