#back to jugdral thoughts

[gascon-en-exil]

"dubiously moral or outright evil royalty and their unfathomably devoted personal servant/knight/advisor is simply one of the top ships of all time." // I saw this tagged as dimidue and... honest question, when was Dimitri Morrally Dubious or Outright Evil in 3Houses? I get he's one of the final bosses of Crimson Flower, but if that = morally dubious... I don't see it.

Also, doesn't he die in VW/SS and he stops being "feral" shortly after Dedue is recruited? When was Dedue doing Dimitri's evil bidding in game?

It's a massive stretch to try to paint Dimitri as such, even for fans who actively want dark Dimitri content. I've seen people on the anon meme complain about much the game forces you to reach for some serious, ahem, "dark fuck prince" Dimitri stuff, since when you get down to it the only people we ever see him do anything to beyond series-standard violence are 1) generic soldiers or 2) Randolph, who belongs to a very broad category of FE bosses that are next door to generics for how easily the games reduce them to cannon fodder. The DLC even walks back that angle a bit with a comment from Yuri about Dimitri becoming a folk hero in Faerghus during the timeskip, which really undercuts the thought that he might be out there killing random civilians or whatever. Crimson Flower certainly doesn't sell it, in large part because it just doesn't have the time to develop any of its four separate antagonist factions well in only six chapters. Dimitri has, what, two scenes or so before he's faced as a boss in CF? Silver Snow and Verdant Wind are no help either, with his sole appearance in the former being possibly a hallucination and his appearance in the latter being followed by Dedue basically turning into Finn from Jugdral and devoting himself to avenging his fallen lord/lover.

Pretty much any dark Dimidue content with even a small basis in canon is going to pull from that Dedue/Felix support where Felix posits several hypothetical terrible things that Dedue would commit for Dimitri. Felix is being obviously antagonistic, and none of what he claims is ever realized in the story, so it's really hard to take that conversation as anything but Dedue telling Felix what he wants to hear because he knows the guy is working through his own issues and possibly wants to get in for some throuple action and also understands through their years of mutual trauma bonding that Dimitri would never order him to kill children. You really have to work for in-character dark Dimidue; they're actually an incredible sappy couple (have you seen some of their lines to each other?) who's going to go on to adopt like twenty kids together, with the sole caveat being that both of them will completely lose it if their massive Do Not Separate sticker is ever violated.

(One could also apply similar observations on fandom trends to Catherine/Rhea, but I'm less familiar with that pairing.)

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

it's me, back again, spamming mod sommie with my 3am thoughts, i'm forcing you to read my giant rambling headcanon conspiracy theory thing

the royal family of ylisse in awakening has the "mark of the exalt" which, while never really fully explained is basically just a mark that shows a relation to naga it's never been really fully explained in-universe what makes someone able to wield falchion, since marth alone is able to do it in archanea despite not really having anything special like the Mark of the Exalt or a brand or anything of the like, but the same falchion in Awakening is only useable in gameplay by Chrom and Lucina. (One of the supports with Lucina and Inigo, Male Morgan, or Brady if they're her brother implies that they can use it too but don't know they can).

so that got me thinking about how it parallels to the Naga Holy Blood and the Naga tome, since both Deirdre and Julia have Naga holy blood and a corresponding mark (similar to the Mark of the Exalt) I think this implies that the Mark of the Exalt is at the very least a parallel to Naga Holy Blood linked to a holy weapon (Falchion), although the implied ability of both children of a "major blood" holder being able to wield the weapon is interesting. Either Falchion is not bound specifically to "major blood", which has a possible gap in Lissa and Owain not being able to wield it, but it's possible she just has like carrier recessive holy blood since Owain and Ophelia have the Mark of the Exalt. The other option is that both children have "major holy blood", which contradicts what we see in Jugdral where it's usually one child has major and the other children minor.

So this all boils down to the thought experiment of "Can Julia and Deirdre wield Falchion, and by extension Seliph @ the holy blood distinction", then also the inverse of "Can Chrom, Lucina, any of their children, Lissa, Owain/Odin, or Ophelia use Jugdral Naga?" The Naga tome and all the other Holy Weapons as a findable items in Awakening have the lore that its blood link and power has diminished over the centuries and is able to be used by everyone as a result, so it doesn't really help answer the question and Jugdral never really had a Falchion so we can't really have an answer to that

also lissa and odin/ophelia would be menaces with the naga tome let's be real

personally i think mage fighter julia with falchion and naga would be a really cool concept.

and you know chrom's ass is not reading that holy book he will throw it at grima

thanks for coming to my ted talk

.

[amitieos]

toa anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Nic

Pronouns: they/them

Birthday (no year): 14th July

Where are you from? What is your time zone? UK, GMT (or BST but don't get me started on daylight savings I'll explode)

How long is your roleplay experience? Does playing A Bug's Life on the playground when I was 5 count? If not, I started with rping HP characters with my friends when I was like 11-12 over MSN after school and whilst there have been breaks it's something I've always found myself coming back to.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? As above, I made a couple of friends on (unrelated) forums and we all just thought it'd be fun.

How were you introduced to TOA? I thought I missed rp and looked for an FE based rp.

Do you have any pets? Yes, all hail Catcat the Great.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Summer. I hate the heat and humiditiy but once there's no daylight the seasonal affective disorder bass boosts my chronic mental health issues and it's just a bad time really.

What is your IRL occupation? I've gone back to uni to study Law :)

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I love reading, I'm fascinated by linguistics and astrophysics, enjoy DnD and playing video games in my spare time. I'm a particular sucker for the Sims franchise.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Recently I've been playing BG3, Stardew Valley, The Sims & Fields of Mistria but I'm a big fan of the Persona series and really, really excited about Dragon Age The Veilguard

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I don't really play Pokemon much anymore but I'll just say Sylveon I guess

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I met the fourth Doctor when I was 11 and he complemented my vocabulary lmao. I once got published in a poetry anthology with a poem about Shadow the Hedgehog and my parents we so proud of me.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I think I saw a review on TV

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I've attempted to play every game except 1/2/3/5/11, although I've really wanted to play Thracia I just *need* some QoL updates and controls. I haven't finished every single one because of lost/deleted saves and stuff but I've watched playthroughs and read up on scripts on everything I haven't actually played myself.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: My first was Fates but Jugdral, Magvel and 3 Houses are my favourite

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Elincia, Mercedes, Franz, Myrrh and ughhhh I can't choose between Chole/Yunaka/Sylvain so I'm cheating

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! I saw Ryoma in all that red armour and it grabbed my attention.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Miss Mercedes if you're free Thursday night

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom, originally be accident but now on purpose :D - Fates: My first was Takumi and I didn't know what an S support was and was very confused. Nowadays usually Kaze or Laslow if playing F!Corrin and Orochi, Nyx or Charlotte if playing M!Corrin. Niles for either. - Three Houses: Mercedes. She's still my go to ofc but I'm also fond of Dorothea, Dimitri and Sylvain. If I'm playing M!Byleth Yuri or Ingrid - Engage: Yunaka was my first and now it's either Yunaka, Diamant or Chloe. Or Mauvier maybe hahfsdgfsd

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I love Pegasus Knights!!!!!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Probably a reluctant recruit who accidentally gets involved. Weirdly magic based armoured character.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Either unaffiliated civilian or Blue Lions probably

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Reason, Heavy Armour Banes: Bow, Faith Budding Talent: idk Axes or Flying?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) No idea! Probably Elusia or Firene. The Solm heat would literally kill me.

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) TOA ;) (like Noah)

Current TOA muses: Elincia & Mercedes

Past TOA muses? A lot but most memorable to me are Sylvain and Julia, though I'm so excited to see Sylvain in good hands <3

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Elincia and I still have her.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? White magic girlies though I'm trying to change things up.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? Hm, I wish I felt I could write more of the male characters I enjoy effectively. In most other fandoms I've written in most of my muses have been men but it's just not so in FE. I'd also love to write a villain okay I once genuinely considered Hilda FE4 lmao

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I like writing dialogue and characters bonding but I'm starting to like more action oriented scenes too.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? For Mercedes in particular I get excited to write her steel and strength, especially when it's combined with her gentleness rather than opposed to it.

Favorite TOA-related memories? Every thread I've writen with Elincia and Rua's Byleth <3

Present or past tense? I tend to default to present in TOA but usually past tense. I'm flexible though and will try and match my partner.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I actually find small text easier to focus in on and read (I can find normal a bit too cluttered and it can send my eyes wandering lmao) but I'm perfectly happy to use normal text, it just takes me a bit longer to comb through.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 I can't see a shake up happening soon but... Zephia or Chloe are probably forerunners. I've thought about Palla and Astrid too but I'm not sure if I can see the longevity. Also Neimi, Myrrh and Rodrigue have sparked.... ideas. For muses I've written before, Julia is the most likely but I think she's having a nice break right now :)

[randomnameless]

Okay I can see various fire emblem lords being big horseback riders and skilled in equestrian riding.

The jugral lords being into dressage, the hoshido nobles being into horse racing, I can see the tellius lords being into cross country, and show jumping being popular in Valencia.

Thoughts on horseback riding and fire emblem lords?

Oh!

It depends for the Jugdral Lords, if you mean Siggy, Eldie and Quan then yeah, maybe dressage was prevalent in their places, maybe just to show their mastery over their horses.

However, Seliph and Leif weren't raised in the same "environment", with Seliph wanting to emulate Shanan rather than his dad through Oifey lol

As for Leif, being on the run since age 4 sure didn't help him take riding lessons, even if I'm pretty sure Finn wanted to have that covered!

TFW both Hoshido and Nohr enjoy horse racing (tenma racing for Hoshido, they don't have pony classes, so most likely no pony in Hoshido?).

Imagine Elibe : Lycian Lords love cross-country and love participating in contests... but then Lyn's grandpa has the idea to bring a Sacaen golden horse to the contest, and it's a drama : Sacaen Golden Horse can cross rivers and forests with ease, it can jump to 10 meters with his rider.

Lord Caelin is thus banned from ever entering a cross country contest with his "foreign" horses - which raises a shitstorm because it's not cheating, and maybe the Lycian horses should be trained just like their Sacaen cousins as well - have you seen Lord Eliwood's horse?

Lord Caelin being overjoyed when his great-granddaughter Sue asked him to name her first horse and writing him letters about how his horse loves the Caelin carrots

Tellius nobles don't usually ride horses for war, but more as an demonstration of etiquette and for leisure.

However, duke Persis, cannot ride horses for shit - even if he lost his powers, his laguz instincts are still there to make him fall from any horse, but hopefully, Begnion Senators aren't expected to ride horses unless necessary (which might or not be the reason why he lent warp powder to Lekain and oversaw the development of warp staves).

Alm'n'Celica?

Rode the hell out of Grandpapa's Mycen horse when their were kids, hell, Mycen taught every kid in Ram Village how to ride a horse - not necessarily how to fight on horseback, but just, you know, how to "not fall" when sitting on a moving horse.

Zofian Nobles enjoy horse racing for the "noblest/purest" ones, the others help in the fields, but in Rigel they're more valued so put under less stress - and when their time come, they're also used for their meat.

Fodlan wise?

Adrestia being in dressage too - which utterly puzzles Faerghans who use their horses for war or to plow the fields that can be worked even in winter (aka not galatea lol) - and while Leicester also had a history with horse racing, its nobles, who want to emulate Adrestia, thinks it's vulgar and want to start the trend of dressage too.

Too bad for them, horse racing has such a massive following and is actually a not that ridiculous part of Leicester's economy in Gloucester's own territory that horses are still, mostly, used for racing.

For their part, full-blooded Nabateans, much like Lehran, cannot ride horses for shit. Let it be Seteth or Rhea, whenever they "sit" on a horse, they fall within seconds. Flayn hopefully can ride better than the rest of her fam, and back in the days, Saint Indech was a beast at Chariot Racing in the newly founded Adrestia : but given how Chariot Racing became highly political in Enbarr, Empress Fredegund III banned it in 354.

[anruraiocht]

miranda and her friege-isms

We know precious little about Ulster!! It's fine though!! I'm the only person alive who cares, but I care quite a bit!!

What we do know is that anywhere from 762 (765 if we think kaga is insane for thinking a two year old and three year old had enough developed long term memory to be able to recognize each other a decade later. Engage confirms this later timeline, more or less.) House Friege executes the king of Ulster and then Bloom moves right into his house.

Where does that leave the princess of Ulster, who was taken hostage?

Mental illness.

Whether she likes it or not, Miranda was more or less raised by House Friege (and Conomor) from age 2~5 to age 13~14* and this has irreversibly changed her as a person, reflected through gameplay.

Mage Knight

Miranda's promoted class, Mage Knight, is overwhelmingly associated with House Friege. As in, almost every other named Mage Knight throughout both Jugdral games belongs to House Friege, with the sole exceptions of Azelle and Miranda.

I stress the named part because one of Conomor's NPC bozos (Ulster aligned) in chapter 19 is a Mage Knight. He has Tornado and a Great Sword, if you're curious. The Mage Knight (Friege aligned) associated with Amalda in chapter 19 has Thoron instead, consistent with most of the other Friege aligned Mage Knights.

...Of course, we must remember that Ulster has been under Friege control for 13 years at this point, which muddies the waters on whether we can consider this sufficient evidence that Mage Knights are also common in Ulster or if this too is another case of adapting to the environment.

At most, we can prooooobably assume that one or both of her parents were a magic user in some way? Just due to the way class inheritance tends to happen between parents and children in Jugdral.

Wrath

While in her native FE5, Wrath as a personal skill is kind of just handed out to whoever (Miranda and Sara are the only two girls in FE5 who have Wrath as a personal skill, fun fact), in FE4, Wrath is locked to the playable members of House Friege minus Amid, plus Julius... who is neither playable nor a member of House Friege, betrothal aside, but I thought it was funny to bring up. Two ships passing in the night.

The Ethnia Issue

I just think Umemura made a really poor choice in reusing names here lmfao. Miranda has no Holy Blood to speak of, is unable to wield the Bragi Sword, and the timelines simply just don't line up. We know that Miranda was in Ulster at the time of the assassination attempt because that's how she knows Leif and co. This would have required Ethnia(F) to abandon Miranda by herself in Ulster to run away with Linda and Amid to Silesse and then be dragged back to Ulster with Linda anyway.

This also would create an awkward situation where Linda, who would also be one of Ulster's heirs, is able to act freely (I use this term very loosely lol) while Miranda is treated fully as a hostage which ?????????

And...to be quite honest, I think Miranda's base E rank for thunder magic just does not track with having Thrud blood. Tine and Linda start at B and A respectively, while Arthur starts at B and Amid.......who mysteriously only has access to thunder magic on promotion, will then get it at rank A. Miranda does get thunder magic weapon experience on promotion (along with fire magic weapon experience, which she already has a head start in), but it's certainly not enough to take her from E to B.

It's an interesting hc for sure, but I think it's genuinely more impactful for Miranda to not be related to House Friege in any way. I am much more invested in Miranda's relationship to her captors being based in nurture rather than nature and the stress of turning out more like the people who raised you than your actual parents.

*Did you know that promotional material lists Miranda as 14 but in 16A Conomor explicitly refers to her as "only 15" implying her birthday happened sometime after the start of the game but before May (17B)? I think that's so funny way to continuously kick her down the stairs kaga. you can only find out her birthday passed if you leave her to rot isnt that so foul

[sukimas]

thought wrong! 7, 12, 32?

7. That's a really hard ask. Most of my favorite stuff about FE isn't per se the characters, rather how the story applies to them (for example, Ishtar would be the most boring character in the world were it not for the situation she finds herself in.) But probably Naga? I mean, we don't really get to see her much at all (outside of heroes which doesn't count) but she's eccentric, has very different morals to human beings while still being unquestionably and even self-sacrificingly on their side, and makes a lot of mistakes/questionable decisions. The Tiki thing, non-interventionism in human affairs except when she personally is cool with it, giving people dragonslaying weapons just in case (the valentian falchion was given long before degeneration began at the very least), absolutely NO compromises we are taking human form NOW, "have you considered suicide, fell vessel?"... all while she ended up exhausting her power and eating shit to save the continent of Jugdral, created the Binding Shield to protect humanity for generations, will literally come back from the dead for 5 minutes to save you if you have unutterably fucked up your shadow dragon save file (and just for fun in new mystery)... She's really neat and I like her. Also her dragon form is cool and I will never never never forgive yusuke kozaki for awakening's divine dragon designs.

12. Thracia deserved to be released earlier than SEVERAL YEARS INTO THE N64'S LIFESPAN. And it deserved better than being treated as esoteric and unplayable thanks to a bugged translation patch for twenty years. TF?rururu. But it's one of the best games in the series, not particularly difficult and a fun challenge with a guide, and has really interesting mechanics and an excellent story. Yet it is continually overlooked even by people who play Genealogy (the second most popular game in the series in Japan, by the way). Very sad.

32. I'm pretty positive about the current direction the series is taking. Engage was developed mostly before 3H released and IS saw how positively people reacted to the tone in that one- the story is still more serviceable than many in the series, and the gameplay is some of the most fun I've had outside of Thracia or RD. I personally hope that future games have more varied map objectives, go further into giving the Avatar agency (since at this point, the avatar is just a normal lord again rather than the weird shit the 3DS did) and perhaps even allow them to have their memories, put an increased emphasis on worldbuilding and villain character development and keep comedy strictly to supports (the latter of which this game mostly does well but there are moments. timerra meat song). Of things that I think probably won't happen: I don't think that the games will ever have some of the really good bits of the kaga sagas, like esoteric character interactions for insane PRF weapons. Of things that could happen: I'd really like conversations on maps to make a comeback; 3H had them to some extent, but nothing like Genealogy, and I think they often do better work at character development than an entire support chain thanks to their relevance to the current story beats. I'd also like more unique boss conversations a la POR/RD. Basically, I think IS's writing chops are solid, but they need to be a little bit more ambitious with how they deliver their ideas without thinking "being more ambitious" means putting too many routes that you can't finish in your video game. Also please keep whoever directed Engage around solely to tell all the other potential directors if the way they're writing women is weird. This is the most normally women have been written in any FE game besides Tellius and it's incredibly refreshing. I don't know if Tei or Nakanishi is the one responsible for this, but by god. Women are written like people, in story and in supports. Revolutionary.

Overall: Keep what was good about Engage (which was a lot) but be more ambitious in terms of how you deliver the story. I think broadly "you're a young lord on the defensive against a greater foe and you fight an evil dragon at the end" is a perfectly fine FE story (Kaga certainly seems to think so, as it's the only story he's ever written); the difference is in how you tell that story. You can be more experimental with the types of stories you tell if you want, but it isn't as necessary as simply delivering that story well.

[louvay]

Gen II invites Gen I to hotpot! Who likely makes the savory broth as spicy as possible? Who casually nearly shoves a Gen I's face to the pot? Who refuses to eat vegetables? Who makes the strangest sauce? Who pours the first tea and for whom?

Parents and kids of Jugdral, welcome to a one in a lifetime chance to rekindle bonds you thought were long gone and start new familial disputes over who gets to have the last red beans dumpling! It’s time for the Crusaders’ Hotpot Bout 778 festival!

Over at the soup kitchen, Scathach tries to dissuade Larcei from dumping a whole container of hot chili into the pot, insisting that their mother cannot in fact handle that much spice. Of course, it was already too late for negotiations and Larcei presents a bowl to Ayra in which she thanks her daughter earnestly and then proceeds to tell Shannan to try it out first “for auntie’s sake”.

And oh! It seems House Dozel has garnered quite the infamy in recent times as Lex is forced face first into a boiling pot by Ares, Leif, Lester, Arthur and Fee after one too many “your mother” jokes were flung around by the blue blooded brute.

But a hotpot is incomplete without a healthy batch of lovely greens boiled to perfection yet discarded by the ever so mighty Brigid whom insists that though she may catch scurvy, it would take her being knocked out of her memories to even put any of them near her mouth. Febail tries to reprimand her on having such a poor diet yet Patty has never felt more vindicated than before.

Keep your nostrils closed for this next scene as Coirpre mixes and matches an assortment of ingredients such as lemon slices, pink salt and live lizard into a pot to create the most bizarre sauce these lands have ever seen. Though the others stay far away from him due to the scent, his father Hannibal awaits for his son’s concoction to be finished, proud that he remembered the old Thracian recipe for Revival Soup, a broth described as so potent it can bring the dead back to life.

And finally, as the teapots are finally ready to be served, Tine unexpectedly rushed in to pour the first teacup for her mother. As she presented the cup to Tailtiu with excess courtesy, her mother could only smile and laugh nervously, not wishing to tell her daughter that the cup is far too hot for her to even take a sip from.

[unmeiokaemasu]

beat new mystery

no strong feelings, but I like recording my impressions after beating another fe game, so here we go

I went in fully expecting to hate the player avatar, but honestly I liked Kris and I liked Katarina and the whole assassin plot thing. I understand if you liked am earlier iteration of this story, and even I could tell Kris's parts were ungracefully inserted into an otherwise complete story, but since I've played all the GBA FE games, the main story otherwise feels like a less interesting version of those. I know that's not fair since it came first, and maybe the earlier versions tell the story better, I have no idea, but anyway, I liked Kris both as a unit and as a character. I liked their personality in the base conversations (getting exasperated with Xane and calling out Michalis being a broody coward were two of my favorites) and I wonder if it changes at all if you pick different background options (I picked "child of a farmer" or whatever that one was). Heck, I might even replay it to pick different options.

The one thing that was as annoying as I thought it would be was all the characters saying how wonderful and special and good at everything the player character was, but it didn't ruin anything for me.

The base conversations made me rotate who I deployed more than I thought I would, since you were guaranteed to get a support conversation with Kris. It made me pick the sequel characters more than Shadow Dragon characters, although now I might like to go back and pick some of them.

idk. I may or may not do that. it was probably a little too meh for that.

Anyway now I should finish Shadow Dragon...I've got like two chapters left or something. After that Valentia...ugh. I got to the same point I got to in my first playthrough of that before stalling out, because I couldn't advance on Celica's side and either needed to grind more or strategize better, and....hhhhrrrrgh. idk. I can't get into it. But I really want to finally finish it.

I have a barely started Radiant Dawn run languishing somewhere, which I started with the data from my most recent Path of Radiance run. When I loaded it, it was the second part of a multi-part chapter, my units were weak and in bad shape, there was some sort of time pressure with reinforcements, and I did really badly and wasn't sure if I should restart or not. -_- It's always hard for me picking up and old playthrough, but. MAN do I not want to play the beginning RD chapters again.

So there's those three, and then there's the Jugdral games. We'll see which I put off the longest. But the fact that after all this time I STILL have Fire Emblem games that I can beat for the first time is pretty cool.

Oh yeah btw my switch is dead...so I don't have the distraction of working on my various Three Houses runs to keep me from the older games. (I had a playthrough for each house on each difficulty going simultaneously. The only beaten one was hard mode Azure Moon. I was really focusing on trying maddening mode runs, but I was super stalled out on each of those.)

[ulircursed]

“Mr Andrei! You look so cool!” Ever the bundle of energy, Ewan approached his friends with a hop and a skip, all the ribbons and frills in his outfit fluttering. Tied to his wrist was a string of pearls, which didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of his clothes.

Most notably though was a plate of fresh fruit he was holding, currently still uneaten. “Um, if you don’t mind.. can we go visit Buttermilk later? I’d love for him to also get to enjoy a bit of the ball!” He made sure the ones he picked were all horse safe, but since Buttermilk was Andrei’s partner, he figured he probably should’ve asked permission first. Ewan was absolutely charmed by the horse though, so he wanted to share some of the celebration with his equine friend.

"You look quite cheerful tonight as well, Ewan."

In no small part thanks to the young mage's unrelenting friendliness, Andrei had, increasingly over their interactions, thought of Ewan as someone to whom it is easy to show a smile, a kind word. Even as he'd caught but a glimpse of the betrayal he'd been capable of, just like his time back in Jugdral, the boy had chosen to place his trust in him.

(And perhaps Andrei had been wrong; perhaps it had been far, far from a foolish choice.)

"How considerate of you to think of him," Andrei says, and the look he gives the boy held much more fond approval than surprise. From their first meeting, he'd known Ewan to be capable of kindness as this.

Removes his brooch topped with the glistening, teardrop-shaped crystal, Andrei pins it carefully to Ewan's outfit. "As a reminder," he says by way of explanation, "Go enjoy some time with your friends, and come find me later. We will bring Buttermilk your gifts once the festivities here settle down somewhat." The night has just begun, after all, and he would not want Ewan to miss too much of the excitement.

[felikatze]

WGAT FAN EMBLEMS DO YOU HAVE. ARE THEY MAIN VERSE OR XENOLOGUE

I HAVE A LIST. I explained in the other ask i answered uhhh just now (link here) these are technically xenologue by virtue of being AU. Veyle-Alear roleswap that I have insane thoughts about thank you Salem. Once again Berkut & Rinea are the most well baked from a gameplay standpoint but I have other ones....

Quick n dirty AU rundown: Veyle-Alear roleswap! Alear is with Sombron and an alternate set of Four Hounds (Lapis, Kagetsu, Pandreo, Zephia. Salem's blorbos), and Veyle was taken in by Lumera. I also took the liberty of making the younger royals the plot important ones.... teehee

My fan emblems trend antagonist and/or possessed for thematic reasons and because it's fun. HOWEVER I excluded most main antags from the pool because I don't think Emblem Medeus would be very interesting from a character standpoint.

I actually made a list!! So I'd have one from every game (this was also brainstormed with Salem lol). I don't have full knowledge of every FE ever and a lot of FEs I am significantly less insane about than The Usual Suspects (Binding Blade, Awakening, now Engage), so you do notice a lot of bias in what has the most detail, lmao.

Anyway. You get the list.

Archanea: Maria. (100% inspired by fell Maria in heroes, lol. LISTEN IT'D BE SO THEMATIC FOR VEYLE THO. Little girl who just wants her big siblings back. Maria would be Veyle's Marth - her first Emblem, and the one closest to her. I still gotta play the Archanea games but... the potential.)

Valentia: Berkut & Rinea (Firene Emblem. Elaborated on in the other post!!)

Jugdral (Fe4): I am not wise enough just yet.... probably Julius.

Jugdral (Fe5): I don't know <3 Ishtar? Reinhardt? Mareeta? I like the thought of Mareeta from what I know abt her actually.

Elibe (Fe6): IDUNN MY GIRL IDUNN. (She'd be Lumera's Emblem as Sigurd equivalent. Sleeping dragon guided by Sleeping Dragon... I love Idunn... I have Thoughts about her.... okay....)

Elibe (Fe7): Ninian (She's Elusia's Emblem!! I have thoughts about her & Hortensia...)

Magvel: Lyon (this was the one and only pick, really.)

Tellius (Fe9): Black Knight (Salem's suggestion, but it works! God I need to beat Radiant Dawn...)

Tellius (Fe10): My initial suggestion was Pelleas but Sothe is also tempting (god I need to beat Radiant Dawn.... 2!!!)

Ylisse: GRIMA. WHO ELSE. (i'd put him down where Corrin is, as the second Solm emblem. Haha Grima you got trapped in a desert temple again.) (Either that or I swap him with Lucina for funny points)

Fates: Takumi (conquest flavored! he is not doing too hot! He's Brodia's Emblem same reason as Berkut: it would remind him of Nohr and he hates being here. Has a soft spot for Alcryst, though. OF COURSE I gave him to Alcryst.)

Fodlan: Shez. For the funnies. (shez's super form is obviously the engaged look. I'd make them Solm's primary Emblem, because I feel like they and Fogado would be friends. But then Shez goes Revenge Mode and Fogado is like. dude. chill. you're scaring the hoes.)

And that's my full list!! The only ones who have gameplay ideas attached to them so far are Berkut & Rinea, Idunn, Takumi, and Shez, for a perfect gender ratio as I've non-biney'd Shez. Because of course I have.

[laslow]

"We are bound for the land I was born in," Sara shares in a particularly quiet voice, wistful as she looks on the horizon. It will be days before they come close to approaching land, but her eyes remain fixated towards the distance like she can clearly see Jugdral's shores already.

"You should be careful. Though there is no questioning your skill with a blade, those we will soon face avoid direct confrontations when they can. Our adversaries will employ tactics that could be considered underhanded. The laws of the Church can be unforgiving. Dissent is punishable, traitors are executed. They do not value their lives or rather, they were taught not to by those higher in the chain of command." Light vanishes from Sara's eyes, expression growing increasingly listless until her whole face has become devoid of emotion.

"Your life belongs to the Lord. Your soul never truly vanishes from this world. You may suffer an unpleasant earthly death, but you live on through Loptous". An agonizing melancholy washes over her, one that takes Sara back to childhood. She laughs and does not know why. "It went something like that. I do not recall it anymore. I am telling you because I do not wish for you to die."

He'd been humming a sea shanty under his breath, coiling rope and generally staying out of the way by the bow when she appeared. The sun sinks lower, staining the sky shades of orange and gold. Laslow glances up at Sara, finishing the last coil before bracing his hands against the railing.

Mouth remains shut while she speaks. Interrupting now feels rude, almost dismissive of the trust she's placing in him by voicing her thoughts and concerns aloud. He's honored by her trust.

Gaze flicks over to her, side profile outlined in radiant yellow against the deepening blue sky. A shiver trips down his spine that has little to do with the fair breeze keeping their sails full. Her recitation of such an ugly vow followed by her laugh makes the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Laslow swallows, attention returning to the sea.

"Thank you, Sara. It feels right, somehow, that I should return to your homeland with you." After everything they've endured together, this feels like the natural course of things. Not quite an ending; he's said enough goodbyes for two lifetimes to ever rush along another. A new beginning instead, perhaps, or at the very least yet a wider understanding of the world.

He's careful when choosing his next words. "The Church sounds a lot like a religious sect I once fought. Perhaps it is a good thing you no longer remember their teachings with stark clarity. It means you not only survived, but found the will to move forward."

A tiny smile graces his lips. "But I will keep your words in mind. I'd rather not die so far away from my family. The same goes for you--I've always got your back, Sara. And if...if I don't get the chance," he starts, once more facing her, "I'm elated our paths crossed for this long. Promise me you'll keep smiling, yeah?"

[skelezomperman]

Genealogy’s Characterization of Altena is Subpar

A couple nights ago when I was thinking about the Jugdral story again, my thoughts turned towards Altena] I was thinking of her pairings, of course, but I was also revealing her storyline in my head. That is when I made a shocking realization: I’ve been understanding Altena wrong this entire time. To an extent, I’ve been liking an idealized version of Altena. In reality, her writing is subpar, one might even say *awful*. Despite the popular conception of her, Altena is infantilized by her game. She is portrayed as rather immature. How so?

(Please read my earlier analysis on Altena here if you are not familiar with her story. Spoilers for FE4 and FE5 are ahead.)

I’ll begin with Altena’s appearance in Chapter 8 of Genealogy of the Holy War and Chapter 23 of Thracia 776. In those scenes, Altena orders her squadron of dracoknights to pull back upon discovering that Munster is mainly defended by civilians. However, her squadron led by Coulter defies her order and attacks anyway. Altena does not fight with them and watches them all die at the hand of either Seliph’s army or Leif’s army. After the massacre of her soldiers, she flies back to Thracia where Travant berates her for leaving her dracoknights behind. That scene ends in Altena being ordered to fight Seliph’s forces again and prove herself.

I want to compare this scene with Minerva’s first appearances in Shadow Dragon. Minerva also abandons a battle against the player army there but she seems mature and collected throughout her introduction. Minerva’s withdrawal is out of frustration with Harmein’s poor strategies against Marth while Altena’s withdrawal is an impulsive decision based on distaste with attacking civilians. Most of all, Minerva still leaves with her servants in the Whitewings and sees them to safety. Altena outright abandons her dracoknights and watches their annihilation while sulking alone. Because of that, Travant’s reaction to Altena’s withdrawal is completely understandable! No matter how morally right it was, she still wasted the lives of her subordinates by refusing to aid them. The player is meant to sympathize with Altena but she comes across as impulsive rather than wise.

I think this snippet from the scene at the beginning of Chapter 9 of Genealogy is interesting:

Arion: Enough, Altena. There's no place here for such meddling. Still your tongue and obey Father! Father, bear in mind Altena is still young and unseasoned. I suspect she merely found the last battle too overwhelming a prospect. Please do forgive her, even just this once.

Travant: You know, Arion? If you'd just hold back on the coddling, perhaps Altena wouldn't be so stubborn! Look, Altena. I'll give you one last chance. Take a dracoknight platoon and retake Meath! If you so much as slip again, then daughter be damned, I will accept no excuses! Understood?

Altena is likely one of the oldest child characters in Genealogy. It’s most likely that she was born prior to the beginning of the first part. The irony, then, is apparent: despite being older, Travant and Arion both treat her as though she is a child. She makes little effort to dispute this either, only meekly replying “understood” to acknowledge Travant’s order to her.

Recruiting Altena requires Leif to talk to her. As we all know, she tries to confront Travant after that and then she joins Seliph’s army after Travant dies. Most of the rest of Altena’s arc revolves around Arion. After reviewing the scripts, I can see now why people think their relationship has romantic undertones besides the throwaway line in the epilogue. During that scene when Altena tries to confront Travant, she actually stops herself when Arion forces her to “fight” him. 

Altena:  Gah... How dare you! How dare you mislead me all these years, Father! Er, no... Travant!

Arion: That's enough, Altena!

Altena: Get out of my way, Arion! This man dies here and now, and nobody can stop me! Not even you!

Arion: I cannot allow this. If you dare to turn on Father, then you'll have to contend with me first!

Altena: W-wait! I can't fight you, Arion! I could never-

Arion: It's too late for you to stand down now... Farewell, Altena!

Altena: Nngh... Arion...

You would think that Altena could try to fight Arion; after all, he’s complicit in keeping the secret of her heritage and she wants to avenge her parents above all else. Instead, she stays her hand and gives Arion an opening to knock her out. When she joins Seliph’s army, her first request is for Seliph to “help” Arion even though Arion refuses to negotiate a truce. Half of her four events with other player characters involve Arion as she asks both Hannibal and Leif for help with her quandary. And of course the epilogue scene with Seliph always mentions Arion even though he presumably flew off after joining Altena. I realize that Altena valued Arion a lot but it gets to the point where one could accuse her of being obsessed with him. 

Let’s step back and review Altena’s arc on the lens of how much agency she has. She tries to order Coulter’s squad to not attack Munster but they refuse, leading her to sulk and run away back to the capital while they all die. Then when Leif reveals her heritage to her, she runs away again and tries to confront Travant only to be knocked out by Arion before doing anything. When she wakes up, she joins Seliph and Leif only because Arion tells her to. When this happens, she tries to convince Arion to follow her but he refuses. He refuses again when she tries a second time to convince him. The only time when Altena really has full agency is when she is successful in her third attempt to convince Arion to defect. Altena has so little agency that you could even argue that Ishtar has more agency than her. At least Ishtar has some semblance of success in thwarting Julius’ plans. 

I’m a big fan of Altena. I don’t hate her as a character at all. But this realization of her poor treatment by the game was honestly mind-blowing. I definitely feel more frustrated to look back at her plot and see the missed potential in her arc. Altena could have been a character that drives the plot but instead she’s reduced to reacting to things that happen. Much like her mother, she is a bit impulsive but she lacks the backbone that Ethlyn has. I usually am not one to ask for a remake to try to “fix” a character but I think Altena could benefit from a rewrite more than most characters. 

It's actually shocking to realize that Altena's writing is this bad. I feel like she's gets overlooked because of how compelling Leif, Finn, and even Travant are as characters. If a modern FE character were written like this then they would get very maligned by the community. It's almost funny how much of the community (myself included) views her as this character who can impose her will on others when the reality is that the game strings her along in the same way that some other female leads have been strung along by the plot. To an extent, I’m still struggling to come to terms with this. I feel like I’ve personally been misinterpreting her and ignoring her emotional weaknesses which could make her a stronger character. I emphasize the word could because I think the writing dropped the ball. It takes a little bit of effort to write a character struggling with these weaknesses, this inability to stand up to one’s own family, without making them feel like a child. Unfortunately, I think Genealogy misses the mark.

This is not a hate post against Altena or even against Genealogy. As I said in the post, I am a huge fan of Altena as a character. I really love the concept that she brings and I can see the struggles she has with her family. I just wish that Altena was able to dictate her own way instead of being pushed around by other characters. But if I'm misunderstanding, please let me know - I'd be happy to be proven wrong!

[fangedjustice]

"You're from here, aren't you? I should be on Jugdral now helping my own home but, as long as I'm here, you can count on me to do whatever is necessary to help yours." It's what she'd have wanted for Thracia. She had been so touched by the foreigners who had signed up to travel with her to investigate. She's worried about the rumors and would much rather be there but there's no point in staying idle and losing herself in her fears when she can put herself to use.

"Altena, princess of Thracia. I look forward to working with you."

Lloyd looks up from the wet mess that is the map he'd brought with him -- because as soon as you thought you didn't need a map, you would need a Saints damned map -- at the new voice addressing him. Surprisingly, it was in fairly decent condition after being in the ocean. Something he couldn't say for his poor jacket. It had been patched up too many times now, and a shipwreck had done it no favors.

"Yes, broadly speaking," he replied, pointer finger poised over the rough area of where they might have wrecked on the map so that he wouldn't lose his train of thought. Hazel eyes take the young woman in for a moment, before he makes a soft ah in recognition, his expression shifting to something more open. "Altena. A pleasure to finally meet you face to face. Apologies it's under these circumstances...Linus has told me quite a bit about you, in...ah...vivid but flattering detail, I assure you."

His expression falls back into something more serious.

"I'm sorry that you've been blown off course from your own goal, but I'll be glad to have a competent and trustworthy warrior to aid us here. It seems that many are in the same situation as you, so...if you've any questions, I'll do my best to answer them."

He pauses for a moment, considering, before offering her a reassuring smile. "Take heart, Altena of Thracia. Just as you've offered your help to my people, rest assured that those who made it to your homeland are likely doing the same. We'll see things sorted out."

[nelithic]

　toa annifoursary (hehe) munday.

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

---

Name: rai

Pronouns: anything

Birthday (no year): may 17

Where are you from? What is your time zone? us east coast, so est

Roleplay experience: .................. i have to count every time. i think around 18 years now?

Got any pets? nope

Favorite time of year: autumn! november especially

Some interests and things you like: rping is 75% of my life so it embodies most of my free time. otherwise, running and playing ttrpgs, playing games, reading

Some funfacts & trivia about you: i can shake my eyeballs

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? genshin impact, pokemon, i might sign myself away to hsr tomorrow. i'll give just about any good old turn-based jrpg a try when it comes out

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: flying & raichu ---

How did you get into Fire Emblem? had to have been right before graduation from undergrad, i walked into gamestop and saw fire emblem: fates had just released. decided to give it a shot on a whim. my best friend at the time had played awakening, so i decided to get into the series. binged the rest of it just about straight through from there, starting with fe6

What Fire Emblem games have you played? all except ( ree forgets this every time ) the jugdral games HAHA also still halfway through new mystery

First Fire Emblem game: fe fates: birthright

Favorite Fire Emblem game: fe6: binding blade

Any Fire Emblem crushes? probably endless ksjnglskg. nishiki is maybe the closest i think. oh and lucina.

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? - Awakening: lucina. i don't think i ever s-supported anyone elSE - Fates: nishiki - Three Houses: uhhhhh was it felix? or was it dimitri idr. i think it was felix - Engage: gregory

Favorite Fire Emblem class: NOMAAAAAAAAD

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? i've been told mage > dark knight which seems to check out with the fact that my boss insists that my d&d class would be warlock with eldritch being as my patron

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? probably black eagles tbh

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? i'm not sure what qualifier this is based on ksjlskgml i'd like to believe leif? but probably closer to veronica or soren ---

How did you find TOA? well.

Current TOA muses: caeldori, nel, rosado

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? felix. for a while after i dropped him i thought i had run the gambit with him in terms of narrative i wanted to explore and figured he was going on the top shelf. but the last half year or so he's been wanting to come back...

Have you had any other TOA muses? YIKES, have i. felix, sety, idunn, volug, leif, yuri, kurthnaga, ephraim, lucius, etzel

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? most common ones are probably the Sad Sack Sages ( hi etzel, sety ), fiery boys with hearts of gold ( felix, leif ), and dark paladins ( nel, felix ). i also really like chaotic neutral trickster types, but aren't usually confident enough in my ability to write for them haha

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? action scenes for sure. any scene where there's external momentum driving things forward and giving a sense of momentum and urgency. also just anything that lets me worldbuild or exploring facets of worldbuilding hehe

Favorite TOA-related memory: that's a hard one. probably the final week of arcadia, our first lore event. all the teams ended up in boss battles, but they weren't the guaranteed staple of lore event endings like they are now. it just kind of happened because that's where the stories ended up. the collaborative scene-building and sense of camaraderie in the fights against gricenchos and gofannon are still unmatched for me to this day. they felt like dynamic scenes right out of a lord of the rings movie

How do you pronounce TOA? as the letters haha tee-oh-ay

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? i have constant delusions. i've been saying since ferp that i want to play eltshan someday and never have LOL. bringing lester into toa. bringing zeiss to toa. i have a url saved for lyre. it kind of feels wrong not having a single muse from either jugdral or tellius HAHA

[randomnameless]

"Like, Miss “I already sent my troops to conquer your lands even if you are not the one harbouring the evil lizard lady I’m trying to get rid off” would really stop her war of conquest if the evil lizard lady dies?" You could say Clout's reasoning smacks of naivete.

Clout? Reasoning?

lol

Imo, in GW, Clout is playing on levels after levels of PR (like an onion!), and this "let's kill Rhea so the war will stop" is imo a PR excuse to justify invading Faerghus and getting Rhea out of the board.

Now, why the hateboner for Rhea herself, your guess is as good as mine (at least Supreme Leader has her "negative views based on Rhea's race", but I don't know it that's any better...).

(ramblings about Claude/Clout under the cut)

Claude isn't stupid (uh...) and knows Fodlan created the locket and the Officers Academy to fight back invasions of Almyra, and yet he seems to really believe (in FE16 at least) that Rhea is the reason why Fodlan apparently doesn't like foreigners, before discovering water is wet.

Worst reading, but one I can get behind, is Claude doesn't understand and resents the fact that Rhea, who is not a head of state, is listened to and loved by the randoms in Fodlan, she can influence them (only when they want to be infuenced though!) and the CoS, as an institution, is part of Fodlan's history and DNA/backbone.

If Claude wants to shatter everything to bring a "new age" where Fodlan will welcome with open arms their very friendly Almyran neighbours, Rhea has to be "shattered" too.

Take VW's ending :

Country, faith, history... All that had once formed the order of the world was wiped clean. The heroes whose very hands saved Fódlan from a dark fate commenced with the building of a new society. The leaders of this new, unified Fódlan began their walk down a seemingly endless path—one towards a world that would cherish differences in race and belief, one where all life would be valued equally. Those leaders clung to the hope that their path would not end with Fódlan, that it would someday span the seas to Dagda, and beyond the Throat to Almyra...

You get rid of the old and existing society/structure, to build a new one, based on lofty ideals, sure, and yet, again, how can you cherish differences in beliefs in you wipe Fodlan's faith, aka the thing people believed in? What about their history and individualities/differences ? It's wiped clean too?

A bit like Tru Piss's mistranslated ending where people thought it will erase retroactively Faerghus from history books, are we supposed to understand , from this ending, that Claude will erase Adrestia, Faerghus and Leicester from memory?

And the ominous last paragraph, what does it mean, they hope to export their path of "wiping clean" the world of "country, faith, history" too?

If we take this reading, Rhea and the CoS are inherent parts of Fodlan's identity and History. If Claude wants a blank chessboard to play "melting pot" with and ultimately add it to his future pot including Almyra, Dagda and whoever else, Rhea and the CoS, but also, the different states from Fodlan, had to disappear. Supreme Leader helped him with the "get rid of 3 states" and arguably with Rhea's death, so in a way, Claude reaps what Supreme Leader started.

But not to MAGA, to create a new land encompassing everyone (whether they want it or not!) and being one of its heads.

This is, imo, the darkest take/reading on Claude's situation and plans, but bear in mind yellow units in FE Jugdral (the game tool inspiration from Jugdral per the devs!) are antagonists, add to that Nopes and even FE16's Claude who, albeit not on the level of Supreme Leader, keeps his plans to himself - and always mentions tearing down the "walls" that separate Fodlan from the outside world, without ever mentionning the fact those walls were built for some reason.

It's not important anyways, and if you think otherwise, it's because you were led to think otherwise, we should all be friends.

Sure, interacting with outsiders doesn't contradicts Seiros's tenets, but in the end, what is Claude saying?

If I can realize my dream, Fódlan will be reborn. The old age will end and we'll welcome a new dawn.

The current Fodlan, that is supposed to follow Seiros's tenets will... end? Seiros' tenets says something, but they still need to be ignored to build a new world that will promote the same thing those tenets preached.

Hm.

The issue, imo, isn't about what is being preached, but with the "Seiros tenets" in themselves.

[valflaame]

Deirdre has heard the rumors. Surely everyone in the monastery has by now. Missing children in Jugdral. The very thought of it makes her heart sink down deep like a stone. She is reminded of the horrific accusations made by Leif and Nanna.

But no. No. This is only further proof of how mistaken they were. Lord Arvis is here. Julius is here. They cannot be blamed for such terrors when she knows they are both in Fódlan.

Still she seeks out her beloved. Even if she is nothing more than a memory back home, he is emperor. Rumors like this will require his attention and she worries about how he might proceed.

"Lord Arvis, my love, you have surely heard about the upcoming mission. What will you do? Will you return home? Wherever you go, know that I will be by your side. If you remain here, then so shall I. If you must return to your duties, I will be right there with you as your empress again. My place is with you."

He has heard the rumors too, of course. It unnerves him to think things had gone so terribly in such a short amount of time; he's emperor, and he should be protecting the people of Grannvale.

Of course, he's going to go. There's no other choice, is there?

He looks up as Deirdre comes into the room. His expression of worry and anxiety subsides just a little, and he immediately goes to her.

"Deirdre," he says, and listens to her speak. He frowns -- he should have guessed she would want to follow him. "You cannot go back to Jugdral, you know this. I have to return, but I cannot bring you with me. It's too dangerous..."