#classic protagonist with amnesia

[akanemnon]

I smell another existential crisis incoming...

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[daisukitoo]

I am 15% of the way through Harrow the Ninth. There are no plot spoilers below.

"Second person, past tense" is a really weird choice for a novel's narration, and I will be disappointed if this does not pay off mightily.

Most pieces I see in second person POV are short stories. The goal is to establish intimacy and immediacy, and they are most commonly in the present tense. The notion is that the action is happening to you, right now, and you are finding out about it as you the reader go through the story. Occasionally you see such a story in the future tense, suggesting someone is prophesying to you.

Second person, past tense is someone telling you your own history. This is kind of weird. One assumes a Memento story with an amnesia premise, or similarly Merlin living backwards in time. The second person here raises the question of who is telling you the story. The past tense raise the question of why you need someone to tell you your own story.

That our protagonist is explicitly and demonstrably insane gives us a lot of "why," although the particular "why" depends on the "who." The most obvious "who" is that Harrow is telling herself her own story. We have already seen Harrow telling herself her own story within this story, so adding another layer of recursion seems obvious and later adding multiple seems fun.

But here we reach a fork that we cannot resolve this early in the book. Is Harrow in a moment of lucidity telling herself what she should already know? Is Harrow in a moment of insanity hallucinating a new history? Is Harrow just lying to herself because the ending of Gideon the Ninth was too painful?

Harrow the Ninth is sometimes described as gaslighting the reader about Gideon the Ninth. Someone is not telling the truth about something here. One character seems to have noticed, but it is hard to be sure when our narrator is unreliable and may be hallucinating and/or lying.

Gideon was a somewhat unreliable narrator not in the sense that she lied (except perhaps about her emotions, except perhaps mostly to herself) but in that she was not paying attention, like the meme post in circulation about a movie showing the start of World War I from the perspective of a pet pigeon. You can probably identify all the important plot points of Gideon the Ninth by how boring Gideon finds them.

Harrow is more classically unreliable. She has a skewed perspective, and within that perspective she hallucinates, and on top of those hallucinations she will deceive herself and others. This early in the book, we already have many examples of Harrow seeing things that aren't there. She tends to realize within a page or two that she is hallucinating. The big news at some point should be that those little hallucinations were within the context of a larger hallucination and/or lie.

And now I need to go finish the book so I can check my Tumblr notifications without worrying about spoilers in the notes.

[fahye]

book recs: oct/nov 2023

I read an obscene number of books during my weeks travelling in the USA, so here are some highlights!

A GENTLEMAN UNDONE by cecilia grant - I actually read all three in this excellent series, but this is the highlight. a tense, engrossing regency romance between a gentleman desperate to make money in gambling halls and the woman who teaches him to count cards, who unfortunately happens to be someone else's mistress. extremely horny and very smart.

SHADOW MAGIC by jaida jones & danielle bennett - after HAVEMERCY I desperately needed the rest of the series, and happily I had dinner with jaida and dani and was given them! this one is classic political fantasy: assassins, ambassadors, a devoted bodyguard and his beautiful prince, and a flamboyant little chaos magician who wonders why nobody else in his delegation is enjoying the beautiful local Fashion Robes. this book has never had a heterosexual thought in its entire life.

AMERICAN QUEEN by sierra simone - okay, this is a rec for the entire series (AMERICAN PRINCE & AMERICAN KING follow), a modern arthur-lancelot-guinevere retelling where they're american politicians and they're all in love and kinky and fucked up about it. mostly smut, lots of angst, occasional plot. maybe the hottest thing I've ever read in my life?? damn, sierra simone knows what she's doing.

THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by robert a. heinlein - what if we were a moon colony and we decided to stage a revolutionary war and we asked a bored AI computer to run the logistics for us? I'm such a sucker for logistics, and heinlein delivers in spades. very funny, great worldbuilding, fun characters. has aged surprisingly well, I think.

10 THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPENED by alexis hall - a pure shot of gay grumpy/sunshine delivered via FAKE AMNESIA TROPE and a plot lovingly and lampshadily borrowed from the classic sandra bullock vehicle while you were sleeping. alexis hall's protagonists and glorious supporting casts always grab me, and this was no exception.

THE FALL THAT SAVED US by tamara jerée - do you like the good omens setup of bookshop angel vs. snarky demon, destined to be enemies but oh no we're in love, and you'd like to add some recovery from family trauma + sex scenes + also they're sapphic? yes. good. enjoy.

CHAIN-GANG ALL-STARS by nana kwame adjei-brenyah - holy shit!! finished this one yesterday and will be thinking about it for a long time. premise: criminals can choose to compete in deadly televised gladiator matches instead of remaining in prison. this is an absolutely brutal examination of the prison industrial complex and the violent commodification of bodies (especially bodies of colour) under our capitalist hellscape. lyrical, wonderful, cutting. very queer and very angry. I flew through it. what a fantastic book.

[chaoticstarlightwonderland]

The differences in the main three of each game

(And by main three I mean Protagonist/Support/Antagonist)

THH: Makoto, Kyoko and Byakuya, are classic strangers to sort of enemies (Byakuya mainly) to lovers who are now in committed poly relationship with each other.

SDR: Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito, are in a tragic, queer, and tragically queer love triangle with the tags “chronic illness ” “main character death” “amnesia” “reincarnation (as ai)” “main character death again”

(Despite the love triangle Nagito and Chiaki are besties when one is not a ‘traitor’ in a killing game. Just want to make that clear)

V3: Shuichi is the grieving widow to Kaede and Kokichi is mixed with wanting Shuichi to move on and having so much of his own personal baggage that Kokichi could never be a functional replacement/ fresh start for Shuichi. And then Kokichi dies leaving Shuichi’s real talent being the ultimate widow.

(For legal reasons these are all jokes)

[theycallmehexcodenow]

another ivory moment. trying to get back into the swing of things so theyre not as good as my old ivory art more or less, but i am workin on it. plus the characters just. went through mild redesigns that i'll have to color again. so here's an old classic! ivory lying!

side note that if this is your first ivory and peppermint encounter, they exist in my pmd2 au where the protagonist doesn't get amnesia and this changes nothing and everything at the same time. she's also mean!

[odetoviscera]

Baldur's Gate 3: The Evil Experience

on the recommendation of @leupagus: My Very Special Evil Boy, Vexation. don't worry about the blood, it's a fashion choice.

if you've been wondering how evil you can be in baldur's gate 3, wonder no more-- So Evil.

so beginning at the beginning, i of course chose the Dark Urge (obvious serial killer) origin, who is conveniently customizable, so i also made him Drow and a Lolth Worshipper and a Warlock (all of which has made him only marginally more evil, tbh, mostly the related dialogue options make him a smug bastard, although OCCASIONALLY this will give him a "hmm what if i enslaved you" option which people do indeed react to as if he's an evil maniac and they should flee and/or try to kill him. this goes great for them considering i'm the protagonist.)

i wake up on an illithid ship with no memories, as one does. i befriend a walking talking brain, by which i mean i lobotomize it so that i can more easily control and manipulate it, as one does. i may not know who i am, but i definitely know that i am powerful, mean, and more important than everyone here. also i have a great old one in my brain giving me eldritch blast, so the tadpole wriggling around in there seems normal. i crash the ship sort of accidentally and am set loose on my merry way to wrack the Sword Coast with terrible mayhem. probably. as soon as i figure out if i'm about to turn into a mindflayer.

the first sign of my uncontrollable evil mania was when i tried to talk to a squirrel in act one (actually, i tell a lie, the FIRST sign was when i was tempted to hack Gale's hand off instead of dragging him out of the portal he got stuck in, but i decided i needed a wizard more than a dismembered hand) and the narrator informed me i had been Gripped By A Compulsion and promptly dropkicked the squirrel into a tree. it died, obviously. i was given the option to decide if i cared about this and decided that my opinion was a frankly inappropriate level of malicious glee considering the heights from which i, clearly child of murder, have obviously fallen to get amnesia and get tadpoled and fall out of the sky on a dying illithid spaceship. anyway this set me up for Being Maximally Deranged, however there is No Karma Meter or any equivalent system to MEASURE your evil or limit your dialogue options-- i have free reign at all times, i COULD decide that suddenly i'm going to be a Repentant Murderer, i can do Nice Things if i want the reward or the exp or i am exercising my single scintilla of compassion accidentally inculcated by my eventual three simultaneous romances (one of which is with the mindflayer who lives in my brain/an artifact stopping ME from becoming a mindflayer. this game is so horny, very classic dnd "i roll to romance the villain". except i am also the villain.) at this point i have no romances, though-- at this point my companions watch me kick a squirrel to death and their collective response is "well… that seemed… excessive."

i also have the option to tell every single one of them individually that i am driven by a blood mania to murder and destruction. opinions of this range from "well admitting you have a problem is the first step!" to "that's nice, just point it at the enemy instead of ME". no one seems appropriately concerned about this. they'll learn.

anyway the next sign of my uncontrollable evil mania is that when i decided to be nice to a bard for no reason and she showed up at our next long rest to Join The Party (oh we do get a bard companion, that's nice, i said, like a fool.) i promptly murdered her in the night. as in i woke up covered in blood with her corpse ritually slaughtered at my feet and said "hm. probably shouldn't let anyone else find out i did this" and then sulked when no one gave me proper respect and rewards for murdering her. fortunately the next day my Evil Butler materialized to do just that, and proved he wasn't a figment of my imagination by giving me an Evil Cloak that lets me turn invisible everytime i murder someone. i spend the next half an act or so convinced i'm going to slowly kill off my party, but fortunately i develop the ability to control myself. now i only murder when I WANT to murder.

the rest of act one i am SORT OF a good boy-- i do deliberately get a child killed but i don't PERSONALLY kill her, i get a druid's snake to do it, so does it really count against MY soul? yes but only me and daddy bhaal know it so i am able to continue playing Goody Two Shoes for the rest of the act. (i don't know he's my daddy yet, but like… i know it. i, the player, know it. in my soul. i've played these games before.) delightful fallout, my child murder gets the druid killed after i Helpfully Save The Tieflings by telling the opposing force i'll totally help them break in and kill them all, then betraying them at the last minute. i kill so so so many goblins. i get an inspiration point for how many goblins i kill. goblins are still sentient. It's Still Murder.

act two, however, empowered by all my Blood And Chaos, i turn over a new leaf. sure sure being lauded by the tieflings was fun and all, but i do somewhat regret not killing EVERYONE. i'll do better this time. this shadow-cursed hellscape is really vibing with me. it's also trying to eat me every time i'm not carrying a magic lamp but you can't win 'em all. i pretend that i'm with the antagonists (can you call them villains when I'M the villain?) so i can get their lamp. it's carried by a drider who does not appreciate my sincere compliments about how beautifully fucked up he is. his loss, i'm down to fuck anyone. i'm already fucking a githyanki and a vampire spawn.

when i get to the Big Bad Tower where supposedly they'll know about my tadpole, i discover they know something WAY MORE IMPORTANT: who the fuck i am. everyone here recognizes me. no one will tell me anything. several of them are appropriately terrified. this is infuriating but also promising. the Big Bad is a smug dick and i want to eat his heart raw. i daydream about this.

my butler arrives to tell me if i murder a Special Girl i'll get a treat. i like treats and i LOVE murder so i go looking for her. she's maintaining a Magic Selenite Moon Shield over the single not-shadow-cursed place here, which i hate on principle-- also it's a harper outpost and i hate them too, they'd probably disapprove of murder. some rando minion with wings drops in to tell me the Big Bad of the region wants to kidnap her (ALIVE, he specifies) so obviously i now double want to kill her. i kill her in one round. the magic shield collapses. EVERYONE dies (including the tieflings i saved in act one! full circle.) and then i kill their shadow-cursed undead corpses again, for good measure.

my treat is getting to turn into the slayer. i KNEW i was a bhaalspawn.

behold my true glorious visage. (with blep.) my only complaint is that i can only become this hulking death machine once per long rest. it is, however, not a turn-limited form, i can stay in it Forever if no one kills me as long as i'm willing to Just Murder No Talking. also it has a spectacular ladder-climbing animation, this bitch goes down ladders face-down like a lizard, i love him.)

anyway i don't go back to the Big Bad Tower bc presumably they'll be mad about the dead girl (i'm guessing she's Big Bad's dead daughter miraculously resurrected. i'm totally right by the way.) but the last time i was there i got a quest to find the Big Bad's Relic, which is obviously his phylactery or something since he's got a whole death aesthetic-- after a whole Temple of Shar sequence it turns out his phylactery is a captive aasimar actually. my companion wants to murder her for shar-related reasons, so i give her the go-ahead since i don't have any SPECIAL reason to kill her myself. my companions should get to be evil occasionally too.

with his phylactery dead, it's pretty easy to mow through the Big Bad Tower, especially since i can now turn into the Death Machine. i don't have to talk to anyone here. i can Just Murder.

nearly kill the Big Bad but he flees to his basement, where it turns out there's an mindflayer colony, big deal, we've all got tadpoles in our brains (i've been eating other tadpoles for extra power along the way, because of course i have) okay fine it's a slightly big deal bc there's an elder brain here that my Special Mindflayer Friend is shielding us from whatever. it's under the control of the Big Bad who's death aesthetic turns out to be that he's the Chosen of Myrkul, and also here are reps of the other Dead Three, Bane and My Daddy. i hate bhaal's chosen on sight, as is traditional for a bhaalspawn. i will murder her someday. i will murder her SO GOOD.

unfortunately she and the baneite fuck off with their elder brain to lay siege to baldur's gate while i'm daydreaming about it, so for now all i get to murder is Big Bad Myrkul Edition. moderately satisfying. he turns in an Avatar of Myrkul in the second half but i destroy him so quickly he doesn't even get to regenerate with the hojillion corpses in the area. nobody murders like vexation.

off to baldur's gate to save the city/get bigger hunting grounds!

i do cure the shadow curse on my way out though, because i'm never coming back and i've left the place a blighted wasteland, why not, it gets me a pet druid.

there's also some drama with githyanki and vlaakith, as usual, turns out the Rebel Prince Orpheus is actually how my particular mindflayer (who is finally revealing that he's a mindflayer, a thing i have suspected all along because of all the psychic shit he does) is doing the shielding, etc. etc. also i let my mindflayer boyfriend turn me in a half-illithid, which means i get no tentacles but a BUNCH of new mindflayer powers to make me an even better murderer. can't wait to see who wins in the tug-of-war for my mind, body, and soul--the illithids, my great old one beyond the stars, a devil who keeps trying to get my attention, my vampire boyfriend who wants to ascend to vampire god, or Murder Daddy. my bet is murder daddy.

anyway we get to baldur's gate, where i break in bc i don't want any guards to know i'm here-- just jumped and flew my way up the side of the bridge past the checkpoint. easy peasy now that i have illithid flight powers on command no cooldowns just Psychically Levitate wherever i want to go. also i can turn into a displacer beast. that's right, i now have to option to become TWO DIFFERENT terrifying horror beasts and rip through mobs like papier-mache. my patron really needs to keep up, warlock powers are falling behind. (no they aren't, i've hit level 10 and can now eldritch blast three times in one round and every hit knocks enemies back and terrifies them. i'm gonna chew this city up and swallow it one bite.)

however, first thing when i get into the citadel: the baneite is being coronated Archduke, bc of course he is. so i head up to see if there's a chance to murder him and a room full of peers, BUT. for the first time EVER-- this little shit is willing to tell me Who I Am. Assassin of Bhaal, former high priest of His Temple, and ONE OF THE INVENTORS OF THIS CONQUEST PLAN. that little bhaalite chosen is my bhaalspawn sister (obviously) who fucking tadpoled me, gave me amnesia, and discarded me before making sure my corpse was cold. this will be a mistake! FOR HER.

in the meantime the baneite wants me to know that he is a big fan of mine, would i like to murder my sister since i already murdered the myrkulite, and then he and i can rule this city together with an iron grip and a blood knife, since he's sure he'll have a lot of use for an assassin as a tyrant. mind-reading and my brain-illithid agree that he is actually on the level about this, at least for the moment, so of course i agree. i will rule this city. and then i will murder him. and then i will murder EVERYONE. in THE WORLD.

so now i'm hunting the current chosen of bhaal so i can kill her and steal her place-- my butler is sending me divine visions of it, SHE can't turn into the slayer, i am evil daddy's favourite. she's also kidnapped one of my companions and is threatening to kill her if i show up but i care about that less.

and that's where i am so far! will report on Future Evils.

[sophieinwonderland]

Sophie! We got some more plural headcannon!

Disney's Dreamlight Valley is a story of a fictive heavy P-DID system going through a syscovery and exploring their headspace while working through some of their trauma and amnesia.

Idk where this verges into spoiler territory, so I'll just preempt this with "Spoilers ahead"

Okay so, this life sim game starts off with the classic "You quit your job and go off to live a simpler life." You find a place you used to daydream in your childhood and get transported to the titular Dreamlight Valley.

The place is in shambles because of The Forgetting that has caused everyone to struggle with memory issues and cut off various locations and characters. It's revealed in relatively short order that you used to spend a lot of time here with all of these disney characters. You uncover memories as you do stuff to help these folks out.

Eventually the villain shows up known as the Forgotten who's eventually revealed to be your "inner child" and otherwise described as a part or version of yourself. Eventually you free them from the dark place where they're trapped through things like, reliving the Forgotten's memories, and showing them that they are loved, accepted, and safe.

So like, it strikes us as immediately plural coded. Obviously the protag and the Forgotten are plural, being split from each other (bonus points that they don't make you and the Forgotten fuse/merge/integrate). The Valley strikes us as their headspace. The protag goes through a major life change, which, can be a trigger for overt symptoms of DID in adulthood. And of course, all of the themes around amnesia and memories fit right in.

More speculatively, the various disney characters are non-fronting fictives. Interestingly, these characters eventually remember spending time with the protagonist as a child, or to have been around before the Forgetting (implied to happen years ago). However, one of these characters is Moana who's movie was in 2016 and Mirabel from 2021's Encanto. Which reminds us of a phenomenon of fictives existing in their systems before prior to the discovery or even creation of their source.

I'm sure that there's more we could go into, but those are the most solid points we can think of at the moment.

Anyways, good job Disney for accidentally making a great little plural video game. Or hey, maybe it wasn't an accident. This game hit our little pretty hard right in the feels regarding our own trauma so like, maybe this was all intentional!

This sounds so fascinating! Thanks for the description! 💖

I'm surprised to hear something with lore this deep coming from what amounts to a Disney lifesim!

[m0on-shro0m]

Currently thinking about my AU that’s just Sonic x Silent Hill.

Shadow is the protagonist, because I find it funny that James and Him almost have similarities in their trauma’s involved with their two loved ones dying in front of them (except the other murdered the their’s…).

Like listen, imagine the classic famous scene between James and Maria that go “I’m here for you James. See? I’m real.” BUT REPLACE OT WITH SHADOW AND HIS MARIA (Who the duplicate will be called Mary [tehe])!

I haven’t decided if I wanted to put the other characters there, like Sonic for example. I’m leaning more towards Metal showing up, since he’s my pookie and I love him so much.

Either way, im thinking that Shadow goes to Silent Hill like the same with how James shows up, but instead seeing if Maria is alive, it’s to see who the fuck wrote him that letter (Either to beat the shit out of them, or he’s got his classic amnesia).

I actually wrote a small bit between Shadow’s and Mary’s (Maria duplicate) greeting. Not showing it yet because not finished unless I never touch it again which is more likely.

Anyways that’s about it that I have for this small rant about aus and shit. Please talk to me more about this Au if anyone is listening.

[williamsockner]

Urban Fantasy Bingo

1. Main character dates a serial killer but the show thinks he’s just a complicated bad boy 2. Codependent siblings 3. Rampant unintended homosexual tension 4. Incest 5. Creepy dolls 6. Exploitative shots of dead teenage girl’s corpse 7. Narrative unsympathetic when bitchy teenage girls gets murdered 8. Parent or significant other in law enforcement 9. Shady big pharma 10. Ugly and/or disabled girl with no personality flaws 11. Amnesia 12. Black best friend (bonus points if gay) 13. Love interest with no personality besides fucking and sports 14. Love interest with no personality besides being embroiled in supernatural bullshit 15. Someone dies during sex 16. Main character commits rape but narrative refuses to acknowledge it as anything but angsty manpain behavior 17. Randomly excellent episode in an otherwise lackluster show 18. Writer’s room fetishist on display 19. Bodyswap/bodysnatch/shapeshift/possession 20. Everyone cares about the blood feud 21. Hundred-year-old urban legends or local history shockingly relevant to small town youths 22. Narrative clumsily attempts to make serial killer sympathetic 23. “the ugly one” played by a hollywood ten 24. Mortal threat to a character’s life during a sports game 25. Murder at prom 26. Super special chosen one and/or ancient prophecy 27. Writers convinced that remorse is the same as redemption 28. Love triangle 29. Snarky put-downs towards clear sources of inspiration 30. Love interests swap because the bad boy character was too interesting to the audience 31. Musical episode 32. Fictional classic monster actually existed in-universe 33. Character witnesses an alternate timeline where they didn’t exist and/or died 34. Character comes back as a ghost but gets no speaking lines so the show could save on the acting fee 35. Evil twin 36. Reincarnated true love 37. Super sexy high femme who’s actually 200 years old 38. Manic monster dream girl 39. Weird hybrids 40. Masquerade ball 41. Characters in class receive a lecture on a topic relevant to the episode 42. Flashback episode 43. Villain has a weird kink 44. Illegitimate lovechild 45. Abusive parent has a favorite child 46. Someone cuts their palm for a blood sacrifice 47. Someone sacrifices a pet for an evil ritual 48. Black witches have more power 49. Scene at the morgue 50. Teenage alcoholism 51. Regular alcoholism 52. Visible manifestations of someone’s guilt and/or plot exposition in the form of dead loved ones 53. Dead perfect significant other 54. Characters get caught doing something and give transparently fake names of celebrities or pop culture references 55. Musical sequence that exists only to show that an actor can dance, sing or play an instrument 56. CPR brings someone back to life and doesn’t break any ribs 57. Character discovers secret power at last second before they almost die 58. Secret society has a ritual to decide who is the head honcho monster 59. Incongruous musical choice 60. Someone has a dark side/evil blood/a prophecy that they’ll go evil 61. Someone turns into a violent sociopath because they lose their soul and/or humanity 62. Somebody bleeds out the eyes or mouth, or has a nosebleed that someone else has to call attention to 63. Significant other hunts what you are 64. Halloween episode 65. “You tried to kill me and that takes grit, I’m proud of you” 66. “There’s nothing on the other side when you die” especially if we know ghosts exist 67. Inconsistent ghost rules 68. The enemy of my bigger enemy 69. Head in a box 70. Cold opening of teenagers getting eaten because of a dare, bonus points for haunted house 71. Racist one-off criminal encounter 72. “Cool costume, bro” to an actual monster 73. Halloween costumes significant to role character plays in the story 74. Wise mentor figure with colorful past and parental affection towards protagonist 75. The one normal guy who keeps getting pulled into bullshit 76. Everybody in the cast dates each other as the writer’s room tries to figure out what the fans want 77. Immortal character put in a box 78. Non-human has to pass as human…badly 79. Ancient character has to adjust to modern day 80. Random regular human with an axe to grind 81. Bait and switch big bad at the end of the story, turns out to actually be a main cast member having a meltdown after taking out villain 82. Head of the secret council actually an evil puppet master 83. Police scanner 84. Debilititis 85. People randomly discovering superpowers around puberty 86. Character that main character hates for no good reason turns out to be evil all along 87. Plot-relevant celestial event 88. Someone telekinetically forces people to turn their guns on each other or themselves 89. Badly-pronounced French 90. The apocalypse originates in this small podunk-ass town 91. Unreasonable hometown pride 92. Latin as the mother tongue of magic 93. Local police covering up for high monster murder rate 94. Single parent is overworked medical practitioner 95. Guardian is not yet ready for this level of responsibility 96. Someone turned out to have a child they didn’t know about 97. Weird pregnancy (bonus if no sex actually happened) 98. Someone’s kid gets aged up to skip working with a child actor 99. Somebody sends their child “away” to keep them from getting embroiled in the bullshit and then they get embroiled in the bullshit anyway 100. Descendants of an immortal 101. Resurrection with no consequences 102. Resurrection or healing with consequences will haunt the protagonist 103. Protagonist has at least one dead parent 104. A friend of the main cast dies in the pilot 105. Candlelight vigil for a high school student 106. Fucked up mother-son dynamics 107. Daddy issues 108. “Fear makes the meat taste better” and/or “I like to watch them scream” 109. Souls get sold and/or girls get married to Satan 110. Deal with the devil turns you into a ticking time bomb 111. “you worded your wish wrong” 112. Alternate reality without magic 113. Real-world religions or spiritual practices treated as monsters of the week 114. All myths contain a grain of truth 115. Someone attacks a wedding 116. Mundane who really wants to be a monster 117. Redhead 118. Feral child raised by wolves 119. Bitchy cheerleader 120. Characters go undercover at a school 121. Mental institution episode 122. Protagonist framed for murder 123. Cold open of dog-walker getting eaten while dog runs away 124. Show starts off with missing or murdered girl 125. Animal motif or animal companion 126. Non-human but non-animal sidekick 127. “The council sent me to give you exposition” 128. Secret society of hunters 129. The Corporation 130. Death by bees 131. Jumpscare 132. Douchebro thinks he’s getting seduced but is actually about to get eaten 133. Siblings have pronounced disagreements over how to feel about their absentee parent 134. Deep South 135. Magic can solve everything except cancer 136. Beautiful sprawling mansion 137. Musical sequence intercutting one couple having sex and someone else dying or doing something else dramatic 138. Safehouse and/or bunker 139. “s/he was just trying to protect you” used as a justification for abjectly abusive parenting 140. Family with oodles of generational wealth 141. Groundhog Day Episode 142. Random skull in dark place 143. Someone punches a mirror 144. Black blood 145. Weird eye color signifies supernatural status 146. Wicker Man episode 147. Pagan gods 148. Faith healer 149. Couple going on a date gets eaten 150. Someone gets murdered in a church 151. Villain boasts that “maybe that works on wimpy monsters, but not me” 152. Chasing the murderer through a house of mirrors 153. Diner 154. Episode titles named after songs or famous books 155. Supernatural war 156. Getting out of a Faustian bargain 157. Someone wakes up tied to a chair at an insane dinner party full of corpses

[ddarker-dreams]

Lock! What other games would you recommend to a fellow bg3 and disco elysium enjoyer?

Hello... you have come to the right place... i am a CRPG Fan™ so i'm more than happy to point you in the direction of some games that hit similar beats to bg3 and disco elysium (which happen to be my favorite games of all time).

planescape: torment —

a true classic. the writing in this game is brilliant. the game's setting comes from dungeon and dragon's planescape campaign, so some of the terminology you've seen in bg3 will pop up here (specifically the githzerai, who, unlike githyanki, don't follow vlaakith). if i had to pick the game's core element... i'd say it's interacting with various philosophies/belief systems. even the most random NPCs have interesting things to say. the factions in the game's main area, the city of sigil, are based on real world philosophies (nihilism, hedonism, and anarchism, to name a few). the faction known as the society of sensation is actually what inspired elements of nexus!

the story has you hooked from the opening cutscene until the final potential endings. a protagonist with amnesia might not be anything new, but i don't think i've ever seen the trope explored in the way planescape does. the side quests and characters are all memorable too. you can just tell that so much thought and care went into the writing, it has such a distinct personality.

that being said ... fair warning. the combat in this game is notoriously scuffed. i highly recommend playing on the lowest difficulty to help circumvent some frustrating encounters. it isn't awful, but it can feel tedious at times. there's no real incentive to level up/minmax characters. everything else about the game goes hard though.

divinity original sin 2 —

WOOOO BABY larian studios know how to make god tier RPGs. i replayed do2 recently and man. i love this game. beautiful graphics, an interesting story, lovable characters, and the combat. omg. it's almost overwhelming at times how many approaches you can take to each fight.

except for the blackpits fight. all my homies hate the blackpits fight.

anyway ... you should feel right at home when booting this game up if you've played bg3. the combat is turn-based, although do2 uses slightly different mechanics (action points and spells/abilities replenishing based on turns rather than rests, for instance). it's fun, engaging, and has lots of charm.

pillars of eternity —

pillars of eternity holds a special place in my heart... it's the very first CRPG i ever played. some of the people who worked on it wrote fallout: new vegas and the aforementioned planescape: torment. as such, you can expect quality writing and worldbuilding. POE has a more somber tone than the others on this list, which i personally liked. i spent hours getting into the cosmology and pantheon from this game's world, reading everything little thing.

the worldbuilding impressed little lock so much that it went on to influence how i write/create settings. HWR was in its infancy stages around the time i first played the game, which inspired the home continent i made for the story.

also. you can build a jail on your base and throw people in it. i really enjoyed doing that.

[selamat-linting]

okay so i just watched my movie 14! its an interesting web serial. i really miss slenderverse horror. and to see that its only just begun, how fun! here is some barely coherent thoughts :

-to explain the premise badly, it is this : local youtuber becomes victim of elaborate trolling campaign by demons.

-hm, based from what i gather, this is the situation (cmiiw) : mile starts a youtube channel, they are going to close down the channel due to lack of interests, but they were sent a message from amon (introduction video)

-throughout this several month period, mile started to get increasingly agitated, showing the classic telltale signs of slender sickness (coughing in the hotel video) (looking over cameras and beating the shit out of people that cares about your wellbeing in the secret remember video), and did several things under amon's influence. at first, they simply think amon is just a helpful benefactor to their channel, but amon starts to get even more present in mile's life until they even questioned if amon had access to their personal files (hotel video) this is confirmed in the caption under 8, which is encrypted in caesar cypher.

-amon is a demon. referenced in the lesser keys of solomon as the demon over life and reproduction and it is said to induce eagerness and reconcile friends and enemies, something that are also referenced in the captions in 8 (induces eagerness) and hotel (the quote referencing poe's the raven poem) (also possible connection with mile inducing brian and nina to suicide?) it often took the form of a man with raven's head or a man with dog teeth. if his nickname wasnt obvious enough, one of the secret videos spelled it out by displaying the sigil and another secret video (remember) shows mile ecstatic over receiving a copy of lesser keys ars goetia and ended up with them looking dejected and throwing away the book

-that scene can be interpreted in two ways. it either show mile opening the book and finally realizing that amon is not a person as they read the entries, or a jump cut to the future while the early scenes is them during the early times of working with amon and the next is a scene of them opening the book again after significant damage has occured and throwing it away in regret / disgust. i think its the latter

-anyway, back to mile's work partnership with amon. dead animals at my door is the biggest information so far of what they done under amon. a notable thing is that they have "silenced" aunt penelope and is responsible for the brian and nina suicide (perhaps by way of magic from ars goetia? the bloodied state of the book during remember indicates mile might have been using it to do these awful things. they might have summoned amon to the physical world, or they might provide brian and nina as sacrifices, whethere its on purpose or something they did accidentally as they become intrigued in fact-checking the spells in the book they were given)

-one thing for sure is that brian and nina is murdered because/for amon. the caption, relating them as the lovers card placed them both under the bindings of a demon (referred to as ANGEL)

-this is mile at their worst. they have killed possibly three people and knocked out their brother (OH NO HERE COMES MILE WITH THE STEEL CHAIR) anyway, one thing im intrigued with is that, other than their brother (the editor) not remembering anything about the fight that lead mile to running away to a hotel, he also say that he doesnt know mile that well during the phone conversation with cody (8). i think his amnesia extends far, not just during the time mile is influenced by amon, but also for their entire life. its a common occurence for slenderverse protagonists unfortunately. mile and the editor might actually have a close relationship for all we know. and the various references on their home life (you'll end up just like mom and dad) (i left the house when i was 16) made me start to think that their parents arent just the boring flavor of abusive, but might even responsible for mile and the editor to be trapped with amon. look, mile has always suffered from hallucinations, are they picked up by amon because of this vulnerability? or is this because mile was meant to be amon's plaything from the very start?

-for now though, it almost seems like mile accidentally sold their soul for youtube fame to a demon (wow, demons these days are catching up with the times. also, whatever deal mile made, i dont think its worth it. like, if i had to kill three people, i should at least have mr beast level of view counts lol)

-another asides : the stalker? who are you? you seem to be inhabiting (heheh) mile's body but the mask was meant for cody. this stalker however, simply knows more things that they let on. it could be cody, sending out cryptic warnings ala tim's alter ego masky in marble hornets or a future version of mile that has went through unimaginable eldritch horrors until their personhood is twisted beyond recognition but now they might have a chance in running away from amon ala firebrand in t12. could be the editor himself, a supressed version of him that remembers everything that went down during the few months before mile's death.

-one thing for sure. stalker speaks in riddles. they add videos, change captions, put out morse codes and caesar cyphers and quotes referencing things that are relevant to our investigation. they also refer that there are three people presiding over the channel.

-my obvious and strongest guess would be the editor, the stalker, and amon watching over the whole thing. however, based on typing quirks alone we could guess that there are another secret man on the channel.

-one would be editor. two would be stalker, but the third... they could have posted only the captions on the article video, since it was a drastic departure in style than the quotes and cyphers. or disregarding that video, we can divide the captions as either cyphers or quotes. the cyphers could be the mysterious person, calling out the editor to remember and to listen to mile's warning (who could be the one posting references to ars goetia so editor would stay away or learn how serious the being theyre dealing with)

-however, the most confusing is the captions in the 28.10.22, it is weirdly sincere and direct. it could be a message for the editor (line about finding closure)

-based on the rather straightforward message, i feel like its the kind of things the stalker would say. and also, i might be reaching here, but if the stalker did speak using quotes, then referencing a stanza from poe's the raven could be a subtle expression of grief and apology (the poem was about a guy feeling haunted by a raven because he felt grief over lenore's death) while warning that theyre dealing with a demon with a raven head. im leaning over the "the stalker is corrupted!mile" prediction because of this

-take all of this with a grain of salt though. there are plenty of things i havent looked over twice. we dont even know how amon could be another iteration of slenderman other than his victims suffering from similar diseases. if i have the time, i'll revisit and make another post about my theories. cant wait to see this series grow :)

[moebiusx9]

Fate/Dread

 I love a lot of Fate fan AUs so I had the courage to mention my own for a bit. Don’t really have the confidence for a full fic, so I’ll just mention the main ideas.

>Story is a prequel to the main Extraverse games (Extra, CCC, Extella, Extella Link)

>It is the Extraverse’s version of the Fifth Fuyuki Grail War, called the Terminus Grail War here as it is the last possible war to exist on earth with the quickly drying up mana

>Due to this, the greater grail was meddled with further, allowing for more Master/Servant spots to open up, akin to Apocrypha. So instead of just 7 servants (8 counting Angra Mainyuu, there are now 16. A second of all the main 7 class, plus an extra class)

> The original Hakuno is the protagonist. She is the most recent of a long line of continuous Morgan le Fay reincarnations throughout the decades akin to a fairy replacing another fairy in terms of “role” in LB6.

>Her family, the Kishinamis, broke off from those in the Blackmore Cemetary decades ago, and lived peacefully away from civilization with the role of preserving artifacts from Arthurian legend. Hakuno’s parents are deceased and she is left the last of her family.

>She is one of the first unfortunate victims of the recent Amnesia Syndrome outbreak some years before the story, and gets by as a mercenary for hire, going by the name “Morgause”. Forced to kill in a worn torn world, even if she knows it’s wrong, but has no choice. 

>Hakuno in general is very bitter and cynical, her laid back, optimism gone after all she went through, now focused solely on survival and preserving artifacts that disappeared from her family’s care (She’s been tracking down Avalon after it was stolen before the fourth grail war, and eventually tracks it down to Fuyuki) she’s basically made to be like a dark mirror to AI Hakuno, the person she doesn’t want to be, but still sees herself as.

>She plans to join the Fifth War to wish for her Amnesia Syndrome to be cured, since the only one who knew how to cure it, Twice, died not too long ago.

>She moves to Fuyuki and goes under the alias of “Shirano Tsunokuma” to lay low and scope out Fuyuki three years before the war starts. Here, she’d meet and become friends with some of the Stay Night cast, especially Rin

>In classic Hakuno, fashion, she starts catching feelings for Rin the closer the two get but is aware Rin the head of the Tohsakas, meaning they’ll be forced to become enemies once the war starts. This becomes one of her main conflicts as she’d accepted she’d have to kill to survive long ago, but not to kill someone she’s close with. 

>This leads her to use the “Morgause” persona once the war starts in a Lelouch/Zero sort of fashion. Later in the story, she’d be forcibly unmasked by Rin, in a similar, dramatic way.

>Story would also have Shirou as a secondary protag, expanding on his relationship with Artoria, and his journey to eventually becoming Nameless once Extra rolls around.

>Hakuno would immediately realize Shirou has Avalon and his servant is basically her childhood hero in King Arthur, causing more inner turmoil.

>As for Hakuno’s own servant, I’m not sure yet. I’ve thought of multiple ideas such as Nobunaga, Billy the Kid, Enkidu, Edmond Dantes, Daji/Tamamo, Berserker Lancelot, etc. but haven’t decided yet.

>Story would end with Hakuno casting aside her own wish at the very end so Rin can win the war and hopefully, make the world a better place, as Hakuno decides a killer like her has no place. (I also like to imagine it was Rin’s doing that Hakuno was safely put in cryosleep)

>Some shenanigans with Foreigners may or may not have been involved in some concepts.

Here are some servant/master ideas as well, let me know what yall think

[yunoteru4ever]

Having finished Dusk Maiden I’m really doubling down on the hanako-kun parallels I’m really curious when you get around to watching whether the main trio will remind you as much of Teiichi, Yuuko and Kirie only genderbent as they did to me.

I just tore through Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun's first season this week and am starting in on the After-school Hanako-kun shorts now. And I can definitely see what you mean about the three main leads sharing similar types!

But first, Full Disclosure: I actually thought Hanako-kun was going to be about KIDS. Like... pre-teen kids. The classic "Hanako-san" story is usually portrayed as involving a girl between 10-13 years old, and the characters in Hanako-kun just look so much like children at first glance, y'know? So I was definitely surprised to watch the show and learn they're in high school! Turns out it's just a cutesy design choice. :P

Nene here is 15 years old. But if you told me you thought she was 8? I'd believe you.

ANYWAY. I want to take a moment to talk about where I see the similarities and differences.

Similarities:

To start with: Both stories focus on a group of teeenage characters investigating and/or combatting ghostly school mysteries that're usually framed as the "Seven Wonders of the School." (Every Japanese school has to have its Seven Wonders, y'know. :P I've lost track of how many times the "Seven Wonders of the School" trope has appeared in manga/anime/visual novels/etc that I've consumed... ) There's also the fact that, tonally, both stories also bounce between comedic group interactions and the creepy horror aspects of what the characters are facing.

But you were particularly honing in on the character similarities! And I agree that that's the area that makes them most reminiscient of each other. It's worth noting that Dusk Maiden of Amnesia has a quartet of primary players, whereas Hanako-kun only has three. However, if we exclude DMoA's Momoe (who I'd argue is the least important of the Dusk Maiden quartet), then both stories contain the following three chararacter "types" among their main characters:

Dim-Bulb "Every(wo)man" Lead Protagonist (many in-universe members of the opposite sex will crush on this character over the course of the series... for whatever reason)

Mischievious Ghost with a Secret Past (a.k.a. the actual reason we're watching/reading this thing, CLEARLY)

Exorcist from a Spiritual Family Line (they show recurring skepticism about the ghost's seemingly benign nature, repeatedly threatening to exorcise him/her even as they gradually come to befriend him/her)

It's that last one that's particularly interesting to me. If you're going to do a story about a ghost lurking in a school and his/her connection to a living student attending that schoool, it's easy to imagine those first two types/tropes coming to mind quite quickly and naturally. The third one is a little more of a stretch, though. It's not impossible for it to be a case of "independent invention," but... it does make me wonder if the authorial team called "AidaIro" was directly influenced by the work of team "Maybe" on DMoA.

Differences:

Ultimately, though, I think both stories are different enough from one another to make them stand uniquely in my mind.

— The most obvious distinction is that Dusk Maiden is very much focused on the love story between a ghost and a human — I'd argue that's one of its primary appeals! Meanwhile, Hanako-kun is sometimes billed a "romantic comedy," but I don't know where the romance is supposed to be. :P Honestly, the first episode of the anime made me think (with horror), "Oh god, they're now CURSED to fall in love! Free will is dead!" but uh... I do know that by the first 75 chapters of the manga, they still haven't shown any signs of being into each other? So 1) If anything is happening between Nene and Hanako, it is a SLOW-ass burn and 2) If they ever DO get together, I hope they manage to sever this whole forced-bond thing first so it can feel more legit :P

— That's another thing: Dusk Maiden is a complete story right now in both its versions/formats! Meanwhile, Hanako-kun is still DEEPLY ongoing. The manga has no end in sight, and although the anime JUST got a second season announcement, it didn't even come with a vague release window.

— Out of the three shared "character types" I mentioned above, the "Dim-Bulb Protagonist" is probably the most distinct character between the two stories. DMoA's Teiichi is more of an innocent — the open-minded and pure-hearted type who just wears his heart on his sleeve. He's pretty chill but kind of unmemorable, yet somehow attracts his own mini-harem? Luckily, he's 100% committed to his ghost waifu. TBHK's Nene Yashiro is, by contrast, a borderline genki girl who is super boy-crazy and regularly on the verge of a mental spiral. (Actually, I think Nene acts more like Momoe than she does Teiichi... ?) But when our story starts, Nene is already bolder/braver and more ready to take action than either Teiichi OR Momoe are for the majority of DMoA. She... ALSO attracts her own mini-harem, but she's too self-conscious about her legs to even notice.

— Also: Whereas Dusk Maiden goes MUCH darker with its horror aspects than Hanako-kun ever would, Hanako-kun also features far more of your typical shōnen action elements than you'll ever find in Dusk Maiden.

.............you get the idea.

I do enjoy Hanako-kun! I especially grew to appreciate its cuter character designs; they make it imposible for us to wind up with those borderline-ecchi moments that DMoA sometimes has, and I consider that a good thing. :P However, I ultimately still prefer DMoA because of that central relationship... naturally.

[legofrans]

29 + 30

Avatars. . . could be good, but they usually aren't. My favorite is Robin, and that is because they have something going on with them. They aren't quite a blank slate to project on (though technically, I guess only really mark is) but they have proper character traits. Their supports are not defined solely by the person they're talking too, but their own personality (or role I guess since it's mostly about them being the tactician) matters to the supports which doesn't really happen with byleth most of the time and I don't care for with Alear since the whole god king bullshit bores me out of my mind. I do not remember how it was with Corrin and don't care to find out.

What's more. Their defining character trait, their amnesia, is an important and entertaining part of the main story. It's done well. Nothing to comment in that regard for kris, Corrin doesn't really have anything interesting going on imo, byleths mercenary status was practically entirely absent in 3 houses(but was important in 3 hopes. I did end up liking byleth in 3 hopes a bit too!) And Alears whole divine Dragon savior of the world shpiel makes me want to throw up.

Mark's existence is acknowledged like twice in all of fe7.

Overall, not a big fan. Please bring back classic protagonists.

I would argue that this already was a take on an oversaturated topic but oh well. Let's try to find something else.

3 houses kinda sucked ass from a gameplay standpoint even if the story (CF) actually had me the most hooked of any FE game I had played when I first played it. Then I finished CF and was immensely let down and couldn't be assed to finished GD or even try the other routes cause I was so done with the game. That ending was so poorly executed. And inconclusive. What the fuck. Keelhaul Kusakihara.

Keelhaul Kaga too actually. I got reminded of Shanan starting at 200 love points with Larcei today. Then in his joining chapter, he has an event that gives them another 100???

"No fe4 actually condemns incest because the pairing of Deirdre and Alvis results in satan being brought back to life." C'mon.

We don't need to find excuses to play games we enjoy. But be serious.

[fluffykitteninabox]

UA's child soldiers

I forgot to put this on the other post, but it's fine because I don't have a joke here, I just want to talk about this:

YES! Yes Momo you're supposed to run! You're just teenagers for fuck's sake, you shouldn't be there in the first place.

Midnight made the right decision and told the kids to run.

Classes 1A and 1B aren't heroes, they're child soldiers. Just because they went to school and weren't isolated and trained by the government like Hawks was, doesn't make them that much different.

They were still brought here to fight a war. The adults, their teachers and mentors that they look up to, made the conscious decision to bring them here to fight a war.

I don't care that they placed them far back, they still brought kids to an active battlefield.

This isn't the first time btw, this keeps happening. During the Overhaul arc the heroes brought kids in the Shie Hassaikai raid too. Aizawa only told his students to back down if the league of villains shows up. But honestly that's very stupid of him. How did he expect this to go??

lov *shows up*:

aizawa: Oh wait a minute timeout! Ok kids, now as we said, you have to evacuate!

deku, uravity, froppy and red riot: yes mr aizawa!

deku, uravity, froppy and red riot *leave*:

aizawa: ok we're good now, you may continue the fight!!

obviously it doesn't work that way because that would be stupid, so the kids stayed and fought anyway!!

Same thing happens here. Adults made the irrational and moronic decision to bring kids to the fight telling them to stay back and not engage, while fully knowing that that's almost impossible because fights (especially of this massive scale) rarely go as planned, so the kids will most likely be forced to engage either way.

Also before anyone makes the "it's a shonen so the protagonists have to be there" argument..yes I know that. I'm asking for either this blatant exploitation of children to be addressed in the story or hori should find a better in universe excuse to force the protagonists to join the fight. In the first few arcs that's how it worked.

USJ and Forest training: the villains attack first so the kids have to defend themselves. (Don't have to think much for this one, it's the classic easy way out of having to find a better explanation. It's not bad, it works just fine. No need to fix it if it's not broken I say.)

Stain and Kamino: the kids go to join the fight on their own and that is seen as a reckless stupid decision. The adults reprimand them for putting themselves in danger. (works as great as the first explanation and is also a great way to mix things up a bit.)

So the heroes used to know this very important lesson apparently. But flash forward a couple of arcs later and suddenly the have some very conveniently selective amnesia! Now it's ok to drag literal children to their death by making them fight a war.

You wanna know why it's ok now while it wasn't before??

It's because they got their stupid licenses!!!

That's right! The adults only cared about this issue when it affected them. Now that the kids have a license, they're technically not their responsibility anymore. If they chose to fight it's their own decision. They're not being supervised anymore, they don't have to ask permission. So technically if they die during battle, legally the adults that put them in that position cannot be blamed.

And the worst part is that these kids got encouraged to get their licence earlier than average. The UA teachers already knew this specific group of kids had a tendency to make reckless decisions and starting/joining fights when it wasn't their place to do that..

and instead of teaching them to not do that, they pushed them to get legal certification early so they technically wouldn't be responsible if any of them died or got seriously injured!

ok I'm not saying that they did this on purpose....but if they didn't think of this when they were pushing their students to get their licence then that's awfully neglectful of them and they're bad teachers.

I don't know, seems pretty sus to me..

[archon-of-cyberspace]

Star Rail: Franz Kafka and Gnosticism? Absolutely! First lore thoughts.

Playing Star Rail and reading Pistis Sophia so y'all don't have to. Additional intel in links.

First things first.

That Kafka lady is named after Franz Kafka…

…and her supposed hobby and doings at the beginning of the game reference two of his writings — The City Coat of Arms and The Metamorphosis.

The City Coat of Arms is the story about the creation of the Tower of Babel.

Know where do we see the tower? The Destruction path, followed by our protagonist. The condensed power called Collapsing Sky is the free boost they receive, with its artwork looking like this:

Just so happens, The Tower is also a tarot card, and let me quote Cyberpunk 2077 Tarot Card Journal here:

The Tower is an omen of radical change, chaos and destruction. The lightning striking The Tower signifies a return to the old order that lies buried under the ruins, and a new order that will rise from it. It is a symbol of tragedy, apocalypse, and self-destruction.

The Metamorphosis reference is, however, very loose.

It's anime-inspired game, after all. What you need to know, though, is that Franz Kafka declared himself an atheist…

…while Kafka lady did some pretty Gnostic stuff.

I say hi to all my fellow Genshin Impact players here. Listen up, it's important. In Pistis Sophia — Gnostic text considered classic — the Aeon (!) after whom the book got its title, goes through some kind of confusing and scary metamorphosis. She's eventually escorted back home by two archangels, her light (brightness, wisdom) being poured back to her body. In Star Rail, lady Kafka is accompanied by someone else and puts light (?) into Trailblazer's body. Again. Because our protagonist recognizes her.

Now back to Pistis Sophia. Sophia meets her true savior (spoiler: it's Jesus), who tells her she'll go three more times through the cycle of losing power and getting it back the same way it just had happened. What does that mean for us, players? It is an indicator the cycle we're going through now, definitely isn't the first. Either the second or the third, depending how creators develop Star Rail's plot and ending.

Star Rail mixes Pistis Sophia and the Hymn of the Pearl together.

I hope everyone remembers the Battle Pass cutscene in Genshin Impact, because that's what the Hymn of the Pearl is. And it nicely explains the amnesia stuff. Gnostics value forbidden knowledge beyond anything else; basically you're a sinner for not knowing shit, but at the same time you're temporarily safe from this burden and open to experience new things. Whether you like it or not.

While we're still in topic, take a look at Trailblazer's attire — hooded coat in earthly colors with golden/yellow accents. These colors are highly valued in: Christianity, Gnosticism and Chinese culture. While brown and grey are associated with being grounded, passing and other depressing (or not) things, yellow used to be a color reserved for imperial family.

Automatons attacking us on the space station may reference archons.

Not archons we know from Genshin Impact, but creatures described in Pistis Sophia. Wicked, annoying, and doing everything in their power to slow us down. In the book they're not destroyed completely, and so we'll see more of them in game.