#cogitopedia

[literallys-illiteracy]

overview of the PM stream:

Spoilies :p

Murder on the Warp Train Express:

Puppet ID for Heathcliff and Faust, 00 and 000 respectively, and there will be an EGO for the event as well

also following Warp Event, the default battle state will be the 12 sinner chain battles introduced in the latest RR, meaning Solo's may no longer exist

Wild Hunt Heathcliff

wow this is real

Anyways he has 2 states, mounted and dismounted on the dulluhan horse; His counter works like LoR apparently?

Walpurgis Night

Solemn Lament Yi Sang, 000 ID, no other information

Red Eyes Ryoshu ID, 000 ID, no other information,

Unknown EGO skill, Unknown rank or sinner, but im never wrong so its going to be Alriune

two announcers, neither known

The Walpy Night event is back to Lobotomy Corporation, moving upwards to Violet Noon (pillars)

Two Association Releases:

first off, Devyat (9) association is real, being similar to Ezra from Distortion Detective fame in clothing design, as a magic bag.

With the Devyat Rodion ID release, a Bygone Days EGO will also be released, which will become the first Battle pass EGO to appear outside of the pass

NEXT

Zwei Association will get 1 000 ID, the sinner being the same one who gets the Bygone days EGO. This release reveals the Zwei Association West, which will be inspired by European Knights, wielding great swords

Canto 7:

will be coming sometime after Zwei release

in the weeks before the release of the canto there will be a new and returning players log in event, with a canto 1 ID selector and growth materials

Timeline overall:

warp train on 8/8

wild hunt heathcliff sometime after the event ends,

sept//Aug home screen UI changes,

~sometime following that is Walpy night

North Devyat Rodion + Bygone days EGO

Zwei West 000 ID, Same sinner as Bygone days EGO release

~around october, Donqi Canto

Final//Other Notes:

our Glorious director is thinking of communicating more with the community, maybe with an occasional stream.

our Glorious director is also level 66 on main.

November 18th.

Ryoshu was the first sinner to receive multiple instances of the same Abnormality, and the count has increased with a third Red Eyes. They really want to hammer home the motherhood aspect, also on hod's floor Ryoshu makes a cameo because spidy bud :p

If you want any more details, or want the notes that were minor and i chose not to note down,

[transgenderfivepebbles]

a good sephirah :)

[cogitopedia]

Full support to the original Limbus Fandom admins for moving off of FANDOM and onto Wiki.gg!

For those looking for the new Limbus Company wiki here's the link, we highly encourage people to visit and use it so that it can rank above FANDOM!

https://limbuscompany.wiki.gg/wiki/Limbus_Company_Wiki

(Note that Cogitopedia is not directly affiliated or officially partnered with the Limbus Wiki, we consider ourselves a different project focused on the entirety of the Project Moon series)

[galakaz]

Damn the limbus fandom wiki is falling apart (not too surprising since they made a new one on wiki.gg)

[lu-is-not-ok]

'If asked about a specific thing' you say? Well, if possible could you tell your thoughts about 7.5-22, Witnessing? Or to be even more specific - the conversation between a (very much trying) Dante and Hong Lu?

I also must concur on the needing him dead bit. Gonna send him to be chased by an animal of some sort.

Oh boy do I have a lot of yapping to do about that particular scene.

Spoiler warning and all that.

Let me start with this. This exchange includes possibly the most blatant lies Hong Lu has ever said.

If you've read the Intervallo with any sort of understanding of what's going on, this should not shock you. Deception is a major thematic thread here, to the point that Outis, Miss Obvious Liar herself, was the other major focus Sinner outside of Hong Lu.

I'd say that about half of the things Hong Lu says during this conversation are just that, extremely blatant fucking lies, with the other half either being half truths or the final statement, which I'll leave for the end of this post.

So, let's see what shit Hong Lu is saying here. In order he says them. (Thank you to @mulberriesandtea for transcribing the scene onto cogitopedia already so I can use that for screenshots instead of going into the game itself for that.)

This, I believe, is a half-truth. And by that I mean it's a blatant fucking lie that might seem technically true only to Hong Lu himself.

I'll be blunt. I call bullshit on this. I refuse to believe Hong Lu genuinely was not promised something in return of him joining Limbus Company.

The main reason I have for that is the nature of the Golden Boughs. From what we've learned about them all the way up until current story events, Golden Boughs are entities that feed on the Desires of people to truly awaken their powers. It's clear that Limbus Company's own goals rely heavily on those awakened powers of the Boughs.

With that in mind, there is no way in hell Limbus Company would ever hire a Sinner with no powerful wish or desire, as that would be contrary to the point of the Department in the first place.

That being said, I call this part of the conversation a "half-truth" for a reason. Because while in reality Limbus Company might have very much offered to fulfill a desire of Hong Lu's, there is a very real possibility he considers the fulfillment of it truly impossible.

Hong Lu as a character is extremely fatalistic, with all signs pointing to him believing that no matter what he does, his fate will remain unchanged. As such, it's very likely that because of this fatalism, he believes there is no way for Limbus Company to actually fulfill his wish, as to be able to do that would potentially mean subverting fate itself. Thus, to him, it's as if he never wished for anything at all.

This one might just be the biggest and most blatant lie Hong Lu has ever told.

I've already talked about how extremely emotionally repressed Hong Lu is at lengths, so I'll just summarize it thusly.

Hong Lu is the only Sinner who realized the core of what Yi Sang's troubles are. He is the only Sinner to consistently reach out and check up on Yi Sang, always specifically doing so when Yi Sang is locking up his thoughts and feelings rather than verbalizing them. It is clear that, despite their differences, Hong Lu deeply relates to Yi Sang and understands him on a level nobody else appears to.

Do you see what I'm talking about?

Hong Lu is the only Sinner at all to understand that hiding one's true feelings is what Yi Sang's issue actually is.

My brother in Christ is saying he's seen Yi Sang at the devil's sacrament when we should all be asking what the fuck He himself was doing at the devil's sacrament.

This one I would say is another blatant lie, though perhaps not as blatant as the one that directly precedes it.

Again, I'll be blunt. Every time Hong Lu has used the 'new experiences' excuse was just a straight up lie, with one of the few instances of a downright Confirmed lie coming from one of such excuses.

To go a little bit deeper, Hong Lu seems to use this lie in one particular kind of situation - when discussing the reasons he left the Jia household. He mentions it in his K Corp ID, where the NPC he's talking to outwardly doubts it due to it not making sense with his current situation, and he mentions it in TKT, which is downright confirmed to be bullshit due to Xichun mentioning in Canto 7 that his Family is looking for him. A very strange thing for them to do if he were telling the truth, as if they wanted him to experience as much of the world as possible, then why would they ever want to cut that short?

The fact that he's using this excuse here means that his reason for joining Limbus Company is likely to be closely related to his reason for leaving the Jia household.

If you're like me and believe that Hong Lu actually ran away from home, then this would explain his evasion here - he likely joined Limbus Company as a way to hide, maybe even at some point hoping that they would grant him some protection, if even temporarily. After all, with how fatalistic Hong Lu is, it's likely that even at the time of him joining the Company, he already knew his time was limited and that he would inevitably be found anyway.

This is the last statement Hong Lu makes before we get the cartoon reveal of almost fucking everyone listening in on the conversation.

I believe that this is the only part of the exchange where Hong Lu is actually completely genuine.

Considering how fucking loud the themes of objectification and total ownership of people were in just this Intervallo alone, this first sentence is pretty clear. Because we can tell that yeah, Hong Lu had very little agency in his life. He is, by his own words, used to being led by the will of others.

However, it's the two lines that intrigue me. Because I believe there is a degree of emotional vulnerability to them that Hong Lu rarely if ever shows.

A degree of worry and concern that Hong Lu has refused to shown for the entirety of the Intervallo.

While what he says here is very vague, I think it is still very telling.

There is something that makes Hong Lu believe that his turn will be different. Not just will, but has to be. Something that only Hong Lu knows that makes him sure that no matter what, he can't go through the same thing everyone else has.

Which is. Very intriguing. Because there is a very wide range of things that have happened.

It can't be just that he knows he'll fail or something along those lines, because we know it has happened before. Gregor, Rodya, and even to a degree Sinclair all failed in one way or another.

It can't be that he doesn't remember or isn't human, because, again, that's also something we've seen be done before. In the Canto right before his no less!

No, there is something else to it. Something he alludes to in his next line.

I think this is, again, Hong Lu's fatalism rearing its ugly head. There is a cycle Hong Lu has been living in for his entire life. Something that he's done his entire life no matter what happened to him or to those around him.

We've seen Sinners succeed to subvert fate itself. We've seen Sinners fail to do so, unable to change themselves in the moment.

But... have we ever seen a Sinner simply give up completely?

I believe that's what Hong Lu believes his turn will be like. That once worst comes to worst, he won't even be able to try. That he'll simply lie down and take it, as he always has.

He believes that the cycle will continue on repeating, no matter what happens. Because it always has. Because this flow cannot be stopped. Because he can never truly escape his Family.

But here's the thing about that.

Hong Lu is wrong. Because he did break the cycle. Even if just once, even if for just a moment. He did escape, he did take action when it mattered.

...It reminds me of something that Binah said in Ruina after the end of her Floor's Realization.

What truly matters, however, is that the cycle did break at least once.

Hong Lu, whether he believes it or not, has already done the impossible.

And when it has been done once, that means it's no longer impossible.

It can happen again.

And it will happen again.

Destiny be damned.

[hypodermicfroggy]

= PROJECT MOON LORE GUIDE =

(I've posted a guide like this on Steam, but I figure it couldn't hurt to put an updated version on Tumblr, too. Also, a warning: This post is going to be very, *very* long.)

Hello, current Project Moon fandom and future/want-to-be fans!

Do you enjoy Limbus Company but don't know how to get into the other games and media to appreciate the greater lore of the series? Do you not actually have the money, time, or patience to endure a brutally punishing (and sometimes even janky) roguelike management sim, deckbuilder, or gacha game because we live in a capitalistic hellworld like the one this very series criticizes? Struggle with getting access to supplementary materials due to controversies and language barriers?

(Pictured: PM Twitter and the Limbus Steam Forums, on any given day. Seriously, what is wrong with some of you people.)

And especially important: hate how Reddit and Steam are full of dudebro coomers who are openly hostile to F2P, non-day one players who might grapple with all the previous issues on top of being more invested in story than waifus?

Then read on under the cut!

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

This guide contains a comprehensive list of resources for you to be able to enjoy the Project Moon series to its fullest, including links to wikis, playlists, and more. Even if you can't play the games, I personally think those who can actually appreciate the series shouldn't be gatekept from the truly fantastic story and world that the games hold. Except Canto 6, we don't talk about Canto 6.

AND AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS FOR CERTAIN PARTS OF THE SERIES, AND PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE THE CONTENT WARNINGS BEFORE YOU GET INTO ANYTHING HERE! This is a very dark series that tackles and shows very heavy topics and content!

For those who can't read the text on the image, some of the common trigger warnings for this series includes:

Animal Cruelty

Drug Use

References to Alcohol and Tobacco

Injury and Dismemberment

Homicide and Suicide

Violence and Torture

Cannibalism

Kidnapping, Abduction, and Captivity

Psychosis

Diseases, Seizure, and Dyspnoea (aka shortness of breath)

Familial Homicide and Domestic Violence

Reference to Clowns (Coulrophobia)

Themes of Occultism and Spiritualism

Audiovisual Depictions of Gore

Uses of Sharp and Pointed Objects

Hospital and Medical References

References to Gaslighting and Bullying

Body Modification and/or Deformation

Flashing Lights (Photosensitivity)

Disorientation Induced by a Shaking Camera

Strong Language and Demeaning Words

Reference to Traffic Accidents

Uses of Guns and Instruments of Violence

Discriminatory Violence

Religious Torture and Violence

Enforced Ideology and/or Actions

War and Mass Conflict

Anyway, if all that didn't scare you off, on to the guide!

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=WIKIS:

When in doubt, there's always the wikis for being references and useful sources, from gameplay to story elements!

>>Cogitopedia - A WIP wiki run by members of the community, working on adding in-depth content for all of the games and supplementary materials.

>>LobCorp Wiki - Has data on every abnormality, including inaccessible ones and cut ones (such as Price of Silence).

>>Library of Ruina Wiki - Has the lore from key pages, and also has cut content like the CGs from the original planned ending.

>>Limbus Wiki.gg - Has ID Uptie stories and info about Mirror Dungeon encounters. (DO NOT USE THE LIMBUS FANDOM WIKI, IT HAS BEEN ABANDONED/VANDALIZED.)

>>Library of Project Moon - A WIP fan blog whose purpose is to consolidate translations of the literary source novels and related works for Limbus Company and the PM games as a whole.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=LOBOTOMY CORPORATION:

Summary: Lobotomy Corporation is the first game in the series. It is a roguelike management sim where you play as "Manager X", tasked with handling employees and various monsters known as Abnormalities in order to generate daily quotas of a power source substance known as Enkephalin and a mysterious "Seed of Light" project. You are aided by an alleged team of AIs known as the Sephirot, and your very own personal assistant AI, Angela. It's often been likened to "anime SCP Foundation."

This is the game where everything begins, and without it, we wouldn't have the plot of Limbus (or anything else for that matter). This is where the Golden Boughs come from, this is where Abnormalities come from, this is even where Distortions come from - but we're getting ahead of ourselves on that front.

>>This playlist will allow you to watch all the cutscenes from the game, in order, for the canon ending.

>>This video also has the cutscenes, albeit not in order, HOWEVER, it does have the alternate, non-canon endings A and B (which are timestamped in the link for convenience).

>>WordsmithVids (also on YouTube) also has what is generally considered to be the most popular summary of the game.

(NOTE: Some people disagree with WordsmithVids and his interpretations of some of the characters as well as his content being "meme-y," so I advise you to watch at your own discretion and draw your own conclusions. That being said, if people have better recommendations, please send them to me instead of just complaining and bitching without offering solutions like that one guy on Steam did, thank you.)

>>This site contains transcripts/text of the entire game, albeit not in order like the cutscene playlist. It also has WIP sections for EGO weapons, gear, and other useful info.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=WONDERLAB:

Summary: Wonderlab was a webcomic by the artist MIMI/Whitezombies, originally posted on the Project Moon Postype account. It follows the adventures of several employees - often called "nuggets" in fan parlance - Catt, Taii, and Rose, in a Lobotomy Corporation branch facility as they go about their day to day activities.

This webcomic was taken down after the Summer 2023 Incel Controversy, when incels stormed the Project Moon office in Korea and made enough credible threats that the former Limbus CG artist known as Vellmori was fired, and it is currently part of a second conflict over copyright. However, primarily for archival and personal reference purposes, the comic has been saved and rehosted in several forms.

>>Internet Archive version. This has just the comic in an on-site readable format.

>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This features the individual pages, a downloadable .zip of the archive, and a readable Google Docs version.

For those who may have ethical concerns about downloading a webcomic that was pulled due to controversy (understandable), once again, >>WordsmithVids has a summary.

(NOTE: This is NOT the place to discuss either the Summer 2023 incel controversy *or* the current (Summer 2024) copyright conflict. There are far better places to do that with people who are far better informed on the topic than I am. This post is solely for providing references and archives of lore material to help guide people into this series. DO NOT attempt to bring up the controversies here, I will not be acknowledging them outside of mentioning why certain supplementary materials may have been pulled and have had to be mirrored. I am just an archivist, not a lawyer or discourser.)

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=LIBRARY OF RUINA:

Summary: Library of Ruina takes place some months after the events of Lobotomy Corporation. A "Grade 9 Fixer" known as Roland finds his way into the mysterious, tower-like Library that has sprung up in place of the former main facility of L Corp, where he encounters Angela and the other Sephirot (all now Librarians). He begins assisting her in finding "the perfect book", which involves enticing people to come to the library through the sending out of curious invitations.

Now, unfortunately, there is not a playlist that splits up the cutscenes or puts them in order for Ruina.

>>These two videos have them all in compilation.

HOWEVER. A wonderful and dear friend of mine (@citroncynique <3) has allowed the guide they sent me to be reproduced/copied.

>>As such, there is a guide on how to watch the cutscenes in the order that makes the most sense, utilizing the timestamps of the previous two videos. It is not a perfect system, but it works at least.

>>There is also a written transcript archive for Ruina, by the same person who did the one for LobCorp, which also includes useful info regarding things like cards and keypages as well.

>>WordsmithVids also has at least two summary vids out.

However, due to financial issues at last update, he has not been able to continue his summary of Ruina. I am including them regardless. >>As well as his Patreon in case people want to support him in hopes of making it easier for him to work on the vids again.

>>There is also an almost FOUR HOUR LONG video essay that delves into Angela's character specifically after the events of LobCorp and Ruina. It is not required viewing like the rest of the materials here, however, I think it still deserves a mention just for the amount of effort and care that went into it.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=DISTORTION DETECTIVE:

Summary: Taking place at roughly the same time as Library of Ruina, two Fixers known as Ezra and Moses and an N Corp. Taboo Hunter known as Vespa investigate the Distortion Phenomenon that is rapidly starting to spread across the City after the events of the previous games.

Originally released as a webnovel on Project Moon's Postype, Distortion Detective has 42 chapters and is technically incomplete/on hiatus. Project Moon, surprised at how popular the webnovel was, decided they wanted to potentially make an entire game based on the story. As of this writing, that has not happened (yet) but at least one character from the novel has appeared in Limbus Company, so there is still hope yet.

>>The DD series in its original form on Postype. This version was posted chapter-by-chapter, on Project Moon's Postype account and is (as of this writing, at least) still readable there.

>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This has the entire webnovel in a single document format (both Docs and downloadable PDF) featuring NishikujiC's official chapter illustrations up to Ch. 26, and includes the now-cut comic adaption of Ch. 19 by the artist Monggeu/koug99.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=LEVIATHAN:

(Lord, this one. Like it wasn't a big enough pain in the ass already.)

Summary: After the events of Library of Ruina, and operating as a direct prequel to Limbus Company, Leviathan follows the Color Fixer Vergilius (aka the Red Gaze) as he grapples with his own personal traumas and comes into conflict with the Ring Syndicate, before being recruited as a guide for the LCB.

Leviathan originally started as a webcomic by Monggeu/koug99. Health issues with the artist resulted in the comic being discontinued and turned into a webnovel, whose translation was never completed and had to later be finished by fans. The comic portion has since been taken down as of the Summer 2024 copyright conflict and controversy, much like Wonderlab was. Once again, however, this has been mirrored for archival and reference purposes.

>>Original source of Leviathan on Postype. Due to the copyright conflict and the translation hiatus, the only chapters available are Ch. 12-15. The link is still included for posterity reasons and just in case the copyright conflict results in the chapters being restored.

>>A backup archive on Google Drive. This link includes the comic chapters, as well as the SnakeskinFS English fan translations for the last five chapters that were never completed, all in PDF form.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=LIMBUS COMPANY:

Summary: After all the events of the previous games, a mysterious up and coming business known as Limbus Company has taken it upon themselves to send a group composed of 12 "Sinners" and their mysterious clock-headed Manager Dante to delve into the now-abandoned L Corp facilities in search of mysterious artifacts known as Golden Boughs.

Finally we come to the end of the shrubbery maze. Limbus Company is the latest chapter in the currently unfolding story of Project Moon and the City, a gacha game being used to fund other projects under the company umbrella.

Many people, once again, have ethical concerns about patronizing a gacha game. I for one agree with them, even as one of those patrons.

>>This playlist features all of the cutscenes for each part of the game story released so far (up to Intervallo 6.5-2/Murder on the WARP Express as of this writing).

>>There is also this site, which operates as a pure datamined text archive of all the story content.

>>And this site, which has all the in-game Observation logs as told by the Sinners, about the Abnormalities and enemies encountered in-game.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=BONUS/SUPPLEMENTARY:

This section, liable to be updated at any given time, is for links to materials or fan-creations that don't necessarily fit with the strictly canonical story materials found in the games and webnovels themselves but which otherwise provide useful resources or analysis. Note that the vast majority of material here is supplementary and not required, but recommended.

(Except the literary sources. You will read those, and that is a threat. I can't take another Wings-forsaken illiterate opinion on Canto 6, I'm going to start Distorting and biting people if YOU PEOPLE DON'T READ THE DAMN SOURCE NOVELS.)

YouTubers and Video Essayists:

Frey Chaqma - Frey has done lots of work for the PM community, such as spearheading the Absolute Pride Resonance charity event for Pride Month 2024 as well as discussing the lore of the games and the City as a whole.

Tsunul - Another YouTuber who discusses lore but who also often delves into more interpersonal matters relating to the fandom and controversies that can affect the game community as a whole.

Esgoo - Although Esgoo does not necessarily get into lore so much, they are often tauted as one of the biggest names in the fandom for, if nothing else, their meta-analysis and basic gameplay/strategy material, as well as their community involvement.

DMrLeeds - Although some of his videos are (comparitively) quite old, it can still provide a good jumping off point for anyone who is utterly lost on what's going on in Limbus.

hydrojoy's essay on Benjamin - In addition to Angela, hydrojoy also did an in-depth analysis on Benjamin, aka B, aka Hokma, from Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina and their impact on the story.

MetiNotTheBadGuy's PM Character Essays - Meti has done several excellent character breakdown videos on some of PM's most notable villains/characters, including Roland, Kromer, and Dongrang.

= o = o = o = o = o = o =

=ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Citroncynique. For being a truly amazing artist, putting in the effort of making a watch guide for Ruina's cutscenes, and getting me into this series and ruining my life forever by jingling a bugman with PTSD in front of me (<3).

MIMI/Whitezombies, Monggeu/koug99, NishikujiC, and Vellmori. Although several of these artists have left PM and the community on bad terms, I still think their efforts should be appreciated and supported, now more than ever.

SnakeskinFS. For finishing Leviathan's English translation.

Folex, Bek, WordsmithVids, hydrojoy, and the Lobotomy Corporation Archive. For posting their cutscene and summary/analysis videos.

NeedsMoreDoge. The Steam user who provided the original guide and backup on how to read Leviathan that I myself utilized.

The less than pleasant members of the community who spurred me into making this guide in the first place, out of pure spite.

And of course, readers like you and those members of the community who make me so happy to be here and be a part of this fandom. Genuinely, thank you all, I have never felt as welcomed as I do in the Project Moon circles I run in.

In addition to the references included here, I recommend you get involved in your PM community as well! Join communities and Discords, support content creators on social sites, help contribute where it's needed and in whatever way you can! The best way to counteract the worst elements of any fandom is to be a guiding and helpful element in your own right.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope this guide helps you out!

[iaobug]

heya! I hope it's not too odd of a question, but I'm an editor on Cogitopedia (a general PJM wiki) and I just saw the insanely high quality logos you made. Would it be alright to use those files on the wiki with credit to you? Either way, thank you for the cool work!

of course!!!

[ihearasound]

Finally finished the template for IDs on cogitopedia.... now I hibernate

[egosuit]

good pic from cogitopedia

[literallys-illiteracy]

Also cogitopedia exists as a work in progress all in one PM wiki, i am very biased however considering i make pages for it so theres that.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING ON THE LIMBUS WIKI PAGES???

[literallys-illiteracy]

The floor of history: an analysis

This is going to be the final revision of this floor's analysis for at least a few months, im going to prioritise finishing other floors before coming back to it.

Major Spoilers for Library of Ruina and Lobotomy Corporation's story

The Abnormalities//EGO:

Scorched girl ("fourth Match Flame" (Currently "4th Match Flame"))

Happy Teddy Bear (The Forgotten (Formerly "Bear Paws" (Lob Corp))

Fairy Festival (Wingbeat)

Queen Bee (Hornet)

Snow Whites Apple (Green Stem)

happy teddy bear; scorched girl; fairy festival; and snow white's apple, all represent some form of loss or (in the latter two’s case) being betrayed.

The scorched girl was a child who lived a poor life selling matches, in the fires of the lit matches she saw hope for a better world bathed in the warmth that the flames provided, in her longing and pursuance for this better world, she burned to death; The Abnormality of the scorched girl is the soul of this child, betrayed and burned by the flames which promised her a better life.

Happy teddy bear is an abnormality that we have less knowledge of its past, only that it was abandoned and left to decay at some point by its previous owner; longing for attention the abnormality, upon finding someone who cherishes it like its old owner, will ensure that they are never going to leave

For the case of the Fairy Festival, it's the only one of the bunch to be the betrayer rather than not; the fairies of the festival will heal and take care of you, with ideas of them being able to sense goodness in people, and protecting those who are faithful and trustworthy (haha), but then: the hunger. The fairies are carnivorous creatures who simply attempt to keep their prey fresh through their “care”, being able to kill them in an instant despite their perceived nature.

I am not writing about Queen Bee

Snow white's apple, as the name suggests, is the witches poisoned apple from the fairy tale of snow white; the apple, after a single bite, was thrown to the side and left to rot, vermin and worms came over time, attempting to eat the apple, all of them died of the poison. After serving her use to both the witch and snow white, she was thrown to the side to rot, after which she started to look for her own path in life...

Angela and the Floor Realisation:

"Is it a sin that I was born this way?"

The thematic of isolation, which is present in the bear, apple, and child, is quite obvious to the realisation, Angela suffered untold period of pain, isolated from everyone surroundings her, suppressing her desires, her honest urges to stop the suffering of the employees, as doing so would only prolong the play;

Angela was punished for her existence; A machine created to be a human, created only to suffer endlessly where a human would not; Angela was punished for the sin of her birth, condemned to this hell, to orchestrate this play. 

As the finale of the play comes, the Girl who had nothing, who was denied happiness since creation, who was not allowed the warmth of the stage, not allowed to stand alongside the others, saw a future in the light, the whispers of a future she could make, if she only claims the light, Carmen’s promises of her truest desires, mirroring the world seen in the flames of the Match Girl.

As both of these children have nothing in life, the Match Girl and Angela both desperately seek these promises shown in the blaze, chasing the light, their hope of the future, as it is all they have left.

In seeking the future she saw, the Match Girl’s last match burned out, and she, no longer having the warmth to guide her, was consumed by the night.

"If this matchlight goes out, nothing will be left for me."

Angela’s story diverges in the end, being pulled from the light by her one and only friend, not letting her be consumed, forgotten as she was always meant to be.

In relation to the scorched girl, who seeks to burn all that there is in order to gain this sought world in the flames, Angela seeks fulfilment in burning down all that Ayin planned for her, the petty revenge to see the hopes of others burned the same way that hers was. 

 "Maybe I could be free after I’ve burned down all things and then myself."

In the course of Lobotomy Corporation’s story, Angela grew to despise A, her creator, after being abandoned, both left to follow the script, and in the finale, where she is expected to simply lay down and cease after serving her purpose; in this idea of being abandoned Angela Resonates with the Happy Teddy bear. Being modelled after Carmen, in Ayins futile attempt to replace what he had lost, Angela was created, a human machine, despised by her created for existing in the manner he dictated for her; Angela was not abandoned at the end, Ayin had abandoned her the moment of her birth, as soon as she first spoke.

“I remember you… You were a person with a warm smile…"

In this denial of an ending, a place to stand amongst the others as the show concluded, Angela, despite her value, her necessity in the play, was simply used as a blessing for others only to be cast aside, expected to rot.

In this desire of being denied an ending, of being disposable to those who needed her, Angela creates her own ending; In being forgotten, abandoned, left to rot, Angela’s desire for a life of her own is manifest through the library as a whole, and causes her to resonate with the Snow White's Apple:

"My existence was born from a yearning and began as a curse, yet I served as a blessing to others."

Akin to the apple, Angela was made to serve a purpose and be discarded; Both left waiting in their isolation, waiting for someone to come to them, waiting until the last moment for Ayin to look at her; As the apple grew limbs, in search of her own story, her own prince, Angela walks in search of what she had been denied, a life, a story, a happy ending rather than being neglected until the end.

Through the true ending of Lobotomy corporation, Angela makes the ultimate betrayal in defiance and spite of Ayin's plan; After eons of living simply to serve others, to complete this act of the play, she was still unable to stand on the stage with the others at the finale: 

The connection of the fairy festival is one of her deceptions, the presumption of her goodwill and servitude to the plan used to hide her true intentions. As Angela says herself:

"I did everything to care for you, so it’d be only fair that I get something in return."

Just like the famished fairy, being starved, deprived and denied of her innate desires for so long, Angela takes action herself, looking to consume hopes of others, the culmination of this time spent starving, all for herself.

Now, as she attempts to satiate her hunger, the desires that have been aged for millennia, denied for her sin of existing, Angela pilots the Librarians in the same manner that Ayin set the script; The Library’s guests, the librarians, the Sephirot, suffering to make Angela’s will manifest, sending countless to their deaths, to be killed and forgotten, all for her pursuit of humanity. 

"No one remembers those who gave their effort to raise the kingdom. It’s a truth that repeats on and on."

In taking on the role of the Queen, Angela takes the role of her father, forgetting those who suffered, who worked towards the ending, seeing others as disposable, only tools to achieve a purpose.

"There can’t be any meaning to a history that repeats itself. Attain the will to stand up straight by looking back? You know nothing about my past."

[Insert Natural Segue]

The Willingness to Stand up Straight:

Elijah, Malkuth:

Lobotomy Corporation, in regaining the memories of her trauma, Malkuth sees her death, in impatience she tested the substance Cogito on herself, after being denied as a test subject several times. (oh god that is one fucking sentence isn't it) In this recklessness, through her desire to help the Cogito project, her determination to make a difference in the project, Elijah, now Malkuth, died, decaying from the experiment. Writhing on the floor in pain, begging Ayin to turn around and help her, there is no option but to ignore her. Ayin did not remember everyone name, nor respond to or make "meaningless gestures" of praise, which only fueled Elijah's fervor to make a difference in the project, to have the fruits of her effort be tangible.

Overcoming this despair, in competing the Meltdown, Malkuth sees a glimmer of hope for improvement, she cannot continue to look back with hopes of changing her choices, to despair at her own actions. Instead, she sees the possibility of improvement, and gains the willingness to stand up straight, to hold her head high rather than being weighed down through her past.

Like Angela, Elijah was cast aside by Ayin, finding only despair when seeking rewards for her deeds:

Though already having faced her past, overcame her trauma, the Abnormalities on this floor represent Malkuth's, Elijah's, history:

Through Ayin's lack of validation, a desire begins to take place, hollow, demanding to be filled. Only driven further by her impatience, Elijah is driven to take action for this hunger, to finally satiate herself in return for her actions, in the same manner as Fairy festival.

The famished faeries (fairy's? fairies?), being unable to feed their desires for so long, begin to consume other faeries, destroying itself in the process.

"I knew I didn’t have any right to participate in the experiment, that’s why I was so impatient." "Will you finally praise me? I just want to feel proud."

In seeking her desires, wanting validation from Ayin for her efforts, Malkuth loses her hopes, being burned by the supposed source of her rewards, losing hope for the future.

in seeking this validation, like the Scorched Girl seeking the world seen in the flames, Elijah's story ends in a death, alone and forgotten by others.

"Make sure you feel this horrible sense of helplessness to your core, right to your heart."

After working so hard, sacrificing herself to be useful, to finally be praised by Ayin, he refuses to turn around to see her. Not even acknowledging her, even as she reaches out to him.

Just like all the others who have been burned by Ayin in the past, Elijah represents the workers of the queen bee, seen as disposable by the queen (Ayin Queen Bee art is next on my to do list), sacrificing everything for the greater workings yet never being remembered, not being rewarded, only discarded when they have outlived their usefulness.

"No one remembers those who gave their effort to raise the kingdom. It’s a truth that repeats on and on."

After everything that she had done, she was abandoned by Ayin, forgotten, left to the wayside to rot, to be forgotten, like the Apple and the Bear which appear before us.

"Be honest, back then it wasn’t that hard to turn around and look back at me."

Where the story of these two abnormalities diverge follows the point where they were abandoned. While the bear seeks the fulfillment of a new, loving owner, the Apple seeks its own path in life, growing to find its own path, its own fulfillment. While Elijah, now Malkuth, was abandoned by Ayin, in the past, rather than seeking the same fulfillment that she sought from Ayin, she looks to the future, with hope of improvement, the Will to stand up Straight.

Angela:

Like Malkuth looks back at Elijah to gain hope, to know that her past does not define her, Angela must realize the same, as we can see from her quotes in the realization:

"Attain the will to stand up straight by looking back? You know nothing about my past."

In the same way that Ayin refused to look back on Elijah, refused to create a place on the stage for Angela, the sufferings of both were ignored.

Angela refuses to look back at her past, to realise what she has become. Angela cannot gain hope for the future without accepting her past, she cannot gain the Will to Stand up Straight as long as she is defined by her suffering, by her past.

"Looking back on myself… It wasn’t even so difficult to do."

Angela says, mirroring Malkuth's own words towards Ayin.

Angela, following the realisation, like Malkuth, looks towards the future, to seek her own path, undefined by her trauma, free from the script that bound her.

. Thank you for reading this Essay, the Ayin Queen Bee thing is not a joke, there is an actual list and it was next down.

If you liked this essay consider following and/or suggesting something for me to write about.

and for a final note, a quote from Angela's realisation:

"I can’t fly with ragged and tattered wings."

... Yi Sang Hornet EGO when?

[literallys-illiteracy]

to the ~10 people who actually read these posts, you et to choose what I write about next. Poll is open for a week because the next few days I'm taking a break, so ill leave it open in the meantime

RB for sample size if you want, or not, I cant tell you what to do.

For the Yan Vismok and Yesod options, even if they dont get selected the old versions can be found on the main document in the pinned post

[literallys-illiteracy]

ill be honest i do not remember if i meant to do this or if it was an accident, either way dont make/edit wiki pages while severely sleep deprived everyone.

[literallys-illiteracy]

Fell bullet Heathcliff EGO

this EGO rolls for 21 at max, provides up to 7 poise and +1 poise count before attacking; This EGO has a crit multiplier based on amount of torn memory (highest resonance + 1) up to 105% increased crit damage, which is the highest of any skill in the game im fairly sure

i wouldnt have made this post if i didnt realise something: using the Fragment(s) of Conceit (poise), Allurement (Bleed), and Decay (sinking) you can gain +4/2/2 Final power respectively, and (Poise fragment specific) +48% increased damage.

Alone this is +8 final power, making this EGO roll for 29.

This EGO may also benefit from the EGO gift 'Bloody Mist' which gives +100% damage and +2 coin power (2 coins means +4 power), boosting the final power of this EGO to 33 with +100% +48% damage, not including any other damage buffs/modifiers

Heathcliff has access to the season 3 ID pequod harpooner, which gives 1% increased damage for each 1% heath missing, this means up to 99% increased damage on all skills, including this EGO

additionally, note that the EGO may crit, already with the highest multiplier, but alongside CMCW, which makes the crit multiplier 2.5x and gives 15 offence level up

all together:

33 final power, +247% damage dealt, +29 offence level up (has level +5 by default)

this does not account for any other sources of damage up that were not listed above, bloody gadget and Finifugality are both good options for that

[literallys-illiteracy]

I already didnt bother levelling my ID's for Limbus Company more than once, which is why im still using level 35 ID's in canto 7 but i have found a new spite driven reason not to level:

currently doing a regular page update for Cogitopedia, i need to go through every single fucking E.G.O page and update the offence level to the new level 50 standardisation, i will not level my ID's until i can physically not progress further for this (and because i cant be bothered grinding exp tickets)

[literallys-illiteracy]

New Zwei West designs

i'm not the biggest fan of the new Zwei West designs, which were revealed yesterday during the PM stream.

I'm aware that they're meant to be inspired by Western mediaevil knights, likely in relation to Don Qui's chapter which releases soon after; I'm not sure if they will be related like Oufi Heathcliff was to the following season or if they will have some plot significance during the Canto, it could go either way.

The main reason i'm not a fan of the new designs is they don't feel very knightly, nor do they feel the most cohesive with the other association designs we've seen so far.

Here is a shittily annotated copy of the Zwei image so there's context behind these ramblings:

As an initial note, i feel like the tiny little ecranche/Police badge things [1] aren't doing it for me, the colour matching with the armour makes it unclear whether its a badge or actual section of the armour, but i really don't like how it looks; if a police badge needs to be incorporated into the design because of Zwei association, even though they have Sigillary of the association on their shoulder [14] and Leg plates [3], then i think that it would work better connected to the utility belt that both designs have [5] [8] (also why is the belt so fucking high up on [8]?)

I really think that the Dress suit-collars [4] Sticking out from under the armour, the idea of them showing up to their office in the same Suit and ties as the regular Zwei fixers before getting into these suits of armour is too silly for my taste: i'm not opposed to designs which involve combat suits, i like the original Zwei designs, as well as the butlers and Ensemble, but the clash between these two visual designs really irks me.

now the first part that i really really hate. What the fuck are the plates on their robes [3]? we can see that they're clearly metal, due to seams between sections and bolts fixing them there, but these serve less than no purpose; Having lightly armoured/unarmoured legs is fairly common for mobility reasons, leather or cloth pants be unarmoured on ground troops is common. I'm stretching my suspension of disbelief for the robes/coat (for this section) [11] [12] itself, as they are fairly common in fantasy, just to note there are of course risks of tripping/having the cloth caught on something, but that passes the rule of cool.

The metal plates [3] on these robes are actively detrimental to combat; as these plates are only supported on the fabric they will weight down on the user, heavily limiting movement, which nulls the entire point of not wearing full plate; as the cloth is loose and hanging, these armour plates wont do much at all to disperse the force of blows, as the impact will be transferred through the metal, into the cloth: this isn't practical, though it may stop the occasional slashing/piercing attack, it will still transfer the energy into the leg beneath, unless there is padding or a gambeson underneath covering the legs, which once again nulls the point of the coat's armour as a whole. The plate on the belt of the leftmost design [10] isn't much better, even though its supported by the belt (presumably on both sides to make it stable), its still going to kill you back and weigh you down, not to mention that the plate goes down almost to the knee, which limits mobility even more, whilst not protecting the most vital sections.

before i continue, i want to consider what happens to the plating on the second's chest [7] if (when, if i have anything to say about it) he bends over, because that's going right into his stomach. This section was added just for the note about him being hot, that's all.

Its kind of disappointing that the Germanic-European mediaevil knight based Zwei fixers don't have a ZWEIhander when the regular fixers do, even though its a perfect fit for these ones; Instead they use a giant sword [6] with a random glowing orange spot. I've never been a fan of the classic "massive fucking sword" design trope and this is no exception at all, i would much prefer that they all use some sort of historical European weapon, especially a crossbow or bill book/Halberd. i do acknowledge that there are people who like the M.F.S design, its just not for me.

i want to note that the two designs shown here use different arm-guards, While [9] is more akin to a Gauntlet connected to a bracer of some sort, only covering the top half of the forearm, while [2] covers the entire forearm akin to a vambrace. For simplicity these two armour sets will be called the Light and Heavy sets respectively

Neither armour set uses a Couter (elbow piece), which is fine for both designs, the vambrace of the heavy suit covering a section of the elbow, and the light set likely focusing on more mobility than raw defence.... for the most part:

There is another major difference between the two sets of armour, the breastplates: While the light set wears something akin to a plackart [4] (below the collar), covering the entire torso and stomach, the Heavy set wears something akin to a crop top which seems to stop right after his tits and before the belt [8], taking the word "breastplate" very literally. because of this, im no longer referring to these different suits as Light and Heavy because neither seems to be one more than the other one is; In order to match this, they will now be referred to as the Hight and Leavy armour sets. im starting to understand his plating at [7] because his stomach is completely exposed by the looks of it.

And my final point unless i decide to write more, in which case there will be a paragraph underneath this section, is the Robes worn by he Hight set: the robes marked under [11] are nice, i like these as a design, they don't drop too low, they looks fairly thick but still mobile and i really have no problems with these. the cloak in [12] does not get any compliments, it serves no purpose and can act as a way for opponents to trip you or for you to get caught on during battle; the reason that the coats at [3] get a pass (only on accounts of tripping hazard, not the plates) is because those are short enough and weighed down enough that they are somewhat realisatic, similar to [11], as it seems that the robe is an undercoat while wearing the armour (even though they have suits).

I'm not the biggest fan of these, no there will not be an analysis of the Devyat association because i don't have any/as many problems with their design from what we've seen (although their magic bag looks like a boombox, also its giving Yuna from dawn office?)

also while writing the tags to finish this off i realised i never talked about the boots [13], oopsie, 7/10, not terrible cavalry boots