#devaedra

[hyperion-birb]

oh tyto my beloved how I’ve missed you 💛

slowly working on doing the Executioner! card done for the Sunbird skin 😭

[spectrechosts]

Untitled Centaur Story

I want to be done reuploading and all I have left is shorter stories I haven't touched in forever which means shit is getting CONDENSED into single posts so I can have all this done by Halloween.

This one is about a centaur who likes puzzles and dislikes everything else about adventuring. I've been unable to come up with a title for it basically forever. Three chapters in this post.

"Now, far be it from me to tell you your business-"

"Hm?"

"And I'm happy to rest my legs."

"Oh, well it's no problem-"

"But you don't really seem cut out for the dungeon-crawling life."

"Oh. Sorry."

Elora carefully lowered herself down the passage in a harness of magical vines, the rope ladder the others had descended entirely ill-suited for a centaur to use.

"Nah, it's fine, you're doing fine. I mean, you get a little scared- It's not important. You just don't seem like you're having a great time, is all. With the fighting, and the tight spaces, and the ladders."

"Oh! Yeah, no, I'm not."

"Okay. Do you wanna stop? Because I have a portal scroll, for emergencies."

The assassin on her back, Devaedra, was really nice even though she murdered people.

"No, I can keep going. Thank you though!"

"Okay, just tell me if you change your mind."

She trotted down the ancient hall until the two of them rejoined the rest of the party, stalled at a massive door carved out of the stone.

"You know, we'd be making better progress if our door opener didn't want to bring up the rear."

"Not my fault that you're as comforting as a battleaxe. Elora needed me, didn't she."

"Y-Yeah, sorry."

"And besides," Devaedra continued, "if I went ahead and it wasn't a locked door you'd be mad at me for killing everything before you could join the fun."

The stout barbarian grunted. "But there ain't fun. There's a locked door."

"Yes, yes, I'll open it, calm yourself." Devaedra hopped off her back, giving her a gentle pat. "Ugh, that's a long combination lock." She held her long ear to the door, spinning one of the reels. "And I don't hear anything. This could take a while-"

"Feldspar." Elora said.

"Huh?"

"It's a riddle lock, the riddle is inscribed around the door. It's an old dwarven dialect, but I think- Well, it doesn't really translate. But the answer is Feldspar. Just, um, let me-"

She carefully rotated the reels into position, and the door scraped open.

"…Huh. Guess you were waiting for the door opener either way." Devaedra said, shrugging and hopping back onto Elora's back.

~

"For fucks sake just carry the chest and I'll open it later-"

"Um, can I..?"

Elora sat in front of the chest, sliding panels around swiftly until they formed a complete insignia. The lock popped open.

"Oh. Always been bad at those." Devaedra said.

~

"This one, uh, it's like a pun kinda. You have to- Here, let me."

~

"This one is actually just feldspar again."

~

Devaedra picked at a regular, iron lock.

"I'm sorry." Elora said.

"Why?"

"I'm doing your thing. You're carrying me through this dungeon and-"

"Elora you've literally been carrying me through the dungeon."

"You know what I mean!"

"Elora." She said, popping the lock open. "Heh, still got it. Elora, you're good at puzzles! It's not a bad thing, you're helping a lot."

"Oh! Okay, I'm glad you think so. It's really the only part I'm good at, so a lot of people don't like bringing me along."

"I like having you around. Tell you what, we can be a package deal, people want me to open regular locks, they gotta bring you to do the puzzles. Partners?" She said, offering Elora her hand.

"Partners."

~~~

"Eloooraaaaaaaaaa!"

Elora perked her head up, interrupted in her gardening by the intrusion.

"Yeah?" She called out, unsure where Devaedra was.

The assassin dropped onto her back, and she let out a tiny shriek of surprise.

"We have a job!" The elf said, patting her on the side to calm her down.

"Oh, I'll get my gear ready and-"

"We're going to a ball!"

The centaur blinked.

"…A ball?"

"Yeah, I have to go kill a lady and my invitation comes with a plus one."

"Wh- I can't-" Elora stammered.

"Relax, only I have a job. You don't have to help kill her." Devaedra said. "You just get to enjoy the ball!"

"What am I going to do at a ball?"

The elf shrugged.

"Dance? Mingle? Ball things. It's fun, it's like the second-best kind of assassin gig."

"I can't dance, Devaedra!" Elora whined, pulling the sides over her sun hat down over her ears in embarrassment.

"Sure you can! I'll dance with you."

"I am a horse, Devaedra!"

"Centaurs don't dance?"

"Not really!"

"Well then who am I supposed to dance with?" Devaedra moped, hugging the centaur and making her heart race.

Elora wasn't really sure where she stood with Devaedra. She was nice to her, but she was nice to everyone, and a lot of the time that was just to get you to let your guard down so she could kill you.

She… didn't think Devaedra planned to kill her. That would be silly, and also she could have done it already.

She just didn't know what she did think Devaedra had planned for her. She was a middling druid who didn't particularly enjoy adventure, she wasn't half as interesting as any of the assassin's other friends.

Devaedra yawned.

"Whatever, we can just raid the buffet. Maybe get drunk on fancy wine." She said lazily. "You mind if I conk out for a while here? I was busy all night, and your garden is always so relaxing."

"Oh, no problem!"

She had expected the elf to… move? Rest in the shade of a tree, or something.

Instead she started gently snoring, arms still wrapped around Elora's torso.

The centaur fidgeted nervously, not wanting to risk Devaedra falling off if she moved. Slowly, carefully, she lowered herself to the ground and decided to just wait for her to wake up from her nap.

Maybe by the time she did she'd think of something to wear.

~~~

Elora loitered by the banquet table, thoroughly stressed out by the ball.

Partially because it just, it really wasn't her type of event. Bunch of aristocrats flaunting their wealth as loudly and obnoxiously as possible, not at all her idea of a good time.

Mostly because Devaedra had noticed someone a little while ago and beelined for her, dancing and drinking and whispering sweet nothings into her ear until she whisked the girl away, giggling, to her presumed demise.

That had been about 15 minutes ago, and if Elora wasn't having fun before she certainly wasn't now, worried sick that their night's trajectory was about to take a stark turn to the gallows.

Why did she agree to this? She didn't have the stomach for it. Being friends with an assassin was one thing, when the job was just an abstraction, when she could pretend that assassin was just a descriptor of her role in an adventuring party, when she didn't have to keep calm under pressure.

"Are you not going to dance?" Slurred some noblewoman in a gaudy dress.

"Centaurs don't dance. Not like this." Elora responded, still fidgeting and scanning the room. "More prancing in meadows than all this twirling and precise movement."

The woman nodded in understanding. "You know, I do dressage, you know." She said, letting the statement sit in the air for a moment before continuing in a lowered voice. "I bet I could get you to dance."

"Wouldn't that be something." Devaedra said icily, appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh! Devaedra!" Elora squeaked, looking around to try and figure out where she could possibly have come from.

"Unfortunately, we really must be going." The elf continued, gently stroking Elora's side. "Had just about too much fun for one night, haven't we sweetness?"

Ah. Right.

"Yyyyyyes, yes, we're going now." Elora said as the assassin hopped on her back, the two quickly leaving the noblewoman and her bizarre assertions behind.

They left the ball in silence, and were far away by the time Elora worked up the nerve to speak.

"So um, that girl..?"

"Dead." Devaedra stated plainly.

"Ah."

Elora knew this of course, but it was still…

"The two of you seemed to be having fun, before you… y'know."

Devaedra shrugged. "Oh, sure. Need to get her alone somehow."

Elora knew she shouldn't ask more questions, it wouldn't make her feel better about it, but-

"Was she nice?"

"I didn't really get a read on her, Elora."

"Did she… deserve it, do you think?"

"Elora."

"I mean, was she like a crooked baroness, or-"

"I don't ask."

Elora frowned. "You don't get curious?"

"Nope. Believe me, knowing doesn't help."

She didn't really know what to say to that. She supposed that was why she was a gardener and not an assassin.

"Do you do that a lot?"

"Assassinate people?" Devaedra said, crooking an eyebrow.

"No! The dancing, and whispering, and such."

"Depends, I suppose. It doesn't work in every situation, but it's a pretty decent low-risk move at parties."

"Oh…" Elora mumbled.

"Oh?"

"Well, doesn't that seem so sad? They're probably really happy, and then you kill them."

Devaedra leaned into her back.

"The people I use it on probably aren't thinking of living a happy life with me, Elora." She hummed.

"Still-"

"And I think it's a rather kind way to do it, make their last thoughts happy ones, hm? No big thing."

"I guess."

"Elora."

"Mm?"

"Elora."

Elora turned her head.

"Wha-"

And it was then that Devaedra kissed her, and she stopped in her tracks. The elf was forceful, but soft, and Elora let her eyes flutter shut as Devaedra cupped her cheek and-

Jabbed a finger into the side of her neck!

"Wh-"

"That's where I would kill you. Well, not you you, but- usually."

Elora was mortified.

"Wh- But- You-"

Devaedra released her and leaned back, a blush creeping across her grey skin.

"Heh, I actually feel kinda weird now, I don't think I've ever kissed somebody without killing them before."

"What." Elora squeaked.

"It's not a bad weird. Just weird." The assassin elaborated, shrugging. "I'm glad it was you, I think."

"What."

"Oh, am I a bad kisser? I don't really get feedback ever, so-"

"It was fine Devaedra why did you kiss me?"

"I don't know! You were asking questions, and I figured I wouldn't mind kissing you and having you live, and I thought you probably wouldn't mind?" She explained, her voice heightening. "It's- It's not a bad way to kill people, is what I'm demonstrating! You would have felt pretty happy before dying, right?"

Elora pondered, putting her fingers to her lips and feeling her face turn red.

"Y-Yeah, I think so."

"See?"

[cosmicaces]

abstraction got really hung up on "aurion good, devaedra bad, good vs evil" that theyve completely disregarded the overall complexities in gig's original story. i'll give them some credit with the worldbuilding involving the guar and the direction they took charnok's character (it feels very in character for him to want to start his own house), but the other decisions... my god. i'll put it under a read more

they tried to write conclusions for basically every character, with aisling finding her fathers killer and the war ending with devaedra being sealed in the rift (which is. weird since the rift isn't an alternate dimension + she already Lives there).

they killed off adonaius? adonaius was the current hierophant in the original lore, i have no idea why they'd do that. they replaced him with some girl named nara. after the war, anyone who was semi-good now serves under nara. tyto, voden, roland. cool. that's boring.

the guardians can be apparently killed really easily, which is. directly contradicted in vadasi's cards where it was established that only the kai knew how to kill them via severing their connection to the land (which is where their power is drawn from; this is likely what we're doing in the power races during rampages.)

anyone they didn't know what to do with got shafted. beckett, tripp, sven, these are just the ones i've seen so far. they're so wildly out of character and they just... fully disregard their Already Established Characters.

becketts obviously hits me the hardest since she's the character i literally named myself after. they ignored her having initially been in the same pirate crew as imani (and, overall, have misinterpreted their relationship), they ignored her joining aurion for monetary reasons and said that she joined for "the adventure of fighting a big snake." adventure, thats what they reduced her character down to. being very childish and nonstop adventure. ugh.

idk WHAT they're doing with roland and kajir. roland's lore kinda sounds like his alpha lore but then it takes a wild turn. he was a hunter, dad gets killed by margrave and xeno ig, he joins sky city police, is told not to pursue the margrave, does so anyways, gets people killed, margrave shows mercy (huh) and rips off his arm, then he finds nara and becomes her bodyguard.

its fully different (and worse, imo) from what motiga had planned for him. see, roland was originally a cop in sky city. he resigned after seeing the political corruption and became a bounty hunter to deal out his own type of justice, its why he only takes dead or alive bounties. his arm had been shot off by a sniper. to continue work he arranged something with tesserus, getting a new arm. a good friend of his was killed by kajir's crew. roland took on kajir's bounty, tracking him down to his hideaway. while the latter escaped, roland was able to destroy his treasure hoard. the two are now in a game of cat-and-mouse

i haven't looked at kajir's lore yet, from what i gathered i thiiink he's a mercenary/bounty hunter. in the motigan lore, he was a sky pirate. he stole an artifact from a moon temple and it allows him to turn invisible.

vadasi is suddenly fine with hk. this is a glaring error. she talks about how "tesserus has stolen their cores to imbue them with life. war machines, wearing the hearts of their saviors." saviors? i'm sorry, SAVIORS? 1.) iirc hk is the ONLY tesserus machination to USE kai tech and 2.) the kai's technology was the UNDOING of their civilization, they weren't saved by it they were DAMNED by it. vadasi HATES hk, she LITERALLY has a prox line for him where she says "i would have you destroyed." where do you get SAVIOR from that

this is funny but also. what is this exchange between voden and rutger:

uh, first and foremost, voden's old too? and... what does beauty have to do with this? why do either of them care about it? again, funny exchange but wildly ooc. also... rutger didn't come out of retirement because of devaedra taking control, it was tesserus desecrating the ghost reef. rutger doesn't care about house conflict, this is literally stated in one of his cards:

"Rutger, my dear friend. We need you now more than ever. I would not have come to you if the situation was not dire. The corruption is spreading - and what we all hold most dear is in grave peril." - Voden

"I hear the stones, and the mountains, and I hear you, young Voden. But you and I cannot do this alone… I am too old, and my body is beaten. You are too young, and your face is too hideous. What chance do we have?" - Rutger

"These things are true, old man. You are old and I am gorgeous, but the world's fate cannot rest on what we're not. We are Wardens - you command the very ground we step on. It is our charge to help, always." - Voden

The Old Guard I, Common: Which house was ruling didn't matter, as long as they respected and cared for the land.

i don't understand why abstraction felt it was necessary to tether the characters to aurion or devaedra, there was way more nuance than that. only a few characters had clear alignments, some steered either ways, others were fully unaligned.

i know most people don't care about the lore so i'm one of the few to Really Be Bothered by this but ugh. man. this was the one thing i was afraid of happening with the game coming back and it happened

im so happy to have gig back but man. the character assassination and the undermining of the og lore that abstraction added in is Really Bad

[gnugigantic]

House Devaedra & House Aurion cards (Unreleased) by Nick Wiley

[welcomemars]

Gigantic alternative universe fanart!

To start with: Xenobia.

In this version she’s a fashion design teacher for the art shcool Devaedra High. She’s very strict but dedicated and is known amongst her students for her famous line: “Ma chérie ça ne va pas du tout!” Also she probably vogues in some random club at night.

[giraffefactoryarchive]

he go blep

[panszy]

hey ur right i would die for the black parade

it’s So Good

[stardustracers]

gigantic appreciation week // day 3: favorite house

if you were here, i used to have the url devaedras. because it is my favorite house. i love its aesthetic A LOT and.. y’know. lady devaedra dm me

@littlegiganticthings

[vinodrams]

Noble Lord Knossos is tempted by the Rift! Mozu steals from from Devaedra! 

Some fun new skins that are being released in the latest patch for Gigantic! Go and buy them! (or earn them) There’s some fun lore tidbits associated with these and their color variants, you can read those in the shop.

[littlegiganticthings]

Hello Everyone!

I come bearing some awesome news!

First thing’s first: by the looks of it, there will not be a December update. However, there will be a January update! Additionally, the Gigantic team will be hosting giveaway streams on Dec. 19th, 20th, and 21st from 10:30am to 12:30 pm PT, where you will have a chance to win the following:

Gigantic backpacks

Gigantic poster packs

Gigantic Devaedra t-shirts

Ultimate Packs (all platforms)

Hero Skin Unlocks (all platforms)

Now, for the other thing: Gigantic has been nominated in MMOGame’s Game of the Year under the category Best New Online Game of 2017! If you can, please make sure that you vote for it and help them get that win! I’m absolutely positive that the devs will appreciate it!

Thank you for all for reading and happy holidays!

[pixelhat]

Inktober #8 - CROOKED

"The recipe for a troublemaker like Mozu is appallingly simple. Just mix a modicum of magical training with a penchant for mischief and a flexible definition of ownership."

-Sage-Instructor Jellathir, House Devaedra

[cosmicaces]

beckett + holiday headcanon :0

send me a character and a number for a headcanon

beckett doesn’t really celebrate the holidays. as a matter of fact, she often forgets about them. while she used to celebrate them, she kinda just...lost interest after living on her own, traveling from place to place, and dealing with life-or-death situations.

however, with that said, beckett does feel very melancholic when a holiday rolls around. she sees everyone else all excited for it and she just, can’t share in that excitement. it brings back memories of when she used to be like that and now she’s just, not

[hyperion-birb]

OOOOHHHHHHHHH @littlegiganticthings

FireCircle - Overture Deveadra 

Art and Animation by Jacobtm92 

Music by FireCircle

Source

[staygigantic]

Xenobia Headcanons

-After the war, Xen decided to follow the path of the Hermit, unlinking with Devaedra and looking for a way to undo the changes on her body

[liketherogue]

Gigantic & PAX West Decompression (9/6)

Been a while since I posted about games, but August was a rather weird month for me. Aside from making and releasing my first game, friends came up to visit, job-hunted, and questioned my career choices. Standard stuff.

To start off with, last weekend I attended PAX West in what was my 2nd full convention, 2.5 overall (interesting story that involves a Portal sweater, Chipotle, and testing the bonds of friendship). PAX was a truly amazing experience that further cemented my drive to be in the video game industry, no matter the capacity. My problem has been where exactly that niche is. At 24 years old, I’ve got a bit of a late start compared to other people. But, as I have told myself and other people have told me, it’s wrong to think of the past few years as a waste. Without them, without the struggles I endured, I wouldn’t be in a position now where it truly feels like I’m following my passion. 

It does get hard sometimes. Despite my best efforts, comparison will always seep through, and with them regrets. Regret that I didn’t follow this sooner. Regret that I didn’t study compsci. Regret that I haven’t been more consistent with my creative endeavors. But regrets look only at the past, and while the past has been important to shape who I am today, my focus needs to be directed forward.

Video games have always been a part of my life and will continue to be important to me. Seeing that same dedication and passion at PAX West was truly eye-opening. Getting to meet the developers to Children of Zodiarcs, discovering that the LucasArts crew is back and better than ever, and simply being in an environment where games are celebrated: well, it was better than I could’ve imagined.

So until the day I find myself a part of the industry that creates these fantastic titles, I’ll be happy simply adoring them from a distance. 

At least that distance has shrunk, right?

Due to a mix of different factors, I haven’t played many video games lately. Gigantic is one of the few that I have consistently made time for. I’ve been a fan of the game since it was first announced back in 2014 and tried to play the closed beta (my computer was potatoes at the time). With the game’s full release, it’s at an extremely polished state in terms of aesthetics and design. Unfortunately, with the rise of hero shooters like Overwatch, Paladins, and Battleborn, it’s gotten a bit lost in the shuffle. It’s a shame, because Gigantic is very clearly a labor of love made all the more impressive that the team sits at under 100 developers. Having met the developers at PAX West and confirmed that they are indeed passionate creators, I want this game to succeed even more. It’s not without its rough edges but overall it’s a fantastic experience.

Story

The world of Gigantic is rather vague and a simple Light (House Aurion) vs. Dark (House Devaedra). Five heroes fight for a giant glowing gryphon against another set of five heroes fighting for a giant glowing snakedragon thing. Battles take place across three different locations (desert industry, overgrown and waterlogged ruins, shipwrecked glacier) where ultimately the focus is the gameplay, not the story.

That said, there are still quite a few story elements to be found that aren’t tied to the core gameplay. Gigantic divvies up its lore and backstory in the skins for the heroes and their weapons, doling out bits of information through small sentences that, much like Dark Souls, gives a very small window into a very wide world. Currently, it’s a mish-mash of interesting lore, so hopefully Motiga will take the effort to tie these threads together somehow later down the line.

Mechanics

Back in the beta, the game handled rather floatily. Floaty? Floatingly? Yes. At any rate, whatever has been done since then has smoothed everything out immensely. What Overwatch did for FPSes, Gigantic did for OTS 3rd person. This is thank is no small part to the gorgeous animation on Motiga’s part, where moving in three dimensional space feels like a watercolor in motion. Every motion flows beautifully from one to the next and all the abilities flow and cancel into each other very smoothly.

My one gripe is with the stamina system which, balance-wise, I understand, but it still takes some getting used to. The in/out of combat system isn’t entirely intuitive, at least off the bat. The more games I’ve played the less attention I’ve had to actively pay to the indicator at the bottom of my screen that lets me know as I’m about to exit combat. 

At first, it was easy to get lost in the effects and numbers piling up but I’ll attribute that more to getting used to the format of the game rather than any design flaw on the developers’ part. As each game passed and I became increasingly familiar with each Hero’s abilities and the corresponding particle effects, it became easier to parse out what was happening where and why. The combat can best be described as controlled chaos, but that’s pretty standard fare for hero-based games. And that’s a large part of why I love them.

On the macro scale of things, matches take place across roughly symmetrical arenas that, similar to Heroes of the Storm, has objectives laid out that generate resources for the team that has captured them. Fighting, if both teams are doing the right thing, will largely take place around these objectives. What I particularly love about Gigantic’s gameplay is that the objectives are active rather than passive, in the sense that gameplay is more than just about standing in and around the objective. The players can actively manipulate what sort of defenses the objective will have and it does factor into how the flow of a fight will pan out. The macro affects the micro in more ways than one and it’s been a delight to sort out the method in the madness.

Aesthetic

Gigantic is flat out gorgeous. The bold, striking colors and shapes all blend together in three dimensional space to create a vibrant world that is pure visual bliss to move through. It takes a page out of TF2 and, where Overwatch went a step towards realism, Gigantic takes a step towards style. Shapes and features are exaggerated, but form still does follow function. That’s a critical component missing from a lot of other games, e.g. Battleborn, Atlas Reactor, Borderlands, where the stylized visual aspects are incredibly pronounced but at times it feels like they’re colorful for the sake of being colorful. In a panel presented by the Motiga devs at PAX, they talked about the importance of shapes, silhouettes, and form/function dictating a character’s geometry. 

Another huge point in the game’s favor is the decision to go for a more storybook feel, in that the characters feel very heavily cartoony and stylized while belonging to established Western fairy tale archetypes. It fits the world of Gigantic quite well. It threads a fine line between stark danger and playful whismy, whirling together into a blend of storybook fantasy that feels almost nostalgic.

Technology

Gigantic was built in Unreal 3, which explains the impressive effects that the game produces. Complex geometry is formed real-time and lighting and shading are cast on large, packed scenes. I don’t know too much about Unreal or what it’s capable of, but especially since beta whatever Motiga has done to smooth things out it shows.

Note: Posting this 10 days after I initially started writing, but chalk that up to an incredibly debilitating fever and a slightly bloody concussion. Better late than never, as it goes.

[1000swords]

Great Houses

House Aurion - The house of nobles. Devoted to order, the Empire’s first emperor had House Aurion blood, and they won’t let the other houses forget it. They think of themselves as the glue that holds the Empire together.

House Devaedra - The house of magic. They were an unremarkable noble house until their sages developed the arcane techniques required to tame a titan. They parleyed their special knowledge into great prominence.

House Tessurus - The house of technology. This technologically inclined House uses its inventions and mercantilist savvy to gain a foothold among the other houses.

House Melkior - The house of secrets. Chock full of assassins, political intrigue and contraband.

-

Gigantic Art by Devon Cady-lee