#important distinction about they need to respect that lore is happening around them.

[etoilesbienne]

something to be said about minecrafters who are in lore servers that don't really do lore much. like i get the frustration when not everyone wants to do lore 100% but i also find the type who are willing to respect the fact lore is happening around them but not into rping themselves to be kind of necessary in some minecraft series. bc they end up changing the story in a way that offers less stagnation. like a wildcard to mix things up from time to time.

[bloededhoine]

world building cause twn doesn't part 8: nonhumans

this is easily the geekiest part of the series. and it's a Very geeky series. because sapkowski's worldbuilding is waaay more extensive than i have the time, ability, or desire to convey, i'm sticking with races both sentient and important

colour code cause i fucking love colour codes - already happened/introduced, probably s2, important background info, stuff that might be in the prequel, extras

series masterpost

dopplers

dopplers, also known as vexlings, shifters, mimics, doubles, imitators, or pavrats, are a nonhuman race that can take on the appearance of nearly anyone they encounter

before mass migrations of humans, dopplers primarily inhabited the forests and plateaus around the city of novigrad, where they would transform into wolves and pack animals to hunt

their abilities are pretty impressive, dopplers can not only mimic appearance but also voice, personality, skills, behaviours, and knowledge. dopplers can even turn parts of their bodies into pieces of clothing or other objects

however, there are some limitations

dopplers can't transform into someone/thing with dramatically more mass than they have, are burned by silver, and can't drop anything they created (if they did it would kind of turn into a fleshy goop)

we've already met a doppler in twn, this sexy sexy man

BUT

it is important to note that this doppler is a huge deviation from sapkowski's lore. dopplers are pretty much always exceptionally kind and gentle. a lot of times they use their abilities to appear threatening (big teeth, sharp claws etc) because they really don't want to hurt anyone.

when dopplers aren't mimicking another form, they aren't exactly pretty. they're bald, short, have beady yellow eyes, and kinda look like they're made from soft clay

here's the hexer doppler

the most notable doppler is dudu biberveldt, who i mentioned as the halfling dainty biberveldt's fake cousin. dudu's actual name is tellico lunngrevink letorte, but dainty decided to help dudu live in novigrad by adopting him as his fake cousin.

dragons

dragons are fucking awesome. you know it, i know it, and zerrikanians know it. witcher dragons are especially awesome

they are the only being, other than cats, that can naturally harness and absorb the force of chaos

there are multiple subtypes, but most dragons fall into one of four: black dragons, green dragons, red dragons, and white dragons.

black dragons are the largest, and primarily live in swamps and wetlands where they bathe in mud. they have extremely hard scales and don't breathe fire, but an acid that causes burns similar to those from mustard gas.

green dragons (right there) are the most prominent yet smallest species of dragon, mainly living in forested areas and breathe highly flammable chlorine gas.

red dragons mainly live in hills and mountain caves and can breathe fire hot enough to melt metal

white dragons are one of the rarest species and live in the far north, and can breathe frost

however, if you watched the witcher netflix as i assume you did, you may remember golden dragons. these dragons are so rare and exceptional that they are not usually included with other species. they breathe steam and fire and can shapeshift into any living being

all dragons communicate through telepathy, although golden dragons can speak when they are in the form of a species that can speak

humans are pretty divided on the topic of dragons, with zerrikanians worshiping them and nordlings hating them.

because they are incredibly intelligent and emotional, witchers (generally) refuse to hunt them

borkh three jackdaws, also known as villentrenmerth, is the only golden dragon we know. there he is right there.

ASSASSINS OF KINGS SPOILERS NEXT TWO BULLET POINTS

the other dragon from twn was a green dragon named myrgtabrakke, borkh's mate. their daughter is named saesenthessis, also known as saskia the dragonslayer (an alias she took to explain her extensive knowledge of dragons) and the virgin of aedirn

because saskia is part golden dragon, she can shapeshift, although is much more limited than her father. she can basically only be a human looking woman with blonde hair or a huge dragon.

cut because this part is getting REALLY long

godlings

ah godlings. i love them so much. they're adorable and precious. they usually look somewhat like a human child, but with blue skin and large amber or green eyes. they don't wear much clothes, their focus is in accessories like jewelry, flowers, or tattoos

that's johnny, a holding in wild hunt.

godlings are incredibly rare, and are easily confused with young goblins. they primarily live in swamps near drowners, but aren't afraid of them.

they're quite mischievous but kind hearted, many have happy go lucky personalities and love just having fun. i adore godlings. i've said it once and i'll say it again.

higher vampires

definitely the most important group on this list, higher vampires are incredibly powerful and intelligent. they can shapeshift within certain limits, generally either looking like a human or a large terrifying bat. they also have some telepathic abilities - they can basically make you fall asleep and forget stuff

scary wooo

higher vampires do not need to drink blood to survive. some don't drink blood at all. when they do, it's like a human drinking alcohol. on full moons, groups of higher vampires go out partying and get white girl wasted

although all higher vampires have the same basic abilities, each individual has one skill they are exceptional in.

most find humans harmless but annoying, like mosquitos. they don't really like interacting with humans, which works out pretty well as higher vampires can blend in very well, even a witcher's medallion can't detect one

higher vampires also have three distinct cultures, the tdet in the far east, the ammurun across the great sea, and the gharasham in the northern realms

they are really really hard (or impossible, depending on canon) to kill. based on the books, you basically need to disintegrate them. based on the games, only higher vampires can kill other higher vampires, but humans can get close

we only meet one in the books, emiel regis rohellec terzieff-godefroy. he goes by regis for short. regis was an "alcoholic" in his youth, and has since abstained from blood or any other substance. he's incredibly old, by the end of twn season 1 he'd be 425 years old. as for regis' "special ability", he's just kind. he's an incredibly gentle and loving person. that's it. i love him.

merpeople

probably one you're already familiar with! merpeople are intelligent humanoids that inhabit the great sea. mermaids are notably gorgeous, having green hair and tails, and their scales are prized alchemy ingredients

sapkowski's mermaids can breathe above water, but the sun burns their skin so they don't stay at the surface for very long.

merpeople are incredibly powerful, they can summon krakens and the sea-dragon like race of vodyanoy respect their authority

they use their own language that's quite similar to hen llinge, but more lyrical sounding.

nymphs

nymphs are a humanoid race primarily based around nature. they have 5 subspecies, dryads (including hamadryads), leimoniad, naiad, nereid, and oread.

dryads, called eerie wives by humans and aen woedbeanna by elves, are the most prevalent, primarily living in the brokilon forest. some have human skin with olive undertones, but others are green. they usually have dark brown or green hair which is usually worn in dreadlocks (breaking my promise of not being overtly and annoyingly political in this series yet again - the dryads, especially in the netflix adaptation, are classic magical n*gress stereotypes. but more on that later.)

this is a lore-accurate one that i LOVE

dryads have incredibly strong connections with nature and magic, although it is really rare for a dryad to be a source. dryads are able to draw energy from trees, but rarely do because they don't want to hurt the trees. support dryads and take the bus.

all dryads are women. all of them. they make babies by basically luring men into the forest and doing the adult hokey pokey. also why dryads aren't really a fan of witchers, who don't make the baby butter (i am so sorry)

however, dryads can also turn a girl of another race into one of their own through the use of magic. the water of brokilon has some mutating quality that makes young girls forget their human past and physically turn into dryads, although it is less effective as the girls are older. the dryads tried to do this to ciri, but given that she's a source, nothing happened. generally, this process is done to girls who wander into brokilon, but some dryads will abduct peasants from outside the forest if they need more dryads.

here's twn dryads... yikes

this is where i think the whole racism thing becomes a bit too obvious. "uncivilized" women who live in the forest and have dreadlocks and abduct young girls from "civilized" areas?? in twn they leaned even further into this, having one of the two black women they cast be a dryad and replacing the usual bows and arrows with spears, a less sophisticated weapon. again, this series is about the lore, not the political implications of it, but it is important to keep in mind

dryads are excellent at archery, shooting anyone who comes within 80 metres of the forest. through their connection with nature, they have highly advanced medicine and use glowing fungi as a source of light.

hamadryads are a specific type of dryad that is incredibly connected with her tree. because of this connection they have exceptionally strong magical and healing capabilities, but will also go insane and die if their tree dies.

like merpeople, dryads use a more melodic dialect of hen llinge

leimoniads are a type of nymph that lived exclusively in meadows, but are practically extinct due to wars with humans

naiads, also called rusalki, are nymphs that live in lakes and rivers, although a few live with the dryads in brokilon. naiads are very similar to dryads, although they tend to have very light skin with very dark hair, webbed hands, and can dry out on land

naiads rarely speak common, live in small groups, and have highly developed telepathic abilities

nereids are nymphs that inhabit the great sea, often living closely with merpeople. they usually have blueish skin with either blue or white hair and have some telepathic abilities, though not to the extent of naiads.

oreads are nymphs of the mountains, which, like leimoniads, are nearly extinct due to human conquests.

succubi/incubi

succubi (female) and incubi (male) are creatures which look like incredibly attractive humans but with horns and goat legs. they seduce humans, first in dreams and then physically, using their prey's energy to sustain themselves, often to the point of the human's exhaustion or death

our man eskel has a soft spot for them...

sylvans

sylvans, another race we already met, are exceptionally rare. like, practically extinct. they live mainly in the woodlands of the northern realms and have goat-like faces with yellow eyes, horns, cloven hooves, and tails

my man torque is quite possibly one of the last sylvans on the continent

they are distantly related to elves, and the two races tend to coexist quite well

generally quite mischievous and merry, highly enjoying pranks and parties. they can use simple spells and are mainly herbivores

sylvans live around 100 years and are highly sought after by dryads for their... ahem... reproductive capabilities

unicorns

yep, we got unicorns! i fucking love unicorns and still kinda think they're real. camels are real and those lumpy fuckers are way weirder than a horse with a spike on its head.

anyways

unicorns are highly advanced beings, they can travel between worlds and use telepathy. they don't really like the "less advanced" races, mostly staying around to observe them. they have distinct societies led by a council of elders and tend to avoid evil

these unicorns are badasses

unicorns strongly despise the use of the force but encourage the power of destiny. in the context of pavetta's betrothal feast, a unicorn would not be happy with pavetta's little source hurricane thing, but would encourage geralt to follow the law of surprise

in of the witcher, unicorns are very important because of their world-hopping capabilities. the aen elle, unfortunately, realized this and began enslaving unicorns to help them plunder other worlds. this turned into a massive conflict between the unicorns and elves.

[redwinterroses]

oh boy here we go again, this'll be a long one, and also formatted more fancily because i spent way too long on it END AVIANS! the thought process went something like this: the overworld had whatever the endermen once were, the nether had the original piglins, so what could have originally lived in the End? why not make it the original avians? in a world made of shattered islands floating on the Void, the only good ways to get around are teleporting and flying after all (Overworld and Nether avians descend from End avians that got teleported there randomly or travelled through the end portal intentionally to explore) END AVIANS: The classification "End Avian" encompasses two distinct species: The Greater and the Lesser End Avian. Colloquially, various types of winged end hybrids will also be lumped together under this as an umbrella term, but it is important to recognize the End Avians as their separate End Player species. Whether or not Void Walkers can be classified as End Avians is highly debated, as they are theorized to descend from a common ancestor, yet do not share any common traits with modern End Avians outside being winged as well. Greater End Avians: Status: Extinct(?) Classification: Player Old Folktales of End Natives say it was the Greater End Avians who invented the Elytra, attempting to fashion wings for children adopted from wingless species. Most knowledge of the Greater End Avian comes from preserved texts found in End Cities, making them the more known species of End Avians. They were described as having great wingspans, optimized for gliding long distances across the Void, and a relatively humanoid body. Dark or even black markings anywhere on their body were common, like with everything that touched the Void too much. Their wings were most commonly described as black with white patterns and feathered instead of chitinous like those of Void Walkers and Mirage Rays. They were known as travellers and traders, frequently interacting with all other End Player species. Another well-preserved fact about the Greater End Avian is their habit of adopting orphaned children regardless of species. The few preserved texts written by Greater End Avians are all by those living in end cities, having decided to settle down there to take care of their flocks of children. Some End cultures seem to have seen especially old Greater End Avians as god-like, as they were said to reach several thousand years of age under ideal living conditions, making them one of the longest-living pre-respawn player species. The wisdom of an ancient Greater End Avian was seen as priceless. The most common theory for the eventual extinction of the Greater End Avian is a dramatic change in the End's environment along with overhunting by newer civilizations entering the dimension, wanting them for their wings to use for fashioning new elytra. Some however theorize there could still be surviving Greater End Avians, as their ability to traverse the End and the Void like no other species could have aided them in taking refuge in the Distant Isles and other near-impossible to reach corners of the End. Lesser End Avians: Status: Unknown Classification: Player / Player-esque Mob The Lesser End Avian, while much more likely to still exist, is a far greater mystery than their bigger relatives. There are very few records of them, spanning many thousands of years. They are described as having far shorter wings than the Greater End Avian, theorized to fly with the aid of magic. Furthermore they are said to be amazing climbers, their wings perhaps sporting claws to help grip cliffs of endstone. Usually described as feathered, some texts mention them to sport scales as well. How humanoid they looked is unknown, beyond most likely having two legs and two arms and hands, like their descendants. They most likely lived, and perhaps still do, out in the Distant Isles, unbothered by hunters and the likes. The Lesser End Avian is theorized by many to be a living fossil, should they still exist, as records of them go back almost as far as End

civilization itself. This theory is supported by the same ancient scolars who attempted to record this reclusive species, as they too suggested Greater End Avians and Void Walkers, along with perhaps other species of Avians in the Nether and Overworld, all share significant traits with the Lesser End Avian. As the Distant Isles are theorized to not have changed much over time, it is very likely any species found there would not have had the need to evolve further either. One theory on the evolution of End Avian suggests they evolved from smaller dragons, explaining mentions of them having scales and clawed wings. Elytra:Said to have been created by the End Avians themself, elytra are made of a material similar to the chitin of insects, forming a thick and sturdy membrane in the shape of simple, rounded wings held by simple leather or twine straps. Despite what the material and its thickness suggests, elytra are incredibly light, possibly due to levitation magic woven into them during their creation. The wings are said to have been harvested from Mirage Rays, the presumed extinct ancestors of Phantoms, supported by phantom membranes being the only material capable of repairing a broken set of elytra. The End Avians used their own forgotten magic to make these wings mimic their own as closely as possible, making them react accordingly to the movement of their wearer and allowing them to glide long distance as if nearly weightless. (Once again evidence for the theory of levitation playing a strong role in making them functional) The elytra were originally gifts from the End Avians for their wingless children, but over time rose to be a symbol of status within End society. Any respectable captain of an end ship kept an elytra near the front of their ship, signifying they were "favored" by the avians themself. (Likely this came to be because children adopted by the more nomadic-inclined End Avians would go for a similar lifeststyle themself, inventing and manning the first end ships and bringing their elytra with them) Furthermore, End Avians continued to gift elytra to sailors who befriended them, making an end ship without at least one elytra found within an incredibly rare sight. Lesser End Avians = archaeopterix and then the evolution of birds from there except they came from dragons and its bird people try to guess which two winged mcyt guys the avians are based on! next up: the grand finale with void walkers and end city society when there were still people in them! and of course what happened to make there no longer be any people (rip)

*writes notes on a clipboard, nodding as I go*

Favorite part of this one is the idea of levitation magic being woven into elytra materials -- to which I will add: shulker bullets. Shulkers may be barnacle-like invasive pests now, but maybe at one point they were a farmed species, and the old races could harvest their levitation-inducing bullets for use in things like elytra.

I don't know if I'll ever actually need to use any of this? But I'm filing it away as "headcanon accepted" lore just in case.

(pineappleoracle headcanons, part 3)

[osakasshitpit]

I love Final Fantasy XIV

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV, and after playing for around 180 hours, I haven’t even finished A Realm Reborn. Normally, 180 hours is an insane time frame for a game to manage and hold my attention. Persona 5 Royal was 180 hours of game time, and that was slowly outstaying its welcome. FFXIV must be doing something right, because just recently I went to a convention and bought a Y’shtola Keychain in a heartbeat. I haven’t had time to play XIV a lot prior to this, since I was stupidly grinding Praetorium for days and got burned out. I haven’t played much in 2 months, and Y’shtola only really has a minor role during A Realm Reborn’s Storyline. Despite that, I started in Limsa and Y’shtola stuck with me since then. I just had to buy that keychain. My girlfriend asked me about it and despite me staying away from the game after being burned out, I explained to her in great enthusiasm why I loved Y’shtola and why I loved the game so much. I think that’s the first time I really realized how attached I was to this world, these characters, this game.

I came to FFXIV after having played WoW from Vanilla through WotLK, after having barely ever touched a MMO since quitting WoW. Honestly, I was very skeptical of XIV but holy fucking shit did it ever win me over. They are completely different games, mind you, but that is a good thing in my opinion.

So here is the longest tumblr rant post I have written so far, I think.

To be fair, the first 20 levels or so were kinda slow. You get thrown into the deep end and get bombarded with lore and characters, terms and phrases that you don't understand. For fucks sake, the opening cutscene shows Louisoix fighting Bahamut front and center. Its this big, epic moment of sacrifice, but to someone who has not played 1.0 and who doesn't know anything about the lore, this just zips right past you. During the main story of ARR, they keep talking about Louisoix and how important he is, but you haven't even seen the guy because he died before the game even started. I only really realized this today, it took me 180 hours and a look at the wiki to connect the dots. It really is a slow burn, but that slow burn was okay because everything else was so fantastic.

While the world can arguably be more subdued than Azeroth in parts, there is still this distinctive style that I quickly fell in love with. It’s fantastical, but it still feels grounded. Part of that has to do with how the game introduces you to the world, and how the main story quests explain to you the lore bit by bit. I feel like much of the world design of WoW was down to “the rule of cool”. Now, I’m not saying XIV doesn’t have that, but I feel like XIV always goes the extra mile to explain why this cool shit is here. Everything you see out there in the world feels like it has a purpose, a reason to be there and an explanation on how it works. The factions make sense, the political conflicts you get entangled in are believable. I feel like I am kind of biased to be honest. What got me to play FFXIV in the first place was seeing that Viera are a playable race. I’m a sucker for Final Fantasy, not in short part to my memories of Playing Final Fantasy Tactics and XII. XII is still my favorite game in the series, and much of that has to do with the world, Ivalice. Viera were always my favorite race of the ones seen in Ivalice. Seeing as you can play a Viera in XIV, I just had to try. Thinking about it, XII and XIV have a lot in common when it comes to world building.

One of the weirdest things to acclimate for me was how FFXIV handles story. I was used to WoW, where story was basically non-existent and you did what you did to see numbers rise and to unlock now content you could do. You are basically never involved in the story of WoW, you are just kind of there for the ride. In FFXIV, you are the main character. You are involved in what happens at all times, and that is kinda strange coming from WoW. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the game made it work in my opinion. I also didn’t expect there to be so much of story to begin with. Kind of ironically the moment I realized just how much there was to experience was when I went through Ul’dah and saw a blue quest. Now, blue quest markers mean there is some content you can unlock by doing this quest. A lot of these are kinda short, with a bit of dialogue and some bits of lore for you to enjoy and I thought this one would be no difference. After all, the hook is basically just to help this lady mourn for the death of a friend. What I got was a fabulous detective adventure that spanned over the entire continent, where in I had to help the worlds most manly detective uncover the secret behind a mysterious phantom thief. To say the least, this 21 quest long quest line brought be hours upon hours of joy and had me in stitches throughout. And it was completely optional. I don’t think I even remember a single moment from any quest in WoW that made me this excited for it, optional or otherwise.

Ultimately these are very different games that try very different things.

Dungeons and Raids were a different thing. I remember when I rolled a new character for WotLK and wanted to do karazhan because I used to like doing that raid with my guild back in TBC. I could not for the live of me find a group willing to do it, because everyone was way more focused on the new content, so they could get better gear. Regardless, it just wouldn’t have been the same experience anyways I fear, because the new gear from the new Dungeons outclassed the raid gear from TBC, so karazhan would be way easier and a much different experience. In FFXIV, every dungeon is level synced by default, meaning if a higher level character joins, they get basically downgraded to the level the dungeon was designed for. Couple that with the Duty Roulette feature and suddenly, there was always someone to do any given dungeon with. I remember when I had to do the crystal tower raids and thought “why would they tie main story progression to a raid, I will never find a group to do that properly” but low and behold, I found a group within 30 minutes or less and raided through the entire set of raids within a day. Dungeons and Raids are generally a very pick up and play thing in FFXIV. To be fair, dungeons got easier and more pick up and play in WoW too, but Raids were always the endgame thing where you had to gear up and learn to play. In FFXIV, much more lenient. No corpse walking required. I say this, but I have yet to do the Coils of Bahamut or any Savage Raids. I have only heard that there is plenty of hardcore raid content for those who want that.

That’s nothing to say about the actual gameplay. FFXIV is a tab-target MMO, like so many others, but it manages to keep this kind of gameplay fresh by introducing a lot of mechanics that make the game more active than the typical “I stand here and hit my rotation a lot”. For starters, most enemies have special abilities that you can actually dodge by moving out of the way. There will a area marker on the floor and everyone within that area will be hit. It starts out easy, but later dungeons really start kicking your ass with this mechanic. You really need to say on your toes. In addition, every class is extremely different. They all have special mechanics unique to them, special meters and resources they will have to manage during combat and so on. For example, a Red Mage (the class I’m playing currently), has two meters that fill up as you cast spells. They generally have two types of spells, white and black magic. Each type fills its respective bar. Once they are both full enough, you can go in and do a more powerful melee rotation. However, if one bar is fuller than the other, the other bar will fill up slower. Since you need to fill both, you want to balance that out. You get instant casts for spells after performing a damaging spell, and you have some spells with a short cast time and good damage output that you want to cast and then use the instant cast of to cast a more damaging spell that has a long cast time. But these short cast, good damage spells require a you get from casting a spell of the respective type. So, in essence, you want to balance your use of black and white magic, but you also want to use the proc you get from casting your white and black magic, which means you cast more of the type which inherently unbalances your gauges. It becomes this micromanagement game you play with your procs and instant casts, so you can go in and do the big, flashy sword combo. And that’s just the red mage at around 50. Every class has something like this, and it’s all unique to them. Learning a class is not just learning the rotation and spells you have anymore, it’s really learning how to effectively play your class. Also, positioning. Some abilities do more damage from certain positions, so you will have to dance around an enemy to hit all the sweet spots with classes like monks. These complexities get introduced slowly as you level up, so you have plenty of time to learn the mechanics. My favorite feature might be the class system itself, though. In FFXIV, you aren’t limited to one class for the entire duration of your characters career. You can, from a certain point forwards, choose any class you wish and level that up instead. You can freely switch between classes outside of combat, too. If you are dedicated enough, you can level them all up to max, even. This means if you don’t like a class or the direction a class is going in, you can switch. I for my part started as an arcanist, so I unlocked Summoner at 30. I played Summoner up to 50 but I was just not meshing as well with the direction the summorer went in. So, I switched to Red Mage and after some getting used to, Its now my new favorite. Arcanists are special, because you actually unlock two classes at 30, so I also unlocked Scholars. Scholars are healers and that became my main dungeon class, since queue times are way shorter for healers. This would be unthinkable in WoW, and love the fact this is a thing here.

If I had to describe it, WoW is an MMO with RPG Elements, while FFXIV is a JRPG with MMO elements. I didn’t know I needed that, but in retrospect, it makes sense. The thing that really killed my progress in WoW was that I didn’t have anyone to play with anymore. My friends all dropped from the game and while I generally like doing solo content from time to time, I’m pretty introverted, after all... MMORPGs are usually most fun with friends. Final Fantasy XIV is a JRPG first, an MMO second. There is so much to keep your attention as a solo player, its nuts. All my friends who play this game, play on a different data center, so I can’t even visit them. Despite that, I had a lot of fun in my time with the game.

My experience with the game was incredibly positive, and I don’t think it will get worse from here. Everyone keeps telling me how great Heavensward is. I just have to finish 16 more quests and I’ll be able to see for myself what the fuss is about.

Honestly, if I had to say anything negative, it would be how longwinded ARR is. I mean, its not bad by any means, but I can see how someone could be turned off by this huge storyblock. Worst of all is, after you hit 50 and reach the end of ARR’s story line, there are 80 quests before you can even start with Heavensward. Since everyone keeps going on about how great it is, it’s kind of annoying how long you have to work to even get to it. In retrospect, it kinda makes sense though. These quests are meant to be played over months and months throughout a update cycle and bridge the narrative gap between one storyblock and the next, but holy fucking shit why did it have to be THAT long. They even cut like 20 of the quests from this already insanely long quest line. What the fuck. This is supposed to be an epilogue to ARR and it feels like I played a whole fucking JRPG in between ARR and Heavensward. Oh well. Thankfully, they learned from this and made the post-story blocks shorter.

I will just say that I can recommend this game. You should give it a try. Just... try not to drop the game before it gets really, really good.

[whattheheehaw]

Lately I've seen a lot of discourse on the Zutara fandom about the cultural mashing in the series but am I the only one who feels like it's ok? And yes there are parts of it than need to be criticized but I don't think people are focusing on the important ones. Maybe that's just me who knows?

My opinion on the cultural mashing in Avatar is somewhat mixed. On the one hand, I totally understand why some cultures had to be mashed together. I mean, Avatar takes place in a fictional universe after all, and many times fantasy worlds have certain things based on real-life cultures. But on the other hand, I don’t understand why Mike and Bryan made some specific culture combinations.

I mean, there’s some really small, minute things that kind of feel off for me. For example, I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of basing the Fire Nation off of imperial Japan and imperial China and then having the geography and some cultural aspects of said nation resemble those of Southeast Asian countries. It’s easy to lump the cultures of many nations into one, especially if they’re roughly in the same geographic location. It’s not uncommon to see Japanese, Chinese, and Korean culture lumped together into one giant one, especially since Avatar is a Western cartoon, but it just... feels weird if you think about the broader historical context of this cultural mashing. I’m not saying that it’s ok for people to group different cultures under one giant umbrella, because every culture deserves to be respected on its own. But like, I’m not going to send Mike and Bryan to the electric chair for doing this. Media has a tendency to group certain cultures together, and at this point, I’m a little desensitized by it (which is quite sad if you think about it).

But then there’s the glaringly obvious cultural mashups that don’t make sense. Like, ok, I guess the Sun Warriors are based off of the ancient Maya civilization at least, I think it’s the Maya Empire. It could be Aztec. Or Inca. If someone knows, please enlighten me in Mesoamerica? And I’m just supposed to come to the conclusion that those guys started off with that kind of culture and then developed into pseudo-imperial Japan/imperial China? Yeah, I can’t really wrap my head around it.

And then there’s the Avatar lore itself. It’s just a hot mess. I mean, the basic principles of the four elements being air, water, earth, and fire is from Greek philosophy. If the showrunners really wanted to stick with traditional Chinese elements, they would have used air, water, wood, metal, and fire. So there’s that odd culture combination to think about. And then there’s the whole dragons and phoenixes being a part of the Fire Nation (I’m speculating about the phoenix part solely based on the fact that Ozai thought it was a cool idea). Now, I could see what Bryke and the other show writers were trying to go for by using dragons and phoenixes. Both mythical creatures are featured in Chinese mythology so using them in the show would be a cool nod to Chinese culture, right? WRONG. SO WRONG. IF ANYONE HAS THE AUDACITY TO SAY THAT AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER WAS DEVOID OF WHITE INFLUENCE, JUST BRING UP THE DRAGONS. 

I’m just—I get so pissed off when people say “look at the cool Chinese dragons in the show!” because they’re not Chinese dragons. Sure, the designs might be Asian inspired, but even then, that’s partially wrong because those dragons have wings. If you look at dragons from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean mythology, none of those dragons have wings and they don’t breathe fire. But you know what those Eastern dragons are closely related to? They’re usually associated with earth, sea, and sky. They’re typically seen as guardians of these realms. The concept of dragons being monsters and breathing fire developed in the West. When watching Avatar: The Last Airbender for the first time, I actually expected the first waterbenders to be dragons living at the bottom of a lake or something. But to my surprise, I found out that the moon and ocean spirits are represented as koi fish, which is...ok I guess? I mean, koi fish are typically shown as a representation of yin and yang/fire and water which works in the context of the show. And there are legends in which koi fish can become dragons, so like... it’s close? I think it would have been really cool if they included some sort of Inuit inspired mythos into the Avatar lore for the waterbenders because their whole aesthetic is based on the Inuit, but I digress. I just don’t like how they cherry-picked some design elements of an Eastern dragon and then decided to put all of these other characteristics on it that originated from the West, especially considering that there is no “West” equivalent in Avatar. Like, unless Maya mythology includes fire-breathing dragons, I don’t understand why the writers decided to make this decision.

And the concept of phoenixes in Avatar: The Last Airbender is somewhat weird too. Yes, they show up in Chinese legends, but to my knowledge, they don’t combust. Nor do they get reborn from their ashes (because they don’t combust). Chinese phoenixes are just... immortal. They’re the king of the birds. They just... live. And they symbolize peace, harmony, good fortune, etc. I think the whole concept of a bird combusting into flames and then resurrecting from their ashes comes from Egypt or Greece. So again, weird culture combo that doesn’t make much sense to me. Also the fact that phoenixes are supposed to be another representation of yin and yang with feng and huang really makes the idea of Ozai choosing the title of “Phoenix King” really amusing. Like, I guess he thinks that he’s the bringer of harmony to the four nations but that’s so funny to me. In some old Chinese legends, phoenixes were paired with dragons to represent yin and yang so in that context, phoenixes are female. So like... I guess Ozai is the leader of the feminist movement lmao. Also Ursa is definitely the dragon in this relationship; no I don’t take criticism.

Again, I want to reiterate that we shouldn’t burn people at the stake for writing their fantasy worlds based on a mix of different cultures. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be allowed to criticize when this happens. I’m grateful that there’s a piece of mainstream Western media that features parts of my Asian culture, even if it isn’t perfect or done in the most tasteful way. But I don’t like it when people just slap a “this show is good because of all this Asian rep” or finish watching the show thinking they know a lot about Asian culture, because this is, in a way, contributing to the mindset that there’s no real distinction between these cultures. They’re all just... Asian.

[aer-in-wanderland]

구미호뎐 | Tale of the Nine Tailed - Ji Ah’s Fate & the Korean Mythology Surrounding It (requested by @kestrel-of-herran)

Ask: One of the most fascinating things for me is the prophecy the fortune teller told Ji Ah when she gave him the fox bead. I feel like that's important foreshadowing for the drama's ending. How would you translate and interpret that?

Note: words/terms left in Korean require context and will be discussed below.

EP06 The Four Pillars of Fate - Ji Ah Trades the Fox Bead

Ji Ah: I’ll repay this eunhye no matter what, please? 

Fortune Teller: Okay, okay! You were a princess in your past life, do you think you’re a princess now? You think if you whine enough you can have anything. Ei! Your hand. Give me thine hand. (Ji Ah extends her right hand). Left hand!

Ji Ah: (changing hands) Left hand. 

Fortune Teller: You were born with a very special saju weren’t you! Water and fire vie on par, earth is clouded, but metal will subdue it, so though darkness should surround you (literally: all four directions, heaven, and earth), a moon rises in your sky. 

Ji Ah: I’m not sure what you mean...?

Fortune Teller: You have the fox bead! For that is your moon.

Ji Ah: Excuse me?

Fortune Teller: Give to me the fox bead. Even without a moon, your saju is overflowing enough. Therefore...!

Ji Ah: I’ll give it to you! I don’t believe in such things as palja. 

Fortune Teller: The deal...has been accepted. 

Ji Ah: Pardon? Already?

Fortune Teller: Your palm lines. Your palm lines have changed. 

(Note: I translated this working from the raw, so I haven’t seen the subs to be able to comment on them). 

Eunhye (은혜)

Commonly translated as a ‘favor’ or ‘debt,’ ‘eunhye’ is distinct from both of these both linguistically and conceptually. When Yeon says that foxes are obligated to repay ‘debts,’ he’s actually talking about eunhye. ‘Debt’ is another word entirely (빚) and it does appear occasionally. The two are distinct. The glowing ring bonds formed between Yeon and Ah Eum, and Rang and Sajang are both manifestations of eunhye. 

One Korean folktale in which eunhye features famously is the tale of the Grateful Magpies (은혜갚은 까치, literally: ‘the magpies who repaid their eunhye’). Shin Joo refers to this in EP02 when Yeon tells him about returning Ji Ah’s eyesight to her even after she tranquilized him:

Shin Joo: And you’re saying you just let her go? And returned her sight, too? 

Yeon: Since rules are rules.

Shin Joo: It’s not as if we’re magpies meticulously repaying our eunhye! Geez, how long do we have to be bound by that sort of premodern contractual relationship?

Eunhye is difficult to translate but can be approximated as ‘help or favor (as in ‘to favor someone’) given willingly.’ In my mind, rather than a debt which is a negative concept, eunhye is more of a positive concept. There’s a voluntary, good faith/good will element to it. So you’re ‘indebted’ as the result of a good deed done for you. Except it’s not so voluntary if you’re a gumiho, apparently. 

In contrast, when Yeon tells Eodukshini, ‘I’ll repay this debt shortly,’ in EP08 (could also be translated sarcastically as ‘I’ll return the favor shortly’), he uses the actual word for debt (빚) - no good will to be had here on either side. 

Saju Palja (사주팔자）

Literally ‘four pillars eight characters’ (四柱八字), commonly translated as the ‘four pillars of destiny/fate.’ The concept comes from the Chinese astrological concept that a person’s destiny or fate can be divined by the two sexagenary cycle characters assigned to their birth year, month, day, and hour. For more on that, I’ll refer you to Wikipedia. ;) 

In EP02, when Yeon asks Taluipa to look into whether Ji Ah’s parents are alive or dead, he has Ji Ah text him their saju (birth dates and times). 

I’m not sure how palmistry fits in with the concept, and am no expert in astrology, western or eastern, so I can’t offer any interpretation of the fortune teller’s prophecy, but if anyone wants to try looking into it I’d be intrigued to hear what you find. Apparently, the writer spent 2.5 years on the script, so I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that there’s actual meaning behind it. 

The Fox Bead (여우 구슬)

Fox beads are a common earmark of gumiho lore in both Korea and Japan (and probably China, too, but I don’t know enough Chinese to speak to that). In most tellings I’ve encountered, a fox can’t live without their bead, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for Yeon. I was also intrigued by the following exchange he has with the Magistrate in EP06:

Yeon: That’s the Mirror of the Moon. Do you mean to harm (literally: catch) a human with one of the four great mountain gods’ four great treasures meant to protect all creation? 

Magistrate: And so, did your fox bead protect all of creation? Or did it protect one person?

To my thinking, this implies that Yeon’s fox bead is being attributed to his status as a mountain god as much as it is to his being a fox. None of our other foxes seem to have one, but none of them are gumiho (gu = nine, ie. the number of tails), much less cheonho (heavenly foxes) like Yeon. 

I’m actually a little unclear on this front as well. According to the excerpt from the Hyeonjoong’gi (玄中記) at the start of the first episode, foxes that live to be a hundred can take human form and foxes that live to be a thousand become cheonho. Shin Joo is obviously at least 600 years old but he doesn’t appear to be anywhere near Yeon’s caliber (or even Rang’s who is half human), something he says himself, and in the spin-off he only had one tail. Yoo Ri is younger still. It’s unclear to me whether they will ‘level up' if they live long enough, or if they will never be as powerful as Yeon, regardless of how long they live. I get the sense it’s the latter. Both Yeon and Shin Joo have said that Yeon was of a different caliber from the very beginning (in EP02 and EP03, respectively). 

Finally, we haven’t been told much about the fox bead’s powers other than emitting an aura only Yeon can see (sometimes) and suppressing Imoogi inside of Ji Ah. I’m hoping we see it again before the series wraps, but not convinced they’ll have time to recover it given everything else that needs to happen.

On another note, based on the preview for EP15, it appears that the Magistrate’s Mirror of the Moon will be coming back into play. My guess is that Imoogi is going to steal it from the Magistrate and use it on Taluipa. She was shown turned to stone in the background while Yeon and Terry-Imoogi fight. That’s originally her power, so I think Imoogi may use the mirror against her similarly to how the Magistrate ‘absorbed’ the sword Yeon sent flying at him and re-directed it at Ji Ah. 

The Jeo Seung Shi Wang (저승 시왕)

The Ten Kings of the Afterlife (jeo-seung-shi-wang) [저승 시왕], as they’re known in the drama, are more commonly called the Ten Kings of the Underworld (myeong-bu-shi-wang) [명부 시왕・冥府十王]. In the subs they appear as the Afterlife Judges, which is accurate in that this is one of the key roles that they perform. As we're told in EP13, the fortune teller is actually one of them. 

Yeon: What’s the word? That fortune teller, did you find out about him?

Snail Bride: I’ve been asking around via our patrons. 

Yeon: He didn’t seem to be just another low-level native (Korean) god. What’s the geezer’s deal?

Snail Bride: This seems like just a baseless rumour, but there was talk that one of the Ten Kings of the Afterlife who rule over hell leaves his position without notice at odd times.

Yeon: Heh...Interesting. In any case, relay any news you hear about that geezer to me as soon as you hear it. 

While the Snail Bride seems to doubt the validity of the rumour, Yeon appears confident it’s true. He later relays this to Team Fox at their strategy meeting:

Yeon: Do you remember the fortune teller we met at the Korean Folk Village?

Ji Ah: Of course I remember! (Shooting Rang a dirty look) Because of someone [your] fox bead was stolen from us.

Rang: I heard rumour he’s a major big shot. Is it true?

Yeon: He’s one of the Ten Kings of Hell. 

Rang: What?!

Yeon: They say he’s also in possession of the Uiryeong’geom (geom = sword). 

Rang: No way~

Jae Hwan: What’s the Uiryeong’geom?

Shin Joo: It’s a sword that cuts evil (literally: sins). 

Jae Hwan: Cuts...evil, you said?

Shin Joo: It’s sword they say was made in ancient days by King Yeomra himself from a branch he broke off of the Uiryeongsu (su = tree) that weighs sins. But, didn’t that disappear from the world several thousand years ago? 

Yeon: (Shaking his head) Uh-uh. The Snail Bride just picked it up.

As you may recall, the Ten Kings are the ones who put a celestial hit on Rang which led Yeon to track him down and pretend to kill him (thanks for the angst), and they’re the ones who passed judgement on Yeon after he killed the mudang (shamanness) and sentenced him to time in the Snow Mountain Prison. 

It appears that there was some confusion going around that the fortune teller is King Yeomra. Given the above dialogue, I can see where people may have understood his possession of the sword to indicate that, and, in truth, we don’t know which of the Ten Kings he is. That being said, I think if King Yeomra was frequently vacating his post without notice, someone would have said something. I also think Yeomra is a big enough name that if it were him they would’ve just come out and said so. Yeomra is also Taluipa’s brother so she, at least, would know. My assumption was that he was one of the other, less well known kings. 

To conclude, this has all been a long way of saying that I have no idea what Ji Ah’s palja will mean for her fate. What I can provide is a little context. I’m not familiar with the sword, and it doesn’t turn up when I google it, so I suspect it was invented for the purpose of the show. Whether it remains a red herring until the end or shows up in the final hour remains to be seen. 

[realmonsterboyhours]

Anguism (GodNaga!Beej Lore Post)

This is something I’ve had in the works for a while. I wanted to expand on GodNaga!Beej’s lore, and the religion practices Scarabee would use. Please note that this is a false practice, created so we wouldn’t end up offending anyone who practices real religion when we talk about Scarabee. Everything you will need will be below the cut! Trigger warnings: Mention of blood, mention of violence.

Anguism- A religious belief system worshiping Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice, an eldritch abomination. Also known as a “God of serpents”

(Anguis = Snake/Serpent in latin since he predates christ)

Origin of Betelgeuse:

Born from the explosive creation of the second brightest star in the constellation Orion, Betelgeuse was the product of a spare fragment of the star colliding to the planet earth which had disrupted a snake den. Thousands of years later an earthquake shook the remains free from the rubble of the long-forgotten den. What was released was a horrific creature, half-man, half-snake.

In his search for purpose, the beast found refuge in cave systems where he resided for thousands of years that unbeknownst to him was rather close to where a small settlement of early humans would eventually reside. Revered for his strange shape, and his immense power it wasn't long until the locals had begun seeking him out for protection and prosperity.

In return for their praise and sacrifices, he offered the humans protection, and for centuries he served them. Night after night he would watch out for the members of their small town, returning children lost in the forest, blessing crops, and livestock. The people worshiped the serpent for generations, passing beliefs, prayers, sacrifice ideals, and the likes down from father to son and so forth.

As time moved forward and with the rapid spread of Christianity, the few faithful followers took to his shrine where they wrote everything they could in books, scrolls, and tomes. The history, and practice all were archived and stored in a small temple where worshipers would come to pray or leave their offerings.

Misfortune struck the village when they were attacked, raided for their ‘false God’, and the settlement was burnt to near ashes. All remaining members of the religion were taken by those who lead the raid, never to be seen again.

In a furious rage, the serpent emerges, thus begins a great wipe of carnage and destruction. The snake god had taken on a form even his most devout followers would likely have not recognized. Those who witnessed it had gone mad, or simply dropped where they stood, their minds not able to comprehend what they had seen. The rage took place for days, those who were ordered to try and subdue the monster lost their lives, like lambs to slaughter until the great beast settled after day three.

Shocked and appalled by the state he found his beloved village, he retreats, with the last of his strength he retrieves the books and scrolls and hides them away within his own temple, protected with the last of his magical ability before he collapses, only to wake seasons later bound in chains to a large pillar in the broken remains of his once-grand temple’s atrium, where he remains, locked and powerless for centuries, hidden away in the ruins of his only home, defeated and left with the weight of guilt of his followers' lost lives and his inability to protect them.

Practice Belief:

The main focus of his belief is based on trust, blind obedience, and sacrifice. In return, you receive a benevolent God, and those who earn his favor will be gifted with immortality, or an afterlife to serve him.

Worshipers:

Anyone can worship this God, but the hidden knowledge often times makes it nearly impossible to hear of or practice so the religion is quite small. Worshipers gain favor over time in their trust, tasks given to them by the beast. Sacrifices and gifts are also required. This ‘level’ makes the majority of his worship. Most followers of his fall under this category. In basics, you simply serve him, and in return, he will help when called upon.

Devotees:

Devotees are a group of individuals that have earned his respect. These individuals are blessed with the ability to see their God first hand, or may be requested or summoned when he may need. He may telepathically visit these followers with insight to their future, if they are in danger, or other things similar.

Marked:

Also known as ‘priests’ of his religion.

Those who are marked have earned his highest favor. In a way, he has claimed them with a mark that will bond those marked with him forever. Those who are marked may expect eternal life serving him. Those who are marked would be offered the knowledge written in ancient times. Special powers would be granted, typically powers manipulating shadows, or altering one’s own body are gifted. “Priests” or those who are marked will be taught the serpentine language that is exclusively distinct to the beast. Only the most devout, trusting, and self-sacrificing would ever be considered to be marked.

Tools of practice:

Tools of practice are very aligned with an eclectic pagan. Divination tools and ceremonial daggers are primarily used tools. Presents and gifts from the beast should also be used in practice, including protective jewelry and collars from him. The use of alcohol is also strongly suggested, and nearly every spell, and offering to the serpent includes dark alcohols. Of all tools used it is important to note that intent, trust, and faith will always be the backbone of this religion. Those who cannot simply trust cannot worship this deity.

True magic versus spell working:

There is a stark difference between true magic, and spell working within this religion.

Spell working can be done within any level of this worship. Spell working would include making things like spell jars, candle magic, divination, offerings and prayer.

True magic is only accomplished by those with the serpent’s mark. Users of true magic are gifted from the serpent himself and typically have abilities that control shadows, or manipulate their own form at will.

Common historical offerings for Beetlejuice:

-Gold, jewelry, coins, money, jewels. -Small offerings of virgin blood. He was known for feeding directly from them or through small vials. -Livestock, raw red meat, hearty breads -Alcohol -Personal letters of devotion -Acts of devotion could be protecting those at risk, protecting and caring for the shrines, caring for snakes.

Common modern offerings for Beetlejuice:

-Dark alcohol. -Red meats and hearty breads. -Coins and special trinkets. -Acts of devotion include protecting those in need, caring for snakes, and if allowed visiting him, or communicating with or praying to him.

Common themes or repeating imagery: 

-Snakes, crows, beetles -Green, black, white, gold -Elements of earth and fire -Bones and ash/soot -Mist/fog -Autumn -Bogs and open fields -Shadows -Broken glass/chains/broken stones -Old books -Dark blood like that found in veins -Things repeating in threes -Ouroboros

The mark

Being marked by the serpent God is something akin to a marriage but not in the traditional ideas. It binds you two forever, it shows both himself and the recipient just how much they mean to one another. The mark is given usually in private, a small ceremony between the two may be held, usually pertaining to drinking, sharing a meal, sharing some form of promises and then finally the mark is given when the serpent bites you and pours some of his own power into the recipient. The mark heals quickly and the bite leaves a very small marking of a snake on the skin of the one he marked, that spot will work as not only his vow to you but when either party touches the mark the other will feel a warm feeling spread from it. It can be used as a sort of built in security system that the God uses to warn the recipient of danger. Very few have ever been marked, he does not take it lightly.  In current official lore Scarabee Shoggoth is the only surviving marked/priest, and in the past only three others had ever been marked who were taken away during the attack on his temple. He to this day does not know what happened to them, their marks have long since gone cold, and their life force had gone during his years of unconsciousness. He mourns them greatly and every 100 years on the anniversary of what he presumes are their deaths he pays respect to his lost followers.

Information about Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice himself.

Appearance:

His most typical appearance is as naga, about a 10 foot tall. His tail is thick and constrictor like, black and white stripes that are slightly iridescent in certain lighting, with black ventral plates. His upper body is large, he has quite a bit of muscle from the way he moves around, large arms, broad shoulders, and well defined back muscles. His chest is also quite strong. His stomach has a lot of muscle but a thick covering of fat that makes him look quite chubby. He has long black hair that falls down past his shoulders and chest, usually to rib length. Can be straight or wavy and messy. His hair is styled in a half shave with a few braids that are beaded with gold. His ears are pointed, he has two small black horns on the top of his head that curl in and back. He's got several piercings, and wears almost exclusively gold and emeralds. Around his waist is a black and white striped cloth that he can be drawn without.

It should be mentioned that he can control his form at will. He can make himself smaller, bigger, human, naga, snake, or otherwise strange monster form that is unfit for human eyes.

In his human form he is tall, similarly shaped as his naga form in terms of body size. He typically wears dark colors, favoring blacks, gold, and dark green or jewel tones. His hair is still long, coming to about his collar bone.

Personality:

Rough, abrasive, and more than a bit full of himself. He can be selfish and jaded, he's quick to anger, and he's quick to punish. He very much embodies the act first and ask questions later. He can be a bit quick to jump to conclusions and can be very hard to get to know. Can be quite a trickster, often cat-like and chaotic. He gets a sick rise out of terrifying newcomers just for fun.

Things to consider for self-ship:

Obviously this is completely open ended for you the reader/viewer/shipper to do whatever you wish with the story or ideas you have, but these may help you make some decisions!

He is meant to sort of have a pre-existing relationship with Scarabee. They are in fact some sort of romantically inclined. Proving your loyalty to Scarabee would likely bleed over to the deity over time. Self shipping with Scarabee and GodNaga!Beej as a poly deal is a common mode for sure, however, if poly isn’t your thing or you don’t want to ship with Scarabee at all, you could just as well meet him without Scarabee’s help. He’s open ended for the ease of the reader to write/draw/hc/or do whatever they want. It’s also important to note that while he is rough and abrasive, he is not incapable of feeling emotions like love, and lust and the likes, he us just far less likely to experience it than others might. He tends to get a bit confused by affection, and isn’t quite sure what to do with it, but it IS a massive ego boost for him.

Trivial facts:

-We nicknamed him ‘Snubban’ for “Snake Husband”. -He has a potent aphrodisiac venom. -He can and will give you a golden collar or bracelet if you don’t want to be marked, or just if you offer yourself to him. -Nicknames from him are typically akin to small animal names like “Rabbit” “Mouse” “Little Pet” “Lamb” etc. -He does in fact shed! Usually once a year, often gets real bratty and princess-like, making Scarabee come down to help him with the shed since it’s so itchy. -He usually stays within his temple, but he does in fact visit the estate as an extended universe character, and also has been known to simply venture out to see what humans are up to in his human form sometimes. -Scarafaggio and him would have crossed paths in their time on the earth. We’re still ballparking ideas on that. -My HC for his voice would be similar to Thresh from League of Legends. -

[vampiresuns]

The Radošević-Cassano | Lore & Palazzo Inspiration

Some lore for the untitled geese family of Vesuvian High Society. As per usual, the family tree is here. With a quick run down on mostly everyone.

✴︎ General Headcanons

I call them the Radošević-Cassano because I keep Anatole in the centre of the family tree, and much of the Arcana lore I have revolves around him. This isn’t because everything is about him, but because he is the original OC, and hence the place all of this lore comes from.

In reality the Cassano of Vesuvia (how they’re actually known as) are an old Vesuvian family.

They hold no nobility titles, they’re just old, ingrained with the City, and simply have money. The surname Cassano isn’t that old, they’ve probably been the Cassano for less than what they’ve held the Consulship for, only having been known in this way since the last 300 to 250 years, give or take.

They’ve had a hold of the Consulship for a little longer than that. No one actually knows how they ended up with the Consul’s office.

Not even the Cassano themselves. There’s many rumours and the story itself is kind of a local legend at this point. No one remembers because sometimes stories are just oral tradition. Sometimes they just get lost. That’s how it is.

The Cassano surname comes from... a first name actually. Consul Cassano ruled Vesuvia in lieu of the Count they were Consul for, while said Count’s children grew up, becoming old enough to rule themselves.

They are a multicultural, multiethnic family. Different branches have different cultural backgrounds.

Yet their unity steams from 1. being the Addams Family of Vesuvia 2. The Consulship. A way for them to protect themselves versus other Courtiers down for their own power-grabs, or nobility which do not like that these respected and well known family have no titles made them create a network (inside and outside of the family) that allows them to protect themselves and their political position.

For a Cassano, it is not social standing which matters. It is political standing.

They’ve been friends with the Radošević family (less remarkable and less old) for around six or seven generations. The Radošević are the Addams Family of Balkovia. Fish, Water.

Both families favour cultivating a career, craft or academic pursuit. It doesn’t matter what at least you pursue it honestly.

Speaking of honest pursuits, one of their secrets for enduring is rejecting arranged marriages. Convenience marriages are one thing, if mutually consented by the future spouses, arranged marriages however are a recipe for owing other families favours. It helps get rid of families who simply want to marry with them solely because they’re interested in the political position.

Important things for both these families are: authenticity, professionalism (they do not conceive not working, hoarding land, property and wealth aren’t actual jobs), ambition, creativity, survival, fraternity and resourcefulness. Both of the families are very communal between each other, acting as extensions of each other way before they married between them.

They follow three principles: 1. Whatever happened to you, whatever life shot at you, you survived. A Cassano-Radošević is nothing if not enduring 2. Sometimes conventional problems needed to be solved through unconventional means. They are nothing if not resourceful. 3. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us. They are nothing if not community driven.

This sometimes made them out of touch with other parts of Vesuvian High-Society, especially certain kind of Noble families. I hc that the Consul is the link between the Count and the City, and is meant to represent the City in front of the Count. The Cassano have a very tightly knit relationship with the City, and while their position of privilege is undeniable they are more aware of the social condition and estate of the City than others of their same social circles.

Their tendency to work for the City in a usually self-less manner (which is encouraged), using their position to help others instead of stepping over them, coined the underlying belief that the Cassano are protectors of Vesuvia. They are the last line between something which wishes to harm the City and the people of Vesuvia. This is something which Anatole specially takes very seriously.

Other sayings or beliefs around them are: “Good Counts make their Consuls their friends, while Good Consuls have a Happy Marriage in their beds.” Given how long they’ve hold the Consul’s office, it is better for Vesuvian Counts (regardless of their origin) to befriend them rather than go against them. The second part stems from the Cassano tendency to marry for love, not out of arranged marriages.

“Nothing mortal can kill a Cassano” this began as a joke, simply because they’re a really sturdy family. While they were very close to disappearing in more than one occasion, they simply keep on living. They’re very petty about their vitality. This belief gets reaffirmed during any of the apprentice timelines, but also because of Valerian Cassano’s (Anatole’s great grandfather) longevity.

Few of them believe in the Arcana as a belief system, though a bunch of them are familiar with tarot. There’s a tendency to generate Death and Hierophant beneficiaries the most. The Radošević while not following the Arcana at all, and most of them being unfamiliar with them, have a tendency to generate beneficiaries of The Lovers, Strength and Magicians.

“When Death marries a Star nothing will bring that marriage down” comes from the most notorious Cassano marriages being between Death and Star beneficiaries, with the Star beneficiaries usually being foreign. Examples of this are Amparo Mediavilla (Star) and Vitale Cassano, former Consul (Death), Stelarius Cassano (former Consul, Death) and spouse (Star), and recently Amparo Cassano (Death) and Portia Devorakova (Star).

Magic in the family, manifesting in given individuals is rare, but not unseen. The Cassano seem to be coated by a halo of magical energy but not display magical abilities themselves for the most part. Some exceptions are Amparo Mediavilla, Lucenzo Cassano, Valerian Cassano, one of Florentino’s (Anatole’s grandfather) brothers – Nemesi Cassano, Amparo Cassano, Vlad Radošević (son of a Cassano, and Anatole’s father), Aelius Anatole Radošević, and Artemisia Cassano, sibling of Amparo.

People with magical abilities in the family tend to keep it reserved from the general public. The reasons vary. 

While the Cassano Personality is strong and produces an inter-generational imprint, the Cassano genes are not that strong. No one is entirely sure what a ‘Cassano face’ looks like because of their multicultural background, but apparently they all have expressive eyebrows.

However, most of the Cassano stand in the same way (the way Valerius stands). Valerius, Anatole, his father, Florentino, Amparo, Artemisia, Cassiopeia, and others all stand in the same way.

✴︎ The Radošević

They’re not that different from the Cassano. Can be described as a “A family of survivors, eccentrics, patrons of the arts, inventors and scientists. A family of academics full of anxieties about the world surrounding them, whose sorrows were scars they rarely showed. Private yet with an extensive, and international, circle of acquaintances who deemed them all charmingly strange on their best days; prideful, analytic, often with a drink in hand.”

The Cassano can be described in a similar way, they’re different manifestations of the same core after all. Other than them being the Addams family of the fantasy Balkans, there’s no much to add to them besides what I’ve already said.

While the most distinctive Cassano trait is probably spite, the most notorious Radošević trait is rage. Rage is easier than grief and they’ve all had complicated relationships with life. They are not violent or toxic as a family, however. While they are not perfect, it seems of little use to them to mistreat those who are in the same boat as you, going through the same hardships.

Probably the some of the most interesting people in this family are Elysian Radošević, Anatole’s great grandmother, a partisan, Neuma Radošević a famous painter, and well, Valeriy “Valerius” Radošević. This is my personal HC in the julesverse, but Valerius has more of a Radošević personality than a Cassano personality.

Anatole would be a nice mix of both of them, which is catalysed by his mother, Louisa De Silva.

As an aside, Anatole has his father’s and uncle’s brows, his father’s eyes, and while his face bone structure is a toss up, he has his mother’s lips and nose. He also has his mother’s hips and legs.

The Radošević have a vineyard in fantasy Istria. No, it’s not Valerius’ vineyard.

One of the reasons why Anatole would refuse all kind of title (and so would his uncle, actually, despite the way he acts) is because having a nobility title is one of the few reasons for your Balkovian citizenship to be revoked. Nobility has been abolished in Balkovia for decades, and it’s not making a comeback.

✴︎ The Palazzo

The Palazzo Cassano is where the star mark is. It is 12 minutes away from the Palace, and 18 minutes way from Goldgrave. It is one of the few properties the family has, and probably the most important.

For years, it has been open to the Vesuvian Public who, with previous appointment, might need its resources, such as the music room or the Cassano Library. Like I said before, the Cassano do not think owning things is a job, and like I said before they encourage finding an actual occupation, whatever it might be. Other properties tied to the Cassano, including the Radošević-Cassano, are: Mircea’s and Florentino’s house in Balkovia (Anatole’s grandfather’s), the Radošević Vineyard, Valerius’ vineyard, Blasio’s house (Milenko’s grandfather), Milenko’s apartment, Vlad’s and Louisa’s townhouse in Balkovia, where Anatole grew up, and Paris’ shop + apartment, as she leaves it to Amparo, Milenko and Anatole. 

The Palazzo holds a series of invaluable collections, from books, artefacts, painting, sculptures, swords and others. They are long standing patron of the arts, who sustain themselves on social connectivity, so it is not unheard of them sustaining balls for these purposes every now and then. The Palazzo is meant to be able to house the majority of the family in somewhat comfortable terms. It’s most famous room, is it’s winter garden, which is open to the Public on certain days.

The Palazzo does not have permanent staff. It’s an oddity. The only permanent positions are the one of personal secretary of the Consul — not a valet, not a servant — and the Chef. Most of the staff is divided in shifts.

The Palazzo doesn’t have a housekeeper, only a housekeeper assistant. The Palazzo housekeepers are Batiste Cassano (sister of Florentino, Anatole’s grandfather), Iris Ravella (Amparo’s parent), and post-game Valerius.

Some of the OC families they’re related to are the Ventura, the family of two high-priests in one of Vesuvia’s temples, the Valperga (Valerian’s family), a number of Venterrean family’s, the Radošević (obviously), and the Ravella, among others. All these families are part of the julesverse.

Canon families they are related to include the Devoraks, the Satrinava (Milenko, while not a Cassano by blood is a Cassano by upbringing, and the Cassano include all the Radošević as their own), and the Alnazar. 

As an addition, when @apprenticealec​ and I merge worlds, they are also related to the Parsa D’Orias, as they are to the El-Saieh, but they belong to @ilyamatic​.

The story of how they ended up with the Palazzo stirs as much rumours as how they ended up with the Consulship, but the truth is way less exciting. It came with the position, and they deliberately altered the papers so from Grant of the Count, became their own. It was finders keepers. The Palazzo is inspired by different buildings in different parts of the world, but primarily, it’s outside is inspired by the Palazzo Papadopoli, in Venice, Italy, the Palazzo Ca d’Oro, and Ca Dario

Here are some pictures of different things it takes inspiration from:

The Palazzo has a back door, which leads to a minor street — the lovers and close friends door — inspired by the Palazzo Bembo- Boldù. The only way to open this door is from the inside. To ring it, you have to turn the knob three times to the right.

Thank you for reading these untitled geese family lore ❤️

[metalrequiem]

having trouble remembering what type is strong against what? look no further!

its always easier to remember things when you know WHY, wouldn’t you agree? so here’s my method of remembering the type advantages, just for you. i do so hope it helps :)

bug > grass : this is the reason why your tomato plant never gives you more than two tomatoes come harvest time.

bug > dark : one time, when i was like six or something, i was wandering around the college my dad worked at (as the head of the it department) with him because he had to do something in one of the tech closets. it was just wires and computers super disorganized; ran the network or something idk i was six. anyway the floor was like, black when we opened the door, but then when he turned on the light it turned fucking white as the carpet of roaches just fucking scattered. i forgot where i was going with this.

bug > psychic : bugs are one of the three most common fears. this will come up again. guess how many times.

dark > ghost : ghost summoning is dark magic (think warlocks). considering they’re the one who summoned it, the dark sorcerer would obviously be more powerful than the ghost.

dark > psychic : once again; dark is one of the most common fears.

dragon > dragon : trust nobody, not even yourself.

electric > flying : the only thing worse than being zapped and paralyzed is being zapped and paralyzed 20 feet up in the air.

electric > water : i mean, this one’s pretty obvious. water + electricity = bad time. (actually, fun fact, distilled water doesn’t conduct electricity - it’s the stuff typically in the water that makes it conductive. i think.)

fairy > fighting : wizards are just inherently more powerful than fighters, i guess. keep that in mind next time you play 5e.

fairy > dark : My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Season 1; Episodes 1 & 2

fairy > dragon : i’m pretty sure this was the reason they made fairy type a thing in the first place? anyway, the knight slaying the dragon to save the princess is like, THE classic fairy tale trope.

fighting > dark : so google tells me that this is a good vs evil thing, where dark is “fighting dirty” (which makes sense considering the moves like nasty plot, sucker punch, etc), and the advantage is that fighting dirty doesn’t mean you’ll win, it actually means you’re more likely to lose. or whatever. fighters are better than rogues is the explanation, actually.

fighting > normal : go ask a black belt to fist fight you. i dare you.

fighting > ice : strong man punch through ice block.

fighting > rock : strong man punch through rock.

fighting > steel : [visibly distressed] s... strong... strong man punch through... steel???

fire > bug : you know how a bunch of kids have that weird part of their lives where they think using a magnifying glass to set a bug on fire with the power of the sun is the neatest shit?

fire > grass : i mean, duh. the more specific example that usually comes to mind for me though is wildfires in like, the savannah. or australia.

fire > ice : fire melts ice. i seen’t it with my own two eyes.

fire > steel : jet fuel can, in fact, melt steel beams.

flying > bug : i mean, bugs do compose most birds’ diets. except for the bearded vulture. that motherfucker eats bones.

flying > fighting : have you ever tried to punch a bird out of the sky?

flying > grass : i guess cause, like, birds live in grass? and they use it to make up their nests? like this type advantage comes entirely from intimidation factor. “i live inside the remnants of your second cousin,” and all that.

ghost > ghost : in basically all ghost related lore/mythology, while they struggle to interact with the corporeal plane, ghosts can interact with other ethereal beings/objects just fine. i guess that extends to beating the shit out of each other.

ghost > psychic : finally, the third of the 3 most common fears.

grass > ground : plants literally grow out of the fucking ground.

grass > rock : saw a dandelion growing out of a crack in the pavement on my walk today. effervescent.

grass > water : water is one of the two required molecules (reactants, kinda? ish?) for photosynthesis. this was a really complicated way of saying plants go glug glug.

ground > electric : ground is a bad conductor. its much easier to punch someone when their powers are completely useless.

ground > fire : throwing dirt is a pretty good way of putting out a fire, actually. it suffocates it, and since fire needs oxygen to burn,,,

ground > poison : rub some dirt on it. also i heard once that if you put dirt/sand/whatever on a wound with poison (like a bite i guess?), it’ll soak some of it up or out or something. its not a solution, but it  would buy you some time i guess. please don’t test whether this is true or not.

ground > rock : honestly? i got nothing. rock come from ground. dust to dust. there.

ground > steel : for one, steel is derived from ground stuff. that seems important? you could look at it from like, a natural vs artificial scenario. like, no matter how invincible we think something we build is, the earth will outlast it and reclaim itself eventually.

ice > dragon : the classic dragon breathes fire, and dragons are generally accepted to be reptiles (which are cold-blooded), so if a dragon’s body temperature fell too low, it’d be a massively crippling blow.

ice > flying : i’m pretty sure that birds can fly if it’s too cold? i mean, it makes sense. you know how it gets harder to feel and control your fingers when it’s cold? i imagine that’d be pretty disastrous for a bird’s wings while it’s trying to fly.

ice > grass : this is another kinda common knowledge one. most types of plants don’t do well in cold weather.

ice > ground : i don’t know exactly how to articulate it, but my head is screaming the word “PERMAFROST” at me repeatedly, so let’s go with that.

poison > fairy : poison is a pretty common weapon of choice for fairy tale villains? like, snow white instantly comes to mind. the princess bride, too. in older stories, there’s, like, the witches in macbeth.

poison > grass : so at its core, this is “poisoning nature”, which could go any number of ways, really, but i think specifically of pollution. there’s no joke for this one. eat the rich.

psychic > fighting : “brains over brawn”. everyone knows this one, lmao.

psychic > poison : i mean, there’s that trope where the protag just wills their way through being poisoned. more realistically, some cultures believe meditation can expel poison/impurities from your body. which is where the idea for the pop culture trope came from in the first place?

rock > bug : do you know that scene in d*sney’s hunchback, sorta in the beginning, where frollo is giving phoebus his absolutely batshit monologue about his plans for genocide and he lifts up a stone to show all the ants under it to visually prove his point about a hideout somewhere in the city and then he flips is and crushes them all to really drive that point home and phoebus is like “with all due respect, jesus fucking christ sir”? yeah.

rock > fire : recall the “put out a fire by suffocating it” thing. rocks work too. i guess.

rock > flying : let’s go throw rocks at birds!

rock > ice : ice melts, but rock is forever. (honestly, i personally think the advantage should actually be the other way around because when water gets in even the smallest crack and freezes, it expands and makes the crack even bigger, rinse and repeat. but there’s nothing i can really do about that lmao).

steel > fairy : y’know, the whole “knight in shining armor” bit. we’ve been over this.

steel > ice : you know what happens if you freeze a sword? you get a cold sword (ignore the fact that it gets brittle - that’s future you’s problem). you know what happens if you hit an ice block really hard with a sword? you wind up with more distinct pieces of ice than when you started.

steel > rock : i guess rock is just. more brittle than steel? weaker? less versatile? who fucking knows.

water > fire : ._.

water > ground : mudd....

water > rock : erosion! don’t think about it too hard.

normal > nothing : that’s the fucking point.

BONUS: the no effect matchups!

normal/fighting X ghost : go punch a ghost.

ghost X normal : go get punched by a ghost.

poison X steel : i mean, this makes sense. steel is the only wholly artificial pokemon type, so it wouldn’t be affected by having something nasty thrown at it. unless it’s salazzle. in which case, fuck you.

ground X flying : can’t get hurt by an earthquake if you’re in the sky. this is where i’d put that meme if i wasn’t too lazy to go find it.

electric X ground : grounded things can’t be electrocuted! or something like that. i don’t know. i told you, my dad’s the it guy.

psychic X dark : so, i actually think about this a lot. think about common fears. the one thing they all have in common is they’re linked with the unknown, somehow. like, basically all fears boil down to the fear of the unknown. people fear animals and bugs because they don’t know what they’re capable of doing to them, or what’ll happen to them if they DO do something to them. people fear drugs/alcohol (like me) because they don’t know what they’ll do or what they’re capable of doing with less self-control. so, that’s cool and all, i hear you say, but what about the fears typed in pokemon? well, ok, bugs. that’s the easiest of the three: you can just research them?? lmao go google that beetle, you’ll be fine. yeah, you’ll still be scared of the ones that you now KNOW can hurt you, but you can psych yourself up and away from that, really. or just avoid them. when it comes to ghosts, it can go one of two ways: either you can explain away whatever it is sparked the fear at that moment in the first place and calm yourself by believing they aren’t real, or you can just accept that, hey, that was a ghost, and coexist with it. chill with the ghost. offer it some cheez its. so again, you can will your way past that fear. the problem with the dark, though, is that it’s essentially the purest form of the “unknown” you can get while also keeping it physical rather than conceptual. if you’re in a dark room, or a dark forest, or the basement with a single, flickering, bulb, you can’t will that fear away. you either fear the dark, or you’re lucky enough to not. there is no way to know whether you’re alone or not. there is nothing to research, nothing to explain. there’s nothing but you, your mind, and the suffocating blackness. in this situation, really, your mind isn’t on your side anymore (again, assuming you have a fear of the dark), so how can you be expected to do anything against it?

dragon X fairy : and they all lived happily ever after :)

[nadziejastar]

What are your thoughts on the various types of lesser Nobodies?

The members of the Organization each had their own distinctive weapons that didn’t exactly cooperate if someone else tried to use them, but Keyblades were even more particular. If someone else so much as tried to pick it up, a Keyblade would simply return to its wielder’s hand. Or so Xion had heard.

We should have gotten to learn how the members of the organization got their weapons.

Nobodies derived their personalities and abilities from memories of their human lives. But what exactly were those abilities? What gave rise to them? The answer that came to mind was the presence of memory itself. They were chained by their memory, and in those bonds was power. So it was probably fair to say that Roxas and Xion were bound by the same memory.

And we should have learned how they got their “personalities” and abilities, too. The Nobodies they control are one of those abilities, no doubt. They should be based off of specific memories from when they were human. Which means that the organization members should have gotten a MUCH more flesh out backstory than they got. I’m really disappointed that most of them remained so flat, even including the popular ones like Axel. He may have been very likable, but his backstory in KH3 left him very flat.

Sorcerer

A sorcerer, magician, or “witch” attempts to influence the surrounding world through occult (i.e., hidden, as opposed to open and observable) means.

There should have been a story/lore based reason for each of their fighting styles. There are no lesser Nobodies based on Vexen/Zexion. It probably means that those two did not have any fighting abilities as humans, which makes sense. But the rest of the organization probably did fight as humans, thus they can control Nobodies based off of that fighting style.

Sniper

A sniper is a marksman who operates to shoot people from a concealed position. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision rifles and high-magnification optics, and often feed information back to their units or command headquarters.

Braig was a sniper when he was a castle guard.

Dragoon

Dragoon, in late 16th-century Europe, a mounted soldier who fought as a light cavalryman on attack and as a dismounted infantryman on defense. The terms derived from his weapon, a species of carbine or short musket called the dragoon.

Dilan was a dragoon.

XaldinHe has the image of a medieval Chinese military commander. He is excellent at strategizing, and a powerful soldier. I’m sure the players all know that he is a contender for the first or second strongest in the Organisation. I’m satisfied that I was able to depict that strength in his personality, too. I personally really like this character.–Nomura

But he was also based on a Chinese military commander. We didn’t get to learn much about Dilan. What was his motivation? Why did he side with Xehanort? 

Watching that foolish beast flail about only deepens my disdain for humans and their incessant need to be pinned down by feelings. We became Nobodies precisely to avoid the shackles of emotion. It was only later that we realized the scale of that loss: that some things simply cannot be done without a heart. Nonetheless, I see nary a pleasant thing about it.

Why did he want to get rid of his emotions and why did he consider them a weakness? What was his opinion of Ansem the Wise, and how did he feel when he was banished? Did he want to take over Radiant Garden?

Samurai

The ideal samurai was supposed to be a stoic warrior who followed an unwritten code of conduct, later formalized as Bushidō, which held bravery, honour, and personal loyalty above life itself; ritual suicide by disembowelment (seppuku) was institutionalized as a respected alternative to dishonour or defeat.

Aeleus was a samurai.

LexaeusHe’s a character with strength to rival Xaldin. While Xaldin has power plus technique, I’d say to Lexaeus is more of a samurai, or that he has bushido-style strength. If you listen to his very last line in Re:COM, I think you’ll be able to see his spirit. I wanted to do more with this character.–Nomura

Nomura said his final words showed his spirit.

Lexaeus: You are the Superior’s—Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started.

In Re:CoM, these are his last words. He seems to have some honor and was loyal to Zexion.

Lexaeus gave him a cruel smile. “Hmph…so I must accept my defeat here. But do not make the mistake of underestimating the darkness in me! As I am destroyed, it will leave this ruined vessel and drown you!” 

Then there was a terrible shock wave far greater than what Riku had felt from the darkness that Lexaeus radiated before the battle. 

“Wh…what’s happening?!” A relentless swirl of darkness surrounded him, swallowing him up until he disappeared into it. 

Lexaeus laughed madly. “This is my strength… I, number five in the organization… I who was once his favorite pupil!” Those were Lexaeus’s final words before he vanished into the darkness.

In the novel, there’s an extended final scene with his final words where he apparently commits seppuku and says he was “his” favorite pupil. Who’s favorite pupil? Ansem? Xehanort? We’ll probably never know.

Berserker

Berserker, Norwegian berserk, Old Norse berserkr (“bearskin”), in premedieval and medieval Norse and Germanic history and folklore, a member of unruly warrior gangs that worshipped Odin, the supreme Norse deity, and attached themselves to royal and noble courts as bodyguards and shock troops. The berserkers’ savagery in battle and their animal-skin attire contributed to the development of the werewolf legend in Europe. These Viking berserkers were infamous for fighting in a violent rage, recklessly charging at their enemies without armor or any other protection, and seemingly without concern for their own health.

Saïx is a strange case. Unlike the apprentices, we never saw Isa fighting as a human. He was just a kid. So how did he become a berserker of all things?

Prayers are uttered to Odin, as the object of contemplation. Why Odin and not the wolf, bear, or whatever? The berserk trance is brought about by Odin, he is the inspirer, that which brings something outside the self within the self. This is ond, inspiration, or vital breath. This triggers the wod, or fury and possession, which is where the wolf, bear, or whatever comes in. As a god, Odin is a “larger” concept than the animal, and so the effect he has upon the mind during the ritual will be the greater.

Berserkers worshiped Odin. To go berserk, they needed to meditate on him and receive divine inspiration. In other words, they couldn’t just go berserk at will. The needed to meditate upon a divine purpose to go berserk.

Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

I think Saïx was the same.

It infuriated me how you just exited our lives. I lost…all sense of purpose.

He needed a purpose to go berserk. 

Yes, I thought you didn’t need me anymore. If you didn’t need me, then I no longer held meaning.

For him, it was Lea. 

Saïx hesitated for a second, and Roxas ran at him.

He blocked the Keyblade.

Long ago—I remember, I didn’t hate fighting. Saïx flung his claymore at Roxas.

And so, Saïx remembered things from a long, long time ago.

My theory is that Saïx would need to meditate on his purpose before he could go berserk. Before he went berserk fighting Roxas, he thought back to a time before he hated fighting. Back when he had someone to protect and fighting actually had meaning.

Assassin

A murderer of an important person in a surprise attack for political or religious reasons.

One of the things I disliked about KH3 was its characterization of Axel/Lea and seemingly retconning his role as an assassin. On the clock tower, Axel and Saïx revealed their shared goal of finding Subject X. Saïx wanted to work his way to the top of the organization hierarchy so he could find out what happened to her. Axel said that he couldn’t keep up with Saïx and his willingness to do the icky jobs Xemnas wanted them to do to achieve that rank.

This flies in the face of ALL the hints from the previous games about their shared objective:

In order for Sora—no, for Roxas to live, and also for us to accomplish our own goal, Zexion is in the way. And, if it’s for the sake of our own goal, we already decided what to do, that time.

In the novel, Axel references their shared goal and how they decided to do whatever it took. Zexion was in the way and Axel killed him.

Given the right memories, the Replica could mimic the powers of the original. Which meant that if he were implanted with somebody else’s memories, he would, hypothetically, gain other powers. Somebody’s—or maybe even a Nobody’s. He had one particular Nobody in mind. All the members of the Organization were still influenced by the memories of their human lives.

Here, it references Axel’s memories of his human life as a reason he wants to use the Riku Replica to defeat someone and absorb their powers. Sounds like Axel was, at least partially, motivated by revenge.

Axel let out a breath. “Look, I knew Vexen and Zexion would cause trouble for you. That’s why they’re not around anymore.”

That sounded more like he was justifying it to himself, Axel thought. Their lack of hearts didn’t render their actions meaningless. It wasn’t as if they never thought carefully or acted without objectives in mind. Humans and Nobodies alike would pursue their own purposes.

“The dirty work doesn’t bother me,” Axel went on. “You just make for the top.” There was nothing false in that, and he looked Saïx in the eye as he said it. Saïx stared hard back at him. Right. We have our own agenda.

Again, it demonstrates how Axel was always the one willing to do the dirty work to achieve their goal.

“Everything is back to normal. Of course this is for the best, isn’t it?”

The reason I’m unable to answer Saïx is probably because I depend on him, thought Axel.

“Xemnas has also been irritated at the recent changes in plan. Everything has to go back to normal, for the sake of our goal too… Lea.”

Axel finally looked over at the sound of that nostalgic name. Saïx was looking at him. It made him think of his time as a human, and the memories came surging back.

Here, Saïx is trying to coerce Axel into killing Xion for the sake of their goal. He never even considers doing it himself. It sounds like Axel was always the one who handled the icky jobs like killing, not Saïx. Because, obviously, that was Axel’s job. He was the assassin.

I just did what I thought was the best thing at the time. For Roxas, for Xion, for the Organization—and for Isa. But most of all for me.

Axel was at first willing to kill Xion. And who was he doing it for? Isa. And for himself. Because he needed Isa. He emotionally depended on him. Saïx knew Axel needed him and manipulated him by calling him “Lea”.

Axel didn’t care anymore about what the Organization needed, what Xion or Roxas wanted, or even what was supposed to be good for the worlds. He had been using the Organization for his own ends from the start. The only thing that had changed in the meantime was who it was all for. Maybe Saïx would call that a betrayal. But his world had changed.

It doesn’t sound like Axel’s willingness to kill had anything to do with Subject X or finding information about her. It sounds like Axel was wiling to kill for Saïx. He and Saïx wanted to take over the organization for Saïx’s sake.

What were you really after, Lea? We joined the Organization at the same time, and formulated our plan. At this point, it’s just an idle fantasy. Everything changed. You, and me.

When Axel refused to do what Saïx wanted and left the organization, he apparently didn’t need him anymore. And Saïx couldn’t handle that.

Yes, I thought you didn’t need me anymore. If you didn’t need me, then I no longer held meaning.

Of course, Axel’s motivation was retconned in KH3. Instead of Isa being his reason for staying in the organization, it became Subject X/Skuld. And along with that change, Axel’s role as an assassin was whitewashed. Maybe the idea of the fan-favorite Axel being happily willing to ruthlessly murder people didn’t seem appropriate anymore. Especially if it was no longer not for his best friend, but for a girl who is basically a stranger to him. I dunno. But I think it’s BS.

Dancer

A warrior who dances across the battlefield, garbed in colorful raiments. Tends to have low stats and specializes in support magic.

Demyx was a dancer.

DemyxFrom the beginning he was created as a light-hearted character, but his voice actor really made him stand on his own as a character despite the short appearances he had. He is by no means strong, so I think it’s funny how you don’t see it coming when his abilities make him a formidable opponent. His line before exiting was something I thought of on the spot and had them add in.–Nomura

He is described as not very strong. We never got to see him as a human, but he was probably a performer.

Gambler

(Bakuto, 博徒) were itinerant gamblers in Japan from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. They were one of the forerunners of the modern Japanese crime gangs known as yakuza. Bakuto plied their trade in feudal Japan, playing traditional games such as hanafuda and dice. They were mostly social outcasts who lived outside the laws and norms of society.

Luxord has still not received a backstory. I think we can tell a lot about him with this, though.

LuxordIn all honesty he is my absolute favourite Organisation member. I like how he treats everything as a gamble, like Setzer from FFVI of old. I actually wanted to make him stand out more. At least I got him to say some things during the meeting scene added to KH2 FM+… but Luxord should have been able to do so much more…–Nomura

Nomura wanted to do more with him.

The nation of Lucis was said to have worked akin to a mafia crime family since the nation’s ancient beginnings, and despite its peace was said to have engaged in strict rule, including a ban on firearms and a lockdown in the capitol city. Noctis was the crown prince, and Regis the current king. Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto—Noctis’s team members—acted as his entourage akin to a Yakuza kyodai-shatei structure.

Maybe his gambler/bakuto job is the reason why he’s apparently going to have a connection to the Verum Rex world. In Re:Mind, Yozora’s driver sounded like Luxord. And Luxord’s wild card is apparently going to be what helps Sora return.

Reaper

Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper causes the victim’s death by coming to collect that person’s soul. Other beliefs hold that the Spectre of Death is only a psychopomp, serving to sever the last ties between the soul and the body, and to guide the deceased to the afterlife, without having any control over when or how the victim dies.

The Reaper and Ninja Nobodies were introduced in KH3. I think Marluxia’s intentions were supposed to be known by the time KH3 started. He wanted to bring his sister back. That’s why he wanted to control Sora and the Keyblade and take over Castle Oblivion. That’s something that should have been explored in the Dark Seeker Saga, explaining how Marluxia became a vessel. Maybe Xehanort convinced him that if he helped open Kingdom Hearts, he could reunite with his sister.

Ninja

A ninja (忍者) was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included espionage, deception, and surprise attacks. Their covert methods of waging irregular warfare were deemed dishonorable and beneath the honor of the samurai.

Larxene’s backstory is a Keyblade wielder from the age of fairy tales. But why was she a knife wielding ninja archetype character? What was her life like before she became a Nobody and tried to take over Castle Oblivion? How did she get so twisted and when did her hatred of men develop? What is the nature of her feelings for Marluxia? That’s what I wanna know.

[vaguely-concerned]

Mass Effect Initiation thoughts

In short: this book is actually really good, N.K. Jemisin is, as we all know, an excellent writer! It’s the story of how Cora met Alec Ryder and joined the Initiative, and it has SO much good good SAM content and I am full of emotions. 

- poor cora is so continually out of her depth, I want to give her a hug. the points made about her in the main game are true though -- she is not ready for leadership yet. (and that’s fine! she does much better with something or someone to belong to and that is so Valid. she’s an honorable Loyal Knight!!! one of the sexiest things to be, as we all know)

I think I’ll actually like her a lot more on this new playthrough now -- she must have been quite hard to write compellingly in the game because at the end of the day she’s really very straightforward and honest and loyal, it’s quite hard to uh ‘hide’ things in her character  

- alec ryder deadass installed an unspeakably illegal (and did I mention experimental?) AI in cora’s head with no informed consent whatsoever. d A D 

(when cora is like ‘are you actually going to another galaxy because they don’t have laws to stop you from committing fully to your craziness in public’ and alec is like *...maybe so meme* fadsfhkj he does literally say ‘this is why I’m going to another galaxy’ out loud at a later point of the book)

- this book is giving me the good good SAM content ;________; I love SAM so much, the scene where cora thinks she’s dying and SAM talks to her? when cora asks SAM if he’s okay being connected to her because if he’s sentient that matters to her (cora is a Good)? SAM explicitly having inherited alec ryder’s sense of humour and sarcasm and alec a) doesn’t know how it happened, b) distantly thinks he should probably track that process down and turn it off (and never does) and c) regrets all his life choices when his robot kid mercilessly snarks at him and questions his life choices? please bioware give me an me:a sequel with more of this stuff I’ll eat it up with a spoon

- body diverse asari! HUGE BUFF ASARI! Short stocky beautiful matriarch asari with one krogan and one turian trophy husband fast asleep in her bed in the background of a vidcall fkdjshfkjsdlhfkjsdah god I love mass effect with my entire heart

- OLD LADY INFORMATION BROKER VOLUS WORKING OUT OF ILLIUM!!!! this is not a drill what the fUCK this is the coolest shit 

- fasdklhfsjkdalfhsdjk okay in Alec Ryder POV: “I don’t think [Cora] likes me very much.” Which probably meant she had good judgement. AFLSKJDHGJSDKF ALEC 

he has a weird flip-flopping sense of self -- he is uncompromisingly (one might even say... astoundingly arrogantly) secure in his own intellectual superiority and that most other people are idiots not to be trusted and that he needs to do things himself because others would mess it up, and yet there’s this clear seam of self loathing around basically everything else about himself too. (You know who he reminds me of, in a more military and less visibly anxious way? Rodney McKay. Alec Ryder is like a slightly unfortunate outcome for a McShep lovechild. I think we just figured out why I have sort of a soft spot for him even though he’s a certifiable dick lol) 

- this book really makes it hit home that cora grew up incredibly isolated and dirt poor. I’ve seen some people say her backstory is all sunshine and daisies compared to kaidan and especially jack’s, but honestly her background is complicated and fucked up enough that I’m just like ‘shit baby :(’ all the time

- well I have successfully solved the puzzle about whether alec ryder is an idealist or not; he absolutely is. a grouchy, bad-tempered one with no people skills, but an idealist nonetheless. alec ryder is in fact a storm of 150000 emotions in a trenchcoat, barely held in check by a thin fragile outer shell of iron lol, SAM was absolutely right to say that he was mostly governed by his feelings. (and I mean if anyone would know it’d be SAM I guess). I found some of it sort of sweet actually: he reflects in passing that one of the biggest reliefs of no longer being in the alliance is that he’ll never have to risk other people’s lives again. he fundamentally wants to build something good to help people live and be happy instead of destroying things. (he also is quite bad at predicting how other people could corrupt and use his innovations precisely to be destructive b/c he doesn’t think that’s the ~*logical*~ thing to do, so... y’know haha, maybe it’s good he went to another galaxy, the milky way could not contain his chaos) 

also he thinks a lot about his wife, even though she’s been dead for years at this point. o u c h (she truly does seem to have been a tether for him in so many ways though -- like a tie to the real world/normalcy/possibly sanity, and that’s a bit how he still evokes her)

additionally: alec ryder did fistfight at the very least one dude in the line of bureaucratic duty, and perhaps more, enough for SAM to have a list of warning signs ready and at hand jdfsklfhasdjf. he did, very much, throw a dude through a table. (at least it’s implied said dude was an asshole) I LOVE that alec’s SAM is  the snarkiest iteration we’ve seen and that he’s perfectly willing to call the old man out on his bullshit (alec stresses that SAM is supposed to do what he says at the end of the day, but his SAM is also less subservient and more willing to argue and discuss things than any other we get to see -- and this is of course the SAM Ryder inherits, but I don’t think SAM is as confident in being able to read the PC correctly until a bit further into the game and the twin is of course a different person who’ll respond to different things so he’s not quite as... blunt? I guess? in confronting them about things. (the whole concept is just! so! interesting!!) anyway I feel like all of this says something about alec’s parenting style, for better or for worse haha. he sort of tries to be authoritarian but his children (well canonically at least Sara, she references having yelled at him a lot over the years) aren’t afraid to fight back or scared of the consequences of disagreeing, so I get the distinct feeling his temper never flared violently like that with his family at all, I think he’s more prone to just pulling away in disapproval.) 

- I enjoy how casually diverse this book is  -- Jemisin has done such a good job making sure especially the human characters are from different backgrounds and places, as they would be lore-wise in the Mass Effect universe, though the games often skew unfortunately white. (andromeda much less so than the trilogy, though)   

- my heart. is so so soft for the fact that a huge reason for cora to join the initiative is how much she bonds with SAM-E. and I am so sad for her because she just wants someone or something who’ll stay, something that won’t disappear on her without closure like her parents; she’s so insecure and scared under her competence (and WHY THE FUCK WOULDN’T SHE BE holy shit her parents just. weren’t there one day after she left home so she wouldn’t accidentally crush their ship with her untrained biotics and kill them all). and she chooses alec and his dream. and then alec goes and FUCKING DIES at the first opportunity Y____________Y alternate universe alec please drink your victor sullivan juice and survive, all these dumb children need you  

- I am so surprised about how much fond respect alec seems to have for cora and how quickly he developed it. I suppose he has a harder time with his own children because it’s closer to home? he is a complicated man lol, this last part of the book where he shows her the ark and everything is weirdly sweet. again I think he has the potential to be a good dad somewhere in there and that just makes it so much worse that he wasn’t. (also he staunchly considers himself still a married man. god help me) 

they’ve both grown to honestly love their sams T________T fml. (well alec has sort of bound up all of himself, the things he loves and their future in SAM, so it’s a bit more complicated but my point still stands) alec advocating for a consensual synthesis is very heartfelt and convincing; you really want to believe him.

cora seen through someone else’s eyes is also SO AMAZING!!! after this whole book in her head and she feels so flailing and uncertain and adrift and other people naturally view her completely differently. I especially like alec picking up on her not talking a lot. (I think this is why she responds so well to SAM, who’ll be there always and can be in her head. I wish this part of cora was more evident in the game, the fact that she has this sibling-like connection to SAM seems very important. sequel where both SAM and Ryder grow closer to becoming her actual family? please? I keep begging for ME:A2 into an empty aching void haha) 

- alec ‘I don’t have time to die’ ryder still talking about everyone else being idiots as he’s slowly catching fire while saving SAM fhdjfhsdlfhasdhlfsjd he is an asshole but it is hard not to stan 

- nO SAM-E D:D:D: oh well at least he’s still alive within SAM, in a way?

- hey. hey you know what’s fun. alec tries to use his last words and last thoughts to ask cora to tell the kids about ellen being alive this time too. haha. ha. fuck

he consistently goes out thinking of his family despite all his bullshit and I’m not okay

- CORA IS A PERFECT BODYGUARD/SECOND IN COMMAND AND I’M EMOTIONAL 

- alec is. surprisingly afraid to hurt people emotionally? he keeps putting off telling cora the bad news about SAM-E, to SAM’s stated disapproval lol (I must repeat again: I love SAM so so much). this supports my thesis that in his personal life he’s avoidant rather than confrontational/aggressive. (professionally... again, he did very much throw a man through a table) 

- man I hope we some day get SAM being this comfortably close and sarcastic with Ryder too. thinking about SAM-E and the small differences between him and uh SAM ‘prime’ it really must have been a huge thing for him too to become someone else, especially after the last person died like that. and he kind of has no choice but to experience that loss and death intimately. (now that I think about it that’s. fucked up, man. he literally felt alec go like it happened to himself.) 

If I were to summarize the differences between the SAMs we have seen, cora’s SAM-E seems younger, more exuberant, shyer and more -- what’s a non-shitty word for needy haha? it’s very firmly established that cora longs to feel needed, so this makes perfect sense. alec’s SAM is blunter, snarkier and more prone to questioning things, and hilariously is sort of alec’s emotional intelligence. (probably serves a similar role to what ellen used to, actually. ow) scott/sara’s SAM feels more worried/focused -- which also makes sense; he’s just experienced losing his person/pathfinder, in a real way he’s also recently orphaned and must be Extremely aware that he now has an enormous responsibility, not only what he was built for but for what remains of alec’s family. ...poor SAM 

(come to think of it I guess one vibe I get from in-game SAM is a little bit of ’harried and anxious yet loving and responsible uncle’ hahaha)

- so at this point alec knew cora could never be pathfinder after him, and he never told her. *accumulation of asshole points continues, though I suspect this might have come from a place of not wanting to hurt her again (b/c he’s the only one who has a right to know these important things amirite)* but I’m also strangely touched that the reason he’s hesitant to involve his children in the whole thing isn’t that he doesn’t have faith in them, it’s that he doesn’t want to burden their lives with something so heavy, a burden he created. can you just imagine... if this man had managed to take the time to explain himself, his motivations and his feelings to his children just once. just one fUCKING time. am I laughing am I crying I honestly don’t know

- this book makes me ache all over for the potential of Andromeda. and I don’t think it’s too late to salvage it either. I know a sequel probably won’t happen, at least not any time soon, but... *sits by rainy window like a wife wistfully wondering if her husband will return from sea*

[lindwur-fr]

Lore writing tips from a writer~

Credentials: I’ve been writing nearly my whole life and took a few Advanced English and Creative Writing courses and currently have three novels I’m aiming to get published this year

(You only have to read the bold highlights if you’re in a rush!)

LET’S PUT THIS BELOW THE CUT cuz it may get long

A few tips to get Lore off the ground when you start out, eh? People may find lore intimidating to get into, so break everything up into manageable chunks. If you have a long history/archive of Lore, make a page for it that breaks up the arcs for easy access. You can write all you want, but if people don’t know where to start, then it’s all for naught

When you write, don’t assume that people know the characters. When you introduce them for the first time, give us a slight breakdown on them. It doesn’t matter if the other characters in the story don’t know them, the reader has to know them if they’re going to be important. Give more than a passing description if they’re going to be speaking a lot. For example, I’ll use Rubrik and introduce him in two ways: One quickly, one how I would do it if it was my own material and novel.

The deep blue Skydancer entered the room, looking about the crowd. He elegantly stepped down onto the main floor, his head tilted backwards as he carried an air of authority about him. This was Rubrik- the Clan’s leader.

Not bad, right? It’s not! But we can make it better with a few little touches

The deep blue Skydancer entered the room, looking about the crowd with the  trained grace that comes with being a Clan’s leader. He stepped elegantly down the stairs, his long, limber body seemingly untouched by his advanced age. The only indication he was the eldest of the Clan were the silver-tipped feathers on the crest of his head. He kept his snout tilted up slightly, carrying an air of authority about him as he strode to the main floor. Everyone knew who this dragon was. He was the Clan’s founder and current leader, Rubrik.

A bit wordier, but it gives a lot more information about this character! You know he’s older, but still spry and able-bodied. He’s graceful, he’s respected, and authoritative. People respect him, but don’t fear him. He’s well-known. All this without saying his name til the very last word! Both examples here work to introduce a character, but one of them gives a bigger breadth of knowledge and better conveys what this dude’s about.

When writing, if you use drafts or even just go back and re-read later, don’t be afraid to regurgitate as many words as you want the first go around. So long as you clean it up afterwards, of course. When you write, the words coming out of your brain are in the moment and will always hold a lot of impact the sooner you get them down on the page. Why do this? It’s because your brain is more involved in thinking up details the first time you play out a scene. Don’t let these details go, because brains tend to forget things. Write a lot if you can, and then clean up afterwards. No shame in over-describing anything in a first draft, because that’s what I like to call the scene in its PUREST form.

If you have trouble thinking up a lore plot, sit back and deconstruct all your dragons and think hard about who they are. There’s no shame in not having a grand, Tolkienesque storyline to tell about your dragons. Every Odyssey needs a laid back coffee shop story to be its foil. Every Noir needs a romance. Every Sci-fi needs a Fantasy. Never be afraid to tell people your stories.

Now to touch on a final point that may spark some controversy- and that is writing about touchy topics that reflect real life problems. This can be things like sexual abuse, physical abuse, manipulation, domestic violence et cetera

When you write about things like this, do it respectfully and with the proper mindset. Any form of abuse or manipulation are inherently bad and shouldn’t be presented as good or beneficial in writing. If your main character does any of this, write them knowing that they are doing something bad. They may not know its bad, but it should be conveyed to the reader that what they’re doing is bad.

With topics that could reach out of their fictional world and upset real life people, convey VERY CLEARLY how you stand on the topic at hand. Yadda yadda “Fiction isn’t reality” but some elements in Fiction ARE reality. That’s a very important distinction. Just because something happens in a Fictional setting, that doesn’t mean it won’t resonate with someone in real life who has gone through a similar event in some way.

And of course, to go along and wrap up this point: If you don’t feel like you can handle writing such a topic, don’t. Nobody’s forcing you to write something you feel like you don’t have the experience, mindset, knowledge, or willpower to write.

Now you may have the question “How do I write about a scary topic when people may have an issue with it? How can people write about war and nobody has an issue with it, but people write about sexual violence or abuse and suddenly everyone has an issue with it?”

I’ll keep this short, but it’s what I personally call the “Disassociation of Absurdity”. Every event that can be written about falls somewhere on a scale of absurdity. The more unlikely it is for a reader to personally experience a written topic, the less likely it is people will be bothered by it.

Racism, sexism, gender inequality, homophobia- all these things are experienced on a daily basis by people. Writing about it must be done with grace, and understanding that these things are very real and inherently bad. Be sure to make this clear!

War, while common in many places in the world, isn’t common in the Western part of the world. We’ve not had a war on our soil in hundreds of years. It’s a bit more common to see grand-scale fantasy wars play out in Western media and writing. So it falls pretty far from reality on the Absurdity scale for us. But it can hit close to home for people who have experienced war in some form or another. Though rare, it could happen. But it’s pretty indisputable that war is bad.

Now for a truly “Absurd” situation to be written about that is seen as catastrophic, maybe the planet starts falling apart. It’s scary, but I highly doubt that anyone would be truly upset by the premise. Nobody’s ever seen a planet falling apart before

Aaanywho, that’s my Lore Writing/Writing Tips in General, hope y’all enjoy~

[bigskydreaming]

I really hate that Kyle’s heyday in the comics happened in the 90s and early 00s when fandom was structured much differently than it is today. Or even than how it was structured back in the days of livejournal, around the mid 2000s or so. He had a ton of fans back when he was the solo Green Lantern and the focus of that franchise and its stories, but so much of comic book fandom wasn’t centralized the way it is now, like....it was hard to ever really find or connect with those other fans. 

And by the time internet fandoms shifted to become more what they are today, Geoff Johns had taken over the GL franchise and brought back Hal, and Kyle got increasingly shuffled off to the sidelines....so most GL fans in comic book fandom are centralized around the franchise-as-centered-around-Hal, and reflect the focuses and dynamics the books have had ever since GL: Rebirth (the original one, not the universe wide Rebirth reboot).

Idk, just bummed that it feels like we missed the window for getting a Kyle Rayner fandom that like...actually focuses on the version of Kyle Rayner I grew up with and prefer. I know I joke about hating Hal and how he’s the worst, like all the time, but tbh, its just 90% bitterness lol. I mean I doubt Hal would ever have been a fave, but if for instance he was the exact same character written the exact same way, just central to a different franchise from the one Kyle’s in....I doubt I’d think twice about him. But as much as I love the GL franchise as a whole, and the concept, and hell, even a lot of the lore Johns added to it in certain aspects of the emotional spectrum concept and GL history....like, I deliberately stay away from modern GL fandom as a whole, because I find the dynamics to be so obnoxiously infantilizing of Kyle and it buuuuuuuuugs.

Like....its the whole Hal Jordan Space Dad concept I really can’t stand? I know its not universal, but its pervasive enough in the comics and in what I’ve seen of fandom that like....ugh. I know that Hal’s the fave of modern GL writers and creators. I know they want to spotlight him and his place in the franchise and have him command the majority of their respect. I just hate that they can’t seem to find any way to do that without throwing Kyle’s entire history under the bus, because whether they like it or not....Kyle’s entire history, not just his character arc, but his character PREMISE, the thing that made Kyle Rayner distinct among all other Green Lanterns, unique in the history of the franchise....the thing that’s so intrinsically central to his character that if you take it away, you literally remove everything that’s unique and distinct about his character and his stories.....is that for most of his history, Kyle Rayner was the ONLY Green Lantern. 

The last Green Lantern. Specifically created to tell the story of a character who is the only one left to carry on the legacy of a corps that once held thousands. Regardless of whether or not you blame Hal Jordan or Parallax-posssessed-Hal-Jordan for the demise of the Green Lantern Corps, the simple fact is Kyle’s entire purpose as a character was to be the guy who was thrust totally unprepared into a role and job that were MEANT to have thousands of people sharing the weight of. He was created specifically to tell the story of what happens with a guy who knows nothing of the weight and history and significance of the role he’s been stuck with....when he has no one left to tell him about all that history and to show him what to do, teach him how to do all the things that thousands of Green Lanterns for thousands of years have had thousands of predecessors to help them learn.

And like yeah, to a certain degree, its inevitable that a guy with that central premise is going to get sidelined or at least diminished in focus if you decide then later to reignite the idea of the franchise holding thousands rather than just him. I get that. Its not really about undervaluing Kyle as just an inevitable consequence of wanting the franchise to return to being about this huge intergalactic community of members. 

But the Hal Jordan Space Dad trope, where the second Hal came back he was re-elevated to the reputation of ‘greatest GL in history’ that all other Green Lanterns (including Kyle) look up to and measure themselves against and learn from and follow his example.....that’s the part that wasn’t necessary, and that’s the part that bugs the craaaaaap out of me. Because again....Kyle’s ENTIRE character is he’s the guy who figured out how to save the whole damn universe, do the work of an entire corps that once held thousands, bring back the Guardians and make it possible for the Corps to be restarted at all....BY HIMSELF. Because there WAS nobody to teach him, nobody to learn from. He was the one and only completely independent Green Lantern, self-reliant by necessity, with no one but he himself responsible for his victories and triumphs and no one to help shoulder the blame for any failures.

And so yeah, when you bring Hal Jordan back front and center and decide that because he’s Hal Jordan, the Greatest Green Lantern to Ever Live, that means that all others, including Kyle, must ultimately defer to his greater wisdom and experience and respect how much they have to learn from him and how much he can teach them.....with Kyle then being written in both comics and fics as though he’s this rough around the edges rookie who needs Hal Jordan Space Dad to come along and help him out of scrapes and teach him valuable life lessons so that one day Kyle can grow up to be the Greatest Green Lantern to Ever Live too maybe....like...umm....its just like....has everyone just completely freaking forgotten about the twenty years worth of stories where Kyle became a fully competent and capable adult hero who routinely saved galaxies all by his own damn self without  someone to hold his hand and show him how its done?

Sigh.

(And yes, it really doesn’t help that as much as DC and most of the GL writers like to forget, Kyle is Latino and if you’re going to make the GL franchise one of the tentpoles of your push to make your universe of characters more inclusive, and create several new GLs who are Middle Eastern like Simon and Latina like Jessica and this new Teen Lantern who’s a character of color and NK Jemisin is now writing a GL story introducing a new black GL and all of that is great and I’m totally here for it....I’m just saying. If it was so important to you that you make the GL franchise specifically a focus of your intent to make more characters of color prominent in one of your most iconic franchises.......maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe its worth reflecting on how it looks that you guys decided that generic white pilot dude Hal Jordan just HAD to be reinstated as front and center and the example all other GLs try and live up to.....including John Stewart, a black man who has been the face of the GL franchise in animated adaptations for about twenty years....and Kyle Rayner, a Latino character who solo headlined your entire GL franchise for twenty years in the comics, doing by himself and without guidance or back up all the things Hal’s now attributed with just by virtue of his reputation as ‘greatest GL to ever live.’)

Anyway, like I said, don’t mind me, I’m just bitter and yup I said it, its true, why lie?

[genesisarclite]

Here’s a meta that’s been drifting in the back of my head for a while, and I’m only just now brave enough to bring it up. You see, it’s a completely unpopular opinion, and I... sort of expect some glares and maybe a torch or two (hopefully the British kind, because ouch otherwise). That being said, I still want to talk about it a little.

Basically, it has to do with Adam’s state of mind by the time MD ends.

Depending on who you ask, Adam is either suffering from severe PTSD and is depressed, is a boring gravelly-voiced protag, or is actually a pretty chill guy who is slow to heal, but otherwise functional, and getting better. I’m in the lattermost camp. Now, keep in mind, the way I perceive the world is colored by a number of things (like with anyone else)... including the fact that I share numerous introverted traits with Adam. Obviously, there’s degrees in between all three of those options, but those are the easiest “extremes” to point toward.

Adam was genetically modified as an infant, and he was too young to remember any of that happening. It’s unknown whether he was a test tube baby or had a Sephiroth-esque conception, but it doesn’t matter, because Michelle Walthers got him out of White Helix as the lone survivor and stuck him with a normal family. We don’t know much about his father, but his mother was definitely not fully stable, and the lore says so. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood, B-average student, yeah, yeah, we know the deal.

Condensing a bit, we also know he was well-liked and got stomped on by his superiors after Mexicantown, though that’s more or less where it stopped. They tried to ruin his reputation, but he managed to get past it, and he was hired at SI. Yes, it was due to a number of things, not the least of which was Megan’s knowledge of his special genes, but he did become Chief of Security at one of the most prestigious and well-respected, multinational biotech firms in the world. It’s no small feat, and no matter what there is to say about Sarif Industries (and there’s a lot), it’s an accomplishment he should arguably be proud of.

Then all the things happened, he was forcibly augmented, his life went to pot, and the world came apart. We know the drill.

When I first played through these games, I agreed with the general consensus that there was something very wrong with him, that he suffered from PTSD, he was self-destructive in a way, and so on. Now, though... well...

HR does present an angry, vengeful man. He isn’t thinking clearly, he’s reacting, which is out of character for him. He calms down a bit over the course of the game, but he’s not firing an all cylinders, so to speak. While we don’t know much about his post-op recovery, we have enough info to suspect it was really bad. A man so immaculately groomed and in control of his life has suddenly had it spiral out of control. His body was violated, and precious things were taken: his autonomy, his dog, his girlfriend, his very appearance. Coming to terms with that when you’ve got no one to turn to and no one who seems to care would be a horrible experience.

More things happen, he’s yet again violated in Facility 451, and he has to struggle to adapt in a post-Incident world.

In MD, it can be easy to take all the information we’ve been given and everything we see in that game to mean he’s sunk lower than before, or is just kind of coasting along. From the melancholy music to the grim atmosphere to the subtleties of his behavior, it paints a depressing picture.

And yet... the more I play the game and the more I examine everything, the picture I get is very different.

Adam is an introvert. That much is blatantly obvious. It’s rather refreshing to see, in fact. Fellow introverts of similar type to him might not see a depressing man-cave in his Prague apartment, but something different. Something warmer, actually: a slow, hesitant, but definite return to normalcy.

For an introvert, any quiet space we can be alone is a sanctuary for us. It is where we can drop our guard and be ourselves. We can sleep half the day away, or get up early and explore the world inside our own heads. We can think, ponder, learn. We can read, watch the telly, play games, stare out the window, create, think, whatever we want. Unless we get visitors (which most introverts would rather not have regularly, thank you very much), we care about what our space is like only insofar as it affects us.

Adam’s space is a little chaotic, but not in a bad way. He has a couple boxes stacked around that he’s set things on, but otherwise, it’s actually rather well put together for the most part. The ambient lighting is soft and calm, facilitating feeling and thought. The layout allows for large amounts of light, but also soft shadows and gentle ambiance when desired. The space is a little big, but easy to fill. He idly tossed things on the coffee table. He has postcards and a hammer just sitting on the floor. His bed is messy and there’s books everywhere. He has a telescope pointed at the sky and nerdy magazines everywhere. He organizes the parts of his life that matter and scatter the rest to the wind. Even the music is more mellow than meloncholy, with a distinct sense of foreboding, but "Safehouse” is not as heartrendingly sad as “Home” was.

Unless the introvert in question is concerned with cleanliness and organization to some degree, you’ll find this is the sort of layout we tend to have. We organize what’s important - our hobbies, our quiet places - and drop the rest wherever it’ll go. Once in a while, we’ll go, “you know, I really should move that”, followed by a mad scramble to clean up, but for the most part, we go on our merry ways. We also tend to be quiet in our homes when we’re alone, because the only company we keep is ourselves. We don’t need to pretend, and even if we feel overjoyed, we probably won’t show it.

Adam’s space feels far more lived-in and cozy than his last apartment. He has computer parts scattered on his desk, alongside clockmaking bits. His bedroom is crammed with stuff, from the shelves to the trash bin. Go into his bathroom, and it’s got a homey touch to it, with too many clothes in the laundry bin and shelves full of stuff. Go into the living area, and it’s a bit messy, but not in a bad way. The kitchen has random foodstuffs everywhere and a box on the counter with more items, like paper towels and cans of food.

But one of the most important details is the mirror in his bedroom. It isn’t hanging up or in an easily-reachable place, but... it’s there.

In HR, Adam was in permanent “angry at the world” mode. Almost everything out of his mouth post-op was snark, and when it wasn’t, it was usually a word away from becoming something savage. He was rarely polite, scowled all the time, and never showed any sense of real happiness. Though he had a few moments of being more optimistic, they were rare. He’d joke around, but not a whole lot. Some of it can be chalked up to Adam not having a totally stable character when HR was written, and other bits to the limitations of the engine, but the fact remains.

In MD, I’m pretty sure I can count the number of times we see him smile (including all DLC) on two hands. He’s still snarky, but he’s not malicious about it. He’s frequently kind and polite - tells it like it is, but tends to couch it in gentler terms. Unless you actively choose to be a jerk, his default behavior is that of conflict avoidance and constant concern about others. While he’s still obviously keeping everyone at arm’s length (frequently a result of subconscious wariness and self-protection, which tends to happen after being hurt or backstabbed too many times over too many years), he’s much more relaxed with his coworkers and wants to trust them. Those eye-shields stayed up almost the entire time in HR, but come down multiple times in MD (and that’s not even getting into TML or ACP). Whoever sees those eyes of his when he voluntarily uncovers them is someone he feels he can trust.

Adam is recovering. It’s slow and still tinged with wariness and distrust, but he is getting better. He is not wallowing in misery, but recovering pieces of himself and normalcy. He snarks quite frequently, but it’s usually appropriate, and he doesn’t (usually) press the matter or insult people anymore. He tries to build bridges, make amends, listen, be kind, and offer help to anyone who needs it. He is shown to be compassionate and isn’t looking to hurt anyone. He can enjoy an evening alone (see the opening of SR) and spare a genuine smile here and there (see Milena, or even the Fixer). Sure, he had to knock back a drink after GARM, but it was more “I need a freaking drink” than “let me wallow in self-pity and depression for a while”. He knew something was coming down the pipe and needed to be ready for it.

Just because he lives alone and isn’t terribly trusting does not mean he’s gotten worse or not improved at all. This is not uncommon for introverts, especially those (speaking from personal experience, and based on testimonies of others with similar personalities) who have been hurt, betrayed, or forgotten too many times over too many years. Eventually, the scars heal, and they are worn as proof of living through the endless fight that is daily life. Adam might have hated his augs before, but he has accepted them as part of himself. He might have thought they were hideous once and couldn’t bear to look at himself, but they’re just kind of there now. He might still be shocked if someone says he’s beautiful, but he’s not going to deny it out of spite or bitterness.

In my personal thought, the most natural and hopeful progression of his story from here on involves the fight to make the best of what’s the come and not give in to the darkness. While he does need a friend, friends, a lover, or all the above to do it best, he’s not broken right now. He’s still anxious, wary, and quiet, but the impression I get is that he does want to get better, and he’s working to do exactly that. Is it hard? Of course it is.

But Adam, despite being quiet and conflict-avoidant, is determined. I daresay he’s even stubborn, to some extent. He seems to have a distinct and complex inner world, and the glimpses of his mind and heart we get are fascinating. He looks scary and like he’ll kill you if you look at him wrong, but he’s actually a kindhearted gentle giant of a man whose first instinct is not to hurt even someone who’s out to hurt him. The face he shows to the world isn’t necessarily his true one.

Adam is scarred up in a lot of ways, but he’s also healing, if slowly. The golden ending of MD shows this relatively well during the final apartment scene. Even in the other endings, he isn’t totally giving in to the darkness. He’s a warrior at heart, and he simply refuses to give up.

And at the end of the day, he goes back to the quiet place he lets so few people into, sheds the skin he puts on for everyone else, and goes quiet, just the way we like.

[wyrdsistersofthedas]

"Forbidden" Lore, “Forgotten” Questions, Part 1

Thesis: The Forbidden Ones and the Forgotten Ones are two distinct groups with different goals and means of pursuing them in ancient Elvhenan.  Although their paths may well have crossed with dramatic consequences, careful readings of the source materials suggest that ancient elves, especially the Evanuris, considered them to be different in purpose and nature.

Premise: The Forbidden Ones are spirits/demons who can take on physical, tangible forms, but who’ve never forgot that they are spirits/demons or chose to present themselves as mortal beings.  They may try “blend in” with the various cultures in Thedas in order to “feed”, but they always knew that they were beings from the Fade.  

Conjecture: The Forgotten Ones were elves who knew that the Evanuris were not gods, but mages whose great power came from the hearts of Titans.  This knowledge led the Forgotten Ones to “dwell” in the Abyss searching for power that would make them the equals of the elvhen gods even while denying their divinity.  Fearing that the elven people would learn the truth and that their power would be undermined, the Evanuris called the Forgotten Ones “dark gods” to explain their power, but eventually waged a war against them that threatened to destroy Elvhenan.  

That’s a lot to parse, but that’s what makes it fun!  This will probably end up being two posts since I can be relied on to overthink the shit out of all this!

“Forbidden” Knowledge

The nature of the Forbidden Ones isn’t really much of a question at this point, given that we have met three of them, but it is worth examining who they are in order to compare and contrast that information with what we know about the Forgotten Ones.  Plus, I get to talk about Imshael.

Michel looked at the man, and at the circle of stones.  “You’re a demon.”

“Spirit,” the man said, smiling broadly.  “Please, call me Imshael.”

....”I’ve heard of things like you,” Michel said, trying to remember the old stories.  “You’re a desire demon.”

“Choice. Spirit.”  Imshael’s smile never wavered.  “Do I look like a desire demon?  Do you want me to strip down and put on something filmy and sheer?”  At Michel’s glare, the demon sighed.  “There are all kinds of spirits, boy.  Spirits of love, and honor, and valor, and justice...”  He waved a hand absently, turning to pace along the edge of the circle.  “And yes, also rage, and hunger, and pride.  We all carry some connection to this world to bring us through the Veil.”  (The Masked Empire, pgs. 225-226) 

Delightful, isn’t he?  The few scenes he’s in are some of the most...flavorful in The Masked Empire.  They are also very informative.  They give us insights into to why even powerful beings, like the Evanuris, thought that Imshael, Gaxkang, Xebenkeck, and the Formless One were dangerous.   Here’s a list of what we’ve seen all or some of them do:

The Forbidden Ones not only fed on complex mortal emotions/behaviors, but they are capable of arranging situations that test the limits of the people they encounter.

They also have knowledge beyond the reach of the average spirit/demon, which they likely gained in part due to their great age, but also because they have abilities no other spirits seem to have mastered (Except perhaps the Evanuris, if Decima’s theory about the origin of the elves proves true).  Some of their “forbidden” knowledge likely includes:

They totally have dirt on the Evanuris.  They appear to have been allies at one time and there’s nothing like former “friends” to know what was going on behind the scenes.

Being so long lived, it is possible that they have knowledge of other major players in Thedas history, especially since Gaxkang and Xebenkeck seem to have been summoned across the Veil hundreds of years ago, possibly in Tevinter and Kirkwall respectively. (Am I the only one who thinks that Tarohne’s declarations about the Maker being a hoax and being Andraste deluded might be linked to Xebenkeck?  Probably.)

The “secrets” of blood magic

Knowledge of the inner workings of the eluvian network and the ability to manipulate eluvians to some degree

How to “cultivate” red lyrium as well as how to “cure” someone infected with it

Knowledge about the Titans and their abilities since they seem to have abandoned their elven allies to “flee where the Earth could not reach”

Their accumulated knowledge has led to them being sought out by various groups and individuals through the ages in order to learn what the Forbidden Ones know, which allows them to them be summoned across the Veil at various times in Thedas’ past.

Their only loyalty seems to be to themselves (although they seem to have some comradery with each other given that Imshael calls out to Gaxkang and Xebenkeck when his ass is being handed to him in battle).

Although they have a preferred manner of fulling their purpose/feeding, they may be able to transform themselves into various types of demons to fight more effectively

They can take on a physical, tangible form without it “sticking” to their spirit essence (unlike Cole)

Let’s focus on this last detail for just a minute longer.  Imshael forms, reforms, and shucks off his body several times over the course of a few days in the Masked Empire, adapting his ‘essence’ to whatever his current situation calls for with no seeming cost to him mentally or physically. Examples:

While he is trapped in the elgan’arla he has shape, but no substance:

The demon left no prints in the grass where he walked.  His black coat was finely tailored, and the buckles of his black boots glittered. (The Masked Empire, pg. 225)

Once the elgan’arla is destroyed, he has shape and substance:

And with a tiny roll of thunder, the light faded, and Imshael stood up.   The grass were he had knelt showed footprints.  (The Masked Empire, pg. 259)

In pure spirit form, he has no shape or substance:

Celene looked at Mihris in disgust.  “Possessed by a demon?”

“Spirit,” Mihris corrected, and then caught herself and chuckled.  When she spoke again, her voice had deepened to that of the man who’d stood in the circle.  “Ah, pity.  You’re a bit more cunning than you look.”.....

Then light flared around Mihris, and she fell to her knees, her staff flickering back to icy white.  For a moment, a smoky shape flickered around Mihris, a haze that clung to her body, and then it was shooting across the room through one of the mirrors on the wall.  (The Masked Empire, pg. 355)

Imshael flicks from a visible, but not tangible, human like form to a corporeal being back to a nebulous spirit as if it was nothing.  And it is likely that all the Forbidden Ones could do the same in the days of Arlathan, given the warning found in the Vir Dirthara.  This is no small feat!  Even special spirits like Cole, Justice, and Wynne’s spirit of Faith can’t do this with such ease.  

These abilities would undoubtedly cause people, even elves living in a pre-Veil Thedas, to be afraid or at least extremely wary.   Felessan, an ancient elf with considerable magical abilities who was a close companion of Fen’Harel, recognizes Imshael immediately and Imshael likewise knows Felassan.  They even seem friendly to a point, but Felessan tells Empress Celene what he believes will happen to their merry band if they antagonize Imshael too much:

“Go after him.  See how that works out for you.”  At Celene’s glare, he sighed.  “If we harassed him, he would see which of us made the most noise when our skin was ripped off.” (The Masked Empire, pg. 260)

Considering Imshael was going off at that very moment to massacre an entire Dalish clan just because they had summoned and annoyed him, Felessan wasn’t exaggerating.  If the other Forbidden Ones had the same abilities, they would have been special snowflakes indeed!

Forbidden Truth?

But for all of this power and knowledge, the Forbidden Ones never do one important thing: They never claim to be gods.  The openly declare themselves to be spirits. Take this passage from World of Thedas 2 in which Imshael...plays with his food while explaining why he thinks “demon” is an unfair word:

Lots of fascinating details in this piece, but some stand out parts for the lore in this meta:  

In Inquisition, The Masked Empire, and this short story, Imshael is obsessive about people getting his purpose and nature right.  Call him a demon and he will always respond that he is a spirit.  It is also worth noting that he refers to himself as “one of the Forbidden Ones.”  Imshael revels in that title, in fact.  If someone were to call him a “Forgotten One” he would almost undoubtedly correct them.  And no one who has met Imshael is going to forget him or get that detail wrong.

In fact no one in Thedas’ long history says that the Forbidden Ones are the Forgotten Ones, save one poor bastard about to head off to his untimely death in Kirkwall.  And even then, Brother Kerowen wasn’t sure what all of the information he and the other members of the Band of Three had uncovered meant.  So he is hardly a reliable source.  We need more codices to figure this out; the older (in Thedas time), the better.

“The first of the magus cast themselves deep in the Fade in search of answers and power, always power. They found the forbidden ones – Xebenkeck, Imshael, Gaxkang the Unbound, and The Formless One. Many conversations were had and much of the fabric of the world revealed. And thus the magic of blood was born.” ―Unknown mage

There is some disagreement in Thedas about the source of blood magic.  This codex claims it was the Forbidden Ones who first taught it, and this certainly would have made them all the more alluring to pre-Tevinter mages.  Others say it was the Old God Dumat and still others say it was elves from Elvhenan who taught humans blood magic.  

Point is, mortals know they can learn blood magic from demons like the Forbidden Ones (“Spi...” Shut it, Imshael!), but they may not have been only source of this information, and if there is one thing people like to do it is conflate similar things together to make them easy to understand.  The Forbidden Ones get associated with blood magic and may have been mixed up with the Old Gods who may also have been lumped in with the Forgotten Ones and thus connected to the Elven Pantheon.  Andrastians would look at the elven gods, Forgotten Ones, Titans, etc. and believe they were all demons.  Think Sera when she encounters anything not Andrastian and you have the right idea.   

The potential nuances and subtle differences between these different groups would be lost on most Chantry scholars who would assume they were all are demons.  It stands to reason that the Band of Three could be thinking along those lines as well. I hope, however, that Vahnel (the Dalish apostate in the group) put up a good argument to the contrary!  Dalish lore has a lot of nuance that suggests these groups were not all just demons. I’m starting to agree with Imshael that demons get blamed for everything and that just isn’t always the case in Thedas.  

(BTW - I personally suspect that the Forbidden Ones, the Old Gods, and elves from Elvhenan all played a role in teaching humanity blood magic.  There undoubtedly was enough shit hitting the fan in the 2000 years between the creation of the Veil and the fall of Arlathan to cause more than a few to turn to want to learn blood magic.  The Chant of Light has some very telling passages that make it seem like lots of people at different times turned to blood magic as a source of power.  I’ll be writing about those passages in Threnodies in one of the asks that lead to this post.  Stay tuned!)

Another interesting detail from Imshael’s story from above is his casual mentions of the Maker. Notice his flippant attitude when he talks to his prisoner about their faith.  He is totally toying with his captive, invoking the Maker in a way that, on the surface, sounds like it could be comforting (demon believing in the Maker and all), but it comes across as mocking and faith shaking.  Not what his prisoner needs right before deciding what choice to follow.  There are not many more world shaking things than for a person of faith to have that belief undermined in a moment of crisis.  Xebenkeck may also have been undermining people’s faith in the Maker.  Seems like a theme with them, although I can’t be sure without more info about Gaxkang and the Formless One.  

Why this may be important, however, is whether or not they pulled this same cynical line with the Evanuris.  Imagine being the Evanuris and having, potentially, four extremely powerful demons suggesting to your worshipers that you may not be divine.  That could get sticky really quick and might provide another way of looking at the public service announcement they posted in the Vir Dirthara.   

Think about it.  The Vir Dirthara is basically the public library of Elvhenan and the Evanuris posted this message there prominently enough that it catches the eye of the Inquisitor some 8,000-ish years later!  And it is such Evanuris propaganda! 

Sure, the Forbidden Ones probably did drop their bodies and hauled ass to the deepest, Fade-iest parts of Fade when the going got tough against the Titans (probably, since they went where “the Earth could not reach” and they were “Forbidden from the Earth that is our right”), but this declaration also has the added bonuses of getting rid of some pesky spirits who had been allies of the Elven gods for who knows how long.  Allies who may well have known that the Evanuris were more akin to the elves worshiping them than not.  

By making Imshael and company the Forbidden Ones, the Evanuris were banishing potential threats to their rule while making their followers more dependant on their gods for “protection”.  Perhaps this suspicion was also part of what twisted the Forbidden Ones from their purpose, “perverting” them as Solas would say, and made them appear more demon-y than they may have been before.  Pure speculation, of course, but fun speculation!  

The Forbidden Ones’ banishment from the lands of the Evanuris may also have had the ironic side effect of making them damn near immortal...even for beings that are already basically immortal!  If our lore mining and speculations in the Death in the Fade meta is valid, then it is possible that the Forbidden Ones will be back some day.  If enough humans, elves, qunari, etc. know who the Forbidden Ones are and actively seek them out, then they may reform or be reinvented by other spirits.  (Read that meta if you want to know how it may work.)  

Who knows how many people in Thedas still know who the Forbidden Ones are.  And who knows how many Fell Grimoires still exist to ensure their story endures.  The Evanuris may have given the Forgotten Ones such infamy that they will endure as long as future generations of desperate or despotic Thedosians seek them out in the deepest parts of the Fade.   (“Nothing like labeling something as “Forbidden” to make it all the more irresistible, eh.”)

One final note before we wrap this thing up.  Demons generally don’t do a good job of disguising their nature in the unchanging, physical world.  They can’t.  Their fixation on whatever feeling draws them across the Veil and the difficulty average spirits would have maintaining their forms in the unchanging world means that they typically have to rely on tricks, illusions, or possessing people to hide that they are spirits.  And yet someone as marginally schooled in arcane lore as Michel de Chevin recognized Imshael as a demon (“For the last time: Choice.  Spirit!’) within moments of their meeting, likely because of his Chantry upbringing along with stories from his elven mother.  

If Michel can’t be fooled, how in the Void are elves, especially ancient elves who lived side by side with spirits, going to mistake the Forgotten Ones for gods on par with the Evanuris if they really are spirits like the Forbidden Ones?  (“There, Imshael, are ya happy?!”)  It seems unlikely that they would!  

The Forgotten Ones are something else.

----------------

And yup!  I need to break this post in half, dear followers.  Y’all deserve a break.  Worried about missing Part 2 since we have anything BUT a regular posting schedule here at the Wyrd Sisters?  Please follow us and get our notifications.  You won’t be spammed.  We promise!

Thanks for reading!

-MM

PS - $5 says that Solas was carefully hiding his “true” nature from Imshael in this scene.  If Imshael recognized Felessan after thousands of years, he surely would have known who the Dread Wolf was.  I wonder if Solas’ line here is also a subtle dig at Imshael and company abandoning the Evanuris during a crisis.  I’ve never allowed Imshael to walk away from this encounter, but if I ever do, it will be because I want to see if Solas does about our Choice Spirit.   PSS - 

“They felt no need to rush when life was endless. They worshiped their gods for months at a time. Decisions came after decades of debate, and an introduction could last for years. From time to time, our ancestors would drift into centuries-long slumber, but this was not death, for we know they wandered the Fade in dreams.” (Codex Entry: Arlathan, Part One)

I can just imagine Imshael reading this codex in a monotone with a “blah, blah, blah...boring!” at the end.  Banishment was probably the best thing the Evanuris could have done for the Forbidden Ones, and Imshael in particular.  The elves who sought him out after the ban would have been motivated to make their choices far more efficiently than was the elvhen norm.  Shit.  I need to go read some Imshael fanfiction now.  

“Forbidden” Thoughts (Part ½)

“Forbidden” Lore, “Forgotten” Questions (Part 1)

“Forbidden” Lore, “Forgotten” Questions (Part 2)

[edenfindley-blog]

Year 1: Chapter 2

Kenna woke up in the same bed; same rotting posts, same stiff mattress, same dirty sheets, same torn quilted blanket. The girl above her was sleeping soundly, the mattress sagging slightly under her weight. The rest of the girls in the room were no different, each of them younger than the one before. The sky was still dark outside the dusty window. Kenna rubbed her eyes and stepped with a bare foot onto the splintering wood floor. She quickly got dressed and began to head for the door before she noticed the paper attached to it.

Kenna walked across the room, making sure to keep her steps quiet as to avoid waking the other girls.

One foot after another, she made her way to the door. The writing on the paper became more visible with each step through the darkness. Once her face was inches away she could read the first line of writing, beautifully written as if it had been written millions of times before to be perfected.

Kenna Walthorn,

The girl's eyes lit up with fires being fueled by hope as she grabbed at the letter with greedy hands. Her pointer finger had merely grazed the surface when the paper disappeared, a loud pop sounded through the dusty room. The girls who still slept soundly stirred for a moment before lying peacefully once again.

Kenna heaved a sigh of relief before beginning to panic. Her grey eyes darted around the dark room, searching for that letter. The letter that was addressed to her. This had never happened before and it was so important to her. This was Kenna’s letter. She had to find it.

As the witch searched, she heard a sound, almost like small bells, from outside her sleeping quarters. It was against the rules to leave her room until the sun had fully risen. With shaking hands Kenna grasped the door’s handle. One wrong move and she would be scrubbing toiletries for days, maybe weeks. Even worse, she could get kicked out of the orphanage and be left without a home.

She stood and considered, asking herself if this letter was worth the trouble. The bells sounded again. Kenna stared down at her hands which were still shaking. Without her moving, the knob twisted and the door flew open, throwing Kenna back onto the floor and waking the other girls.

In the doorway stood the tall crooked figure of Lady Caterina. She wore a midnight blue victorian style dress with heels much too small for her feet. Her dark hair was tied up into a tight bun. In her long bony fingers she held the letter addressed to Kenna.

Her dark lips curled into a sneer as she proclaimed, “I found this lying at the bottom of the stairs on my way to my office this morning.”

Kenna watched the paper with baited breath.

“I read through it. Nothing important. Just a letter from a school to a ‘Kenna Walthorn’.”

“That’s my letter,” Kenna muttered.

Lady Caterina turned her pointy nose from the letter to the girl. Her smile grew until her teeth were visible, all of them tinted yellow and crooked.

“Is that so?” Her voice was eerie, seeming to grow after every word. “Well,” a spark in her hand turned to flame. “Isn’t that... interesting.”

The wretched woman dangled the letter above the fire, her fingers hanging on ever so loosely.

“Please, Caterina-”

“You will address me as Lady Caterina! Or should I just drop this and let it’s ashes stain the floorboards.”

Tears began to form behind Kenna’s eyes and her face became hot as the girls who still sat in there beds silently stared. It had been fifteen years. She had to deal with this woman, this monster, for far too long. Kenna threw herself at Lady Caterina, grasping onto the hand holding the letter. Lady Caterina being a foot taller only stumbled back a bit. Kenna, realizing how little effect she had, began to panic. She hadn’t thought out exactly what she would do.

Lady Caterina smirked, wrapping her burning fingers around Kenna’s wrist. The girl screamed and leapt back, clutching her arm and crouching down on the ground. The woman closed her hand, extinguishing the flame. She knelt down next to the now crying girl.

“Best get some water. We wouldn't want that burn to scar, now would we?”

She snapped her fingers, letting a small spark hit the letter and lighting it on fire. She set the burning paper on a stone block in the corner of the room and left, closing the door behind her.

One of the girls, an eighteen year old Kitchen Witch named Elizabeth, hopped down from her bed and quickly put out the fire. She then ran over to Kenna and summoned water with Elementalist Magick. Elizabeth removed Kenna’s hand and placed a ring of water around her wrist. She snapped at one of the younger girls to hand her the letter.

“I tried to save it. A few words may be missing but hopefully not too many,” Elizabeth explained solemnly with an accent that resembled one of an Easterner.

Kenna looked up at her. She was beautiful; dark skinned with bright orange hair styled in curls, big brown eyes with a small upturned nose and thin lips, dimples and wrinkles next to her eyes from smiling. She wore a long navy blue nightgown and a large blue necklace. Her eyes were focused on the water as her small dainty hands held it in place.

“Is something wrong?” Elizabeth asked, noticing her stare.

“N-no. It’s just… Why are you being nice to me? Why now?” Kenna stammered, taking the letter.

Elizabeth grabbed a bucket that was usually used for vomit when a child was sick. She filled it with water, dunked the girl’s hand in it, and said, “Lady Caterina is usually mean to you but she never hurts you. Not like this at least. Besides, if Lady Caterina found out I was helping you, I would never hear the end of it. But these girls in here swore not to say a word… this time.”

“Oh… Well thank you for helping, I guess.”

Elizabeth smiled. She stood and began to get ready along with the others. Kenna turned toward the window. The sun was beginning to rise which meant they had to be downstairs for breakfast soon. The fifteen year old looked down at the letter, a corner of it burnt off completely. She sighed, folded the parchment, and shoved it into a pocket in her robes.

Kenna held the door open for Elizabeth who now wore a red and cream dress with maroon flats and the same necklace. Her curly hair was tied back into a ponytail. She left the room without even looking at Kenna.

---

Kenna sat silently in the library, her favorite books lazily sprawled upon the table’s surface. Kenna held the folded paper in her left hand, a cold wet washcloth over the right. She was nervous to read this letter without reason which made no sense to her and that made her angry at the letter. It had caused her so much trouble and she wouldn’t even be able to read every word of it. Kenna put the letter down on the table with the washcloth and walked around the small library.

Not very many children visited the library during free time. They would mostly just play around within the building or out in the yard. It was always quiet enough to hear the wind flowing through the doorway. There seemed to be really no use of the library other than to harbor dust.

The library itself was very small. There were only two tables, each big enough to hold about two and a half piles of books. The chairs could barely even hold one person let alone a pile of books. There were only three bookshelves which were each four feet tall. There was a matted rug that was either covered in mold or actually that color. It didn't help that holes could be found all over it. The room didn’t have a distinct smell, or anything distinct for that matter. It was completely and utterly bland.

Kenna looked back at the table. The letter seemed to pulse with an urgency. She forced her gaze away from it and to the door where a shadow had appeared. A young boy popped his head in, looking around in confusion. He had small brown eyes (one slightly more closed than the other), light skin, and dirty blonde hair.

“This isn’t the washroom,” said the boy.

“No, it’s not,” Kenna affirmed bluntly.

“My mistake.”

And with that, he was gone. That was the kind of attention the library was graced with, lost people.

Kenna sat back in her chair, staring at the books that she had selected. They were just stories, witch lore, history, etc. None were very interesting yet she still chose them. She just needed a distraction from that damned letter. Kenna rubbed her eyes and groaned out of frustration.

Finally, she slammed her slender hand down on top of the letter and dragged it across the table (which wasn't very far) so that it sat right in front of her. Kenna just stared. That's all she had the courage to do; stare at the folded piece of paper that was either absolutely useless or could change her world with a few simple words. She held the letter in front of her face and after what seemed to be forever, she unfolded the letter and began to read it.

Kenna Walthorn,

We are delighted to inform you that you are required to join the Iverness School of Witches. This school teaches witches ages 15-23 in combat skills for protection during a full moon as well as Magick.

You will be in the first year class and will receive your books upon arrival, which is required to be at least one week prior to the first day (September 9th). You will also be required to fill out a form stating which Magick you will major in. This will affect your schedule as well as the classes you will attend.

There is no uniform but you will be staying in a dorm with at least one other person. You will be expected to be respectful to your dorm-mates as well as your living space and they will be expected the same.

A passel of carriages will arrive a week prior to the first day at your address if transportation of the sort is necessary. It will pick up a few more witches befor                    school so it will be a bit crowded. There will be elder witches going wi                                      you should arrive at the school with no problem.

Once again, we are delighted  

  Sincerely,

      Professor Sutton

Kenna heaved a sigh, realizing she was holding her breath as she read. Her heart rate quickened as she read through it again. She could leave. She could go to school and never come back. Kenna quickly shoved the books back into their shelves and the letter into her robes then ran out into the hallway. The boy from earlier was on his way outside.

“Hey!”

The boy jumped, turning to face her.

“What day is it?”

“It’s Sep-September f-first,” He stuttered.

“Okay. Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome?”

Kenna ran up the stairs and began packing up everything she had (which wasn’t much). Once packed, she hid everything under her bed in fear of Lady Caterina figuring out what was to happen. She knew others went to the school, but Lady Caterina was kinder to others.

After everything was in place, Kenna created a spectacular plan. She was to run after the school year had ended; to the mountains in the north opposite from their little beachside colony. Caterina would never find her there. She would be free. The witch’s mind was buzzing at the opportunity presented to her.

As she sat in her room silently, her stormy gaze drifted to the rain outside her window. She always found this type of weather quite calming. Kenna didn’t have a reason, it just was. It was just as much as the fact that she breathed air to stay alive. It was just as the fact that she herself was Kenna. Her mind stepped back at that last thought. There was always the possibility that she was not Kenna. She could be someone else but never know due to her parents not being around. She could have been the daughter of a leader, or a human who fell in love with a witch, or something special… but it was more likely that she was just a witch. Nothing special, just a witch that disappears when she’s scared. A cowardly witch. She dismissed the thought and left the room.

---

Smoke hampered Kenna's senses immediately after her eyes opened. Heat coming from the first floor was scalding and the door was open. She looked quickly around her room and noticed only one person was missing. Everyone else was sitting on their beds, shaking.

“What is going on?!” Kenna yelled at the girls.

One of the climbed down from their bed to where Kenna was sitting. “I think a fire started. Elizabeth told us to stay here until it cleared.”

“Where is she?”

“She went to put out the fire.”

As if on cue, Elizabeth appeared in the doorway, soot covering her face and dress as she pressed a cloth to her mouth and nose. She screamed through the cloth, “We need to evacuate! The fire is getting too big and if we don't leave now we'll all be incinerated!”

She ran to another room to get the younger witchlings and together Kenna and her roommates scurried down the stairs. The fire was bright as it devoured the hall, the heat causing it be blinding. The door was open and there were about fifteen witches standing in the yard, staring in terror at the orphanage was enveloped in pure flame.

It wasn't long until the yard was filled with witches. Though it was still late, no one bothered to conjure light. The orphanage was ablaze, every face in that yard was visible. Every face silent, every face crying.

In the distance carriages could be heard filled with witches ready to put out the fire, their wheels rolling along the gravel at a quick pace. A few yards behind them was another group of carriages, moving not nearly as quickly as the ones ahead. Elizabeth must have noticed them as well because she abandoned the orphanage and made her way quickly to the one leading the group. She spoke to someone in the backseat then hopped into the second car.

A few moments passed and a short, thin, bald man wearing auburn robes stepped clumsily out of the first carriage’s back seat. He walked up to the crowd of witchlings, ignoring the witches attempting to put out the fire, and took a folded paper out of his robes.

“Ex… Excuse me!”

Everyone in the yard turned to face him and he seemed to be getting increasingly nervous with every turn of a head.

“My…” he cleared his throat, “my name is Simon Weaver. I am a personal assistant of the headmaster at the Iverness School of Magick and Self Defense.” He paused and examined the scene in front of him. “I see I have appeared at a rather… inappropriate time. But nonetheless, here in my hand is a list of students that will be attending Iverness School. When I call your name, please make your way to our selection of carriages.”

One by one, the population of the yard decreased. Kenna was only able to focus on how deep Mr. Weaver’s voice was comparing to his his appearance. It was rather odd and a bit uncomfortable to witness. Kenna did expect her name to come up but was surprised nonetheless. She tried to find a spot with Elizabeth so they could talk on the way over. Once everyone was settled, they driver began to take us away from the orphanage, still blazing through the night.

---

It had been a few hours  since they left the orphanage. Elizabeth had been staring quietly out of the window while Kenna drifted in and out of sleep.

Finally Kenna spoke, “Uh… hi, Elizabeth.”

“Hello.” Her glance never broke from the outside world.

“Are you excited?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“For school, I mean.”

“You’re a first year. I forgot. After a few years of going it couldn’t get less exciting.”

“Oh.”

They sat quietly together for a few more moments. Then a thought crossed Kenna’s mind.

“Where was Lady Caterina? I didn’t see her in the yard.”

For the first time all night, Elizabeth looked away from the window and to her hands. Her bright orange hair fell in front of her face and she began to fidget with it.

“She… She perished in the fire.”

“I see…”

After that, not a single word was uttered until they arrived at the school.