#kazimierz major

[backstrokeofthewest]

They fucking de-yassified mob

[i-am-a-reunion-soldier]

ok, I think I've finally read enough Kazimierz knight fics to understand what it's talking about and not get confused

sorry to everyone who knows that the radiant knight and the candle knight are two different knights, I will not make such a heinous mistake again

[bobbile-blog]

Okay so I've finally gotten to Jessicalter's Oprec and now feel qualified to talk about Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures. holy shit. This went straight into my list of top Arknights events. Fantastic event, spoilers will be under the cut so I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading the event first. It's really good and worth your while.

Anyway, what follows is a scattered mess of thoughts about this event and things that stuck out to me.

First off, plot stuff! I'll probably cover this when I do my next plotline recap post, but what I took away from the end is that Clip Cliff seems to want to make Blacksteel independent, or at least more self-determining than it is now. He seems to be gathering resources and assets like mobile city plates and investing in long-term infrastructure like merc training, so he definitely has a long game he's pushing for. I don't think we know enough go speculate about his goals, but we'll definitely be coming back here again. After all, Tila has an infection monitor in her art, which probably means she's going to be playable at some point in the future.

Next, having looked into this a little on my own, I was interested in some of the previous places Raythean has shown up. Specifically, the ones that stood out were the drones in the Kazimierz Major and arming Silverash's forces in Kjerag, which might be referring to the Tschäggättä. It's not just notable for their apparent level of technology, but also as a faint connecting thread between three separate capitalism plotlines. I don't know if that's going to be meaningful in the future, but I found it interesting enough that I thought I'd bring it up.

Now on to more narrative things. While I love Liskarm and Franka, I do think it was the right choice to give them less screen time in this event. They're both (for the most part) fully-realized characters who understand their own motivations and morals. This is above all else an event about Jessica learning to stand on her own as an adult, so it makes sense that they're more here to support her than they are to play their own roles in the story.

Speaking of said roles, I liked the event's commentary on cops. It pointed out an interesting distinction that I wouldn't really have ever thought of, that between mercenaries and cops. To start: cops exist to protect property, not people. The police exist to protect things and do not have an obligation to err on the side of people over things, and in fact are supposed to do the opposite. This event understands that, and that role os the core of how the bank treats the Blacksteel mercs. CV, however, raises an interesting point that mercenaries are bound by the letter of a contract and not the larger obligation to property cops are, so they can actually raise moral objections and point to their contracts, sort of a Lawful Evil/Lawful Neutral to cops' Neutral Evil. The independence of their position with respect to cops allows for more of an independent morality than you'd get in a cop story and I like that, I think it's a really smart direction to take your writing in.

On a (mostly) separate note, holy shit Arknights is really good at writing cowboy stories. Between this and chapter 9 (and I would argue An Obscure Wanderer), Arknights has repeatedly made it clear that they Do Not Fuck Around with their cowboy stories and I'm surprised I haven't heard more people talking about it. It kinda has everything:

- It takes place in a rural, working-class setting undergoing a larger imminent societal shift that can inform the larger narrative, and deals with a semi-mythologized past that is rapidly disappearing.

- It has a protagonist and an antagonist that serve as foils, both very heavily affected and defined by the (same) violence in their past that they've both had different reactions to. Our protagonist has come to terms with the violence as a tool to maintain order, while our antagonist has used it for personal gain and in some ways lost control of it.

- It's a story about community, and heavily emphasizes local and personal community over larger artificial corporate "community". That's my reading of the recurring motif of the cold btw, warmth represents the close, personal community Davistown used to have and the cold that now pervades it comes from how the bank has systematically dismantled that community.

- And, I'd argue most importantly, it understands the narrative power of a bullet. The Showdown at the end of a cowboy story is powerful because we've spent the entire runtime of our story with these characters, and they are now facing each other down with the intent to end one of their collective two stories. The entire weight of the narrative so far comes to rest on a single moment of tension. It's really hard to gather up the kind of narrative momentum you need to make that hit like it does in CV. For example, it requires a really light hand with actual action in the story, so that it really does feel like it's an even standoff between our protagonist and antagonist. On the other hand, though, you do actually have to establish the relative skill of both parties and actually sell the danger of the moment to the audience. It's really hard to toe the line between tension and actual action in a way that makes for a satisfying resolution, and CV does it extremely well.

Honestly, Arknights just seems really good at getting the vibes of American media right. This is something I noticed in DV and Lonetrail too, and I haven't really been able to put my finger on what it is about them, but the vibes are just really on-point. I want to write more about this at a later point once I actually figure out what it is that I'm feeling, but maybe it's the setting, maybe it's the cast, maybe it's the plot points, maybe it's something in between — it just seems to understand the spirit of period cowboy stories in a way that I can't describe. Good shit.

Finally, I wanna end this with where Jessica is now. The events of CV take place In between the events of Loneterail and Ideal City, so the current "now" of the story is a few months ahead. Jessica left for the frontier along with Woody, Helena, and Miles. They live together in a small new settlement, building the place from the ground up with Woody and Jessica acting as town sherrifs. At the point we're at now, rhe town is fairly well-established and Woody has temporarily left on other business, leaving Jessica the sole sherrif of their new settlement. However, she's risen to her new station, and is growing into a stronger person than she ever was before.

[cerastes]

You think doctor fucks?

Yes, but only through either unexpected situations leading to it or with an outcome that isn't exactly what was intended:

Lucian, Blood Diamond: It was actually during a Hana-Barbera-esque chase sequence during a spell of time in which Doctor was separated from the Operator team, in which Doctor escapes the brainwashed Lucian through many doors in the same hallway while many unexpected cameos also appear from the doors. It gave Doctor precious time for Shalem to find them and hit Lucian over the head with a brick in a sock.

Theresa: It sucked ass because they are both bad at sex so they awkwardly chuckled about it and spent the rest of the night playing Mario Kart 64 instead (they had a great time!)

Platinum: Platinum sucks at sex and wanted training for her upcoming title match with Blemishine for the Bedroom Heavyweight Title, so she asked her bestie the Doctor. Unfortunately, they are also terrible at sex so it was just a bunch of Ed Edd and Eddy sounds. Blemishine (who fucks like a champ) then took on Platinum and nearly died from how bad she is.

SilverAsh: I'll keep it real with you, SilverAsh isn't bad at this, but he's way way too extravagant, pulling out ivory toys with inlaid sapphires, gilded gimp masks, extremely expensive Originium-byproduct wax extracted from the highest peak of Kjerag, like man sometimes you just want a hamburger quickie, not the filet mignon coitus and this guy just doesn't get that, plus he magically transforms into a needy pillow princess halfway through, very high maintenance.

Mlynar: The System of a Down of sex. Mid-doggy style, this guy stopped moaning in G major, started talking about the rising price of gas and how Kazimierz has been complicit in innumerable crimes against not only its people, but against others as well, then he kept moaning. Probably the best Doctor has had.

Gavial: Snu Snu with a skilled healer is one hell of a drug, but actually this all just started because they were watching caber toss videos together and Gavial was like "yo I could throw you like that EASILY" and Doc was like "BET" and you don't need me to tell you what happens between two people when they do caber toss together.

Skadi: Snu Snu with no healer nearby is NOT recommended. The closest call Doctor has had. Rhodes Island lost two entire factories and one dorm complex. The cost in LMD was in the millions.

Theresis: It sucked ass because they are both bad at sex so they awkwardly averted their eyes and spent the rest of the night playing Mario Kart 64 instead (they hated every second of it because Theresis can't even beat 50cc CPUs and he kept bitching about it)

[dlartistanon]

that degenbrecher/viviana art you rb'd got me wondering what would happen if she tried to seduce margaret (since nearl seems irresistible to kazimierz women)

Degenbrecher isn't from Kazimierz, she's originally from Leithanien. So I don't think much would happen... but according to my DegeNearl Rivalmance, there is an inherent homoeroticism.

Degen has made it clear that she doesn't really like the kind of people Nearl is--

Nearl is one of the most idealistic characters to exist. Degen doesn't know what to do with ideals.

Mild spoilers: Degen also has a voiceline about Nearl. Here's a messy translation:

"I've met the Radiant Knight. No, there's no need to arrange a match with her for me. There's no point. To fight her at full strength, the time, place, and general situation must be right. At that moment, victory or defeat between us would mean life or death. But that moment doesn't belong to me."

Sounds kinda dramatic, doesn't it? It also sounds vaguely like praise. Degenbrecher is strong enough that the vast majority of fights to her are boring. They don't pose any challenge. She doesn't really have fun. To Degen, the only way for a fight with Nearl to have any meaning is for both of them to fight to death.

To me, it sounds like she's hyping it up/romanticizing this fight, for no real reason. That the "reality" of this hypothetical destined duel is far less intriguing than the picture in her head. Almost like a daydream or a fantasy. Someone asks her if she'd like to fight Nearl and Degen gives a long-winded response as to "no". To her, the stars have to be aligned.

[shuttershocky]

I hope it's not much to ask but could you give me some details and the story about shining?

Like I understand she met Nearl and Liz and she was once part of a faction in Kazdel but I also heard that she has some kinda sword ability or something. What is her full story?

To put it simply, Shining was once a member of the Confessarii, a Sarkaz society with great arcane knowledge and wielders of Arts over life and death.

Shining was disgusted when the Confessarii conducted an experiment where they implanted a new mind into someone's body, who ended up being Liz aka Nightingale, and decided to leave them.

Taking Liz with her, Shining wandered out of Kazdel until she came across Margaret Nearl, the champion gladiator of the Kazimierz Major. Despite her victory at the Major and legendary status in her city, Nearl was sentenced to exile from Kazimierz over accusations that she was an Infected, and was essentially left to die in the wilderness.

The three formed a band of wandering healers for the Infected that called themselves The Followers, which is how they eventually ended up in Rhodes Island as medics.

As for her sword, inside her files there's a statement from an anonymous Rhodes Island operator that Shining is the strongest swordsman that they have ever seen (one big statement when Rhodes Island is home to some real freaks of nature), but the act of drawing a sword appears to disgust her. This operator claimed that Shining drew her sword to save them when they fell to an ambush and watched her wipe out an entire platoon in a single flash of light.

Shining claims that this operator was hallucinating while being healed by her arts, but in Near Light her simple presence causes an assassin to rethink their threats, cowed by the raw power they could sense from her.

Shining's little brother is the current leader of the Confessarii and is the Confessarius always seen being the personal advisor to Theresis, which means family drama is sure to result in future chapters.

[her-reidiance]

Okay but

Cora and Viviana. Underrated as fuck. Like, it's MariZofi levels of delicious to me. One of them an older woman who helped take care of the other, younger woman. Both of them have a bit of that dreams cut short flair to it with Zofia being career-endingly injured, and Cora becoming blinded during the fall of the Witch King. When Margaret gets exiled it's Zofia picking up the pieces for Maria, and when Viviana is covertly whisked away for her safety, it's Cora who has to take her away from her home.

Both Maria and Viviana grew up with some naive ideals about knights and what it meant to live up to that chivalric ideal, reading stories about them, later competing in the Kazimierz Major and seeing what their ideals are treated like in the really real world. I mean, fuck, they both grew up reading The Last Knight in their youths.

While Zofia gets to bask in the light of what Maria has become, and watches her exceed her expectations, Cora dies in darkness, unable to even see the face of the woman she loves. Only getting to feel her embrace when Viviana strikes her down.

[waheelawhisperer]

Nearl (giving an Inspiring Protagonist Speech after winning the 24th Kazimierz Major): My countrymen, I call upon you to remember your honor and the honor of our nation! Remember the codes of chivalry and the knightly tradition Kazimierz was built on! Look deep within yourselves, deep within your hearts, and find the courage to condemn greed, to cast off the avarice that binds you in chains of silk and gold, and work with me to build a brighter Kazimierz!

Me (sitting with the leading officials of the Kazimierz General Chamber of Commerce): Y'all best listen to her and "remember" your honor, or I'm fixin' to "remember" how many of my operators cut their teeth on wetwork before I hired them.

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

Nearl (bursting into my office, visibly excited): Doctor, did you see the news!? Several of the most notoriously corrupt members of the General Chamber have resigned from their positions and pledged to donate their wealth to charity, and Mr. Malkiewicz has sponsored new legislation to fight discrimination and improve living and working conditions for the Infected of Kazimierz! Isn't this wonderful?

Me (trying to close the drawer on my desk containing several bloody Kuranta knucklebones and a flirtatious note from Schwarz as quietly and unobtrusively as possible): I saw, Margaret. That's great news. They must've been inspired by your example.

Nearl: I never thought I could do so much to help my people. It's all thanks to you, Doctor. I never would've made it this far without you.

Me (hoping Nearl does not check the mission logs and figure out where Schwarz, Phantom, Gravel, Platinum, Ascalon, and Lappland have been for the past few days): It's all you, honey. You're doing great. Keep up the good work.

[meeblo]

Arknights Intermezzi

I hope I'm not the only one, but I haven't the slightest idea what makes an event and intermezzi rather than a side story.

At first, I had it explained to me that intermezzis have more main story relevance while side stories do not. And for Darknights Memoir and A Walk in the Dust, you could argue this holds true. But then comes Under Tides and Stultifera Navis, which are as far as we currently know entirely unrelated to the main story, unless act 3 decides to take a hard left turn towards Iberia. Ok then, maybe Intermezzis are for the longer, more complicated storylines in addition to main story relevant events. Nope, that doesn't fit either. The Kazimierz events and the Sui sibling events are just as complex and lengthy of a multi-event plotline as the Abyssal Hunters', but they are all side stories (and vignettes).

The biggest point of confusion for me was seeing What the Firelight Casts placed as a side story rather than an intermezzi. It directly fits into the main story, bridging the Dublinn plotlines of episode 9 and 10 with what is to come in the future of the main story and directly continuing Reed's character arc in episode 9. Nope, side story. Clearly, being an Intermezzi has nothing to do with main story relevance.

Could it be production value? Can't be that either, as events like Il Siracusano are side stories.

So, what is the common factor? As stupid as it sounds, I think I've figured out the only thing it can be.

Intermezzi are events where Kal'tsit plays a major role. That's it, that's the only common thread I could find. Kal'tsit is in Darknights Memoir, central to A Walk in the Dust, appears briefly but in an important role in Under Tides, and is important to Stultifera Navis. There are some side stories in which Kal'tsit appears, but not for more than a scene at a time.

I've heard Lone Trail will be an intermezzi. I have no idea if Kal'tsit shows up there. If she does, then that strengthens my theory. If she doesn't, then I'm just as lost as always.

[slamamanderb]

I think that part of the reason I'm so drawn to Maria Nearl is because of how she recognizes that she's happiest as a background character. We get so many stories about Special People who do Heroic Things and spread Justice for all. And Maria could be that person - just look at how well she did in her first Major with minimal training and near-nonexistent backing! But after tasting the triumph and the fame of a tremendous tournament run, she chooses to put herself first and concede the spotlight.

She was born with all of the makings of a Main Character; a strong sense of justice, oodles of tenacity, legendary lineage, powerful arts, orphaned at a young age, strong and reliable older sister who was forcibly separated, capable but contrasting aunt/uncle mentor figures, yada yada yada. These are things that set up perfectly her role in the Kazimierz arc, where she is cast as the familiar gifted youngster with a good heart who succeeds against all odds.

I don't think it would have been at all out of place if Near Light had ended with Maria triumphing over the Blood Knight. After Margaret swooped in to save the day in a rigged match, the writers could have invoked the Bond of Sisterhood and had Margaret coach Maria to victory with the wisdom she gained in her exile. But that's not what happened. Maria, who earned her spot in the tournament with blood and sweat, hands her place to Margaret as if it's the most natural thing in the world to do. Because to her, I think that it is. She never entered the tournament for Blemishine to win. She entered the tournament so that House Nearl wouldn't lose it's status for not having a Knight Primus. So when Magaret shows up to set that right, the problem is fixed as far as Maria is concerned.

It's not about whether or not she is a good knight. She is! [and anyone who says otherwise can fight me!] It isn't about whether or not she prefers the workshop to the training field either. It's about turning herself into the right tool for the job, and finding satisfaction in being a bulwark of support for her beliefs. A common thread in her story is about how her ideals are somehow weak and lesser because they are inspired by someone else. But to me, that's fundamentally wrong!

The idea that she couldn't sweep her first Major with nearly no training because she didn't "believe" strongly enough is absurd. You don't have to come up with an idea to believe in it yourself. You don't have to stand front and center in the court of public opinion for your actions to have any weight. Helping the Main Character is sometimes more important for getting the job done than trying to be another one yourself. And Maria has plenty of ways that she's uniquely capable of supporting Margaret. At the end of her op rec, she very specifically separates her literal smithing skills from a more general conviction; that she would forge any "tools" to open up "a way" for Margaret.

To me, it's the story of the talented little sister in the background that is more enchanting than the unstoppable big sister in the center of the stage.  It just tickles my brain in such a way that I can't stop rooting for her.

Happy Birthday Maria :)

From the end of her Op Rec: https://arknights.fandom.com/wiki/Blemishine/Operator_Record

Blemishine:

"I don't need the spotlight shone on me. If she [Margaret] can carry the equipment I've cast for her to stand in that light, that's enough for me."

"If she wants a sword, then I'll forge her the sharpest sword. If she wants a shield, I'll forge her the sturdiest shield."

"If she wants a way, then, well, I'll forge her the best tools to open it."

"That's all there is to it."

[toskarin]

Arknights, the Kazimierz Major trilogy

[zeravmeta]

this is the funniest possible combination of people they could have done. This is absolutely the next greatest blockbuster hit organized by Lava and Nian after four nights of coffee induced productivity mania after listening to some Crimson Troupe tunes sung personally by Phantom and drinking Closures own specially made cocktail combined from all the things Kal'tsit injected herself with for a 40 hour continuous string of operations to keep herself functional. Hibiscus walked into the room after they released this poster and saw Lava biting into a brick of Pure Sugar Lump and swallow without even blinking and decided to seal off the rooms lest the insanity reach the outdoors

like Mr Nothing on his own is already superb to pair with another character given his Ultra Instinct style powerlevel hidden behind a guy trying to pass himself of as a dude called Norm L. Manne but then you have Saga who is quite literally one of the Dogs Of All Time who everyone needs to get a load of so she will believe Mr Nothing with a genuine honesty and earnestness that he is entirely unprepared for because he's used to most people thinking hes shady so he will now loudly and proudly showcase his full martial arts prowess alongside another martial arts master. And Saga herself is also great because she follows the ancient technique of Dog practiced only by Ceobe and uncounterable by even the most ancient Feranmut so when Mr Nothing insists that they cannot handle an enemy before them he'll have to sit his ass down and watch as she circle forward autocancels five bar meter ultracombo killimanjaros whatever hegemonic husk of a boss monster was sicked onto them by only the most corrupt and devious of Arts as she turns and says "see what was so hard"

and then Jaye is added to the mix.

And suddenly the two man dynamic becomes a perfect chaotic storm where Jaye, just like Mr Nothing, insists he's just a normal merchant, but unlike Mr Nothing he genuinely means it, entirely unaware that he's casting fucking Judgment Cut on everything that crosses his path. Jaye, with the most serious face ever born from countless hard days of customer service, will insist that what he's doing isn't special as he matches an Emperor's Blade blow for blow. The Emperor's Blade, never having been pushed to such a limit, will give himself into the demonic shards powers and turn into a full on Demon, this newly birthed creation immediately entering the second stage of life (known as death) as Jaye did not finish his attack animation and sashimi'd the demonic entity into a paste so fine it isn't cursing the land around it. And after witnessing such an incredible display, Saga will turn to Mr Nothing and go "See? it's nothing special"

So Mr Nothing, Saga, and Jaye walk into a bar, and all of Terra past and present knew this could not end well.

this trio will be the latest upcoming new buddy cop movie where they have to trace a missing shipment of finball meat. This of course will inevitably lead to a battle against two Gods hailing from Rim Billton with the thickest Aussie accents imaginable, a new Seaborn invasion featuring Corrupted Gladiia, the return of the Sargonian Rangers decked out in new sentai outfits, the full on revival of the Witch King, a Mecha Godzilla type entity made by Rhine Labs, the first ever Kazimierz Major winner on par with Nearl, and a surprise twist featuring a previously thought to be dead character

This movie will be so legendary that Whisperains continuous bouts of amnesia will stop. Full On Stop. because she will always remember this movie

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

i wish i didnt get major kazimierz burnout right as the pinus sylvestris and near light events came out. i wanna get invested in PS but good lord do i NOT wanna read about the nearl family ever again

I was going to say something like “ha couldn’t be me” but yeah you’re kinda right. I mean I’m personally not sick of the Nearls i actually still quite love them but idk if I could stand reading another event with that much time dedicated to Młynar unless it’s about him finally starting estrogen. I think Margaret has had more than enough story about her to last a good while. I do wish we got more Blem and Zofia though I love those two so much

[bobbile-blog]

Okay so considering the end of Il Siracusano, I wanted to put together a list of floating plot threads that might lead to future events, just to get my brain in order. This will be a list of the events and characters involved, as well as a general summary of where things are in these plots in Global.

So, we have:

(Minor spoilers for a lot of Global under the cut, but specifically for some bits at the end of Il Siracusano)

- The main story, obviously, counting both Reunion and Dublinn/Kazdel stuff, as well as stuff like What the Firelight Casts and Vigilo. Not sure how relevant this will be to future side events because it’s already the main plot, but who knows.

- The Feranmut plotline, encompassing Ancient Forge(?)/Who is Real/Invitation to Wine/Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow, featuring Nian/Dusk/Ling/Chong Yue. Updated pretty regularly as the CN new year event. Haven’t been keeping up with this one so I can’t say where we are rn but we’re about to get Vernal Winds anyway so it doesn’t matter much. The short overview is that Yan used to be populated by godlike beings called Feranmuts. Feranmuts fought a war with people, which concluded when a Feranmut named Sui betrayed his people out of a selfish desire to be the only being with the kind of power that Feranmuts possess. When he was discovered, the emperor of Yan (China analogue) split him into 12 fragments which eventually developed their own identities and personalities - these are the Sui siblings, i.e. Nian, Dusk, Ling, Chong Yue, etc. Once all twelve of these siblings meet again, they will reform back into Sui and he will be reborn, and probably take over the world. As such, the current goal is to find a way to prevent the siblings from all waking up and getting back together, and hopefully finding a larger way to prevent Sui’s resurrection.

- Abyssal Hunters and Seaborn, with Grani and the Knight’s Treasure/Under Tides/Stultifera Navis/Mizuki and Caerula Arbor, featuring Skadi/Specter/Gladiia/Kal’tsit. Was updated pretty frequently as an anniversary event, but they seem to have thrown us a big lore dump with Caerula Arbor and left it at that for the time being, which is understandable. The state of the plot at the moment is the Abyssal hunters we have are back together, Specter is back to her old self, they’ve met Ulpian and established an uneasy truce with the Iberian (Spanish analogue) Inquisition, and we’re starting to understand just what Ishar-mla is. Iirc the alternate timelines we see in IS3 are actually shown to the Doctor by Mizuki, so that may play into future events as well.

- Kazimierz, with Maria Nearl/Pinus Sylvestris/Near Light/Obscure Wanderer, featuring Blemishine/Zofia/Nearl/The Followers/Flametail/Ashlock/Fartooth/Wildmane/Justice Knight my beloved/Młynar. This kinda shouldn’t be on this list, because it’s mostly wrapped up, and I don’t expect any more Kazimeirz events for a while. It’s still probably important to summarize though so: Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz (Poland analogue) to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

- Rhine Lab, with Mansfield Break/Dorothy’s Vision/Lonetrail/the second Records of Originium comic (which has an official translation that you absolutely should read it’s really good), featuring Silence/Ptilopsis/Saria/Ifrit/Dorothy/Mulesyse/Ho’olheyak/Kirsten. This is one of the newer plotlines, and my personal favorite. Kirsten Wright, founder and head of Rhine lab, wants to go to space. Ever since her parents were killed in a plane crash, she’s looked at the stars as a goal for humanity and a symbol of the power that science and technology can give us. Unfortunately, in pursuit of that power, she believes the end justifies any means, and the Colombian (America analogue) military-industrial complex definitely isn’t helping things. Kirsten’s disregard of human rights has pushed away the people closest to her, most notably Saria, who left the company after discovering how Ifrit was abused. At the moment, the relationship between Rhodes Island and Rhine Lab is becoming more adversarial because we keep poaching their directors when they see the horrific human rights abuses that they’ve committed. Saria left after the Diαbolic incident, Dorothy left after site 359, and now the Doctor even has Mulesyse thinking about leaving. In addition to that, Saria has finally confronted Kristen and told her in no uncertain terms that she is done working with Rhine lab, which Kristen previously hadn’t fully accepted. Unfortunately, all this has only served to drive her deeper into “the ends justify the means” - rather than accept that she might have been wrong, she’s doubled down on the idea that if she can just achieve her goal and make it to space, they’ll all see how right she was and come back.

- Wolf Fangs, with some hints in the earlier chapters of the main story and being explicitly confirmed in Il Siracusano, featuring Texas/Lapland/Projekt Red/Lunacub. This is the newest of these plots, set up in Il Siracusano and presumably proceeding from there. The Feraerus are supernatural talking animals that we’ve encountered a couple of times throughout the story, like the High Priest or the Emperor. They are connected with the land and are almost akin to guardians of it. They don’t need Originium for their magic, and are tied to the setting in ways we don’t quite understand yet. More importantly to us, though, they’re involved in their own power struggles and contests among each other. This underscored the drama in Il Siracusano - the whole Bellone family was propped up by the wolf Feraerus Zarro as part of an ancient game in which the wolves pick champions, called Fangs, who fight each other in a Battle Royale to decide the pack’s next alpha(debunked study, I know, just roll with it). We know a couple of the fangs - Lunacub is one and Bernardo was another before his death, but Projekt Red is also a Fang, as well as Crownslayer’s mentor, so we’ll probably be coming back to this conflict in the future. Judging by Bernardo’s story and Lunacub’s files, the implication is that a lot of this story is going to revolve around breaking free of these old traditions and systems.

- The Sami Icefields haven’t technically gotten an event yet, besides that one story in Operational Intelligence, but I’m including it as an honorable mention because it looks like we’re going there for IS4. The Icefields are up north of Ursus, and they are terrifying. You remember the Emperor’s Blade, the one that kicks your ass in WD-8? Yeah we only see three of them in the game because the rest are busy fighting against the Eldritch demons constantly invading from the Sami Icefields. Let’s please never go there ever, thanks.

That’s all I can think of in terms of plotlines as of Il Siracusano in AK Global. If there’s anything I forgot or got wrong, tell me and I’ll add it in.

[cerastes]

Whats wrong with Near Light?

It is completely clueless as to what its own point is.

"Maria Nearl" made an excellent job of portraying the capitalist bloodsport known as "the Kazimierz Major" as a soulless venture meant to sell dreams and deliver bloodshed, propaganda, and ad revenue instead. It is impeccable in its themes, to the point that Blemishine is in fact told that she is expecting far too much, by EVERYONE else, when she says she'll compete in the Major for the sake of House Nearl having a Knight Primus. Her closest associates end up supporting her not because they truly believe she's right, they support her because they literally don't want her to end up dead. Zofia, Vogelweide, Kowal and Marcin know there's no actual stopping Maria once she sets up her mind on something, so they choose to train her not so she can win, but so she can survive at all in something she's woefully unqualified for. There's absolutely no glory to be made. This is a vie for survival first and foremost.

Near Light then completely disregards all of this and makes Margaret Nearl, a character I really like, into a generic fantasy hero that Must Fight To Achieve Things. It takes the very grounded "meaningless fight for something" from the first event, which is completely in line with old knightly literature, and turns it into a shonen, which I found pretty, well, insulting. Victory equals successful ideals now, because she's Margaret "Kirito SAO" Nearl, so if she does it, it's Fine now. It spins everything into seemingly being honorable knightly duels (but we're the good ones), while giving a horribly passive centrist narrative to what was purely a criticism of late stage capitalism in the prior event. Margaret wants to change things systematically from within.. Which is just a load of hog-fucking-wash when we already established from moment one that the system is in itself flawed, corrupt, and a cesspit of maggots trying to eat each other. It makes you wonder if it was the same writer that wrote both events, because it sure as shit doesn't seem so, and if it was, did they get into NFTs in the meantime or subscribe to Infowars or Andrew Tate or whatever equivalent there is mainland China or something? It went from a clearly muddied look at a system that is inherently flawed into "Actually, if we win enough fights... We can begin the Change Everything castbar, it's pretty simple, actually".

And I bring up those particular shitstains because Margaret Nearl, VERY uncharacteristically, pulls off a "no handouts, let them pull themselves up by their bootstrings" in the event: She refuses to go rescue Pinus Sylvestris because "they can't be saved by those who already have true conviction, they must do it themselves"... Actually what the fuck? You see in Chapter 0, 1 and 7 of the main story that Nearl will go out of her way, risk her very own flesh, to rescue those who are hopeless because that's what she believes in, that's why she's admired, because she'll fucking pull through in these situations... And then she says this shit in Near Light? AND THEN, as if that wasn't enough, smashing a fucking broken thermometer over a salted wound, it is then stated in god damn Operators Files that she did rescue Pinus Sylvestris off-screen anyways, because whoever was responsible for "writing" this, and I'm being fucking magnanimously generous with that word, couldn't just have their cake, but also had to devour it wholesale in one single bite? Get the fuck out.

On screen: Yeah, they gotta earn their lives. [Some fakedeep shit about needing to be devoted enough to their own cause and beliefs] Off screen: Oh I saved them anyways lol, I need to Look Cool.

It's not good writing, g, I'll tell you that fucking much, and it makes me upset because it's a character I like in a setting I love.

Of course I'm not going to like if they Kiritofy a character they had consistently written real damn well prior to an event meant to star her.

It makes me mad because the ultimate resolution of it all is a very cowardly "I Will Now Improve Things From Within" yeah okay and Suzaku was right in Code Geass too, right? Jesus fucking christ, man.

Bottom line, it all feels like they set up something incredible in Maria Nearl, right up until the very end, when Fan Favorite comes out of fucking nowhere to save the day, and then her event contradicts the key tenets of her character thus far to boot.

So you'll have to forgive me but my opinion on Near Light is not particularly positive because it became a "Wow look at how COOL this character is!" kinda shonen shitshow when we had a very "The system is inherently wrong, the solution is not at all simple" sort of seinen narrative going on. It should be telling when Mlynar embodies a more scathingly apt take on the sides Maria herself did not cover in her event towards the narrative than whatever the hell they decided to tarnish Margaret with. It's like the Twilight of Wolumonde writer handled Maria Nearl until the end and then they put the Sword Art Online writer on for Near Light.

It's not because I dislike Margaret Nearl that I feel this way. It's because I like her and they did her dirty. But sure, wau cool horse dom wife mommy or whatever.

[mlynar-nearl]

also, really funny that shining showed up to back up mlynar at the bus stop given that we know now and it is later confirmed that he is extremely powerful. i think she did that because the person she would have heard about him from is margaret, possibly even before they dueled about her return to the major, which is REALLY funny because it implies margaret said in not so many words “i’m worried about people going after my uncle :/ he’s been retired for so long, what if he’s lost his step” and shining went “do NOT worry babe. i’ve got this, i’ll make sure he’s all good” and proceeded to protect the man in kazimierz who needs it least and could have, on his own, sent roy running with his tail between his legs.