#kglegends22

[calling4glaives]

Glaive Bingo - Libertus

Time for our favorite friend. Long-suffering, clever, and there in the nick of time, it's...

There's only one week left before Legends! We couldn't believe it either.

Hopefully, like Libertus, you can pull through in the end! Best of luck.

[wintersweetbou]

Kingsglaive Legends Day 3: It’s a Secret

Entry 3 here! 

Prompt: Security

Warning: Noncon drugging

Summary: Luche refuses to rest, stating that he must continue to work to ensure the safethy of the glaive. Pelna disagrees, and sees what he can do. A Khara never enters battle without a few tricks up their sleeve. 

Pelna strode forward, eager for the weekend. True, it was only thursday, but it was almost here! His last duty of the day was to go through the latest mission report with Luche and then he could go home for the day. It was late enough already- the sun setting behind the castle walls. It was the perfect time for a walk. Or food. Or both!

Pelna knocked on the vice captain’s door, letting himself in when he heard the resulting call to come in. Luche propped his head up on his fist, looking at the young glaive expectantly over the mounds of paperwork already on the small desk. Pelna gave a low whistle at the sight. Luche huffed, rubbing his temples.

“That's a lot, Lazarus. Need some help?”

“Thank you, but no. I need to get this done before the next deployment or we will never get ahead.”

Pelna cocked his head, noting the absolute ghostly pallor of the vice captain and the dark circles hanging under his eyes.

“Are you sleeping ok?”

“None of your concern.” Luche snapped.

Pelna’s eyes widened and he wordlessly handed over the paperwork when Luche made grabby hands for it. Luche was never this twitchy. Something might be actually wrong, but Pelna was never going to get it out like this. Next plan.

“Hey. Is there anything I can help with? You know I’m here for you. We all are.”

Luche sighed, and only pointed at the door.

“Please? I'm a little worried.”

“...I appreciate your concern, but I am fine. Go home, Khara.”

“But the workload-”

“That is an ORDER, Khara.”

“But-!”

The smell of ozone and iron filled the air, static crackling at Luche’s fingertips.. Pelna was scared to see just how worked up the second had gotten himself. This must be far worse than it looked. Pelna hustled out, closing the door. There was only one thing to do in these circumstances. He pushed past Nyx, Crowe and Libertus as the last glaives left for the night. Pelna had a Furia to find.

Pelna knew where to look. Tredd  lurked in his normal haunts- the guts of the Gahladian District and the edge of the abandoned part of the Industrial District. Pelna kept his wits about him- shady things happened here. Less in with the Galah, and more with the large, sturdy, concrete buildings that went largely unmonitored. Tredd stated that the best parties happened here. And yes, they did, Pelna had attended some. Other things happened here too. Scents of copper and sickly sweet things came up in odd places. It was not hard to imagine why. Pelna was about to turn back to the night market when something shifted slightly above him. The maze of pipes and supports for the city above hid many things. Pelna didn’t look, but let fire lick up his palms.

“Good instincts. Can’t believe you were raised by fisherman.” Tredd grinned in the dark, his red hair catching the light as he leaned forward.

“We still lived in the jungle like the rest of you. I didn’t just spend all day paddling along.” Pelna stated dryly.

“What brings you this way? Not like you to stray over here on a weeknight.”

“I need a favor. It's important.”

“Oh?”

Tredd landed in a crouch beside the young glaive. The Furia listened to what Pelna had to say.

“Will you help?”

“I will. Follow me.”

Tredd led the way through twisted and broken concrete, punctuated by rebar. Pelna doubted where they were going, and if it would actually help, but did not doubt his guide. The Furia stopped and pointed up- two quick warps across a shabby balcony and a steel strut would have them alongside one of the Galah District alleys. Pelna grinned, and two flashes later they were up.

“Go home. Get some rest. I have hunting to do.” Tredd smirked, mussing up Pelna’s hair. The glaive batted his hands away, laughing. Tredd winked, and disappeared into the crowd of people still working and living within the night market.

Pelna turned on heel as he entered the night market himself. Tredd was a good plan. However, a Khara never entered  battle without some tricks up his sleeve. He had some shopping to do.

The next day Pelna entered the glaive quarters expecting Tredd to have at least convinced Luche to take the day off. But no. Pelna entered to absolute bedlam. Tredd and Luche were going at it rather viciously.

"Your health is more important!"

"The fuck it is! My work keeps you idiots alive!"

Pelna hurried over into the kitchenette and got hot water going in the coffee maker. The next plan had to work, lest these two actually tried to tear eachother apart. The young glaive frantically made tea, hoping a distraction would calm them down.

The herbs steeped enough just as the snarls from the next room were getting bloodthirsty.

"ENOUGH!"

Luche and Tredd startled at the roar long enough for the younger glaive to charge in, set teacups down and get up in their faces.

"Sit down and drink this six-dammed tea before I fry every circuit in this room and blame you two for the damages!"

Scoffs turned to wide eyes as Pelna snarled and let lightning lick dangerously down his palms. A full blast would indeed fry every inch of wiring in the common room, as well as the ventilation and plumbing in the walls as well.

Tredd threw his hands up and nabbed a cup, slamming the tea back like a shot. The readhead sneered as he took a seat on one of the battered sofas.  

Luche took his cup gingerly, sipping lightly. Watching Pelna and Tredd with hard eyes.

"Luche. You are pushing yourself past healthy limits." Pelna growled lowly.

"None of your fucking concern-" the blonde tried to retort, but was cut off by Tredd slouching into Luche's side.

"Get off me you insubordinate-

"No..gotta take care of you..cuz you take care of us.." Tredd murmured, resting more weight into the vice captain.

"More than that! You deserve care too. Not just because you care for the rest of us. You need it too."

Luche stopped to process the words. Tredd laid his head on Luche's shoulder, heave and warm.

"Maybe I could take a break..for you two."

"Good. You are about to." Pelna smirked.

Luche raised an eyebrow, but stopped when a ginormous yawn forced his eyes shut.

"What was in that tea..?" Luche stretched, noticing that Tredd had gone slack against him.

"It's a secret."

Luche struggled to keep his eyes open, and failed. Pelna's smirk grew as he watched the vice captain go limp and sagged back into the sofa.

Axis and Sonitus walked in to see Pelna carefully throwing a blanket over Tredd and Luche, dead asleep on a Friday morning.

"What happened?"

"It's a secret."

Axis raised an eyebrow. Sonitus picked up a cup and sniffed it. Sonitus's eyes widened.

"Is the secret sleeping herbs?"

"Yes. The secret is sleeping herbs."

[meissashush]

Parings: Axis Arra/ Original Female Character(s) <- He canonically has a wife, don't @ me

Characters: Axis Arra, Tredd Furia

Axis knows he reaps what he sows. He's gotten really used to the concept, having sown more than a bit of trouble in his youth that has come back to bite him tenfold in what should still, technicality, be his youth. He's gone from a rowdy teenager tearing across Cavaugh to a lowly farm-hand on his father-in-law's land, two-and-a-half kids relying on him to keep his head down and his hands working. He knows, under all the resentment, that he's lucky to have what he's got.

He knows it could all go up in flames, if he's not careful. Fill for Day 1: Recruitment for KGLegends22

[awlwren-writes]

Day 5 - Intelligence

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship: Titus Drautos | Glauca & The Kingsglaive Characters: Titus Drautos | Glauca, Axis Arra, Pelna Khara, Crowe Altius, Tredd Furia, Nyx Ulric, Sonitus Bellum, Libertus Ostium, Luche Lazarus Additional Tags: Hijinks & Shenanigans, Information Gathering, Slice of Life, Drautos's Trouble Sense is Tingling Summary:

Titus had long since gotten used to the yells and curses, thuds and other, more worrying noises that filled the Perry when glaives didn’t. He'd heard none of them this morning. Or Titus Drautos is very sure his glaives are up to something, he just needs to figure out what. Inspired by the "Interrogation Montage" trope but it got away from me. Fill for Kingsglaive Legends 2022 Day 5: Intelligence

[garbria]

Luche decides that Crowe would be more useful alive than dead, so he captures her instead. But it’s not as easy to hold Crowe captive as he hoped.

For Kingsglaive Legends week, day 5 intelligence. Also, the next part in my Phoenix Rising au! Though, it can be read as a stand alone.

[calling4glaives]

Hey will there be weeks for other Glaives too?

Sort of?

We're planning on repeating our Kingsglaive: Legends (a week focusing on the named glaives) event this year, and possibly Kingsglaive: Lore (a weekend focusing on the Glaive as a whole and OCs) if there is interest.

But we currently don't have any direct plans to run a week focused on any one specific glaive other than Nyx. If you want to do so, please do! We'd love to have more Glaive content in general.

For Hearth and Home on twitter is running monthly events for each named Glaive, if you'd like to check that out. June is Crowe.

[calling4glaives]

Personnel File 6: Luche Lazarus

We're trying to speed things up a little so that we don't post poor Tredd directly on the first day of Legends Week, which is why this is a bit early for once. Let's take a look at the Kingsglaive's (unofficial?) second-in-command, who followed his commander into treason and burned brightly, if briefly. Thanks as always to @capsource for all the stills unless otherwise noted.

From the Facebook blurb:

From the tumblr blurb: A man who holds a leader-like position in the Kingsglaive. His intellect and always composed nature have earned him the trust of his fellow glaive and he is a very methodical person.

Name: Luche - Perhaps a phonetic spelling of Luce (Latin and Italian) in the ecclesiastical/italian style, a word meaning light. Derived from luceo (I shine, I become visible), and lux (light, life, glory, sight). In the ecclesiastical context, both are used in the phrase from the Requiem mass: Let perpetual light shine on them (Et lux perpetua luceat eis).

Lazarus - Hebrew via Latin via Greek - Lazarus is the Christian Bible form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, meaning God has helped, where it is the name of two prominent figures - one a friend of Jesus whom he raised from the dead, the other a fictional beggar who goes to heaven after death while the man who refused to help him is sent to hell (and thus https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Lazarus_layer, from Marx). It later spawned the term lazar, another word for leper via the Order of St. Lazarus, a hospitaller and military organization whose mission was to treat those with leprosy founded in Jerusalem, was ousted from there and continued in mainland Europe, resisting orders to merge or disband from the pope, instead turning to support from the Kings of France, etc.

Equipment: -Battle Uniform: Luche wears the flame-variation of the Glaive uniform: the garland-patterned dickie attached with braided leather underarm straps; the two-part curved pauldron on the left shoulder with a raised silver flame-pattern held in place by a wide, cross-body leather strap; the Kingsglaive badge on the right breast; one elbow brace/armor on each elbow; and there’s not belt, but instead he hangs his sheath directly from the cross-body strap that keeps the pauldron attached, which causes the sheath to hang behind his body. He also appears to wear the version that has a belt underneath his jacket that is packed full of small pouches, and a brace of throwing daggers around his right thigh. All of these are standard on this uniform set (though a few like Sonitus seem to wear a belt and no thigh daggers with this get-up). Luche also has some sort of thin dangling straps behind his shoulder like the ones hanging from Libertus’s shoulder but longer, and worn where Nyx wears his ribbons. Luche is one of the few who doesn't wear their face cloth- perhaps to better issue clear commands. A few of his clones in the first battle (distinguishable from Luche by their varied blades and the fact they wear their face cloths), seem to have the straps as well.

[[Luche Clones - note the different blades. But they demonstrate his uniform parts well - the straps and a bead on the glaive with the standard blade, and the underbelt and thigh holsters on the glaive with the dark blade with a silver edge.]]

Luche’s blade is long and thin, with a slight curve not unlike Nyx’s Galahdan kukri, but without the reinforced spine or hook at the base and has a similarly thin black and silver hilt. It seems to match Pelna’s, what little we see of it, as well as the traitor glaive whose neck Nyx snaps on the airship.

Luche's hair is similar to Nyx and Libertus, with the long bangs pulled back from the forehead, though of course he lacks the braids or longer hair in back.

 - Casual - Luche wears a front-fastend shirt in the classic Insomnian black and silver that seems fairly nice. It has reflective wing- or flame-like patterns along the side. The closures almost resemble the Glaive uniforms or a variety of simple frogs as found in the Tangzhuang, etc. Axis, Sonitus, Tredd, and at least one other unnamed glaive seem to wear a similar garment to this under his uniform, rather than the standard glaive blade whose hilt peeks above the collars of other uniforms, as Luche, indicating he, like Crowe, Nyx, and probably Pelna, is just wearing half his uniform to this hangout.

  - Standard Uniform - Luche’s standard uniform is just that, standard, down to the gloves. The one exception is the silver lines between the buttons on his chest - a detail he shares with Nyx and Libertus alone, perhaps a sign of rank.

Personality: Luche is someone who stays calm under pressure, as befits someone in command, though he seems fairly friendly with most of the glaive. He has an eye for politics and a tendency toward sarcasm. His taunting of Nyx with Crowe’s death could be a sign of a strategic mind or indicate a cruel or ruthless streak. Luna is able to use his desire for power and resentment of his perception as unworthy to goad him into putting on the ring and burning himself. 

Rank: Luche is the glaive most often seen in command. He orchestrates the glaives throughout the first battle, as well as providing the after action report afterwards. During the assault on the airships, he gives command to Nyx, which implies he has authority to pass field command.

Relationships:

- Loyal glaives - Luche is shown with Nyx and the others at Yamachang’s, so he’s part of their friend group on some level, though he does stand to the side while the others are sitting down, so it could be that he’s not that close. Perhaps he pulled away as he went deeper into the traitor’s plot? It’s fair to assume that being from Galahd like Nyx and Libertus, he has some history with them. 

Luche is the one who shoots Nyx with the hollow points at the ambush point, waiting until Nyx sees him before shooting, and takes credit for being the one to kill Crowe, which he taunts Nyx with, so it seems either not all is good between them, or he's overcompensating to deal with killing them. 

   -Traitors - Luche doesn’t interact directly with the other traitors, though he’s clearly working with them, as evidenced by his behavior in the briefing room, when he riles up Libertus before Tredd joins in. He stands with them as they watch the announcement of the treaty, but doesn’t actually speak or interact with them. How closely did the fellow traitors work together?

   - Drautos - Drautos seems to be directly communicating with only Luche during the Glaive's opening battle, and asks Luche for the report as soon as he gets on scene, so Luche seems to have Drautos’ trust and respect. Luche knows about the surrender terms, presumably from Drautos, and the others believe he has the trust and/or clearance from Drautos to know. Luche is also quick to support Drautos’ orders in the briefing room, though perhaps his alternative motive is also to sow doubt among the other glaives. 

Death: Luche is burned to the death by the Ring of the Lucii after he takes it from Luna and puts it on after Luna goads him by talking about the power it conveys. It’s odd that the ring burns him completely and he cannot remove it, while Ravus can. Perhaps the ring and the kings resented his actions against his liege more than Ravus’s attack against a declared enemy, or perhaps it was their bloodlines, as Ravus was betting on.

Behind the Scenes: Luche was modeled (face and mocop) on Greg Blackford, who has done some other small roles and modelling. Luche’s Voice Actor is Todd Haberkorn, who has had an extensive career voicing many games (including additional work on Comrades) and anime (including Natsu from Fairy Tail and others, too many to list). 

Thanks for joining us on another deep dive, and as always, we would love to hear your thoughts and theories about Luche, or even if you notice something we missed.

Best of luck in all your creating of theories, stories, art, and more.

[calling4glaives]

Personnel File 4: Titus Drautos

While technically if we continue to go alphabetically by first name, Drautos should appear later, he is referred to more often as Drautos and so we're doing him next. :P Sorry for the late posting; there were too many rabbit holes that caught us up, especially regarding his name. *grumble grumble* As always, pictures are courtesy of @capsource, who is a blessing.

Titus Drautos

From the Facebook blurb:

Name: Titus - Latin: the name of the co-ruler of Rome with Romulus, the Sabine (native tribe) king Titus Tatius, thereafter a common Roman name: an Emperor known for his martial skill (including the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem); Titus Andronicus, a fictional Shakespearean character who commits terrible acts of revenge; a fictional tyrant with good intentions; and many others. WARNING: this is a tvtropes-level time suck. Drautos - ??? - This one is harder. Google translate tells us it means insurance in Lithuanian, though I think we can probably disregard that one. It could be many words that have been Latinized into a name by adding "-os" to the end, including English sources like draught or drought, or Greek ones like dragon, drao - a verb for action that also gives us the term drama, or drax - a handful. Using the Japanese spelling, it could also be Doratos, meaning “of a spear or shaft of wood”. Germanic/Norse sources have a similar word draugr that can mean both the undead creature we’re most familiar with through games and stories but also a trunk of a tree or a fighting man. Following that back to older roots, we get the reconstructed words dreugana which means to deceive or a retainer (which is appropriate) and druhtiz which means a band of retainers, a troupe. Derived from those, and somehow even more on topic, is the Old Norse drótt which means a household, a people, or the group of bodyguards of a king and all sorts of other fun ideas for sources. Do I think Square thought this hard? Probably not. Is it fun anyway? Yes.

Equipment: Drautos is one of the most colorful people we see in Insomnia, with his red leather jacket and panels. (As Drautos he uses black and red with purple and silver highlights, and as Glauca silver and purple with black and silver highlights). In some ways, his look is reminiscent of Genesis from FFVII, albeit played much more seriously.

His uniform seems to be a combination of the Kingsglaive uniforms - the cuffs around the wrists and upper thigh, identical boots, what looks to be the base of a hood in his wide inner collar, the symbol down the front (though whether he wears it in honor of his glaives or they of him is a bit of a chicken and egg debate, and we don’t see that long version on the Royal Guards or the Kingsglaive after the fall, as best I can tell) - and the common markers of status among Insomnian/Lucian elites - the high collar (though very exaggerated in his case), the asymmetric longer left sleeves, the hint at longer robes via the skirt panels – and his own personal style - the overlapping jacket front (and the requisite Square fashion zipper, which is how you know he’s a main character), the mail and reinforced leather piece over his shoulders, and the braids connecting his shoulders and mail sleeves.

His necklaces and medals have the feeling of formal awards, though we see literally no one else wearing them. In the field, he wears the symbol of the Kingsglaive on his many necklaces, though this is replaced by some sort of cross-like medal when he dresses up; this, with the addition of the other medals somehow attached to his jacket, is the only difference between his field and formal uniforms. (He wears the field uniform again during the fall of Insomnia; I guess he had time to remove the medals and change the necklace when he was missing during the panic over Luna)

The only comparison with Drautos’s medals are the ones won for Chocobo racing, though the medallion portion of those appears flatter and simpler. The chains and braids might have a parallel in the pair that cross Nyx’s chest, though his is worn much differently that Drautos’.

The leather shoulder piece almost resembles the leather and reinforced collar of Nyx’s field uniform, but is still much larger and differently shaped. The pattern inside the high collar almost appears to match the dickies from the Luche-style uniforms.

When he is driving in Noctis's car with Nyx, he appears to have ditched both the high collar (which seems smart, just for the peripheral vision) and the shoulder piece, mail, oversleeves, shoulder braids, and medals. I wonder if this is why he can tell Nyx to drop the formalities – he’s “out of uniform”. [[NB: unlike the bros, Drautos enforces seatbelts in the car]]

He has a classical western straight-edged sword belted at his side, just as his glaives carry theirs sheathed on their persons rather than in magical storage as Clarus and Cor do. Unfortunately, he never uses this sword in the movie.

ETA: Drautos also wears his sword on his right hip, implying he is left-handed, while Glauca wields his sword in his right hand or with both. As we never see Drautos as Drautos use his sword, which hand is actually dominant or if he is ambidextrous is unknown.

He also, unlike most of the glaives, has an actual cell phone rather than ear pieces.

Background: Drautos is from Cavaugh, the island where Insomnia sits, but not actually from Insomnia. His village is destroyed about 30 years ago during the war, and then he is taken in by Regis. Despite this closeness, Cor and Noctis both refer to him as Drautos rather than Titus in the audio drama and opening scene respectively, which implies a sort of distance, but he is trusted implicitly by them all. He clearly resents the wall being withdrawn by Mors and how Regis is running the fight (“For the honor of my home, I fought and killed under a king I loathed. And still, he betrayed me. He betrayed us all.” - the betrayal is presumably the treaty and Insomnia being sacrificed for Noctis, because it comes after the loathing and fighting, plus Regis didn’t pull back the wall himself, he inherited that position and didn’t change it).

After that, he rises to be one of the top three swordsmen in Lucis, along with Cor [[and presumably Clarus?]] and takes over the Kingsglaive at some point in the fifteen years between its founding and the present. He was probably the founding leader, but it’s never outright stated. Sometime in there he became Glauca. He could be the original Glauca, who is presumably the one who killed Queen Sylvia, or there could have been many over the years. It’s hard to tell under the armor. Clearly he’s been doing this long enough to recruit fellow traitors and put this plan in motion, but that could be anywhere from a year to a decade to two. What assurance does he have that Niflheim would keep its word, and how did he get the armor?

The man is running two armies, one from quite the distance. If he’s done so for long, it is both a sign of competence – that’s a huge amount of work, even if one is small and the other is mostly automated, and on top of that he has managed to do so undetected – and possibly of incompetence – when he holds all the cards, he still hasn’t been able to bring Lucis down yet. [[How did this man have any time to sleep?]]

Rank: The shoulder tabs he wears are slightly fancier than the rest of the glaives’, and appear to have a wide/narrow/narrow pattern that matches, if anything, the common sleeve insignia for vice admirals across many navies. Though he is called "Captain" throughout the movie, he appears to be of higher ranking for practical purposes, based on his status in Lucis.

Death: There is debate over whether the psychomancer who has Nyx’s kukris is Nyx or Drautos, who had Nyx’s kukri in his chest while Nyx had none. I tend to think the streaks and reddish eyes (though it could be the light of dawn) as Drautos dies indicates demonification, as is the fact his eyes crack open as we last see him.

Personality: Drautos clearly cares about his past and his responsibilities very much. He is a harsh leader, but has the respect and loyalty of his soldiers, and is capable of moments of relative softness in private. He has a tricky mind capable of assessing those around him and taking their actions into account in his plans, and is capable of projecting an image and living a double life for years. He is unbelievably determined and dedicated to his idea of right.

Relationships: The facebook blurb says he is a hard man to please, but he clearly has some relationships with his soldiers and superiors.

-Nyx Ulric: Drautos is Nyx’s mentor, and seems to care for him as well, though less than his cause. The car ride seems a last minute attempt at feeling out Nyx’s loyalties, and minutes after he orders Nyx’s death and Nyx is shot on those orders, he holds his hand and seems to have some reason to still want Nyx’s good will - either as a way to ease his death, or perhaps merely as a key to the ring and the princess. He has multiple opportunities to kill Nyx from the signing room onward that he just doesn't take.

-Regis Lucis Caelum: Drautos’s issues with Regis seem to be personal as much as political, but he seems to respect him as well. Regis is unsurprisingly shocked by the reveal of Glauca’s identity moments before his death, but though he contemptuously shoves Regis’s body to the ground, Drautos does no further damage, nor does he draw out that death. And while the bow before might be mocking, the salute after seems sincere. Otoh, he misses several chances to kill Regis without him knowing that Glauca was the one who killed him, including right after removing the ring from his hand.

-Luche Lazarus: Drautos trusts Luche with everything from running battlefields to what his true intentions are, but due to the time constraints of the movie, we don’t get to see moments like Nyx’s where they actually talk. Is it a commander-loyal subordinate relationship, one of true trust, or is Luche yet another tool?

Behind the Scenes: Drautos is portrayed, voiced, and given his face from the wonderful Adrian Bouchet, who is very nice to us all. If you don’t know him by now, check him out on twitter.

Everyone has theories about Drautos, and most of his past is left for us to fill in. Please share your theories and speculations, or things we might have missed! We'd love to hear it. (Or, you know, see you explore them during Legends week)

2022/7/14: Edited to fix some information surrounding Regis's death.

2022/11/2: Edited to add information about handedness.

[calling4glaives]

Personnel Files 3: Crowe Altius

Moving down the alphabet from Axis to Crowe, let's continue our deep dives. Crowe stole our hearts with just a few scenes, and deserved so much better. Even if we want so much more, she does have a little more information to go off of than Axis and Sonitus, so let's dig in!

Crowe Altius

From the facebook blurb:

Tumblr Blurb: She is a member of the Kingsglaive and possesses the ability to handle magical powers. Because of the experience of being raised an orphan she cherishes Nyx, Libertus and the other members of the Kingsglaive and thinks of them as family.

Name: Crowe - English: the large-beaked black bird, also many things with a “beak” shape: crowbar (prybar with a “beaked” end), crow (corvus, Roman boarding plank with a beak-like spike to anchor it), etc; a cry of victory/alarm/etc, as the sound a rooster or cockerel makes, or Peter Pan Altius - Latin: higher, deeper (as an adjective and adverb), part of the Olympic motto – Citius, Altius, Fortius (Swifter, Higher, Stronger)

Background: As with many glaives, we don't know exactly where Crowe's from. In addition to the two official descriptions above, we have Libertus's description from the movie: “What a life, huh? She was brought up an orphan. Run out of her village. I still remember the first time I saw her. Scrawny little thing, all covered in dirt. Not a friend in the world. But those eyes...damn. There was something about those eyes. She deserved better. And I would've done anything to give it to–” 

Orphan is mentioned several times, but where she was found and how old she is is still a mystery. She could be the girl in the group photo on Nyx’s corkboard, which still works because Galahd can, wherever you place it, certainly count as the “outskirts of Lucis”. She also could have been found in a different region on a glaive mission; while we hear about Libertus seeing her as a younger sister (to her annoyance, though whether it’s the younger or the sister thing that’s annoying is up for debate), each official blurb mentions the whole glaive is her family.

Equipment: Unlike Axis and Sonitus, Crowe is seen in several outfits, her uniform and a casual version, her undercover disguise, and the concept art of her and her friends in Galahd.

   - Uniform: Crowe’s uniform is drastically different from the mens’, with its higher, heeled boots, skintight leather bodysuit, scalloped standing collar, netting on her shoulder, gem necklace/fastener, and cape, though it shares the modeling of the lapels, cuffs, silver accents, buttons, and hood (and, presumably, but not seen, the cloth mask). Her oversleeves do appear similar to those worn by the glaive next to Luche on the wall and Nyx, though they only wear one and she has two. Overall, her uniform does appear to match the other mages’, down to the red gloves and capes, though the gem might be unique to Crowe; it’s hard to tell because the others wear their cloth masks. (The capes are patterned with an eight-sided geometric tiling pattern, according to the models; I wonder what the pattern represents?) One does wonder how she uses the restroom in that outfit; not quickly that’s for sure. Her messy hair is in a bun, and she doesn’t have any braids, at least not according to her hair modelling video.

[[According to one piece of concept art, she does apparently have a dagger, which can be glimpsed very briefly when the mages are conjuring the firestorm:

Image from the wiki]]

  - Casual - though she rags on Nyx for wearing parts of his uniform to Yamachang’s, she seems to be doing something similar, if the bodysuit and gem are any indication. She wears the same outfit when the news of the truce comes through, though she pairs them with elbow-length black (leather?) gloves and crossed belts like the mens’, though we never see the weapon meant to go on them. The only differences between her battlefield uniform and full uniform seen in the briefing scene seems to be the cloak and hood, which makes sense with the lack of customization among the mages.

   - Undercover - Perhaps because she’s leaving Insomnia, her undercover outfit features actual color: various greens in the shirt and jacket. It might be her own personal style, because it matches the outfit seen in the promo art of her, Libertus, and Nyx working at the bar, albeit with a purple version of the shirt(s). The layered effect also matches Cor’s. She has a knee pad/brace, perhaps for fashion, perhaps as a nod to the king and the tendency of members of the Lucis Caelum bloodline to have knee/hip issues. Her helmet is an orangy-pink, one of the few nods to her supposed theme color of orange, alongside her belt.

[[Gif is from ffxvcaps, still is from @capsource]]

- Dead - Crowe’s skin is very pale white and almost scaly and she has dark streaks running from her eyes, probably an indication of starscourge (does this also account for her very pointy breasts in the body bag?). It could also just be her mascara running from crying as she died, as Luche taunts Nyx; she appears to wear mascara and probably lipstick, though lacks eyeliner on her lids, even the “default dark eyeliner” seen on most women in movies and video games.

  - Alternate Future - Crowe wears a split-sided orange tunic bound by a thick belt-wrap and several beaded belts over a sleeveless skin-tight black shirt and shorts (possibly one garment), plus cuffs around her upper arm, though her feet are invisible.

She has an identical L’il Malbuddy cellphone charm to the one on Nyx’s corkboard (which is there before her body is found, btw).

Rank: Crowe appears to be a leader among the mages, as Drautos addresses her directly when asking for an update on their massive firestorm, though she was not standing at the point of their wedge during the casting. She’s obviously trusted enough no one doubts her being sent on a solo assignment, and was deemed important enough to have killed directly, either for her magic skills (we never see her carrying a weapon, so her martial skills are unknown) or her connections with the rest of the glaives, as a distraction and/or damage minimization.

Personality: Crowe is sure of herself, quick to tease, obviously takes duty seriously but has good personal relationships with Nyx and Libertus especially, worried about the treaty but willing to wait and keep up a positive front. Apparently the hair clip is not her style, whether that’s the hair aspect or the jewelry, though she wears a gold bracelet while undercover.

Relationships: The effects Drautos hands over after her death all appear to be things she was wearing, not things from a barracks, etc., so presumably she has a home of her own somewhere, and Libertus and/or Nyx is her next of kin.

- Libertus - She seems to resent being called a little sister – which could be a general rebelling or genuine distaste. She takes Nyx’s side more than his, defending Nyx against Libertus’ teasing when it gets a little mean (though she adds her own, lighter teasing) reminding Libertus to thank him, calling for Nyx and not Libertus when Libertus is crushed. Those first two could also be worry for his situation similar to Nyx's confrontation about the pills albeit expressed in a rough way, as she doesn't shy away from physical confrontation either.

  - Luche - she seems on fairly good terms with Luche, and is often standing beside him in group shots, but he seems to gloat over her death, though that could be more about the reaction it garners in Nyx at the moment.

  - Drautos - Why did he order her death? If the glaive is a family, did Drautos make a pragmatic choice or a personal one – to let her die before she has to watch as the rest of her family falls?

Behind the Scenes: Voice Actor - Alexa Kahn, who also works with redubbing lines (and could be the woman in the picture on Nyx’s board). Mocap (and, presumable, though uncredited face): Andrea Tivadar, who is also the facial scan for Lady from DMC 5.

As before, we'd love to hear if we missed information, or you'd like receipts on some of our claims, or even just your own theories or fanon regarding our favorite mage.

And good luck with your content creation for Legends week! Please send us an ask if you have any questions or confusion.

[calling4glaives]

Personnel File 7: Pelna Khara

It's our second-to-last deep dive into the named members of the Kingsglaive with everyone's favorite supporting glaive, Pelna. If you haven't already, check out this awesome summary of his actions in the movie. Pelna really does deserve some more love.

From the facebook blurb:

From the tumblr blurb: Young Kingsglaive that is extremely intelligent and insightful. Because the circumstances surrounding his home and life are similar to those of Nyx and the others he feels a strong affinity towards them. Even though he gets along well with his friends, he also spends much time in private.

Name: Pelna - Urdu or Hindustani - پیلنا or पेलना in Hindustani, Pelna means either to push, shove, thrust, penetrate (yes, it seems to have the double entendre meaning there as well, so be careful with your searches), and is related to the Maranati Pelne - to carry the weight, balance, manage. [[This is a stark departure from the origin of other names in the movie, and a family of languages we are not experts in. If we've made a mistake, please correct us.]]

Khara - [[We refuse to believe it is the most common search result of Arabic, because Pelna doesn’t deserve that meaning]] Looking to the generally Greek or Latin origins of the other glaives, it could very well be χαρά, a greek term meaning joy or gladness, often transliterated Chara, but Khara is equally plausible. [[Especially since a Japanese animation studio uses that spelling for their transliteration of the word]]. If it matches the origins of his first name, Khara could be taken from a variant of a common Punjabi surname, a character from the Ramayana - a rakshasa who fights Rama in defense of his sister (who was maimed by Rama after kidnapping his wife) and is killed by him - or a Hindi word खरा that means pure, genuine, upright, frank, derived from a Sanskrit word meaning stone-hard, solid, cutting/edged.

[[from the wiki]

Equipment: -Battle Dress: Pelna wears the uniform type that Libertus does: thick, ornate, breastplate held up by studded metal braces on top that connect to the shoulder piece and plain leather straps below that connect to a ring in the back; cloth elbow and thigh pads held up by more leather straps; segmented pauldrons on each shoulder connected to a quilted piece over the shoulders; badges underneath on both upper arms; no belt; and a padded ring around the neck. Unlike Libertus, Pelna lacks the silver stripes on his jacket, his leather is dyed green, as are the leathers of several other glaives we see of this type, and Pelna wears the standard gloves. On the airship assault, he (as well as Luche) adds a chin-strap to his uniform.

His blade seems to match Luche’s and to be worn the same way Luche’s is.

[[Pelna is on the far left, but we see two others wearing identical uniforms with the same green straps; the one in the foreground has the same dagger as well.]]

-Casual - Pelna, like the rest of the group other than Libertus, seems to be wearing his uniform minus the jacket to hang out at Yamachang’s. Interestingly, his shirt has the silver on black image of the sword down the middle, where the jacket would show it if it were open, but the rest of the shirt appears to be green, just like his leather straps. It also has three-quarter sleeves trimmed with some sort of ribbon or design - perhaps an alteration Pelna made or had made, as this sleeve length or pattern and this much color are both almost unheard of elsewhere in Insomnia.

[[Pelna's unique shirt, and perhaps rebellious alteration. Image courtesy of @capsource ]]

-Standard - Pelna’s glaive uniform seems pretty much standard, with no embellishments.

Personality: Pelna seems to be a good, steady friend on and off the battlefield. He tries to defuse or break up the fights at Yamachang’s and in the briefing room, and seems to be on pretty great terms with everyone, even beyond their normal issues - he has the ability to tease Nyx as “hero” without causing affront, and despite his protests, he is able to gather the glaive on nothing more than Nyx’s hunch. He’s not a pushover, though, or unfeeling, snarking against Lucis, Nyx, and rescue missions just as well as anyone else.

He’s also fairly skilled at his job, able to track the coordinates and determine there is an airfleet there from within Insomnia, and on the battlefield actually returning from the the thick of the fighting before saving another glaive in the first battle, and able to take down two MTs in seconds. He also seems to display a physical reaction to "overusing" magic – coughing smoke after his quick warp and seeming rather unsurprised about it in addition to the usual “burning” effect, and in the earlier battle cautioning Nyx about overusing it.

[[image from @capsource, edited so the daggar shape is more visible. Note the burning effect on his face. The chinstrap is barely visible.]]

Death: Pelna's death is one of the more gruesome on-screen deaths, battered around by Ultros like he was, and his limp body seems to parallel the broken MTs - both just pawns in this game. :(

Behind the scenes: Pelna’s facial model is Tausif Patel, who was 25 in 2015 for those looking for age approximations, and his mocap artist is Will Bowden (who has also used the name Viv Wetherall), who acted many of the Kingsglaive characters as well as Horizon Zero Dawn and Terminator Salvation, and also acted theatre and has been friendly with the fandom.

Pelna’s voice actor is Ben Diskin, who has extensive experience as a voice actor in anime, cartoons, and video games - including Sai from Naruto, Young Xehanort, and Numbah 1 and 2 from Codename: Kids Next Door. His Japanese voice actor is the even more prolific generally good-guy voice of Takagi Wataru.

That's it for Pelna. As always, let us know if we missed something or have something to add, and good luck with creating!

[calling4glaives]

KGLegends22 Master List

Thank you to everyone who participated in KGLegends22! Thanks to our participating writers, there are 24 new fics featuring the Kingsglaive characters. If you have any works you'd like to add, please do! We'll update this and other posts as we become aware of them.

Thank you also to all those who liked, reblogged, and commented on these works -- your support is always appreciated! Please continue to support the fabulous writers and artists in this community.

Participants

Writers

Amethysttail (Tumblr)

Awlwren (Tumblr, Ao3)

darksideofdawn (Ao3)

Loki_chan / Garbria (Tumblr, Ao3)

MeissaShush (Tumblr, Ao3)

For those who managed to complete our challenge to use all the named glaives during the week, we made the badge above! Show it off with pride!

Compilation Master List

Day 1: Recruitment

Day 2: Training

Day 3: Security

Day 4: Combat

Day 5: Intelligence

Day 6: Logistics

Day 7: Free Day

[calling4glaives]

Personnel File 5: Libertus Ostium

Next in line is Libertus Ostium, one of the glaives we know the most about. We'll mainly focus on Kingsglaive here, and only brush lightly on his appearance in Comrades. As always, thanks @capsource for the caps, unless otherwise cited.

From the facebook blurb:

Name: Libertus - Latin - freeman/freedman (as opposed to someone who is enslaved, see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberto for more elaboration), or with a little bit of creativity could possibly be Libertas, which means freedom or liberty.

Ostium - Latin - doorway or opening, as in the pores of a sponge or openings in or between organs, or as the mouth of a river. Also seen in the Ostium Gorge just outside Insomnia.

Equipment:

[[from the wiki]]

 - Weapon - Libertus’s weapon is a very unique axe-like blade with cutouts to presumably lighten it and a handle rather like Nyx’s kukris with a similar ornamentation, secured to his person by an interesting combination of straps in his field uniform. It was possibly lost when his leg was broken, as he uses Nyx’s kukri to warp (which makes sense, as that axe doesn’t look very aerodynamic) and it is not seen again after that.

- Field Uniform - Libertus wears a variation of the third common uniform type (as does Pelna): a thick, ornately shaped breastplate attached with studded leather straps on top (not unlike Nyx’s shoulder pieces) and plain leather straps (in his case, brown leather) under the arm; thigh and elbow pads (that look rather like cut-off sleeves and shorts) attached with matching leather straps; pauldrons on both shoulders that consist of three overlapping plates; the Kingsglaive badge on both arms; a padded cushion around the neck and a lack of an exterior belt around the waist. Libertus further augments this with three beaded looped strips tipped with claws or teeth that hang down from the back of each pauldron and look rather like the ones on Nyx’s Galahdan Kukri. His gloves, as with most of the named characters, are also unique, with metal diamond-shaped pads on the knuckles and reinforcement on the fingers. 

-Standard Uniform- Libertus wears the standard undershirt with the reinforced shoulders and sword and crest down the front. He also wears a watch on his left wrist. His standard uniform is fairly standard, except for the silver stripes between the buttons, a feature shared only by Nyx and Luche, perhaps denoting rank. When he rips off his badge off his standard jacket, it’s on the left shoulder as it is for all the (non-mage) standard uniforms. [[It’s odd that he doesn’t wear his jacket in the briefing scene and when Crowe departs on her mission, but rather just throws it on over his shoulders. If the glaives can do battle in them, surely he has enough range of motion to use crutches in them, unless he has some other injury as well. He wears his jacket properly several days later when Crowe’s body is found.]]

 - Casual - Libertus wears a gray sleeveless undershirt and gray hoodie under a black and red matching leather jacket with three-quarter sleeves and knee-length shorts. He wears black sneakers (one larger than the other to accommodate his cast) without socks. His very ornate tiered necklace made of knotted leather strips is strung with squat, faceted diamond-shaped and thin vertical beads in the center hung from metal rings, and huge round ones on the edges. [[The leather, hood, and pattern of the necklace (almost like the lapels of the glaive uniform) almost seem to suggest the glaive outfit - perhaps purchased as a point of pride before he left.]] He still wears his uniform gloves as well.

[[Perhaps as a sign of his improving health, while Libertus in uniform uses two crutches, in his casual clothes he only uses one]]

- Tattoos and Braids - [[See this video for a great look]] Libertus again has similarities to Nyx - the poofy swept-back hair up front, longer hair, braids, and tattoos, but is mostly his own in the details. His french braids are only on one side, and are connected at the ends by a cylindrical bead, while his regular plait on the other side with its more standard beads is all but concealed in his ponytail, another unique feature. Most of his tattoos are shaped like stacked arrows ornamented by dots - on his forehead (2), left shoulder (2), right forearm (3), and right calf (2). 

Background: Libertus is one of three glaives absolutely confirmed to be from Galahd (Nyx and Luche being the others). In addition to his word, we have pictures of him as a child with Nyx on his corkboard. It seems they grew up in a jungle area next to the river and knew each other well.

He has been in the glaive a long time, and seen many people die. He obviously loves his home and is a very good fighter - he is fighting fairly deep into the battlefield alone and uses nearly every form of magic (invisibility, shield, lightning, and warping, though he apparently only warps under duress), second only in number of magics to Nyx (who also plays with fire). In a deleted conversation from the Yamachang scene, he apparently revealed he takes the pills because it’s the only thing that stops him from seeing his dead friends.

And despite 12 years of horrifying front-line combat, after a short break of saying screw this when his sister-figure dies alone and uselessly and is told via heavy implication that Lucis doesn’t want to figure out why she died and nothing will be done about it because the peace talks will end any chance for settling scores (“I'll see the armistice does not interfere with a full investigation. She was a good soldier, her death will not go unanswered”) - he almost immediately takes up arms and leadership again in a hopeless fight. He does take a short trip home, apparently, but steps back up for running the Kingsglaive during the Long Night with little break, always with his home and friends in mind.

Personality: Libertus is a loyal friend under a lot of stress and very tired of fighting. Even probably knowing that he’s dead, he does trust and wait for Nyx. He is kind; despite his pain, he takes time to be friendly to Iris before he leaves the Kingsglaive, and obviously was a large figure in Crowe’s life after she was orphaned.  He is a good leader, and earns the trust of Cor and Noctis’s companions in the World of Ruin.

He is outspoken in defense of his friends and homeland, as evidenced in his berating of Yamachang over his culinary departures and everything he does in Crowe's name. While his temper may get the better of him sometimes, he's strategic enough to quickly find a secretive resistance group shortly after quitting, and during the Fall of Insomnia figures out about the traitors, Drautos's identity and a way to fight him even without magic, and commits to it quickly.

He does have an arc of resentment or jealousy toward Nyx at the beginning, though that could be displaced anger at himself and the war, as Luna is able to use the word "hero" to deter him from following her at the end.

He was designed to be heroic from the beginning, with another deleted scene having originally had him break his leg while rescuing civilians, perhaps deleted so as to reduce the number of people on the battlefield, or perhaps to emphasize his role as a counterpart to Nyx, each rising as the other falls.

Behind the scenes - Liam Mulvey is the face, voice, and mocap actor for Libertus, as well as the mocap actor for Clarus and Regis’s death scene and at least 14 other characters in Kingsglaive. He’s also fantastic and very friendly to the fandom. His Twitter.

Anything else we're missing for the final commander of the Kingsglaive? Things we got wrong? Theories you have, or headcanons you enjoy? Please let us know.

And, as always, good luck with your content creation! We'll see you for Legends on August 7-14.

[calling4glaives]

KGLegends22 Day 1 Compilation

Fics

Call and Response

Awlwren

Glaives: Axis Arra, Sonitus Bellum

Rating: General

Archive Warnings: N/A

Other Warnings: N/A

Relationships: Axis Arra/Original Female Character(s), Axis Arra & Sonitus Bellum

Axis squared his shoulders, gripped his tray tightly, and walked over to Bellum. He knew no one was watching; everyone was too busy with their own conversations or scarfing down their food, but it still felt like they were all sizing him up for gossip as he crossed to the far wall and sat down his tray. Bellum nodded at him and went back to methodically plowing through his food. He looked to be just as eager to talk as Axis was, which would normally be great – he made a mental note to sit by him more often – but in this case was counterproductive.

“Have you ever watched kids before?” he asked, looking forward and not staring at Bellum directly. Bellum looked to either side, saw they were still the only ones at this end of the table, and nodded slowly.

Axis would rather keep to himself, thank you, but he needs a babysitter, and he's going to do what has to be done to find one. Even talk to some of the other glaives.

notorious

darksideofdawn

Glaives: Nyx Ulric, Libertus Ostium, Crowe Altius, Pelna Khara, Sonitus Bellum, Luche Lazarus, Axis Arra, Titus Drautos | Glauca,Tredd Furia

Rating: Teen

Archive Warnings: N/A

Other Warnings: N/A

Relationships: N?A

And they say you can't make a good friend out of a troublemaker. You can't spell friend without fiend, after all. Or else, the FFXV Pokemon au no one asked for.

Whispers in the Dark

Loki_chan

Glaives: Titus Drautos | Glauca

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: N/A

Other Warnings: Torture, Medical Experimentation, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Canon-Typical Violence, Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, Mind Control, Discrimination

Relationships: Titus Drautos | Glauca & Cor Leonis, Titus Drautos | Glauca & Regis Lucis Caelum

Newly minted Crownsguard Titus Drautos gets captured by Niflheim while out on a mission. When he makes it back to Lucis, he is not the same. Or How Titus became Glauca

Pivot

MeissaShush

Glaives: Axis Arra, Tredd Furia

Rating: Mature

Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Other Warnings: Swearing, Canon-Typical Violence, Minor Character Death

Relationships: Axis Arra/Original Female Character(s), Axis Arra & Tredd Furia

Axis knows he reaps what he sows. He's gotten really used to the concept, having sown more than a bit of trouble in his youth that has come back to bite him tenfold in what should still, technicality, be his youth. He's gone from a rowdy teenager tearing across Cavaugh to a lowly farm-hand on his father-in-law's land, two-and-a-half kids relying on him to keep his head down and his hands working. He knows, under all the resentment, that he's lucky to have what he's got.

He knows it could all go up in flames, if he's not careful.

Living Canvas

Amethysttail

Glaives: Crowe Altius, Pelna Khara

Rating: General

Archive Warnings: N/A

Other Warnings: N/A

Relationships: Crowe Altius/Pelna Khara

Crowe has an art project, and needs a victim. Er, volunteer. Everyone is busy. However: Pelna can indeed be bought.

[calling4glaives]

Personnel Files 1 & 2: Axis and Sonitus

In preparation for Kingsglaive: Legends, we're going to be doing a deep dive on people rather than places. We'll be gathering what information we can find, but we'd also love your input. What are your headcanons or analyses?

Because we know the least about these two, and we only have six weeks until the event, we're starting with a double feature for Axis Arra and Sonitus Bellum.

Axis Arra

From the facebook blurb:

From the tumblr translation: Member of the Kingsglaive. A quiet and taciturn person. He is the father of 3 children and was once a farmer, but volunteered for the Kingsglaive to protect his family. Was taught how to fight by Tredd and respects him.

Name: Axis – Latin: the center/axle, also the name for the second vertebra down from the skull, on which it pivots, the name of a species of deer also known as chital, possible also a reference to the military alliance of WWII Arra – Latin (usually written arrha): deposit, pledge; or possibly Norwegian: scars (germanic names are not uncommon in FFXV either, could indicate a connection with Niflheim or Solheim)

Equipment: Axis is only seen in his plain uniform and battle uniform, which is pretty standard for the glaive: the square, chained shoulder guard (one of the two most common designs) on the left shoulder, with his badge on the same side, and almost archery-like padding underneath his shoulder guard crossed over with a ridged strap coming from his left shoulder.

Uniquely, his gloves are not fingerless. Underneath his uniform jacket, he seems to wear a front-closed shirt like Luche's at Yamachang's, rather than the more t-shirt like undershirts seen on Nyx and others.

[[As a side note, the asymmetry of the glaives' battle uniforms is interesting. From a design perspective, obviously it looks cool, but the why is less clear from an in-universe perspective. Were the glaives intended to fight with shields at some point that would protect their right hands? Or is there something about their fighting style that would keep them angled?]]

He carries the standard curved khopesh-like blade most glaives use as well.

Appearances:

In the opening battle, based on his uniform, he is possibly one of the glaives standing Luche on the wall, and possibly one of the ones carrying Libertus’s stretcher, though his hood is always up so it's hard to be certain. These could also be clones, to save design time and money.

In the briefing room as Drautos breaks the news, he and Sonitus flank Tredd in the lineup, and as the debate starts after, he watches Libertus closely before kind of fading into the background, though he stays for the whole argument, and when Tredd starts ranting, walks to stand by Libertus before the shoving starts

Most noticably, he hovers ominously with Tredd and Sonitus as they watch Libertus and Nyx, exchanges glances with Tredd, and then runs off with Sonitus while Tredd smirks

He gears up with the rest of the glaive

He is featured as they crouch on the cliff before entering the Niflheim ships to rescue Luna with Luche and Tredd, and is signaled by Luche

Though we don't see him killing glaives directly inside, it can be assumed he did so

In the dropship with Tredd during the Fall of Insomnia when Nyx fails to warp, where he is killed by Petra Fortis and the Crownsguard

Behind the Scenes: Axis is portrayed by Shaun Yusuf McKee, who is listed as both his mocap and voice actor, and is also the mocap actor for Sonitus. His face model is Oliver Gyani.

[[Interesting that he has a voice actor but no lines. It seems Axis, with the backstory provided by the developers and a listed voice actor, was probably a much larger role originally but was cut down during changes in production.]]

Sonitus Bellum

From the facebook blurb:

From the tumblr blurb: An expert weapons user and someone who respects discipline. Tredd once saved his life on the battlefield.

[[The connection of both of these two to Tredd implies interesting things about how they might have been recruited to Drautos's side, and Tredd's importance within the Kingsglaive.]]

Name: Sonitus - Latin: sounded, resounded, called Bellum - Latin: war [[this is not, as popularly posited, strictly "sound of war", more like "the resounded (as an action/participle) war (as the subject)", or "the war being resound" but then again, the dev's Latin is not always great]]

Equipment: Sonitus is also only seen in uniform. He wears the other most common shoulder guard: a curved piece with a flame-like pattern, with a zippered dickie with a pattern of garlands under his hood, his badge on the right side, and a wide leather strap across his chest starting from under his shoulder guard, like Luche and several others. Unlike Luche, Sonitus wears the standard square belt. Like many glaives, he has a sort of brace around his elbows, but wears them on both sides.

Here's another example of this sort of "standard style" on an unnamed glaive:

[[It's interesting how much of the variation in uniforms is part of a set, like the garland/flame guard/thick strap combo here, and how much is individualized. The image of the zipper here done up completely for either him or Luche is hilarious, though.]]

His mostly-shaved hairstyle is very interesting, and fairly unique in what we've seen of Eos.

Like Axis, he uses the standard khopesh-like blade like most glaives do.

Appearances: Sonitus is much more visible in the move than Axis, though he appears in most of the same scenes.

He is also possibly the front stretcher-bearer for Libertus

He's with the glaives in his battle dress, presumably part of the drill, when the treaty is announced, standing next to Luche

He's also present for the briefing and discussion after - he starts out on the far side of Tredd while Drautos is speaking, then moves away from the debate

He's part of hovering ominously with the traitor trio, and starts to flat out run when Tredd nods

He is the most prominent member killing other glaives on the airship, and does most of the killing we see up close -- even removing his hood as he stares down the man he kills so we know who he is

Finally, he's in the dropship with Tredd, and dies there to Petra Fortis and the Crownsguard.

Behind the Scenes: Like Axis, Sonitus's mocap and voice actor is listed as Shaun Yusuf McKee, though he doesn't have his face model listed in the credits.

[[There's so much could-have-been in this movie, it's heartbreaking]]

Fanon tends to have Sonitus as a singer, probably as a pun on his name and to the "virtuosity" described in his official blurb, though that probably refers more to his skill with a blade.

That skill is probably why he does the most killing we see on the airship -- he is good enough to take out his fellow glaives in one-on-one fights, even if he does have the element of surprise.

Not much on either of these men, sorry. We will have a little more meat to dig into for the next ones, but that doesn't mean that these two should be completely neglected. If you want any images of these appearances to back up the analysis, feel free to ask. Thanks as always to the wiki, capsource, and StarJunco for images.

Please tell us if we missed any information about either man, or your own personal theories or headcanons. This fandom is so creative and has put such life into every aspect of this movie and it's fantastic.

[calling4glaives]

Kingsglaive: Legends

Thank you so much for everyone who filled out our survey!

The runaway most popular week is August 7-13! So we will see you then for fic, art, and more featuring the canon, named Glaives!

The prompt set that won in a close vote was:

Day 1: Recruitment Day 2: Training Day 3: Security Day 4: Combat Day 5: Intelligence Day 6: Logistics Day 7: Free Day With alternate prompts Morale and Medical! Each of the alternate prompts can replace any day of your choice, or none.

These prompts are meant to be quite broad. 'Logistics' could be 'why can't I find the thing for so-and-so's party?!' 'travel antics' or '...so I lost the thing, again.' 'Intelligence' can be overhearing something you're not supposed to (and misinterpreting it or using it as juicy gossip >.>) or sleuthing out the mystery of who keeps eating all the peanut butter bars. Etc etc. They do not have to be military-related at all!

We also are planning on making a special badge or award for people who include all the named glaives (Axis, Crowe, Drautos, Libertus, Luche, Nyx, Pelna, Sonitus, Tredd) in their works as more than background characters (think of it as at the level you would tag them on Ao3 or tumblr), so keep that in mind as you're creating!

Of course there's no punishment if you want to write the whole week about Axis, for instance, you just won't get a shiny pic.

We do intend to make some of our traditional deep dives, these focused on the canon glaives, between now and the event. We would have posted some these past weekends but RL has been crazy.

Good luck to all the content creators, and please reach out to us with any questions or clarifications!

[calling4glaives]

Heads Up!

[image courtesy of @capsource ]

Just a friendly reminder, Kingsglaive: Legends is in a little less than a month, starting on August 7! (The summer certainly has flown by)

Good luck to all the content creators, or those working on other projects! Feel free to contact us with any questions you might have, and we're looking forward to seeing what you make.