#lumen order lore

[lorekyle]

FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE LUMEN ORDER - STORK BRIEL

STORK BRIEL

Previous Occupation: Ambassador

Ranking: Lumen

Weapon: Ranger

Proficiency: Scouting

Status: ???

Description: Stork Briel was a noble that grew sick of mingling with the nobility that profits from the Shredder's attacks. He first came across The Lumen Order due to some nobles sneering at their beliefs. At this point, the order lacked a connection to any royal court. Without any sort of validity, they might as well be branded as a merchant militia. The Order simply needed a noble to vouch for them and they were able to gain an audience with the Royal Court. Stork couldn’t care less at first about their beliefs, but Stork always wanted to wipe the smirks off the nobles. So in his petty actions, Stork vouched for them. During his time with the Lumen Order however, his outlook began to change. He noticed the Order were genuine and true, even if his work with them was short. This single moment made Stork become an Ambassador for the Order. With his connections, he is able to initiate global connection for every kingdom with the Order. Stork Briel unfortunately passed away when his carriage was attacked by Shedders. However, House Briel continued to support the Lumen Order and for many years to come

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hmmmmmm what about games that give heavy-metal vibes. If that's too vague, maybe TTRPGs that have the same vibes of DOOM or Quake? Thanks for being an awesome Tumblr page, btw <3

THEME: Hellbusting Games

Thank you so much! I haven't played either of those games, but my roommate sure has! here's what I found.

Warrune, by CurseNightGames.

HELL IS TOTAL FUCKING WAR

WARRUNE is a brutal gridless tactical RPG inspired by Doom, God of War, and extreme metal. Play as badass warriors who have gone to hell to wage eternal war. Vikings vs. Space Marines vs. Demons. DOOM SHIT!

An eclectic system that combines aspects of tactical RPGs, story games, and board games that emulates the frantic combat chess of the latest Doom video games. Warrune is 42 pages, and comes in an easy to read black and white PDF, a red PDF for that old school metal zine feel, and a black and white booklet format to print your own zines at home.

You don’t have any stats in this game; you roll d666 for everything, and count the 6’s vs 1s. More 6’s? You succeed. More 1’s? You fail. Combat is for theatre of the mind but still tactical, with an armoury’s worth of weapons, equipment, and special powers that will help you absolutely obliterate your enemy.

If you want a solo or GM-less option, this game has it! Enemies can be fully automated, giving you a chance to dive into hell either by yourself or without a leader.

qvke borg, by Bird Silhouette Games.

"In a land dying a slow death at the hands of irrefutable prophecy, the thread of reality unravels. As the universe-that-was frays at the seams, more horrifying truths manifest.

Writhing with eldritch hatred is the QVKEMOTHER:

SHUB-NECHURATH reaches out across the cosmic void. Her infinite armies stand poised to bring this realm under her sway. She has heard rumours of the Two-Headed Basilisks and seeks to unseat their power, disprove their apocalypse and usher in one of her own."

QVKE BORG is an unofficial expansion compatible with MÖRK BORG. It’s inspired by the atmospheric, action-packed shooter videogames of the early 1990s. If you ever wanted to bring ROCKET LAUNCHERS into your bleak fantasy role-playing game, this is the book for you.

If you want to play this game you’re going to need MÖRK BORG as well, in order to know how the rules work. Immediately diving into this game will give you a bestiary, followed by character options and lore. This is directly inspired by the game Quake, so it should be able to easily replicate what you’re looking for! If you want an adventure to go along with this, the author has released one called Doorway to Blasphemy, about hunting a heathen down through a vile and overgrown keep.

Hell Grinders, by Bannerless Games.

Another beautiful day of brimstone, heat, fire, blood and guts. You and your buddies buckle your gear, and get ready to shred the forces of Hell’s faces off. 

HELL GRINDERS is a turbo-charged boomer shooter-inspired roleplaying game about killing demons and angels as the baddest bastards around. If you want to flashback to the '90s, ripping and tearing your way through hordes of hideous beasts with your besties while knee-deep in radioactive slime, all to the sounds of heavy metal and industrial guitar licks, this one’s for you.

LUMEN is such a good system for combat, especially if you want your power to feel powerful and competent. Even though there’s only 4 classes, you can mix and match skills and abilities to make a unique character who can kick ass in a way completely unlike your teammates - and LUMEN is also great for team synergy, setting each-other up for success. 

You can die in HELL GRINDERS but that doesn’t mean the fun stops for you - pick up another Grinder on your team and keep going, and hope you can finish the mission before all of your backup team members run out!

Aether Operations, by World Champ Game Co.

Traverse the realms in a forever struggle of imbalance, defeating powerful warlords and cleansing corrupted artifacts. Brutal and dangerous, even the most routine beasts spew damnation at the mere presence of you: the Manipulators. The unique denizens of each realm aspire to purge you in whatever malicious possible ways available in an effort to gain more power and bring the imbalance of reality towards a coming doom.

AeOps is for 2-5 players including a gamemaster with optional rules for gm-less play. Players, as Manipulators embodying Spirit, Brain, Bone, or Meat, use up to seven six-sided dice while the GM uses a diminishing Balance Die, downgrading from d12 to d4 with each stage representing further destabilization of the Realms and a quickly approaching reality cataclysm.

You’re fighting more than demons in this one, but they still want you dead. With GM-less options, this might be a good game to look at if you’re not sure who’s up to GM, or if everyone wants to be a player. Will you be able to prevent a cataclysm? Or will the realms come crashing down around you? You’ll have to play to find out.

HellGuts: Imp Scout Edition, by Mitchell Daily.

Hell is unleashing its demons through unholy rifts between our dimension and theirs. These demons exist only to torment, profane, and destroy human life. They are a powerful scourge that threatens to overwhelm the entire solar system and beyond should they not be stopped. 

Enter the Hellslayers, those exalted to the task of rending fiendish flesh and bathing in blasphemous blood. The Hellslayers are forces of nature standing above the easily slaughtered masses and taking the fight to Hell itself.

HELLGUTS is a gory romp through brutal hellscapes. Go kill some demons, Hellslayer. 

This game depends on dice pools of d12s, with action difficulties ranging from 2 -12. The more successes you get, the more bonuses you get, with your character attributes represented by three “organs: Muscle, Spine and Brain. This is a combat with abstract range and room for description, so your characters can describe how they brutally decimate the legions of hell. 

Right now HellGuts is in playtest, but it already has a couple of adventures, as well as character and enemy keeper resources linked on the page. Tack on some safety tools and you’re ready to go!

24XX Breach, by Adam Schwaninger.

Hyperspace is a back door through Hell, and still the desperate line up for the Company jumpships. You were one of them, back before Hell spat you back out. Now when a jump goes bad, you go in. Breach the derelict, identify the incursion, eliminate the threat, and hope to hell the money’s good.

With quick character generation and quick story generation, you know I gotta recommend a 24XX game. Your character doesn’t just have as specialty that bumps up their skills, they also get Blessings, that give you really cool abilities, such as control over fire, acidic blood, or the ability to teleport through hellspace. Pick up an interesting piece of backstory or two and jump into Hell, ready to kick demon ass and get out as many people as you can. Simple, and sweet, that’s 24XX Breach.

[derekscorner]

Witchy Timed Ramblings Part 3

Multiverse of Meh

Of the things Bayonetta 3 did I actually found the multiverse interesting until they ruined it with the Bayonetta 1 & 2 separation at the end. This games lore isn’t that deep but it is fascinating to me.

If you never bothered I’ll run down for you and explain why I think the multiverse makes sense. In layman’s terms:

The universe was originally a singular thing.

An event escalated into what the games call the “first armageddon” which split that reality into three.

Heaven, Hell, the Chaos between were born.

Jubileus, the supposed creator of the original reality, was put into an eternal slumber but ultimately remains the ruler of Heaven.

Those who rebelled resided in Hell which was born during the split. It’s ruler, queen sheba, was born alongside Hell and rules it even now.

The Chaos between was eventually given to the charge of a supernatural being named Aesir. It was Aesir’s power that gave the world of chaos shape.

Eventually Aesir pities humanity and divides his power among them to grant them free will.

The “left eye” and “right eye” were given to two human clans who eventually become the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches.

Once bequeathed Aesir’s soul splits in two and he disappears.

What Bayonetta 3 adds is that the World of Chaos specifically is made up a multiverse. A near infinite reflection of choices, causality, and timelines born from time travel manipulation which makes sense upon consideration.

It is the “world of chaos” for a reason. While Heaven & Hell (and their denizens) predate everything and thus exist in singularity the world of man does not. There is no true order to it all with Aesir gone so there exist as many reflections of Earth as there are humans to shape it’s future.

There’s also other pocket dimensions and spaces between all these multiverse, heaven, and hell. Purgatory is the most notable and is used often in Bayo 1 & 2.

Multi-Issues

The issue Bayo 3 brought after introducing the multiverse was two fold I think. I did not expect them to spend much time in the ones we visited nor give much time to the Cereza’s inside them. There’s only so much you can cover in that regard.

The issues it did bring up with splitting Bayonetta 1 & 2 into separate worlds. 2 references from 1 heavily to the point that we see Jubileus’ failed vessel next to Balder when he dies quite literally as the second game starts.

This is an issue because Jubileus, like Rodin, predates the multiverse. There is only one. 2 treats itself like a true sequel to 1 and the Cereza in 2 is treated as the same Cereza from Bayonetta 1.

Claiming they’re different cheapens how well 2 fixed and improved 1′s story but you could normally chalk it up to similar universes. Just a hair’s width in change happened there...except Jubileus happened.

Jubileus can’t exist in both worlds. This point is broken even further if the Bayonetta anime is canon. The only way I know to rectify that writing error is to claim that Jubileus is still alive.

Balder attempted to revive her using a statue as a physical vessel with the ‘eyes of the world’. So if you ignore Sheba punching the literal soul of Jubileus into the sun you can just say the revival failed and her true form yet slumbers in Heaven.

The second issue is the Eyes of the World themselves.

Eyes and Eves

While they offered the World of Chaos stability they also left it open. Balder nearly revived god using the eyes which would’ve destroyed the Trinity of Realities and Loptr nearly regained his lost powers as the god Aesir to enslave the Multiverse.

If you possessed the eyes you were godlike and this left the world at risk so Loki chose to gamble on humanities free will and used his power as Lord Aesir’s “good half” to erase them. This proved to work as humanities will kept the world turning.

Bayonetta 3 then spits on this I feel. Before the eyes were the worlds cornerstone but now the “Arch-Eve” is which is an even worse situation if you think about it.

Kill a Bayonetta (or Rosa or Jeanne) of a world and it just collapses. No rhythm or reason to it at all. It just fucking shatters and disappears into the void. Singularity only got as far as he did due to how messed up that system is.

It also ruins the free will notion of Bayonetta 2. The world shouldn’t need such pillars anymore. It is what it is now so to throw that out for an even weaker, if not completely undefined, concept as an individual that anchors reality feels insulting....or perhaps lazy.

They couldn’t think of a real reason for universes to be collapsing so they made one but didn’t bother to explain it. It irks me on a core level and now I have to live with it...I think?

I hate it yet the worlds seem fine once Singularity is dead alongside all the Cereza’s. First the world collapses if Bayonetta dies but now it’s okay so long as she and singularity are both dead?

Its such a headache...

==========

For the rest of the Witchy Timez Ramblings go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/Witchy-Timed

[vullcanica]

D&D classes (and some races) for my OCs by popular demand:

Nikodemus - Fuck-off old human wizard. Either School of Necromancy or Transmutation, with perhaps some multiclass dips into mystic (Order of the Immortal). Power over energy, life and death either way.

Avita - Sorceress, Divine Soul origin. Aasimar blood dormant on her father Nikodemus' side. Some dips into druid and warlock levels too.

Silas - CENTAUR DRUID. Circle of the Shepherd centaur druid, to be precise. He's so cinderella coded AND half-critter anyway, should be allowed to talk to critters 😔 Favoured wildshape (just to vibe in) is an elk. Fox companion.

Daniel - One of the legendarily hilarious examples of bad character creation in D&D. A posh, uptight and modest half-elf bard. Zero rizz. College of Glamour. Violinist. Yes I know a low charisma bard is essentially useless, he fits the bill. Gets his hands on some Tomes of Leadership eventually, literally reads himself into confidence.

Sally - Human fighter, close quarters shooter style. Gunslinger archetype (it's an unofficial subclass but give me a break). You know she has that heat on her.

Vanya - Vampire Rogue but make it the Inquisitive or Mastermind archetypes and pair that with some scholarly background like Investigator or Anthropologist.

Constance - Guardian Paladin. Watchers oath. I'll only tentatively touch on race for Constance and... warforged? But don't ask why he looks so human. Don't ask who forged him either.

Angel - Green dragonborn rogue turned ranger (long story..). Unarmed fighting style (who needs weapons when you fuckin lorge). Poison breath fits with his original lore somewhat.

And uh. Lumen's likely some sort of boss monster, she really doesn't fit into any class OR race. Just a funky guy in your way. Very happy to be released from the mortal coil and back into the cosmic.

This doesn't mean i'm giving them all a d&d verse (although.. do tell me if something catches your eye), it's just a fun little thing i'm doing!

[osovereign]

❛ ♚ — HEADCANON : knight of ratatosk.

my blog takes place over six thousand years after the events of tales of symphonia / knight of ratatosk and two thousand years post-tales of phantasia ( which is four thousand years post-tales of symphonia itself ): i am someone who did not like knight of ratatosk or what it did towards the main cast of tales of symphonia, but as far as lore / world building this is what my blog considers truth in relation to kratos' canon.

to begin ratatosk is a being as old, if not older than life on aselia itself ( still younger than noishe ): the next centurion spirits are ( in the order of creation by ratatosk ): tenebrae ( darkness ), lumen ( light ) solum ( earth ), aqua ( water ), ventus ( wind ), ignis ( fire ), glacies ( ice ), and, tonitus ( lighting ): ratatosk himself was a being created by the summon spirits, specifically origin. while, they do not control mana for the world they do serve the purpose of controlling the monsters that embody their chosen element. unlike summon spirits, centurion exist in another realm, that is outside the reach of regular aselians and their original purpose was to be used as messengers on behalf of the respective summon spirit they serve under, to humanity. in terms of the power level of the centurion, they are far weaker than kratos in his current highly evolved state ( as each of the summon spirits, including origin and maxwell bestowed upon them 25% of their power each, but that was a rough estimate as summon spirits are mana itself and their powess cannot be tied to the human scale of understanding ): yet, it can be stated that kratos is stronger than any other being on aselia. his only rival being noishe ( once he fully finishes his evolution ): and very much on par with maxwell, specifically as his incarnation, milla maxwell.

the ginnungagap, is sealed off. maxwell and the other summon spirits placed a concealment spell upon it and its guardians upholding that spell the centurion spirits--they do not and have no control over regulating mana--that is solely the job of the summon spirits, each serving as a personal assistant to their respective summon element. the only other way into the ginnungagap is through the usage of, niflheim, the only other link into the world of demons. however, the book is in kratos' possession. before his return to aselia many years ago it had been entrusted in the care and protection of the sage siblings and then later, their chosen descendants.

emil has never really existed. the person known as emil was simply a cover and/or spilt personality for aster ( who's soul still managed to survive the possession and lay dormant inside of ratatosk while he used aster's original body as a host of sorts ): however, ratatosk is fully suppressing it. thus, making the weakling known as emil and from this 'emil's eyes are always red': for either 'personality' cover is still ratatosk. think of it as using any means to gain the upper hand in any situation.

in regards to the game's end and the choices given: 'emil' slays himself. serving as both a way to cut all ties and contact with marta and allowing him to just exist as ratatosk once more ( in doing so, it manages to spilt aster’s soul from himself and allows himself to be sealed along with ritcher ): the two of them directly act as spiritual medium between the centurion spirits, the summon spirits, and kratos. aster and ritcher live within the ginnungagap’s one-off pocket dimension crafted by origin. a special shoutout to @asterites who let me info dump and traded ideas about this while on discord lol so i could finally flesh out some more world building ♡

[vacantgodling]

I've been getting whiplash going from The Divine to TGoC; I figured out how to transition from the Eclipse arc to the Gems of the Crowns Arc, changed Freddie's name to Isak, established the death order of the Lumens, nailed down the plot for the first two TGoC books, adjusted the solo attacks for the champion forms, discovered that Nils' love languages are physical touch and quality time.

Yeah we've been on a roll !

As for real life my dad is taking me to Ikea to buy a shelf next week :>

How have you been King ?

I NEED TO HEAR ABOUT ALL OF THIS LORE IM KICKING MY FEET 🌚🌚

i’m super hype that things have been ROLLING for you lately we love when the creative beam just beams!!

what sparked changing freddie’s name? just because or bc of the meaning or? :0 and i looooove learning character’s love languages it makes me very gooey to then sprinkle it into like every interaction lol

ooooo a shelf is nice! i should get more shelves to hang in my place but it’s hard finding ones i don’t have to drill into the wall 💀

i’ve been vibing? been honestly pretty sad lately that’s why i’ve kinda been… lack of creativity and barely talking and feeling some type of way but i’m gonna assume all the fun hormone flux’s are happening which is fucking me over lol. todays been pretty good in itself tho! work bought us food and i may not have to take the bus home today 🌚 just trying to find the #little things

[asleepinawell]

Hope in Bayo 3: Into the Bayoverse we get the universe where she's a Lumen Sage

technically this should be possible given the extremely vague lore from the games iirc. like they use the same base magic force and I think it's mostly a matter of training and whether they get their extra power from demons or some form of paradiso powers (sages don't always make pacts, or not in the same way)

kamiya has given conflicting information about whether the two orders and their powers have to be locked to gender which eww I hope not. gendered magic is the worst concept ever and tends to ignore gender identity in favor of biologic sex and pretends nb people don't exist which, again, eww

I'm still very 👀 about that one line rosa had in 2 about bayo awakening the eyes (plural) of the world. like might have been a translation thing or just the normal vague bayo lore that you have to take with a grain of salt but it's an interesting idea. bi-onetta can do both

[jokermoreau]

Ironsworn: Starforged OC. → Halia Ripley

Pilot of the starship. She often acts before she thinks, and has a penchant for getting into troublesome situations. Her intentions are always good, but her methods are hit or miss. She travels with Juno, her companion glowcat; Severnius Mihara, the lore-hunting healer; and Tripp Adler, the scoundrel diplomat. 

Orphaned at a young age in the Forge, Halia learned to fly ships in her teenage years under the tutelage of Vesper Nazari, a well-known bounty hunter. She traveled as a part of his crew for over a decade, finally earning status as his co-pilot and second-in-command. 

However, her desire to make a name for herself often lead to her butting heads with Nazari. Ultimately, she betrayed him and stole his ship in order to go on a rogue mission in hopes of tracking down an ancient artifact from before the cataclysm. The mission was ultimately a failure. With the ship in disrepair, she was only able to make it back to Lumen Reach Sector 1 before crashlanding on Theseus. 

Alone and with her dignity in tatters, she made her way to Silvana, the largest settlement on the temperate planet. Known for it’s entertainment district and arms smuggling rings, she knew that she’d need to find a gig and fast, if she wanted to get off-planet before Nazari could track the ship’s signature.

She accepted a position in a smuggling ring which provided her with the ability to pilot ships once again. It was on one of those smuggling missions off-planet that she met Severnius. The two of them became fast friends, and she left her station in the ring in order to help him on his quest for a cure.

More recently, they met and welcomed Tripp Adler into their small, rag-tag crew. They are currently on Jotunn, near Meridian, assisting their associate Zybil with tracking down stolen supplies and a relic of some importance. This has brought them head to head with the splinter group The Bleak.

campaigning with @cardboardhyperfix (Severnius) & @tannerdoesnothing (Tripp).

PSD by @nuclearstorms

[penitentluminary]

About

A brief list of titles and nicknames: The Pale King, Wyrm, Pale Wyrm, The Ashen Exile, Ashen, Thoughtbringer, Willgranter, Fork, Everglow.

True name, given only to a trusted few: Lumen.

Species: Ascended Wyrm/Higher Being of Free Will, Light, Magic, Knowledge and Sapience.

Gender: Somewhat loosely masculine, answers to he/him but would also accept they/them or it/its.

Sex: Intersex.

Orientation: Pan/poly.

Combat:

Prefers to use magic, but possesses a Hallownest equivalent of the Bloodborne Whirligig Saw – essentially a buzzsaw on a stick

Uses a variety of mostly buzzsaw-based attacks with a few conjured greatnails in for good measure

Will try to dazzle with bright flashes of light

Can and will burrow

Can and will attack/evade from the air

Might sometimes predict a foe’s actions, but doing so takes time just as Focusing does.

Powerful sonar and loudass shrieks both options for sonic attack

May conjure a magic construct based on his old form to fling at his opponent

Greater urgency may lead to ditching set attack patterns

Avoidance – Plan A for dealing with sufficiently intimidating foes is seduction/temptation, may involve a dance-based display. This may also be used as a distraction mid-combat.

Some strengths:

Qualifies as a god

Can use extensive magic and enough sonar that it can mess someone up a bit close range (kinda like a sperm whale’s)

Can awaken creatures to sapience

Passively generates magic and soul just as a ground state of being, he’s not going to run out

Can self-heal

Hard to kill due to being a higher being

Limited foresight

Extensive knowledge

Expert parkour/freerunning equivalent (Path of Pain was his personal gymnasium)

Has enough void in his system due to inhalation to communicate with vessels through the void

Some weaknesses:

Weighed down by guilt/regrets, stress and sleep deprivation

Prone to overthinking and/or missing crucial details

Foresight is limited

Has some void in his system due to inhalation, can cause pain/disorientation depending on circumstance

Reckless/thrillseeking (Path of Pain was his personal gymnasium)

Kind of wary of orange and moths at this point.

Personality:

As the Pale King, he was confident to the point of being blinded to his own faults, sure that he could handle whatever challenges rulership threw his way. It was exciting, being able to raise a kingdom from scratch, alongside another Higher Being he had grown to adore with a similar passion to that he held for learning and creating new things. Now, while the core of who he is hasn’t changed, he carries a heavy weight of guilt and grief, no longer considering himself fit to rule or deserving of the company of those he cared for. Tired and somewhat emotionally wrung out, he no longer knows what to do with himself, and as far as he knows, there’s no way back.

Background/History:

His status as an exile is accidentally self-imposed, a condition stemming from a realisation made. Though he was far more resilient against void-tainting than mortal bugs under his command, he was not immune to it entirely. After a while, enough built up in his system that he began to be able to hear the young Pure Vessel through the void.

Learning that they were alive and a child trying hard to pretend at an emptiness they didn’t possess came as a shock. Given what he thought he knew about the void and its effects on living bugs, the Wyrm had believed the vessels would be undead from hatching, possessing no true identity or life. Clearly, this was not true - and with that knowledge, it was evident that the vessel plan was doomed from the start.

The plan had never been a first or even second resort, more a last desperate attempt to find some way to preserve his kingdom. It didn’t sit well with he or the White Lady, but everything else they’d tried had failed, their kingdom dying around them. Surely, they had thought, using Higher Being eggs not yet hatched would provide at least a chance at a vessel both empty enough and sturdy enough that the source of the infection could be contained, while any that didn’t seem quite hardy enough could be left to their undeath in peace. If they weren’t undead though, if they had been alive… Suddenly what had seemed to be a heavy but bearable cost was no longer that, and all for nothing.

In something of a panicked attempt to salvage what he could, he ordered an evacuation. Let the Radiance keep whoever wouldn’t heed the call, but preserve what he could of his kingdom elsewhere, ingrain the same magic that permitted them their sapience and give the Pure Vessel (now named Hallow) to the White Lady to Raise since the plan was in shambles

Then, returning after leaving a note explaining what he couldn’t bring himself to say aloud, he unsealed the Abyss in hopes that the other vessels had simply entered some form of hibernation, as he had not actively struck them down. In the back of his mind though, he already knew what he was going to find.

Surrounded by the evidence of his greatest mistake, if there were any survivors, he didn’t notice them in the process of attempting to hurl himself into the dream realm to act as a barrier and hopefully keep the Radiance from following where his kingdom had gone. Whether because of his void-tainting, sleep deprivation or some other cause, that wasn’t where he ended up.

Trivia:

Constantly emitting at least a faint glow

If he becomes flustered, rainbow hues start to enter that glow, and his wings may buzz a bit

Enjoys puzzles and lore

His relationship with the White Lady was never one of strict monogamy on either side

Obligate carnivore but can digest most edible things anyway

Will sometimes eat rocks. These not only aid in the digestion of anything too hard-shelled, but also provide the basis for pale ore forming in the Wyrm's stomach. It grows colder as it forms, and eventually becomes uncomfortable, necessitating that it be regurgitated. The chilly ore can then be used to help preserve meat, or maintain coolness in the summer. After a time though, the chill becomes minimal, and the ore is passed on to smiths.

Was granted one of the fruits termed Isma’s Tears by the knight they were named for.

Has a previously broken Crystal Heart he picked up to soothe himself by tinkering with it, and has since discovered the nyooms.

Wyrms may potentially be distantly related to bobbit worms.

While his speaking voice is usually expressed light and soft, he’s quite capable of getting quite deep and quite loud. Singing, the closest human comparison for the sort of range and notes he can reach may be Geoff Castellucci.

[silvershears]

Alright, listen. This book honks. And I want to talk about why. No, I'm not getting into the book review scene, but please indulge me.

I never had any intention of reading this book. I'll be up front with that.

A new coworker is a newish fantasy reader who, upon discovering that I am a long-time fantasy reader who also writes and has some vague publishing background, asked, "Would you read this book and tell me what you think? I haven't read it yet, but I'm curious to hear your opinion."

Sure. Why not. I was only 50 pages into the book I was reading at the time, so why not put that on pause and give this a go? This became infinitely more complicated by the fact that my new coworker is acquaintances with his wife, and then add in that I've met this author, had a bad interaction, and decided I never wanted to read his books. Nevertheless, I was determined to give it a go anyway, and I wavered for a while on whether to even include that background here.

Wasn't I already predisposed to not like this book? Perhaps. But this book was an excellent learning opportunity, if not a good story, and I think it's important for us all to approach books we don't like this way: Each time I ran hard up against my own disgust, I paused to ask myself why I felt that way. What was it about the story, the writing, the character, the plot, the world that made me react this way, and how did that interact with the author's intent?

First of all, a disclaimer: This will have spoilers. If you intended to check this book out, perhaps don't continue further until you've read it yourself. Maybe then come back and compare your experience to mine.

> The worldbuilding is based on two-dimensional lore.

The world is comprised of what appears to be three human races split along religious lines. The three sibling gods each have their own race of followers with some individuals inheriting the magical power of their god. One is a magic associated with air and water with a father/older brother god figure; the next is a mother/middle sister associated with fire and light; the third is a little brother associated with... the hard labor of forging? It's unclear what he originally stood for, but by the time the immense lore dumps are complete, we see the little brother's transformation from a highly skilled craftsperson who takes immense pleasure in crafting gifts to his siblings into a petty, angry god bent on chaos and destruction of his siblings' domains.

What brings on this transformation? The gift of a song.

He is so enraged that his siblings gave him a song instead of a physical item like he gave them that he goes into a rage, evicts himself from the metaphorical house, and goes to live in the bowels of the world where he can forge in peace. He goes on to create all the various fantasy creature races in the world like dragons, fae, constructs, shadow demons, etc.

And his name? Keos. He's the chaos god and his name is Keos. I can forgive a poor name here an there—perhaps he never said them out loud—but add in that the sister's light/fire magic is called lumen—y'know, like what lightbulbs are measured in—and I have concerns.

Naming problems aside, the entire world's history and the racial relations all stem from a god's immensely childish reaction to a gift. I am well aware that many deity lore can be goofy or based on overblown reactions to things, but it feels so thin and flimsy that to prop the whole world and its cultures on top of it could not stand.

> Ableism is pervasive in the culture.

The story starts off with a prologue, which, as a concept, is not inherently a problem, but it was my first clue that this was not the story for me. In this world, being disfigured in any way physically marks you as an agent of the chaos god. Either these agents are killed or ostracized in order to better mitigate any mischief and evil they may commit or bring to their community. We are immediately thrust into this intensely ableist world with the birth of a child missing a hand and part of a forearm. The parents are killed and the baby taken to the woods to die.

I hate it already.

The author, being the sort of person to review their own book, states in his lengthy review: "Whatever you do, don't think for a moment that I'm blind to the tropes I've chosen to use. They serve a purpose and are conscious choices."

If this is the case—that he's aware of his tropes and they are purposeful—he must also be aware of the statement he's making by having all disabled and disfigured be labeled as evil ne'er-do-wells. Because this story takes place almost entirely within the small town of Chaenbalu where these beliefs are rampant, we're lead to believe that this is the way the whole world works. We get one glimpse of the outside world where it mentions a larger prevalence of disabled and disfigured individuals, but it's so brief and not at all explored that our understanding of the world goes mostly unchanged.

Is this part of Call's subversion of tropes? Perhaps Chaenbalu is indeed a backwards town, holding on to old traditions that the rest of the world has left behind, but the characters are so isolated they wouldn't know—and therefore we don't know whether that's the case. Bad news: It's so distasteful that I'm not interested in reading more to find out if it's just Chaenbalu that's the issue. I'm so put off by the whole concept.

> Every female character is cardboard, and they all die.

Centered in Chaenbalu is the Academy, a school with two gendered factions: the witwomen and the Master Avatars. (You'll notice that the sexism starts right off the bat with the fact that Masters get capitalized but witwoman does not.) The witwomen are trained midwives and kidnappers, sent out into the world to collect children and bring them back to the Academy as a "reap" or class of new students. The students are told that their parents submitted them to the Academy's care in a boarding-school-type thing, but that's spoiled in the prologue as being untrue.

Unfortunately, we don’t get a chance to really explore what it is the witwomen are up to, or what any of the women are like. There is only one female character with any amount of on-screen time, and even that is negligible. She acts as nothing more than a plot device, which I’ll talk about later, functioning only as an object for the main character to lust after. Anytime she is described, it is with delicate detail paid to her soft, plump, pink lips, the breasts, the hips. At every turn, she’s sexualized—and perhaps that’s due to the main character’s gaze being the narration we receive, but even in the epilogue scene when our main character is not present, the author continues to describe her this way, so perhaps it’s not a function of the main character at all. She receives no further development than who her father is, what her body is like, and how much she dislikes those marked by Keos, aka, the disabled and disfigured.

The other witapprentices and witwomen appear for two scenes, and by the end of the book, they are all dead in the midst of an attack on the Academy that serves only to move the main character's story forward. Without this attack, he would never have a story worth telling in a book. Without their deaths, the attack would not have happened. And even the romantic interest is faux-killed in order to provoke a specific emotional reaction in the main character to move the character's development forward.

> The characters are shallow.

While I can't guarantee that this problem is due to the two-dimensional worldbuilding, I personally feel they're probably related. There are a couple of friend characters around and a mentor that are all lacking in development, but let me focus on the main character.

The male students train at the Academy with the goal of becoming avatars, and then later, Master Avatars. As avatars, they are expected to go out on secret missions to retrieve magical artifacts and, if the artifact is a "dark artifact,"—that is, if it's built to do harm to another person, and by lore belongs to Keos—murder its owner.

The main character is one such student, testing to become an avatar, and worse yet, if he doesn't pass his test this go-around, he'll never be able to become an avatar and he'll instead be relegated to steward status, taking care of the upkeep of the Academy. And of course, no one wants to be a steward! You'd be a servant to everyone, and where's the action-packed fun in that?

But our main character has a motivation even more powerful than the dread of being a steward: a girl. Not just any girl. The headmaster's daughter.

To be fair, this book is not advertised as a romance. Which is good, because it's not a romance. The main character has a deadly crush. He even has a promise ring forged, ready to give it to her when he passes his test and becomes an avatar. His love for this girl is so powerful for him that it's quite literally all he thinks about, but because she's the headmaster's daughter and is also a witapprentice, he hardly ever sees her, and the times we do get them in the same scene, it's plain this relationship will literally never work out.

She may not know about his missing half an arm thanks to a magical prosthetic, but it's clear she holds on to the old ableist traditions with positive glee and with the same strength as a hippo's jaw. While our main character pines after her and even eventually when they are engaged, we are telegraphed again and again that it will never last, that she is a horrible person, and that she will never accept him with his missing hand. We know this and we watch the main character acknowledge this so many times that it is a failing of the plot that there is even a chance for her to betray him.

Which she does, of course.

This goes back to the author's assertion that he's aware of his tropes and to trust him in his plan. He sets up a male lead and throws the only female character at him, establishing the possibility for a romance—a common trope—and molds that romance into the core motivation for the male lead. She is his reason for wanting to succeed, and he waxes poetical about how terrible it would be if A) someone else got her first, or B) he didn't pass the test and he couldn't be with her. They must fall in love, yes? The author also tries to convince us that she is a likeable person, a person worthy of his devotion, all the while foreshadowing with a heavy hand that she's, frankly, ableist, racist, and a terrible person who is not at all worthy of his devotion. Ah-hah, a subversion! They are not at all meant to be together!

The problem is that she repeatedly shows her hand as a garbage human in front of him an innumerable amount. We the audience dislike her so intensely that to have her as the main character’s sole motivation is laughable. Perfectly inconceivable. A true weakness in the foundation of the plot that’s so profound that if the story struggled to stand on its weak worldbuilding, it almost certainly cannot stand on this. Her betrayal is so blatantly obvious and inevitable that his surprise is outrageous, and his hurt comes not with sympathy from us but absolute incredulity.

> The author’s prejudices taint the writing, and the writing needs editing.

I won’t talk too much in depth about a scene in which the romantic interest is stunned and the main character performs a grossly sexualized search of her body, but I will point out that later, the author writes, “he relived the seconds they had shared in the shadows...” There was no sharing of moments. She was stunned. There was nothing romantic about it.

Later, the main character is sent out on an assassination mission. The author writes, “He wondered what kind of a man he was about to kill - good or evil, father or bachelor - and whether the man would struggle.” Ah yes, an unmarried man. The opposite of having children. Of course, how silly of me to consider that being unmarried precludes me from having children, or that being married means I must have children.

At another time, a character who is well known to wear an eyepatch is described as “winking at him with his one eye.” I’m sorry, author, but that’s just blinking. I could have given him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he’d forgotten this character is missing an eye and wears an eyepatch if not for the “with his one eye.” The author knew what he was doing.

These moments aside, many scenes dwell in the melodramatic, letting emotion set the scenes awash in a horribly garish light that fails to give the scenes their weight. The point of view was pretty tight to the main character, but with odd moments where it split away to document events that happened outside of that character’s view, even within scenes where the main character is present. It felt a bit sloppy. Passive voice is rampant, with sentences and whole scenes in dire need of better editing. “Myjun was walking in step with her father...” “His flyssa was caught by Annev’s flamberge...” It made the writing dull—hobbled by too many words that meant too little, and too specific of words amidst their plain neighbors that made it dissonant.

> The plot is overstretched.

This book is 576 pages. At page 250, something occurred that made me think that perhaps I’d just witnessed the inciting incident and that now the plot would begin. At page 330, I thought the same thing. At page 400, I thought the same thing. At page 525, I realized with a jolt that I was witnessing what this book would consider the climax, and I could put what happened at page 400 the inciting incident. Until that point, there was no clear indication of what the plot actually was, and there were at least 300 pages of unnecessary story.

I understand from a bit of research that this is intended to be the first of a four part series. Realizing that puts the entire plot of this book into perspective. This climax is the point of no return for the series, with a 500-page lead up. With a bit better editing and a cleaner line, this book could have been immensely less frustrating. Perhaps all these things that bother me are the point of the book—perhaps the next books in the series will overthrow some of these expectations as the main character ventures outside Chaenbalu and sees what the rest of the world is really like. Perhaps.

Do I trust that the author will do that? No.

Am I interested enough to continue reading this series to see if it gets better? No. Do I hope it does? Sincerely. I may not like the author, and I may not have liked this book, but there are people who do and I respect that. I hope it meets their satisfaction. It’s not for me.

Do I regret reading this over the last month instead of the book I was reading and will go back to reading? Surprisingly, no. I hated it, don’t get me wrong, but I also learned a lot about why I hate it—what made it not work—and I think there’s value there, too.

[lorekyle]

FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE LUMEN ORDER - MARGARET AND ELISE STOLA

MARGARET AND ELISE STOLA

Previous Occupation: Naval Merchants

Ranking: Lumen

Weapon: Sword and Gun

Proficiency: Swordsmanship and Sharpshooter

Status: Active and ???

Description: The Stola sisters were seafaring merchants, they managed the transportation of precious materials and imported goods from various cities of Bakonaua. Ever since the arrival of the Shedders. Merchants tend to avoid or even outright cross out the option of using the sea to export their goods. While it is safe during the day, at night, the sea-based Shedders often prowl the murky depths. Rumor has it that Shedders were able to capsize frigates, leaving nothing but stray planks.

The Stola sister’s involvement with the Lumen Order started with the sisters meeting Emeritus. For a while, The Stola’s discovered a way to light up their ships with the use of a bioluminescent algae. However, the algae itself is toxic to the touch. While they could think of a way to attach them to their ship, it was simply not enough for their funds.

Emeritus discovered their predicament and offered to fund their research in return they must offer their results to the Lumen Order. They happily accepted them especially if it meant saving their business. The result was a small ship but with transparent tubes filled with bioluminescent algae around it. Currently Elise Stola manages the seafaring business, however her status with the Order is still unknown. Margaret Stola on the other hand, handles the Lumen Order’s seafaring affairs.

[an-avid-reader]

I am Number Four (#1) - Pittacus Lore

my rating: 3/5 stars

John is Lorien - an alien species hidden amongst humanity. As he comes of age, his powers develop, which inevitably attracts the Mogadorians. But do not fret! There are 8 other Loriens, hidden amongst the humans under aliases, and they are here to protect Planet Earth from being invaded by the Mogadorians. Each Lorien is numbered, and John is Four. Unfortunately for him, the Mogadorians have found and killed One, Two, and Three in order to stop the Loriens from serving their duty and breaking their charms. Four knows he is next and must be careful with his relationships and who he can trust.

Link to Goodreads || Spoiler-free review below

Short review: wish I read this when I was in middle school (I have completed the series, and I’m going to tell you that I didn’t enjoy the series as a whole, but as a pre-teen, I would have been all over this series!)

Long review: I’ve been meaning to read this series for a while (I didn’t even know there was a film lmao) - I love a good sci-fi novel and this one seemed to be different to me since there’s a whole cast of characters as we go along.

Four - or John, is your typical main character. It’s really weird because there isn’t anything too special about him?? He’s seen in your main middle grade books, like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson; you know, male, straight, troublemaker, main character, special/chosen one trope. Yet there was something that separates him?? Ya know what I mean? Especially in this first book, his values and goals are quite clear. Or maybe it’s because he’s a ‘late bloomer’ - it took him a long time to actually develop his powers, and when he did...well he wasn’t happy...they were “boring” and “useless” (he can glow/lights - Lumen power). Anyways - his intentions are quite clear in the book, and it is mainly from his perspective. What I really liked was that you could tell when he cared about others - genuinely (such as Henri - his mentor, if you will). This made him more consciousness of his decisions, even if he ended up doing stupid things like fighting the school jock/jerk.

ANYWAYS. Due to the way the book is written, and John’s personality, the authors made some things pretty obvious; such as the love interest. To be honest, it was hella cringy when we first meet Sarah. It’s like the authors were trying to mold a teenager’s perspective when it comes to looking at girls, and it made me sort of uncomfortable?? Not to mention felt unrealistic, but I mean, that’s middle grade (Imma let that slide). In this first book, there is some development in their relationship, like dropping the bomb of “oh btw, I’m an alien” - and Sarah was just cool with it. I was just surprised that she didn’t ask more questions, maybe she was blinded by love. You know, as a 15/16 (how old are they???) year-old would.

I did appreciate Four’s friendship with Sam; Sam is the ‘side-kick’, though he doesn’t like to be thought of that way. His story is actually heavily embedded into Four’s life, so their friendship is taken onto another level. The three of them - Four, Sarah, and Sam made a great team and I liked the balance that was offered in their three-way friendship (/ friendship + relationship), despite being quick. Lowkey would have been okay if it was just Four and Sam -- I found that Sarah didn’t contribute too much to the story!

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty confused at the start of the book; we’re just thrown into action, however, it’s from Three’s point of view. Suddenly, we’re seeing the world from Four’s point of view. One thing is clear: Four and Henri have a special relationship, despite how secretive Henri is. I’m not sure how they lived throughout all these years without getting caught - I don’t recall that the government knows about Loriens/Mogadorians/aliens, yet they were able to acquire endless fake IDs and move swiftly from one location to another and live as their alias without an issue. I would’ve have liked to read more about the psychological effects (even if it was just a short paragraph). I think that would have enriched the story a little bit more as well as offer something different to the middle grade genre.

Honestly, if I hadn’t won the giveaway (which kindly included the whole series), I’m not sure if I would have continued the series. The first book only started to pick up towards the end, which is why I carried on reading. Again, I wished I had read this earlier on as I think I would have appreciated these books a little bit more.

***I know there was a scandal with the authors at some point, but that does not affect my review. Likewise, I did win these books through a giveaway, but my thoughts are purely my own.

If you’ve read this book (or series), I’d like to know your thoughts! Did you enjoy it or not? Let’s chat! =D

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you are having a formidable day, wherever you are in the world!

~ Cassandra / an-avid-reader

[sonjaquinngames]

Long Live the Queen - Kevan Earl of Io Happy Marriage Guide

*pro-lumen, competent lumen queen with no rebellions, threaten Ixion, save Briony, don’t catch Lucille, defeat Togami in a lumen duel

Week 1 (Depressed): Presence all day

Play with toys

Week 2 (Afraid): Court Manners all day

Let her stay

Play with toys

Week 3 (Afraid): Court Manners & Flattery

Hold still

Attend service

Week 4 (Afraid): Flattery all day

Attend Court

Week 5 (Yielding): Presence all day

Don’t wear it

Visit Julianna

Week 6 (Yielding): Composure & Elegance

Call the Guards

Talk to father

Week 7 (Yielding): Composure & Elegance

Visit Julianna

What drastic action?

Week 8 (Yielding): Composure & Elegance

Change into coronet

Play with toys

Week 9 (Yielding): Presence all day

Visit Treasury

Week 10 (Yielding): Court Manners & Public Speaking

Bluff/Intimidate

Threaten to attack

Visit Julianna

Do it

Week 11 (Yielding): Public Speaking all day

Attend Court

Week 12 (Yielding): Internal Affairs all day

Change into Tea Dress

Sneak Out

Week 13 (Yielding): Foreign Intelligence all day

Execute her

Attend Court

Week 14 (Yielding): Accounting & Lore

Attend Court

Week 15 (Yielding): Meditation & Divination

Attend Court

Week 16 (Yielding): Meditation & Divination

I will parade and make a speech

Attend Court

Week 17 (Yielding): Meditation & Divination

Erwin, Earl of Ishtar

Attend Court

Week 18 (Yielding): Lore all day

Shame her with silent scorn

Assassins

More guards

Sneak out

Week 19 (Depressed): Lore & Divination

Keep them the same

Attend Service

Week 20 (Yielding): Divination & Ciphering

Imprison him

Sneak out

Week 21 (Depressed): Ciphering all day

Sneak out

Week 22 (Depressed): Sense Magic & Resist Magic

Leave him with Arisse

Sneak out

Week 23 (Willful): Wield Magic & Sense Magic

Accept her

Attend Service

Week 24 (Willful): Resist Magic & Wield Magic

Visit Treasury

Week 25 (Willful): Sense Magic & Resist Magic

Hire more soldiers

Attend Service

Week 26 (Willful): Sense Magic & Wield Magic

That’s hilarious!

Ignore it

Sneak out

Week 27 (Willful): Resist Magic & Wield Magic

Go to Sudbury

Attend Service

Week 28 (Willful): Sense Magic & Resist Magic

Side with Gwenelle

Offer to help

Attend Service

Week 29 (Willful): Wield Magic & Reflexes

Ask about Briony’s parents

Visit Dungeons

Week 30 (Willful): Reflexes all day

Attend Court

Week 31 (Willful): Reflexes all day

Play with toys

Week 32 (Willful): Swords all day

Employment

Save it for later

Sports

Week 33 (Angry): Swords all day

Mounted Parade

Attend Court

Week 34 (Angry): Decoration all day

Recruit Soldiers

Stay in the capital

Attend Court

Week 35 (Yielding): Decoration all day

Sneak out

Week 36 (Depressed): Composure & Elegance

Accept his terms

Magic sword

Walk in the gardens

Week 37 (Neutral): Composure & Elegance

Attend Court

Week 38 (Yielding): Presence & Meditation

An extravagant feast

Visit Julianna

Order her to explain

Week 39 (Yielding): Meditation & Lore

Kevan

Visit Julianna

Keep pushing

Week 40 (Angry): Divination & Novan History

[houdini-the-second]

Jeanne is the literal best.

I don’t see this get mentioned often, but contextually, it’s very likely Jeanne purposefully lost to Bayonetta in their fight for the Left Eye.

Jeanne is referred to as being as strong as, if not, stronger than, Bayonetta. Gameplay wise, she’s also a harder hitter, further proof that the in-game lore isn’t just bullshitting; Jeanne is genuinely stronger.

So why would she lose to Bayo on purpose?

To allow her to live freely, of course. Having the Left Eye in her possession allowed Bayo to become a integral part of the Umbran Witches. Jeanne may have legitimately sacrificed the greatest Umbran treasure to ensure her personal greatest Umbran treasure could live beyond bars and it’s frankly not something we talk about enough in this fandom.

Like, if that doesn’t scream love, I don’t know what does.

Also, as tough and aggressive as she acts, her actions, and even her Cutie J alter ego, speak volumes about her heroism and personality.

Imagine how pure you have to be, as the one child out of all the Umbran, that chooses to befriend and cherish the outcast and do so till the end of time? Like, yeah, she blabs a lot about her pride for her Umbran heritage, but she also breaks those stupid rules for Bayonetta and is willing to sacrifice herself not just for the eye, but for the woman carrying it too.

It’s wild how strong she is. She watches her whole clan perish (including her parent/s), seals her best friend/lover away for what must have felt like an eterenity, and bares the burden of those memories alone for 600 years.

My girl literally deserves so much love and happiness.

(Not mentioned here: the lyrics to her theme. Or the fact that there are similarities between BayoJeanne that are reminiscent of Balder and Rosa.

Simple things, like their color schemes and birth orders. Is it really a coincidence that the two blonde ones are both a year older than their dark counterparts...? :p Disregard this part fam. I wrote this at about 1 in the morning and got the bbys bdays mixed up. Bayo’s actually older than Jeanne!

Or that *name* + *name* symbolism exists for both? “Balder and Rosa,” inscribed on the lipstick that Balder gives to Rosa as a symbol of their love, “Jeanne and Cereza,” on the red gem that Jeanne (who seems to parallel with Balder) gives to Bayonetta. Or “Jeanne + Cereza,” inscribed on the little carvings.

Alsoooo Balder and Rosa break Umbran and Lumen traditions. As do Jeanne and Cereza, as is implied by their battle for the Eye, and perhaps background fluff, like the implication Jeanne may have trained Cereza outside the parameters of Umbran law. In other words, both couples have gone beyond age old and punishable traditions to be together; and arguably, Jeanne does it with finesse, since she blatantly disregards the Umbran Elder’s outcry at her choice of opponent.

It’s all there fam, I swear.)

[silxerbullet]

PROMPT CHALLENGE! I challenge you to write a short angsty thing for one of your rp worlds and gift it to the other rper!

Got a question??? // Always accepting

  Well, I have been discussing the plausibility of Vergil knowing that he had a son, or perhaps the he had had a son.  I just brought this up to @gelum-lumen so I suppose I’ll write a short, but elaborate post on this.  So this is now for them!

  So my question was, what was the reason for Vergil summoning the Temen-ni-Gru in Devil May Cry 3?  Initially it was in his pursuit for power, seeking his father’s power and possibly a way to obtain the sword of Sparda. It would explain why Vergil had initially ventured to Fortuna, seeking out a city that would be rich with the lore of Sparda, worshiping the demon as if he were a God.   Perhaps during this time Vergil had gotten close to a woman who acted as his assistant (or in Gelum-lumen’s case, it was a paid act), and found out he had accidentally sired a child. 

  I do not think for a moment, Vergil would abandon a child knowingly, the way he believed himself to be abandoned.  Therefore, I then had to question again...  What was the reason for summoning the Temen-ni-gru?  During his fight with Dante, he states, “Might controls everything.  And without strength, you cannot protect anything, not even yourself.”  I found this quote, now, to be odd given the circumstances that Vergil is a father.  Initially I wrote this off as Vergil attempting to justify his reasons for seeking power, mainly due to his past and being too weak to protect his mother from Mundus’s attack. 

  There are other instances in Devil May Cry 3 where Vergil just loses his cool and starts yelling unprovoked, almost as if he’s angry that breaking the seals is taking so long.  Over all, Vergil seems...  Stressed.  Unhinged.  Maybe he’s growing impatient, thus throwing a tantrum like a child, worried that Dante might fulfill his vow to stop him... Or perhaps he feels as though he is running out of time. 

  There is no telling how long between the time Vergil was in Fortuna, until the events of Devil May Cry 3 occur.  I assume this will be answered eventually in Devil May Cry 6, assuming that game ever does come into development; however, here is where I make my speculation.  What if Vergil was aware he had sired a child, and the reason he sought out Sparda’s power was to protect his unborn child? 

  If that be so the case, it does not excuse his act; however, it does explain why he had been so rash in nature during the events of Devil May Cry 3.  Fearful that Mundus, an ever looming threat, would learn of Vergil’s heir and send demons to attack and kill his child just as he had done in his past.  If Vergil still believed himself to be too weak to protect Nero from harm, it would make sense that he would seek out his father’s power in order to keep Mundus at bay.  And with a child on the way, Vergil only had so much time to obtain this power before his child’s birth. 

  During the events of Devil May Cry 5, I believe the reason Vergil behaves the way he does when Dante tells him that Nero is his son, is not because he’s in disbelief that he sired a son, but rather that his son is still alive.  What if Vergil, during his time as Nelo Angelo, had been left to believe that Nero had in fact been killed?  Not only did he fail at gaining his father’s power from the Temen-ni-Gru, but he also failed to protect his son, the entire reason he had left Fortuna in search for more power. 

  I don’t believe when Vergil went, “Well, well that was a long time ago,” was him initially boasting that he had actually had sex, but rather he was entertained and delighted to know that Mundus had failed.  Perhaps even a cathartic sort of relief, knowing his son not only survived childhood, but grew up to be a powerful demon hunter.  His time as V solidifying how he felt in regards to Nero.

  If this is true, or if this is later retconned...  That would make the events of Devil May Cry 3 more tragic.  Dante is trying to stop his brother and protect him, and Vergil is desperately trying to find a way to protect his unborn child.  That Vergil does not want the same fate for Nero that he had to endure. 

  Eh... That was longer than expected, and I’m sure this is full of holes or things are explained through the novels that I’m not well versed in.  But this is just a sad thing I thought of.  So enjoy I guess.

[hcsvntdracones-game]

Sound and Silence is entering its next stage!

Hey folks, just passing out an update. The long awaited lore compendium to HC SVNT DRACONES is entering its next stage. Artwork is being ordered, text is being finalized, and assembly will begin soon. This means many of the floating elements about the project have been finally nailed down, so lets talk about them.

Sound is the name of the lore compendium intended for everyone’s use. It contains story ideas, descriptions of corp activity, layouts of cities, details on agent interaction so you can flavor your characters better, and a descriptions of unique grottos and universities for inclusion in your stories. Players and Guides can both go through this book without worry of spoiling anything in-game. Sound is about 120 pages long, give or take.

Silence is the name of the book of secrets, containing detailed accounts of many of the aspects left vague in the core rulebook. Things like the origins of the Palemen, what’s going on with Earth, and who the Shadow Presidents are. It has large sections on the nature of Transcendent technology and what humanity actually found when they made use of Hydra. This book is primarily for Guides, to give them fun things to let the players discover through play. It’s about 100 pages long.

Sound will be sold independently, and Sound and Silence will be sold as a single title for those who wish to have both. In addition, I intend to make a Sound and Silence Extended edition. This edition simply includes the stories from HSD Core:Extended (and possibly the lore section from the front of the core rulebook, I’m checking pagecount) and is intended to give people a one-stop location for all the major published lore elements of the game. C:E will not be compatible with second edition HSD when it eventually rolls around, but its lore wont change, so I wanted to include those stories in a special edition for people who want to have them but will be shelving their C:E book. For those who don’t, the standard Sound and Silence won’t include them.

Lastly, as a little teaser, here’s the Table of Contents in a more finalized form. this is still subject to a few changes, but not many, as all the topics you see here have been written!

Sound

Privileged Information

History

Stages of Action

Stage one

Stage two

Stage three

Stage four

Stage five

Stage six

Stage seven

Aftermath

The Megacorps

perceived scarcity and employment

hotzones

darkwars

Playing with the Megacorps

CEO's

Corporate rivalry

ASR/Pulse

Spyglass/IRPF

Progenitus/TTI

MarsCo/Lumen

Corporate rule

Advanced looks into corps

MarsCo

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

ASR

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

IRPF

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

TTI

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

Progenitus

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

Pulse

Story

Life within

Rumor and Conjecture

Architecture

Storytelling help

Agents

Lumen

Story

Life within

Grottos

Grottos of note

Longbow

Themes of Longbow

The Empyrean

Themes of The Empyrean

The Long Now

Themes of The Long Now

The Digital Collective

Themes of The Digital Collective

Universities

Universities of note

Reflection

The Harbingers

Reunification Front

Renewal

Silence

The War

Monsters

In the Beginning

The Monster Program

Building a monster

Unnatural born killers

The others

Six months

Salvation

Life without humanity

Come the Red

Palemen in the universe

Selkies in the universe

Dragons in the universe

Duality of purpose

Corp and Culture

Silent History

Discovery

The Quiet war

University

Future

The Quiet War in the universe

The Master's Voice in the universe

The Shadow Presidency

Beginnings

Relationships

The Boardroom

Current Presidents

ASR

Spyglass

IRPF

Progenitus

Pulse

TTI

MarsCo

The Shadow Presidency in the universe

Transcendence

In the beginning

Behind the Scenes

The first Whisper

Project Recursion

The Final Recursion

Taln Hiemdal

The Nephelim Codex

The Other

The Aeu

The Nephilim

Hydra in the universe

The Other in the universe

The Nephilim in the universe

The Nephilim mana platform

Hush

Hush's true nature

The Ruby Spire

Levels of knowledge

Near-Cuil Realms

MCMs in near-cuil

Vesper

MCM activity

Transit

Player risk in Vesper

Fractal

MCM activity

Transit

Player risk in Fractal

Stifle

MCM activity

Transit

Player risk in Stifle

Vast

MCM activity

Transit

Player risk in Vast

Writhe

MCM activity

Transit

Legacy Memory

Player risk in Writhe

Glow

Humanity

What was

What remains