#notkin lore

[meirimerens]

could you expand more on the lavender marriage? i wanted to look up more posts of yours when you mention it but... tumblr search function... function't...

I don't think I've said much about it because it's kinda self-explanatory okay so the lavender marriage mention [that I can rember] is from le fameux "inheriting the earth" + 5yrs patho kids now adult designs & lore post with both Khan & Capella having "[material] wedding ring, purposefully mismatched as a sign of lavender marriage". for the uninitiated a "lavender marriage" is a type of marriage of convenience that one (or both) party/ies enter to conceal their homosexuality and attempt to reap the social benefits and personal safety of being in a heterosexual marriage. it can happen with both spouses being gay and using the appearance of a heterosexual pair for reciprocal protection, or only one of them being gay and entering the marriage for protection, the non-gay partner may or may not be aware of the other's homosexuality. if both spouses are gay, they may typically lend each other freedom to see other people.

in khan & capella's situation, a marriage of convenience is decided upon early [cf. Capella's lines] for the sake of "bringing the families together" (political alliance). Oh I have sooo much to think about how the older generation (in that case Maria and Vlad Jr) expect the one after them to rub off their blood and rebuild their shed (pivotal element of pathologic anyways [cf. Burakh]) but that's not about this rn. anyways yes marriage of political interests.

anyways now this is where I'm real I think they're both homosexual. capella knows this about khan because she's clairvoyant. khan knows this about himself. he knows capella knows when she gives him her little bunny smile and he remembers she's clairvoyant. he learns later [this is still pre-wedding] she is too and is like oooooh so we fundamentally can't love each other. thank god I just thought it was a me problem. Capella had been taking theatre classes and she learned to do a theatre-kiss [move the mouth to the side so the other kisses cheek, head angle important] for the wedding day. They shamelessly lie to the population to explain why they, bit by bit, stop living together very quickly after the wedding ("we need separate blankets he keeps stealing if off me" "we need separate bed she has such cold feet it's giving me the shivers" "we need separate rooms he snores" "we need separate houses my presence is draining her of her powers"). Maria knows that's not the truth, she's clairvoyant. Whether she feels anything for the brokenness of the ruling families having been pushed onto her brother as a teenager I haven't decided yet. Katerina knows because she's clairvoyant. Basically all the kids know they don't like each other and a select few adults do (not about the gay thing they just think they're in a normal loveless marriage of convenience like is unfortunately really common [a lot had own parents in one] just slightly happier about it)

In my mind's eye (in my eyes' mind) they both have their own lives pretty separate. Khan fucks off overseas, goes to boarding school, and travels, sends back copious amounts of books. Capella gets the telegram installed into the town and he sends short updates on his travels. She stays in town for Mistress Purposes, reads plenty of books and orders khan to go fetch some in obscure londonian libraries, carries the new administration on her shoulders frankly. the marriage stays as a constant reminded to the oldest siblings and the rest of the adults that it is their bullshit that created this unnatural and uncomfortable situation which reflects poorly on the town with how free both "spouses" live their lives. Capella goes dancing with the girls in the warehouses. Khan routinely goes and hang out with [gestures] this one guy who we don't know what their problem is or if they even have a problem anymore. nobody will let them divorce because that would force the town to reckon with its massive political mistakes and fundamentally broken systems. Capella had gone dancing with the girls in the warehouses on her wedding night and khan had found himself there also because he wanted to tell off notkin for running his mouth during the "speak now or forever hold your peace" and insulting the oldest siblings for cf. like 2 paragraph above and when these two begin jokingly asking what capella is even doing here in this dress she goes "it's my wedding day!!" and they make faces and pretend to be gobsmacked and khan says "and I wasn't even invited??" anyways yeah. very funny to me.

okay now what's this "i haven't said much because it's self-explanatory" >proceeds to say much. well hope you enjoyed.

[ghostiegram]

maaan I wanna write about notkin and sticky befriending each other and kind of hanging out so artemy notices and wants to take care of notkin sometimes (because like, hello, orphan within Haruspex distance here) but notkin is like, independent and doesn���t want to get taken care of right. Idk I just think it would be fun cute and family. But I actually haven’t played pathologic 2 so I feel like I don’t have enough lore for this yet. I’ll have to revisit this

If this post comes across as stupid then I’m gonna go die somewhere #igetparanoidwhentalkingaboutsomethingidontknow100%of

[aicosu]

tell us about your current hyper fixations?? whats your brain been loving lately?

Im obsessed with Pathologic. 24/7 plague in my brain.

I had originally played back in 2020. But I was not mentally well and Patho was one of those things I knew like, "Oh I could drown in this." So I kinda avoided it until I could really deep dive. And here I am!! Right on time for Bachelor route.

I have... so many headcanons, thoughts, ships, ideas, worldbuilding, lore theories and more in my brain. SO MANY.

I love all healers. I lovr shabak clara. I love Burovsky. I love transmasc daniil, I love pre-transfem daniil!! I love herb bride x daniil. I LOVE STICKY. I love Victor Kain. I love the stamatins adopting daniil as a younger brother or more wink wonk. I love eva x yulia. I love asexual town on ghorkon. I love boddha. I love dead boddha theory. I love taya tycheek. I love notkin x khan. I love modern day au in a hospital. I love that this game sucks as a game but is transcendent as an experience. Polyhedrons okay.

[kath-trashh]

taking a break from angst stuff to discuss lore building again; probably going to do a proper post w andrey, peter, and farkhad at some point

but in the meantime, properly finalizing some kid designs

the biggest difference for beastmen in pathodun is that they can grow into their forms; notkin is familiar enough with his body and form that he sees his werecat form as an extension of his human body. there’s smth here abt beastmen fighting rings but i haven’t figured it out.

artemy had already adopted sticky and murky before he set out into the dungeons, but he received a letter from his father telling him to head deeper into the dungeons, which artemy ended up doing. unfortunately, he forgot to tell his children, which is as much morally-grey parenting as i’m willing to write lol.

lmk if theres anything you guys want to see i rly appreciate every repost on my work for this au a lot a lot. i’ve been meaning to do man-eating plant / undine stuff w daniil (bc if u cldnt tell he’s kind of a marcille proxy) and have also been wanting to write some stuff for the apple basket gang, but it wld require undine stuff first. but also daniil suffers a lot in this au and i want to treat him right. anyways lmk

[absynthetic]

Pathologic Shallow Lore Quiz... See also: I fucking bombed the Pathologic Deep Lore Uquizzes (which I love dearly. thank you @pseudoquiddity for making them) so I made my own--objectively easier--Pathologic Quiz.

Have fun! :)

[shmowder]

was thinking about how the P2 Polyhedron is 5 years old and the same age as Aspity and Taya. Then started thinking about how Aspity was born during the first outbreak and hold on what huh you mean to tell me an outbreak happened immediately after the construction of the Polyhedron and none of the people made the connection?

But no no wait, Aspity is only said to be 5 years in P1, where the Polyhedron is 10 years old—same age as P1 Khan which is definitely intentional. (haha get it Polyhedron is his birthday gift and/or twin) So the first outbreak actually happened 5 years after its construction, yeah that makes sense why no one suspected a thing when it's been working fine for half a decade.

So when did the first outbreak happen in P2? I feel like it's mentioned somewhere but for the life of me I can't remember it. It should be P2 Aspity's age if that piece of lore hadn't changed.

On a similar note, when did P1 Nina Kaina actually die??? Katerina claims 11 years ago but that's impossible bc the Polyhedron was built 10 years ago and she brought the Stamatins in. Also Victor mentions how Khan only listened to Nina so it means his mother was around while he was older than a toddler aka Nina Kain's death ≥ 3 years after the construction of the Polyhedron.

Khan and Notkin used to be best friends in P1! That piece of lore I forget often. They'd play in the Polyhedron together then Taya banished Notkin from the Polyhedron (which I guess she holds the authority to do?) before leaving the structure herself and it caused a rift between the two. Khan invited him back but Notkin refused.

[catsaystuff]

I Love Pathologic NPCs so much I'm replaying p2 and writing down different names and random lore

Recently a friend and I made our own pathologic OCS, and I made mine have a connection with one of the kin woman NPCs, which in turn made me interested in all the p2 npcs

I'm only on day 5 of my replay, and i'm aware some of this is probably on the wiki, but here are some random bits of lore and info anyway

NAMES:

Some names of kids that are part of the Soul-and-Halves names: Dandy, Catnip, Ace, Ginger, Snout Smokey and Scout

Some names of the Dogheads: Lika, Chara, Maera

Names of other kids: Siskin, Finch, Uta, Swift, Chickadee, Teensy, Wench, Barb, Pup, Goldfinch, Hatchling, Verochka, Basya

Women's names: Kayura, Aigul, Khetey, Dove, Urmaan, Agnia, Starling

Men's names: Shiner, Piecework, Whistler, Kestrel, Ouzel, Crow, Lefty, Stump, Pochard, Pigeon

Dandy is the kid who trades you sharp things at Notkin's hideout. He also trades the infection maps which he and some others make by scouting the infected districts in hopes it will be useful to Artemy. He specifically sits outside the hideout some days to avoid infecting others inside. He thanks you when you come see a sick Notkin.

Catnip gives you bread and milk on day one if you accept it. You can also go back the next day with a piece of bread to thank her for it. Ginger is another girl waiting outside Rubin's house to notify you about Lika's trial.

Ace is the boy waiting outside of Rubin's house on day 1 whose mission is to notify you about the death of their dogs (Alma, Duke and Wokfling). He can also be found a couple days later on The Cape when you start playing The Kids Game. He tells you not to wake up Nina and also invites you to the Nutshell.

Smokey is the boy who gets surrounded by some Dogheads in one of the stairs to heaven. When you ask him if he needs help he says that he's fine, just admiring the view, and very clearly doesn't want adults to intrude in their business and show up in their places. One of the Dogheads waiting for him to come down is called Chara.

Lika is of course the Doghead you see at the start of the game who gives you a tourniquet but later doesn't show up at the town hall to clear your name. And the Doghead trading a schmowder at the Nutshell is Maera.

Finch is random kid with dialogue, so I'm not sure if it's always him saying this, but he asks Artemy if he saw any trains coming, and later mentions how Uta traded all her buttons for just some sugar, which is outrageous.

You then can find Uta later on! specifically during Capella's piano quest. On the second house you go to Uta is playing the piano, and in her conversation she's just shouting at you to go away and threatens to scream if you get closer. Specifically doesn't say "fuck off" because her mom told her not to but she says a couple of "flick off" and "eff off"

Teensy is a little girl who says she still thinks you're good and nice. And Wench is the little girl playing with the bones and scaring boys away. Basya is a little boy who gets surrounded by other kids because his father is a "bad man" (called Whitebeard), and one of those kids is a girl called Barb.

Hatchling is one of the boys staring at Isidor's infected house, and who says Isidor was helpful when Verochka had shingles last year. I haven't actually found anyone called Verochka around the town

There are some kin women like Kayura, who tells you about the Shabnak and says she doesn't believe people kill other people in this town. There's also Aigul and Khetey, who can be found at Aspity's house.

Other women are Dove, whose children are in the tower and won't come back and doesn't personally believe in Shabnaks. Agnia, who is spending her day outside the Judge's door to check which men come asking if killing at night is legal so she can keep herself safe. And there's also Starling who is particularly worried about the people trying to burn off the plague in the streets.

There's of course Piecework, the man Grief asks you to do surgery on. The reason he got injured is because he and Shiner attacked a woman of the Kin. Piecework managed to kill her and the others fought back. They clearly have no medical knowledge.

Kestrel is one of the men trying to stop the mob justice on day one. Stump is the first person you see playing the piano during capella's quest, he's from the Cannery. Pochard is a kin man who says they've lost faith in Artemy and have decided to fight back. And finally Pigeon is complaining on the street about the Kin revolting with no reason.

AND FOR NOW THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT (kinda) if anyone has more small details like these PLEASE add them. can be from pathologic classic too! There's so many good classic npcs like Willow or the Harpist

[oplishin]

“Bachelor: Do you have anything against redheads?

Notkin: Redheads are rarely amazing. It's like bulged ears or crooked teeth-cute, but nothing new. Freckles don't cause religious ecstasies.”

Bad news, notkin.

[rathologic]

I've updated my lore spreadsheet with height data for all of the minor (non-Bound) NPCs in the original Pathologic, in both metric and imperial measurement! There's also now a combined height list for all models in the game. Here are a few height highlights:

Oyun remains the tallest character, even taller than the "giant" Powers that Be models; Nina Kaina remains the tallest woman despite not being in the game

Executors are 197 cm / 6'6'' tall

Taya is exactly the same height as Teensy NPCs, and shorter than the Rat Prophet

Notkin is (sort of) taller than a Worm

The Albino is taller than the Haruspex

The average height between all characters is 170 cm / 5'7''

[thebestpartofwakingup]

I think it’s neat that pathologic/2 has like this magic lore that at first seems very gendered/cultured (in the town GIRLS (from prominent families) can do magic but in the kin BOYS (from prominent families) can do magic) but then like Grace is straight up talking to ghosts despite being a homeless orphan who had unremarkable parents, Notkin is clearly communicating with SOMETHING beyond normal human communication/perception despite being a homeless orphan with unremarkable parents and a BOY, Simon Kain is held up as a special fringe case, murky is a loner homeless orphan who seems to display *Magic associated with the kin* despite not having remarkable (biological) family and being a GIRL (also not going into the ethnicity thing but I think it does have some thematic and narrative impact since Artemy is able to declare Murky AND Sticky his heirs — despite his title being one previously understand as at least partially dependent on inherited/practiced connection to boddho and ability to read the lines —- which Isidor’s treatment of Rubin had been implying couldn’t be negated or assumed of anyone who wasn’t blood-relation of another Menkhu [that doesn’t negate the headcanon or possibility for Murky to be part kin but I think rather reflects a thematic prioritization of labels like family or cultural ties being social and fluid rather than biological — that any child can be adopted into any family or culture and be just as much as part of it as a child born into it])

And that’s neat because that like indicates magic is a very real phenomena but that people apply their own cultural biases to it and how they understand and categorize it — down to Daniil insisting that everything HE does is VERY scientific and backed by government consensus on what is and isn’t science despite it relying on them LIQUIFYING A FUCKING WIZARD to get his MAGICAL BLOOD.

Like idk to me it all ties back to that idea of “the yoke is not part of the bull” these things are imposed onto people but they’re not *part* of them like their blood is. There’s even dialogue to indicate that Capella’s powers have been greatly exaggerated by her father and his allys because it’s important for appearances that she be UNDERSTOOD as powerful even if she isn’t (yet)

And you can extend that to the literal “witch trials” early into both games — it’s ok and even celebrated when women of the upper crust in Gorkhon can perform magic but it’s CRIMINAL when lower class women do.

[bluebee242]

Spichka/Notkin (spichkin? notchka?) is god tier imo….. like khan/notkin is cute but THE LORE I MAKE UP FOR SPICHKA AND NOTKJN IN MY HEAD……….. anyways they’re my blorbos

[meirimerens]

the pathologic cane using as i see it...

MARK IMMORTELL canonically. he has a cane canonically, now whether or not the game wants us to believe he uses it for real or it's an accessory... for real to me. in my mind's eye he has sciatica. it acts up on and off so sometimes he'll be prancing around like a goat swaying his cane like he's trying to hit people with it, sometimes he uses it for real, and sometimes he has a fanciful little wheelchair when the pain's too bad to stand on his two legs. in which case he still holds his cane for hitting people purposes. his cane is a constant thing.

Yulia... she also mentions Leg Problem in P2 so Joy the cane be upon ye. i think her deal is a repetitive strain injury of tendinitis in the knee & ankle, and she never got enough rest for it to heal properly, never did physical therapy, so now, like other types of tendinitis, it flares up from use & some movements/postures. as the rainy & cold season approach, she gets more and more sedentary because the weather makes tendinitis worse by stiffening the tendons, so it gets in vicious cycles of Stiff tendons from the cold -> even less easy to do some stretches to help with the pain -> tendons get stiffer from no stretchin -> even less easy to do some stretches... her cane is an on and off thing, but becomes regular as fall & winter roll around

Notkin as he grows up. in p1 & 2 his spoken dialog mentions (a) bad leg(s); considering his mom died in childbirth (likely His birth) in my mind's eye his bad leg(s) is attributed to having been pulled out of there Fucked Uply. mom didn't make it through a complicated birth and baby got a leg messed up when they hurried to get him outta here. adolescence and getting taller gets him apophysitis (a bone + cartilage inflammation/strain injury often seen in teens because the bones grow faster than the muscles around them) in his knee and he never gets to have the rest needed for it to heal properly so as an adult, while the pain is mostly gone, it flares up sometimes. he's way past giving a fuck what anyone might think about seeing him limp with a cane in hand so he periodically, but quite often uses one. also might use it to hit people.

Khan occasionally once he gets into his mind that it's not a big deal & if he needs it he needs it. he already has a messed up knee as a kid (p2 model bandage) but i'm still deciding how extansive of a wound that is. more than what that is i think this guy gets inflammatory arthritis as a plague residual symptom, and while most of it is concentrated in his hands, fingers and wrists, it sometimes, rarely, attacks his ankles & knees, which is when he gets on his legs wobbly like a newborn foal. while his coping mechanism for it is to lie down and suffer through gritted teeth because he still has in mind that showing pain is showing weakness and is undignified of a man of his rank (the imaginary kingdom he once had) he eventually, from being yelled at "hey moron CATCH" and thrown a cane at, gets into his mind that he should use one for such moments and not even his Mortal Enemy* will care. his own would be a fanciful thing, black-lacquered wood, silver rings, a silver dog's head at the end of the handle. too proud and proper to hit people with it but he can't say he doesn't think about it.

Burakh, later in his life (his 40s). he also has a bad leg as of Being In His Twenties, but copes and manages without a physical aid for a while. he's on homemade painkillers and various rest regiments (when he can). when it gets too bad & arthritis sets in around 40s he's on that wood and bone tool in a blink and keeps it. maybe his father used on in his old(er) age... he reuses it...

[nerdkiller]

Ok Termites based on how it would feel like substituting for or supervising them

Capella: likely the kid the teacher names as a helper, she'll talk or be a bit rowdy if it doesn't seem like you'll be strict but she would settle down if you are too. Helps her desk neighbors out with the work and tries to act like a student legal advocate for the rest so they respect her bc she gets you off their back. If Khan is not in the room she will provide very biased deep lore about him unprompted to explain his psychomaniac behavior (take w a grain of salt & its more than u wanted to know) but will thoroughly ignore the guy in class. Will never tattle on the others* tho

Sticky: loud, will be moving out of his seat constantly, talking across the room, you'll have to constantly remind him about behavior etc. But he will also not react angrily when you give him verbal warnings and will probably engage in mostly funny banter. Might be named as a helper too if the teacher is trying some psychological scheme because he actually does at least respond to you even if his actions say he is not listening. Most likely to ask really personal and invasive questions

Notkin: Mostly like Sticky but less physical movement and freneticism, but also will straight up disregard whatever you say that he doesn't feel like doing and won't even humor you. But he is unlikely to be snappish and will pretend he is being amenable to you so you get off his back sooner. Probably the loudest in sheer volume. Is constantly sniping at Sticky for no reason and unprompted as well which becomes the main source of volume issues. Can get into verbal altercations with Khan however that will appear initially harmless to the unfamiliar eye but can escalate into violence so watch out. Brags about punching teachers in a deceptively disarming way

Grace: the kind of quiet that makes you think she's on task until you look at her worksheet and there's nothing on it except a few scribbles. Nevertheless good-natured but if you push her on it she could snap with irritation but that just feels bad so let her be. Might also sleep in class if it's in the morning but you just let her bc again it feels bad. Is reliable as Capella if you ask her to do something like pass out work or take attendance.

Khan: the worst to sub for. Will ignore you and go on easily talking with the others if you decide to do nothing about him but if you tell him to do anything no matter how polite he will argue or snark back because he doesn't recognize you as an authority figure. Any resistance on his part will cascade throughout the classroom as a norm. If you try to converse with him he'll respond with what feels like a running dialogue against any and all authority figures thus both confusing and disabling you, emphasizing just how little he regards your input. The other kids will actually listen to him though so if they manage to annoy him too your interests might align and work in your favor. Probably won't hit you because he is good at expertly threading a needle of behavior but will walk out/you don't want to be the first he decides to hit

*Bonus Clara: comes in extremely late and is named as a helper which is confusing bc she doesn't appear to be doing anything you actually say. If you let her out of the classroom you will spend the next 20 minutes anxiously wondering where she went. Something is always going on. Will either fully lie to you or will dutifully get work done, no in between. Very loud and rambunctious if the class starts talking and will likely fall out of her desk at some point. Deskmates with Grace and is either hatefully ignored (and tattled on when she's gone to the bathroom for 20 min) or amicably teased by Capella. Everyone else seems to like her tho

Murky: much like Grace but the younger and more grumpy, more lethargic version. Always will mumble responses and has a hard time actually communicating what she needs from you. Actually just hates loud class environments so you feel bad she has to be there. Will play w whatever toy or device instead of struggling to concentrate w work and is not yet at the age or communication level where she will just tell you to f off.

Taya: very high energy and will "boss" you around (really just replicating a model of dialogue behavior she picked up on) with uncanny vocab and phrases she definitely learned elsewhere. Clearly advanced for her age. Has her own desire to perform well if she's invested in a task but has to be reminded about physical space almost constantly when playing or she'll beat other kids and you senseless

[talesofsymphoniac]

There are many differences between Pathologic 2 as compared to Classic HD, and I've been thinking about this a lot for several months now so here are the most important ones for me:

(extreme Pathologic infodumping under the cut)

--Characters and emotionality. Pathologic Classic HD characters feel MUCH more like walking philosophies clashing against each other, not really doing much that's comprehensible from a story standpoint, and while I'm not entirely opposed to that aesthetic in its own way, I think the inclusion of more character detail (the Apple Basket gang's history with each other and interactions, more hints of interaction among other characters like Khan/Capella, Khan/Notkin, Sticky/Murky, Grace/Peter, more discussion of who Isidor was as a person to all the Bound kids, etc etc) and making the characters feels more like people makes for a much more interesting world and story. It's something that I do think Pathologic Classic feels less complete without, going back. -- The save system. This is far more mechanical, but it heavily impacts the way the game plays. Pathologic Classic's quicksave system really erases the difficulty of the game if you are willing to abuse it, and the game is hard enough to seriously incentivize doing so. The way Pathologic 2 decided to treat death as something that is part of the game is super clever and makes for a much better play experience, getting rid of quicksaves entirely so you are never spending half your playtime just reloading 5 times to kill a mugger or waiting for a shmowder to spawn. It makes the game harder, but also more fun.

-- The theater as a framing device, as opposed to the characters being playthings of children. Classic does use the theater as a framing device to an extent, being how you choose your character and all, but I feel like more emphasis is given to the idea of the character being a doll with no free will, while Pathologic 2 scraps the children (except as Easter eggs) and focuses on the idea that the character/player is both actor and audience, both tied to a prewritten fate but also enacting it as they endure the suffering of, well, the game itself. I do feel like the theming is stronger the way that it is in Pathologic 2, especially since you can get to that part of the story on a first playthrough going blind, as opposed to Classic where it's very easy to miss the kids in the Polyhedron entirely, nevermind the developers in the theatre ending.

-- The treatment of the Kin. Ugh. This is. Tricky. And it's been long enough now since I've played Classic that I don't feel too confident making assertions here, but basically by take here is. Pathologic 2 goes further to characterize and sympathize with the Kin and really really leans into the colonization and exploitation of the Kin in a way that Classic DOES touch on but never seriously dwells on. And I do appreciate that. But on the other hand, Pathologic 2 also feels like it doubles down on a lot of the pitfalls of Classic in that regard-- mostly because Classic really brushed over a lot of its Unfortunate Implications, while Pathologic 2 reeeeeeally leaned in. The Herb Brides are the most blatant example, particularly Nara's character and ultimate fate, but certainly there are also issues with the way the Kin as a whole are discussed and treated. And that's tricky, because I really do feel like there is interesting and unique worldbuilding and ideas going into the Kin in both games, but moreso Pathologic 2, and I'd hesitate to just throw it all away, but then on the other hand. Y'all really did make all the Herb Brides young hot half naked women, huh. And y'all really did just force the ritual sacrifice of one of them for the player to get some of the most important lore of the game, huh.

-- Main Storyline Quests and missable content. In Pathologic Classic, if you don't do each day's main quest, you will miss out on the Plot. In Pathologic 2, you are expected to miss quests-- even BIG quests-- but the story is ultimately still comprehensible. On my first playthrough of P2 I completely missed everything happening in Rubin's sidequest AND the quest to make panacea by day 7 and yet the game didn't make me feel like I had missed any important information or even necessarily played it wrong. The world simply continued around me, which I think is the effect Classic was trying to achieve by allowing the player to continue if they failed a day's quest but with their Bound diseased. And honestly, it made it all the more satisfying when I WAS able to pursue those questlines on a second playthrough.

[originalcontent]

Oooookay. Welcome back. Posting about pathologic part 4 I think? Part 4. We just reached Act 4 too, so everything’s going according to schedule. This gaming session had some ups and downs. Ups: That good good lore, and a lot of quality time spent with my good pals Daniil  and Changeling and also Clara apparently, although she might not be my good pal after all, but w/e. Downs: FUuuuUUUUCKkkk we are so bad at video games, and also the kin folk have become A Lot, holy shit. Where to start.

Okay so this time the game wasn’t actually super stressful for me personally bc this time I kind of just handed off the controls to my sister every time shit got dangerous. She’s a lot better at video games than me. Shoutout @akpaley​ for keeping me from dying from stress in real life.

The drawback of this is that since she’s a lot better at video games she’s also a lot more willing to actually take risks rather than just running away from literally everything. Which I won’t deny, has gotten us a lot of much-needed money and resources but also.

WELCOME TO THE FUCKING DEATH SPIRAL PART OF THE GAME. I guess it had to happen eventually, right? Fuuuuuuuck us, do you have any fucking idea how much shit you have to redo when you’re randomly shanked by some dude every fifteen minutes? And they’re harder to fight every time we come back, apparently, and also our health is like permanently half gone? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck why are there not more clocks.

Victor Kain, you were the one who made the clocks?? I could fucking kiss you. I owe you my life. Or like, six hundred of my lives. Hhh.

Okay, seriously though, the clock lore is actually kind of sick. Victor told us that they’re smaller versions of the cathedral, and we were like “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THaT’S WHerE wE RESET THE GaME IN THe PROLOGUE!!!!!!! METAPHYSICS!!!!!!!!!” The Kains are so cool.

(Maria Kaina got infected tho. Sorry, you. :( Although technically that happens later.)

Um, we gave the rest of our shmowder to Khan. We’re out now. We’ve been looking for more but haven’t found anything.

Also we made a random potion, and the plague showed up and was like “fuck you,” and I was like “damn, calm the hell down, you’re the one fucking killing people.”

Met with the Saburovs more. They were like “we have another suspect!” and I was like “yeah they probably don’t but w/e” and my sister was like “they’re in an infected land and we should probably save their lives” and I was like “why do we care about helping the Saburovs again, literally all they do is accuse random people of killing my dad, the Kains are obviously the best family, we should just be throwing in with them” and she was like “that’s not all they do, they also run the guards, you know those guys who patrol plague districts?” and I was like “okay fuck you’re right let’s visit them” and it turns out that that there was actually some super cool lore pertaining to the town’s mistresses. Also, god if they don’t have some cool reflections. I love everything about this town’s history.

Afterwards we randomly decided to visit Yulia for literally no reason, and she was like “I’m glad you’re here, I have a lot of super heavy important shit to discuss with you about the Inquisition that will be here tomorrow, it sure is convenient that you’re in my neighborhood for some reason even though I live in an incredibly inconvenient location?” Also she knows something about the nature of Artemy, Daniil, and Clara-or maybe the Changeling but she called her Clara? Oh yeah, Daniil was there too for some reason. Poor guy, I don’t think he’s okay. He cried on my shoulder a lot, he was endearingly open and earnest and for once I felt bad about the dialogue options wherein Artemy throws shade.

And then Clara happened to be standing outside literally right then? I wonder if that was going to be a big quest location and we just happened to arrive right before the game told us to go there anyway. I think that’s it actually. We’re so good, damn. Clara keeps pulling shit and then immediately trying to reconcile and asking for help. I really like her, but we really shouldn’t be trusting her right?

Oh Murky was also there and she set up a meeting between us and her “friend” and that night we went and Clara and Changeling were both there and I’m so confused???? What is her deal? But!! Changeling facilitated a deal between me and the plague! And Murky is now off the hit list!!!!!!!!!! Does this mean she’ll live? Anyway the plague started talking to us, and our infection rose a bit in an unhealable way, and, dumbasses that we were, said “wow this is probably all just the natural consequence of the bargain we made. Guess there’s literally nothing we can do to address this.” (Spoiler: That is not the case, the cost of the pact was literally just that we became infected and would have to cure it with fire before it killed us. We figured that out eventually, I promise.)

Fast forward to the next day after we finish the day’s entire fucking plotline, when we have done literally nothing so our infection’s increased a shit ton and it starts actually killing us. And since we only have like half our potential health bar from getting killed so much, we literally can’t survive long enough to treat it. We run around trying to cure ourselves and die like ten more times before we finally accept that we just have to go back in time to before the infection was this bad, try to get cured immediately, and redo the whole day. There’s a whole fucking skeleton out by the theatre by now btw. Fucking death spirals. This play session took a long fucking time okay?

Alright, flash backward again. After talking with Changeling, we visit Stakh because after rescuing him twice in a row he promised we could talk. We go to his house and he’s sleeping, or maybe just pretending to sleep, but either way Artemy has the absolute sweetest little monologue, just talking to him, and so much has happened but I can tell there’s still a lot of tenderness there between them even if it’s buried deep, and it’s just such a soft scene against such a harsh story.

Guess who’s dead by morning.

The next day Aglaya showed up and was like “see me immediately,” so obviously we visit Capella and then town hall first off. Daniil’s there, he bitches to me about Aglaya for a bit. So cute, we really are friends. I promise to help him with corpse duty bc Capella wanted me to visit Grace anyway. We talk to the official people at the official desks, one is collecting babies, one is giving me some lunch money as a very good reward for being a very good little surgeon, and one is telling me that actually money is illegal now but here are some free coupons that actually are too cheap to buy anything with.

Aglaya is the woman from the prologue! Hhhh things are really building to a point, aren’t they. I wonder how Yulia knows her. But damn, the whole village was out there waiting to meet with her weren’t they.

I made a deal with the rat prophet to clear some space in the graveyard so Grace would be okay. Dunno what will come of that. I’ve been seeing him everywhere lately though.

I met with Oyun and gave him my dad’s house. I met with Aspity and was like “did you kill Stakh” and she gave me some vague shit, and in general I am very upset at the kinfolk right now but I tried to save them anyway. Went to the termitary and did the whole termitary thing. Wow that sure is a place, right? God, have I ever mentioned how much I love all the screaming soundtracks  in this game.

Damn, Taya’s whole child queen vibe is unsettling.

The whole termitary is horrible, and what the kin folk have been put through is horrible, but their obsession with blood and strength legit terrifies me. I’ve spent all my time until now trying to convince everyone that they aren’t bad, and that they aren’t to blame for the disease, but now they want to kill? And they really really really want me to be a killer too. And the whole thing with Taya is creepy as fuck too, she’s just a kid. Anyway, we’re sending Vlad the older to them, I don’t know whether he or his son deserves to be torn apart more, but Changeling was really upset at the idea of Vlad the younger going there, so I guess we’re backing her. We run all around town making sure the right Olgimsky is going, and then we realize we actually have a few hours left so we take a hospital shift too! And then we die of disease like six times.

Okay, flash forward again, we’ve gone back, gotten some guy to molotov cocktail us, redone the entire termitary thing, saved the game on Vlad’s clock after sending him to his doom (sorry dude). That’s where we’re at currently.

(Only it’s not actually, we went back and spent like an hour going back and forth between the termitary and Oyun again trying to deal with their shit, and everyone was like “murder all dissenters :D” and I was like “what the fuck” and the day was almost over but then a dude stabbed us and we randomly died, and none of these places had clocks, so at that point we were basically like “yeah it’s after midnight, let’s just call it quits.”)

Anything else......oh, the warehouses are at risk again. Notkin and Sticky, what would I do if anything happened to them. I hope my medicines are good enough, I gave some to Bad Grief too but now all there really is to do is wait. :(

Oh, I once again have thoughts on how fucking theatrical is it that everything in the game is simultaneously literal and metaphorical, it’s gorgeous, and have I mentioned the costuming choices for the Orderlies and the Plague, hhhhhhhh, not to say anything nice about Mark fucking Immortell, but he knows what he’s doing with this thing. Listen if this post weren’t already way too long I would just gush about the theatrical elements again, but sadly it is too long.

Okay, that was our latest session! We’ll be back either very soon or in like three weeks.

[udurghsigil]

niche ask: assign joanna newsom songs to patho characters (dhdjsksksk you don’t actually have to, i am just listening to her rn)

LOVING THIS NICHE ASK . i don’t have many associations but here are a few that stand out 2 me........ ill only elaborate if u ask......... (edit: i elaborated)

capella - the sprout and the bean this is such a sweet and upbeat song but the lyrics be a little subtly sad which kinda captures capella’s whole vibe... the “sprout and the bean” thing kinda feels like a metaphor for growing up? capella’s still a kid but she’s trying to be a grownup and taking on alot of responsibility. notkin kinda does the same thing but he still embraces his childhood in a way that capella doesn’t? like... when you see them both smile, notkin’s smile is so bright but capella’s kinda has this sense of melancholy behind it.

there’s some very direct stuff that reminds me of her, like the verse abt dreams and the line “when you go away, i am big-boned and fey” feels like she’d be thinking about her mother and how she wants to try very hard to live up to her mother’s role as the white mistress. ALSO “the hollow chatter of the talking of the tadpoles who know the outside” brings up images of the kids inheriting the earth. and the repeating “should we go outside” after that also kinda. amplifies the hesitation/pressure she might be feeling to become a mistress.

victor - bridges and balloons if i have my lore off on this then ignore it BUT as i understand it... victor came to town-on-gorkhon because nina wanted to right? that where she came and... moulded and shaped it. the first verse makes me think of that. victor really loved her and the whimsical descriptions of things remind me of the general whimsy of utopian ideas and probably just generally how he felt when he was with her. the second verse feels like it’s about after she died and how he sees her in so many aspects of the structure of the town? like the roads, the buildings (the utopians say the buildings have souls alot). he seems very proud of what she and the rest of their family were able to create.

eva/daniil - only skin most of this song feels like it’s from eva’s perspective but there’s a few parts that u could maybe see as daniil’s perspective on her as well... the beginning of the song to the part where she says “a toothless hound-dog choking on a feather” feels like it’s eva thinking about her meeting daniil. something rly seemed to have.. awoken in her after she met daniil, and how she fell for him too seemingly instantly? she really admires him and his utopian ideals. “run, sing, for alive you will evermore be” kinda feels like it might be him reassuring her and referring to his quest to defeat death AND the plague by extension.

then from “but i took my fishing pole” to “smell of a low and of a lazy cinder smoking” feels more like it’s daniil’s perspective appreciating the time he got to spend with her. personally i never got the vibe that he fully requited her feelings though some people do... but i could still see him maybe feeling something and not fully realizing how much he cared for her ‘til it was too late.

“scrape your knee” to “mine anymore” feels like that little part of the story where she starts thinking up the idea of giving her soul to the cathedral... “scrape your knee, it is only skin” feels like that whole theme of death not being it that gets talked about alot more in the marble nest (also with what happens to her on day 12 in classic).

“stay with me awhile” to the end feels like it flips between daniil and eva’s perspectives, with daniil observing her weird suicidal/reckless comments til the moment she dies and how eva feels like she’s done good by helping daniil with her death. i’m getting a little sleepy by this point so i’m not being as detailed but. yknow. it kinda just hits me when i sit and listen to the lyrics.they had a really strange bond and i think it’s best represented by this song.

peter - go long i don’t know whose perspective this song would be from... i’d like to say andrey because of the high regard with which he holds his brother but there’s definitely a romantic edge to this song? so it. it’s not great. but he does want to save peter and protect him so. that idea still stands.

alternatively it could be peter maybe hallucinating the polyhedron speaking to him since he sees it as... well, something he loves the most in the world. it’s sort of like a self-reflection on his life, the things he’s done wrong but through a sympathetic lens, his isolation and subsequent loneliness, and how he has to move forward from the loss of the polyhedron (diurnal ending at least) but can still treasure what he created knowing it once existed. poor peter.

saburov - soft as chalk i don’t know how to explain this but something about this song reminds me of those drumming beats you always hear with army/military songs. mixed up with the chord progressions, the chords’ rhythm, and the eventual percussion that joins the piano :0 it fits his justice/law oriented role as governor, plus the repetition of “lawlessness” throughout the song. the song generally makes me think of how much he loves and cares for katerina and worries for her, mixed up with the stress/guilt he feels from having to rule over the town the way he does and how he really starts having power trips from it. the end parts feel like ... reconciliation of what happens to them in the diurnal ending.

god i hope this was interesting to read because im having Thoughts.