#offensive magics work the same basically

[sack-thing]

I like to think that to use Cure, the characters see the injury and have to visualize in their mind the aspect/shape it's supposed to take back to be able to heal it. So they'd have to be familiar with anatomy especially if it's internal damage that needs to be healed.

I don't think Roy likes the vision of organs and all even if just during lessons, but since he specializes as a healer... he has to be brave. :')

[thewertsearch]

ERIDAN: for all that trainin you did ERIDAN: i wwouldnt be the incredible holy wwizard i am noww wwithout your help […] KANAYA: I Hope You Use Your Magnificent Powers Of Light And Hope For Goodness And Purity And Lets Not Forget Science

At this point. Kanaya is Human Sarcasming better than most actual humans.

ERIDAN: dont wworry im all ovver that shit you dont evven knoww KANAYA: Uh Oh I Hope That Didnt Come Off As Too Sarcastic […] KANAYA: Please Dont Take Too Much Offense ERIDAN: haha damn kan if thats your idea of offense bein made then i honestly gotta fuckin wworry for you ERIDAN: tell you wwhat ill givve you some lessons in dealin out the dark umbrage to repay you for your tutelage in the wwhite science

I think Dave taught Kanaya more about the art of trolling in a single conversation than Eridan could in an entire lifetime.

That guy can troll better than most actual trolls.

ERIDAN: wwhats that thing there KANAYA: The Matriorb KANAYA: I Was About To Go Hatch It In The Core To Restore Our Race ERIDAN: that sounds ERIDAN: hopeful […] ERIDAN: if theres goin to be any sort a hope for our race as the prince of hope i demand to be invvolvved ERIDAN: so dont go anywwhere wwithout me got it […] KANAYA: Fine

I’m all for the construction of neo-Alternia, but I really don't think Eridan should be on the planning committee, unless we also want a neo-hemospectrum.

Honestly, the only trolls I'd really trust to rebuild their society are the bottom half of the hemospectrum, and possibly Gamzee. The other highbloods can go sit in the corner.

ERIDAN: its not magic wwe talked about this kar KARKAT: RIGHT, IT'S POWERED BY SCIENCE, I FORGOT. KARKAT: OR HOPE. WHATEVER THE FUCK THAT MEANS

I don’t see how Hope translates to a robot-exploding beam, though.

If it was wizards he was blowing up, I’d understand, because it would be consistent with my theory that he's weaponizing his hatred of FRAUDULENT MAGIC. If anything, his Science Wand should strengthen a robot, since it's a product of the TRUEST SCIENCES.

ERIDAN: i had a harder time than anybody wwith this game ERIDAN: it wwas really fuckin unfair wwhat challenges i got saddled wwith ERIDAN: i wwoulda fuckin MURDERED for a land full of a lot a harmless brains and fire ERIDAN: but no ERIDAN: it wwas so lonely ERIDAN: hey guys anybody wwant to come hang out wwith me in the land a wwrath and angels

That sounds cool, though. Angels, I assume, are how Hope is represented in his Land, and I’m sure Eridan synergized well with its wrath. I wonder what physical form it took?

ERIDAN: anybody at all i knoww it isnt anythin like one of your flippin land picnics ERIDAN: anybody please ill evven settle for the kittycat shipper cavve girl

You can't complain about loneliness and then insult your ‘friend’ in the same breath. That's not how any of this works, and the fact that you're unaware of this should tell you everything you need to know about why you're lonely.

So Karkat does know about Nepeta’s little crush. He is a relationship aficionado, after all.

Poor Nepeta.

I sort of figured Karkat didn't reciprocate her feelings. He's preoccupied with plenty of other redrom prospects, and he basically never mentions her.

Karkat’s honestly a little too nice to Eridan. He’s being such a bro here, but what Eridan actually needs is to be brought down to size a little.

Granted, I think Eridan needs a bigger shock to the system than an angry tirade from Karkat. I feel like Terezi could tear him to pieces - but since it's unfair to expect her to put up with him alone, I'd put both the Scourge Sisters on this assignment. >:)

What Karkat is aptly demonstrating here is that there’s a difference between an Eridan kind of asshole and a Karkat kind of asshole.

Let's be real, here - Karkat's a dick. But he's a dick who holds no true malice, knows when he's crossed a line, and is willing to sincerely apologize for his past actions, and make amends.

Eridan possesses none of these qualities, which is why he sat alone in his house for a month while Karkat befriended the entire cast.

[extrajigs]

The Atlantic's immune system yay!! BIG info dump below!

Basically when the blood ocean was created it was of course a conversion of all water within the Atlantic to living human blood. The blood of the caster to be exact. This came with the full mix of blood, not just the blood cells themselves. Plasma, immune cells, and even a small percentage of stem cells. For a short time after its revision, a vial of blood from the Atlantic would be indistinguishable from blood drawn from an average person. However while most of it DID decay and rot away it was eventually replaced! For the sanguine sea has a will to live all on its own and it will do what it has to to keep itself alive. Let's just say that magic radiation gave it a boost to adapt before it all would have just turned to sludge!

Also think of this as like a part one as it is not ALL of the bits and bobs.

The Main Gist

The immune system of the Atlantic has undergone slight changes from what goes on within the human body. While in the early days of the ocean, the cells within gorged and swarmed the masses of dead sea life, nowadays all that old death has long since sunk to the anoxic depths. Only the few top meters of blood hold onto the oxygen that can be grabbed directly from the air. This topmost layer is the bastion that these fellas defend and replenish, large colonies working in sync to make sure fresh blood is always around. Thus they are responsible for the bounty of the blood sea, as much as they try to eliminate it. Anything that has different DNA than the blood sea gets a not so warm welcome from it.

1. Shards

These are the scouts of the system, using two fins they meander through the blood at pretty reasonable speeds. The only senses the colonies have reacquired are those of scent and touch, the former for searching out anything strange in the blood column and the latter for when they bump into it. These guys are ill prepared to fight aside from a few acidic tendrils, but once detecting a foreign body they’ll turn tail and rush back to their main colonial swarm. If the poor animal they found out is lucky, it will have time to turn and flee before the cavalry arrives.

2. Marrow Worms

These are not the cavalry, in fact if you were to even poke these guys they are more likely to disintegrate into a plume of sadness. But do not think them worthless for their pitiful offense, for these are SUPPORTIVE WORMS! Being that the colony's individuals are derived from former immune cells, they never regained the ability to self replicate. If they were injured or simply degraded due to age, they could never repair or regenerate the cells they lost within their bodies. Luckily the marrow worm is here to save the day!

Let's say a shard is wounded, its fin torn from its body, whilst it is in no danger of bleeding out, it is in danger of becoming useless to the sea. The solution is that when the immune bodies of the sea take damage, they release a powerful chemical signal to call for aid. This draws in the marrow worms who will swarm the individual and spread their bodies over them like a hot slice of butter. The marrow worms function as mobile stem cells, sacrificing their own bodies to grow into the parts needed for the other members of the colony. Most will have every part of their body replaced throughout their lifetime. And there is a philosophical idea in there somewhere but it's time to get onto the stabby members of this band!

3. Tacks

These guys tend to stay by the main hubs of the colony, defending them from any threats that manage to get by. However they are quite eager to zip off through the blood once called upon by a scouting Shard. Their main weapon is a stabbing keratinized spike through which they inject a powerful mix of digestive enzymes. These same enzymes are used within the trailing tendrils they use to ensnare smaller intruders. With sheer force of numbers they attempt to use this acid to kill any animals they find, though luckily they are lacking in stamina so can be outrun if spotted early enough.

4. Hubs

These function as the housing for the most precious members of the colony, the marrowcores. They provide coverage for these most delicate structures as well as pumping fresh oxygen filled blood from the surface over the tendrils of marrow. Slowly swimming through the ocean they are eternally accompanied by huge swarms of supplementary organisms that feed and defend them at all costs. And with good reason! The hubs allow for the birth of new marrow worms and they are shepherded around as needed through the sea.

5. The Marrowcores

These are the true center of the ocean. Long spindled frames of bone from which long strands of marrow grow and waft. These feathered segments can break off and become new marrow worms, but the main job of these cores is to mass produce blood on a nigh unimaginable scale. So proficient are they, that that topmost layer of the ocean can be completely replaced every two months. Pretty important piece, but these individuals are the strangest of the whole lot, continuously losing and replacing parts yet holding onto some vague memory amongst themselves. Weird.

And that’s the first go of it! I hope ya like these fun lil guys!

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you think the Statue of Secrecy in the Harry Potter books should be broken?

I mean, that's an interesting question, and not one I'm sure I (or anyone else for that matter) is qualified to answer. It's sort of like asking "should a large and fundamental part of a culture change". It can change, and there'd be fallout from that, and the result would be something entirely different.

What I will say is the statute of secrecy, at least as we see it in Britain, sets up a potentially dangerous state of affairs for a civilization and especially one that is insistent on remaining ignorant of its neighbors.

There's a technical term for this that I'm completely forgetting at the moment but the idea is that if you have an extremely small civilization, in which there is also extreme isolation, then that civilization's technology not only tends not to progress but also regresses. This is a matter of population and knowledge being lost (you don't necessarily have 1-1 replacement for skills and techniques to retain what the civilization knows) and difficulty in innovating for similar reasons.

Now, wizarding Britain isn't quite this, and that's because we have Half-bloods and Muggle-borns. The population is ridiculously small, with Harry's class in Hogwarts being around ~30 total and no matter how JKR tries to convince me there's thousands at Hogwarts we only seem to see 100s if we're being generous, and the "pure" wizarding families being even smaller (~30 families many of which have died out). But we also get a few Muggle-borns every year and we get Half-bloods from magical people marrying Muggles either directly or those who came from Muggles two generations or less ago. We see technology transferred in from the Muggle world and accepted at large in the train for the Hogwarts Express, the Knight Bus, cameras, and radios.

There is technological transfer as well as some diversity in genetics.

The problem comes in that the wizarding world by isolating itself is incredibly vulnerable to diseases (dragon pox is noted as basically having wiped out Harry's grandparent's generation) and conflict (Voldemort's responsible for the ending of several cornerstone family lines). One bad famine, war, and epidemic could end the wizarding world the way it is now.

As it is, they may already be at a breaking point and not realize it, if enough of the families died out. (The Weasleys can't supply 3/4 of the population and you have to have someone there already to teach Muggle-borns magic in the first place).

There's also the issue that by isolating themselves so strictly the wizards have no idea how Muggles work or the state of the Muggle world. Arthur is painted as the best we see and he's offensively bad, it's a common gag how little he understands about the Muggle world as a Pureblood wizard. While people like Hermione and Harry are better, they also stopped their Muggle schooling at 11 and both spend as much time in the wizarding world as they can even during the few times they're sent back to the Muggle world. This is especially dangerous as Harry and Hermione think they understand the Muggle world extremely well, and while they're better than Ron, they're not the same as someone who is a Muggle, especially after they become adult wizards and have no reason to interact with the Muggle world anymore.

So we get a superficial understanding of Muggle technology (they know certain things exist, especially obvious physical devices, but their solution to making them work is to enchant them to float and they think they've got it) and basically 0 understanding of anything else.

We do see some crossover in that the Prime Minister has a direct line to the Minister of Magic, but we also see that it's a "you don't call us, we'll call you" type relationship in that the Prime Minister has been trying for ages to figure out what the fuck is going on when Fudge and Scrigemore finally show up and go "Oh, yeah, there's a changeover and we have a terrorist back who's going to fuck your shit up. Sorry". It's very clearly a position meant to shut the Muggles up and have their aid when the wizarding world needs something from them, not the other way around, which is bad relations (seen in canon, the PM was not a fan) and also makes it clear that the wizards don't care what the Muggles do or what they're up to so long as they do it off their lawn.

And that means... well, things could get spicy without the wizarding world having any means of warning.

Not to mention, of course, that it's barely being kept in place. We have canonical villages of obliviated people who act a little funny in the head because the wizards didn't want to move/wanted to feel progressive by living with Muggles. We have Harry alone causing a number of incidents such as flying a car over half the country with the obliviators then having to obliviate said half of the country. We have Muggle-borns popping up with the Ministry seeming to have no means of keeping track of them without the Hogwarts letter. We have a complete lack of understanding of recent Muggle technology (guys, a very small percentage of people actually understand how computers work, how information is stored, how it's replicated across the web, don't tell me that someone with a primary education up to age 11 understands all the nuance of computers. You may get one or two, but it's not going to be many and they're probably not going to have Ministry jobs because they're going to probably be Muggle-born and maybe, maybe, Half-blood).

So, basically, I think the statute of secrecy is unsustainable. They're rolling dice keeping it in place and one of those days they're going to roll for something that will not allow it to hold.

Does that mean it should be torn down?

Again, that's that "should" thing we got into at first, things would change, it'd get very messy and very ugly, but it's a change and not something I can really ascribe morality to one way or another. It just is.

[ewingstan]

I've been thinking about how Worm differs from Ward in it's approach to action, and I'm realizing that my dissatisfaction with the latter isn't just "the powers got more complicated." Its that action scenes are being used in completely different ways for completely different ends in each text, but are being paced the same way.

In Worm, each fight was a scenario where a problem was set out that seemed unbeatable given what the protagonists had at their disposal. The satisfaction of the fight was seeing the problem being "solved" through clever and unexpected use of the protagonists abilities. We get this time and time again:

The Undersiders plan for dealing with a few wards at the bank heist, and they get the full team plus the Dallon sisters—how will they make it out of a fight we know they're not prepared for? Time to change things up and go on the offensive!

The villains unexpectedly run into Lung during the ABB crackdown, and we've seen how much trouble he gave Taylor last time. How can she fight someone who seemingly no-sells all her powers? Time to get creative with how she uses her bugs!

Taylor's great at attacking an enemy's weak spots, but now someone with no weak points is on her doorstep. How can she fight off not just one of the feared Slaughterhouse Nine, but the one seemingly most built to no-sell her abilities?

Butcher needs to be dealt with, but she's incredibly powerful and anyone who kills her ends up inhereting a host of problems. How do we deal with her and her team? Hey, who left this emotion-manipulator-in-a-face-worse-than-death lying around for us to use?

It's like watching a puzzle being solved. Here's a clearly defined problem, here's how it's especially hard for Taylor because of her limitations, here's how she uses her powers and surroundings in clever ways to come out on top. It also means that basically every fight advances Taylor's character in some way—for it to be convincing, the audience needs to clearly believe in the limitation, which since we're in Taylor's head so much usually means she needs to belive in the limitation. So when we see her overcome this limitation, we're seeing how we (and she) were wrong about her. We learn that Taylor's willing to take insane risks and be agressive in the bank heist, we learn she can take advantage of other parahuman's powers in brutal ways during the Lung fight, we learn how she can use bugs in fully unnatural ways and inspire people to help her in her fight with Mannequin, we learn that she's thriving in the scarred state of Brockton Bay to the extent of utilizing its spankin-new suicide zone to deal with enemies, etc. This is part of why I never had much of a problem with the all-battles-no-breaks pacing that characterizes so much of Worm: it was never just battles! Every fight advanced Taylor's character an incredible amount!

This is a pretty common genre of action, but it requires a few things: namely, a thorough understanding of an enemies abilities. Its only fun to see a character outsmart a powerset if we understand the powerset. And we need to see the way an enemy is a problem for a character's apparent limitations if we want to appreciate how they're overcome. There's a reason why JJBA villains spend so much time monologuing about their stands, or why Sanderson spends so much time establishing exactly how each magic system works. If an enemies powers were vague and unknowable, then deafeating them wouldn't seem clever and limitation-overcoming, it would seem lucky or brute-force. So, Worm has Taylor teamed up with miss-can-explain-everyone's-deal and has her go up against villains famous enough for their powerset to be common knowledge.

But Ward isn't built for this type of clever power-munchining in its action. It's less Jojo's and more Berzerk, with its protagonist defeating her enemies though indomitable power and horrific force rather than cool tactics. Furthermore, Ward is interested in exploring the fog of war and how it affects violent engagements. Victoria is constantly thrown into situations where she has little idea of her enemies powersets, and defeats them without having ever fully grasped their intricacies. And part of this is because the powers in Ward are too complicated to be wholly "got" through simple demonstration, but also because she isn't approaching each fight with the goal of countering the enemy's specific schtick. She's trained to have specific tactics against different broad types, and doesn't typically analyze her opponent past the point of categorizing them as a breaker or a changer. And it makes sense! That style of engagement is gonna be common for anyone who doesn't have a Tattletale! (Kenzie is not a Tattletale. Her specific brand of all-seeing doesn't extend to being able to quickly give the lowdown on a powerset. It does extend to giving a full view of a battlefield and enemy positions, which helps facilitate the more "military engagement" mode for narrating action that Ward adopts). And unlike Taylor's useless-at-first-brush yet endlessly adaptable powerset, Victoria's powers are a blunt hammer that is very good at giving every enemy the nail treatment. Her action scenes are like watching a kaleidescope being smashed to pieces; we're constantly watching someone plunge into a bizzare sitation and smash their way out of it without really understanding what "it" was.

And to be clear I think this low-information style of action can lead to really cool moments. All we get about Mama Mathers for a while is "she can see you when you think about her" and "this is enough to keep the whole compound in line," so the reader's left to speculate on the actual extent of her abilities. And so when she starts driving people into violent spasming fits all of a sudden during the Fallen raid, its shocking and intense! You really get the sense that existing in the world of Parahumans means being subject to countless horrible and unknowable dangers you can't plan around, and when it works, it rocks!

But it also means that when fight scenes can only go on for so long before they start to drag. There's less satisfaction to seeing an enemy defeated without the puzzle component, and there's less character narrative being advanced in each fight outside of "what is Victoria willing to fight for/against" or "how much is Victoria willing to treat this enemy like a nail." Ward needs breaks in its action in a way Worm didn't, and when fights go on for the same length as they did in Worm it feels like Wildbow's using pacing that worked in one area without realizing how it could only work in that area. It might also be why I appreciate the quieter moments of inter-team banter and therapy sessions Ward is full of (besides those moments being, on the whole, really goddamn good).

[soylent-crocodile]

Myr (Monsters)

(Silver Myr by Kev Walker)

(I FUCKING LOVE MYR! They're cute, they're iconic, they're interesting bits of worldbuilding... I HAD to make 'em! Mercifully, I've separated Mirrodin from New Phyrexia, and created the Plane of Steel, a fun little plot hook roughly referencing Mirrodin's creation. If you want to make these native to the Plane of Metal- new to PF2- or simply old machines of a dead culture, feel free.

Also, this will contain rules for Mana Myr, which I spiraled off the five colors of Magic, but expect more myr in the future!)

Myr are mysterious creatures native to the Plane of Steel, an artificial plane ripped from the Plane of Earth and turned into a vast network of self-sustaining machines. Myr themselves are the most common denizens of the plane, servitors to an unknown master and performing upkeep on their more complicated cohabitants.

Myr have been imported from the Plane of Steel in rare quantities, and serve as a rare treasure on the Material Plane, loyal servants infused with magical energy. Some, however, fear inviting such mysterious creatures into their homes, especially paranoid wizards and watchful politicians, as it's a known fact that myr are vulnerable to scrying- and it's a distinct possibility that their master is still watching.

Myr are unique among constructs in being easily repairable once slain. Upon reaching 0 health, a construct with the Myr subtype is not destroyed; rather, it turns inactive, and will reactivate upon being returned to positive hit points. However, a myr that reaches -20hp is destroyed as usual. Additionally, the knowledge of how to create myr has been lost or well-hidden, and they lack rules for construction. Fortunately for myr, they are capable of reproducing themselves, although attempts to study how they do so have not succeeded in creating animate constructs.

There are thousands of different kinds of myr, most being only slight modifications on a basic design; what is presented are some common archetypes and a few notable variations.

Mana Myr

(Myr Moonvessel by Danny Orizio)

Among the most common servitor myr, mana myr work on the machinery that makes up the bulk of the Plane of Metal, and these servitors are attuned to one of the eight schools of magic. Of the myr of the plane, it is the mana myr who are most desired, and those who find themselves in possession of multiple, or let them reproduce, sell them for exorbitant prices.

Each school of magic produces a myr of a different color. Even though they are all made of the same substance, the magic forged into their bodies makes them appear as one of a variety of colors; the mana myr of each school of magic is named after a metal or mineral it resembles.

This small humanoid construct has a strange head shaped like a heavy beak. It resonates with magical energy.

Misc- CR1 LN Small Construct (Myr) HD2 Init:+2 Senses: Perception:+3 Stats- Str:8(-1) Dex:15(+2) Con:- Int:4(-3) Wis:14(+2) Cha:14(+2) BAB:+2 Space:2.5ft Reach:0ft Defense- HP:21(2d10+10) AC:13(+1 Size, +2 Dexterity) Fort:- Ref:+4 Will:+2 CMD:13 Special Defenses: Construct traits Offense- Slam +2(1d3-1) CMB:+0 Speed:25ft Special Attacks:  Feats- Lightning Reflexes Skills- Perception +3, Spellcraft +0 Spell-like Abilities-  Share Memory /at-will Make Whole 1/day Special Qualities- Mana Servant, Scrying Focus Ecology- Environment- Any Languages- Common (Can’t speak) Organization- Solitary Treasure- None Special Abilities- Mana Servant- A mana myr is designed as a vessel for magic. When created, it is infused with magic from one of the eight schools of magic. When used as a focus to cast a spell of that school, the spell is cast at a +1 caster level and with a +1 DC. A mana myr registers as strong magic of its school when viewed through Detect Magic or similar spells. Scrying Focus- Myr are perfect vessels for scrying on. They get a -5 penalty to saves against spells with the Scrying descriptor, and magical sensors made to scry on a myr and its surroundings get a +5 bonus against rolls to perceive it. Additionally, myr- and any object or creature they are in contact with- are not protected by spells such as Nondetection and Screen.

[miss-ali-lawliet]

Anya's background!

Hello! I am so excited to talk about my latest oc, my beloved Anya! She is paired with Laios, and a part of me is interested in possibly writing about what it would be like with her in the party! For this post I’ll tell y'all about some background info on her, I'll have a separate post most likely about her relationship with the party and specifically Laios. The first picture is an art commission I got made by Jaijiggles on Instagram! Check them out! The end of the post sketch is made by myself!

Some basic things before delving in deeper

Her full name is Anastasia, but she prefers being called Anya. She's not even fully sure why, but it makes her happy.

Her parents are both elves, meaning she is an elf, but they also became poly when she was an adult! So she has a second mom, a human woman who fell in love with her mother mainly but also loves her father very much as well. Very healthy relationship.

Her Nana is a dwarf that isn’t blood related who lived with her and helped teach her everything she knows as well as her parents.

Anya was raised in the north, not the west, and with her influences, she grew up having general respect and admiration for all races and not just her own.

She is autistic! Her main special interest is nature and animals, having such a general love and respect for all living creatures, including monsters. 

Her special interest and because of her influences in her life, she would learn what she could to become a druid mage! She also handles healing, much like her Nana, but she offers a bit more offense with her magic mainly. Including being able to transform into animals. 

Despite being brief childhood friends, it was that friendship that pushed her to bask in her passions despite what outsiders may say or think.

Because as pretty as she may look, she would be classified as weird(yet she’s literally just autistic lol) that she grew to learn how to mask when around strangers a bit more, before she was reunited with her previous childhood friends when they arrived at the same island she had moved to not too long ago.

With them, she felt like she could freely be herself without judgment, and they could honestly say the same towards her.

She could be best comparable to a rabbit, which is also one of her many favorite animals.

She really loves fruits and veggies, and honestly she really isn’t a picky eater at all. 

She also really wasn’t opposed to eating monsters either, sure it’s odd, but if dungeons have their own sustaining ecosystems.. It had to be alright to benefit from something like that? And Laios was right! She supported him full-heartedly, trying to appease the other’s about their skepticism. Especially Marcille. 

It’s hard for her to pick a favorite monster, she absolutely loves Senshi’s cooking, but one of her favorite treats was the ghost sorbet, and dragon meat really is one of her favorites as well.

Background

Anastasia is an elf, yet she grew up raised in the north rather than the west. 

Before I move onto anything else, I’ll talk about her parents! Her mother is a powerful mage, even used to work with the royalty of the elves. Her father mainly focused on combat, his favorite weapon being his trusty bow and arrow. Both elves that lived in the West for a long time, but they felt themselves growing disdain with the treatment of other races from the elves point of view. Her mother always liked tallmen/women, and thought the races were just as brilliant in their own shared ways (she is neurodivergent, which did pass down to her daughter) and her father found himself sympathizing with her views.

So what did they do? They decided to leave, heading to the North where they would join an adventurer’s party together to make more of a living. The party had become a bit of a found family in a way, and her mother was particularly close with a dwarven female named Mirja. 

They had a good life together that way for a while until it was discovered that she was pregnant. It was a bit of a wake up call for the couple, that perhaps after the adventures they shared, the biggest one they’d have to tackle was parenthood, and they wanted to do it away from the dangers of the life they lived for a while now. 

So they would leave the party, but they wouldn’t leave empty handed. Mirja would insist on coming with them, that they would need all the help they could get. Dungeons and fighting monsters were one thing, but parenthood? She knew they needed the extra hands. With that, they would travel more north to try to find a home.

There they found a place to live, and they had their daughter, Anastasia!

They would raise her there for a long time, but when she got older they would eventually have to leave her childhood home due to unfortunate circumstances, which had an ex party member suggest a certain village to live near temporarily with some of that party member’s family there. 

Anya’s family found themselves staying near the same village that Laios and Falin Lived in. From the elf girl’s wandering around until coming across the siblings. Despite being there for a short time, she had spent so much of her time with them both, being each other’s real first friends. Their friendships were something that Anya held close to her heart and cherished deeply, they had such a deep impact on her that she held onto into her adulthood.

She had so many good memories with them, that it really was devastating for the three of them when she had to leave. She wished that she could see them again one day, and she vowed to herself that she would come back to the village in the future if necessary. 

Her family found their new proper home on a farm, and from there the young elf would continue to learn from her family. She was essentially home-schooled, learning from her mother and her mage work as well as from Mirja who was a druid-cleric.

For years, she was so dedicated to her work that once she left home she would move to start with taking on jobs to help her get experience.

They weren’t crazy jobs, but it was enough for her to try to ‘learn’ to be normal and get better with her magic. Years passed like this, her moving between groups and people, until she would finally move to the Island. It’s on that island, when staying in inns that she would come across two newcomers to the island one day. It was Laios and Falin! 

After being reunited with them, they would of course decide to all move in together so they could be able to afford someplace decent while also starting to take on work together!

They eventually would join their first party together with Shuro, Namari, Chilchuck, and Marcille, leading to the events we all know. 

I think I'll end this right here before it gets too long! I hope you all are having a great rest of your day/night!

[ilikekidsshows]

Sorry for jumpin your ask box like this. Marinette stans are... a pest to say the least and I wanna rant here because this seems to be like a save space. When I say it here my frustration can't cause trouble for me or anyone else.

I don't care anymore if people say I'm just a stupid salter who hates Marinette, I don't think this show will ever be able to undo the absolute fucking hypocrisy that is Marinette de-transforming and trusting an as good as defeated Gabriel like an absolute damn MORON

When 6 episodes earlier Adrien had to apologize in shame for 'having caused Marinette's disadvantage' against Lila in the class when HE literally still doesn't even know about what happened in the damn bathroom, but Marinette for damn sure KNOWS that Gabriel is an insane and sadistic abuser and terrorist!

And of course Marinette fans are bending over BACKWARDS to talk their way outta acknowledging any kinda truth one could be upset about. Saying that it's not the same cause Marinette is 14 (like Adrien and everyone else, too??!) and is, like, the purest and most wonderful but horrifically abused and misunderstood person who ever existed and that Gabriel not having taken Marinette's generous (empty) offer was totally just Gabriel betraying her pure and angelic heart that tried to do the right thing like the hero she is because 'she's so pure that she was able to see the good in him and wanted to give him another chance 😌'

When, what the hell?? Adrien was and IS being ripped to SHREDS for so much less cause of Chameleon! Just because Marinette couldn't ever confront Lila in a way that goes beyond "point finger and scream and then get upset when that doesn't work for 5 seasons straight"! There is NOTHING anyone can claim that makes the hypocrisy here make sense. Nothing. Didn't she just 'lovingly' patronize Adrien by saying that "sometimes the good we see in other people is only a reflection of our own goodness" and he had to act grateful that she's still able to love him despite his naivety and wrongness?? That was 6 episodes ago! Marinette, where did that energy go now that it's YOU?

Adrien had to 'learn his lesson' in shame and be reprimanded for a good moral advice he couldn't possibly know would backfire because he unknowingly said it about the show's most evil psychopath apparently

But Marinette can seemingly be the most gullible, hypocritical, and illogical moron on the planet, detransforming for no god damn reason in front of the not entirely disarmed and dying mass terrorist, abuser, and magical enslaver who's about to fail and loose everything he ever loved and fought for

But SURE, she totally didn't do Adrien's 'offense' from season 3 just 1000x WORSE, cause, didn't you know? It's ✨Marinette!✨

Her flaws don't matter. In fact, anyone who says she is capable of REAL flaws apparently just mindlessly hates her and strong female characters like her. She can do everything everyone else gets dragged to hell for cuz fuck everyone and everything I guess! Mademoiselle center of the universe might be sad if morality applies to her.

At least if they'd SAY IT that they are okay with pathetic double standards and hypocrisy, but no. Everyone is acting like they're on the moral high-horse by just ignoring everythin that doesn't make Marinette look like the greatest person ever, because it's ✨Marinette✨and we're just mean haters who "don't get it". I sure get that Marinette's fans' and especially STANS' words have lost as good as all validity in my eyes starting with the retooling season 4 because of how incapable of basic self-reflection they seem to be!

btw, I didn't talk to them in this tone. I just wanted to have a conversation with people who say that they think the Marinette and Adrien situations are different and I get nothin but unfiltered hypocrisy and excuses upon excuses! It's just "Adrien was WRONG because Marinette was RIGHT!" with "Marinette was RIGHT but Gabriel was such an awful person to HER that he unfairly punished her pure heart of justice™! 🥺"

Like, get the hell out man. How is any discours supposed to ever exist again after all this??

I apologize again for intruding, I needed to get this off my chest. I still wish you a great day and thanks for providing a place for group therapy 😅

---

Marinette stans love to claim that any consequences for her actions is Marinette being “punished”. They’ve been crying and throwing up about “Marinette getting punished for things that aren't her fault” ever since the original pre-retool series. Even when there's no character to point an accusing finger at, they claim that the writers are punishing her whenever she doesn't get away with something scot free or gets minorly inconvenienced by anything. The idea that Marinette having anything less than a perfect day with every character worshiping her is the same as her getting “punished” has been the basic toxic Marinette stan’s creed for years.

I'm also just going to be really mean: all of Marinette’s good traits that the stans repeat are wildly exaggerated from traits every non-villainous character has. Because, if we take their claims literally, I certainly don't see this “pure heart of justice” and “always helping others” the stans claim she does, because she's too busy moping about or chasing Adrien whenever she's on screen to have the time to help people as much as her stans claim she does. She sometimes helps her friends and family and she saves Akuma victims cause that's her job, but so much more of her life is taken up by worrying about herself.

She's also not strong, physically or mentally. She is not secretly jacked and she has never gotten out of a stressful situation victorious without someone else there to prop her up first. In terms of these things, Marinette is average, “just a normal girl with a normal life”. Marinette isn't weak exactly, but any other “good” member of the cast is the same. She’s not exceptional in these things, but the stans love to claim she’s the greatest, purest, goodest thing that was ever spawned into existence in the world of Miraculous. I know the phrase “strong female character” lost any meaning long ago, but it’s kinda laughable we’re at the point where explicit failures like the season 5 finale are being touted around as signs of strength.

I also agree that the Miraculous fandom just can't handle discourse anymore. Some time ago I saw a post that had someone wondering why there weren't many new analysis posts in the fandom post-season 5 and the reason for that is that the fandom doesn't have space for that kind of analytical thinking anymore. The analysts saw what SentiAdrien would do to the series and, when the fandom exploded into the expected abuse apologia, they left. In addition to that the series can no longer withstand any kind of analytical viewing so the remaining, highly defensive fandom is against questioning what they're watching. You can't enjoy this show if you employ any kind of critical thinking, because the morals the writers elevate are rancid.

Marinette stans have always been like this. I've never been harrassed by Chloé stans and I used to post some very spicy stuff about Chloé. Every time I've been harrassed in this fandom, it was done by Marinette stans. The more toxic Marinette stans have always been the worst part of this fandom and now that the writers are pandering to them, they're really bold about pushing everyone else around.

[invested-in-your-future]

Why do you think RWBY v1-3 worked compared to the rest of it?

Hm.

Honestly a lot of the first three volumes doesn't - the pacing can be awful (and grinds to a halt within arcs dealing with Jaune), the writing decisions leave a lot of to be desired(and are beyond offensive at times).

To say what the first three volumes do well is to talk about what the volumes after dont.

The issue with V4 and onward is simple one:

Too many new redundant characters

I have been hammering on this point again and again - in a weird attempt to expand the world, the showrunners ended up filling it with things that overlap win purpose or outright have no purpose.

Generally if you want to have something happen and want to choose between existing character and new character as initiator, nine times out of ten it's better to go with an existing character.

For example, why did we need Salem's evil council of evil? Why did we need a whole team of villains on Salem's side that essentially fulfill same role and purpose as Cinder's group already did? They don't exactly do anything for the lore or the setting and most of their purpose is one-note - Hazel for example exists just to rage about Ozpin in a poorly executed attempt at making his intentions and role more ambiguous - but there are already plenty of characters who can fill that purpose, so why was Hazel, as a character made? Raven exists, Ironwood exists and is clearly having a crisis, even Haven's headmaster exists (let's say he does) - plenty of ways other characters can fulfill the same purpose as Hazel without Hazel existing. Same extends to the rest of Salem's group - Watts exists solely to "explain" the computer virus (why did we need it explained?) and to have a reason to go against Atlas (but Cinder already has a reason thanks to her backstory in-show???) and Tyrian is the same way.

Too many redundant story beats

The writing attempted to make the setting more complex, but in the end a lot of what's added has no real reason to be there - why do we need Relics when Maidens are already there? Even if we were to go with the same idea of Gods causing doomsday(as dumb as it is) the writing could just as easily have the exact same plotline with collecting Maiden powers, for example. So why have vaults and then relics on top of that?

The Gods are the same way too. Why have Gods at all when you can already comfortably just go with the idea of Salem getting Maidens powers to her side being just as catastrophic? Salem's backstory doesn't even need them - in fact if one were to remove the Gods and keep the backstory the same, the end result would be exact same story. But the show doesn't do that - instead, come V9, it adds ANOTHER layer of gods and magic trees and gives the god brothers a backstory that ALSO wasn't needed and doesn't do ANYTHING in terms of furthering the narrative.

Generally if there's a plot thread you'd want to do the first question to ask would be "Does this change ANYTHING for any of the characters?" - plot is an excuse to get characters through the story beats after all. In the case of God Brothers, the plot thread invents a new problem and then solves it - nothing changes.

Lost Focus

The show is titled RWBY for a reason.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang - that's the core of the show.

The show started with the color trailers focusing on them and their journeys. The Volume 3 ended with them each having their own issues to deal with and plot threads tying to those issues.

What do the Volumes that follow do with that set-up? Nothing.

Volume 4 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

Volume 5 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

Volume 6 is absolutely pointless in grand scheme of things.

In fact, I wrote about the story structure issues with V4 years ago

The narrative structure, at the basic level, is a game of Connect-the-Dots - you have specific story beats you want to reach that work in accordance with overall story and character outline - it's up for The Plot(tm) to lead the characters from one beat to the other.

The way RWBY works past V3 is by inventing a new problem that didn't and then resolving it, essentially staying in place. I sort of outlined it in the V4 structure chart in my write up in how nothing in that Volume serves any real purpose nor furthers the characters.

What does the mess at Haven Academy contribute to the story story that Beacon already haven't? Does what happen there affect the story going forward? No.

What does team RWBY and the whole absolutely dumb and boring mess with the mech and leviathan do for the story? Are there any lasting consequences from that happening? Nope.

What does the run-in with the Apathy do for the characterization? Are there any lingering psychological effects? Do we learn something new about how Grimm function or how the Eyes work? Are there any lingering implications or any story holes that the encounter slots in into? Absolutely nothing.

That's three big examples in those Volumes where the writing invents a new issue, resolves it and doesn't further characters or narrative by doing so.

In Connect-the-Dots, you don't stop hopping from dot to dot midway-through, you don't hop back and forth between existing dots. Story beats and character beats are beats for a reason - they move things forward, they affect things, they alter things. If you have something that leads the narrative back at the place it was before in then you might as well delete the entire thing.

Now this is not the same as characters being stuck in loops or the idea of repetition as storytelling device - repetition that the narrative is aware of WOULD be a story beat in on itself and this is not that.

In fact even going into Atlas arc - the endgame has almost nothing to do with the build up to it and would happen anyway even if most of the volumes leading to it were removed.

Anticlimactic Payoff

If the narrative is build up to something, the pay off should generally equal to the amount of time and focus spend on the build up (unless it's used as a contrast).

Yet in RWBY a lot of mysteries end up being more of matter-of-fact answers than revelations.

What happened to the moon? Oh something crashed into it.

Why are Ozpin and Salem the way they are? Gods did it.

Why is Raven angry at Ozpin? He...turned her into a bird?

What has been Raven up to? Nothing.

Is Ozpin shady or not? Eh, not really - he's just sort of there.

What's up with the creatures of Grimm? Gods did it.

All of these were teased and built up going forward and the actual revelations never justified the build up or teasing that came before.

None of those revelations did anything to further the narrative or develop characters.

It was as if the writers were going through a checklist of what needs to be revealed.

So, What about the first three Volumes?

Now, flip everything I wrote about V4 and onward upside down.

That's the first three Volumes.

The only characters that exist are the ones that have an use within the narrative.

The plot threads are revealed when they become relevant - Mt.Glenn comes up when it matters, for example. If anything there's not enough reveals.

One can easily trace the plot threads through the story - how Ruby's introduction to Beacon affects her dynamics with Weiss, how Jaune's and Ruby's struggles with unexpected positions of leadership affect the team formation, how the friction within the teams furthers the plot to crash into villains goals. And what's more - each mini-arc ties to the four leads and their characterization. Things don't just happen - each storyline starts with the character and ends with characters growing or their relationships changing.

The Payoff is extremely good - V3 takes every single thing the show did through the three volumes and makes use of it. Everything matters - Mt. Glenn exposition, Roman, WF stuff, Jaune's insecurities, Pyrrha's characterization, Yang's characterization, Blake's conflict, Ruby's growth and position int he story, Weiss growth, etc - everything gets used and everything affects the characters involved.

For all the flaws, for all the absolutely insensitive story decisions and bad jokes - the first three volumes manage to handle those key points well and the end result is far more enjoyable.

The volumes after don't.

While good action sequences helped one of many reasons I hold V1 through V3 dear to my heart is because the show pulled off something that was quite rare back then when those Volumes aired - delivering actual consequences and not being afraid of upsetting the status quo within the story.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

how would the ministry know that there ISN'T a bunch of wizardsandwitches that messed up, did magic in front of muggles, and were too scared to report it? Or just tormenting the muggles/ doing subtle crime?

Also if the Trace is loosely location-based (dobby in cos being mistaken for harry) can't pureblood and half blood children do whatever and it's assumed it's their parents?

Bingo, you got it in one.

The Ministry of Magic sucks. It is not an effective government. Honestly, I see it as a barely functional half-oligarchy half-democracy that has been running on mostly the same blood and connections since before it was founded.

I wrote here how I believed the Trace works and why, and I think it is indeed based on location. That means that, yeah, as you said, children with magical parents could just cast magic as they wished and the ministry would assume the parent cast the spell. The books practically say that children in wizard families don't have the trace on them (they do, everyone does, the Trace is on the entirety of the jurisdiction of the ministry it just isn't effective):

“But how come the Ministry didn’t realize that Voldemort had done all that to Morfin?” Harry asked angrily. “He was underage at the time, wasn’t he? I thought they could detect underage magic!” “You are quite right — they can detect magic, but not the perpetrator: You will remember that you were blamed by the Ministry for the Hover Charm that was, in fact, cast by —” “Dobby,” growled Harry; this injustice still rankled. “So if you’re underage and you do magic inside an adult witch or wizard’s house, the Ministry won’t know?” “They will certainly be unable to tell who performed the magic,” said Dumbledore, smiling slightly at the look of great indignation on Harry’s face. “They rely on witch and wizard parents to enforce their offspring’s obedience while within their walls.”

(HBP, 368)

This flaw is built in, likely because the magic that the Trace works on predates the ministry who are just using it and lost the knowledge to change how it works.

As for the first half, the ministry letter Harry receives answers that:

We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.

(OotP, 26)

They work according to areas. Some areas are documented as "muggle" and magic in these places is investigated as it is assumed to have happened in front of muggles (regardless of the fact Dudley was aware of magic and therefore didn't count, they can't really tell who was there, just what spell was cast and where). Any spell cast in a "wizard" area, would be assumed to be an adult wizard, hence why children in magical families could get away with underage magic.

“Then you can hardly complain that you get no warning of visitors,” said Ogden tartly. “I am here following a serious breach of Wizarding law, which occurred here in the early hours of this morning —” [...] “Well, Mr. Gaunt,” said Ogden, “to get straight to the point, we have reason to believe that your son, Morfin, performed magic in front of a Muggle late last night.”

(HBP, 204, 206)

Bob Ogden when he goes to speak with the Gaunts seems to have operated under similar assumptions. The Trace registered a spell in a muggle-inhabited area. The only wizards in the area are the Gaunts and they likely sent someone to investigate the muggles to know who it was or assumed it was Morfin due to prior offenses.

Similarly, when Tom kills his parents and grandparents, Morfin is easily found guilty. Yes, he had a prior offense, but the spell was again, registered in a muggle area where the only known wizard around is Morfin. Considering Dumbledore succeded in finding Tom in the man's memories, it seems the ministry didn't bother with a very thorough investigation.

Basically, yeah, the Trace is very flawed, and so is the ministry.

[justdrawlynn11]

So in the Sonic underground au how does being roboticized work with them already being robots? (Side note I love this au so much, Sonic underground was my favorite show growing up)

Okay, so here’s what I got for roboticization in the Celestial Underground Au. So the factor of being roboticized is in multiple levels to it.

Roboticization in the CU Au is a bit different from the original source(Sonic Underground) due to multiple factors, such as the main cast and at least over half of the population of Superstar Kingdom (yes that’s the name of the kingdom for now)being animatronics.

Roboticization physically enhances an animatronic and ‘human’ person’s body and ability, it’s like an “upgrade” of sorts.

In depth explanation below.

Physically:

For humans it works the same as it did physically for any organic (there’s plenty of different animal species)characters from Sonic Underground, with all of their flesh being converted into metal.

Animatronics on the other hand, when getting roboticized, are “upgraded” to be superior to their former selves physically and strength wise.

Any clothes the roboticized wore when roboticized will also fully fuse with the “person’s” body(like the original from what I can tell), no need to change clothes when roboticized or something.

Mentally:

Mentally on the other hand is a different can of worms. Overall from the outside the roboticized are not their former selves, being a husk meant to fulfill either the command of the Creator or his forces, or to be ‘improvements’ of their former selves to create the Creator’s desired superior world.

For most roboticized people their former consciousness is basically in a comatose state, unaware of anything happening and basically in mental storage asleep.

Then there’s rare cases, like with the chamber that Moon was roboticized in not comatosing the former self, but them being trapped inside their own heads and forced to watch their bodies move out of their own control(the Creator made this chamber like this because Sun’s magic wouldn’t work if he was permanently comatose, he also tested it on a few people before Moon).

De-Roboticization and a bit on Sun and Moon’s powers:

First off, a character’s innate magic is separate from their magic medallions. The medallions add onto the characters magic ability but they are separate(Like hair extensions or something). Sun’s VERY powerful magic for example isn’t related to his medallion, but his magic can boost the power of his or his siblings medallions.

So for de-roboticization I need to address Sun and Moon’s medallion powers. They are the vocalists of the family and if they were to sing the theme song they couldn’t be allowed to sing together or else they’d probably explode everything(I’ll explain the siblings powers fully later and how they collaborate with each other), but alone they’re not strong enough to do more than use it as defense/offense.

BUT when their medallions(individually) are boosted with an external power they have the power to basically mentally de-roboticize someone, or at least give someone who had no control over their own body via an evil force(like possession or something) control over their body once more.

They cannot do this to each other with their own respective medallions(Sun couldn’t de-roboticize Moon with his own medallion and had to use Moon’s, same would go vice versa) so that’s why Sun needed to use MOON’S medallion to help Moon stop being trapped in his own head(they can use each other’s medallions if needed via a spell).

The magic is only the first part, as the second part of de-roboticization is allowing someone to gain full control of their body back, for example while Moon could move his body and prevent himself from actively attacking, his body was still IN attack mode and was trying its best to do as much harm as possible.

Here’s where Solar and Sun’s collaboration comes into play. Sun asked Solar for help in seeing if they could get Moon back(before Moon’s de-roboticization), and Solar agreed. So he tried his best to semi-self teach himself how to override and get rid of any influence the Creator has on a hosts body(like the coding).

Sun tried his best to help where he could and neither of them really PLANNED for Moon’s de-roboticization to happen as soon as it did(the trigger for the reunion), so Solar was working the best he could(with Nexus’ help now that Sun wasn’t hiding from the triplets and he didn’t have to keep it a secret).

They found out how to override and get rid of the Creator’s influence on a roboticized persons code and body

ALSO-

For the hypothetical question of ‘Why didn’t Sun or Moon use their powers to de-roboticize people before this point?’:

They didn’t know that they could just give others their free will back with extra magic for a boost, and they were trying to not get caught as well as they could and the Creator could’ve tracked them if they used enough magic to give someone their mental freedom back, and they’re probably aware that using their medallions together would cause everything to explode(or something). Sun had gone off of a last ditch effort from Solar’s hypothesis in order to try to de-roboticize Moon. Sun had told Solar about Moon’s old nightmares for potential futures(I will write about this one tomorrow), Solar then created a hypothesis based off of reversing the nature of the future Moon was so scared of that he got nightmares. And it worked.

My little goober trying to unpack all of that after spending multiple days contemplating this topic and staying up far to long to finish answering this ask(I also went to my state fair earlier and I’ve been up for about 20 hours when I need to be fixing my sleep schedule) (@derpymuffins33)

[jinkieswouldyoulookatthis]

These were some of the tags on one of those "Are they soulmates?" polls...

Okay, once more with feeling...

The axis mundi runs through heaven but it's not the corridors that we see later on in the series that the angels use to get around up there. It's the path that a soul can take to move through their memories, their own heaven. If they follow it long enough it will lead them to the garden. Just like the axis mundi, the garden appears differently to different souls. But Sam and Dean both see the axis mundi the same, a two lane blacktop road, and they both see the garden the same, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Every other time they show us Heaven, souls have to pull serious tricks to get out of their heaven and into someone else's but Dean doesn't have to do anything special to find or get to Sam, he just follows the path through his heaven which leads him to Sam. Ash finds them together because they are in a shared heaven, that's literally how the show set it up. Only special cases like soulmates share heavens and they see the garden and the axis mundi the same because they are soulmates.

And whether or not Sam and Dean are soulmates in the show has absolutely ZERO to do with anyone's personal ideas about soulmates and what they are or aren't. All that matters for this discussion is what the show says. I realize the show didn't come right out and say, "Sam and Dean, you two are soulmates" but that is the only fucking reason that the idea of soulmates would have ever been brought up in the first place. What the show did say was...

Sam: So… no offense… Ash: (interrupting) How did a dirt bag like me end up in a place like this? I’ve been saved, man. I was my congregation’s number one snake handler. Sam: (smiling) And you said this was your heaven? Ash: Yup! My own… personal… (Ash shotguns his beer while Sam and Dean watch. He burps.) Sam: And when the angels jumped us? We were… Ash: In your heaven. Sam: So there’re two heavens? Ash: No. More like a hundred billion. So, no worries, it’ll take those angels boys a minute to catch up. Dean: (completely confused) What? Ash: See, you gotta stop thinking of heaven as one place. It’s more like a butt-load of places all crammed together. Like Disneyland except without all the anti-Semitism. (Dean and Sam still look confused.) Sam: Disneyland? Ash: Mm-hmm. Yeah. See you got Winchesterland. (He holds up his hands to indicate the bar.) Ashland. (He points all around outside the bar.) A whole mess of everybody-else-lands. Put them all together: heaven. Right? At the center of it all? Is the Magic Kingdom. The Garden. Dean: So everybody gets a little slice of paradise. Ash: Pretty much. A few people share—special cases. What not. Dean: What do you mean ‘special’? Ash: Aw, you know. Like, uh, soul-mates. (Silence greets his statement. Dean and Sam don’t look at each other.) Anyway. Most people can’t leave their own private Idaho’s. Dean: But you ain’t most people. Ash: Nope. They ain’t got my skills.

There are a few important things said here. When the angels attacked them, Ash found Sam and Dean in their heaven, Winchesterland as Ash calls it, not Deanland or Samland, but combined. He then says that soulmates are unusual because they share a heaven. And then, in case there was any doubt, he specifically says that most people cannot leave their own heavens. Ash can because he has special, unusual, skills. So Dean couldn't have simply driven from his heaven to Sam's heaven because heaven doesn't work that way.

Like, this really isn't that complex. What they gave us was a basic equation where they explained the variables and left the answer understood but just not filled in.

Neither Sam nor Dean could leave their heaven on their own because they lacked the skills to do so, only soulmates share a heaven, but they were together and seeing the landmarks of heaven the same way. The only thing this equals is that Sam and Dean are soulmates.

[rottonfishie]

What are Lady Ivory's powers and abilties and how skilled is she in both armed and unarmed combat? And uh what about Red Son?

Bone Constructs - Lady Ivory possesses the ability to generate bone and manipulate it into various forms, primarily for the purpose of encapsulating individuals or objects. Furthermore.

Cryokinesis - Lady Ivory possesses the ability to generate ice, akin to her bone structures. These can be used as offensive and defensive.

Pain Inducement - Lady Ivory had the ability to cause severe headaches in those who fall victim to her. (She prefers to use this ability sparsely.)

Telekinesis - Lady Ivory can control, move, and manipulate objects and people with considerable ease.

Teleportation - Lady Ivory can move instantaneously from one location to another.

Levitation - Lady Ivory can levitate in the air.

Transformations - Lady Ivory can shape-shift, in people, animals, etc.

Astral projection – Lady Ivory can interact with other people through astral projections, thus being able to talk to another person despite not being in the same place as them.

Omniscient vision – this basically works the same as golden vision. It allows Lady Ivory to see through demonic illusions.

Lady Ivory fighting style and requires her to have distance. She mainly fights with weapons that would give her distance from the opponent (Scythe). Or she utilises her projectiles (Cyrokensis.)

However, if she has to be in close combat, she uses her legs to land her attacks. She's also rather quick and utilises her levitation and teleportation to disorient her opponent.

Compared to Bai he, her physical abilities are not incredibly strong, and she relies heavily on her magic.

Which, unlike in the series where it doesn't exactly matter who MK gets trained by (since Macaque and the Monkey King are basically equals). Bai he does somewhat require lessons from the General because he relies on his physical abilities rather than his magic.

(I'll do redson in another post.)

[shippingbell]

Think it's really fun that Trinity and Nine were basically competing for the same position and also had opposite abilities. Nine being incredibly skilled at sorcery and offensive magic. While Trinity is amazing at alchemy and defensive magic.

There's many things about it but recently I've thought about them studying together. They're better at what the other isn't. Not that Nine is bad at defense or Trinity is bad at offense, just like they can help one another in their favored skills.

Nine setting up a big shield that's rigged to set on fire. It's large and impressive. But Trinity just kind of walks over and disables it in a few seconds with a smile and her eyes closed. "It's really scary if you don't understand it~ Visually very complex and frightening, but simple when you look closely (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)" and everyone who saw is just like good fucking lord...... because Trinity just took apart Big Scary Konoe Mercury's massive defense that they couldn't even Dream of making. Took it apart like it was a shoelace.

And the Trinity working really hard on an attacking spell. Flinging this horrifying light beam at Nine. And Nine just uses one of her weaker defense spells that she isn't even THAT good at to deflect the attack. Saying that it's basically that weak(in comparison) that Nine's weaker shield can block it. " >:) Complex. But it doesn't pack enough when you really look at it". Like they're having a little fun with it and doing a little fun banter while studying.

And again it's so simple to the two of them but their fellow mages might've maybe sustained some serious damage from that. But it's Nine and Trinity. Like watching two big lions play fighting but knowing that a bird wouldn't survive a playful swipe. Want more of what Nine and Trinity were like as friends in school...

[yarrayora]

Would either of the Elric brothers be considered fuckable in the dunmeshi universe?

alphonse first

in this form he's quite literally a living armor. i have no doubt that there are some freaks (neutral connotation) in the living armor research community who WOULD want to fuck him. unfortunately because he can give consent, that means he will be turning all the offer down. he, uh, doesn't exactly know any of these people. and their fervor is so uncomfortable...

8 out of 10 for the northern continent tallmen, shaves it down a bit to a 7 when you're from the western continent and got used to seeing the average femme elves as your standard of beauty, downright a 5 for eastern archipelago peeps and the rest of other races. isn't elfy enough to make his face looks offensive to the dwarves and orcs.

good personality, high profile position as a researcher, desirable for the stability he seems to present but he also will end up traveling a lot for research, a turn on for researchers who can actually accompany him, a field mostly dominated by gnomes and elves.

speaking of gnomes to them his mindset about how magic and alchemy work is a bit too elfy for their taste so that's a point taken. he's the type who would combine both gnome and elven's methods into one, though, so he's a bit of a controversial, problematic bad boy celeb among the conservatives in the academia

orcs didnt care about him at first because they associate researchers with people who hire adventurers for protection. after proving that he can protect himself just fine on his own to the point of doing solo hunts, the panties are dropping here and there

the kobolds are kinda.... ehhhh about him. he's a good guy but he also stares at their fur too much...

Alphonse Elric is Popular with the Orcs!

when he was younger he looked "elfier" than as an adult, the same can be said about his brother too, by the way. you can basically use the same rating i gave al on how attractive he is based on looks alone.

his personality is kinda annoying to most people he just met. unless they end up doing research together with him people won't really find what's appealing about him that someone ends up willing to marry him.

even though he also has the amazing capabilities of fending for himself in an abandoned island like his brother does, the way he doesn't bother holding back on his nerdiness is a huge turn off for the orcs. not because orcs are dumb or anything, but because he talks like an elf to them.

EVERYONE WANTS TO FUCK HIS WIFE THOUGH (especially the dwarves)

[paraster]

Random Pokemon Legends: Z-A theories

Gameplay

Gameplay will be basically the same as Legends: Arceus, except with Abilities and held items. Maybe you could redesign the Mega Evolution system so that you just need a Mega Stone in the bag, but changing Abilities is key to how a lot of Megas are so interesting and different from their originals.

Starters

Grass starter: Snivy. New regional Serperior will be Grass/Ice type ("its cold and aloof demeanor manifests quite literally"). Signature move will be "Polar Vortex," an Ice-type version of Leaf Tornado (wind move that decreases accuracy). Ability will be Snow Cloak, but change to Ice Scales on Mega Evolving.

Fire starter: Scorbunny. New regional Cinderace will be Fire/Rock type (described as a construction worker that likes to slack off with impromptu soccer games as a working-class counterpart to the other starters being more aristocratic). Signature move will be "Pumice Punt," kicking a rock like a soccer ball. Ability will be Technician.

Water starter: Piplup. New regional Empoleon will be Water/Psychic type (uses psychic powers to command armies of Piplup and Prinplup). Signature move will be "Domination," a psychic move that corrodes the target's willpower. This will lower their offensive stats and/or make them drowsy. Ability will be Stalwart, but change to Supreme Overlord on Mega Evolving.

Other Megas

The Kalos starters will all get Megas. Mega Chesnaught gets Dauntless Shield (alternatively, if they don't want to step on Zamazenta's toes, Battle Armor). Mega Delphox gets Magic Guard. Mega Greninja gets Infiltrator (unless they wanna just retrofit Ash-Greninja into a Mega and give it Battle Bond.

Xerneas and Yveltal will also get Megas. Zygarde will not.

At least one or two new Megas will be for regional variants of Pokemon that already had Megas (example: Mega Galarian Slowbro).

The "A" Pokemon

"A" will be a squirrel based on Ratatoskr. My idea for the name is "Anuntros" (A + nuntius ("messenger" in Latin) + σκίουρος/skíouros ("squirrel" in Greek)). Not sure on the type, but the design of the A in the logo indicates it might be Grass? If you wanna stretch, maybe connect Anuntros to the Ultimate Weapon and have it be made of crystal, thus Rock type?

Anuntros will be based around chaos (vs. Zygarde's order), and have the ability "Chaos Aura," which inverts type matchups--an homage to XY's Inverse Battles and certainly quite chaotic. Said ability will be cancelled out by Aura Break, making that ability slightly more useful and tying "A" to the "aura trio" more.