#or doing stuff that completely re-establishes the lore

[stelladess]

EDIT: I only now found there are more complete translations of the new lorebook, that may alter things here quite a bit depending on if it touches on relevant stuff. Ill probably write a more easy to follow and updated version of this post when I got less schoolwork anyway so yeah. Arknights Theory: The nature of the Lord of Fiends powers and the purpose of the black crown. IDK how to spoiler and non of what I find onlines helps with that so just know... spoilers ahead. I also wanna say that I havnt double checked a lot of this stuff, I did for some of it but id like to re-read a bunch of this when some of the CN only stuff has come to global anyway. So take with a grain of salt is all im saying that I remember right since I dont remember exactly where to find all of this info, altough I will mentioned where I thought I got it from for various evidence. So tl;dr here is that I think Amiya´s powers is actually about manipulating originium, the memory, emotion and energy blasts (also making a sword) is all extensions of that and NOT fully distinct powers like some believe, also the Lord of Fiends has to have oripathy. Also the black crown was made by Priestess to eventually facilitate her resurrection and the reason doctor convinced Theresa to transfer her powers to Amiya was part of that plan. Now, why do I think all this? Starting on Amiya´s powers. While dialogue indicates some skilled casters *can* learn multiple types of arts, Amiya is not a skilled caster. She is very powerful but not particularily skilled at it. Her powers are ALL derived from the originium arts her oripathy and Lord of Fiends nature grants her. She also had all these powers pretty much from moment 1 it seems so it seems unlikely she learned it trough practice to do many different things. So its likely one ability that is just very broad in its usage, similarily to how Rosmontis´s powers work (if I remember right Kal´tsit even says their powers are very similar in nature). Amiya can do energy blasts, view memories and sense emotions... according to Kal´tsit in chapter 7 the way sarkaz prophecies work is basically that thoughts are stored in originium allowing other sarkaz to tap into the memories in that originium to calculate a likely outcome with multiple people´s brains. So originium can store thoughts/minds. And by extension memory would be a part of that. There is also clearly stuff relating to the dead but ive heard several CN server events have gone into that more so I dont wanna speak about anything regarding dead souls until that comes to global because I do not wanna go reading very complicated lore stuff in a language I dont understand really, so ill adjust or drop this theory as nescesary based on future information of course. So, then the emotions and memory stuff is covered, making the sword is also simple, its just made of originium. So the energy blasts? Well the main way originium is used is as a power source and its required to cast arts for those without oripathy (who have originium inside them to channel arts anyway). Another piece of evidence here is that Manfred could disrupt Amiya´s arts with his own, which seem to revolve around detonating or manipulating the energy in originium, allowing him to harm Amiya when she tried to gather up energy from nearby originium. When she pushes herself extra hard she probably draws extra power from the originium in her own body, which is why it has such a negative effect on her physically even compared to other casters. This, and a bit from the new lorebook revealing the first Lord of Fiends was the first person with Oripathy, is why I think the Lord of Fiends HAS to have Oripathy.

So, with that established, why do I think the Black Crown is meant to resurrect Priestess? First of all, the Black Crown or Civilight Etherna, is tech from the advanced precursor civilization (it was not found by them but invented by them, its directly referenced as a different project to the AMa projects, which is part of what Kal´tsit is refered to by certain beings in the know about the previous civilization, the crown also resembles Mon3tr in appearance). Its stated in Amiya´s module that its purpose is to store information, memories and emotion. And we know for a fact that they were capable of brain uploading, as seen with Friston in Lonetrail. Its original purpose was as a historical record, but that doesnt mean it cant have been altered later. Priestess is stated by Friston to have created Originium, something we will likely learn more about in the Victoria arc on account of certain reveals in chapter 13. Since Originium is so closely linked to the crown, by virtue of the first infected being the first Lord of Fiends, originium was clearly created in relation to something to do with the Crown. And well.. when Priestess put the doctor into the sarcophagus she said they would be reunited and their love would outlast the stars. Despite her seeming convinced she would die.... Kal´tsit seems to have been either created or turned into what she is now by Priestess too, or well by their people at least. But for dramatic convenience I think Priestess makes the most sense. I think the crown getting linked to the sarkaz collective unconcious/dead souls (this is the part im most uncertain about because there is so little info on this on global especially) was NEVER part of the plan. Since it seems likely the previous civilization created the ancients (animal people) to drive the sarkaz away (and also be slave labour, this isnt like 100% confirmed but there is some hints for this) I suspect they saw the sarkaz as lower beings and had never considered the crown would link up with them. So I think the original purpose was that some sort of great calamity fell upon their people, Priestess tried to store her mind in the Black Crown in some process that led to the creation of Originium and because the first person to down the crown was a sarkaz made her unable to do what she originally intended, possessing a later wearer of the crown and reunite with the doctor. This part is of course pure speculation as well with very little evidence, but it does line up somewhat. And I think some of the concept trailers supports the idea the crown can let someone store their mind to take over a later host (altough not with Priestess specifically).

So, fast forward to Amiya... she was born in Rim Billiton a normal cautus girl, her family were miners and lived on a normal landship in Rim Billiton... but one day disaster struck and the ship got destroyed in a horrible disaster. This is all gone into more in To the Grinning Valley but was already implied beforehand. To the Grinning Valley is also interesting for several reasons to this theory, they explicitly call attention to how strange it is that the doctor would bring Amiya with them after finding her in the wreckage. Saving her is in line with their behavior, but why bring her along? Its common in Rim Billiton for miners to adopt other children. Why not leave here somewhere? Why bring her with them to Babel? And this isnt just Amiya wondering or an outside observer, we find out from Savage that Kal´tsit doesnt know why the doctor did what they did. And whats more, Kal´tsit believes the doctor convinced Theresa to transfer her powers to Amiya, and since no previous Lord of Fiends had done so directly, the crown picked a successor, I think the doctor also taught Theresa how she could directly move it, circumventing the dead souls of the sarkaz will being imposed on the crown´s choices. So, why Amiya? Kal´tsit either doesnt have any idea why or just didnt want to tell Savage, but it is clear that she NEVER agreed with the decision. We have some ideas why Theresa did it, Amiya not being a sarkaz would mean she would be less strongly influenced by the dead souls and the lords of kazdel would refuse to follow her. Or at least chapter 12 and 13 heavily implies this was her motive. But why did the doctor want that? In To the Grinning Valley the question of if the doctor always intended to use Amiya for that from the start and grew to care about her over time, or if they took her in with no ill intentions and then got the idea later out of desperation, is raised but left unanswered because the doctor cant remember, and no one else knows why.

I believe the doctor also wished to undermine the crown´s link to the sarkaz, and that the plan was to use Amiya as a vessel for resurrecting Priestess. And it is an interesting topic, its often brought up how much even pre amnesia doctor cared about Amiya... but in To the Grinning Valley we focus a bit on the insecurity and uncertainty Amiya and Savage have about *why*. Savage telling an anecdote about a friend who went bad after fame got to their head and admitting she doesnt know which is worse, if the doctor did love Amiya and their circumstances made them so willing to trample over what they loved that they would force the black crown on her, or if the doctor had always been intending to just use Amiya for that purpose. And Amiya admitting she never knew why doc would care for her so much. And here is an interesting thing... in anything post victoria arc, we have NEVER seen Amiya and the doctor interact so far. Amiya is in Arturia´s oprec but otherwise she hasnt been on screen post victoria arc. To the Grinning Valley is set before it. The doctor has been doing all manner of things all over Terra in that time period, but Amiya isnt there with them, she is still with Rhodes Island is clear though. So... does Amiya and the doctor still have a good relationship post Victoria arc? Doc clearly cares for Amiya still, when Rosmontis talks about missing Amiya in Lonetrail (she had been away for some weeks or months, unclear) doc agrees that they miss her too, but they dont really go into any detail and are talking about both Amiya and Logos. Depending on what we learn in the later chapters of the Victoria arc, I could see Amiya feeling rather betrayed by the doctor. Not to the point of completely cutting them out but that it might still make her a bit more distant to them. I think it would be interesting to see how Amiya would take it if she learned that the doctor had originally intended to use her for very selfish end goals. Surely the thought has crossed her mind and she just isnt willing to entertain it, but if she learns something in the climax of the Victoria arc that shakes her absolute confidence in the doctor? That could be a pretty big deal. We already know Amiya has a habit of rather then accepting people wronged her first try to look for excuses. What Theresa did to her Amiya refuses to admit is wrong even when directly pointed out to her how messed up it was (chapter 8 Rosmontis compares what Theresa did to Amiya with what Loken did to her). She isntead focuses on how she must be failing to live up to Theresa´s expectations, an idea NO ONE tried to put into her head as far as we can tell. Altough it is a little unclear because she gets VERY defensive about it when the Damazti Cluster suggests she was forced into her role at Rhodes and given too heavy responsibilities to carry. Will she do this this time as well? Look for excuses why what doctor did was "justified"? But in chapter 13 she also finds meaning in rejecting the legacy of the black crown and that she will use its powers purely for her own ideals and not worry about what its purpose is. With that in mind how would that color her perception of finding out an even older purpose for it that implicates the pre amnesia doctor?

[autisticlalna]

okay. okay watching the tsmp vod has cleared up a thing i got the details confused on, so im adjusting my theorizing accordingly.

Navigator, aka "the Viking that shows up in Twitch SMP sometimes to lore all over the place", explained the spacetime thing to tRuby as "often, when there is not both of us, neither-- the other one is not the manifestation, in order to avoid... conflict of interest and problems."

(roughly. it's too late at night to do an actual proper transcription with formatting and stuff. you get me though)

either i completely missed this line or i just Forgot in the wake of everything else revealed during that stream, but if my half-awake brain is properly understanding it now:

Viking is the manifestation of space and Ruby is the manifestation of time, as established in TSMP. however, there's not always a Viking and/or a Ruby, and in those cases there's a placeholder of some sort to keep things running in their place. ive talked abt this before, i think its neat, its also raised a lot of questions in SBK but ill get to that in a sec

anyway, what Nav mentions here is that in those situations where only half of the spacetime siblings is around, they're not space or time. so, like, Dominion Viking isn't space incarnate because there's no Ruby, and also he's kind of busy being dead / it would probably be An Issue for the manifestation of space to die in an accident and then get his brain scrambled by a cursed book. on the other side of things, Chunklocked Ruby (who i am very excited to watch the vods of :D) isnt time incarnate because there's no Viking.

i think. its late at night and im having to re-process everything all over again, this is not well organized lmao

anyway, bringing it around to Skyblock Kingdoms: we know that the placeholder artifacts (clock and compass) are present, because Cherruby has them. we also know that Cherruby is from... somewhere else. we also also know that Summertime is perfectly ordinary, asides from that one time Nav swapped him over to TSMP for the worst 15 seconds of his life and he got the bajeezus scared out of him by Sapphire.

so, like. with the original understanding of how stuff worked, the theory was that Summertime also must've been from another place in order for Cherruby to have the clock and compass. but now that i'm actually able to check direct quotes, its pointing more towards Summertime is native to SBK, there just isn't a native Ruby so he didn't get to be a demigod (???). either way, "Cherruby is not supposed to be here" is very locked in, and they somehow stumbled across the clock and compass keeping SBK's reality stable in lieu of Summertime and his nonexistent sibling.

STILL RAISES QUESTIONS ON HOW THE HELL CHERRUBY GOT HERE THOUGH

[x-to-o]

OC JUMPSCARE

ok so when i was waiting to get a haircut earlier i may or may not have ended up creating a phighting oc and some tasty lore to go with it (under the cut!)

pop rock!! this isn’t an actual gear i just made it up in my head and really liked how it looked so here we are, plus i’m not completely done drawing this i guess?? since i still need to make some designs on the guitar strap, looks good rn tho :]

ok SO

pop rock, my dear pop rock, i haven’t completely decided their pronouns or anything so it’s just any/all for now (i’m torn between a very fruity guy and a woman that will not hesitate to literally Crush You Under Her Heel for personal benefit…) (<- JUST HAD AN IDEA RE-READING THIS- WHAT IF THEY’RE BOTH???)

so!! where to start? pop rock is the owner of an illegal phighting ring somewhere in playground where people bet on who will win n stuff like that, they’re manipulative and constantly do things to benefit them and only them to get money, they don’t have many connections or friendships (that i’ve decided for the time being, they might have like. a singular friend or something but who knows!!) they put on a fake nice personality as they only refer to themself as “pop” (something like that…) just to be a little more unassuming, they only use their full name when they’re not acting off a character. they work for a boss that takes a cut of the money they earn from the totally legal phights going on at their humble establishment, the actual arena is placed underground in a very protected area under a bar that they own that just sells normal drinks and such. the people they hire to phight each other have contracts and all that complicated stuff that i haven’t quite fleshed out yet soooo…

the lore is currently held up by duct tape and dreams so there’s a LOT that might change!!

a bit more info now, just random bits of it

-> they narrate their own games in the arena and when shit gets interesting they’re prone to laughing maniacally over the speakers… it scares the shit out of everyone there

-> they do not care for anyone phighting in the arena and don’t have any healers or anything in the premises so if you get hurt badly it’s your fault (as per the contract!!) (they might end up caring about someone and maaaaybe that’ll lead to them being friends or something but i haven’t decided yet)

-> no one really knows why they do what they do besides them just finding it fun watching people beat the crap out of each other so

-> they really like ring pops and it’s one of their favourite candies :]]

-> they still have their childhood plushie on their night stand- admittedly it’s got a burnt ear and torn out leg but they love it regardless

-> they are able to play the guitar (their gear) without hurting anyone… most of the time…

-> they lack empathy for most people

-> they used to be in lost temple with the rich before leaving… seems like their parents didn’t like them too much and dumped them in playground!

[neon-jackal]

Why The Twist In CoC is umm uhhh umm

Each underland chronicles book gets it's own big twist, all with varying levels of quality, but today I want to focus on the twist in Code of Claw, and why (in my humble opinion) it doesn't really work. I actually really like Code of Claw, it's my second favorite in the series behind MoS, but this is by far my least favorite part of it, and probably my least favorite part of the whole series. So why is it so... not good?

First, let's talk about what makes a twist work. I think this really comes down to 4 main factors

Does it make in-universe sense? Pretty self explanatory. It's always good to keep writing consistent with the world building & lore of the series.

Does it fit with the characterization? Beyond it making logical sense, does it fit with the writing of the story? Is it foreshadowed at all? Does it feel like something the character(s) would do? Essentially, does the audience buy it?

Does it further/change the story? Also pretty self explanatory. A twist should have impacts on future event in the series, or re-frame previous events in a new way.

Does it work with the stories' themes? This is especially important for a series like TUC. This is a series with some strong messages, so it's important not to undercut them.

Now let's look at the big twist in CoC. For any who've forgotten, the reveal in this book is that Sandwiches' prophecies are fake. Ripred tells Gregor he doesn't believe in them 5 seconds before the final battle, and Gregor decides he's probably right. So how does this do as a twist?

Does it make in-universe sense? Hard no. Sure, the prophecies can be vague, and a lot of things can be left up to interpretation, but they describe way too many things way too accurately to just be coincidence. You're telling me that a super rare plague starts going around, and they need the help of the one guy that does all the stuff, and the cure for the plague is developed in it's place of origin, and Sandwich just got a lucky guess predicting all of that to a tee? Fuck off. This just feels like such a bizarre and rushed thing to throw into the series, and it feels like something that was thought of well after most of the other books had been written.

Does it fit with the characterization? Not really. CoC establishes that Sandwich isn't a great dude, so him faking a bunch of prophecies does feel believable for him, but like I said before, all the other books treat their prophecies as legit, so this feels kinda out of place. It also feels weirdly cynical? Gregor makes tangible progress on his quests, and sees really sacrifice too, and CoC is essentially saying "all of that was for nothing". Again, this ties into my personal belief that the other 4 books weren't written with this in mind.

Does it further/change the story? Again, no, not really. Even if you do buy the twist, all of the other quests were successful, so like, what's the point? It does set up Gregor surviving the final battle, but I feel like there just would've been much better ways of doing that.

Does it work with the stories' themes? Actually, kinda, yeah. It ties into Regalia's shady government and the ways they keep order, and fits the 'forced into a destiny you don't want' thing Gregor and Bane have going on. The whole "Sandwich can't be a prophet, he's evil!" thing the book tries to do is pretty dumb though, and I feel like there were so many more interesting ideas the book could've done with this.

Now let's compare this to arguably the best twist in the series, in CotW. Does it make in-universe sense? Absolutely. It fits into the prophecy perfectly. Does if fit with the characterization? Fuck yeah! The Regalians are evil bitches, so this is 100% in character for them. Solovet especially works so well as an evil-CIA type figure. It expands really well on her talk of wanting to 'punish' the rats in PoB. Does it further/change the story? Yes on both counts! Not only does it completely re-frame the entirety of CotW, it also sets up the humans' general shittyness, which we already kinda see in PoB, but really kicks into high gear in CoC. Does it work with the stories' themes? My guy. It IS the stories' themes! It so perfectly encapsulates the gray morality and overall pointlessness of war, the shady actions of government behind the scenes, and everything else these books are trying to say, and it gets expanded on even more in the next 2 books.

Wow this post post kinda got out of hand uhh if you're still reading this thank you for listening to my ramblings and point out anything I missed in the notes. If you think I'm wrong about anything, feel free to start a giant argument in the comments.

TL;DR: CoC is very good but the twist in it is not great and CotW does it much better.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Re: time travel dream possession (this is all my off the cuff memory so warriors fans please feel free to fact check me. This also may not be actually how it works but it’s how I made sense of it)

So there’s a cat named Jayfeather, Firestars grandson (there’s a whole prophecy involving him too, but I Cannot get into that). So he’s blind, and he finds like, these underground tunnels in their territory where he meets a bald cat named I think like Brick or something who may or may not be a ghost.

So Jayfeather is guided back out of the tunnels and he’s somehow travelled back in time and some cats approach him and call him Jay’s Feather. Also I think he can see?? Through a series of several times doing this and other stuff he learns he eventually convinces the cats of the Lake (the place the clan cats did their mass exodus to when they paved over the Forest), to move up into the mountains to find like. Food or safety or something? I forget why they moved. Listen I think I was in like, middle school when I read these.

But yeah so those cats from the Lake move to the mountains and eventually become the Tribe of Rushing Water (because they live behind a waterfall). We then learn in some prequels that due to I think overpopulation, a bunch of cats from the Mountains move to the forest and establish the clans. So the cats really just live in one big circle because eventually those cats move back to the Lake. Though it’s after countless generations and nobody remembers the moves by the time the next one comes around.

I trust this was all completely unhelpful, and only brings more questions, as warrior cats always does :3

question is the bald cat like bald like a person (no hair on head) or a hairless cat? I'm picturing bald like a person. Also, this makes sense but also does not at all. I feel like I understand astrophysics more than warriors lore

[curatoroffiction]

hey curator!

I was wondering how you keep things organized in large stories (such as Deja Vu). I am having TWST au ideas, and I'm getting a little overwhelmed trying to figure out how everything would tie together and how to keep it organized.

seeing how well fleshed out Deja Vu is inspired me a bit to try my hand at writing. even if I never share it, I'd like to make an attempt.

Ah! That sounds really exciting! To all my followers looking for some TWST content, definitely keep an eye out on this person's stuff. As for organization, I have a few systems in place. First, to organize information, I have an entire document labeled "Stuff you want to touch on and don't want to forget" - And it's FILLED with information that's quickly and easily accessible to me. The series didn't start off with that though, so my disorganization might actually be easier to see in earlier chapters if you look closely enough! I did try to fix my major inconsistencies when I went through and re-formatted everything though. It really helps with organizing my thoughts and details so I don't have to re-read old chapters, which is what I was doing originally. It also makes sure to keep me from making major inconsistencies, because as I'm writing, I can go "Now wait a second, MC experiences time at a different rate than the demons in devildom. They wouldn't normally be awake at noon-" and I can make adjustments to the chapters I'm writing so they stay aligned with all the stuff I've already formulated. Things will still slip through the cracks with this method though, especially as your stories get bigger! I highly recommend organizing within your document, so you have areas appropriately dedicated to different segments of story details. Some good organization sections I recommend: - World Lore (Important details about the world and how it works, that aren't established in cannon) - Loose Ends (Things you've left hanging that you plan to pick up later, but don't want to make your chapters too long, or you want to do this in the background.) - Key Relationship Moments (Any moments that benefit or damage the relationships between characters, so you can make sure you're writing more consistent relationship dynamics and not forgetting any weird things you left hanging, or any important segments that need to be addressed.) (I would HIGHLY recommend organizing this one by characters, so you can skip over to "Has Riddle had any weird or notable moments with anyone that would be a fun callback in this chapter?" without having to re-read every character interaction you've ever written for that series, lmfaooo) You can definitely add more or less segments to fit your writing style, but these ones have helped me a TON. Secondly, the other organization system I have in place is how I write chapters. I save them all as separate chapters instead of writing into one massive document. This helps me organize my thoughts by the chapter instead of getting lost in all the other stuff I've written. This also allows me to reframe a chapter I've written as "First draft", "Second draft", ect.. and completely re-write the chapters without getting rid of anything I've written in case I want to use it. In a similar vein, I have a master document that holds ALL of my cut content from my Deja Vu series, which allows me to edit very strictly so that the flow for each chapter is a lot better than when I started writing, and I don't lose any of those things. There's so much that gets dropped on the cutting room floor for my Deja Vu series, which can be really hard for me, so I tuck it all away so I can always come back to it later. The last two are more of an "Organization for an easily-scrambled brain" kinda advice, but I do hope that helps you on your writing journey! Thank you for reaching out!

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Hey, I heard you like Duel Links Lore! As owner of the (inactive 😓) @incorrectduellinksquotes I would like to impart the Cursed Knowledge if I can.

First, an easy way to tell if someones AI? If they re-enact a duel in their talk. Pegasus and Kaiba(DM) roleplay their DK duel, for example.

Starting with DM, an interesting note about Isis/Ishizu - Even before Yami Marik was added, she and Rishid/Odion had a conversation about how Malik/Marik was missing from Duel Links... ish. If I remember correctly, what they actually say is that Malik is missing in general, and they came to Duel Links to try and find him. While Isis has evidence pointing to her being an AI clone, Rishid has no damning evidence either way. Its entirely possible that Rishid is the real Rishid, and Malik has actually gone missing. I wonder if (Yami) Malik's inclusion in the game was considered in poor taste and got backlash.

Also, its evident that The Real Kaiba used Kaiba (DM) as his avatar for a while, before DSOD world was complete. Oddly, Roland/Isono seems to listen to Mokuba(DM) as his superior despite Mokuba being an AI copy, which is just funny

Onto GX - Its true that most characters are pretty ambiguous, but theres some that are obvious. Judai and Yubel (separate, not Yubel/Judai) are both AI, Cronos/Crowler does the RP thing, Ryo/Zane is still a butt much, but thats about it. The only one who has any indication they're real is... The Chazz. Yes, Black Thunder seems to be the genuine article, if and only because of the company he brings with him. Ojamas Yellow, Green, and Black wouldnt be there if Manjoume was an AI, and even if they were they wouldnt Leak Yubel's Event like Yellow did.

5Ds... you seem to have a good grasp on them.

I never watched zexal :X

Arc V iirc kinda implied nobodys real? i dunno i dropped Duel Links at that point

Vrains is where it gets interesting again, but frankly thats its own post. The question isnt "are they AI copies" the question is like. If you're a digital copy of something already digital, and the original is gone... is there a functional difference calling you a copy? Or is it fair to consider you the original? the funny ourple blob boi is a philisophical nightmare and he'd probably enjoy knowing he is.

Sorry. but also im not

OH FUCK YEAH!! Thanks a bunch, this is a FANTASTIC compilation of interesting lore bits; I didn't know a lot of these! (as it goes, having not played the game for like...the first four years it was out dfhghsdfg) THE FACT CHAZZ MIGHT BE THE REAL DEAL, OF ALL CHARACTERS??!? ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. PLEASE. proving his humanity thanks to Ojama Yellow. truly only the best for The Chazz.

The thing about if a character reenacts a duel in their dialogue being a good benchmark for whether or not they're AI is fascinating....the brings up an interesting side-tangent with that when you have two confirmed AI characters dueling each other, and their dialogue isn't a perfect duel reenactment but still implies an established dynamic and history (like aporia and z-one's dialogue when they duel each other /obligatory comment about my old men). The way the AI themselves are evolving and talking with each other and being their own variations of these people....that's a can of worms all its own.

Arc-V's been such a weird case because even if everyone there happens to be AI, they're so kneedeep in trying to figure out how the memory cloning process works, what brings a person into this world, that you wonder if there's going to be some sort of realization of the self for one of those guys on the horizon. Could be fun if so!!!!

very very interested to see where the VRAINS implications go cuz that is SUPREMELY INTERESTING lore (especially for a fucking FREEMIUM TRADING CARD GAME ONLINE) and I want to see what they do with it. havent even SEEN vrains yet but I like watching these characters try to solve a mystery that should have never been their problem in the first place. great stuff!

[atlasisnothere]

I'm gonna say it: I think they should never have had to put in all of that set-up and rehashing of what happened in Boba Fett ep 5 .

Like, they really just said "cool we're gonna get Mando and Grogu to the *throne room* and in there is a disillusioned *Bo Katan* and then that's when we stop" as if that's meant to be a really satisfying start to the season. I know that recently there was that weird Jon Favrou lore drop about how the first 2 seasons took place over a couple of years, and they might be wanting to try and convey *time passing* in going to nevaro and going to the armorer and what have you, but this feels really off-kilter in a strange way.

From where I'm standing, they should have started the episode with Din already heading to Mandalore and Bo-Katan and gone from there. There's plenty of time to establish time skips, maybe even sprinkle it in to off-handed dialogue, maybe Din is in a call with Karga as he's approaching the planet and karga expresses how much he wants Din to see the refurbished town or whatever.

It annoys me as well that as much as streaming services have ruined the modern media consumption, larger properties have the space to utilize streaming culture. They treated this episode like we needed to be coddled and we needed to be retold all of the things that Din is aiming for this season, when they just completely ignored the incredible marketing opportunity to tell everyone to start their re-watch of the previous seasons, maybe even restructure some of the things on disney+ to put those Boba Fett episodes under the Mandalorian banner proper, and ignored how they could really lean into that aspect of how streaming as a whole works at its fundamentals. We didn't need to be re-told everything.

They could have generated so much more hype, but most importantly, could have given the writers and the rest of the creative team so much more time to really explore and have fun with the show if they just let them start from a point that actually matters to the story. Think about how it's going to be in future re-watches of the series as well, we as the audience right now know why this sort of thing makes a little bit of sense, there was a pandemic and nothing could be worked on for 2~ years, but going back later will make this episode look even worse.

Look, I know that there's probably a lot of intricate things do with contracts and episode orders and the like, especially with the disney overlords being as restrictive as they are, but they really did not need to have that entire episode be low-energy set-up, especially with how the previous seasons have ended. If anything, they should be ramping up the tension for the start of every season.

Something, something, artistic intent and the flow of a story, you get the gist of what I wanted to say.

(Let's try and ignore how those Boba Fett episodes should have been put-up as a mid-season-break bonus episode for The Mandalorian. We all know why this episode was messed up, and idk who was in charge of Boba Fett but they really put Mando's team through the ringer and it shows.)

((still love the show though, those moments with Grogu and Dad I mean Din are goddamn Delightful))

oh I 100% agree! the pacing of this ep was just weird and it felt very much like half of it was a recap of what we already knew. like if you're gonna sideline boba fett in his own damn show to set up this season, then why are we needing the same information fed to us again? like yeah, the armorer wants din to atone in the waters of mandalore. we knew that. mandalore is considered by most to be an uninhabitable wasteland. we knew that too. and yeah, the trip to nevarro felt unnecessary and pretty much like the writers were like 'hey, here's something to show that time has passed!' which is even further confusing the timeline. plus the stuff with IG-11? also felt unnecessary, and kind of led me to believe that the episode was going to centre around din attempting to fix him until we showed up on that planet with bo-katan. and then it just. ended there? it felt like everything and yet also nothing happened in that episode.

but no, I agree that the moments with din and grogu were adorable, especially with din teaching grogu about the ship and really cementing grogu's choice to be a mandalorian like his dad. I like that they kept that consistency around that choice and didn't backtrack it with din contemplating sending him back to a jedi again or anything like that to create another point of conflict (although I do find it funny that of all the things they needlessly recapped from those bobf eps, they didn't explain why grogu is back with din - like yeah, if you didn't watch bobf, we'll explain everything else to you again BUT why din went from tearfully bidding his son goodbye to once again carting him around the galaxy).

I'm hoping that things will pick up and get into the groove again with the next couple episodes, and I don't think that this episode was all bad, but I think it was definitely a drop in quality from the opening episodes of the first two seasons.

[cluelessmoose]

(They’d had a contest one night to figure out where they all ranked; Sky was last, predictably, and Twi not much better. Hyrule had him beat completely on how well the Traveler could read the others’ emotions correctly, but Time? His greatest ability was a complete, smothering blanket of leisurely serenity that he could and did happily toss over the mind of any misbehaving hero who may be ignoring their need to sleep or relax. 

I'd love to hear any lore dump about how the chain ranked in bond distance and other special abilities!

Who am I to turn down a request and a chance to just disgorge all the random useless bits of info I've collected while writing FtL? Sorry this took so long, I had to do a surprising amount of rereading to re-establish what I wrote into canon for this fic and NOT contradict that, hopefully~

Wind:

He's actually got pretty low range compared to most of the others, but he leans harder into it on a baseline level. He's not necessarily trying to read anything through it, he just finds it very comforting to know who's close. Mostly because he's younger and not /particularly/ magically gifted, Wind isn't the handiest at noticing when someone's come in range, but to be honest it's so shit that he's usually seeing them at that point anyway.

Four:

I'll be honest, Four hasn't been shown much in his true potential in Don't Go Into the Lights yet between hypothermia and the degrading sitch with his Colors, so this part may get added to once that is better established, but here it is so far: Four's range is center of the pack, but he really doesn't catch much of the subtler things across the bond unless he's paying explicit attention, because there's a lot going on in his own mind, okay? And it kind of tends to drown out what's going on through the mental connections unless it's really potent. That said, when he does pay attention Four is pretty good at parsing the reasoning behind emotions.

He's not reading their minds, but damn if it doesn't feel like it, sometimes. Red's super suave with the emotions, and combined with the others not much escapes that combined focus.

Sky:

Middling range, but very good at sending comfort down the line and using the bond to supplement reading the others' emotional states. Of all the Links he's the best one to proverbially cuddle with mentally, giving off warm, homey vibes. He's also very adept at feeling the others do stuff through the bond too. Or rather, he's quite good at picking up the ways each Link can use and interact with the soul connections between the Chain, even if he has no way to replicate it on his own with his skill level.

Hyrule:

Has the best range, hands down. In his chapter you got a good idea of it: his magical range is crazy as a fairy, and so far as the soul bonds go it's still pretty wild, like quarter mile distance kind of wild, though it's stretched pretty thin at that point and not much use except as an attendance check. As a fairy he is super awesome at reading the others' emotions, and as a hylian he's only slightly less sensitive but also way worse at understanding what he's picking up.

Time:

Fourth best range when he's trying, but he CHEATS with his magic. It serves much the same purpose and can reach even farther than his bond sense can. He usually keeps it tucked close around him unless specifically spreading it out, but he can use it to ping off of the other Links' similar magic (though it works less well for Wars and Twilight, those magicless potatoes). We all know about his weighted blanket effect- a soporific whammy of a calming herbal tea, handy for soothing harried and exhausted heroes.

Warriors:

Second worst range. He is not magically gifted by any means but he DOES have experience in working with the soul bonds via Mask and Toon in the War of Eras, which is literally the only reason he is anywhere near competent at all in using them.

You bet Mask was particularly brutal in teasing and taunting him about how bad he was at using it; there's no motivation like your little brother running mental circles around you laughing. You want the real reason Wars accidentally learned the memory snatching? He was so determined to work that bond that he just exploded onto the scene, much to his and Mask's chagrin.

On that note, the MEMORY SNATCHING. No, he's not truly stealing them in the sense that they're gone from the other Link's mind. He's just sat down to watch the video, is all. Yes, the other Link knows its happening and depending on who it is, knows the exact memory. Even if they can't, the only time it happens is when there's a memory strongly linked to whatever's happening in the first place, and it has to be paired with Wars trying to use the soul bond, so it's not exactly hard to realize what he's probably seeing when they feel the bond snag like that.

Wars cannot control this AT ALL- it takes all he's got to use the bond in any way, so any interaction comes with the risk of yoinking a memory. The Link on the other side can shut it down by closing the connection from their end (pretty instinctive, even for the less adept) and they do when it's important to them, but unless its something really private they usually let it play out. The Captain always feels super bad about it, but it's either this or him not using the bonds, so everyone is happy to risk it so he can be an active member in the connections.

Legend:

Second best range. He can kind of cast it all out in a linear direction to cheat past the amount of... signal??... he has, a benefit of being very good at delicate magic work. I haven't gotten to him in Don't Go into the Lights yet, so unfortunately I don't have much to say on him.

Twilight:

Worst range, barely out of shouting distance and he's got nothing but his wolf nose to tell if the Chain's around. Pretty weak sense of the bonds, but between high emotional intelligence and his ability to smell the emotion-indicative pheromones he's very, very good at getting an accurate read on the others' emotional well-being regardless.

Wild:

Third best range, but has no idea what he's doing. Everything he does is completely instinctive just like his magic, and it's kind of hilarious and also SAD when Legend and Sky (Hyrule uses terms and descriptions that make NO sense to anyone else) try to teach him better how to use it. Maybe someday he'll get the hang of it, but not that we'll be seeing.

[solarisdog]

decided to share my own experiences in the hopes of helping others who have gone through this maybe feel less alone- my interactions with solaris happened in august 2023; xey were always in my mutuals' notes (i am an rp blog for a specific fandom with multiple friends in different fandoms, so my dash content can vary, and xey were in mutuals' notes across multiple fandoms) and i kept seeing xem everywhere but didn't follow first due to a rule in xyr notes about not following older writers (i'm of an older age) and because i initially didn't see us interacting. xey ended up following me and i followed back, before xey filled out my interest tracker so i added xem on discord.

immediately, xey sent me a massive wall of text regarding plotting filled with a high energy i personally could not match with someone that was a complete stranger- i have my own things going on and even with people i've known for years, i simply do not match that energy well. i also struggled with how much the plotting involved xyr original lore and meta commentary, when i was (at the time) still relatively new to the fandom i was establishing my blog in. i decided to wait to reply, even talking to my partner and friends about how best to word that i wasn't ready to explore au's yet, as i was still trying to learn more about my current series.

in the interim of me replying, xey started posting about a new oc idea xey had involving lore and character ideas eerily similar to my own oc, making me feel highly uncomfortable- i'm not saying characters can't have the same motif (my character's basic motif is a rather popular character motif on tumblr, and i have a handful of mutuals who also use this motif for their own characters), but xey referenced some things highly specific to my character as a whole that made me suspicious. i ended up sending my message to xem about not matching energies or feeling ready to rp in other verses with people i'm not familiar with yet, and things seemed to end amicably and xey removed me from discord before we mutually blocked each other.

shortly after, xey made a huge post about people needing to read xyr pinned/rules and how xey will not drop xyr meta lore stuff for anyone which was never something i suggested; xey had a (heavily tied to xyr personal lore) verse for the fandom my blog is for, and even when xey suggested writing in that, i told xem i still didn't feel ready to personally write in something so different from the canon of my blog's series. i knew from reading it that the post was made because of me, and saw xem start talking about more about xyr new oc, leading me to vent on my blog about feeling weird seeing someone take ideas from me. my partner later told me i'd apparently been namedropped in a post by solaris with screenshots and somehow "proving" xey'd had the idea for ages for a similar character, despite all xyr relevant dated "proof" (discord scs talking with xyr partner/alter, amor) being a) after xey followed me and b) about a month after i initially created my character. my friends and i discussed this privately but did not engage, despite solaris claiming xey'd been sent anons over the matter, (the only anons xey published were someone saying xey vagued multiple times about me and that stealing headcanons was wrong, which i can confirm no one in my circle at the time sent, and then someone politely suggesting xey turn off anon if its getting so bad, to which xey refused), and eventually solaris hid the post before re-publishing it, removing all mention of me or my character (but to those aware of the situation, it was both too late and painfully obvious it was about me). the post and multiple others about the situation were finally privated/deleted, and i've gone the last year now staying mutually blocked by xem.

a friend showed me this blog, and i decided to send in an ask after reading lissi's personal experience with solaris because the part about feeling replaced/stolen from with solaris' newest oc that xey've had an idea for "for ages" felt extremely familiar and i feel like if it happened to both of us, it's happened to others, too.

Thank you for coming forward with your story and providing more information. I have no doubt that there are still others who have stories to share. I appreciate you taking the time to share yours.

[butterfliesornauseous]

Can I ask about the ocs you mentioned in one of your posts I can’t find anything else about them 🥲

Okay originally I was going to be a sickfic writer and not only posting prompts as I currently do. I had 6 ocs (my 2 loves ‘Milo & River’ and 4 fansty/nonspecific period au characters ‘Ari,Alice,Dawn & Royal) and about I think a near full year ago i decided that I wasn’t happy with the work I had with them/ the introduction posts and took those all down with the intention of improving my writing plus their lore, backstory’s ect and…

So about a couple months ago, Iwas actually in the mood to work on them again and when I went looking for the document I put all their stuff on I couldn’t find it. 🙃

Now to present I’m still a little salty and haven’t gone back to them (though talking about them has given me some motivation to maybe start them again but that comes with a small issue) 

(The problem of having to come up with a new name for the fantasy crew because I loved the original name I came up with for their little story but I think it’s best to change it and I’m not doing a good job of thinking of a new name also I want to re do their back stories but have blanks about how to improve them.)

(Also I created another completely different au and have been thinking about that a lot more lately then the ocs I already established whoops 🤭 (anyone remember the guardian angel prompt I listed I made, they may or not be from that but again talking about my first ones have me motivation to go back to them.)

But sorry for the long post, I’m not sure if this is what you are looking for anon but that’s what has been going on with them, though this was vauge about the actual characters themselves if anyone ever wanted to ask something about them I would melt into a puddle because I see people post stuff about their ocs and get questions and I want that to be me but it’s my fault they aren’t on this blog anymore but if you somehow ever come up with a question from this please feel free to ask 🥰 (I will love you) 

[dyketubbo]

the thing is in my mind i have such a clear way of how to properly incorporate ctubbo killing c!aimsey into the story in my head and i have like a whole dynamic in there but it makes me feel so incredibly insane because all there is in canon is just. ctubbo felt a little quirky that day killed a woman and laughed it off like.

[valenhell]

From the studio that brought you “I can’t find good Byler fics in the ao3 tag”, comes:

"The Definitive Byler fic rec list"

Literally no one asked for this but because I spent the majority of last year (...and 2019, and 2018...) reading byler fics and coping with life, I thought I’d make a list of some of my absolute favorites. 

The other day I was basically starving for some byler fics and the angel @magicalfairy provided me with some of her faves so I thought I’d do the same, because I love reading, and I love all of these fics and I appreciate their writers💗 And fic writers in general, come on!

- This is a mix of long works and one-shots/short stories. - Everything is mostly fluff with a tad of angst and a lot of internalized homophobia conflict.  - Every fic is completed, except for the ones I mention that they are not. - I try my best to lay out the stories in a way that I won’t spoil you the plot but also warning you of some stuff you might don’t like. Either way, all of these fics are correctly tagged by their respective authors/owners, so read at your own risk. For better understanding, in between brackets I denote Rating, Words and quantity of Chapters. - I feel like I should clarify, none of these are narrated in the singular first person. None of that “And I told him...”, no. 

Long fics

a dream always the same (T, 99k, 35 chapters) What happened in those few weeks between the Battle of Starcourt and the Byers leaving Hawkins. Literally a satisfying and very needed fill in of season three, with a good dose of Mike’s thoughts and conflict. Mike’s characterization is specially amazing in this one. The writing style is amazing and I know the author put everything into making it historically accurate, and it was really sweet. You probably read it, it’s by the amazing sevensided here on Tumblr🧡

Spring Break (T, 120k, 14/15 chapters) The slowburn of my dreams. Lots of internalized conflict and conflict with each other. Conflict within the Party (uhh kind of), conflict with Mike and Will. Byers family has moved and the kids are visiting! Chaos. Characterization is on point. Yeah, I know it’s unfinished, but the fourteenth chapter actually serves as a pretty nice ending. 

This is where it starts (M, 148.8k, 24 chapters) Aged up characters. The Party is in college and Will disappears again, but now it’s different. Mike knows he didn’t vanish from thin air, and the discovery he and the Party end up making is pretty insane. Mystery solving/fantasy/third dimension, throw in a bit of D&D and Mike realizing some shit, and you get this marvelous fic. It’s a breath of fresh air. The world building is definitely one of the elements that stands out the most, because it’s very nicely described, it sounds like a dream and it’s completely immersive. Absolute gem of a fic. 

there’s a Starman waiting in the sky (M, 30.6k, 8 chapters) Do I need to say anything? Will is out there living his best life and Mike realizes that wow, umm, maybe his best friend looks a bit too nice with that costume... and wait, is he getting horny? It’s actually really fun and sexy.

The Evening Speaks (T, 23k, 7 chapters) In where Mike is a late-night college radio host and Will is the art student that stays up till late to catch up with Wheeler on the Mic. They flirt through songs y’all, this one is really sweet. 

heads or tails? (E, 24k, 3 chapters) Aged up characters. I know most people don’t enjoy sex in fics and with specific characters but this one is insanely well written. It’s a slowburn that commits to the tension and with every word you are grasping and anticipating their next move. I think you can find the author here on Tumblr as yousaidyes🧡

The Man of Average (M, 56.7k, 5/? chapters) Aged up characters. No but you don’t understand, the writing here is absolute gourmet. The story is exciting as well, it’s super interesting. Weirdly enough, for being very aged up characters, they are well characterized but they don’t feel like teenagers. They are naturally Mike and Will. The author really captured Mike and Will’s essence. I know, it’s unfinished and it’s updated very rarely, but this is the typical fic you can’t believe someone just posted on the internet for free. I will say though, I think it’s definitely not for everyone. Read at your own risk.

Heartstrings (E, 82.8k, 24/? chapters) Aged up characters. By the same author of The Man of Average. A collection of memories, the road to Mike and Will’s happy ever after. And fucking hell!!!!! You’ll cry and get angry, you’ll cheer for them, then you’ll want to crash their faces together because god dammit you love each other!!! But yeah, same thing here. The writing and the way the story is laid out as a nonlinear narrative is brilliant. And I also think this is one of the best Will versions I’ve read. The author might as well be the og creator of this two characters tbh. You can find the author here as mylesimeblr🧡

Sinners behind the walls (T, 1.5k, 1/1) And because I can’t stop recommending this author, a little thing of Mike tormenting himself but also being too deeply committed to Will. 

The Red Envelope series (T/E, 167K, two completed works) Something happens that Will thought was impossible and from there, pure drama and romance. Anything by this author has the potential to become your absolute favorite fic, but this series in particular is amazing. I doubt that any of you haven’t read this, but it doesn’t hurt to put it in this list. I’m pretty sure the author is serendipitous-magic on Tumblr🧡

A New Fight series (T, 91k, two completed works, one WIP) And finally the Star Wars AU that we all needed. But this isn’t your typical “Mike is Han”, “Will is Leia” and “El is Luke”, it’s way more interesting than that, and the author has appropriated the Star Wars world like no other. I’ll admit I’m not a 100% fluent in SW lore but this is amazing to me either way. This author is also on Tumblr, tea-for-one-please🧡

- Yes, most of these are (if not all), in a way, canon compliant/canonverse/canon continuation into fanon. (In a way)

One-shots and short stories

Sundae for Two, Please (G, 4.8k) Steve being the supportive friend and older brother these kids collectively need. (not Jonathan erasure, we love him). Steve is very sweet himself, and this little cute thing through his POV is gorgeous. Yes, it’s byler.

Backstage (T, 10k, 2/2) Jonathan, you forgot to mention to Will how hot your new band’s guitarist is, dude. Now he’s hyperventilating and weirdly flirting with him in the corner. Background Stonathan because why not.

102 Peach Street (G, 3.8k) Established relationship, but not only that, they are married :’’))) PURE fluff. Extreme fluffiness. Diabetes. 

sweatshirts and bottled up feelings (T, 3.2k) Or, Mike thinks that the sweatshirt Will wears looks insanely good on him. And kitchens are for lovers. 

kiss it better (T, 16.3k) Basically one of the best character studies of a few precise moments of Mike and Will’s relationship and feelings. 

will wonders ever cease (T, 11.3k) #i ship will and happiness. Omfg what a beautiful piece of fanfic. Will centric, this kid really deserves all the good in the world.

The Calm After the Storm (T, 1.6k) Tooth rotting fluff, boyfriends in love. Boyfriends being lazy, cuddling, love words, kisses. Boys loving each other’s company... Basically, Mike and Will in their element. What more can you ask for?

neither of us ready to let go (T, 4.8k) That scene from season three, but a bit of a fix it. 

Still in love (G, 1k) Domestic, married life au fluff. Y’all, I’m a sucker for established Byler, even if I can’t find many fics with it. But this is very sweet. It takes place in 2020, but I don’t think there are any mentions of the COVID-19 crisis that I remember.

I Nver Find Out ‘Til I’m Head Over Heels (G, 12.5K) Classic 5+1 fic. If you haven’t read it, where have you been? This is your moment. In where Mike keeps inviting Will to the school dances and Will thinks it’s just a joke until he realizes it’s not. 

Before You’re Gone (T, 5.9k) Will is leaving Hawkins and Mike thinks this is a great moment for a confession. This one I discovered last friday, thank you friend @magicalfairy 💗

You’re weird Wheeler (M, 4.5k) Mike unintentionally starts a tradition of going to each other to talk about their sexual encounters just after they finish. Will keeps getting more explicit with the details he shares, and he makes his best friend interested. This one is really fun y’all.

Out-Of-Town Friends (N/R, 4.6K) It’s not rated. I haven’t re- read it but I’d say it would probably fall in a T rating. So cute!! Will has new friends and sneaks off every friday and the Party doesn’t know where he is going, so Mike decides to follow him and is surprised. 

Snowed Under (G, 1.3k) By the same author of The New Fight series. Mike is spending christmas by himself in college because a snowstorm hits Chicago and Nancy can’t drive to see him, but then he has a surprise visitor. Ahhh just a lil sweet holiday fic. Super cute. 

you love me anyway series (T, 7.1k, three completed works) Literally just the cutest thing ever. Established Byler. Will loves to take pictures and he loves taking pictures of Mike. It’s adorable. 

you wanna be friends forever (i can think of something better) (T, 9k) This one is so amazing. So. Amazing. From Will’s POV, my kid deserves the world and he gets it. 

okay not to be okay (T, 4.9k) Mike is a bit sad but then everything is okay. 

can’t hold out forever (G, 18.4k) Y’all!!!!! 5+1 sweetness. Mike has been falling in love since kindergarten. And it’s long af, you’ll enjoy it. 

even if it takes forever (G, 1.3k) College short AU, they miss each other, they love each other, they promise all to each other. It is sappy y’all.

clear as day (N/R, 18.4K, 4 chapters) It’s not rated, but I’d say it falls in the T category. Strangers to friends to lovers. And also, everyone is pretty gay; we have our dynamic trio Mike, Max and El as disaster lesbians (and gay). Will works at the library and he is also gay. Lucas and Dustin and Will are the best friends we needed. It’s very sweet and the Party is kind of formed here!

I went overboard with the one-shots, so you must have realized how much I love long one-shots and I favor them over long works lmao but they are all amazing!!! If it’s on this list, I probably read it at 2 am, sobbing in my bed. So. Hope you enjoy it☺️🧡

[thefirstknife]

The Fall of a Pyramid Ship

Besties, I have a thought. Many of them actually.

I recently went on a long tangent about how there is a possibility that some time during Season of the Lost a Pyramid will appear in the Dreaming City and we will be bringing it down. That Pyramid will then end up in Savathun's throne world which is where we will be going into it for the Witch Queen Raid. Post with the details here.

The rest under the cut because it's long:

The original post was mostly spurred someone asking about Sjur's dream from the lore on Sleepless. The relevant parts:

"I was dreaming," Sjur says, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "I saw you on a great black triangle. You split it in two with your bare hands."

"Mm."

"And I was dead, I think." She cracks her neck with a deliciously loud pop. "Or… trapped? Like in a maze. But pretty close to figuring my way out."

"Mhm."

Sjur stands up to stretch. She does not mind that Mara is not listening. Let her read. "And there was another woman with you."

"On the triangle," Mara murmurs.

"Mm. Yeah. She was helping. Then your brother showed up, and…" She shakes out her arms, frowning thoughtfully. The dream is already fading. "He said, 'Tropaea.' Or maybe it was, uh, 'Tropical.' Anyway."

I bolded the most relevant sentences. The original post really wasn't about the whole Pyramid business, but I had to add my thoughts now that we know more than we did back when this lore was released. Not only the stuff I mentioned in the post, but also now we know that Savathun is (allegedly) trying to help us defeat the Black Fleet and the same was said about the reason why Mara wants her Techeuns back.

And I was just re-reading lore, as I do, and I remembered something. The lore book Stolen Intelligence details some of the records made by Ikora's Hidden and other Vanguard agents. Specifically, the page Fragment is what caught my attention. In it, an agent FEN-092 (most likely the one, the only, the man, the legend: Fenchurch Everis) reports a strange incident on the Moon:

2. Around 1900 hours yesterday afternoon, I began to experience a crushing headache and excused myself from patrol to recuperate. Though I originally intended to lay down for a nap, I fell asleep instead, and experienced multiple vivid dreams over the next 11.5 hours. In all of these dreams, I was trying to catch up with agent ERI-223 in a crowd. She was always out of reach, whether by 200 m or 20 m. I had the sense that I needed to speak to her.

3. When I woke, I found that my headache had not improved. I prepared my armor and exited my bivouac to find a single stationary Thrall crouched nearby. It stood as I approached, but made no motion to attack me. I fired one shot, killing it immediately. Upon stepping forward to examine its corpse, I saw a solid black fragment of an unknown material embedded in its chest cavity. The fragment resembled a flake or a shard of some larger object, not dissimilar to a high-gain photovoltaic panel.

ERI-223 is Eris Morn. The fragment was peculiar at the time this was released (Forsaken), but now post-Shadowkeep and post-Beyond Light, we can definitely identify this artifact as a piece of the Pyramid. Fenchurch's Ghost also reports:

5. I requested that my Ghost attempt to contain and transmat the fragment for quarantine on my jumpship. He was unable to establish a Light link with the object, describing the fragment as "slippery" and "tiring" to try to catch hold of.

To me, it is most likely that this is literally a shard of the Pyramid, like those little pieces you can see on Europa when a Pyramid scale ripples. But more important is what follows:

8. At this point, I broke protocol and did not request additional backup. Instead, I picked up the fragment by hand and immediately experienced a vivid hallucination: I stood over VIP #0704's shoulder as she dressed a seven-inch gash on agent ERI-223's thigh. Both #0704 and ERI-223 were dressed for combat. Hundreds of fragments of the unknown material hung in the air around us, apparent shrapnel from the wreckage of a nearby ship of unrecognizable make and model. ERI-223 looked directly toward me and said, "Патетическая."

Obviously none of this made any sort of reasonable sense at the time. But now?

"Hundreds of fragments of the unknown material hung in the air around us, apparent shrapnel from the wreckage of a nearby ship of unrecognizable make and model" is a pretty clear hint at what we now know is a Pyramid ship. Specifically, a wreckage of one.

As we've established, ERI-223 is Eris Morn. Who is VIP #0704? As of now, it is undecided. I've done a bit of a search and most of the guesses are 2 years old and they usually settled on it being Eriana-3 OR Mara Sov. I think it's pretty obvious that it's Mara, if we pair it with the Sleepless lore tab.

But there's another link. The lore book The Dreaming City has a page called Letters. This lore book in general is kinda all over the place and details some lore that doesn't really have a place elsewhere, but it generally revolves around the Awoken and characters adjacent to them. There is a lot about Mara, including information about how Eleusinia and the Oracle Engine were created, as well as her relationship with Riven.

Anyway, in Letters, we see several letters written by Eris to various people, but never delivered. We kinda have to assume a lot here because nothing is explicitly named, but we can for sure say that these letters were written by Eris. To whom? It's up to debate. Some of these seem to be for Mara, one is most certainly for Asher and one is most likely for Ikora. The one I want to focus on is one I can't decide where to place but it features a word we've seen before:

Undelivered, burnt.

Патетическая. The swelling of strong sentiment in your chest even as you mourn the world that is and was and will be. I did not go to Mars. I will not go to the Dreaming City. There is only the plan.

"Патетическая" is Russian and it means "pathetic." I'm thoroughly lost on why this is repeated twice as coming from Eris in two different instances. Truth to Power claims that Eris was born during the Golden Age in Russia, but Stolen Intelligence disproves this. Hm.

Either way, there are several things that seem to fit together in all of this:

1. Destruction of the Pyramid ship (Sleepless, Fragment) 2. Eris and Mara involved with some sort of an ongoing plan (Sleepless, Fragment, Letters) 3. A battle that involves a Pyramid, Eris (who ends up wounded), Mara and Crow (Sleepless, Fragment) 4. Eris saying the same peculiar word seemingly completely out of context (Fragment, Letters)

I want to point out something about the Letters entry. It's not chronological. As in, the entries in that lore page aren't all from the past or current plot from when the lore book was released. Observe the final part of Letters (which released in Forsaken):

Delivered.

I have been inside. I have nothing but beautiful and violent words for my report. I will meet you at your throne.

Lore book Letters from Eris, from Shadowkeep, page Regarding the Pyramid:

[DELIVERED, RECONSTRUCTED.]

It's coming, my Queen.

It's coming for US.

We have been manipulated. We are right where it wants us. The Darkness orchestrated its plan magnificently; the Nightmares were so impeccably calculated to draw us in, make us vulnerable, and leave us exposed.

The Darkness plans to use us. We are to do its bidding. I don't know how to stop it.

I detect no fear on the part of our nemesis. We aren't even a concern. We pose no threat.

The Darkness needs a reason to fear our Light, and I intend to provide it.

I have been inside. I have nothing but beautiful and violent words for my report. I will meet you at your throne.

This makes the entire Letters lore page entirely up for debate.

I believe these entries are connected and that both Fenchurch's hallucination after touching a piece of the Pyramid and Sjur's dream are telling us about the same future event that involves Eris, Mara and a destruction of a Pyramid ship. And I absolutely believe that we will see this at the end of the season, considering there's a downed Pyramid ship in Savathun's throne world. Other connecting details are very confusing for now and may have something to do with Savathun's involvement. After all, she also claims to be interested in fighting back the Black Fleet and ends up in possession of the Pyramid.

[j4gm]

Unoriginal thoughts about Slumber Party Panic

I feel like a lot of people do these kinds of projects where they try to review or write about every Adventure Time episode in order, just like I'm doing now. Like most attempts, I probably won't make it much further than the first season. In almost any show attention will be biased towards the earlier episodes. It's why I decided to start with season ten when trying to complete a few more of the transcripts on the wiki recently. And as a result of this bias, Slumber Party Panic is probably the most reviewed episode in the entire series, so finding something new to say about it is a challenge.

As you've heard before, Slumber Party Panic seems like an odd choice for episode one when you have a much more typical debut episode in "The Enchiridion!" which was the first to be produced and feels the most pilot-like, even though it actually ended up airing at fifth place. But Slumber Party Panic still works as an introduction to the show in some aspects. You have the core idea of Finn, a fairly minor individual in the grand scheme of things, being at the centre of a much larger set of events; in this case, a zombie apocalypse. This is something that gets amplified as the show goes on. By the late seasons Finn and Jake are chilling out with gods and battling malevolent entities on the edge of space-time like it's just another Tuesday. And like those later episodes, Slumber Party Panic still manages to compact such grand adventures into something that can be digested in eleven minutes without feeling like there's anything missing.

One way in which Slumber Party Panic stands out, however, is the fact that some of the lore it establishes is completely ignored for the rest of the show. Adventure Time's main worldbuilding doctrine is to throw a bunch of crazy stuff into every episode and then expand upon the most interesting bits later so that it retroactively becomes foreshadowing. It's rare that later episodes elect to completely contradict something which has already been established, but the rewriting of the Gumball Guardians to be the subservient creations of Princess Bubblegum rather than her god-like masters is one such case. It could have been even worse; in the DVD commentary it's revealed that the guardians were originally instead going to be Princess Bubblegum's ancestors, which would have sent her back-story in an entirely different direction. But anyway, this contradiction is one of the reasons I get annoyed when people try to categorise all the non-show media depending on whether or not it "fits" with canon (which is hypocritical because I still do that for ATChronology but shut up). The show itself can sometimes break its own canon in worse ways than the books and comics, so it's better to maintain that there is no true canon and just enjoy the various Adventure Time media for what it is. Which is one of the reasons I'm re-watching/reading/playing/consuming everything in this mega-rewatch, not just the "canon" stuff.

The commentary and storyboards of this episode are worth checking out, by the way. A lot of stuff got cut, and there's some interesting insights into the insanity of season one's production. There's also a strange amount of Chocoberry lore?? Here's the boards: https://www.scribd.com/document/19328046/Slumber-Party-Slaughter-Storyboard.

[nintendylan64]

My problems with FNAF Lore

Hey guys. I felt like I wanted to explain my problems with the FNAF lore, and how the lore was ruined for me years ago.

My history with the franchise and the lore Now, I discovered the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise back in 2014 through DanTDM's Let's Play of Five Nights at Freddy's 2. It was the first time I had ever been introduced to the jumpscares and characters in-game. But I actually discovered the first game through a YTP someone made of it. With how little I knew from discovering that YTP, I assumed that Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy were anthropomorphic animals that ran the place, and that Freddy just liked to leave scary stuff in his office because he was a horror guy. That assumption was way off and DanTDM's Let's Play let me discover that the antagonists weren't anthropomorphic animals. I then discovered Markiplier's videos on the games in 2014, and fan-animations of the games like SMG4's Freddy's Spaghettiria series, and Piemations' 5 AM at Freddy's series. Besides the surprising jumpscares, what really got me hooked on the FNAF series was the 80s-90s aesthetics, and the lore behind it all. Around late 2014 and early 2015, I had discovered the hidden lore series by MrCreepyPasta, which was what got me interested in exploring the lore. I loved the FNAF lore when it was just, "Man kills 5 kids in pizzeria joint and the animatronics become haunted by the spirits of the kids". This made it feel much more realistic, as murder of kids in a place like this can happen in real life. The fact that the staff weren't behind any of it, and that the guards were originally just some average joes who got hired for a night guard position without knowing the dangers of it was also very realistic too. And the inclusion of another tragic event known as the "Bite of '87" was also interesting. But the biggest thing that made the lore have a charm to it, was how there was an implied history of Fazbear Entertainment, and FNAF 2 showed us the history of the place before the tragedies happened, as well as implying that the negative impression was stuck before the murders was also interesting. The lore was interesting back then because of how realistic and mysterious it was. And when the third game came out, it was a great conclusion to the franchise, in which the killer got his comeuppance, leaving the kid's souls to rest in peace. And the killer haunting the suit he died in as an attempt to escape his torment of being trapped in a suit, eventually leaving him to be burned alive in the location he was at was a very nice way to end things. But the way it had expanded on the story by taking place thirty years after the events of the first game, with the unsolved mysteries of Fazbear Entertainment trying to be recreated by people was a good way to expand upon the story. So basically, I prefer the FNAF lore when it was the story of how kids were murdered in a pizzeria joint, and how they eventually got revenge on their killer, while room was made to show us how the pizzeria joint handled this, and how the alleged hauntings were shown through the animatronics being possessed. Because of the lore being so interesting, I tried making up my own timelines to tie the story of the first three games together. And seeing as how the lore was concluded, it should've just ended there, right? Well... it didn't.

Where the problems crept in I think that the problems with the lore crept in with the fourth game. Now, this game could've had potential, as it could've taken place in the location where the withered animatronics were used in before FNAF 2, but it didn't do that. We got instead a child suffering through nightmares, with animatronics that have particularly stupid designs. Plus, what made it worse was that the Bite of 83 was introduced, making the topic of the Bite of'87 confusing since it was implied it happened in the second game, but now it was happening in the fourth game? But then it was revealed to be a separate event, why two separate events of the same thing? What constitutes the idea of establishing a similar event to the Bite of '87? It had nothing to impact the games itself at all. The bigger thing that was confusing is this, Fredbear's Family Diner was implied to have been closed for longer than 1983-1987, and the fact that you see the unwithered versions of the withered animatronics in Fredbear's makes it all the more confusing, since Fredbear's was established as a separate, and early location before it was later re-enfranchised as Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. So why retcon what was established in the previous games? Why not just show us in the fourth game what happened with the withered animatronics before they became withered, and then make a fifth game that took place in Fredbear's Family Diner? I don't know why Scott felt the need to retcon things, especially since most people thought that the franchise had already ended with the third game. Later on down the line, Sister Location came out in 2016. And I honestly hate Sister Location, lore-wise that is. The reason I say this is because Sister Location fucked up everything more than the 4th game. This time, there was more retconning, the horror tone and 80s-90s aesthetic was gone, the game felt like Sci-fi and less like the older games. Worse, Purple Guy was given an actual name, and turned from a cold-blooded killer that killed kids because of being a psychopath, into a mad scientist obsessed with placing souls into animatronics using soul juice in an attempt to create murderous animatronics, and he killed kids to do this, but most of them were his own or his friend's kids, Fazbear Entertainment was actually started by this maniac, and Mike Schmidt from FNAF 1 was no longer an average joe working a night shift job, but instead the son of the killer and later became an unrealistic purple zombie that somehow got hired for night shift positions. Jeremy and Fritz were no longer average joes either, and were now aliases for the purple zombie who's actual name was Michael Afton, making Mike Schmidt another alias for this zombie. And now, this was more about a family that was insane to begin with trying to put their own personal demons to rest, rather than the story of the murder of 5 children in a pizzeria joint, and the killer gets his comeuppance while the faceless pizzeria chain tried keep its reputation afloat, eventually failing which lead to the closure of it. All of this shattered how I interpreted the lore. The biggest things that Sister Location fucked up were the following. 1. Taking away the 80s/90s aesthetic. In the first and second game, the game has an 80s and 90s aesthetic with the looks of the locations and decor, as well as the camera sounds sounding like cassette tapes, and the first took place in the early 90s, while the second took place in the late 80s. FNAF 3 kept the 80s/90s aesthetic, and I'd argue FNAF 4 kept the old aesthetic too, such as how old everything looked in FNAF 3, and how the house looks particularly old in FNAF 4. FNAF SL's aesthetics look way too futuristic for a FNAF game, especially since it's said to take place before the first 4 games. 2. Making it more sci-fi. The original FNAF games, and the fourth one were meant to be horror games, and they established this greatly with audio and visual cues, as well as the storyline having a horror-esque feel to it during the first 3 games, and even the 4th game kept. The focus on sci-fi traits or elements in SL kind of kills the horror-esque feel that FNAF originally gave off, especially the whole soul juice and mad scientist part. 3. Making Fazbear Entertainment have an owner. Fazbear Entertainment should've just been left as a faceless corporation that had nothing to do with the murders, the type of company to try and cover up the damage done to their reputation by cutting costs or not batting an eye when a man kills children in their restaurant. 4. Making Mike, Jeremy, and Fritz into aliases. It doesn't make any sense as to why a company would hire a foul smelling zombie who kept changing his name. I think that Mike, Jeremy, and Fritz should've just been average joes that got night guard positions not knowing that their jobs were dangerous and not knowing the hauntings of the pizzeria they applied to work for. And 5. The Afton Family. The Afton Family completely ruined the idea of the children being killed at Freddy's by an unknown man, since now it's just about a family killing his own for a dumb mad science experiment and the son is trying to stop his own father, making it so you no longer play as an average joe that discovers the dark secrets and hauntings of a pizzeria joint, but instead you're just playing as a zombie that needs to kill his own father in order to stop his father from killing anyone else. Seriously, it feels less like a horror game, and now feels more like a badly written self-insert sci-fi story with some bit of horror mixed in. The FNAF series is way too complicated to figure out now due to loads of retconning and unnecessary changes made to the story. Worse, the Nightmare, Funtime, and other animatronics that have been added to the franchise just seems like an excuse for Scott to just add new characters simply to keep the franchise going. Now, let's look at a FNAF fan-game series with a better written story.

Five Nights at Candy's Five Nights at Candy's has a much easier to understand story than FNAF. In the first game, you play as a female night guard at a burger joint where an unfortunate incident occurred between an animatronic and a customer, and an incident involving two kids at the factory where the animatronics were made. The backstory of everything, such as the original location and the burger joint's opening are explained in FNAC 3, showing how two unfortunate incidents at the puppet/animatronic theatre led to the closure of the place. We also learn more about the main character from the first game, and the one who caused the murders as well as the victims. In the second game, everything is concluded with the daughter of the guard solving the mysteries of the old factory. The reason is because Emil Macko managed to actually tell the story in an effective way, without retconning anything and without relying entirely on twists and misdirection.

Conclusion So yeah, I can't stand FNAF lore post-FNAF 4, because of how it became way too confusing to understand, and with how the series started retconning tons of things and making unnecessary changes. And it's amazing how a FNAF fan-game was able to tell its story better than the actual FNAF fan-games. So for me, I'm sticking with the FNAF 1-3 lore, which is my interpretation of it. Before I end this blog though, what's annoying is that no matter if you mention the FNAF 1-3 lore on YouTube, people will instantly start bringing in the modern FNAF lore and correct you, even if you're following you're headcanon.