#rambly DDW

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Dragon Age: Lore reminder

With Veilguard coming out this year, it is time to remind people once more how Dragon Age lore works. Dragon Age lore is written like a historical document, this means that reading ANY piece of lore requires you to do some source criticism. Every piece of lore in DA has an author and that author has a bias. Whether it's the Chantry's take on the Fade, Dalish keeping their mages a secret, Tevinter nobles denying blood magic, etc. When reading DA lore, you must also look at the source of that lore. Who said it? Who or what is it about? What is the relationship between the author and the subject? Is there information you -know- the author got wrong? This applies to the characters as well, they can be wrong, prejudiced, predicting doom, etc. So before you blame Bioware for getting their lore wrong, please make sure the actual lore is wrong and not the source.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Social Darwinistic people are interesting to study, because their thinking relies on a very faulty perception of humanity. Basically, they see living as a competition. Not just survival, everything is a race to the top. Even things that don't actually benefit them.

It is from these people that the whole 'alpha,beta,etc' male thing comes from. What makes it interesting is that the truest alpha is someone who is alone both socially and emotionally. The same people also think the only reason we have a society that cares for the weak is because of the laws. At times those laws are treated as stifling. This is best seen in how in some post-apocalyptic movies/games/comics the lone wanderer is treated as the truest expression of personhood. While any effort to rebuild society is doomed to fail because people are selfish and with no government they don't have to follow laws anymore.

Social Darwinists have more in common with big cats than social predators. They are alone, they want to be alone, and they will remain alone.

them: SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MEANS HUMANS MUST BE INDIVIDUALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT AND COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT

biologist:

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

There is one scene in Gaslight District that really hit me hard and shows there is maturity in the writing. It is when Ken is holding a conked out and wounded Mel in his arms. And he tells her that he will make sure she never ends up like him or the rest of the Smiling Dead. Because no matter what sort of brutal gangster Ken is, he is also Mel's father. He worries about her, not just because she's a human but also because she is his kid. And like any good parent, Ken wants Mel to be safe. It is his responsibility. Holding her, roughed up and bleeding, it sinks in just how dangerous his line of work is and how fragile Mel is. There is a moment of 'what the fuck am I doing, I don't want Mel to suffer like this' for Ken. Because while being part of the Smiling Dead might make Mel happy? It more than likely will also be her death. A parent must make choices contrary to what the child wants, just so the child doesn't get hurt. And Ken is already controlling, so it makes sense he is desperately trying to keep Mel from danger.

Which Mel sees as Ken not trusting her, thinking he just needs to see how competent she is. But I think Ken knows Mel can handle herself, it is the reality of their world that's making him protect her. Ken and Mel's relationship is not perfect, they are both volatile people who do and say things before they think them through. But there is real care there, too.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

One factor that cracks me up so much about the Absolute Solver, is its love for the caution tape pattern.

Purely biological form? Slap on the tape!

A stealthy kitbashed killer drone? Patterns, patterns and PATTERNS!

Test pieces? You know the drill! This gives it so much personality. Because it isn't mindlessly just creating clones, it is trying to make them look as cool as it can.

[purkinje-effect]

I’ve been wanting to redo the cover art for First Instar for some time now, and I finally let myself. Hopefully it scans visually as a high rise office. Rambling under the cut.

If you’re interested in The Anatomy of Melancholy, the most recent chapter’s always pinned on my blog, and a table of contents link is at the top of it. All likes and reblogs welcome. (Extensive CWs for horror esp. body horror, drug use, insects, and miles of characters with grey-to-scalding karma including the MC. I try to label CWs as thoroughly as possible at the beginning of each chapter: do heed them. There’s two DDW chapters in First Instar, and I mean that warning very strongly, especially as I illustrate these things from time to time. This fic is not suitable for minors or the squeamish.)

I didn’t break up AoM by Instar until about halfway through Second Instar. Lexington & Concord was supposed to be a placeholder until I thought of something better. Location wordplay’s going to be the common tie for all five Instars, I think, and I like this subtle change a lot.

I really liked the original 2019 cover when I did it, but I didn’t think it was all too representative of the fic itself. Too, it’s the first book of the pentalogy: it’s deserving of something a little more intense than what I had, now that I’m more capable of putting it together. That, and I really needed to include the visual detail that he’s a wheelchair user. For being one myself, I sure don’t draw them as often as I’d like.

I’d never really been happy calling the DDW chapters “Rexford Press” because it suggests ‘Choly ends up with a printing press in Goodneighbor, and at this point I seriously doubt it. The Rexton Nova’s his typewriter, owing to his Naked Lunch roots.

I promise I’ll do a revision pass soon and add footnotes and author’s notes to the first two Instars. Thanks for sticking with me almost five years now!

[papakennmedia]

PAPAKENN RAMBLES: "MIDNA, SCALPERS, & DDW"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-R6BZlo32Q

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

This is SUCH a tiny detail, but since I've watched a lot of Tessa scenes to write her, I noticed something. Tessa prefers guns. When she and J pick up their weapons in ep 5, they switch without a word, knowing each other's preferences. Solver pretending to be Tessa prefers swords. And we see in the final battle that it uses one even when not hiding. Again, such a teeny tiny detail, but a clear way to signify that is not Tessa.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Why Lars of the Stars is brilliant as a concept

Lars is not a Gem. He might be a pink zombie, but Lars is mostly human. This means that he is not going to gain any favours from non-Earth gems. This also means that Lars is NOT subject to the 'go with the flow' nature of gems.

Lars, unlike Steven, has lived a normal human life. Lars' perspective is going to be wildly different from Steven's and he has a wider pool of context simply by having had schooling and human family relationships.

Lars' crew are equally nobodies to the wider gem society. They might have some fame as privateers, but these are not the famed rebels of old. These are outcasts with very little status and a lot of room to grow.

Lars and his crew have no social capital, good or bad. They cannot rely on status like Steven and the CGs did, but they also are free to do as they please BECAUSE there are no expectations for them.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

I don't think any series of games has ever portrayed letting go of revenge and growth as paramount to living as Project Moon's games. Because in all of them (Lobotomy Corporation, Library of Ruina, Limbus Company), the way to get the best ending is to go through the characters' issues and find peace for them. What makes this stand out from many other games where the golden ending is everyone working together, is that going through these issues is not easy nor is the end result always happy. But it is necessary if the characters want to move on.

For example, Roland and Angela both have very solid reasons for their non-Best Ending actions. Angela is sick being treated as a tool and lesser, especially after the torture that was Lob Corp. And Roland lost everything dear to him because of Angela's actions, after he had just gotten to open up to someone. Library of Ruina doesn't deny that both have their reasons, it instead asks both if reaching that goal truly is worth it and if it would make the characters happy? And, is making others suffer what you suffered truly justified? In the best ending, both Angela and Roland find that they have more to live for and other ways to express themselves than violence. In Limbus Company, each Sinner must wrestle with their issues and let go of something harmful. Ishmael letting go of her revenge, Don letting go of her father's delusions, etc.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

When writing Khan Doorman, I always keep in mind one thing; Mining is one of the worst jobs there is. It is important, but it is also extremely deadly. I don't even mean cave-ins or accidents, if you work in a coal mine, you WILL end up with lung cancer. Nevermind poisoning from metals or encountering Asbestos 2.0. That and the 'company store' are the reason why miners are very prone to strikes. The conditions are, even today, extremely bad even at the best of times. Now imagine all of that plus the company literally owning you and being the only source of healthcare you can get. Also, you have no rights and you can be easily replaced thanks to the on-site factory. To say Khan would have a deep dislike of humans would be an understatement. Plus, the need to survive day to day would be a priority even during safer times.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

One of my biggest petpeeves when it comes to xenofiction and xenofiction roleplay, is what I can only call the felinification of canines.

Whenever it comes to fighting, canines will often use their claws to scratch their foes or scar them. When it comes to biting, the damage is often muscle deep at the worst and the wounds mostly just bleed a lot.

This ignores so much of what makes canines so deadly over giving them the same deadly traits as a feline. A (wolf relative) canine can easily break the bones of their foes in a single bite and often the deadliest thing they can do is not let go. As for claws, while they can leave shallow scratches, canine claws are dull and are used for digging and running. Feline claws are sharp because they do not use them for running or digging, literally keeping them safe until they need to be used. I understand that internal injuries are often a step too far for most media, and that broken bones and bruises aren't hardcore enough. But I still think there could be a balanced depiction of a canine that uses their actual anatomy and doesn't just paste feline traits on them.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

If I may offer some thoughts about this, it is very interesting how this kind of thinking can form. You are generally discouraged from saying negative things about another person/person's work as a kid. Of course, culture matters to what extent but typically you are either told to say something nice or say nothing. This gets enforced a lot over the years, with anyone voicing negative opinions seen as rude. This results in a lack of trust towards any positivity. After all, you have been told time and again that you can either say something positive or be quiet. Even if you think something sucks, you can't voice it because that would be rude. When someone voices their negativity, you are more likely to assume they are being honest. After all, you know how many times YOU have had to lie about positivity. So you end up with this mentality, where negativity is confused with honesty and niceness is confused with keeping up appearances. This can also lead to a culture shock problem with cultures with an expectation for humility. It has been a common joke that if everything goes well, a Finnish person does not say anything. Only commenting if something goes wrong.

People can handle evil characters(for the most part--usually they twist their behavior and water it down) but people really can't handle good characters that lose their head or lose themselves and have a moment of fallen grace. Fandom has shown this time and time again. They really look at them as worse than the initial evil.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

If nothing else, Hunter the Parenting did one stellar job at depicting why the garou truly are dangerous to other supernaturals. Which I think is important to grasp, because quite often a garou is in fact NOT enough when it comes to fighting their foes.

Consider this, what Mabel pulled in ep 5 is only enough to take out lower-level foes of the garou. All of that power, strength and sheer badassery can be taken out by a single Scrag bane. Garou are fighting against the very forces of nature gone wrong. Their fight is so intense that they need to eclipse most supernaturals just to make a dent.

Garou are not designed to fight against hunters, vampires or mages. They are designed to fight against forces so powerful nothing else can touch them.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

So I was not expecting to publish another W5 rant so soon, but dear lord this preview of the Umbra book is bad. Let's start with the first issue; Again, we are told that the best way to keep history is to write it down. The idea that there is zero downtime where stories are shared is frankly baffling. Every single gathering of people I've been to has had stories shared. Second, "Garou are not a culture one is born into", and "Those joining in the ranks are usually young adults, already preoccupied with the concerns of this modern world." First of all, even if one isn't born into a culture, joining a tribe should include having the basics of the tribal culture shared. Unless the implication is that Patrons just accept garou willy nilly without the input of the tribe. (Also, no one is born into a vampire clan and yet THEY get to have histories.) Second; before W5 came out, I joked about garou in W5 being basically weekend warriors. This text implies that, yes, garou do garou stuff on the side while their main concern is their mortal life. Rage Dice making that hard has clearly not crossed the writer's mind. Once more, when a group of people gather, they tell stories. Whether it is joining the army, joining a new job, moving to a new place, etc. There is always some oral history going on.

To say garou, unique out of all supernaturals, have zero history because they die so quick is to ignore just how common oral history is. Also, Cult of Fenris is made up of people who are so far gone into their madness that they cannot be reached. BSDs can, but not CoF. People like that aren't going to be that strategic.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

So I'm gonna give you guys some nightmare fuel. Disassembly Drones were not made to solely subsist on Worker Drones. They were made primarily to eat humans. After all, the Solver's goal was to take out humanity and eat the planet. The WDs were a nice side snack. So anything organic will be vastly more filling for them than a Worker Drone. Now, imagine humanity has survived and has rebuilt. They enter Copper 9... and are met with packs of very hungry Disassemblers finally seeing their main prey.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

I want to add that J doesn't really have any hope of an escape. Or hope in general.

Think about it, she was already in a bad situation when it came to the Elliots. Now add in that, to her, an eldritch abomination arrives out of the blue and starts killing people and controlling drones. Then it performs painful experiments on her and other drones. Turning them into killing machines that are constantly hungry and need to feed to not die. J was a bog-standard worker drone, used to a mundane life of servitude. She has no models or concepts related to dealing with something supernatural. Especially as that creature then starts wearing her human's skin like a trophy. And, as far as J knows, there literally is no way out of this mess. Death only results in waking up as a clone, rebelling seems impossible with the resources she has, the humans are all dead, and J needs to eat worker drones to stay alive. She is turned into an animalistic hunter, she is forced to kill, Tessa is gone, humanity is gone, N's memories are gone, V is a mess and the only concrete truth is that the Solver is all-powerful planet-eater. So yeah, J focuses on survival. Because that's all she really has left.

I really love your Tessa artwork! You got me into Jessa! If so, what's your interpretation of why J still followed the AS? Is it because of it being her admin or J's loyalty to Tessa still clinging to her as the AS wears Tessa's skin? You think the AS uses it to get J to listen?

YIPEEE I’m glad u like it! my yap sesh below lol

honestly my own interpretation is her number 1 priority being survival.

By the time we see her in ep 8 interacting with the AS, she’s pliant- doing her job. But with her quote about not being able to escape even in death, I’m led to believe she was forced into submission. Implying she did try in her own way to get away/not work with the Solver at first - probably several times even.

Like the Jay we had at the manor already balked to authority (most powerful figure), so trying to resist -like the chain scene- probably required some dedicated effort for her.

the Solver is known for enjoying its mind games. I can only imagine how easily it manipulated her knowing her weaknesses (like it did w V for N), maybe even pretending to be her close friend for a bit? I mean- it would make a lot of sense for the line “It tricked me too.”

I can def see it using the small comfort of pretending to be Tessa, as a means of manipulation. especially when J has no reliable allies to turn to: N, one who’s blissfully unaware of the horrors; and V, someone who is completely (cracked) closed off emotionally herself.

The way “Cyn” showed dislike towards her during ep 5- not taking being locked up lightly - I Imagine she was definitely a plaything to torment as well.

So maybe J- like V- was trying to hold down ship on C9 to prevent any punishment from Cyn? maybe even at one point she was trying to keep them all alive- especially with the mad cope line “I never needed either of you” right after asking V to join her. she’s such an asshat she puts on a show of pretending to be in control, but she’s the furthest thing from it.

So no, I don’t interpret it as loyalty thing rlly- only as a means of survival.