#seperated the magma's into two different posts

[nicmares404]

Weekly Magma 28: pt 2

Sandman 〜(￣▽￣〜) (From @venomous-qwille's ghost in the machine au)

I stole his background privileges 😔

[jordaninthevalley]

The Ginger Island Mushroom Cave Argument

This is a follow up of my "Mushroom Cave vs Fruit Bat Cave" post.

Originally this was going to be included in my initial post, but I felt like it was long enough so I am going to be making this it's own seperate post.

This also ensures that I can dedicate my full focus on this argument and everything within it, so buckle up for yet another long post as this contains information for every. single. aspect. of getting to ginger island, different things within certain aspects of it, and much more.

Divider Credit

A common argument I see within the various discussions I participate in or just read through without throwing my opinion into the mix related to this topic is, essentially, "Ginger Island has a Mushroom Cave so you should just pick the Fruit Bat Cave because you don't need two of the same cave!" and I, frankly, find this argument to be insane. This post goes into why.

The Boat:

Anytime after Summer 1, Year 1 you can enter the fish shop and a cutscene will trigger, Willy does not have to be in the shop, but the cut scene is Willy telling you how he has an "old friend" in the back and hints that if business picks up he will show you what he has in the back room. This door is locked before this cut scene and remains locked afterwards.

To be able to access the back of the shop you need to finish either the Community Center or the Joja Warehouse. Sometime afterward Willy will send you a letter inviting you to enter the back room of his shop, where you will find his "old friend" - a broken down boat. The boat has three things which need to be repaired, the hull, the anchor and the ticket stand.

The Hull: 200 Hardwood The Anchor: 5 Iridium Bars Ticket Stand: 5 Battery Packs

Hardwood:

To get hardwood you can find it from a Large Stump, Large Log, Mahogany Tree or Mystic Tree. If you have the Lumberjack Profession, all trees have a chance to drop hardwood.

Large Stumps can be destoryed with a Copper Axe or better. You need 5 Copper Bars and 2,000g to get that. Large Stumps provide 2 hardwood, meaning you'll need to chop down at minimum 100 Large Stumps to get 200 hardwood. Large Stumps have a 10% chance of dropping a Mahogany seed.

Large Stumps (Re)Spawning: - In the Secret Woods there are 6 Large Stumps which respawn - On the Forest Farm there are 8 Large Stumps which respawn - On the Four Corners Farm there is 1 large Stump which respawn - With the Shrine of Callenge activated you can find Large Stumps on floors 41-69 in the Mines. Stumps spawned on the Standard Farm do NOT respawn

Large Logs can be destoyed with a Steel Axe or better. You need a Copper Axe, 5 Iron Bars, and 5,000g to get that. Large Logs provide 8 heardwood, and do not respawn.

A large log does block the entrance to the Secret Woods, meaning that unless you glitch through with a chair to the Secret Woods, you won't be able to get the hardwood from the secret woods until you have the Steel Axe.

A Mahogany Tree produces between 8-13 hardwood when felled, I suggest not chopping down your first Mahogany Tree that you grow but instead letting it spread for awhile until you start to chop them down incase you do not get another mahogany seed when you fell your first tree.

A Mystic Tree also produces between 7-11 hardwood when felled, but I think that tree is better used being tapped for Mystic Syrup over farmed for hardwood.

Iridium:

To get iridium you must head to the Skull Cavern (you can also find it in the Volcano Dungeon, but that is found on Ginger Island.) If you pick the Hill-top or Four Corners farm, there is a chance of them spawning there after reaching Level 10 in your Mining Skill.

You can also find them from Magma Geodes, Omni Geodes, Super Cucumber Fish Pond once the population reaches levle 9, a meteorite, fishing treasure, panning, the traveling cart and the Statue of Perfection.

A Meteorite has a 1% chance of happening, and will only happen if the random 3x3 area the event chooses on the farm has a 2x2 area within it that has no water, placed objects that block movement, buildings, resource clumps or farm animals. If this isnt met the event does nothing. If you get the meteorite, you need a Gold Pickaxe or better to harvest this. To get a Gold Pickaxe you'll need a total of 17,000g, 5 Copper Bars, 5 Iron bars, and 5 Gold bars. When you destory a meteorite you get 6 iridium ore, 6 stone, and 2 geodes with 25% chance to drop a prismatic shard.

They can also drop from Purple Slines, Iridium Bats, Iridium Crabs, and Iridium Golems in the Skull Caverns.

Magma Geodes can be found on levels 81 - 119 of the Mines. Omni Geodes are found when breaking rocks but every Tuesday Krobus Sells 1 for 300g and the Oasis sells 3 every wednesday for 1,000g each.

In total you will need at least 25 Iridium Ore, and 5 coal, to get 5 iridium bars.

The traveling cart has a chance of selling an iridium bar for 3,000-5,000g. The following mobs also have a chance of dropping an iridium bar:

Shadow Shaman at 0.2%

Shadow Brute at 0.2%

Iridium Bat at 0.8%

Purple Slime at 0.9%

Iridium Golem at 3%

Battery Packs:

Battery Packs are gained from Lightning Rods during thunder storms, solar panels after 7 sunny days, 5% chance to dropped from the iridium bat, and as a possible gift from Pam or Kent. The traveling cart also sells them at times for 1,500-2,500g

If you pick the remixed bundles and get and complete the Children's Bundle, you will be awarded with 3 battery packs. The solar panel recipie is acquired after the "Island Ingredients" Special Order is completed, but you have to have Ginger Island unlocked to have a chance of getting this Special Order.

The Lightning Rod recipie is acquired after reaching foraging level 6 and you craft it with 1 Iron Bar, 1 Refined Quartz, and 10 Bat wings. You also get one when completing the 10,000g Bundle in the Vault in the community center.

The Lightning Rod can only be hit once per thunderstorm, so if you only have one lightning rod you'll need at least five thunder storms to obtain 5 battery packs.

If noLightning Rodd have been struck there is a 100% chance for one to be hit. If 50% of the Lightning Rods on the farm have been struck there is a 75% chance for the rest to be hit. If 90% of the Lightning Rods on the farm have been struck there is a 19% chance of the rest to be hit.

The Community Center / Joja Warehouse

You need to complete the Community Center to be able to even repair the boat. This takes, at minimum, a year to do but can take much longer depending on your playstyle. You will need 42,500g to complete the Vault bundles.

You can also pick the Joja Warehouse to complete, but you will need a total of 140,000g to buy the membership as well as all of the developments. You can fudge this a bit by completing certain Community Center bundles and then buying the Membership so you can reduce the amount of gold you have to spend.

Ginger Island

Once you repair the boat you can travel to Ginger Island for 1,000g per boat ride. When you reach the island you are on 'Island South', this contains the dock as well as the paths to the other parts of the island.

You will head to the only open path with takes you to 'Island East', where you follow the island resident "Leo" and upon interacting with things within his hut you will unlock 'Island North'.

When you unlock 'Island North' you will follow the Magma Sprite and head to the Volcano. You will only be able to unlock 'Island West' after gathering 10 Golden Walnuts.

'Island West' includes the farm, and a dilapidated farmhouse that can be fixed up for 20 Golden Walnuts, you will need an additional 5 Golden Walnuts to be able to recieve mail while on the island. For another 20 Golden Walnuts you can craft the Farm Obelisk which will only warp you to the farm, you will have to get a seperate Obelisk to be able to warp to the Island without using a totem. Upon making the Farm Obelisk, you will be given one Island Warp Totem.

You can sleep at Ginger Island and will wake up on the island. The golden walnuts are scattered around the island, and can be found when completing puzzles, fishing, tilling up certain locations around the island, and more.

Ginger Island Mushroom Cave

Now that we are on the Island, how can we get the Mushroom Cave?

Head to 'Island North', when you see the Field Office (Green tent with bone on the outside) head to the left. There is a broken bridge which can be repaired for 10 Golden Walnuts. This leads to the dig site, which has the Mushroom Cave. There is a boulder blocking the cave which you need to blow up with a bomb to not only release Professor Snail but also have access to the Mushrooms.

The cave randomly spawns new mushrooms everyday, and they grow directly from the ground so you benefit from the Gatherer or Botanist profession as well as get XP from them, this does make it better than the Farm Mushroom cave on that front but not the cost front.

Staying On Ginger Island?

The only thing that would make the mushroom cave a benefitial thing at this point in the game is if you stay on the island and never leave it. You can, somewhat realistically, do this as you do have a farm on the island, a bed, as well as a shipping bin.

The island farm does have some perks such as not needing scarecrows, sprinklers can be placed here, fruit trees can be grown here, and the island acts as a greenhouse.

However, you will have to head back to the normal farm to be able to complete certain quests, get certain achievements, unlock certain items, have animals and keep them happy, catch certain fish, get various items and much more. So, to even fully play the game you cannot stay on Ginger Island forever, this means we need to either spend 1,000g every time we want to head over and benefit from the mushroom cave and the other things we can benefit from on the island, or we need to be able to craft the warp totem or build the obelisk.

Warp Totem: Island

Bought from the Volcano Dwarf for 10,000g.

Floor Five of the Volcano Dungeon houses a dwarf that runs a small shop but unless you have the Dwarvish Translation Guide you won't be able to access his shop.

You get the Dwarvish Translation Guide by donating all four of the Dwarf Scrolls to the Museum. - Dwarf Scroll 1 can be found Tilling in the mines or Skull Cavern on any floor at 0.16% chance. Bat, Bug, Cave Fly, Duggy, Green Slime, Grub, Rock Crab and Stone Golem have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 2 can be found Tilling in the mines between floors 1-39 at 0.1% chance. Ghosts, Frost Bats, Dust Sprites, and Blue Slime all have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 3 has a 1.5% chance of being dropped by Blue Slime while other Slimes, Lava Bat, Lava Crab, Squid Kid, Shadow Brute, Shadow Shaman, Metal Head, Spider, and Blue Squid have a 0.5% chance of dropping it. - Dwarf Scroll 4 has a 0.2% chance of being tilled up in the Mine on floor 80 and above. Monsters outside of Serpents, Skeletons, Wilderness Golem, Carbon Ghost, Iridium Bat, Iridium Crab and Haunted Skull have a 0.1% chance of dropping it.

If you are able to access his shop, you will be able to purchase the recipie for the Warp Totem: Island for 10,000g. This will always be in his shop until you purchase it.

To craft a singular warp totem you will need 5 Hardwood, 1 Dragon tooth, and 1 Ginger.

Dragon Tooth:

Obtained in the Volcano Dungeon either around the skeletal remains of a dragon or by killing a Lava Lurk, which has a 15% drop chance.

If your inventory isn't full, you don't have to worry about items falling into the lava as they will automatically go into your inventory, however if you don't have room there is a chance that when it drops on the ground it can land in the lava.

You can also get Dragon Teeth from a Stingray Fish Pond which has a population of at least 9.

Stingrays are found in the Pirate Cove found on the Southeast side of Ginger Island. You unlock this area by building the Beach Resort for 20 Golden Walnuts after repearing the Farmhouse. If you put a Stingray in a fish pond, you will have to fulfill quests to be able to reach max amount of fish in the pond. For the first quest you'll have to give them seven cinder shards, which are found within the Volcano Dungeon by either mining nodes, inside chests, or dropping from a Magma Sprite, Magma Sparker, Magma Duggy or False Magma Cap. For the second quest you'll have to give them a dragon tooth. Once you reach 9-10 Stingray in the fishponds: - Roe has a 63-69% daily chance of spawning - Magma Cap has a 4% daily chance of spawning - Cinder Shard has a 9-10% daily chance of spawning - Dragon Tooth has a 5% daily chance of spawning - Battery Pack has a 9-10% daily chance of spawning

These are, as far as I am aware, the only ways to get Dragon Teeth. There is not a guarentee that a Dragon Tooth will spawn around the Dragon Skeleton, and Lava Lurkers seem to be the best way to get them.

Ginger:

Ginger cannot be grown as it is similar to Spring Onion. You can find it growing wild on the island and harvest it with your hoe. TigerSlime have a 9% chance of dropping Ginger and theyre found in the volcano dungeon as well as in tiger slime grove.

Tiger Slime Grove is found in 'Island North' and is north of the pond.

Island Obelisk

You can buy this Obelisk from the Wizard for 1,000,000g, 10 iridium bars, 10 dragon teeth, and 10 bananas. It is 3x2 building and is neceassary to achieve perfection.

To be able to buy the various buildings from the Wizard, you need to complete both the Dark Talisman Quest and the Goblin Problem Quest. To complete the Dark Talisman Quest you need to complete the community center or joja warehouse and unlock the sewers. You will have to trigger a cut scene up in the mountains after completing either the CC or the JW, then speak to krobus. After speaking to krobus you'll have to go to the mutant bug lair and go through it to get the dark talisman. Upon retreiving the dark talisman, you'll head back to the railroad and place it in it's appropriate area. To complete the Goblin Problem Quest you'll enter the witches swamp, speak to Goblin once and then you'll give him a void mayo. You can either fish up the void mayo from the surrounding water, or you can buy a void egg from krobus and turn it into void mayo, or if you have a void chicken you can turn one of it's eggs into void mayo. Once you give the Goblin his void mayo, he'll run into the hut. You now have access to the hut, he won't be around. Grab the Magic Ink and head back to the Wizards hut through the symbols on the floor. You are now able to access the Witches Hut, the Shrines within it, as well as the Buildings in the Wizard tower.

Banana:

Bananas and mangos do not spawn in the fruit bat cave so if you picked that, you're SOL on collecting these fruits from your farm.

To obtain the banana sapling you will have to get the Island Trader for 10 Golden Walnuts on 'Island North' after purchasing the Island Farmhouse. Banana Saplings cost 5 dragon teeth.

You can also obtain the Banana Sapling through Golden Coconuts and completing the Large Animal Collection in the Island Field Office.

Golden Coconuts

These can be found by shaking palm trees that have a visible coconut on them. There is 10% chance the palm tree will drog a golden coconut. If you have a fish pond with Blue Discus there is a 4-5% daily chance for them to give you one. Their quests include 3 taro root then 10 taro root, which is a crop you can grow after buying them from the Island Trader for 2 Bone Fragment per Taro Tuber.

You can also trade 10 coconuts for 1 golden coconut.

You break the coconuts like you do with Geodes by using Clint, they cannot be broken with the Geode crusher. The first golden walnut you crack open will always produce a golden walnut. Afterwards the golden walnut will produce other items.

Golden Coconuts can produce Banana Saplings, Mango Saplings, Pineapple Seeds, Taro Tubers, Mahogany Seeds, Fossilized Skulls, Iridium Ore, and a Golden Helmet.

The probability is a bit weird on the wiki, and I don't fully understand it but I will provide it here: Banana Sapling: 1/7 Mango Sapling: 1/7 Pineapple Seeds: 1/7 Taro Tuber: 1/7 Mahogany Seed: 1/7 Fossilized Skull: 1/7 Iridium Ore: 1/7 Golden Helmet: 1/20 All of them have an asterislk next to them which leads to: "After getting the Golden Helmet the probability is set to 0. If the player does not have it yet, the probability of getting the other ite,s is actually 19/140 until it is obtained. If you can explain to me what this means, that would be a wonderful help! It is possible I am not understanding this as I am typing this all out at 5am after being up since 9am yesterday but as of right now that is just gibberish to me.

Large Animal Collection

Fossilized Leg (2): Breaking Bone Nodes at the Dig Site, 10% Chance

Fossilized Ribs (1): Digging Artifact Spots on the Southern side of the island, 25% chance, and breaking bone nodes at the dig site, 1.35% chance

Fossilized Skull (1): Golden Coconut

Fossilized Spine (1): Fishing in Dig Site River, 10% chance

Fossilized Tail (1): Panning in Dig Site River, 20% chance

Completing this collection awards you with 6 golden walnuts and 1 banana sapling.

Bare Minimum List Of Materials Needed

Hardwood: 205 (+ 5 for every extra warp totem: island crafted)

Iridium Bars: 15 (75 iridium ore, 15 coal)

Battery Packs: 5 (1 Iron Bar, 1 Refined Quartz, 5 Bat Wing Per Rod)

Copper Bars: 5 (25 copper ore, 15 coal. For Copper axe.)

Iron Bars: 5 (25 iron ore, 15 coal. For Steel axe.)

Dragon Teeth: 16 (+ 1 for every extra warp totem: island crafted. Not counting fish pond requests)

Ginger: 1 (+1 for every extra warp totem: island crafted.)

Bananas: 10

For the Gold amount:

Community Center Completed: 1,058,500g (+ 1,000g for every ginger island trip)

Joja Warehouse Completed: 1,156,000 (+ 1,000g for every ginger island trip)

I dunno about y'all but this seems like a lot of time, gold, and effort just to get a mushroom cave when you can get one upon earning 25,000g.

[mekatrio]

this got really long so its under a read more LOL. my thoughts on rs arc

soooo my overall thoughts on the rs arc... hm. i feel like i got final fantasy 8-ed LOL. meaning i enjoyed it as i experienced it but the shit in the ending negated too much of what i was anticipating. which particularly sucks bc i REALLYYYY Love ruby's character and suprisingly even the romance that was built w sapphire! i was very 🤨🧐 at it at first cuz i was worried it was just gonna be another case of "wow girl and boy in the same proximity they HAAAVEE to have a crush on each other." but no it was actually built onto more to a point where i could actually accept it, though i wish ruby at least wore a different hat or something as a kid cuz goddamn does that make sapphire look a bit dumb for not recognizing the same hat.. 😭 but thats just a nitpick. it did turn out satisfyingly cute in the end like aw

ok ill gush a bit more about the parts i liked abt this arc b4 i pick apart everything i disliked about its ending. not to say that its an immediately bad thing cuz it isnt, cuz it was handled p well in the previous arcs, but i did like how none of the gym leaders were evil this time around haha. like they were definitely well-developed in the last arc too.. but i guess it was nice that a hefty amount of limelight got to fall on them this time around thanks to the magma and aqua admins. we had the whole gym leader tournament last arc but its not quite the same. their contributions to the climax wasnt as great as these hoenn leaders evacuating an entire region.

and again i really love ruby's character, and by extension sapphire's. they have a really good humor together, and its definitely the best handling of 2 rivals in this series so far. like i love gold+silver and red+blue, but them sharing the same goal and having.. complementary ideals kind of diminished their effect. not to mention theyre actually a trio and green and kris get sidelined a lot just for the sake of the main two like 😑 but ill get more into that on a seperate post. basically i think ruby and sapphire's rivalry are the strongest bc theyre not a trio (rest in shit wally), their ideals are extremely contrasting (power vs beauty), and they pursue different goals bc of it. the self-imposed time limit is also great and helps make the story feel more concentrated, cuz u have a better idea of how much time is passing and how much time is left. not to mention how both of their backstories make both the time limit and the story behind their ideals much much more significant in a great way i wasnt expecting. i may have missed a few but i kinda wished there were just a slighttt bit more hints cuz it kinda felt like it came out of left field, but its fine. it works out in the end. these two were great both as individual characters and as partners.

i liked the prevalently tropical vibes of hoenn, and i liked how more coordinated the antagonist teams were this time around. it was just as good as the previous mask of ice! a great antagonist is what makes a great arc. and this time we had two! and they were handled really well (except for courtney but she has her own paragraph coming up lmao). not much more to say about this, team magma and aqua were just really well written. i really like how team aqua had control of the media and that bought in the whole "importance of the press" aspect. gabby and ty were great side characters too. i think how relicath circled back in the plot was great. geez this arc was seriously really good until its ending, with things that were made apparent earlier(abandoned ship, relicath, new mauville, etc) coming back full circle to be significant in the climax.

and i think those are my praises for this arc.. i really did enjoy it. but the ending diminished a lot of it. so now heres what i did Not like about the ending:

firstly, the whole debacle with courtney... augh. its good she didnt just come in at the very end and made gradual appearances thruout this arc (unlike SOME plot points. looking at u celery stick) but i dont think it was nearly enough to balance out how much she ended up contributing in the climax. like i really dont think there was enough buildup to justify her taking sapphire's place. ruby's actions of yeeting sapphire out the way got justified with the full exposure of norman's backstory which was honestly pretty badass and i did not see that coming (like im not happy w sapphire getting booted out but at least theres good justification 😑), but that justification did Not extend to courtney. i like courtney's whole contest and beauty backstory but bro that REALLYY isnt enough to redeem her OR make her this significant in the very end. whats most upsetting about this though isnt the existence of courtney as a character but the fact that whatever potential role sapphire couldve filled out in the climax just got completely robbed. sadly she joins kris and green in "female character not contributing as much to the climax as they should be" club. but more on that later..

next up is wally. tho i liked that ruby and sapphire being a duo instead of a trio meant better development of those two, there still is a tertiary character.. wally! his introduction, and being mentioned again by ruby in verdanturf was good, but his contribution to the climax just felt really.. eh. like he doesnt even get to command rayquaza, dude just wakes it up and gets ditched like huh. i like his character, pretty generic and whatever but its still good. his new design looks sick. but i feel like he shouldve been more significant, like he doesnt need to take normans place, but i feel like he couldve at least taken the blind kids place? or absol couldve been relegated to him too somehow?? there were a lot of plot threads that wounded back to the finale and it just feels like a waste of wally's character to have him do this one and only thing. how he was handled is nowhere as bad as courtney and celebi but it definitely was Eh.

and now celebi... You. luckily i actually knew celebi would come around, cuz if i didnt and i was completely blindsided i wouldve probably be even more annoyed! the thing is i dont actually mind celebi playing a part into all of this. what i find very annoying tho is that celebi was used to commit the unforgivable writing sin of Not Commiting To A Death. when u write a death... commit to it!!! but this doesnt mean i dont think ways of reversing those deaths shouldnt be permitted, and it doesnt mean i wholeheartedly think "dead characters should always stay dead". i think its ok if dead characters come back around, but only if the fact that THEY DIEDDD really make its fcking point! there are two ways i think this arc couldve handled it better:

1.) not have celebi in here at all but instead have permanent deaths but lower that death count, i think norman is the only one who needed to die, and maybeee steven. everyone else felt too much like fodder. but the writing doesnt seem like it had the time to deal with grief while still trying to achieve a happy ending for ruby and sapphire which is why they went about it the way they did so..

2.) kill EVERYONE. yknow what it wouldve been sick if ruby fucked up big time by not bringing sapphire with him, and that causes everything to go to shit. like, Everyone gets fucked (and dies or nearly dies). then celebi would have to do some majoras mask shit and then ruby can no longer betray sapphire. that would remedy a lot of the issues i hv w this ending. but anyways yeah, it doesnt specifically need to play out the way i suggested, but i think the stakes being higher would make celebi's inclusion more meaningful. like this climax truly felt like a disaster, like an actually doomsday. needing time itself to turn the tide on it is actually fine. but using it to just reverse a measly 3 deaths (technically 5 but only 3 are highlighted importantly lmao) just feels cheap.. it would have been more meaningful if celebi came into play when the stakes were much higher, if the death count being reversed is a lot more. when celebi came around theyve technically already won. it just feels CHEAP cuz this celery stick really just came in because the writing couldnt commit to these few deaths. like man go big or go home. have no one come back to life, or everyone come back to life. or else shit is just cheap!

and lastly.. i feel like ruby's and norman's relationship was very misleading, and not in a good way. and actually now that i think about it, theres actually a bit too much to say abt it then what i can reasonably fit here so ill make a seperate post for that LOL. two more accompany post if my adhd doesnt get the best of me is are 1.) norman and ruby and 2.) kris and sapphire getting the short end of the stick.

YAYYY post over. rs arc is better than rbg but not as good as yellow or gs. sad. i hope the next few arcs dont let me down or i might end up dropping pokespe before the bw arcs 🤨

[divinedramedy-blog]

Ivanya Kowal

Birthday: July 6th

Alignment: Neutral Good

Age/Year: 18/ Freshman in College

Gender/Pronouns: Cis female, she/her

Orientation: Bisexual but picky when it comes to men. Women are everything though.

TL;DR:

Ghoulish girl goes from bright eyed youth to bitter post-grad. She is a woman of ambition, and sets high standards for herself, but is often held back by her emotions and fear of inadequacy. She is her own biggest critic. For the most part, she remains aloof out of habit, having been so focused in her previous studies that she sort of forgot how to make friends. She likes art, philosophy and has an inquisitive spirit, often getting herself into trouble when one of her ‘investigations’ don’t go as planned. She is very mischievous, ambitious, and kind of a show-off.  

She’s pretty wholesome but somewhat insular and self absorbed, mostly about her own intelligence.

Bio:

Beneath the Earth’s surface but above the magma pools of its center is a cavernous cluster of land masses known as the Great Underside. It is a physical place, but also interdimensional; both existing and consuming the world above, while also remaining separate enough that ‘Topside’s’ rules and laws have no place underground. It’s sunless ‘sky’ offers no light, instead appearing as an ever swirling wormhole known colloquially as ‘The Void’.

The layout of the Great Underside is comparatively smaller than the world above, mostly made up of small islands and continents seperated by bottomless black pits, only able to be crossed by mile long bridges or, more recently, a small number of trains.

Most of the land is underpopulated and rural, especially the small islands that serve as harvesting grounds for the nations source of food. The Islands themselves are owned by the State, and then partly sold to one or two farming families that will tend the lend for small compensation. These islands are small, void of people and idyllic in both their beauty and the vibrant lifestyle it offers to the families who plow there. The fields are lush with Elysium and Asphodel, and the untamed land is all forest, alive and undiscovered.

Ivanya does not live somewhere so majestic. Instead she lives in one of the most densely populated cities in the Underside simply called Harbourtown.

Unlike Central City, the capital of the Great Underside, Harbourtown is still lit by oil lamps, the cobblestone streets have never been paved over, traditions born here have never died. People from Central City enjoy taking the old fashioned steam train into Harbourtown’s shopping district, calling it quaint and taking in the ‘simple life’ the people here live. Certainly the shopping district is beautiful and well kept, but all for the tourist’s benefit. Beneath that charming surface lies a more gritty but substantial way of living, the very way of life that gave Harbourtown its name.      

Ivanya was born in the traditional; on her parents’ bed under the careful eyes of midwives. Her father was not a rich man, but he was a respected man, and therefore he had the clout to have three midwives present. One to comfort, one ot birth and one to clean. Ivanya’s parents were Ivan and Ada, and upon seeing her for the first time, Ivan knew his first and only daughter to be worthy of his namesake.

Her parents also worked hard for their children, and in Harbourtown, there are only three jobs one can have. Shopkeep, Diver, or Housekeeper. Ivan was a Diver, and you may ask how someone dives with no sea.

Ivan had a ship, the family ship of a humble size, capable to be cared for by one man and his earnest four children. The ship could float without water, and it could sink into the bottomless pits that seperated lands and rise up again to the docks once the divers got what they needed. Only skilled men and women could captain these ships, and that skill was only born in Harbourtown.

Ada was a shopkeep and craftswoman. The family store as humble as their ship, their home a small apartment that rested above the shop, the building itself sandwiched between an tenement building and another family owned shop that sold repair parts. Ivanya’s family did not live in the shopping center, they couldn’t afford to live so far away from the dock, and they didn’t want to. Tourists, no matter how full their wallets, could never respect the traditional jewelry Ada lovingly crafted, nor its subtle religious sentiment that Central City has long since abandoned for more austere ways of worship.

Instead, Ivanya’s family keeps an old tradition alive, and only sells to those who can respect it. Ivanya herself always wears the first necklace her mother taught her to make; a simple chain made of onyx, filed down and made flexible. It a sign of bonding to an Old God whose true name has been long forgotten, but resides deeper beneath the world.

‘Always watching, Always waiting, Pray to Her and be cautious for She may listen.’

Ivanya, like her brothers and all the other children in Harbourtown, was raised under the teachings of the Church. She enjoyed throwing stones into the pit with her brothers, and half heartedly dogging other children to jump off the docks. No one ever did of course, but it would be amazing if you ‘met the Deep One’ like that, is what the kids would say.

She was a good natured and curious child, helpful and studious. Perhaps that’s why her parents spoiled her as much as they could. They noticed how dazzled she was when an ad played on the family television for a brand new personal computer.

‘Released in Topside 30 years ago, finally this marvel of technology has been passed down to us! Bring the information superhighway home today!’

One of Ivanya’s happiest memories was opening that big present on her eleventh birthday to find a Macintosh II beneath the glittering wrapping paper. Her father had gruffly said to use it for her schooling, sparing a small smile at his daughter’s elation while her mother reminded her to, on occasion, let her brothers have a turn too.

Ivanya’s brothers never even got close to the computer without her permission.

It was on her eleventh year, scrolling through the internet and learning more about the world outside of Harbourtown, about Central City, about Topside and how you, too, can get there if you work hard enough and study well enough, that Ivanya finally figured out what her dream was, and what that strange feeling of longing that appeared whenever she looked up at the Void meant.

She was gonna go up there, no matter what.

Now, Ivanya was clever, her mom would say she was too clever for her own good. But all the cleverness and brain in the world won’t get her far if she doesn’t know how to apply it. Thankfully, Ivanya had all the spunk and moxie an eleven year old could muster, and in two years she was able to pass the written and physical exam to enter the Plutarch School, a prestigious high school with an 89% success rate in producing top Topside Scavengers.

She was ready to leave Harbourtown, the only town she’d ever know, to enter the electrified and sleek Central City, home of the Plutarch school. All her eagerness, though, could not prepare her for the coldness of strangers who couldn’t understand her.

The students of the Plutarch school were mostly, if not all, native to Central City and born with silver spoons. Ivanya was there on a scholarship, and it didn’t take long for her to know the other students could tell.

Her sweet eagerness turned into bitter resolve that manifested into an aloofness that separated her even more from her classmates. Not many people wanted to talk to her, and those who did were put off by the jagged walls she’d grown around herself. A bright child turned into and aggressive adolescent, forfeiting friendships in the pursuit of knowledge. And it was easy to put of friends. Her peers considered her too low on the totem pole and Ivanya considered them coasters, riding the tails of their wealthy parents and not really giving much of an effort.

Well, not as much of an effort as her. They don’t have to work twice has hard, like she does. More bitterness swelled her heart like poison. She had become misanthropic by her junior year, but her grades had never been higher.

She was top of her class in every class, be it the physical classes like survivalism, scavenging and stealth. Or the more intellectual classes like Topside history, and Integration. She was set to graduate with honors and offers from every company worth their salt.

Until, of course it all came crashing down.

In the middle of her senior year, Ivanya’s pressure, anxiety and loneliness and weighed heavy on her, and with no outlet for these negative feelings, she suffered a violent episode, beating another student to the point of hospitalization.

Her previously star record had kept her from expulsion, but she was suspended and advised to seek medical help during the month she could not attend classes.

She, however, comes from a family of stoics, and did not believe any form of therapy could help her more than spending time with her family and her father and his boat. Her father had always been gentle with her, a stalwart and comforting giant that Ivanya could always turn to. Until he wasn’t anymore.

He died shortly after her graduation. Ivanya had been living with the family, sifting through job offers and half started applications in the early morning hours when she heard her mother’s wailing.

They had rushed him to the hospital but it was already too late. Ivan had seemed fine before, but a growth had formed in his lower intestines. It was small and nearly imperceptible, but poisonous enough to kill him. They couldn’t have caught it in time, there was nothing they could do.

Ivanya had studied the ways of humans Topside. How their emotions work, how the chemicals in their brains make them react to different situations and stimuli. How sadness and grief can push them to do some pretty stupid things.

It was late at night, pitchblack with all the oil lamps off except for Ivanya’s lantern. She had been throwing stones down the bottomless pit her father once worked in, hoping one of the rocks hit the Old One right in the eye, when the memory came back to her. How all the kids would dog each other about jumping down the pit and meet the Old God.

Grief and loneliness drowned out her common sense enough for her take the leap off the dock and down into nothingness. She fell for a long time, what felt like forever. She fell until she couldn’t feel herself anymore, until it was all the void, the wind and the cold spot of her cheeks where tears had once been. Her eyes were screwed shut all the way down.

Until it felt like she wasn’t falling anymore, until she felt a warmth she’d never felt before. She opened her eyes to a world so bright it whited out her vision, nearly blinding her until she hissed and hid her eyes behind her hands and curled into a ball on the floor.

And then she realized there was a floor.

Once the stars fell from her eyes enough that she could see again, she slowly turned back to the light, and past the brightness, she saw a door to a school and a form she couldn’t make it, the sun, the sun, blurring her vision too much to see details. The form sounded friendly, told her to come in.

It welcomed her to Lady Wollstonecraft and her Academy.

~

Ivanya started out as a kind and socially open kid but bad experiences in her teens have made her more aloof and standoffish. This, coupled with the fact that her family practiced stoicism, leaves much to be desired with her social skills. Still, she is kind to those she thinks deserves it and has a big soft spot towards the weak and the pitiable.

She knows she’s skilled and a hard worker and could be described as very prideful. She has a minor superiority complex and a major inferiority complex, but because of her unwillingness to show emotion other than mild disgust or anger, her complexes are pretty hard to weed out.

She is a woman of action, a doer. She hates the lazy, and she hates coasters and people who survive on privilege alone. If she had to choose a motto, it would most likely be ‘eat the rich’, but she’d never say anything so ridiculous. Out loud anyway.

She’s a very private and intimate person, and is very tight lipped about giving out information. She believes that she should only tell people what they need to know, anything beyond that is unnecessary chit chat.

Right now she doesn’t really know what she wants. Her abstract goal is to Know More, learn as much as she possibly can, and maybe make some friends. She really does want closeness with other people, she just doesn’t know how to go about it.

Species:

Appearance: Ivanya is 5ft 9in, with long dark hair. She is thin, and her face is gaunt, as if her skin were tightly stretched over her skull. Her purple-rimmed eyes are big and deep set, and a very pale shade of brown. Her skin is a pale grey and almost translucent with thin blue veins peaking out where her skin is thinnest.

Being raised away from the sun means she’s very sensitive to it. Even on overcast days she’ll wear sunglasses. Her clothing is outdated as the eighties are in full swings in the Underside. She loves wearing oversized clothing, and showing a bit of leg every now and then. Though to prevent from burning she has to wear stocking or really strong sunscreen.

Her mom sent her a wide brimmed hat with a veil that some people say makes her look like a bee keeper. Not that she cares. It’s cute and she loves! Her mommy!

Rules of the Species:

Ivanya is essentially a ghoul, so her species is pretty close to humanoid except a little spookier. Their skin is usually a tone of grey, the palest being an off-white and the darkest being near black, with either a warm or cool undertone. They don’t really eat food with high fat content. It’d be accurate to call them herbivores since they only eat two types of flowers, and even then they don’t have to eat that much of it.

Since the ghouls are born and raised underground, their sky being an endless swirling void, they tend to be sensitive towards sunlight, like bats, but it doesn’t hurt them like vampires. They are also immortal, sort of. They can’t die of old age, usually capping off in their 50s, but they can die of illness or injury.

The only presence ghouls have Topside are as secret scavengers, which was what Ivanya was training to be. These scavengers bring back and sell information about the above world, usually working for a company that works with this information. Ivanya specifically was training to be a religious scavenger; a ghoul who went to the surface to bring back items for worship or sacrifice. Usually a live animal or some type of plant. On occasion, a human would be brought down to sacrifice to the Old one if times were really dire.

Ivanya’s abilities include heightened senses, night vision and soft imperceptible steps. Her vision is perfect and clear, and if she concentrates she can even make out the shapes of people and objects through walls. Her claw-like nails can dig into walls which makes scaling them a breeze for her, and she can run at top speed on all fours.

If she wants something from you, she’ll find a way to take it.

Facts:

Ivanya has a dog! Sort of. It’s more of an inky dog shaped blob. Its name is Rohan and she misses it very much.

Ivanya’s favorite topside food is hummus.

Ivanya was taught English at school, but exclusively spoke Russian in the house

She knows just about everything in regards to sailing and keeping up a ship.

She sucks at gardening but has been trying to learn as her most basic food source comes from two specific plants. She’s getting pretty decent at it too!

HATES failure.

Is an exceptional survivalist and can identify over 500 types of flora

Connections

Please give her some friends, or a new dad. Whichever.

You:

Name: Ana Age: 22

Pronouns: she/her

Url: whipapp.tumblr.com

Skype: https://join.skype.com/invite/KHpzdX4Qta5l

Time Zone: US Pacific Standard

Activity Level: around a 7 or 8