#spirit of revachol

[stil-lindigo]

eyes of the pale.

[ infernal device and unholy sonnet. you've mistaken a broken jukebox for a choir. skipping notes and skipping stones. don't ask for your coin back. ]

[sentientcitysmackdown]

FINALS

[ID: A map of Ankh-Morpork and the cover of the Welcome to Night Vale novel, edited to be blockily merging into each other. End ID.]

Well folks, it's been a wild and glorious ride through these brackets. Night Vale won by one vote! One vote! I'd like to once again thank everyone who's submitted, voted, reblogged, cheered, and yes, even sent in propaganda asks that I maybe took a little too personally over the course of this bracket. This has genuinely been one of the most fun things I've done ov--

What? It's not over?

OH. Of course! Cities and gentletowns, without further ado, the final matchup of (this year's?) SENTIENT CITY SMACKDOWN!

[daftpatience]

I need a really long fix it fic that super in depth covers how the bombing of revachol is prevented and they figure out how to finally slowly reverse the pale's expansion and there is hope for elysium as much of a pipe dream as it all is

like harry is a ttrpg protagonist I think he deserves to have a hand in saving the world adventure zone style

[2-wuv]

HaII! THE aSK GaEM

🌧️- Does anyone have a favorite number?

🌪️- What is the most liked food between everyone?

🌳- Do alters have separate accounts for games or do you all share an account?

-GaLaX

💫- Does anyone wanna share something about their source? Feel free to ramble, anyone can answer too!

-AS :~}

HAI FRIENDS HAIIIII

YEA!! my favourite number is. 83 :3 i don't think anyone else really has a favourite though!!

currently uhhjjjj shrimp gumbo. but also sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches are delicious also.

we share accounts usually!! tho we DO have a separate switch account we do still use our main one though FHHDJSJD

uhhh hmmmmm. Wlell in our source harry was 100% a system and we've been trying to figure out everyone's formation dates thru the past year and so far we know his first few sysmates and his newest sysmate. His first sysmates were Half Light & Composure, who formed when he was a child, and his newest sysmate was Shivers who formed around the events of the game! everyone else's formation dates r either Unknown or very vague on the timeline JFJDISKS

-Electrochem

[nikomedes]

nothing in the world like having 4 skill points banked in the denouement of a disco run and deciding. fuck it. im dumping them all into savoir faire and authority to have a dance party with kim

[jakethesequel]

Welcome back to Tumblr's Poorest Wettest Saddest Littlest Meow Meow Competition! Before we announce the final verdict, let's see how our "lovely" contestants are doing backstage!

VRISKA SERKET, hailing from welcoming Homestuck, is in the blue corner! She's a TROLL, a TELEPATH, and a THIEF. She has also attained GODHOOD, and I'm informed she did nothing wrong! Just off the heels of a dramatic loss in the recent Tumblrwoman Election, she deeply resents being trapped in this narrative device!

Her attire today is plain by Earth standards, but well put-together by ALTERNIAN ones. Nevertheless, she has been known to dress up on occasion, particularly in the colors of her ANCESTOR, the Marquise Spinneret Mindfang!

She is extraordinarily determined, and extremely manipulative. She will do anything she can to make herself into the hero her story needs, consequences be damned. Her actions have made her the source of eternal, vitriolic discourse. Some believe her entirely justified, some believe her a heartless villain, and others believe everything in between; every one steadfast and passionate about their specific stance! Love her or hate her: VRISKA!!!!!!!!

HARRIER DU BOIS, also known as HARRY, sometimes referring to himself as RAPHAEL AMBROSIUS COSTEAU or THE REINCARNATION OF KRAS MAZOV, is here representing scenic Disco Elysium! He is a DETECTIVE, an ALCOHOLIC, a recent AMNESIAC, and a WASTE of ENERGY. Having just recently recovered from an attempt at drinking himself to death, we thought inviting him to compete might raise his spirits some! Unfortunately he does not seem to be totally aware of his surroundings, as he has already tried to touch himself twice on air!

His garish and mismatched clothes are STAINED with seemingly every substance a human body can produce. His face is locked in an EXPRESSION that can only induce disgust and discomfort in those who view it.

The few memories he can draw from his fractured mind paint him as violent, selfish, cruel, and pitiful. He has been trying to get over a breakup for six years, and has only partially succeeded through near-total retrograde amnesia. Worst of all, he's still somehow a decently successful cop. He has no friends and few allies on Revachol, with perhaps the sole exception of the impossibly patient and composed Lt. Kim Katsuragi. Even among his fans, you'd be hard pressed to find one who'd defend him, and ever harder pressed to find one willing to stand in the same room as him. Nevertheless, from the safe distance of fiction, let's hear it for HARRY!

In but a few moments, the doors in front of them will open, and they will be able to approach the trophy onto which we have engraved the name of the winner. 5… 4… 3… 2…

AND THE WINNER IS: VRISKAAAAAAAA SERKET!

—

Vriska: WH8T THE FUCK.

Vriska: WHAT THE F8CK!!!!!!!!

Vriska: I WON THIS????????

Vriska: You pieces of shit can't supp8rt me to win ag8inst some lanky rain8bow-drinking 8itch, 8ut 8eat one-in-fuck8ng 16777216 odds to win poorest, wettest, saddest, littlest g8ddamn meow8east?

Logic [Easy:Success]: She won. That means we lost.

Conceptualization [Challenging:Failure]: Another loss in a long, long line of losses.

Pain Threshold: You've gotten used to the feeling by now. Losing something barely even hurts anymore.

Endurance: You still carry each one with you. Well, except…

Volition: Not now. Not yet.

Authority [Medium:Success]: This doesn't have to stay a loss. Stare the girl down. Challenge her. Don't let this be taken from you.

Wait, what *is* she doing, anyway?

Perception: The grey girl seems to be shouting at someone, but there's no one else here.

Vriska: FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

Inland Empire [Godly:Success]: The unseen audience, the string-pullers of fate. The sadistic writer terrorizing their creation. The storybook itself, the confines it sets. She has seen the death of the author, and needs more.

Empathy [Medium:Failure]: What's got her so upset?

Harry: Is there something wrong with you?

Vriska: I'm not taking that from a walking dumpster, asshole!

Suggestion: There's still time to fix this. Say something nice, quickly.

Harry: I just mean, you seem upset. I thought you'd be celebrating your win. It’s a big accomplishment, right?

Vriska: Are you kidding?

Drama: Are we, sire? Should we be, perhaps?

Vriska: You thought I’d 8e cele8r8ing this? A vote for the most pitia8le, pathetic person in paradox space? I’m not so desper8 to fill my pity quadrant that I need to resort to CROWDFUNDING! That’s like the lowest form of 8egging!

Electrochemistry: You are that desperate. Don’t think we're above begging for it, piggy.

Conceptualization [Easy:Success]: Oh. This was not a contest one wants to win. Maybe our loss was for the best.

Vriska: And I WON!!!!!!!! With this kind of competition, HOW did I get all the votes? All of them!

Reaction Speed [Trivial:Success]: "This kind of competition?" She’s talking about you! Say something!

Harry: It was a tight race. You fought with honor.

Vriska: IT SH8ULDN’T HAVE FUCKIN8 8EEN!

Vriska: Look at you! What the fuck kind of su8juggl8or suit are you wearing? Did someone 8leed on it?

Savoir Faire: No, no, this outfit is *cool*. You just have to give it a little *disco*, man.

Strike a pose.

Vriska: …

Vriska: You can’t seriously think any of that is appealing.

Vriska: Your clothes look like they were dragged out of 8 different gar8age 8ins.

Vriska: You couldn’t 8e more greasy and stained if you drowned in a pail of 8rooding slurry. From the st8 of your body, you actually might have!

Physical Instrument: I told you. You need to cultivate more mass.

Composure [Challenging:Failure]: Please, don’t start crying in front of a teenager.

You realize that you already have.

Vriska: Are you seriously crying right now? I might not 8e an expert on the human metamorphological process 8ut you definitely aren’t a pupa anymore. Shit, you look like you’re halfway dead already. Grow up, Pupa Pan!

Endurance: You need to stop this, now, before you break down further.

Harry: Fuck off, fucking spidery bitch! Leave me alone!

Vriska: Wow. I don’t think I’ve seen a grown man act this pathetic 8efore. How the hell did you not win this!?!?!?!? Do you even have a single thing going for you?

Esprit De Corps: You have a badge and a gun. You are a Detective Lieutenant-Yefreitor of the RCM. At least for now, you have that.

Harry: I’m a pretty good fucking cop.

Vriska: There are no good cops you dum8 8itch!

Authority: Make her stop.

Vriska: I’ve known you less than a minute and you already disgust me. I feel 8ad for the people that actually have to 8e near you.

Half Light: Do what you have to do and do it now.

Vriska: You deserved to win this. I don’t know how you can live like that. 8ack home you would have 8een culled sweeps ago.

Hand Eye Coordination [Legendary:Success]: You have never fired a shot so quickly or instinctually. You didn’t even know your gun was loaded. You pulled it out the way a cat scratches a hand, or a drunk pisses himself. You don’t remember when violence became second nature to you, but you didn’t forget how to do it either.

Harry: Oh, God.

Perception (Sight): Is that blood… blue?

Visual Calculus [Legendary:Success]: Light swirls and shimmers around the girl’s body, flashing a technicolor code you cannot decipher. Her body floats into the air, and her eyes flash open. All eight of them.

Inland Empire: No justice. No heroism. Just mindless violence.

Half Light: RUN.

Vriska: OW!

Vriska: Oh no you fucking don’t!!!!!!!!

(♏) Volition [Impossible:Failure]: You try to run, but your will is seemingly powerless to drive your body. I’m sorry.

Physical Instrument: Don’t look at me. I’m in great shape.

Interfacing: Connections seem fine. Don’t tell me we have to unplug him again…

♏Vriska♏: What the fuck.

Harry: Wh-wh-what are you doing to me?

Vriska: Shut up I’m trying to f8cus!

Inland Empire: Welcome, Thief of Light.

♏Vriska♏: What the hell is wrong with you?

Encyclopedia: Severe alcoholism. Retrograde amnesia. Partial facial paralysis. Dehydration. Heart palpi- (♏)

♏Vriska♏: 8e quiet, 8ook8rain! I’m trying to rifle through memories here and it’s a MESS!

Interfacing: We haven’t quite organized since our recent… restructuring. Try the thought cabinet.

Rhetoric: Don’t tell her that!

♏Vriska♏: Too late, sucker! Found it!

♏Vriska♏: …

♏Vriska♏: …

♏Vriska♏: …

♏Vriska♏: Jegus christ.

♏Vriska♏: In pu8lic? Why would you—

♏Vriska♏: Ugh!

♏Vriska♏: You said THAT?

♏Vriska♏: There was a8solutely no reason to do ANY of that, what the hell!

♏Vriska♏: You should honestly just kill yourself if you’re going to keep 8eing such a fuckup!

Reaction Speed: Yes!

Logic: Sound. You should kill yourself.

Empathy: It would make everyone feel better.

Endurance: Hasn’t this all gone on long enough?

Savoir Faire: It’s a hell of a statement.

Drama: The noble sacrifice, like Romeo, like Juliet!

Rhetoric: You should kill yourself NOW!

Authority: She has bested you. Listen to your better.

Half Light: Anything to get away from her.

Volition: …

♏Vriska♏: Can you creeps 8e normal for two damn seconds?

MORALE CRITICAL

The light fades from your eyes, and you fall to the floor.

Shivers: You are being called back where you belong....

—

Kim: Yes, Lieutenant. A fascinating dream. I’m sorry you did not win the competition.

Harry: What do you think it means, Kim? Do you think it could be some kind of message? Should I try to find that girl?

Kim: “That girl?”

Harry: Yeah! Vriska!

Kim: No, Lieutenant. I do not think you should go looking for Vriska Serket from Homestuck. Perhaps try looking for the killer in our murder case?

[the-remote-viewers-division]

Does anyone else think that there’s a chance Harry's memory loss was caused, not by pale exposure or acute encephalopathy triggered by alcoholism, but by his skills trying to save his life?

(I’m a latecomer to the fandom so my apologies if this has already been discussed ad nauseam!) At the second tribunal, Judit mentions Harry has lost his memory before; after two cases that would've been triggering for Harry.

JUDIT MINOT - "But, Detective Vicquemare," she interjects. "He *has* blanked out before." YOU - "I have?" JUDIT MINOT - "Yes, a couple of times. After some of the more... serious benders." She pauses, remembering. "One was after the Two Drunks case, the other when we looked into that mural."

I think after each of these cases, Harry could’ve hit crisis mode: in the former, the sheer horror/disgust at what he’s done and how he’s become the type of cop that nearly beats someone to death, and in the latter for the mural dredging up bad Dora feelings.

Then, when talking to Joyce, and getting stuck in the "Mr. Evrart is helping me find my gun" loop, the skills have an interesting little exchange:

CONCEPTUALIZATION - He seems to be in some sort of *loop*. ELECTROCHEMISTRY - Well, *that's* not good. Looks fine over here. You sure it's not some sort of *glandular* problem? REACTION SPEED - No, it's not that -- it's... I have no idea. This is bad. VOLITION - Executive function is completely shot. I keep pushing buttons and nothing is happening. ... LOGIC - How do we get out of here? SUGGESTION - What makes you think we *will*? INTERFACING - Yeah, we need to pull the plug, there's nothing else to do. EMPATHY - Are you not afraid it'll kill him? ENDURANCE - *Physically* he should be fine. Or at least no worse than usual... ENCYCLOPEDIA - What if he forgets everything *again*? INTERFACING - Okay, I'm gonna do it. Hold on...

What if after THE UNSOLVABLE CASE, THE NEXT WORLD MURAL, and his bender/breakdown/rock-bottom in Martinaise, Harry attempted suicide and his skills, in order to stop him, "rebooted" his brain causing him to have amnesia? Perhaps they act due to the influence of Shivers/the spirit of Revachol to save Harry because she needs him to save her?

[stressfulsloth]

Thinking about Harry and all the animal parallels that follow him through the narrative. It's true that these animal parallels reflect the way that the brutality of individualist moralism strips him of humanity as someone who has fallen through the safety nets, and his agonised shout of 'I don't want to be this kind of animal anymore' can be interpreted as a direct admission of the RCM's dehumanisation of him as a disabled addict who is no longer as 'useful' as he once was. Gottlieb even directly tells him '[he] lost [his] human visage a while back.' Jean calls him 'the most dangerous animal of them all'. The rabid dog that needs to be put down, the black dog (also a common metaphor for chronic mental illness!) that Mollins shoots as it licks its wounds; the scared, hurt, frightened animal lashing out, chewing off it's own leg to escape the trap that it's caught in. The wild dog is all they can see.

But then there is a flipside to these parallels too; a kindness, a gentleness, almost a freedom in Harry’s animal parallels. He's strong like a 'goddamn ox,' like a bear ('I had to kill the bear to become the bear'). He's a harrier hawk, a name given to ensure his safety, raised up to the level of the aerostatics looking down over Revachol, 'soar[ing] on the wings of [his] spirit hawk.' He's a leopard ('its impossible to know where you end and the leopard begins'), discovering or rediscovering a love of softness and sensuality that he'd not known before via the leopard print leotard that 'speaks to the animal inside [him]' and touches on his relationship with his gender ('Yes, this is the type of animal I want to be.').

He's a 'seagull', a bird that will do 'whatever it takes to survive,' a 'bird of paradise' that tells a story of 'endurance- and adaptation' ('You! You and the seagull are just alike!'). He survives, despite everything, despite the grimness of the world around him. He endures. Even the sea monster comparison is oddly kind ('You've become a sea monster -- giant, hidden and... strangely tender at heart'). Even as a monster, he's still gentle; he still has so much love for this world that has wrung every last bit out of him. As if his tenderness is such an inherent part of him that no matter what monstrous face he wears, no matter what creature is there in his shadow, he cannot help but have some trace of it at his core. His tender soul 'quivering like jello.' The pain he feels is raw and animal but so is the love he feels. So is the hope and the fear and the wonder.

[swordswaltz]

idk man. she disco on my elysium till i AM A FRAGMENT OF THE WORLD SPIRIT, THE GENIUS LOCI OF REVACHOL. MY HEART IS THE WIND CORRIDOR. THE BOTTOM OF MY AIR IS RED. I HAVE A HUNDRED THOUSAND LUMINOUS ARMS. COME MORNING, I CARRY INDUSTRIAL DUST AND LET IT SETTLE ON TREE LEAVES. I SHAKE THE DUST FROM THOSE LEAVES AND ONTO YOUR COAT. I'VE SEEN YOU, I'VE SEEN YOU! I'VE SEEN YOU WITH HER — AND I'VE SEEN YOU WITHOUT HER. I'VE SEEN YOU ON THE CRESCENT OF THE HILL.

[familyabolisher]

2023:

I AM A FRAGMENT OF THE WORLD SPIRIT, THE GENIUS LOCI OF REVACHOL

MY HEART IS THE WIND CORRIDOR. THE BOTTOM OF MY AIR IS RED. I HAVE A HUNDRED THOUSAND LUMINOUS ARMS

COME MORNING, I CARRY INDUSTRIAL DUST AND LET IT SETTLE ON TREE LEAVES. I SHAKE THE DUST FROM THOSE LEAVES AND ONTO YOUR COAT

I'VE SEEN YOU, I'VE SEEN YOU! I'VE SEEN YOU WITH HER -- AND I'VE SEEN YOU WITHOUT HER. I'VE SEEN YOU ON THE CRESCENT OF THE HILL

I NEED YOU TO PROTECT ME FROM DEATH

I CANNOT PERISH. LOOK AT ME. I CANNOT END

I NEED YOU

YOU CAN KEEP ME ON THIS EARTH

BE VIGILANT

I LOVE YOU

[adelaideandart]

We all know there are different theories about why Harry lost his memory, but exposure to the Pale gotta be my favourite one. Realistically, amnesia is the best thing that could have happen to Harry, who was otherwise completely beyond repair, especially after his wife and all his friends had given up on him. So there we have this human disaster who has no future ahead of him and the Pale gives him a second chance. It literally saves his life, it cuts him off from his past habits and toxic behaviour, it gives him a fresh start with Kim, who changes him into a better person. And then, during the scene in the church where Harry talks to Shivers, which is basically the spirit of Revachol, it asks him to save the city. And that's what he does (or tries to do) in the revolution that's mentioned at the end of the game. There's something so beautiful about the way the world saves Harry so that Harry can save the world.

[stellarwing]

I feel like not enough attention is given to the fact that the spirit of Revachol herself directly tells Harry that she needs Harry and Kim to stick together. I wonder how many people missed it because they reset the game the moment they failed the Authority check to ask Kim to dance. I don't blame anyone who did because I very nearly did so myself.

But listen to me, listen to me, the events that happen if you let the failure ride are so important.

La Revacholière, the spirit of the city, reaches out to Harry and tells him that she sees him, she loves him, she watches over him. And what does Harry say when faced with the personification of the city herself?

He panics over the fact that he hurt Kim. And La Revacholière agrees with him that this is the most important thing to be worried about in this moment.

She begs him to make it right.

I am insane over this.

Revachol doesn't just need Harry, she needs Kim too. And importantly, she needs them to be together.

(This scene also talks a lot about race and Kim's experience as a biracial man living in Revachol. I didn't include those parts only because it wasn't the purpose of the post but I highly recommend everyone watch the full scene!)

[renmorris]

THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS CONTENT ABOUT SACRED AND TERRIBLE AIR

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one of the scariest twists the world of Elysium pulls is that

the innocences are real

it’s very easy to read the greatest innocence, see how Harry talks to Revachol's spirit on his own and walk away feeling like Innocences are essentially popes, political beings that claim to be the only direct line to a higher power and act with the backing of a religious cult of personality. Dolores Dei in many ways reads very simply as a classic European war criminal committing atrocities in Latin America.

but no they are real

and that’s so much more terrifying.

the collective of the world has a voice and that’s not necessarily a good thing. just because the world spirit has a voice doesn’t mean it should be listened to. if the masses of Mundi are reactionary and calling out for blood that’s actually really fucking bad and the embodiment of that shouldn’t have the power to wage war at whim.

in sacred and terrible air the last innocence, Ambrosius Saint-Miro announces that because he is Innocent so now is everyone on Elysium. If they follow him, because an Innocence's deeds are historical inevitability. there is no need to think for yourself, to raise criticism against the system that is destined to win. you are innocent in the body of the collective.

then Revachol's plea to Harry: Be Vigilant. I love you.

this is the game's thesis, it’s how the credits end, it’s a plea for self awareness and progress and it breaks my heart

[zorciarkrildrush]

I keep coming back to Trant's amnesia theory. Harry's psyche, already at least somewhat sensitive/psychic, damaged from substance abuse and severe depression, in deep emotional turmoil - this nerve ending forced against the nerve ending of the city, a maelstrom of emotion and life. Just that is deeply evocative and emotional.

And then I think about the pale. People lose themselves in the pale. Navigation becomes harder until finally impossible in the pale, as you are inundated with a soup of irrelevant, forgotten information. Other people's words or feelings, memories lost to the world that exist nowhere but the pale. Innumerable ghosts of meaning, so thick you can't see.

And I think back to Harry. Also beset by information, by emotion - now not only his own, but of the city - except he wants it. He wants all of it. The disco cop, the hopeless romantic, the can opener - give me more emotion, more of a thrill, more information until I know everything and can solve everything and save everyone and maybe then I will be saved. This is not the pale. This is the spirit of Revachol, and Harry is swept up in it, gets lost in it, willingly.

[code31-onthedancefloor]

it really speaks to the quality of the writing in disco elysium when i remember the fact that all of the rise and fall of communism in revachol culminated in ellis kortenaer hanging in that tree.

Not a *who*, but a what.

And predating communism itself, a 350-year-old stick insect only seen once before by a child. that child grew into a mildly racist old lady who can tell you how the world works. she is sitting in the cafeteria.

the stick insect degraded the deserter's brain with mystery chemicals until he became psychosexually fixated on a spy on the run from another isola. the entire game wouldn't have happened if the deserter fired a single shot at a single other person in the 40-odd years he lived in isolation for. the only person who knows he exists is a shady social democratic manipulate mansplain mob boss who holds your firearm hostage.

there are two monsters who live on the island: one wears the face of millions, dead and forgotten. the death of communism killed his spirit, but the *love* he shared for the people who were bulldozed into a mass grave did him in. the commune of revachol never surrendered, so he cannot move from his post - in his grief, the deserter has deserted himself.

the other monster tells you to turn from the ruin and move forward.

with le retour on the way, and the hanged man case being hinted as the proverbial shit hitting the fan, i wonder if dros' final communard bullet is technically the very first domino that starts another revolution... but, i suppose that's another sadness - he'll never live to see it.