#star railing.txt

[ohmeadows]

The joker of the deck: Aha the Elation (and some Swarm Disaster lore)

While reading through swarm disaster lore (again), Herta popped up during a moment discussing the disappearance of Oroboros the Voracity, noting that some entity was interfering with the simulation. Which got me thinking about Aha. Again.

Having played through Swarm Disaster’s entire story twice now, I can’t help but think that whatever role Aha the Elation has to play, is going to be incredibly important. Or at least entertaining.

Aha is the only self-aware Aeon in the Simulated Universe. Despite the team’s efforts to tamper down on it, Aha continues to be self-aware, toying with you and the creators each time they appear. It’s heavily implied that simulated Aha is actively interfering with Herta, Screwllum and Ruan Mei’s work to understand the Aeons, being present each time the Aeons schemed to destroy Tayzzyronth the Propagation.

Aha freely admits to infiltrating the Astral Express for a year just to find the perfect moment to blow the train up. Why? To mess with Akivili and their followers.

Aha is the Aeon closest involved with the ways of mortals, and while it lacks the magnitude of directly devastating powers such as the Destruction or the Hunt, it doesn’t lack for ability to turn fate on a whim — Aha has directly influenced or been involved in rebellions, government coups, deaths of Aeons and is one of the only (so far) Aeons confirmed to shapeshift to a human when it suits their needs.

In fact, it’s heavily implied Sampo is a follower of Aha (if not more?) and when you think about Sampo’s involvement in Belobog’s storyline, he shows up at precise moments, barely does anything, and yet alters some extremely pivotal details that changes everything, above all dragging Bronya down to see the truth of Belobog. At the end of the Belobog arc, Sampo reports to someone, nearly breaking the fourth wall. He did it for fun. Just a little gigglejoke. Why not change the course of Belobog if it makes for a spectacle?

Also: during the Phantylia fight, you can hear Aha laughing. At who? Us, or Phantylia? Something is in motion aboard the Luofu, involving the Destruction, the Abundance and the Hunt. It won’t be the first time Aha has brought together different Aeons for their own amusement.

In Swarm Disaster, it’s made clear Aha had some level of knowledge or perhaps even involvement in Ena the Order becoming Xipe the Harmony. You-as-Akivili, the role the Trailblazer inhabits while in Simulated Universe, feel uneasy watching Aha suck up to Xipe, which is interesting to note. Ena is the one who demands Qlipoth to act on the problem the Tayzzyronth poses, and yet they are absorbed by Xipe.

I’ll also note that in Swarm Disaster, it’s implied it was “chance” that caused the rise of the Propagation path and their ascension to Aeonhood. Now, I’m not saying Aha did it, but…

At the end of Swarm Disaster, Herta takes you through the simulation once more, pointing out three big details that bug her after having witnessed all they could divine from the past:

The destruction of the system the Propagation (once a mortal) originated from was not a natural occurrence. Something or someone instigated it. Herta isn’t sure who did it, suggesting Voracity, Order or Elation, but landing on not knowing. For now.

During the Propagation path wrecking havoc across the universe, Oroboros the Voracity and Ena the Order disappeared. How and why are not entirely clear, though we know Ena was absorbed into Xipe. Oroboros is interesting since the Voracity is an enemy of Qlipoth — perhaps even an Aeon Qliopth fears, to a degree. Herta’s exact quote is: “Oroboros and Ena vanished in the middle of this tale! Completely, silently, as if there was another story progressing along in the shadows underneath the main stage…”

The Aeons that came together — Equilibrium, Preservation, Trailblaze, Elation and Harmony — may have brought down the Propagation, but the path itself isn’t dead. There’s endless Swarm offsprings still alive in the universe. Herta suggests that the Propagation isn’t actually truly dead, and will rise again. And soon.

Leaving Swarm Disaster, it's hard not to feel a sense of unease about Aha. Herta herself states that the universe has gotten worse since Aha's laugh rang out across the universe for the first time. Whatever hand Aha is intending to play in the future will be very interesting.

[ohmeadows]

i absolutely cannot get over jingliu being from the xianzhou cangcheng, famous for its plum blossoms now entirely lost after its destruction, and the trauma that represents in her life; while ruan mei is all about plum blossoms. it's such a small but precise detail that you can interlace them with.

[ohmeadows]

As someone also in the ruanliu pits, I would like to note that if Ruan mei were to succeed, with her potential path she would mostly likely absorb the path of abundance due to the overlap in concept. This would ostensibly fulfill jingliu's–who's already shown her willingness to work with other factions/aeons to bring down yaoshi–goal, and Ruan mei gains her very own, very potent, attack dog (with whom she, on a meta level, actually go pretty well together). There very well may be a path for them to be working together despite seemingly conflicting ideals. The unfortunate thing with Ruan mei potentially succeeding is that it would likely lead to the erasure of her identity/self after ascension. Though if there were to be anyone who could circumvent that little caveat, it would be her. Just interesting things to think about.

good thoughts.... chewing

because i've been thinking about this a lot. my thoughts on it is that ruan mei might view both the abundance and propagation paths as having been, if not failures, narrow-minded in their applications of the concept. she herself speaks of death being an inevitable aspect to life's balance, a necessity almost.

notably, there's no aeon of death, which would be almost a needed counterbalance if she wished to become something akin to an aeon of life/cultivation -- to grow the perfect orchid, pruning is a must.

aeons are gods of concepts, in a way. propagation arose from the desire of one lonely individual, the last of their species, not wanting to be alone anymore. propagation was never truly about life, yet it ties in a lot to abundance and ruan mei. i do in part suspect we'll see that abundance was an off-shoot or evolution spurred from the propagation, as the abundance didn't exist during the swarm disaster era. so, by extension, ruan mei's desire to understand and take apart these concepts reflects her desire to embody a concept of her own. but she's so meticulous about it, intentional. she doesn't want to replicate "prior mistakes".

in the fic i've written i toy with the idea of jingliu becoming ruan mei's attack dog, her sword, and her counter-balance. she prunes what ruan mei cultivates. after 1.4's story quest i floated the idea jingliu might, due to her singular purpose and hellbent ideals, accidentally end up becoming an aeon even as she loathes the way their paths determine other's destinies. and that would be such an interesting au idea to explore too; aeon of life and death interlocked in a constant dance, cultivating and pruning, seeding and withering, blooming and rotting.

there's already a quiet undercurrent of balance, of yin and yang to their current paths, hence my interest in them. one hellbent on killing an aeon, the other on becoming one.

[ohmeadows]

ruan mei’s trailer is out omgg we need ur opinion

it's so gorgeous!!! god!!!! i have been delving into all the lore involving her since swarm disaster dropped and even i had my breath taken away by this, the implications! the beauty! aaah!

where do i begin. it's 6am for me and i should be asleep but i can't stop rewinding and looking at the visuals, the bright pops of color and the greyness, the golden lines, the implication that she wants to peel apart each aeon she can study and find her own path to ascend to aeonhood.... she wants to be an aeon. aeon of life?

i also paused at when she mentioned feeling a certain coldness when she realized how to nurture and cultivate a living world. does anyone else remember rahu and the cangcheng's fate?

it's also just a beautiful trailer, up there alongside kafka's in terms of stunning visuals and themes intervowen into it. the chinese opera playing, the plum blossoms, the cakes... the architecture spotted in the distance... despite what her origin story says, it feels like she absolutely has some ties to the xianzhou? a few months back people theorized she was from the cangcheng due to the heavy thematics around plum blossoms which the cangcheng was known for. i wonder what the truth is about her origin.

also: simulated universe lore! how everything else, everyone else, fades away when she can immerse herself into the questions and research she wishes to pursue.

anyway she could put me in any maze and i'd push any button to get a reward from her, i'm your most loyal test subject madame ruan mei!!!!

[ohmeadows]

"fu xuan's entire personality is a red flag" but if she was a man you'd admire her sigma grindset

[ohmeadows]

the sheer confusion of waking up to this official sticker being released...

[ohmeadows]

i love the simulated universe lore so much and i especially love when characters mentioned in there come alive in the game itself; i've had a deep fascination for ruan mei since swarm disaster update dropped, and now she's less than a month away from release!! she's so fascinating in her desire to learn about the aeons and the fact that she creates life, living beings, inside simulated universe, that live out their little lives! her deep, abiding fascination for aeons, and for life itself! the way she speaks of the simulated universe as a thing she has nurtured. ruan mei the complexity that you areeee

[ohmeadows]

Rondo Across Countless Kalpas, or: Risk Aware Consensual Kink — The Acheswan Dating Experience

[ohmeadows]

to be honest i think hsr fans should be doing more wlw rarepairs, and doing so shamelessly. draw that art! write that fic! make a post about how you headcanon them together! don't justify it to the haters, but speak about it from a place of love and care for why you think they work together!

"but but but they never interacted!" shut up you are the equivalent of a bog sucking the joy out of the community

[ohmeadows]

also like quick thought: if you're letting a company dictate what you ship, you're being foolish. topaz/himeko is a fine ship, don't get me wrong, if you want it get it, but don't try to frame it as "mhy wants us to ship this so we should!" and then bend yourself into shipping it to be "correct" or "proper" or "canon compliant", that's the silliest thing i have ever heard. chase your bliss. if you want himeko with kafka, or topaz, or jingliu, or someone else entirely, that's your ship and your bliss. enjoy that.

[ohmeadows]

i wake up. i think about simulated universe. i spend fuel to build new simulated universe teams. i pull new characters to try out new simulated universe set-ups. i run simulated universe to test out nihility without dot characters on swarm disaster IV and win with planar disarray 6 and only fu xuan to sustain. it's a beautiful day in the simulated universe and herta complains that i crashed the servers again.

[ohmeadows]

you know who does need a good milking. a good proper lactation. a thorough suckling.

thank you for your time

[ohmeadows]

editing and writing, writing and editing, and all i want is for ruan mei to handfeed jingliu some edible flowers...

[ohmeadows]

on a meta level the powercreep in simulated universe with new paths, stacking blessings (and combining cross-path blessings) and the new dice sets are putting us closer than ever to an aeon's power level while also increasing the wild chaos of the cosmos

also, the simuni writing? is so lush and rich in descriptions, events and lore. i'm so deeply fascinated by how they chose to word things and depict it in text, and how there's consistency: ruan mei's occurrences align with how she is in her quests and stories, and it's such a small thing but coming from a place of being used to inconsistency and retcons it's really pleasant

on another note my luck today was insane

[ohmeadows]

so thinking of baiheng and jingliu... we know foxian funeral rites are unique on the xianzhou luofu where they get put onboard a starskiff and sent out to the stars — even if there is no body to put there. thinking of jingliu being the one to load up baiheng's starskiff for the stars. putting not only things of baiheng's there but her own, feeling the mara creeping in.

jing yuan had to hunt her down and corner her in starskiff haven, where she was supposedly defeated with a smile on her face. if starskiff haven sounds familiar, well.

it is for a reason.

there's so many thoughts and possibilities to pull at here. jingliu wishing she had put her body on it. jingliu losing it because she can't stand watching the skiff being sent off, why her, she didn't get to live her full life, she'd make a deal with any aeon listening to trade places. it's said mara strikes when you can no longer find your own memories pleasant, and grief must be so potent to cause a descent into mara...

[ohmeadows]

ghostly baiheng adorned in flowers pulling an icy sword out of jingliu's chest. is this anything