#the theories that could spawn from this are insane

[alaritheaurora]

Sometimes I think back on purgatory and how wild it was. Like, think about it, everyone was immediately set on winning, no mercy, no talking. And of course people are still friends, but every conversation with someone from a different team is like rolling of risk dice of "will-they won't-they kill me" And among this you had Bolas, the fucking cannibalistic gas mask cult, WHO ADVOCATE FOR PEACE. It's so absolutely insane that of all the teams, the one most likely show mercy is the one who are half-naked and scream incoherently. Like even with Bad, the one they hated the most, they still wanted to be honourable, there are many times where they ask for a fair 1v1, and every time are let down. Day one they shared the coords of their spawn. And then later on invite people over to have moments of peace. The fact that while deciding to wear gas masks and eat people, they also decided to build a castle that would act as a fight-free zone where people could share theories. In almost every situation (unless it was one of the events/competitions) they wanted to talk things over. Of all the teams, the one that had gone feral and rejected the fucking air of all things, was the only one to not revoke kindness.

[awwkie-dot-jar]

Kara's agent identity theory post!! 🪩

Since we know Kara is after the same package the Monkey Wrench crew is delivering for L.A.W., I think it's worth talking about her agent's identity. Here is what I've put togheter so far.

In the first scene of ep.1, where she chases Chester, this is what he says after asking her who sent her:

So Chester assumes Kara was sent by someone whose initials are D.H. and from this poster in the travel montage from the same ep. we can see that Chester's casino (we found out it belonged to him from the tv news segment) is now under managment of someone that appears to be called Disco Head.

And from these dialogues, it's clear that her agent is after the package, and that it's the reason behind Kara's long streak of killings of L.A.W. officials (which is also mentioned in the tv news segment).

Now. We know Kara also takes jobs unrelated to the package. But from the dialogue with her agent it's clear that the package was the reason behind Chester's assassination. And it's also worth noting that after the deed she doesn't get the same "bounty claimed" screen we see at the end of ep.1, further hinting at it being a job for her agent and not commissioned by someone else.

Of course Chester could have been wrong in his guess on who sent Kara after him and why. But considering that he was right on the reason (the thing he sent to L.A.W. HQ aka the package), I think it's likely he was also right on who it was.

I also want to note that on Kara's database the package is labelled as "Secondary Green". Which is an interesting choice of words considering that someone called Primary Red is said to be making a speech on the cataclysm soon (more stuff we found out from the news segment. Maybe I should have taken screenshots of that). And a very interesting choice of words considering that the L.A.W. departments are coded with the primary colors. And that they are also coded with shapes. And that we can see a poster of three people with said shapes as their head in ep.1. And that there is graffiti on it calling them liars. And that- (I'm going insane)

But that's a matter for future theory posts.

HUGE showout to my friend @toastraccoon because a good chunk of this spawned from our convos on discord ^_^

[severalowls]

Hi I played myhouse.wad here is my thoughts on a narrative thing people seem intent on brushing off in favour of tired tropes.

Spoilers for myhouse.wad do not read this if you havent played it go and play it blind thx

So Thomas and Steven are heavily heavily implied to be husbands. The use of Intensely, Notably impersonal language in the journals is a whole other point to analyse irt its authorship but I digress, my (first) point is: Thomas is also Probably trans.

So in the airport you go into the womens bathroom and theres a pill bottle on the way in that says "needs a refill..." and then you do a little loop around the mirror and theres blood in the mirror then blood all over the place and blooddemons spawn in all around you... then you leave and there's a full pill bottle that says something like "such a relief" and when you come out the bathroom signs have switched and the bathroom you came out of is now the mens room.

Now the Le Reddit/gamer dood prevailing interpretation is apparently that this is... a coincidence? That the meticulous insane modder(s) who created this entire mindbending feat of technology Simply Forgot and its a total coincidence. Fuck off.

Now the prevailing theory also seems to be that the airport bloodbath is actually Thomas's father, evidenced by the same empty pill bottle being in the hospital room with the dead man. Nah, that's because they're both Thomas's fuckin pills and that's Thomas.

Steven (the PoV character as it were) is in the same hospital because this is a representation of the critical inciting event of the entire meta narrative: both of them having died, together, at home (probably in a house fire).

Everything we see in the mod represents scenes and events in their lives, and this is the point where Steven departs from the mortal coil and goes to join his husband Thomas, who is flatlining but nonetheless sat bolt upright, locking eyes with Steven who, in the context of the wider story is putting his affairs in order through the medium of Doom. CRUCIALLY this one hospital scene, where the video game gameplay rules of Doom (you die, you reload a save) are defied and we pass into a (god damn it) liminal space between the abstraction of the game and Death, is the only point where they are reunited.

Which then suggests to me that all the "Liminal Space" stuff and Backrooms references aren't just Fun References, but the Thematic Core of the piece, the passing between worlds. Hell, even the narrative being split between docs and the mod. It being a mod for a game at all.

Anyway I'll save this going on 10000 words because I could probably write interpretation for hours but... Myhouse.wad good.

Edit the following morning: There are hints to an "Anna" which the average Gamer assumes is some sadface ex-wife, but the main points where this is referenced are the airport scene and "S+A" in the bonfire/beach endings. Steven and Thomas are described as having reconnected with high school crushes/'friends'. The main time in your life where you're likely to carve your crush in a tree is when you're a teenager.

Steven had a crush on "Anna", reconnected decades later once he'd transitioned, the scenes of the game represent primarily parts of their life together, and in the final moments of the game (bonfire/beach endings) he's reflecting on when they met as kids.

Airport scene, besides the symbolism of journeys and beginnings, could also reference a miscarriage Thomas had at some point, possibly pre-transition since its where "Anna" comes up? (Stillborn baby is referenced a couple of times in the journal + baby bottle item ingame)

Anyway, myhouse.wad good.

[the-solar-system52]

TPOH UPDATE THEORY

OH WE ARE SO BACK!!

I wasn't expecting an update this week, and almost missed it since I checked the website too early, but here we are!

Now there is A LOT to unpack in this page, and if you know my theories, then I'm sure you think I'm about to talk about the parallels between The House of Lead and Negative in this dialogue. Which I 100% will, but another time. I want to talk about the Lead House in itself first.

When I first started with my RGB and Negative theory, I said that the House of Paint and House of Lead where supposed to be parallels to RGB and Negative, and I still stand by that.

But as I read recent pages, reread old ones, and was offered different perspectives from other fans, I'm began to think a lot about Lead House and Paint House as their own CHARACTERS, and not just plot points to parallel other characters.

Just listen to this stuff RGB says, this is very interesting characterization! And also incredibly depressing. Lead House's strange and physics-defying architecture being explained by it trying to fill the void left by being split apart, and it's extreme loneliness because of that is a very tragic situation for a literal house to be in.

And when I first read Double Exposure, I was under the impression that either The Butterfly or Negative owned the house, but this is seemingly debunked in this page. And that fact puts the previous pages in a very different context.

RGB outwrite states it here. This House has a personality, toying with RGB and Hero by trapping them, but not actually harming them. It seems to just be excited to be inhabited by people, when it hasn't for so long, and doesn't want them to leave.

Unlike the Paint House, this House can't be owned by anyone, and chooses it's shape based on whatever it wants. And although it seems to take an interest in the conversation Hero and RGB are having (evident by it spawning in the mirror maze when they were talking about Negative) it doesn't seem to be directly controlled by them.

And gosh I love this panel so much! It seems entirely self aware of how it's gone "cuckoo" due to its loneliness, but turns it into a joke. Or maybe its not supposed to be a joke, and the House just doesn't have any other way to communicate, both options are equally sad.

But seeing how much personality Lead House has, it made me realise that Paint House doesn't really share the same traits.

Its design is entirely dependent on person who is controlling it. Although it reflects the inhabitants thoughts, like Click's face in the trains set, Hero's up-high bed, a bunch of plushies spawning in, etc. All these examples all come from the thoughts, wants or memories of Hero when she has the House's key. I wouldn't say it has much of a personality or consciousness at all.

And though this system may be convenient for our protagonists, it is very inconvenient for the House itself. It straight up FALLS APART when Hero isn't paying enough attention to it! And consistently gets more and more abstract when controlled by a distracted 8 year old's mind.

So, Lead House has more individuality, isn't controlled by anyone and therefore doesn't fall apart or abstract. But, because it can't be owned, its gone insane with loneliness and isolation.

Paint House can be owned and wouldn't be considered lonely, but is far too dependent on others and is falling apart because of it.

Both houses are incomplete in their own way, so the obvious solution is for them to be fused back together into the House of Lead Paint!

The House of Lead Paint would be a balance between an individual personality, as well as being influenced by others. And they wouldn't be lonely anymore if they were together, plus once again being a home to someone! I could definitely see Hero and RGB living there, but instead of just outright controlling the House, they are able to ask the House for certain things, (or maybe the House could still read Hero's thoughts, but get to choose if its wants to change or not) and it will be more of a character.

This will obviously take the stress off Hero, since she won't have to be constantly thinking about the House just to stop it from abstracting or worrying about her dreams changing the house, and instead it could take care of itself at times, while still being helpful to our protagonists when they need something.

I think this may be happening sooner rather than later. Specifically because of RGB's "It may be as well for us to stay outside for a while" line, implying that something needs to change before Hero and RGB can go back into the Paint House.

This also seems like a stand in for a 'Tree' to this part of the story. "Big structure with emotional issues that needs to work through its issues in a symbolic way and transform into something else" Hero being the current owner of Paint House, having a track record of wanting to help out Trees, and needing a way to get out of Lead House, it seems perfectly in character for her to want to merge the Houses back together again. And now that the houses are in the same area to eachother (with the folded page being opened) I could 100% see this happening before the end of this arc. Probably as a conclusion to them getting out of the Lead House.

(anddd it could maybe be foreshadowing for RGB and Negative RGB merging back together???) (Fnaf sb ruin eclipse reference???) (tho, if that does happen, it would most likely be at the climax of TPOH)

I can't believe I'm getting so emotionally attached to the character arc of two HOUSES. But I just needed to get this rant out of my system.

So I'll probably talk about the dialogue relating to Negative another time, since this is already very long. Maybe I'll wait till the next update, since I'll undoubtedly have more things to rant on about then. But I hope you enjoyed this, even if it's a bit different from my usual RGB-centric theories.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten, MAG 4 Page Turner

Analysis of MAG 4, Page Turner. Spooky book time! Spoilers ahead.

Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen-

Sorry about that got possessed for a second. Anyway, first Leitner statement! Let's get into it while I try to control my rage.

Facts: Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

Statement Notes: So much in this episode! First Gerry and Mary citing, first Leitner and Mike Crew mention. Crazy how relevant this episode was and we all had no way of knowing.

Starting simple, I would just like to say that as a theatre tech, Swain is so accurate and so real. "Doing a little bit of everything?" Real. Trying to see friends work but you also work at the same time? Real. Work place romance? Real. Not being able to relax when you see a play because you know all the tech stuff that can go wrong? Really real.

What I really loved about Dominic's statement though is the highlight of the ozone smell. He walks all around London with that book, shows it to Mary and Gerard, shows it to friends, and no one else mentions the smell. Yet, when he shows it to his ex Katherine Mendes, she said it "triggered her vertigo." This happens with a lot of the cursed items in the show: they don't have one general effect, but target the specific sources of fear and anxiety in the owner. Katherine apparently gets vertigo often, so The Vast would naturally trigger than height-based stressor. But Swain has a specific fear of lightning and the ozone smell because of what happened to Mike, so torturing him with that smell is the most effective way to cause fear in him.

There's also some really classic cursed object horror going on here that I love. Swain tries to sell the book the whole episode, but calls it "his book" fleeing Mary. Additionally, he says that he thought about giving it away, but felt that "wouldn't count." Very similar to Do Not Open here and a lot of cursed object horror in that there needs to be some kind of debt or reciprocity established rid one of the object.

I also just love the line "walking felt as natural as falling." It really conjures the idea that he can't control himself, that he's stumbling to Mary's shop uncontrollable just as he would fall through the sky: completely unable to stop.

Entity Alignment: Dominic translates "Ex Altiora" as "From Higher" or "Out of the Heights." That's just such insane Vast energy, the idea that whatever the book does to you will spawn from the open empty sky and you won't be able to stop it, just as you'd never be able to stop falling.

Obviously this episode is generally Vast aligned, but that painting of the Eye really freaked me out. "Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.” This engraving very much encapsulates the point of the Eye and the Archive, and weirdly foreshadows what Jon goes through later. It is essentially saying, "Let me witness the fear and pain of others so that I don't have to experience it myself." Why would Gerry paint this? Especially given that a giant eye gives Elias direct view into his home. What is the goal?

Character Notes: Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen Leitner god damn fool book collecting dust eating-

Sorry what happened I blacked out.

Seriously though, my biggest takeaway about Leitner in this ep is that he doesn't spell his name with an umlaut like others. Why did Jonny include that detail. What does that do for me.

I do love that the only information Swain could find on him was that he lost a bidding war over a book to "GRbookworm1818" who is so obviously Gertrude it's hilarious.

I think it's so weird that Swain couldn't find anything online about him, though. Leitners are clearly around, so wouldn't there be some kind of chat room or reddit post about one? Builds my theory that the Entities or at least the Web has some influence over internet content in this universe that it doesn't have in The Magnus Protocol universe. In TMAGP, the OIAR sorts through things found in databases and the internet, but in TMA the Archive seems to be the only source of real supernatural info, proving that Elias or someone else was controlling the stream of information in a way that the entities aren't able to (yet) in TMAGP.

Let's turn away from the most hated character on the internet to talk about the most loved: Gerard Keay.

Our first intro to Gerry is death metal music blasting from his bedroom at two am which is just, so on brand.

(Also want to point out that Dominic Swain didn't realize it was 2 am until he heard the music. Missing time is another motif that keeps coming up in this show.)

I also forgot that Gerry painted in this universe, so it's nice to see they kept that connection in Protocol.

The thing that's truly key (no pun intended) about this episode though is the ritual Mary performs, blaming Gerry for her fake murder. I believe this is the episode she binds herself to the Skin Book, but I can't figure out when/how she would attach Gerry. Also, the case against him was thrown out because a "key piece of evidence was deemed inadmissible." Was this Gertrude pulling strings, Mary using magic influence, or some other powerful eldritch bureaucrat pulling for our boy? Who's to say.

Mike Crew is really only mentioned in this episode, but it did get me thinking about the relevance of scars in the show. His Lichtenberg scar influences who he is and what he becomes as an Avatar. Very similar to Daisy naming herself after her scar and pursuing law--which would lead to her becoming an Avatar--because of the event and injury. Also, Jon's "markings" are what allow him to start the Eyepocalypse. Physical manifestations and reminders of trauma shaping who we become really is a theme in this show.

And of course, Jon. He is such a terrible liar yet him believing in the supernatural was still somehow a plot twist. Proves how good a writer Jonny is, honestly. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but is absolutely terrified of Leitners and is working on an "institute project" to eradicate them? I would love to know how this project worked. Was it just research? Was there a team dedicated to finding and collecting Leitners? He also mentions "the incident in 1994," is that when the library was destroyed? Or is just another terrible Leitner incident.

Crazy ep, one of my favorites. Let me know what you think!

[strawbs-screaming]

my theories on why there are 2 aran ryans

have you ever wondered why theres one sane aran and one fucked up aran?? this might help you a little but i mainly did this for shits and giggles bc i like yapping

theory 1 - evil twin

what if the Wii Aran is the evil twin of spo aran?? did he get exorcised?? did evil aran™ just spawn into the world one day?? where they twins from the start??

i mainly follow this theory just because it sounds funny to me, like yeah thats my evil twin you cant sue me over that

theory 2 - go crazy go stupid

what if spo aran went insane after he saw the shit everyone else pulled off while he was being fair?? he simply couldve decided to say "this sucks im going to commit as many crimes as possible" (rightfully so)

i think this is also plausible considering what the other opponents were doing

theory 3 - that aint my aran

this basically the evil twin theory again but he got replaced instead, i think this is not very plausible but its still funny so im rolling with it

the most likely answer

the devs decided to commit to insane aran simply because they wanted to, i mean...what else could you expect, its a reboot and they have to reboot almost everything including character designs, including ARANNN!! and thats where our evil aran comes in

i mean, think about it,why did they give bald bull those horrid cyan eyes back in spo before Wii stopped that madness?? because its a reboot and they wanted to do something new with the designs and them backed off when the Wii version dropped (which is respectable, they realized that they didnt like it and decided to change it)

Conclusion

its most likely because the devs wanted to try something new and thats probably the correct answer, if you have any other theories dont shy away from telling me

[namig42]

Spoilers for Astarion's lore below!

So question for Astarion lore appreciators: why do you think Cazador specifically targeted Astarion all those years ago as a target to turn?

I've been thinking about this mainly because of the fact that Cazador's main seven spawn all seemed to be people of notable positions in life, such as Dalyria having been a doctor and Violet having been a singer before being brought into Cazador's "family." I could see how the jobs that the other spawn had before could benefit Cazador in one form or another, so I'm fascinated what he could've gained from turning a magistrate of Baldur's Gate. None of the main seven spawn seemed like a coincidental choice for Cazador, so what was it initially that led him to target Astarion?

After Astarion was turned, he never performs his duties as a magistrate again, so if it was political power Cazador was searching for, he would gain nothing from turning Astarion. He could've built a relationship of sorts by bribing or blackmailing Astarion while the young elf was still living and serving in his position, but he decided to turn him instead and make Astarion his own. Outside of proper political power, I can't think of what skills a magistrate would have that would serve Cazador, unlike a singer who has a natural charm for luring others or a doctor that could put her healing skills to use, or perhaps lead poor, wayward, sick souls to their doom in the Szarr Palace. A magistrate may have a skill for conversation which could be used to lure prey back to Cazador, but that's not something unique to that position, so there wouldn't be a reason to specifically target someone in that higher, possibly more notable position within Baldur's law system. Cazador even makes a point of telling his spawn not to target members of noble families since it leads to unwanted attention, so perhaps we can imply that Astarion's family was not one of note, and the position of a magistrate isn't one of great significance.

With all that in mind, Astarion's former position seems irrelevant. There's the idea that Cazador was simply captivated by Astarion's wit and beauty and wanted to have it for himself, but why go through all the trouble of framing a Gur and getting them to beat Astarion to near death? Why not lure him to the palace with some promise of power and turn him there? It would be easier to fake Astarion's death if he was beaten in the streets, but I'm sure a disappearance in a city the size of Baldur's Gate wouldn't be the most pressing of news, especially if my former theory of a magistrate not being a notable position in Baldur is correct.

My favorite idea I've read is the idea that at one point when Astarion was alive, him and Cazador had met at some social function, and while Cazador was immediately infatuated with our favorite pale elf, Astarion rejected Cazador's advances with that same mentality of "it's not you, you understand, it's me. I have standards." To think that Astarion made Cazador feel dejected and that Cazador took that personally and created this whole scheme as his first punishment for Astarion sounds so incredibly cruel yet in character. Framing the Gur, Astarion commiting that Gur to the death penalty, being beaten almost to death as a result for his judgement, and all to end up with Astarion falling into Cazador's clutches where he would become Astarion's tormentor, it adds to that insane cruelty that would only go on for years and years until the events of BG3.

Or perhaps it was all a pure coincidence that Cazador was there that night when Astarion was nearly killed, though I find that hard to believe. Why would he be out in the streets anyways? He had at least one or two spawn already to hunt for him, so for him to be outside walking around the streets of the city all alone seems unlike him. Cazador doesn't seem like the kind of person to lean on chance or do things on a whim, especially in terms of something as precious to him as choosing his spawn, so to think that he simply saw a pretty face bleeding to death and took it without any regards as to who the person was before being turned doesn't seem to fit his character. After all, how could he effectively torment this new spawn if he didn't know the life he pulled them away from?

I'd love to hear people's thoughts! Any other theories or points that maybe I haven't considered yet? Please share!

[missuswalker]

Welcome!!! Could I please request a soulmate au with Kyle and a fem!reader? Maybe one of the ones where they share emotions / sometimes items from their rooms randomly spawn in the other’s / first words said to each other tattooed somewhere or literally anything that would be fun for you to write??? I literally love soulmate aus so I’m gonna gobble up anything u write no matter what. + I loved your Craig fic so much!!!! Thank you <33

thank you so much!! i love this so much, soulmate aus are so silly and giggly 🤭 (using the item spawning one 🤭)

is that mine? || kyle broflovski x fem reader (soulmate au)

My actually useful shit had been disappearing for weeks. I was constantly loosing pens and pencils as well as the book I was reading for school. What had I gotten from my soulmate? Socks. At least I knew my soulmate had big ass feet.

Coming home from school, I didn't expect to have anything new in my room, but I was wrong. A green notebook sat on my desk, the front covered in random brand stickers. I pick it up, sitting on the edge of my bed, deciding to flip through it. It's not like my soulmate would know that I was snooping.

The pages were filled with neat notes. Scanning over them, I realized they were just about the same as my history notes, just with a little more detail. So we have the same history teacher?

I had found out we went to the same school weeks ago, a South Park Cows sweatshirt winding up on top of my dresser, but I had no clue if we were in any of the same classes. As I continued to flip through the pages, I noticed a page with different handwriting accompanying my soulmate's.

It seemed to be a conversation between two people that went from messy to neat writing, drawings of dicks all over the top of the paper. I look more towards the bottom seeing my soulmate's writing with the words, "stop drawing dicks on my paper, kenny"

Kenny? Kenny McCormick? Well, damn. That crosses Kenny off of the list of possible people my soulmate could be. I was only slightly disappointed. Never once did I see my soulmates name anywhere in the stupid notebook. Tossing it to the side, I go to start on my homework that was due yesterday.

"Really?" I groan, noticing my favorite pen missing from its spot on my desk. I don't know why I liked it so much, it was just funny. It had a stupidly big pompom at the end, frilly ribbon around the rest of it. I end up just using a random pencil I found in the bottom of my bookbag, completing about half of my homework, before deciding I deserved a break.

After, like, three hours of going down a conspiracy theory video rabbit hole on youtube, I end up falling asleep, only to be woken up the next morning by my alarm. After snoozing my alarm multiple times, I finally pull myself out of bed, looking through my clothes.

Would I be insane for wearing my soulmate's hoodie? No, I like living in delusion. Pulling the hoodie over my head, I was quick to notice how clean it smelled. It smelled so much like laundry detergent, I was almost convinced it had never been worn.

Noticing I was already running behind, I finish getting dressed, grabbing my bag and rushing out of my house so I could get to school on time. I pull into the parking lot, deciding to just chill for a minute since I was already late.

Eventually, I ended up dragging myself into my math class, sitting down near the back. Pulling out my notebook and a pencil, I begin to doodle, not too invested in the lesson

"Dude, where the fuck did you get that pen," I hear someone whisper, a snicker coming from the same direction. Looking up, I notice a curly redhead holding a pen. My pen. What the hell?

"Is that mine?" I whisper, gaining the boy's attention. "What? No, it's my soulmate's." He replies, glancing at the hoodie I was wearing, his eyes widening. "That's my pen." I say, before looking down at the hoodie myself. "Is this...?" I begin, the boy nodding. "Mine. Yeah, that's mine."

I found myself just staring at him for a moment, before my lips tug upwards. He was cute. He gives me a bashful grin, handing me my pen.

"I would give you the hoodie, but I'm not wearing anything under it." I say, butterflies erupting in my stomach as I hear him laugh. "That's okay. You can keep it. Did you ever realize my name was on the tag?" He asks, causing my face to drop. "No. Damn, I would've found you a lot faster if I'd seen that," I mumble.

There was a silence, until he sighs, brushing his curly bangs out of his eyes. "Are you free after school?" My smile widens at his question, looking down to my shoes. "Yeah, you gonna ask me out?" I joke. "Maybe. You gonna say yes?" "Maybe."

a/n: GUYS I'VE NEVER WRITTEN A SOULMATE AU I'M SO SORRY, HOPING IT'S CUTE 🤞😍

[mastercrowned]

Hi guys, forgive me for this insane question:

*and therefore they are not "just computers". Perhaps you think they're more akin to magical artifacts (like the master crown for example)

**Biological = biological organism, even if it was biologically engineered instead of naturally occurring (like if you were to grow an organ from scratch (e.g, the heart of nova?). That could imply their abilities that one might consider magic (such as portals) are innate to their biology (like Elfilis's possibly are?).

I'd love to read about why you chose your option in the tags!

You can also read a little about what I think:

I was typing up some of my own headcanons about the novas and it got me really curious about what other people think... There's a lot of different options and they've been bouncing around in my brain.

For one, I hope to gather data about how people think the magic system works in kirby. For example, is magic something any creature, even a computer, can learn and perform? Or are specific races/species/artifical beings not able to perform magic with knowledge alone, due to things like their biology? Depending on what you think, the nature of the clockwork stars changes...

I'm a subscriber to the latter theory, but I think it's both possible to "unlock" the ability to perform magic - for example, being possessed by dark matter - and to "use" magic through the use of a magical tool. If the novas were simply built with a magic component installed, granting wishes isn't exactly out there.

There's also the question about *why* the novas were built by the ancients. One of my headcanons is that they're basically the ancient's "cloud" - a big computer network that holds all of the ancient's computer data, libraries of knowledge, and maybe even all their magical data. This data was so extensive it therefore allowed them the knowledge to grant wishes...

I also can't remember where I saw this, but I remember seeing a theory about how the heart of nova resembles the jamba heart and how they could've been used as Incubators to grow the various spawns of void. That's too cool...

I also have so many questions about how Haltmann built star dream. What resources did he use, how difficult were they to find, did he use any substitute materials? Why does star dream's heart look different to Galactic Nova's?

Were the scientific ancients so advanced that they could create *computers* that grant wishes? Is it simply science so advanced that it's beyond our human comprehension? Or else, did Haltmann need to use magic (whatever that would involve) in order to built Star Dream? Was there a biological component Haltmann needed to engineer or FIND in order to complete it?

Anyway, I hope to do more polls like this. I'm hopefully going to be less busy in the summer and I can talk about kirby a lot.

[simplyvillainy]

the qsmp lore is driving me insane and i’m the embodiment of this meme but hear me out

OKAY SO DEAD WORKERS RIGHT??

they’re bloody, sure, but look closer….. look at the dirt splotches

we’ve seen these before…

… the day before the eggs disappeared

yes this could be a coincidence, the admins using the same idea to show decomposition being gross and dirty BUT!!

for the sake of investigation, let’s imagine the eggs were kidnapped by the same thing that killed the workers. what are some similarities? differences? reasons?

similarity one: the mud

we don’t know why they’re muddy. maybe it was a byproduct of something done to them? maybe they were taken somewhere dirty? maybe it was a message…

difference one: why weren’t the eggs killed?

why, indeed, my friend. this wasnt the first time the eggs were kidnapped. but this time was different for two reasons. first, the mud. second, what happened the next day? the eggs disappeared.

we were told by forever that cucurucho told him the eggs weren’t kidnapped, but they ran. they ran from something more evil than the code or anything the islanders had seen.

at the time this made no sense! why wouldn’t the eggs leave a message? even if they were trying to save themselves, why wouldn’t they warn their parents? did they not worry their parents could be in danger too? how did they find out there was an evil?

my theory begins to answer some of these questions

assuming the workers were killed by the same entity, we can notice that the eggs were the first target, seemingly what the kidnapper really wanted. but they left. the islanders focused on their disappearance, so their kidnapping became forgotten. it wasn’t the main focus of the islanders.

so the workers were what the kidnapper chose next. and this time, the kidnapper left no chance that the message would be forgotten or ignored. the eggs would be seen by players if they survived, but workers? the only way to make sure players saw them would be to place their bodies somewhere visible, like spawn

now we must ask, why workers? why didn’t the kidnapper stop at eggs, or go after players? a link between workers and eggs is that both seem to be connected to the federation. workers are employed (possibly cloned or brainwashed or worse) by the federation and the eggs seem to be experiments made by the federation (ex: A0).

so now we know some things about the kidnapper: they hate the federation and they want to send a message to the players

now we can revisit some of the questions about the egg disappearance!

1. why wouldn’t the eggs leave a message?

there are two possibilities. first, cucurucho could be lying and the eggs were taken (though tallulah confirmed through the dark matter there IS an evil)

second is a theory explained by one of the players (i forget who) that basically said “in a fire, you wouldn’t take anything and just run.” something must have made the eggs realize they needed to leave immediately.

2. even if they were trying to save themselves, why wouldn’t they warn their parents? did they not worry their parents could be in danger too?

if they thought their parents were in danger, i can’t imagine every egg would be willing to leave without so much as a warning, even in a “fire” scenario. the only reason i can imagine they wouldn’t warn their parents is if they knew they were safe. and the only reason i could imagine they would be safe is that the evil they are running from is not targeting the players/parents

some major questions remain unanswered in this theory:

who are the notes on the bodies from?

the notes seem to be by q!cellbit, but i don’t believe that the current, concious, real q!cellbit would murder workers so blatantly. especially after throwing away his knife into the fire before taking his nap. but if it isn’t cellbit and instead this kidnapper, who are they and how are they connected?

how did the eggs find out about the evil?

the eggs said they didn’t remember the kidnapping, so what changed between them going to bed and the players waking up the next day?

and then for the kidnapper: who are they, why do they hate the federation/what is their connection, and what message are they trying to give the players?

i can’t answer these…. yet

[purplerose244]

Winners

Hi @master-of-reblog! I was your secret santa for this year, this is my present for you! Merry Christmas! 🎅🎅🎅

Thanks @kokosnuss-jaguar for organizing the event once again! 😍

It is a little fic based on an AU, basically Lloyd ends up at Kai and Nya's door when little and he grows up to be their brother (this implies him not knowing who his dad is, Wu keeps it a secret because of freaking course and Garmadon does to in order to give him a peaceful existence). I love this trio's bond so much, I was so glad to see you like them as well! 💚💙💓

Well then, enjoy!

Nya could barely take this. Seeing this little tornado of a kid lightening up at the decorations of the fair, his cheeks still red from the cold and the eyes filled with stars, she genuinely thought she was going to collapse. It was almost unsettling how quickly he changed attitude the moment they arrived, to the point she wondered if this was the first time he had ever been to this kind of place.

Who could have known, given that for what they knew Lloyd was an orphan?

“Look at the little menace showing some sort of humanity.” Kai looked irritated, but Nya could see the tenderness in his eyebrows. “So much for the theory of being the spawn of a demon.”

“Kai!”

“You can’t tell me that wouldn’t have explained it!” There he was again. Perhaps putting up crazy theories about Lloyd’s origins helped him cope with their unstable situation. “He has red eyes, he’s insanely loud when he complains, and have you seen what he did to my comic books?!”

Nya snickered – who needed school when you could make collages at home?

“You mean what we did…”

Kai gasped so loud he almost caught Lloyd’s attention – almost, there were candies over there.

“You traitor! How dare you side with the enemy brother??” He rubbed her head strongly, making her laugh again. This hothead could pretend he didn’t like Lloyd as much as he wanted, he was the one that started calling him ‘brother’ first. “I won’t let this betrayal distract me, though! With the winter fair of Ignacia coming along, there is only one place worthy of my attention!” Kai marched forward, taking Lloyd’s hand out of reflex the moment the blondie looked ready to jump on the candy booth. “And it is… right here!”

From how run-down this stand was, it really stood out in comparison with the colorful and sophisticated booths all around.

It was probably the oldest looking shooting gallery to ever exist, one Nya remembered being there… since mom and dad were there. When they came to the fair for the first time since they disappeared, she broke down in tears. It was easier this time, even if not painless.

The same old man was waiting for them, grinning from one ear to the other when he recognized the same foolish kid with spiky hair proudly walking his way.

“The Smiths! What a surprise!” Sure, what a surprise seeing the same kid on the same day of every year. “Oh, and you got another one now?” He looked at Lloyd, who immediately hid behind Nya – cute cute cute cute. “Well then, here to try your skills once more, boy?”

“You bet! And this time, that thing is coming home with me!” He pointed at the biggest teddy bear of the stand, almost as tall as Lloyd. That had been the goal for as long as either of them could remember, perhaps from when she was born. “Mrs. Grumbmiller finally gave us allowance for today, I am ready to try until I die!” Somehow it always seemed likely and unlikely with Kai.

Indeed, that mean lady had finally decided that they were real kids that needed to do real things, although it was possible she gave up out of exhaustion after the latest prank week – to say that Lloyd had been a wonderful addition was an understatement.

The old man grinned again that massive curve, providing the little red balls to hit the piles of cups. Kai took one, aiming with confidence, and threw it.

Missed by a mile.

“Ah, so close!” So, it began. Nya was young but not too much to not realize the kind of scam shooting galleries were, especially with a clearly very mischievous owner of the booth. “It brushed it! I saw it!” With that being said, the scam made sense only when the person was close to hitting the target. It was genuinely embarrassing seeing her brother basically aiming at the stand of donuts behind. “No! Come on! Alright, give me three more!” To his credit, he never accused the game or something other than his skills. To his discredit, man he was bad at this.

Nya sighed, looking around for the daily distraction while her brother made a fool of himself. He was so adamant at winning that thing, she really didn’t understand why he was so fixated. She blamed his ego and how much he wanted that boost, but at least he was too busy to check on her while she tried something cute from the stand – big brother energy was massive in those times.

Before she could even move, Lloyd pulled her skirt to get her attention. His big eyes were batting innocently, in contrast with those unsettling red orbs.

“Kai winner?”

Nya snickered.

“I don’t think so, buddy.”

“Then why Kai try?”

She wanted to poke fun on the matter, to her own amusement and to see Lloyd broke down in adorable giggles, but her eyes were still on her brother. His eyes were fixed, his smile radiant, as he almost hit someone passing by. Despite their family falling apart, he was still the same.

She smiled, half-hugging Lloyd, deciding she could watch this massacre for a bit longer.

“He’s just Kai, you’ll realize it soon enough.”

***

Déjà-vu.

It had been years since they had been together at the fair. Since then, their family had expanded quite a lot, his brother was now a ninja and his sister a samurai. Even so, when Lloyd stepped onto the fields of Ignacia for the local winter fair, he felt it extremely familiar.

Especially for the way Kai was aiming at the gallery once again.

“How about we do something else?” Nya, the ever so rational, pointed at a long line of booths with ornaments. “To change the routine, you know?”

“Nope, this is a mission.”

“Not even the blacksmith booth? We can poke fun at easy mistakes!”

“Tempting, but no. This is the year.” Kai raised his fist to the sky, as to make a statement of some sort. To think that this guy had defeated an evil warlord and was on its way to take care of a population of snake-like people… “This time, I will get the price I’ve been longing for! I’ve been trained so hard for this, I will not let destiny dictate his actions!” This had to be the effect of being a part of a team of hero. Speeches.

Lloyd didn’t necessarily mind this novelty, the other guys were fun, especially to prank. When Nya was taken by Lord Garmadon he didn’t think this was going to be the outcome once Kai came back from the rescue mission, but having more brothers was cool. It was cool.

Although, in all of this, the blonde was kind of… there.

Nya gave him a soft elbow, grinning.

“Do you think he’s gonna realize that the game is rigged this time?”

Lloyd smiled back.

“I think he should be able to hit the target now, so maybe? I wonder if he’ll give up once the jig is up.” They both new, in their hearts, it was not likely. Lloyd looked at the ground, his tiny legs almost tripping on a little stone. “Nya?” His sister hummed. “It’s been a while and I grew up a few inches since last time, you know…” She was already furrowing her eyebrows, but he ignored it and continued. “Can I also have a mech suit??” He closed his eyes and opened them in the best puppy eyes he could muster.

His sister gave him a stone-cold glare. She used to swoon all the time, but with the years she realized when he used his powers for bad or good. This time was bad, from her point of view.

“You’re not putting yourself in danger like that!”

“But Nya! There are serpentines all over the place! I need protection!”

“Then get to training! Ask sensei Wu, I’m sure he would be happy to train you!” Lloyd couldn’t hold back a shiver, Nya let out a snort. “You really don’t like him, do you? He’s really kind and wise, you know? You only have to learn from him.”

It was true and, ideally, Lloyd knew he could have trained with a master of martial arts whenever he wanted to. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to, Wu had something weird about him, he seemed a bit reserved around him. It wasn’t apparent, but the blonde was almost sure that sometimes the old master stared at him with a far look, like he was trying to understand something. Lloyd was not looking forward to whatever that was, he didn’t want to stick around the man when he found out.

Even so, the old master was being a huge help and he was training his siblings, so he wasn’t going to accuse him of anything. He simply shrugged, focusing elsewhere.

Like Kai groaning out loud. He really did improve physically, he had started the game in a jiffy.

“Come on! Why??” He stared at the balls like they were going to reveal some massive secret if he glared long enough. The old man, even older now, was chuckling almost evilly. “Well, if you think I’m giving up now, think again! I’m a powerful warrior now!” Quite curious that the ‘ninja never quit’ chant was so unequivocally him. Perhaps he was born to be a ninja.

Nya sighed, crossing her arms.

“Well, I guess this feels like home more than anything. Too bad the guys couldn’t come.” Apparently, there were fairs at their homes as well in this period, while Zane had decided to tag along with sensei Wu. “We should bring them along sometimes.”

Lloyd’s heart shivered for a moment. He shrugged again.

“I guess. But then… wouldn’t it be not our thing anymore?” He immediately went silent after that. He liked the other ninja, but it also felt like he was being left behind.

If he couldn’t fight, what was he good for?

“Oh. Right.” Nya smiled, pulling him in a little hug, like she always did. “Then maybe we keep this for ourselves, and bring the guys to the summer festival? Besides, Jay would have too much fun making fun of Kai like this.” As on cue their brother screamed again, a small ember detaching from his forehead like it was sweat. Their team joker would have totally had the time of his life, and it was too easy like that.

Lloyd let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, looking at his courageous brother, and his confident sister. They were getting stronger, braver, they were moving forward. He didn’t want them to get too great for him to get close to.

Could he become a part of their new adventure, in some way?

***

Today was personal, like it had been every single year. Yet for once, Kai didn’t feel elated by the prospect of the challenge, he felt a rush of anxiety and need.

He had to win this time. There were no other options.

“Hey, slow down! We’re right behind you!” He could hear the steps behind him, and the comparison to a year ago almost made him tear up. Instead of steady steps and lighter ones, there were two pair of confident sounds following him. “Yes, we know where you’re headed, but why not slow down for once? It’s a celebration after all!”

Nya wasn’t wrong. They had defeated the Overlord, the world was saved. Wu’s brother had been saved, disappearing right after with a mysterious glare, but they could celebrate nonetheless.

Kai wanted to, he really did. But not before doing what he had to.

“I will rest once I get what I’ve been after for years, and now that we’re Ninjago’s saviors, I have proof that nothing can stop me!” He beamed when he saw the same shooting gallery with the same run down sign and the same grinning old man. “It happens today!”

He felt a sigh behind his back, and he shivered a little. It had been a while since the Tomorrow’s Tea incident, but a part of him was not used to it. Lloyd sounded old. Too old.

“Yeah, I heard it before.” He sounded grown-up. Too grown-up.

“We both did, and I’m starting to wonder if this is not about showing off like usual.” Nya walked in front of him, giving him a look. “You’ve been obsessed with winning that teddy bear for years now, what’s with that? Is this really just to prove yourself?” Her eyes got sharper with time, she could get whatever she wanted with her skills. She grew up too, just like that.

Kai breathed, feeling the weight of that promise going up to get out. He felt stupid about it, like he finally realized that if it mattered only to him, then perhaps it didn’t matter at all.

He was a ninja, now. But he was a brother, first.

“It… it was for you, at the beginning.” He confessed at last, making Nya widen her eyes. “When we were kids. I wasn’t too sure how to deal with a baby, but you liked toys, so I wanted to give it to you. Then mom and dad… left.” He winced at the pain in his heart, but he ignored it. “You were so sad, I wanted to cheer you up in some way. Then Lloyd came around and joined the family.” His little brother blinked. “Again, kids were never my specialty, so I wanted to welcome him in some way. Things got hectic after that, you guys were always into messed and I didn’t know how to solve them.” He rubbed his neck. “I wanted to make you happy.” He blushed. So embarrassing.

He barely had the time to register his shame when Nya launched herself into a hug, followed immediately by Lloyd. Kai’s throat felt heavy. How many times did he risk losing them lately? How many more in the future? All without him achieving something this simple?

Lloyd grinned tearfully at him.

“You’re such a dummy.” Oh, this brat. Kai was so ready to retort with a comment about his hair or something. “You saved me from a volcano, what else do you wanna do for me?” He decided not to.

He was the master of fire now, yet that heat was impossible to forget.

“And you came to rescue me when Lord Garmadon took me, did you forget about that already?” Nya snickered, like seeing her being taken away hadn’t been Kai’s worst memory. Yet she was here now. They were both here. Because of him? “You’ve taken care of us, just like we took care of you. We all got each other, always, so why do you think you need to prove anything?” She was giving him the look. The one of judgement, whenever she proved to be smarter.

She usually was, so was Lloyd. His siblings were strong and smart, and he genuinely was appalled with how much meaning they gave to his life. Maybe he was overthinking this, maybe this little game truly didn’t matter, but whenever he looked at them like this the pride got him to the point of urging him to do something, anything, to make them happy.

Kai sighed at the extremely determined eyes in front of him. They were relentless, as he himself usually was, it was interesting being on the receiving end.

“I know it’s no big deal, but I still wanted to win that…”

“I’m pretty sure you can buy a cheaper version in any shop at Ninjago City.” Nya crossed her arms. She wasn’t wrong, although it was still a bit weird getting used to the big city. “Besides, should you really keep giving money to a business based on a scam?”

The master of fire blinked. Several times.

“A what?”

“Really, Kai?” Lloyd snickered, shaking his head. “That game is rigged, those cups are never gonna fall by normal means. You’re telling me you never knew this?”

Shame. Embarrassment. Humiliation.

How was he supposed to know something like this?? Sure, when he was young the old man was particularly delighted whenever he missed a shot, sure, when he got better the cups were exceptionally hard to hit, sure, there were laughs behind every mistake of his like it was all a premeditated game, sure, he had never actually got a single cup down from that forsaken shelf, sure, the old man might have had a case full of tools in the back of his booth for whatever reason given how old this whole establishment was and…

… oh. He was so happy the guys were not here.

Although Lloyd was laughing so hard he probably did it for them too.

Nya giggled as well, grabbing his arm and pulling him away, under the very humorous eyes of the old man at that same chair, wearing that same toothless grin in his direction. He must have had a blast these years, seeing that challenge failing again and again.

Kai pouted.

“He shouldn’t make fun of a fire ninja.”

“It’s a bit hard showing that off when you don’t have a fire weapon.” Lloyd shrugged. “That man is annoying, but we can’t exactly do much about it.”

That felt like a defeat, which he did not like. But when his little brother held his other arm, and the three of them found themselves just enjoying the winter fair of their beloved Ignacia, Kai managed to forget about that humiliation for just a moment. He didn’t need to prove anything, it was a hard lesson to learn. Luckily, he had people to repeat it for him until it stuck.

***

The old man missed making fun of the Smith kid.

It had been a couple of years now, in which while Ninjago City got hit by the worst possible, he managed to keep himself safe and sound in the pacific Ignacia. Perhaps that bunch of brats got the worst of the disasters, which would have been quite the hit for him – mostly regarding his profit, as the brunette one was his best stupid client. There were voices about whatever was going on out there, between snakes, ghosts and even ninja.

A bunch of stories, if you asked him. Like heroes were a thing. Ninjago was simply too strong of a land to die like that, he was sure of it. There was no other reason.

When he saw him, he thought he was mistaken. Nope, not with that hair.

“Looks like something came back, at last! I thought you got devoured by those fake snakes!” He laughed like mad, glad to be able to bring some money back to his pocket. “Ready for the challenge once again? You’re fired up yet?”

His sister groaned, the other brother as well. What did he say?

His best client grinned, grabbing a ball.

“As a matter of fact…” It took a second. The ball caught fire, it was thrown, and all three piles were destroyed in an instant. “… I am.”

The old man felt his jaw dislocating.

“Wow, you didn’t even have to come up with some sort of fire pun on your own.” The blondie raised an eyebrow, like magic did not happen right in front of his eyes. “I can’t believe we made our way here from the monastery just for you to actually do this, we told you that you don’t have to- ah.” The brunette took one of the plushies at the booth, a green one with a flowery hat, and handed it to his brother. “… thanks, Kai.” He looked a bit flushed, likely a bit embarrassed by the exchange. It would have been wholesome was not for the fire.

The sister got handed a blue teddy bear with a little jacket, she hugged it in a child-like giggle.

“Alright, these are cute, maybe Ninjago City wouldn’t make them better.”

Then the guy, Kai, took the biggest one at the stand, the one he had been eyeing since he was a kid. It had a big red bow on the neck. He grinned.

“As I said, you’re coming with me.” He placed it on his shoulders, like it was a kid. He waved at the old man. “I win this time! Told you!” He smiled victoriously. He didn’t seem as naïve now. What did he go through after all this time? “See you next year!”

They turned around, walking together towards who knew where, and the old man found himself thinking of this moment. Was this it? Was he never going to see them again?

Then the fire made sense, their attires, the stories. He realized who he had seen grown up until now.

He laughed, once again, like always with these kids.

“I’ll have a better challenge ready! Just you wait!”

[tomfrogisblue]

Some murder mystery theories coz I'm bored and sleepy (- with the disclaimer that I'm fuzzy on some of the recent lore, and that as these are in-universe lil fun things, so admins that are "indisposed" can be included)

- Long Ass Post Incoming -

- it was Sunny as revenge for Richas killing her dad that one time

- it was Creation for same reason as above, with the caveat that it has a list of people it would kill for the wellbeing of the people higher on the list, and Richas is a bunch lower than Sunny, it might also have a kinda loose understanding on th impact of death

- it was Bad (on accident/coz he thought it was funny) and his lil amnesiac brain has forgotten it was him

- it was Tazercraft so they could finally set up the Murder Mystery after a year of prepping (lmao)

- it was Roier in a moment of anger that no one realised he was gone and an imposter was in his body instead (let's go angstttttt)

- it was one of the other kids (Dapper or Ramón probably) working with Richas to set up the Murder Mystery for Tazercraft coz they got sick of waiting

- it was Cucu cos he's jealous of how much time Bad is spending with Richas instead of him lmao

- it was the bunnies for blowing up spawn (q!Bad's been shifting all the blame as usual)

- it was q!Charlie after only logging on for five minutes

- it was one of the long list of people whose mental state is doing real well - name a character and some angst bs has probably fucked them up at some point - and also possessions and body swaps with dangerous people and entities are fairly common so insert one of them, The Ender King or Doied for example. It's actually kinda funny how many characters have had a possession/corruption/insanity arc now I make a mental list - q!Etoiles and q!Charlie with their separate code corruption arcs technically count, q!Tina with her demononic suppression, maybe q!Fit with whatever happens to his character after being in that cave for months (HE IS STILL THERE)

- q!Cellbit finally completely lost it and reverted fully back to his f!Cell mindset - literally no one on the island is safe and q!Pac should just take a vacation at this point

- The French Sniper got him from the shadows (for fun)

- El Quackity finally turned the fuck back up and wanted some brownie points with Eyeball Man

- Pepito finally snapped and clapped back at Richas rip bozo lmao

- and, finally, it was El Mariana, for the shits and giggles, the Boogeyman finally got 'em (ya don't need a bath in the afterlife)

[weatherman667]

Reincarnated as a Sword RPG

I really hate RPG-mechanics verses. That doesn't mean you cannot make a good show, and some of my favourite shows have RPG-mechanics.

RPG mechanics are necessary abstractions. For video games, even incredibly simple systems can lead to absolutely fantastic games. TTRPG's have to deal with more abstract things, i.e. worlds that involves things other than walk-forward-and-fight. The problem about TTRPG's is that there really isn't one that I like, on a mechanical level. This is the legacy of D&D, that was quite playable, but cumbersome mechanics, a leveling system that goes from n00b to living god in 20 levels, ridiculous restrictions, horrifying volumes of erata.

All things common to most RPG's. The only RPG that has a level progression system I like is Unicorn Overlord.

Reincarnated as a Sword uses an RPG that solves almost all of the problems.

The money system is insane, but is just pallet-swap of Yen, which means it much, much more consistent and useable than pretty much any other RPG.

Monsters are actually well defined. They spawn with crystals that allow them to use mana, a lovely gift from the gods of the setting. Which is absolutely wonderful, as most fantasy worlds have lazy, boring, normally inconsequential gods. The ones here and incredibly interesting, and unknowable.

Because of this mechanic, they can justify adventurers having swappable classes, as they use this very same magic system. The classes affect what stats your character gains when he levels up, and what skills you can learn. You then gain skill points, and can assign them as you choose. Maximizing skills unlocks other skills. So, in theory, you could swap classes, and keep your stat progression and skills.

These are mechanics we have definitely seen before, in both video games and anime, but none were as well thought out as this one. No part of it feels artificial.

Magic weapons are incredibly interesting and varied, rather than +1 damage, and bonus to damage against undead. The material of the weapon has a deep effect on the properties. Materials having reasonable rarities, interesting, and often unique effects, mana conductivity, inherent stats that seem reasonable in the world. Basically, the best of what we see everywhere else.

The anime also creates unique features for no reason than fun. They have a weird horse-kangaroo hybrid that replaces horses. The wagons look like three-wheeled turtles. The environments are wholly different from what you would expect, while being entirely reasonable.

A lot of the money adventurers make comes from the materials of the defeated resources, to the point that dungeons are treated as resource collection points. They have a core, which is what upgrades a local monster into the dungeon master, and replenishes the dungeon.

[soraka-in-warhammer40k]

The Inverted Chaos Gods and their potential champions

Aright, let's start this off with an easy question: if there are four Dark Gods, and if we ignore Malice throwing a tantrum in the background because once more he was ignored and in this case even deliberatly, why does the official Chaos Symbol look like this?

That's a bit more than four going on, twice that number to be exact. So as canon lore hints at, its that the Chaos Gods themselves are not exactly stable entities. They might appear so to the perspective of a mortal human being, but they are suspectible to change even if they themselves might not exactly like it. If the cultures and species in an entire galaxy shift and change over the milenia, so will the gods who are shaped by those in said galaxy.

There is this bit of lore that Khorne was formed due to the terran middle ages, which at first sounds like a joke: how was one backwater savage planet with not even a billion hailress monkeys able to spawn a literal god? The answer to that is as simple as it is anticilmatic: they did not create Khorne. They, however, did make up a VERSION of Khorne that eventually would become a smiliar version to the one we all know today. At the same time, there was probably not just a single version of Khorne - while the humans had their version, a few systems over there was still murder and bloodshed going on by some other backward planet. They shared absolutely nothing with humans in terms of origin or culture, but the fundamental concept of violence and the institutions of civilication to control it were the same and fed the same warp-entity that was also existing on terra.

There's just one issue: the warp and reality are not exactly compatible. In reality one has to adhere to the laws of time and space, and if there is a thing that exists in two different places at the same time, they are, by definition of the universe, different things. While deep down "alien Khorne" and "human Khorne" might be the same thing, when interacting with reality they might even be considered almost entirey seperate entities with possibly no knowledge of the other. As this is basic mechanics of the divine in the setting, one could assume that this works the same for all of the Big Four.

Also, we all know that the Chaos Gods are not evil in their entirety, but that they also include their "non-evil" counterpart. Khorne for example is violence, but also the mechanisms to control said violence, like honor or "rules of battle" that forbid stuff like targetting medics on the battlefield or murdering civillians. This is where the eight-pointed-star comes from, as it is not 4 Gods, but actually 8, each of them also containing in their own mirror-image.

So if we assume that the chaos gods could have aspects of them running around that even they themselves are only aware of on a subconscious level and we know the nature of said gods as changing over insane amounts of time, wouldn't it be too weird to assume there are "variants" of them running around that are "not evil"? Possibly from before the Warp got all messed up, or maybe it just spawns occasionally before it gets absorbed by the currently stronger concepts.

Assuming those variants run around, they must be SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than their bigger evil counterparts - and the weaker a warp entity is, the less power it can use when affecting reality. It therefore requires someone to act in its stead, a "Chosen" or a "Champion" if you will.

A faction surrounding such a Champion would certainly be in a weird spot: the more they help their variant of a chaos god, since in the end it is the same entity, the stronger the "bigger version" gets too. So the end goal would ultimatively to "reform" the image of the whole thing so "their" variant becomes the dominant one. A risky play, mostly because in the end it could all be for nothing, the "good variant" gets absorbed, and in the end you got an evil god twice as strong as before.

But you know what's the best about this theory? We already might have one of these Champions running around on the tabletop!

Let's see, Khrone's favourite color is red, he likes melee combat, can't do anything psykery, his favourite number is eight, and the "good" aspects of him can be distilled to honor and chivalry.

How curious then we got this honorable red lad with no psykic powers leading his combat group called "The Eight" being the only one in his entire culture to swap a railgun for a melee weapon. The T'au are a culture that abhors melee combat as barbaric, and yet here we are getting the guy who gets up every morning and chooses melee violence as his choice of combat. Oh, and his break with the T'au Empire happened over matters of honor (they lied to him) right after encountering Khrone demons.

That's a bit too many coincidences piling up, don't ya think?

But that's just Khrone, now where are the others? We still got three gods left after all. There's two options here: either they all come from the T'au, and this is somehow an milenia spanning plan to reform the Warp, OR these Champions will appear randomly in all the factions save for maybe the Tyrannids.

When trying to make predictions on who goes where, maybe Farsight's case could be an indicator: regular old Khorne has little to zero interest in the T'au. His initial presence with them is fairly low, so if there is a variant of going around, it would fly under the radar for quite some time. With that in mind, let's assing the Champions of the Inverted Gods to the various potential factions!

Slaanesh: Being a non-evil mirror to Slaanesh is probably weird, as excessive emotion, sensation, and pleasure are not exactly evil as long as you are not catholic. But if there is a faction that is naturally immune and also irrelevant to Slaanesh just as the T'au are to Khrone, it is the Necrons. There must at least be some Overlord who wishes he could feel the wind on his skin or smell the flowers once more - and to use that to free his warriors/servants from their mindless existence. Their goal would not to have an excess of emotion and sensation, but any at all really. It would be a Necron faction that cares about art, about aesthetics, and maybe also about genuine emotional connections. You could call it the "Romanticist Necron" faction if you will, and other Necrons would probably not get along with them.

Nurgle: Nurgle has always been about nature, the cycle of life and death, and all that stuff. The thing is, with him being both life and death, he steadly keeps everything stagnating with nothing ever truly dieing and making way for whatever new thing could rise from the ashes. Now, who could qualify as a very stagnant faction that at the same time holds little interest to the big guy? The Aeldari - they do not die natural deaths, and when they die either their Soulstones or Slaanesh gets them. They might even be actively on the way to do that with this whole Ynnead project, but given the setting it might as well brutally backfire. You don't just bring a god of death into 40k and expect it to work for you, no?

Tzeentch: Being a god of magic, grand plans, and schemes, Tzeentch hates probably nothing more than the Orks, dumb brutes bashing in their heads for millions of years without anything ever coming from it - despite them actually having a lot of psykic potential with their Weirdboys and their Meks showing some insane innate understanding of warp-infused technology. But just imagine the concept of an Orc-Psyker able to rival Ahriman, while not exactly caring about Gork&Mork. Imagine, if you will, the impossible: a smart, calculating, and scheming Ork. Not in a Bloodaxes sort of way, but in how a regular Tzeench Champion would operate. A small subsection of Orks becoming actually smarter, knowing when to hold back and how to use diplomacy and politics, might be something that should give half the galaxy plenty to worry about...

[clowneryandshenanegans]

Theory time!!!!

TADC one this time, here we go go go go on an adventure

so we know that in the circus there’s three types of characters, AI’s (Caine, the moon and sun, bubble), NPCs (candy kingdom residents, gummygoo, gloink queen), and humans (main cast). (To specify: AI’s are characters who have not been created by an outside character and are not player characters, NPC’s were created by an outside force and are not players, humans are, well, humans)

But what if our main guy Caine is a part of that last group?

Hear me out. I doubt that the technology of the time when the circus supposedly takes place (probably around 70’s-90’s) would be able to support something as powerful as an all knowing, practically all powerful AI.

We know that the way the main cast most likely got in the circus was from a headset linked to a computer, which probably either made a complete perfect replica of their brain that was placed in the game while the original was killed, or their consciousness was somehow transferred into the computer.

So what if instead of Caine being an AI created by whoever made it, he was human? What if there was a human that was hooked up to the system way before the circus was even made, which then became a part of the game?

If Caine was put it the game before the circus was even there, the original human’s consciousness could have melted into the game until it seemed like an ai. Caine could have been a human placed in when the program was nothing but a void, who then went insane so far to the point his brain practically collapsed, then rewired itself to be a part of the game, to where he basically became god once his brain had been far enough melted into the code.

after all, which would be easier; develop an entire code fo years to properly run a program, or put a perfectly working brain, one of the highest quality “computers” out there, into the game, then wait it out until it became its own AI?

The circus is shown to have quite a few glitches, with clipping, character models going wack, and abstraction if it’s a glitch in the game. These could all be the results of a brain not functioning automatically like a computer would.

then there’s the theory of the NPC models. If the only thing that made the candy kingdom was Caine, and Caine is an AI, why would he have character models below the map?

character models below the map are something developers use when making a game, in order to have the models fully ready in case one glitches, goes missing, or is messed up in some way. This way, they don’t have to recreate the entire model if it glitches, and can just replace it.

but if Caine is an ai, he wouldn’t need the character models, since he could just spawn one automatically from storage.

but if Caine was originally human, the Candy Kingdom could have been one of the first things he built, believing he needed the models under the map to avoid having to redo the model.

So, my theory? Caine is a human, who was trapped in the circus for so long that his consciousness melted into the code, rebuilt itself, and embedded itself into the code to make him into the games “ai”.

[puppuptrixii]

Hi folks! It's me, Pups, CEO of not being normal about Bunny Bubble.

I have a new theory for the world to question my sanity with.

First, here is a recap of episode 2 and 3 for people who may have not seen them or have and need a refresh.

Here is my episode 1 recap and theory here.

Episode 2:

Bunny Bubble reads the first note that just says "alone."

Bubble adds bunny ears to builds to make friends.

The duck Bubble built went missing, and another player, Staraptor, was framed for it.

Other objects went missing with similar signs pointing to the same culprit.

Bunny Bubble, AND I QUOTE, "took away his breathing privileges" by taking his base to the sky via duck.

She finds out later on that two different players, Zsm and Ratrick, were behind it.

A group of players, including Bubble, who had their stuff stolen by them, decided to make the scary tower they live in be promoting the Barbie movie (aka making it pink and girly).

They scattered the parts of the original tower around the map.

The two found out about the prank and weren't so pleased.

Bunny Bubble was blamed for the doorbell being broken and was then locked in the room with the doorbell being forced to fix it.

She had what I could describe as either a panic attack or meltdown from being shouted at and endlessly hit.

She eventually got killed and ended up back home where a new not greeted her, "Come and find me."

Episode 3:

Bubble takes over as narrator while the actual narrator gets a pizza.

Bunny Bubble gets started on a chessboard, which will cover the spawn of the server.

We get introduced to IRL Bubble, who gets a real chessboard as research. In the long run, this research didn't matter that much.

She assigned each member of the server a type of chess piece.

She made the first few and was going okay with the project.

The narrator came back with a pizza that was cold because they're a disembodied voice even though we heard their footsteps earlier.

Bubble found herself in a few problems like the lack of terracotta and brown dye on the server.

She figured out an easy way of getting terracotta and a very hard way of brown dye.

She had to get brown dye from wandering traders, which took a very long time because they only had a small chance of having it.

She finally found one, which then died because of a flood prank caused by Delilah.

Bubble was told that the flood wouldn't last that long, but the flood lasted for about 2 months.

Bubble decided to go on a revenge arc and remove the water herself.

So that's where we got to so far. But one question remains...

WHO IS THE NARATOR?

Here are my ideas from least to most insane.

A version of Bubble, possibly based on another Wonderland character like the Cheshire Cat. This is the most likely since Cheshire Cat can go invisible and the purple colour scheme.

Benjamin, since we haven't met him officially in the story at the time of writing this, and we don't know his voice yet.

Editor Bubble, since she does compile the story together, and we've only seen them twice so far technically.

Bunny Bubble from the future, and it's her looking back on it all.

THE ORIGIN THAT WASN'T VOTED ON THE ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT, THE PLANT GOLEM BUBBLE.

Some of them could not be true, and some could, but I have a hunch that the narrator is not telling us something.

Or am I just going insane? Who knows!