#there’s actual lore justification this time though

[rainyn0ise]

Another Pokémon OC, this one is Chance! They’re a Gardevoir!

[radabeast]

Why Aren't The Hornsent NPCs Named? An Essay On The Challenge for Compassion

So easy answer. Neither our pal in the Miquella Brigade nor the Grandam actually tell their names to us. Case closed!

No no no but more like, why didn't the DEVELOPERS choose to let us know them by name? A whole chunk of The Point is that the hornsent are people too, right? So why would we not even get to know our two (mostly just one, even, as you're not likely to even find grandam) hornsent ambassadors' actual names?

Fromsoft did something similar to this in Armored Core 6 just recently. That game is PLAINLY all about the horrors of capitalism, colonization and war, albeit almost all of your time is spent not with the resistance, but with the companies trying to tear the planet apart for fuel. Your protag's motivations aside, the RLF, Rubicon Liberation Front, are hardly given any narrative ambassadors to you at all; your Rubiconian partner pleads with your on some occasions, but otherwise the emphasis is elsewhere. Their liaison with their organization isn't even named. You don't even get to MEET most of their ranks until the secret third route, and even then, half the time that's just when you're fighting against said individuals as opponents. So...

Fromsoft is unique in that they often don't spoon-feed you "this is right" and "this is wrong". By no means do they ever seem to say colonization and slaughter is correct, and in fact the very crux of the plot is in grappling with the justifications. BUT, you are placed directly in the role of the oppressors' side. All around you are people you will grow to respect, and fight alongside, and they will also help you tear down this planet if you choose that route. You do, very much so, have to FIGHT and CHOOSE to aid the people of Rubicon, even if it hurts. Even if it means fighting, abandoning and even killing the people who have been by your side. And I think that's much more realistic to many real-life experiences than just "starting out on the right side".

Back to Elden RIng and the hornsent, though. Grandam is found only under very specific circumstances, within a single location, and within a small time window of the game. You step out of that window? You lose her completely, including the lore she had, and the means with which to understand better the hornsent. Why? Why would Fromsoft even implement her, if it's that hard to even reach her words?

And again, I think it's... realistic. You, the Tarnished, are a human along Marika's progeny, barring your own personal character lore. You are a human and you are part of the race that had slaughtered the hornsent. Of COURSE the hornsent themselves aren't going to trust you, spoonfeed you WHY you should care about them. Shouldn't you care already about the pain and suffering of others? Why WOULDN'T you? If it's that hard to come to grips with the horrors Your Kind caused, then maybe you're no better.

And I think. The story wants to challenge you like that, past gameplay, past feeding you their intent directly. You have to SEEK OUT the answers and THINK. Is it truly justified to slaughter a whole race? Was this truly right? Should I think of these individuals as people, or as monsters?

Hornsent (NPC) is also a very interesting choice. Not only is he the only hornsent you're actually likely to find and speak with, but he actively hates your guts. Soon as the charm is off, even, he's back on his path of vengeance. He says time and time again, he's nothing more than this mission to Get Back on those responsible. Wouldn't the devs want to make you weep for someone far more pitiable, far more palatable?

Well, if you bother paying attention to him enough, and aid the man in his questline, you'll understand then that he's someone who lost his whole family to Messmer's crusades. Mother, wife, child, in addition of course to the innumerable others slaughtered. Is that not enough to want all-consuming vengeance? Wouldn't YOU want people dead because of that? Regardless, even, of whether or not he was even a perpetrator of the original jar slaughters (and I've seen enough feasible evidence against that)... Is he not pitiable enough for that alone?

To you, he is just a Hornsent. To he himself, the man is a Hornsent, likely a title he wears both in defiance, as well as the only scrap of identity he has left. His people were killed because they were Hornsent. His family was killed because they were Hornsent. Would you even ever see him as anything else? Would it matter, even, if he HIMSELF has nothing else?

And, clearly, if you've been seeing anything anywhere in the fan discussions: this challenge to Think is lost on many people. Some people, somewhat understandably, take these aspects as Fromsoft caring little about the hornsent at all, and claiming them as The Original Evils within their own story. Others don't even bother to take anything not fed to them, and claim that the slaughter of hornsent was duly justified, and that this is undeniably supported within the game. But even barring the consistent themes of dichotomies, dualities, and the cycles of abuse ever-present throughout the game-- yeah, I'd say a good deal of reflection could and should be found in the self, first. Who are YOU when challenged for this compassion, first?

[darqx]

Got an evil eye

In which there’s a small Demon!Rire Angel!Rire comparison.

❗️For commonly asked qs please see my BTD FAQ

😇 The lore of Angel!Rire is essentially:

Possibly rogue angel that kills people under word of God.

Word of God being debatable because his criteria for killing people changes a lot - (eg: might kill a bad person cos they’re “bad”, similarly will kill a good person to get them to heaven faster, similarly will just “mercy” kill whoever because humans are a plague to themselves and others etc) - EITHER WAY no one seems to be stopping him.

Also debatable is whether he believes in his justifications for his actions or if he’s just doing it for fun and purposely smoke-screening that fact.

I have described their main similarity before as deception since they both seem viable (as a normal human / normal angel) at first. Their main personality difference is that their modus operandi is flipped - Demon!Rire will often see how long he can con someone, but will eventually reveal his true nature and will match what he says with it. Angel!Rire is more blunt and will reveal his true nature almost immediately, but will continue saying things in complete antithesis to that reveal thus masking the reality of his intentions.

I do know what OCTs are! But I probably would never join one due to lack of time. They seem to be very large commitments and i’d be better off trying to find that time to do BP :V

There is no set location for BTD (considering that me, Gato and EP all come from diff countries LOL)...other than maybe “Earth” and “some city/town place that predominately speaks English”.

This is, actually, one of the more popular questions I get asked over time about Rire XD; Which makes me think I need to update my FAQ to include it. Anyway in my FAQ i put it like this:

CAN RIRE FEEL LOVE? I don’t know if you could classify what he feels as “love” in the same definition we are used to…

And from other answers to similar qs:

IF he becomes fond of someone for whatever reason, he will probably become more possessive. His methodology might not change so much, but there would be more aftercare (cos if you want someone to last longer...)

I never go any more in depth when answering these kinda qs even though i’m sure people would like me to XD

At first I was going to say “I don’t know Depeche Mode”, but when i looked them up on Youtube i saw “Just can’t get enough” and was like OH I KNOW THESE SONGS.

As for Rire it’s not super in line with his usual, but I don’t think he’d mind the music!

He’s gotten used to moving between different climates quickly so it doesn’t really affect him as much.

You would not be the first so go for it if you want lol.

[miquellah]

⚜️ SOTE Impressions Survey Results ⚜️

Earlier, I cycled around a survey to get opinions on the story of Elden Ring's DLC, and 101 respondents answered!! Following through with my promise, here are now all the results as recived.

Most all of these responders are likely from Tumblr, with potentially just a few from Twitter. To my knowledge this was never posted anywhere else, so these results can likely be best considered the thoughts of a good chunk in the Tumblr sphere of players!

I've done my best to make everything sufficiently readable, but there's still quite a bit in length here, apologies. The text on the actual charts may or may not be difficult to actually read, but I've given small summaries after each question to try and mitigate this.

First, the basic demographic questions:

These two were optional, but almost entirely filled by all respondents nonetheless. It’s a pretty good split between gender! I half wish I’d made it more specific just for curiosity, but eh. Age range is primarily 19-25, with 26-30 second place.

A question to determine how familiar players were with Fromsoft’s soulsborne genre and writing. Most respondents are indeed Fromsoft regulars.

Most respondents fully expected Miquella to be Morally Grey before DLC release, with only a somewhat smaller amount expecting True Good over True Evil.

These speak for themselves. Base game lore has consistently high scores, whereas while DLC lore still has high peaks, there’s still much more of a spread haha.

Despite it all there’s more people saying the DLC lore coheres with base game more than not??

Have you changed opinions on the DLC's lore at any time since it's release? If so, how?

No (no elaboration) - 18 No change, i feel negative- 15 No change, i feel positive- 10 Yes, I feel worse- 2 Yes, I feel better now- 18 Yes (no elaboration)- 6 N/A- 7

And wherever there’s nuance it’s usually a lot of “yeah I see the vision, but some execution could ultimately have been better.” In hindsight this is also a question I should’ve made multiple choice…

A very high chunk of people were spoiled to any degree beforehand!

This question was due to all of the comparisons to Miquella as being similar to Griffith/initially expecting that of him before DLC. I think Berserk is a bit more popular in the Twitter/Reddit circles of fans, though.

Primarily high impressions of Marika, with veeeryy low levels of believing she’s justified. Only a sliver of hate.

VERY high opinions of Messmer! Very small justifications of his actions, much in line with his mother.

Very high impressions of Mohg overall, with a small slice of dislike, a tiny sliver of hate. People largely feel his actions are nuanced, with a small slice of more justified than not.

Miquella is by far the most divisive character! Albeit he still has some good chunks of Like and Love. Justification scores are much the same as Mohg, primarily complicated/nuanced.

More people feel Miquella is a child only in body, with a near-equal chunk feeling it’s open-ended/nuanced.

Surprisingly, most respondents do NOT believe in Mohg having sexual misconduct with Miquella… though perhaps some people felt this meant just with Mohg as a perpetrator, and not that there wasn’t iffy stuff at all? Nonetheless, this headcanon seems pretty prevalent in the community as a whole, but maybe that’s just due to all the loudest people with the crass jokes.

How do you feel about the writing choice of Radahn as Miquella's chosen king and consort?

Okay rather than try and take the stats for this one, I’m going to try and summarize the bulk of responses best as possible:

The least generous replies say this sucks ass. The most generous usually say “yeah, I see what they were going for, but the execution of this feels very flawed nonetheless.” One respondent states that the emphasis of Miquella’s plotline seemed to be on his choice of consort entirely, rather than his actual motivations or journey to get here.

Many people lament Malenia’s lack in things at all within DLC, past a single mention. A notable amount of people note that they would’ve been more accepting of the consort if it had ended up being Godwyn instead, because of the amount of weight he seemed to have in the base game lore alongside Miquella. At least one respondent laments the disservice “done to monsterfuckers everywhere” that we didn’t even get a physically  monstrous boss in the end.

There’s a couple of people who go “oh yeah this makes sense for the both of them and/or I saw the signs along the way”, but they never go on to elaborate… the longest responses are always from people who are most unhappy, or are fairly understanding, but still ultimately unable to end up terribly pleased with this plot point.

Overall the reception to this plot point is decidedly poor, with the main grievances being how little foreshadowing or apparent basis there was, and how it changed the context of things in base game– such as Radahn’s first boss fight, the battle of Aeonia itself, Jerren’s wishes, and the sacrifices of all the soldiers between both armies. Even any concerns over implications of incest are honestly low priority here.

By far my personal favorite response is “I couldve written a better plot twist with three hoyrs of sleep and a coca col”, so shoutout to that one.

(Bonus) Optional because she's not relevant in the DLC. How do you feel about Ranni as a character and her actions?

I’ll be honest, this one was just because I think people’s thoughts on Ranni are a great judge of narrative comprehension. HAHAHA. But out of 91 responders to this one, most everyone cleared!

The bulk of responses are ultimately “yeah what she did to Godwyn was fucked up, but ultimately I understand it”. A few respondents note her narrative of female autonomy, and state their own reflection in this. Several note that she is selfish, but some aren’t particularly condescending with this and say that by all means, she’s just like the rest of the demigods if not still better than them.

A small handful also note that Ranni and Miquella are essentially foils to one another, where Miquella gives up everything for the sake of his Age of Compassion, but Ranni finds a means to keep her soul. It’s noted that even with his well-intentioned ambitions, he still ultimately fails as a reflection of Marika, whereas Ranni cuts herself from the cycle entirely.

A good handful of responses are little more than “hell yeah girlboss” and “fuck yeah that’s my wife” lol. On the other end, there’s a couple of responders who talk about how much they hate how she’s waifu’d, some disliking her purely because of this. Only about 2-3 responses in here are ones I’d truly consider character hate (without any seemingly justified reason) though.

Overall she’s more praised than not, with most everyone acknowledging her motivations, complexity, and role in the story. She’s often noted for her foils with Miquella, her goals of autonomy and the subsequent sympathy here from cis and trans female responders alike, with many acknowledgments that she is still by no means a saint.

And that's all! Thanks again to all of those who responded, and once more to those who've now read all the results. I still have the individual responses saved, so if I wanted I could go through and try to discern if there's any patterns related to how certain outcomes in opinion happen... but I'm tired!!! Hopefully if nothing else, this survey was a nice way to reflect and to sate some curiosity ✨

[youre-gonna-see-a-lot-of-me]

That's so fucked up that people are romantizing Franco, because even Red Barrels are showing him as a total creep and disgusting person. In Outlast Tag I have a feeling that some artists are making him completly different character, making him charming/safe/lovely. I even have seen some people who were drawing him with normal face (without big forehead) and you couldn't tell them that it's the right character design! I feel like Franco enjoyers are more agressive than fans of other Outlast character. Even with Coyle/Eddie simps they seem to understand that they are evil and they murder others, but with Franco I feel like they can take it when someone tell them that he's grown up, murder people in very brutal way and his voice lines are just disgusting... it really seems that people are getting agressive only because someone tell some shit about 🎀✨️Franco🎀✨️. I know his fans isn't the only one that have stick in their ass (cause I seen a lot of shit bout Coyle/Big Grunts/Easterman etc.) but yall need to understand that FRANCO IS A GROWN ASS MAN and you would run for your life if you'd meet someone in irl as 1% fucked up as he is. Saying that he's just a Baby and he made nothing wrong is just 🤮 and problem is in yall if you justificate him and things he made.

idk how to tell you this ,,,, but this game is fictional. The characters are fictional. You're free to feel however you want about them, just like I and anyone else is.

I partially agree with the part about changing his appearance to make him look more "normal" or whatever, but at the same time people are allowed to interpret their favs however they want to. They can draw / write for him however they want to. I don't like "fixing" his face, just because it (personally) feels like saying "he's too ugly", but again, that's just me. As an artist, I know that people are going to have different interpretations of a character I like. It's just part of other people existing in the world. Not everyone thinks like you do, and that's okay.

Do you know how many posts I saw (and STILL see) about Eddie Gluskin, doing essentially the same thing as what you said people do with Franco?? That man would cut you open to "make a baby in you" no hesitation and people still ""romanticize"" him (me fuckin included I LOVE YOU EDDIE). Its just part of liking fucked up characters, some people are going to want to make them more "normal".

Personally, I see the normalization as more like wanting to give him some normalcy in his life, because of his past / lore. I love the idea of letting Franco have a normal life, be a normal person. A life where he never had to deal with the stupid Mafia stuff, had a decent father and never ran into Murkoff, having a normal, happy life. But, I also seriously adore his original, fucked up character.

Honestly, who actually cares if people are "justifying" his actions??? None of them are real. He is not real. I have never understood the sentiment that you have to make sure people know you don't justify a fictional characters actions... they are not real. It's not a real person. None of the things he did happened.

Maybe it's just me, but I would not run from someone like him. That's not some edge lord "im so evil and dark" bs but because of my real life experiences. Been with and around people in my life / family who are quite like him and I didn't run.

I imagine some of us are using it as a sort of coping mechanism, because (at least for me) some of us dealt with people who treated us like he would. Though, that's getting into personal territory, and I won't try and speak for others.

All I can really say is either learn that not everybody's going to have the same ideas as you or block the tag. Sorry if that's too harsh a response, but life is too short to really give that much of a fuck about someone /something other people like.

And I've said this before but this is literally Outlast, all of the characters are this fucked up, it's not just him.

Like does no one remember Outlast 2??? Does no one remember the pile of dead burnt babies, or the hundreds of other fucked up things in that game?? I really feel like Franco does not compare.

So, can we please just be over with this now? I mean, drama is totally fun and I love it, but I can imagine others don't.

[coffeegnomee]

It fascinates me that in this entire conflict with Flame we have this battle between c and cc mindsets and motivations that are so interconnected that the story only exists through the blend of both. 

MAPICC: “I don't care bro. He can't just get away with anything he wants to because he’s Flamefrags. I actually don't care” 

It is so cool how it’s BOTH:

“the villain of the server can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s the villain” 

AND 

“Flamefrags the person can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s Flame” 

One is a fully justifiable, and even honorable, story motive: to stop the evil rampage of the evil villain, 

the other is a respect and learning moment for a real person to learn that you have to work with others and not steamroll because you think you have the right to whatever your idea is. 

It is so fully both of that at the same time. 

Flame does it too, he met the story as a story; he said specifically to Zam in DM’s that he’s leaning into a character with blowing up spawn. 

But then when it comes down to it, it’s his video and he just wants to make it, and he's willing to hold the whole server hostage to do so.

He takes both to be true, though he disagrees that the second reason is any justification to oppose him, which is the whole point to what Mapicc is doing. Mapicc is trying to teach him that his actions have consequences and you have to embrace them WHILE doing your video, not separate your video from your actions.  

And that, on a greater level, lifesteal is never about just you, it’s about who you team with and about the server as a whole. Every interaction matters. 

And Mapicc fully embraces that actions have consequences and that he’s going to get shit for blowing things up because now people can say of him, “Mapicc can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s Mapicc”. He thinks he's in the right, and flame deserved it, but as they walk around the destroyed castle he reflects saying, “yea and then when I cancel the duel I’m the dickhead. Well I mean, no what I did-” and doesn't finish the thought. But he gets it.

And THAT’S what makes lifesteal so interesting.

It’s not just an unscripted story, it’s other people continuing their lore during your lore, because of your lore, which messes everything up and doesn't lead to perfect stories being told. 

It’s a never-ending, ever-building conglomeration of difficult stories, real stories, actual shit going down, and pushing thorough it anyway. In a word: Resiliency. 

---

And then suddenly it’s not EITHER of those two above options, resiliency is necessary as the dual conflict of above boils over into a story about self worth and communication. Not about a video, not about a villain arc, the barriers of character break down, the story of the server which was once wrapped up in the easy rebuttal “It’s minecraft not real life” starts to crumble and suddenly it feels all too much like a real life problem stuck within the veneer of a character, forced to play out because it is in the context of a game, unable to be resolved until the person himself battles against his inner self.

And our villain is stuck under the thumb of someone else, despondent, weary, and just wanting to give up. Anything to end this endless agony that boiled from one mistake, one weak moment in listening to the devil on his shoulder, and has now brought real sorrow and massive stress. 

He talks of Wemmbu having leverage against him, a mysterious hold that keeps Flame from having any leverage in return. What looked like one type of character has boiled into something far more 3dimensional. 

And suddenly I’m getting flashbacks to the greatest story lifesteal has ever told. 

---

FLAME: “How can I control another man’s decision that like, he just logs on and starts blowing stuff up. Bro. what can I do” 

ZAM: “well, [laughs] telling him that’s he’s griefing your video! Tell him that he’s griefing your video! It’s so obvious!”

FLAME:” he wont give a fuck!” 

ZAM: “HOW? He obviously cares. He obviously cares” 

FLAME: “he does not give a fuck bro” 

ZAM: “You can just talk to your teammates, did you know you can just communicate with them? That is something that you can do that we cannot.”

[…] FLAME: “its not that easy” 

ZAM: “but it should be. It should be, Flame” 

------

ZAM: “they’ve been going against your motives this entire time? How is that not betraying? How is that any different?” 

FLAME: “bro they have leverage bro” 

[…] ZAM: “flame the way you’ve described this is that you’re being betrayed constantly by your teammates, your teammates are constantly going against you, always. And now you’re like scared of them as well, […] The way I see it is you’re having a communication problem, I don't know” 

FLAME: “I can’t do anything with somebody else’s problems” 

ZAM: “but it’s not someone else’s problem. It’s your problem […] you teammates are being terrible to you, your teammates are mistreating you” 

----

FLAME: “where the hell am I going? There’s nobody left that’s gonna want me on their team. And that's my fault” 

ZAM: “that’s not necessarily true. You just have to look […] you don't have to betray them, you could just leave the team on good terms”  

FLAME: “that doesn’t exist” 

ZAM: “[conceding] fair”

---

FLAME: “okay tell me what- in this scenario, put yourself in my shoes.” 

oh he’s BEEN there. He has been there. Don’t worry Flame. 

Standing up to your purple teammate is never easy. Especially when you’re so attached to the third teammate in the group. Hopefully Zam and Pangi can give helpful enough advice, but then again did Planet and Bacon and Branzy’s advice give the best conclusion to that relationship? Was communication possible or was the only possible response upholding a boundary and leaving to show how serious he takes it? Putting his foot down and standing up for himself? Is it possible to do that without breaking apart the team while still being serious about what is going on? 

And then there’s Mane saying “flame said that?” “Dumbass flame :sob:” “we already said we’d stop after he asked LMFAO” 

Where this will lend up, I don’t know. But this is the most interesting lore lifesteal has had in such a long time. I’m getting so many flashbacks to how it felt to watch s4 and I couldn’t be happier. 

[dogbunni]

[begins coughing like a cat about to throw up a furball] [spits up several nendo headcanons and then looks at u proudly]

-nendo collects hot wheels. I have no justification beyond this except that I also collect hot wheels and I think we'd have that in common. if he was real I would take nendo to a toy shop to look at all the hot wheels. just stand there and observe them for an uncomfortably long time. my friends aren't deeply autistic enough to do this with me so I can never observe the little cars for long enough before making a purchase :(

-nendo trans ally #1

-nendo has no idea what his sexuality is but not in a confused/questioning way, in a "I have never thought about it longer than 1 second" way. he likes who he likes and has no thoughts beyond that. he is label-less in a [shrugs shoulders] way. (saiki is also label-less but in a "fuck you" kind of way)

-nendo loves rollercoasters and watches weird essay length youtube videos about theme parks and animatronics. its a hobby that deeply disturbs everyone around him bc this guy cannot do basic math but he can and will channel the spirit of akechi rambling about defunct animatronics. sometimes he shows saiki pictures of animatronics in late stages of decay in horrible pitch black nightmare settings and saiki reacts as if nendo has placed a live cockroach in his lap.

-he has a condiment problem. steals sauce packets from restaurants with diagnosable compulsion.

-he doesn't Get memes. everyone has tried and failed to show nendo a meme. it's like trying to show your mother a funny picture and she holds the phone as far away from her face as she can and then stares at it for way too long before silently handing it back. he just doesn't Get It.

-hes like, really good at making memes though. he will just absently turn a phrase or take an image so absurd that everyone is still saying and reposting and reacting with it years down the line. he has no idea that he has this power

-he feeds stray cats and makes little shelters for them outdoors <3

-nendo and kaido roleplay together sometimes. I'm talking like, warrior cats roleplay. sometimes dark reunion but kaido gets pissy if nendo messes up The Lore. nendo calls it "playing pretend" bc he has no concept of cringe culture and kaido dies inside every time

-he manages to forget his own birthday. every year. saiki remembers though, and it's the one and only day he will ask if nendo wants to get ramen with him, instead of the other way around. it gets to the point that saiki asks if nendo wants ramen, and he says "what, is it my birthday ahaha" and saiki is just like. you goddamn idiot. good grief.

-last time I did one of these I said that nendo loves cute things like sanrio plushies and holds them so gently. well I see that and I am correct, but I raise you nendo thinking that SAIKI is the cutest thing he's ever seen. something about the pink hair and glasses and the little limiter bubbles on his head and his purple eyes and little frowny eyebrows- nendo wants to. hold gently. sometimes he just grabs saiki by the shoulders and stares at him blank in the face and saiki is like [nervously] "what the fuck? what the fuck????"

-he and aiura actually get along weirdly well. they're unhinged in similar flavours and it gets saiki's blood pressure up. he tries at all costs to keep them away from each other. their singular brain cells cancel each other out on sight.

-akechi makes nendo's brain hurt a little. he just can't process all of akechi's akechi-ness and it makes him feel dumb. he's fine with being dumb most of the time but akechi just makes him feel a little self conscious for some reason. (definitely not because he's jealous that akechi was friends with saiki first)

-he still likes the funny lil guy though. akechi's the only one who will enthuse with him about rollercoasters and he values those talks. so much.

-toritsuka is afraid of nendo for some reason. no one is sure why but nendo LOVES it. he's always trying to jump out and scare him. saiki supports nendo in this endeavour ardently. toritsuka suffers.

-nendo falls down the weirdest tiktok rabbit holes. it got so bad once that they got teruhashi to distract him while kuboyasu lifted his phone and deleted the app off of it. it took nendo several months to realise he could redownload it.

[vegaly-art]

Vegaly Art's Giant Vega Masterpost

Due to recent events in the Vega fandom, which my heart was not prepared for, I have elected to make a cohesive Vega lore post <3. This will be updated with new discoveries with time, and I will keep it as up-to-date as possible. Also be warned this post is VERY long and extensive, and contains much speculation, opinions, and theories, as well as facts, so please make sure to take what I write here with a grain of salt as it is my interpretation of the character/events. Last updated: July 29, 2024. Note, this post contains direct spoilers for Carpe Deus, Imperium Cataclysm, Hush, and Sovereign State, as well as the lore videos and Reductive Audio #7. And also minor spoilers for Sadism's Hold, and potentially other videos/series on the channel. The parts so far are as follows: Part 1: Covers Vega's changing views towards violence against Fellow Demons Part 2: Timeline theories of mine related to when Deferred Judgement took place Part 3: Analysing Carpe Deus, Vega's characterisation, interactions with Hush and potential for his future story Part 4: Analysing Imperium Vega, and what we can learn about both how Imperium functions, and Vega himself thanks to Imperium Part 5: He would sacrifice you to save the world. Part 6: Additional Thoughts that do not fit prior categories

Vega, Vega, Vega. Stellar Formed, First Formed of Gravity, Congruent of D'Deridahn, Bound in his Madrigal. The man, the myth, the legend... There is so much interesting shit about this man to discuss, and I want to cover it ALL because... I am in mourning man.

Today I'll be going over his videos, and in later updates, I'll make new sections that go more into his lore, characterisation in Imperium, etc.

Part 1: Sadism's Hold and Demonic Alliance

Vega was first introduced not in his own series, but instead as a likely one-off or short-term villain in Sadism's Hold, having been the one behind Ivan's behaviour. I find it quite interesting actually how his characterisation then was, especially when trying to put it into context with his later ideals shown in Carpe Deus. Specifically, knowing what we know now about what he was doing with Ivan, AND that he believes Daemons should help one another, his treatment of Caelum is really fucking interesting.

Vega said in Under a Sadistic Demon's Care, "to attack a fellow Demon as they did… well. Let’s just say they got what was coming to them", when referencing the Solitaires' attack on Warden. But it is curious that he seemed so unphased attacking Caelum, and later Gavin as well. Why is that?

Well, I think it's for a few reasons. Firstly, logically speaking, Vega was trying to defend his turf and his project from Caelum, and later Gavin who began to get in his way. Vega is shown later down the line to not at all be opposed to harming others who get in his way, especially when related to Hush. Though he does not really explicitly threaten Hush in the same way Hush did him, he does make it very clear he WILL turn violent if need be, in a less direct way. And his project with Ivan and Baby 2.0 was very VERY important to his plan, so he may feel defensive of it. But this is just the logical justification, which I don't actually thing is sufficient. While true, I think it's actually not the main reason he changed his opinion so much, that can be seen as reasonable in the text.

I actually thing the main reason he changed his opinion was because he was lying. In part. I do think he saved Warden, but not because he believed it wrong for demons to attack fellow demons for their own goals, especially when Warden stood in the way of the Solitaires' plans. No. I think he protected Warden because he grew mildly fond of them, and also believed they could be useful for his plans/investigations, and so did not want them to die, because they had utility. I will expand upon this more in the Vega/Warden relationship analysis section which I plan to make, but he clearly holds Warden as someone very interesting and very dear to him. Of course he would protect Warden, and also lie about why to make himself seem a bit more noble and moral, to warm them up to him. He wants their trust, he NEEDS their trust/compliance actually, to stop them from going back to the department. So, he lied, and he manipulated, and he gaslit, until he saw Warden trusted him and he no longer had to twist the truth, and could be somewhat genuine... it's fucked up, but I think it makes sense of the retcon in character, AND has metatextual evidence through the content warnings on his videos. :P

Part 2: The Timeline

Most of Carpe Deus, up until Deferred Judgement, has been posted on Erik's lore site, which is really nice because it allows me to have a clear idea of when things take place. Only issue is... well... the date for Deferred Judgement is NOT on there (Update: Still isn't. Sobs.) so I have to do some guesswork.

I think there are 2 main possibilities, both of which are equally likely to me.

The first is that this all took place slightly before Inversion, likely sometime in December. This is my personal opinion but not the most popular take. I believe this based on a few factors. Mostly travel time. Would it really take several months for Vega/Warden to get from their hideout (I believed it to be Ivan's place but technically this is never stated, and I ended up changing my mind more recently with new evidence) back to Dahlia?? They could not have rifted since Vega took a human with the pair of them, so unless they were outside of Dahlia and had a long way to go, or got caught up in a bunch of shit like being tracked, etc, it is hard to believe. Especially since on their own, they can rift. Also I think that the Inversion could be a great time for Vega to return since he would have a lot to feed on. The playlist does not say completed so I do assume by some means Vega will come back. Maybe he comes from the river with the shades and has a feast within the bubble. Maybe some magic brings him back?? Idk. But regardless, Inversion would be a place/time that can really progress Vega AND Warden in terms of the power they have on hand thanks to all those emotions. It just feels... thematic.

The other option, which has some more support from the timeline is that this took place right after Inversion and the raid on Closeknit. Obviously, the fact they were exploring an abandoned Closeknit facility is the main reasoning for this. (Also, Hush could have reason to stop Vega because Blake had not yet finished conversing with D'Deridhan and likely returning to the land of the living. This is something we learn about a bit after I wrote this but it supports this interpretation heavily). And the main caveat here would be that for this to be the case, Vega and Warden would both have needed to be stations well outside of Dahlia, and likely taken their time and not rifted to get back there. Probably to preserve energy, avoid Solitaire, Department or Chorus detection, feed, etc. It is possible for them to have taken 2-3 months, but it is... not something I think is super likely? Especially since Warden seems to treat Dahlia like home. Granted, the Solitaires broke into the Dahlia Department facility during Inversion so I could see that they did the facility Vega/Warden were in as a test run, and then the Dahlia one which is likely even higher security, as their big move. But it seems to be the consensus in the fandom and I will defend my theory that this was before inversion until I am proven wrong. (You were proven wrong indirectly bud. So sorry <3. You tried your best though.)

Part 3: Carpe Deus/Vega's Death

Carpe Deus showed a very nice and interesting side of Vega, and I am so glad we got to see it. It was fun to see him be scheming, to see him slowly open up in a way Imperium, due to the constraints of the original videos, did not really have the chance to do with him and Pet. Seeing him develop a rapport and show off some of his past was so sweet... and what he explained is fascinating.

Obviously, the Sovereign stuff is fucking WILD. (And this is from the future, but now, seeing what is happening with Blake, the fact this knowledge is currently lost makes the stakes SO much higher). We did know that they were real beforehand due to Sovereign State, of course, and other videos like Regulus and whatnot, but it was interesting to have a character who literally LIVED THROUGH IT. Someone so intimately familiar with the past.

And also, what I love about him is his moral alignment and his goals. Vega believes that pain and suffering is necessary, important, and something that must be remembered. He clearly values his own memory of the past, even if it's imperfect. And he believed he must preserve it to be able to learn from history. And in Imperium the same trait is carried through which I WILL GET TO when I write about Imp!Vega <3 <3. My beloved. But anyhow- yeah. He values memory, and he is clearly a very strategic, rational thinker. Yknow, I had the thought that he seemed like a General, and Imperium basically confirmed that in my head. That is my headcanon. He has a very... Odysseus like vibe to him. This wise and cunning leader, who is willing to make great sacrifices and has likely lost so much, and is willing to make others lose things too for what is, at the end of the day, the greater good.

He is cruel but not needlessly. He is cold and distant, but he cares about preserving the world and making sure it keeps going. It may be because he plans to live eternally and wants Eternity to be nice for him but, even if his intentions were 100% selfish (I do not think they are/were, I think he was projecting an image with that line), it still betters the world. Which is amazing <3. And makes him really nuanced. <3 <3

Now, on the subject of the most recent video, I have an interesting thought that will get it's own mini section sooo

Part 3.5: Deferred Judgement

I find the title of this video to be... really odd. Deferred judgment cannot really relate to Warden nor Hush. Hush did not defer judgment, since he is so trigger-happy, and Warden doubtfully could provide judgment. So applying the title to Vega, it would make sense that his judgement would be deferred because he was removed from Elegy for potentially a while. Also, the fact that the series title, "Carpe Deus", which... has only happened with this one video, and makes me think that it is part of the point of the video or something going on in the background. Maybe Hush is a god of sorts, or some other shit??? Idk. But its a really odd choice and I need to think on it more.... (Mini update, I made a Hush post. You can find it here <3. It also covers some stuff about Vega but it is more rambling so I think it is good that it is separate.)

Part 3.6: Reforming a Sadism Demon

So... update, update, Vega is back!! But... very broken :(((. Which is so fucking sad. And also makes complete sense considering... well... that Hush basically exploded him. Also now that we know a bit more about Hush, and that he is an Egregore of Sovereigns (Likely Min'Ara and E'Laetum but I have another post about that up), it's making me rethink my analysis of the prior title. It seems I was right on the front that Vega was the one whose judgement was deferred. He has not only been stopped from pursuing what/who is likely... what remains of Blake down under the Closeknit HQ, but also his memory needs rebuilding so his judgement of the Sovereigns is also on pause for a while as he pieces himself together. (I used to think that it was another HQ, since the timeline did not add up, but now we basically know for sure thanks to Hush's comments that this is the one Closeknit location in Dahlia and so this stuff happened a bit after Inversion and the Raid in January.)

Also, I made a post theorising about the signification of Vega's name, regarding D'Deridhan being the Sovereign of Gravity (Later confirmed), as well as Vega being the first Sadism Demon and my thoughts on that, and other lore shit. I forgot this post existed by that point, but to be fair that other one was way more rambly so I think it's ok. You can find it here if you would like to read more on my thoughts on this video specifically, in a less structured format.

But anyhow, yeah... not much more to say on this besides I cannot wait for Vega to meet Warden. And also I wonder if Warden may have gotten some of Vega's memories when his physical shell was ripped open and his magic spilled out. It could be a really cool way to learn a bit about his memories, and it also could just be... kind of a cute plot device??? We shall see. <3 <3 <3 I cannot wait to see more of him <3.

Part 4: Imperium Vega, the General

Imperium was a wonderful story and a wonderful AU, especially because it let us see some inherent and variable traits of each character, how they dealt with new situations, and what their 'worst selves' could be. With one odd, and notable exception.

Vega.

Vega... barely changed between the two versions of the story, with the main difference simply being his not having a strong distaste for humanity. Which actually says a lot about how Imperium functions.

So, in Imperium, the Sovereigns were caged in Aria, and most daemons elected to stay there, while others appear to have been booted out and, due to not knowing how to rift, were unable to return and had to feed on emotions entirely to survive. As such, the concentration of Daemons is FAR lower, the security needed for them is basically the same as that for a person because... well... they can't rift (besides Vega. We will get to that). And ironically, Vega seemed the best poised of anyone to thrive there. The Imperium gave him a constant food source, in comparison to someone like Vindemiator or Brachium who had to take what they could get. And so, surrounded by humanity, Vega likely learned to rely more on them.

My theory personally as to why he is so similar is that his history was relatively unchanged. He was alive for the Cacophony, he experienced the cruelty of the Sovereigns and them being put away, and he left Aria to live amongst humanity without giving up his daemonic nature. Only difference now is that... well... there were so many fewer daemons, and he likely could never return to Aria for his own safety. Or if he did return, I expect he did not stay long enough to build rapport. So, he grew fond of humans, and even after seeing them at their worst, found they were unfortunately all he had to rely on. And he knew the Sovereigns were still a source of magical fuel, so he may feel that independence from humanity ALREADY EXISTED for daemonkind, they just had to learn to rift and they would be set and would not have to think about humans.

But clearly... he grew fond. Fond enough to take a human, who he would outlive thousands of times over, and who he HAS outlived thousands of times already, as a partner. He took it upon himself to help protect the resistance and random people like Freelancer. He made a whole set of plans, a whole way of attack. He pulled strings to get Vampires on their side. And the only reason his plan went sideways was because of Brachium's selfishness, callousness and lack of ability to listen to reason. Imperium Brachium drives me up the walls, but this is not about him... or Vindemiator who is also really bad but at least his actions did not have major consequences. Woo...

But yeah. The man is a strategist. He is clearly very good at planning, and his goals, while differing, did not change him much. Because he was formed by thousands of years of seeing humanity at its worst, so of course in Imperium he would have been unchanged. He would still be cold, and willing to risk the lives of others, and generally a cruel, but... not unnecessarily cruel individual, who wishes for a greater good and moves heaven and earth to do that. But sadly... Brachium fucked up. And Avior and Starlight got caught by Min'Ara and E'Laetum and had NO CHOICE but to follow their commands. While what they did was arguably more risky than Brachium they have much more leeway because of the duress they were under and all that. And now with the Sovereigns GONE... I wonder what Vega would do. I wonder how he would try to find independence for Daemons, or if he even would since he spent so long with humans. Would he instead think to try and have the pair coexist, since the Meridian is... kind of a non-issue for the foreseeable... functionally forever. Not literally but... functionally.

I doubt we will get more Imperium content but it is incredible to think that in two different worlds like that, Vega ended up being so similar. It says a lot about him, his principles, and what not. It... it makes me adore him... a lot. He is consistent and he is strong and he is smart and I cannot wait for what he and Warden get up to. Especially since they have the capacity for a much closer bond than Vega and Pet.

Vega and Pet are... so cute... and so sweet... but tragic. Because again, Pet WILL die... if not by Vampires then by old age or accidents or something or other. Warden can stay alongside Vega and truly understand him in a way few can. I hope that comes to something.

Part 5: He Would Sacrifice You to Save the World

Vega is clearly a man willing to give up a LOT for his mission. He is a slave to his ambition, who hurt likely quite a number of people directly or not for his goals and will likely continue to do so. He manipulates and he clearly tries to minimise damages (I believe that is PURELY for pragmatic 'I don't want to get caught' reasons but that is a whole other thing) but it's clear based on Imperium where he is… almost entirely unchanged, besides the fact his ambitions are different, that he is willing to sacrifice a LOT, including people he GENUINELY cares a lot about or respects, like Avior.

And it gave me the thought: IF he had not been ripped and reformed by Hush. IF he did not lose all his memories. IF he did not now have to rely on Warden to piece together his plans and make them function because his mind is so scattered and they are his only lead… and IF it ever came down to a choice between saving their life, or saving his own/preserving his mission/some other major success in his plans… He would give them up. He would let them die. He would sacrifice them for the sake of his future.

Because 1 life, even if it is a life of the only person who has treated him like a person in so so long… is not worth the lives of thousands. Vega is a slave to his ambition. Unlike Blake, or Avior, or even Brachium, with whom he shares some fundamental traits, histories, or new circumstances… he is not a slave to emotion and to care.

In Imperium, Pet did not aid his goal, so he did not have to risk their life. Warden is different. And I hope he relies on them too much to give them up now.

Because if not I do not know if my heart could handle it.

Would it have happened metatextually??? Probably not. No. Having a speaker kill off, abandon or otherwise remove their listener from the picture would probably be unsatisfying from a narrative and relationship perspective. At best we could see Vega break/cry/get emotional at the loss, but he would then keep moving. But I think character-wise it is truly the only option he would even CONSIDER… and only now is that different because he is so low and so weak, and he has no other choice but to keep Warden alive to keep his own plans and his own ambitions alive.

Part 6: Assorted Other Thoughts

This section will be about any lingering thoughts that do not fit into all these other sections and will be much less organised sooo- let's go!

Sooo- Vega was the second Daemon EVER MADE. FUCKING INSANE. And also makes me think he was a general even more because he had so much seniority, and Polaris is fucking... dead. Rip. Also fun to know that he was not formed in the Elission well! Because it was not made yet. Idk. Fun tid bits from the Daemon lore video <3.

In the most recent Reductive Audios, we learn about how E'Laetum kind of hates Vega which I find fucking hilarious. And considering I think Hush is made from E'Laetum and Min'Ara's thoughts, I have to assume Min'Ara was a bigger basis for him because man... he would NOT have tried to revive Vega otherwise. Same if D'Deridhan was a big part of Hush's creation. I can only imagine that Sovereigned up Blake and Vega would have the most... tense and horribly cruel dynamic if they ever met. Best of luck Blake because you get the short end of the stick.

Vega's Odysseus connections run so deep to me. I discussed them previously and I may well be projecting because I love Epic the Musical right now but I can't be the only one who sees it. Especially because in the Odyssey, Odysseus is forced to learn to put down his pride and use cunning rather than violence and cruelty to get through encounters in his life, but ALSO learn to be ok with loss and with being cruel. Vega I think has learned most of these lessons already and will likely relearn them as he gets back his memories. Right now he seems... emotional, and somewhat logical, but clearly missing large parts of his scheming persona, and potentially his propensity for violence and willingness to be cruel to humanity. I think it would be interesting to see him go through learning about both cunning like Odysseus in The Odyssey, and Ruthlessness like Odysseus in EPIC, but from the perspective of someone like Warden. Also potentially learning about him being a general would be... some very nice fanservice Erik <3. I am not trying to say anything buuuuuut- /s

I really hope Vega and Brachium get a chance to interact. Brachium was the last daemon made by Min'Ara herself, and thus likely the youngest or one of the youngest daemons around in the cacophony, so I wonder if he and Vega knew each other... I wonder what history they may have... I wonder... I wonder if Vega hated him for his recklessness, or admired him for his quick thinking, or if Brachium liked Vega's seriousness and strategy, or found him too cruel. Their relationship as well as Vega's potential relationships with members of the Chorus are fascinating to me. I hope we see more of that.

[exvangelical-christian-nerd]

Some thoughts on "Hell is Forever"

TW religion, conservative Christianity

Hell is Forever is a bop. Musically I enjoy it a lot. And It's definitley one I'll go listen to separatelyfrom the others on occasion.

But

It is also probably the song that bothers me the most. And it does not bother me in a way I like. I've talked about before, how I like things that poke at my beliefs and make me ask questions. This one doesn't do that. This song is like a buzzing fly to my inner-theologian, and I think I figured out why (Ironically it might also be one of the reasons I enjoy it)

So I've been working on some of my series type content lately, including my devos. I'm trying to make a series based on the Hazbin songs (if that is something you're interested in let me know in the comments and I will try to tag you when I start posting them). Naturally this includes Hell is Forever.

The thing about Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss is that by their very nature they include some theology, but a good portion of it is hellaverse-ified. Some of it is theology and some Christian lore. It's part of the draw. Here's the diffrence between Hell is Forever, and most of the rest of it: Hell is Forever addresses real Theology, more or less directly. I'd say more than, possibly, any other part of either show so far.

Now before I go any farther let's make sure we all have the same definitions so my meaning doesn't get mixed up.

Real Theology= Theology actually believed by a fair portion of people.

Good Theology= Theology that is grounded and has biblical backing.

Bad Theology= Opposite of Good Theology

So yes, Hell is Forever has Real Theology. Here's the thing that gets me though: I wouldn't consider most of it Good Theology. In fact I would consider most of it Bad Theology.

Now the thing with Theology is that our interpretation of it is flawed. We don't know a lot and we don't agree on a lot. That's why there are tens of thousands of denominations. But the particular brand we get in this song is what I'm going to call "Bible Thumper Theology." Not all Bible Thumper Theology is necessarily Bad Theology, but plenty of it is. But honestly I have three major issues with Bible Thumper Theology. First is that it's weaponized. Whether your Theology is good or bad, using it as a weapon is risky business. Second, it's often pretty weak. Even if the theological concept is solid, their understanding of it is usually surface level at best. And third, so much of it is just cherry picking.

So here are the main theological points I identified in Hell is Forever. I'm not going to go deep into them now, because that would make this already long post way to long, and because I'm already planning on making posts specifically on them.

Hell is forever (Obviously)

Eye for an eye Theology (I don't know what else to call it)

Justification by the law (or works)

Justified k1ll1ng (which is obviously super yikes)

Now there are few others in there too, but I'd say these are the main ones. As I said I'm plannin to address these more later, though the first one, I'm still waffling on whether I want to tackle that or not. The primary reason being that I do believe eternal damnation is eternal (as much as I wish I didn't), however I am not going to join the fire and brimstone brigade. There are too many of them all ready. If I do tackle it, it will probably be about why I take issue with the fire and brimstone brigade.

But yes all that to say, Hell is Forever bothers me because it's essentially just Bible Thumper Theology, and Bible Thumper Theology annoys me because it's what makes the church as a whole look bad, and usually it is pretty Bad Theology.

Honestly most of the time someone starts spewing this kind of stuff at me, I can't help but think "Have you read your Bible, or do you just believe what your pastor tells you?" Is my theology flawless? Not a chance (If anyone ever says their's is, approach with extreme caution, or better yet don't approach at all). I am seeking and trying to sort out what I believe. And I'm growing.

Ironically, I think part of the thing I like about Hell is Forever is that the people spewing the bullshit are the villains. I have too often seen them up on a pedestal.

[bleue-flora]

I hope c!sapnap dies in your fanfic or whatever :3

Tired of fanfics where the authors present his behavior as normal or even as an expression of love. Something like "I will kill you with love before someone else kills you with hate", like bruh, justice for my boy c!dream!! Or fanfics where c!dream stays with the dream team and apologizes to them and prison is treated as a fair punishment that reformed him and ehh, so much more. I like that in your works there is no all this victimblaming and justifications of the behavior of the same c!sapnap, thank you for this <3

I can neither confirm nor deny the fate of c!Sapnap…

I’m with you though. Don’t even get me started on the fics where Dream apologizes to people as if he is the only one at fault for things and requires their forgiveness for their sympathy… and I feel like c!Sapnap is rarely done to character, which is why I’ve tried really hard to do him justice. But it’s challenging because he’s well… an idiot (even more so than Sam!) so I can struggle to write him. To be honest I knew I wanted to do chapter 7, but I had no idea how that group would interact and how c!Sapnap was going to respond. I debated a long time. Hopefully I did okay… but yea I feel like he often gets a lot more of a positive characterization than he is in reality, often portrayed as either a protector of the teletubby once he’s hurt or finds out about prison, or the one to kill him and, as you said, sometimes painted as mercy or love. Also a lot of times with this like obliviousness attached to him like he doesn’t know better, he doesn’t know what he’s doing or doesn’t have all the facts or if he knew then he’d be different… but the thing is that that’s not really what we see in lore. I mean I think the post prison [post] and dethronement [post] conversations depict pretty well that being ignorant isn’t the problem, and let’s not forget he was right along side Tommy in that war where they killed Dream “in a little cave” [post]. Sapnap may label himself as Dream’s “brother,” and Dream may consider Sapnap his friend (maybe even until the very end) but make no mistake, Sapnap is no where near an actual friend to Dream and that’s on Sapnap…

[restlesshush]

I know people love the “Cas can hear longing” thing, but the thing is the textual basis for it is actually pretty shaky, and it also just definitely doesn’t serve the purpose re Cas and Dean’s relationship more broadly that people want it to.

Okay so, re the textual basis: literally the only reason this concept exists is because buckleming needed a justification for Cas running into Claire again in 10x10, and her actively praying was too implausible, so they come up with “uhhh okay – her sort of wanting to counts” instead. Obviously that’s not in itself a reason to discard a piece of lore, because it is still in the show (though buckleming do have a tendency towards dropping garbage nonsensical lore, so…), but – more importantly – because of the function it was meant to serve, in context it’s a bit of a leap to take it as Cas hearing longing in general. Specifically, Cas follows up the ‘longing’ mention with asking Claire “perhaps you wanted to tell me something?”, to which she eventually concedes she does. The exchange is kind of clumsily worded – because it’s a buckleming episode –, but it seems like the mechanic is that Cas can tell if someone is perhaps ‘longing’ to pray to him, which is not at all the same as implying he could perceive longing in a romantic or other emotional sense.

Which is good, because if that were true, the implications re destiel are not ones that we want. Basically, if Dean is longing for Cas and Cas can perceive that, he’s not acting on it, so the options are that either this isn’t actually something he can perceive, or there’s nothing there to perceive. We know Cas is in love with Dean the entire time, and we know that he knows this by the 12x12 love confession at the very latest (but presumably much earlier) so even if the 15x18 confession didn’t make explicit that Cas doesn’t think Dean’s in love with him, we’ve got a very significant amount of time where Cas would in theory want to act on Dean’s ‘longing’ if he knew about it, except he not only isn’t, but also seems kind of afraid (“…I love all of you”) of making it too obvious that he’s in love with Dean in the first place. If he can perceive longing, he isn’t perceiving any from Dean directed towards him (which was a crucial part of the mechanic, as laid out “angels are able to find those who pray to them”) which isn’t really what we want to be implying.

And I mean fortunately, I don’t think the text really implies this at all, but I do feel this is worth flagging because people often seem to lean kind of heavily on the longing mechanic / Cas’s angelic senses in general for justifying Cas having an access to / understanding of Dean’s feelings that really isn’t supported by the show. Right up until the end, Cas really doesn’t seem confident at all of his place in Dean’s life, even beyond the question of Dean being in love with him or not, because – as I think is pretty widely acknowledged – the most compelling evidence for Dean being in love with / caring about Cas is how he responds when Cas is dead, which obviously Cas doesn’t see. Cas’s (very significant) insecurities re his and Dean’s relationship often go largely neglected, and using lore explanations to sidestep them is generally just quite lazy, and kind of does Cas a disservice. This isn’t to take away from people’s headcanons or anything, but I think it is worth pointing out that despite it very frequently being treated as fact, Cas hearing/feeling longing in a romantic/emotional sense is just a headcanon, and not really as useful a one as people seem to think.

[theartistichuman]

Okay please lore drop about your omegaverse world building in so curious 🫶🫶

yessss i was hoping someone would ask!!!!! (for anyone wondering this is regarding my fic) I'm adding a read more because this post became a lot longer than I meant it to be

Like I said in my author's notes, it is important to me that hormones in this au affect people the way that hormones affect people in real life. That is to say, though there are many commonalities, it is different for everyone. Therefore, omegas during heat are as likely to become territorial and aggressive as they are to become needy. That is also to say that not every heat will affect the same individual the same way every time. For example, a heat might last a week, or four days depending on the stress level of an omega; an omega might feel ravenously hungry during one heat, but feel nauseous during the next one. Just like in real life with hormone cycles!

The idea that omegas are super territorial over their nests is an idea that is heavily contested in this universe. On one hand, there is absolutely merit in the idea that omegas defend their nests while in heat, but on the other, there are many sensationalist stories coming from conservative groups about how the act of omega suppression is somehow proof of "reverse" oppression or provides justification for oppression of omegas. Legally, an omega is entitled to nest defense, not because it is "instinct driven" but rather because the right to a comfortable heat is a human right.

The modern-day idea that omegas become needy and hyper-sexual based on ye-olde pseudoscience from the Enlightenment that became repopulated within media that eventually cemented itself. Though the actual lived reality of omegas was vastly different, this universe unfortunately has the precedence of oppression that only recently began to understand that.

On that note, these ideas from the Enlightenment were used to attempt to create distinct ideas about secondary genders; in reality there are more than three secondary genders, but the categorization came from the sorting of groups of people into genders based on behavioral fluctuation and reproductive capability. Betas as a category only became acknowledged shortly after the Enlightenment as a pathologized and de-sexed category of other secondary genders.

Because of this, there are some people who are betas that experience heats or ruts, but do not have the same anatomy as alphas or omegas and are therefore sorted into the third category.

Instincts can be and often are ignored! Though there are certain drives that exist that are tied to hormone cycles and second gender status, often the symptoms are small enough to be entirely manageable. The idea that there are inherent urges that are specific to hormone cycles is again tied back to the ideas about distinct second gender class, that doesn't fully exist outside of a social category.

Severe heats is a specific medical diagnosis, and is fairly common, but has become so popularized through (as Andrew puts it in the fic) porn and pulp, that the concept is firmly cemented regardless of its truth. Heats that make omegas debilitatingly horny is a real medical condition that requires specific medical care, consent forms, etc. It is not uncommon in this universe, but it is certainly not the rule. Though, bc of the popular idea of a horny heat, many omega activist's work literally involves deconstructing this idea.

At the time the fic takes place (the 2000's) there is not a full scholarship about secondary gender as a social construct outside of queer circles, and its definitely not in the mainstream, so Andrew's perspective about Neil's heat is relatively uncommon. This is also why, even though some omegas do not lose any sort of physical or mental ability during heat, Andrew and Neil both still consider Neil's heat a physical danger to Neil's bodily safety.

Something that I think is really interesting that more people should explore in omegaverse fics, is the different layers of queerness within them. Neil and Andrew's relationship is simultaneously queer and heterosexual because of the way that it functions in the story. I have decided that they are not perceived as a fully socially accepted pair, but I haven't fully settled on an explanation yet.

A majority of people in this universe do not live to the expected standards of their secondary gender, the same way that a majority of people in the real life universe do not live to the standards of our own genders. This is because gender is not real.

I've decided to cut myself off for now, because I could honestly just keep going, but I don't want this post to be too long. Hope you enjoy this lol

[multitrackdrifting]

What do you hate about the elementals? I actually cannot remember details about the elementals at all now that I’m typing this which is probably not a good sign, 14 has really tried to shove the whole shroud under a buss somewhere.

This is going to be a massive over-simplifcation since I just crammed a shit load of information for some group projects I'm working on but the gist of it is that in the shroud is ruled by the Elementals and they get sick when foreigners enter their lands (no I'm not making this shit up)

They have a governing force that is kinda just like "we're not gonna do shit buddy" in 100% of quests about them including but not limited to:

The WHM job quests

The Endwalker Tank Role Quest (one of the most egregious by far)

The Carpenter leveling quests

While there's a lot of problems to address with how they are written, I think the worst one by far is that everyone in the shroud is seemingly at their mercy and nobody really gives a shit because of obtuse mystic rules you have to adhere to XD. I love that the racism in the context of the place has barely moved at all since 2.0 too, like I can't even see a bad attempt being made to improve the relations there because it's just "Hmm the Elementals may suck ass, but they're all we got."

A lot of the time the elementals can help a situation but simply don't because they're weirdos. Even if you dig up some obscure 1.0 or side-quest lore it still doesn't begin to get them out of the shithole the writers left that place in.

NPCs will be like "sorry I can't get healed, my ass has to die the Elementals want me to die from the common cold". Every interaction you have with them is like talking to a petulant child that has countless lives depending on their protection so you're supposed to just let it slide because they're a necessary protector despite being a bad one.

Every time the Elementals are involved in anything it's just them making you solve some shit they started or cannot solve otherwise, and the Tank role quest is the worst because it shows that they destroyed this random kids life over nothing and showed zero remorse about it by the conclusion.

And where other nations at least Feel like they've tried to give a shit (while still not great) the same cannot be said about Gridania's general writing which has seemingly just been written into a hole from which the writing team can probably never emerge.

Elementals simply ask you to do shit for them but rarely ever do anything for anyone else and you're supposed to accept the injustices they let slide evn though it's their obtuse logic that is only upheld by your [necessary] intervention. If it were up to me I'd burn that shit hole to the ground in 9.0 or some shit. It's really fucking bad when the player concedes that "something worse will happen if I don't help" as the only moral justification for doing what they do wrt the elementals. It's just so badly written it's laughable

Gridania writing in FFXIV? Abyss Media

[ardnin]

My thoughts on Splatoon 3′s Hero Mode

Since I haven’t really talked about it too much I started wrting down my thoughts on the story of the new Hero Mode and oops it got quite long lol

So click keep reading if you’re interested in my thoughts!

In many aspects the Hero Mode was really great and I absolutely loved most things like the actual levels, the music and especially Alterna as a setting and the lore around it. The detailed lore on humanity's downfall and construction of Alterna blew me away and they didn’t lie when they said we’d get to know where Inklings came from because they described the cause for the evolution of these species in surprising detail. I always especially love lore about humanity in Splatoon, so to have this much about it and also stuff like actual “human music” with the background music on the Alterna sites was easily my favorite part of it. However, lore and story are different things, and while the lore was great the story was really disappointing.

I think the main story just feels really flawed, which is frustrating since it might steer the lore into an uninteresting direction, at least for my taste, but it also leaves behind plot holes and kinda ruins how sensible Splatoon lore has been up until this point. The entire Mr Grizz plot is just extremely bad and it’s not even the fact that he’s a bear. I know this is the thing people are memeing about lore fans malding because he’s a bear but that’s not even the problem. I think having a sentient bear that was once on the humans Ark Polaris and then came crashing down to earth to grow mad at the lack of mammals is a premise that could work, since we have a similar deal with how the Judds also are mammals from human times that possess human level intelligence, probably through human experimentation. I can even excuse the lame justification for the insane plans of Mr Grizz since he may have just grown mad over time.

My problem is the amount of unnecessary plot points and unthoughtful explanations for Mr Grizz and Grizzco. What is this nonsense with Grizz needing Cuttlefish’s “brain”? Is it the crystals inside that he needs to make the ooze? But at that point Grizz should already be done with producing all of it right? All this talk about “needing a representative for earth” and then Grizz just launches the Rocket without any explanations.

I do have some ideas why he might’ve needed Cuttlefish, but with the rest of this story I don’t have high hopes there will be any sensible official explanation for this. To me it just feels like they did it only to create a fake dramatic moment and they wanted to “kill” Cuttlefish without knowing a better way to do it.

It just doesn’t feel fleshed out and you also notice this with stuff like ORCA and its test chambers. They don’t even explain why ORCA has these Inkling weapon optimized tests for the player character when the computer was meant to provide testing for humans in these facilities. In the Octo Expansion, there was a clear reason why Agent 8 was going through these tests, because Tartar actually was looking for people from the current societies in Splatoon, that’s why these test chambers existed. But here there is no clear reason for it. It just feels like “oh people liked Octo Expansion so let’s do the same thing again” without putting the effort into the reasoning behind these tests ORCA does.

The biggest problem for me though is the connection between Mr Grizz and Grizzco. Because the connection is absolutely unnecessary. They destroyed all the depth Grizzco had as a company by saying that Mr Grizz founded the company. How would this work? They said power eggs are an important energy source for the Inkling world, but now the whole company is just a vehicle for Grizz to produce Fuzzy Ooze? Where the game itself doesn’t explain why he even needs the eggs? Does Grizzco not contribute to the world's energy needs after all? The entire plot of Return of the Mammalians could’ve worked without Grizzco’s involvement and the power eggs at all, they lifted the mystery behind Grizzco in the most boring way possible. I was hoping for Grizzco to be this dubious company led by actual people in the Inkling world with an interest in money and power by being an important pillar in the security of the cities as well by fending off Salmonids, entangled in many shady networks the company would have real ambitions for power within the Inkling world, and not be a hollow plot vehicle only existing for Grizz to realize his plan. And this could’ve been easily avoided if they said that Mr Grizz only took over an existing company and basically ordered the eggs from them, while the actual people running the company still had their own interests. But they had to do it in the most mundane and boring way possible by saying he “made” the company, without giving any thought about maintaining this sense of depth Grizzco had if it had actual people from the Inkling world running it with their own shady ambitions. And the worst part is that after the Hero Mode, it is implied Lil Judd is now “running” the company. Why can’t they just let Grizzco be an actual interesting company ran by shady people? Why do they set up another dumb mammal related thing with Lil Judd? My biggest fear is they double down on the evil mammal plot and make another similar thing with Lil Judd. I was hoping the thing with him being “evil” was just a joke plot and not relevant to the main lore and story of the game, but now this is a real possibility. It would just be the exact direction I was hoping the game’s story would not take.

But please don’t take this criticism too heavily. Overall this is still the most impressive Hero Mode they ever made and I appreciate the ambition they had with it. The criticism is purely about the story and not the entire experience.

Here’s some additional bonus-thoughts I had that I cut from the main write up since it’s more like smaller disappointments than anything else since it’s partly things that would’ve been unrealistic to expect anyways:

“Another thing that slightly disappointed me was that the Crater segment was seemingly building up something huge - they literally mocked the previous game’s Hero Modes with it -  only to send us to Alterna and use the exact same formula as the older Hero Modes. The Octavio bossfight was so fucking cool and I was really hoping that after that, Octavio and Cuttlefish would accompany us together, and there would be some more interactions between the two with some actual story segments that would happen as the game went along. Instead they just made the two vanish and saving Cuttlefish became the ultimate goal for 90% of the story and it was basically the same as ever with no story content during the middle of the game aside from the Deep Cut encounters. And Octavio literally only shows up at the very finale out of nowhere and there is absolutely no character development for him or Octavio. He doesn’t even show up at the camp in the end and the only mention of Cuttlefish about all this is “Who would’ve thought Octavio isn’t that bad”.

In parts it feels like to me the devs bit off more they could chew with this because there definitely is a lot of ambition since there’s even more cutscenes than in Octo Expansion, but with moments like the revival of Cuttlefish that feel like it was supposed to be an emotional moment, the timing and pacing of the scene was so bad and everything happened so fast it felt funny and silly more than anything else, which is sad because this could’ve been a nice emotional moment. But even that isn’t that bad since it’s their first time doing cutscenes at this scope and they will probably improve in the future.”

[pojacket]

I had a dream where tyler made a post with, what the video claimed to be, the zoomquest opening animation

it looked something like this (in this style):

What the fuck is this

George, Tony and Slick were dressed up in something-like-that… I don’t actually remember their outfit, I kinda just let me hands draw for me, but I remembered that none of them were wearing hats so..

I guess it was the ye olden days or soemthing?? Maybe the setting would’ve been like dragon quest? They were going to save the world! There were npc towns folk that you could talk to get more sweet sweet lore about this game, Y’know, zoomquest.

Even though my dream-self registered it as an animation, it definitely was ‘in-game.’ 2D sprites with 3D backgrounds. Very basic backgrounds.

All the characters don’t have walking animations, I don’t think Tony had any other sprites besides facing the camera, so he’d just be sliding and facing you. How adorable.

And my dream-self didn’t think it was weird, in fact, I already knew about this. I thought this was common knowledge! My justification was that this was a fake out at the beginning of the game to make you THINK it’s a trope-y fantasy game, before it goes to regular Zoomquest.

WHAT. NO?? HOW IS THIS COMMON KNOWLEDGE?? THIS DOESNT EVEN MAKE SENSE. HOW LONG DOES THIS LAST??? and my dream self was thinking “man we’ve seen this stuff soooo many times when can we get to the gameplay” HOW MANY TIMES???? HOW MANY TIMES HAVE “””WE”””BEEN SUBJECTED TO THIS??? Also isn’t this gameplay???

You know, people say ‘dreams have meaning.’

So that means that this might be…

[saltwatersweets]

How did you get into dsmp, when did it start, who are your favs, who do you dislike, any hot takes, what did you think of the finale, what species do you hc the characters

1. i started watching dreams content early april 2020, at a little before 3 mil subscribers! i started watching dteam clips not too long after and so knew about the dream smp’s existence early early on, before there was lore. however i only used youtube at the time and didn’t even know there was lore at all until i saw sad-ist’s first dsmp animation (i have been a fan of hers since i was around twelve or thirteen; its funny that the dsmp introduced a lot of people to sad-ist but for me sad-ist introduced me to the dsmp!) a couple months later when lore started really picking up i started posting more about it on social media.

2. i think youre asking for fave characters, in which case im pretty basic. top five are likely gonna have to be 1) c!dream, 2) c!quackity, 3) c!sam, 4) c!tommy, and then i’d say c!techno, c!niki, and c!tubbo are all tied for fifth!

3. i wouldnt say i outright dislike any characters. i personally never really cared for c!schlatt and i especially havent really cared much for c!wilbur since like, the election arc. nothing against them personally, or fans of those characters, they just dont really interest me personally. that might change soon though!!

(this ended up being so long so more under the cut 💀)

4. i suppose my only real hot take is that again, the justification for what c!dream went through during prison arc can easily be used to justify what c!tommy went through during exile arc; i believe there are certain things that no one can deserve to go through and torture/manipulation like that are two of those things. i’ve already said that before but its really my only lore hot take i’d say i can word well (i have a lot of thoughts in my head and never have ANY idea how to word them 😭)

as for any hot takes regarding ccs, i wouldnt say i have any big ones either but they might put me in hot water with some people anyway LOL. i believe that everyone should be given chances to change for the better and that a person having bigoted views in the past because of how they were raised and no longer having them in the present is a Good Thing!! no one should be expected to be perfect for their entire lives. positive change is always good i think and it should be encouraged, for any cc and person in general. finally regarding any friendships in the dsmp that are broken now, i dont want to blame one single person in any friendship. we don’t know what fully happened behind the scenes and nor should we ever - its private.

5. this question ended up being perfect timing because i JUST caught up on the finale like two hours ago 😭 havent watched all the full streams but have seen the major clips so i could understand what happened. i was actually just about to post about it, but i loved it!! i’m a big c!discduo apologist and enjoy how it handled both their characters. c!tommy did do bad things (though that doesnt mean he deserved the bad things done to him)!! c!dream did a Lot of bad things (though that doesn’t mean HE deserved the bad things done to him)!!

i thought the way it handled their characters was pretty good for a minecraft roleplay and i find the fact that it caused so much discourse (especially about someone who from what i know wasnt even a main writer for it?) pretty stupid lmao. especially when i see tommy fans saying the finale sucked when from what i know tommy was one of the people who had a huge part in writing it?? lmao 😭 (not hating on tommy or his fans i just think its funny). i think that expecting a perfect and neat story of abuse on a MINECRAFT ROLEPLAY full of a bunch of minecraft streamers in their teens/early twenties was asking for disappointment.

i think the finale ended up being really profound especially with the irl stuff going on at the time (and what was to come in the future). how broken friendships played such a huge role on the server and just a year or so later many of the irl friendships would be broken. one thing that especially got to me was how much of a point was made that immortality wasnt right and it was important to live your life and enjoy it with the people you love while you can; that the best things are temporary because you can appreciate them. it was a natural evolution of c!dreams character of course (a necromancer who wanted his world to go back to how it used to be) but the fact that the finale streams happened only a few months after techno’s actual passing was not lost on me.

as for the final couple minutes themselves, i am a little conflicted. i would have loved the story to end with everyone keeping their memories and the idea that they’ll have to figure out how to live after doing everything theyve done; how to make peace with everyone WITH their memories. i’m not sure how season 2 would have gone but the fact is that we’ll never get a season 2 and that this is the ending we’re left with. especially how in a way c!dreams plan to “reset” the server seemed to come to fruition; i think it would have been a better ending for his and the other characters if again they had to live with their memories of what theyd done and try to move on like that. it wasnt really the type of ending that i was hoping the dsmp would have, but i think it served its purpose well. love the c!discduo being friends though!! and i also love seeing fics that take place during “season 2” and after the nuke went off, those always end up being super interesting to me.

6. any of my species headcanons are EXTREMELY basic lmao. duck hybrid c!quackity, creeper hybrid c!sam, goat hybrid c!tubbo, etc etc. i have no big headcanons i’d say - i totally see c!tommy and c!dream as both being 100% human though. i’d say thats my only real headcanon regarding hybrids and species. ive got a lot of headcanons but not too much about that specifically.