#there's overlap for sure but it's not 1:1 mapping

[birlwrites]

How go your projects? I believe the writing ones at present underway are Bloodfinch and possibly the Rainfall sequel?

primarily drafting bloodfinch, but i also have a short story in its final round of edits!! i was hoping to get it out in june, but both my personal and work life have gotten incredibly busy, so new goal is sometime in july

i'm like, cackling and plotting and scheming with bloodfinch because i did some plot work similar to when i was making posts about the foreshadowing in lachrimae that was just Appearing and me trying to make sense of what my subconscious wanted me to put in - i've discovered something veeeeeeery interesting about finch that nobody knows except me and one (1) fictional character (not finch) (they've never even met, unless of course they have............) (not that finch would know anything about it because she is a delightful mix of self-sacrificing and self-absorbed and is not super perceptive as a result)

oh also i've changed a couple of things about finch's friendship with adalric - the first thing is that i took the 'h' out of his name because it has a much more Fantasy Story vibe without it. sometimes i forget that i have done this. i'm going to have to do a ctrl+f for 'adalrich' on the full draft. the second thing is that now, at the beginning of the story, they've been close friends for years, which is behavior that the king indulges because adalric is a very dutiful crown prince and he shows zero (0) signs of letting his friendship with the bloodfinch affect his obligation to his country. i plan to throw that out the window, of course

and i've changed something very, very important: at first, i was writing finch singing as being a pretty non-magical experience, very much in line with my own personal physical experience of singing. but now, due to Plot Reasons Mumblemumblemumble, singing makes her feel physically horrible, regardless of the perfection of her technique.

did i have to scrap my previous draft and start over? yes. did i then beat that word count within 48 hours? also yes. is it going to be a stronger story? DEFINITELY yes. so i'm very excited!!!!!

i've like barely been on tumblr the past week or so, so my blog's mainly been running on queue, hence the lack of me posting about how writing is going atm (i also haven't had much writing time ajgkhjgksdf). but please do feel free to inquire at any time!

[doodlemcjazzhands]

Hi! My friend is a big fan of your art, and they asked me to ask you for tips on how you draw hair. I'm no artist, so I probably shouldn't be the one to ask these questions, but would you mind sharing a few suggestions? Any pointers about your character designs or your art style would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much, and hope you're having a good day! <3

Hiya!! I tried to breakdown my approach to drawing hair here, but these are by no means hard and fast rules! Hope this helps :)

1: The Hairline

I usually start with the hairline. I like to break it down into 4 main sections, that I can play around with:

I like to try to line up the temple section with the ridge of the side plane of the head

Try to have the hairline follow the natural flow and planes of the head

There's a gap between the hairline and the ear (often it gets covered up by longer strands of hair, but if you're drawing a short cut or pulled back hair, you'll probably see it)

2: The Silhouette

I like to draw out the silhouette next. Sometimes I'll use the lasso and fill tool, so I don't get wrapped up in extraneous details.

Try focusing on finding an appealing shape for the hair, and how it will frame the face

Consider how thick you want the hair to be and it's texture

(I find this is also a good time to flip the canvas to make sure the weight feels balanced)

Try to avoid having tangents with facial features, if you're drawing bangs or face framing pieces

Keep in mind how outside factors may affect the hair (like if there's a breeze, or if the character is lying down, or if they've tucked a piece behind their ear, ect.)

Try to keep shape variation in mind. A small shape next to a big shape is often more appealing than 2 medium shapes side by side

I also like to play with a lot of straight/curved line variations to make the shapes look interesting

3: Flow & Volumes

(I usually just visualize this step, rather than drawing it out like this)

Basically try breaking down your silhouette into big volumes, and know where the hair pieces coming from and where they're going.

^For example, the hair on top, is brushed froward, with no defined part, so the chunks that we can see start at a cowlick at the back of the head and spiral out from there. The hair on the bottom however starts at the part, shwoops up, and then cascade down in 2 layers.

^Another note: more layers usually means more volume wherever the layers are placed, longer hair pieces will weigh the hair down, meaning less volume.

4: Details

Once I have an idea of what the hair is doing, I draw out the chunks of hair, following the volumes and flow I've mapped out. Sometimes I'll do a little bit of hatching to indicate volume or texture.

I often like to choose 1 or 2 shapes for my clumps, based on the hair texture, and then repeat those shapes throughout:

Vairy the size of your clumps

Beware of overworking it at this stage, sometimes less is more yk? And too much detail near the face can be distracting

Make lines on the silhouette and lines closer to the front thicker (especially if it's overlapping another line)

You don't have to draw every strand. Sometimes I'll break up big clumps with a thinner inner line, but I try not to go overboard with this. You can also indicate strands by adding little cutouts to the silhouette, like this:

5: Rendering

My process for rendering hair is pretty much the same as it is for anything else. Base colour layer>shadow layer>highlight layer.

I like to use the lasso/fill tool here again for shadows, and then soften them up a bit by going over some of the harsh lines with a pencil brush

For shadows, I usually just do a multiply layer with a lowered opacity, clipped to the base colour layer and then use a bright red or purple colour

Highlights and shadows can also be used to indicate more hair clumps that you haven't drawn in

Try to think of the shadows as big graphic shapes, that fall where the light won't hit, and wrap around the forms of the hair

I personally don't like to go crazy on the highlights, but when I do, it's usually for dark hair, since shadows don't show up as well on darker hair

Shiny glossy hair, usually has brighter highlights with harsher edges

Also black hair isn't usually pure black unless it's a stylization thing or the lighting is reeeally dark

Sometimes once I fill in the hair, I'll look at it and go "ew why's it look dumb now?" Sometimes the warp or liquify tool can help with refining the proportions to rectify this and sometimes you just have to cut your loses and redraw stuff :P

Then as a final touch a may add a few stray strands of hair that break off from the main shape

Ok that's all! Hope your friend has fun drawing hair! Have a great day <33

[mimir-anoshe]

I love that ARCANE is using the MAJOR ARCANA for symbolism.

Chefs kiss.

These are Sevika's tarot cards from season 1.

The Magician (upright) overlapping Death (upright).

Foreshadowing? Oh hell yeah. But its only now after S2 Episode 6 do I understand what they might actually be foreshadowing. People may have talked about this before, so I apologise if this is similar to anyone else's meta. These are all my own thoughts, I usually just watch arcane and don't dabble into the meta but this season has me feral and I just rewatched season 1.

SPOILERS for Arcane S1/S2 below.

I just want to prologue this post with a note about how I've noticed even from season 1 there are thematic parallels and linear symbolism being afforded between Jinx and Viktor. Others in the community have too I'm sure. Its strange. I thought it was interesting in S1 but didn't deep dive into it, but S2 has driven headfirst into it and its making me go "oh... oh ok." Even Viktor in S1 noted Jinx's genius, and in another timeline perhaps Powder would've been a student of Viktors had fate not set them on parallel paths. Two children of Zaun, both mechanical/scientific geniuses. One physically disabled whilst the other mentally disabled. One who "escaped" and was given a chance, rising to the top only to create something that would be used for harm. Fighting that fate at every step. Whilst the other trapped at the bottom of the barrel, forced to use her gifts to become a weapon herself. Such GOOD story writing.

So now let's think about the art of the cards, because in tarot, even the symbolism of the specific art is important. Its why an artists interpretation of a major/minor can be so crucial to a reading.

Here's a figure map I made earlier.

Lets begin with Death.

Thirteenth of the Major Arcana, a "significant transformation and the end of a phase in life." There is death and rebirth symbolism all over arcane, but let's take a closer look at the symbolism mirroring the art.

Figure 7&8 - The one who has "died" a skeleton/skull laid down and being "imbued" with something as something else is taken away.

See that the imbuing focuses on the "chest" area.

It's quick, but it flashes briefly when Viktor is being imbued with the Hexcore. He canonically dies "the skull" and is reborn with the Hexcore on an "altar"/table.

Same with Jinx. Canonically "dies" and is reborn laying on an "altar"/table using shimmer. Purple being used as the visual thread between shimmer and the arcane of the hex; a colour imagery representation of "magical" alchemical/arcane power turning them into something beyond human.

Singed and Jayce. Two hands of death, giving and taking life as if they were a God. One using shimmer, the other Hextech thats imbued with shimmer. Messing with the balance of life and death.

With Viktor, the energy is transferred straight into his chest, just like on the card.

So now we've established the parallels to the death tarot, lets look at The Magician.

The First of the Major Arcana, "the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds, and the ability to manifest one's desires."

Viktor is the Magician. No doubt. He connects the physical and spiritual world of the arcane, he brings people back from the brink of death, as he was. He manifests his desires through the use of the hex, the arcane. And the dude just looks like a mecha wizard.

Though if you want it to be even more obvious.

Figure 3 - The Third Arm/Third Hand.

The image below is "The Machine Herald" Hero from League of Legends. This is the hero Viktor is based upon.

He canonically has three arms, same as the Magician in the card. The Magician is Viktor, Viktor is the Magician. The Magician is the Machine Herald.

The Magician overtakes/overlaps death. But Viktor by episode 6 still doesn't quite resemble the machine herald from the games. There's no third arm... Yet. So the Magician in the card isn't Viktor from episodes 1-6, this is the machine herald who comes after the one killed in episode 6. Another Rebirth is set to happen for Viktor.

Figures 1 &2 - White mask. Red/pinkish eyes.

Hmmm... Red/pinkish eyes are associated with shimmer. And a white mask, of the machine herald? The mask of a messiah. That the hextech Viktor will most likely also be imbued with shimmer like Jinx, to become the true "machine herald." Messiahs of the hex, monsters of the shimmer.

Its also worth noting that both Jinx and Viktor are framed as messianic figures of Zaun in this season. One the fighter who will rally together the undercity and free Zaun from its oppression. The other a healer and a saint like figure who will free the Zaunites of their suffering and lead them into a better future.

Jinx wanting peace - represented by Isha - and Viktor's dream of peace and healing for Zaun - represented by a lot of things including healing Vander - are metaphorically and literally killed in episode 6. Funnily enough, one symbol of peace killing the other (Isha and Vander - Child and Father). After all, peace and violence are two sides of the same coin, as are Viktor and Jinx. Or should I say, two sides of the same cog...

Figure 4&6 - The Cog shaped Hole in the Magicians chest/The Cog Coin and Jinx's cog.

"I understand now. The message hidden within the pattern. The reason for our failures in the commune. The doctor was right. Its inescapable. Humanity. Our very essence. Our emotions... Rage. Compassion. Hate. Two sides of the same coin. Inextricably bound."

In episode 6, whilst Viktor is explaining to Vi about what it will take to heal Vander, Jinx is sceptical. She doesn't even believe in herself as a messiah, so this "hero"? This "saviour" coming along to solve their problems? To fix things? When all she can do is break everything around her, jinx her own family, destroy? She's scoffing at Viktor sure, but she's also scoffing at herself. Mirroring. People treat her like they treat him, so to believe in him as a saviour means she would have to look into the water of that well and face her own reflection. And Viktor sees right through it, the pretence, and he sees her potential.

Knowledge is a paradox. Jinx wants to stick with what she knows, to destroy instead of to build, to "Watch it all burn." Or ignore the plight of Zaun, so she can live peacefully with Isha. Jinx - Powder - is choosing to remain ignorant to what's right in front of her. Right up until the moment Isha dies.

In the scene earlier in the episode, Jinx accidently destroys a bit of the well, releasing a cog that falls into water. Cogs have been symbolic of Viktor healing people throughout this season, using cogs to "Build."

Powder was thrown into water just like that cog by Silco, and reborn as Jinx. But its not Silco that picks up this cog. Its Viktor. He holds the potential of his creation in his hand, and in paradox, holds Jinx's destruction. Viktor holds Jinx's potential. He's literally holding the two sides of Jinx/Powder in his hand, her - their - fate. Just like Jinx, Viktor has the equal capacity to destroy, and if he is reborn as a weapon later on, perhaps that cog represents Jinx being reborn too. As a creator. A builder.

He holds onto Jinx's cog all the way through the rest of the episode, balancing that potential, that fate, of creation and destruction in his hand. Right up until the moment he dies, and the coin/the cog falls, sealing their fate. His death causing the deaths of Isha and Vander too.

So we've established that the story is viewing cogs/coins in a similar light. We've also established the show is linking Viktor and Jinx through the symbology of the cog.

This is reiterated in the symbolism surrounding the Tarot cards. Around the cards are coins that take the shape of cogs, the currency of Zaun. Fate - coin flips - and cogs, gods and machines. Deus Ex Machina, that is what Viktor is to become, and Jinx creates destruction using machines. She's an inventor, just like Viktor and Jayce. A creator and a destroyer. A god of the machine.

So how does Figure 6 - the coin cogs - relate to Figure 4? The hole in the Magician's chest.

On the Tarot Card, the Magician has a circle in the middle of his chest. A hole. Just like the hole Jayce puts through Viktors chest at the end of Episode 6. The one that kills him.

But if you look closely at the image above, it might be a stretch, but to me, the striations on the inner ring look very similar to those of a cog. The hole is what kills Viktor. Cogs have been given visual symbolism for healing, and are also associated with Jinx's potential for creation. Its a stretch, but it could potentially be foreshadowing Jinx using her abilities to heal Viktor; to build instead of destroy. We've already seen Jinx do it once with Sevika, by "building" her a new arm.

I also find it interesting that we're shown Jinx using her talents to build someone a new arm, and Viktor - the machine herald - still has yet to acquire his third arm. Perhaps he doesn't make it. Perhaps Jinx does?

Maybe, just maybe, Jinx - Powder - is the one to fix Viktor, and flip the cog of fate once again.

Now in Episode 6 we already get foreshadowing that it'll be singe - not Jinx - who saves Viktor by imbuing him with the ultimate shimmer from Warwick/Vander - stabilising him. He says it in the episode, but Viktor refuses to sacrifice Vander in the name of creating the ultimate weapon of destruction.

"It would destroy him."

Viktor's potential for destruction goes hand in hand with Jinx's.

Its even foreshadowed in both the cards. The red/pink eyes of the machine herald foreshadowing shimmer. And the shadow being imbued into the chest of the dead skeleton (Viktor) looks an awful lot like Warwick; the beast that traps Vander.

So why am I talking about Jinx saving Viktor if I'm so certain its Singe? Well I'm certain Singe will bring Viktor back to life, to be used as a weapon. That seems like the most likely outcome.

But like Viktor was saying about Vander "He's not a specimen, he's a man." Viktor was doing everything in his power to save Vander's humanity. So yes Singe will bring the machine herald back most likely - even if I think it'd be thematically cool for it to be Jinx - but I think Jinx will save Viktor. Save the man, the humanity. Be the big fat hero.

Jinx was a girl imbued with Shimmer, and despite having monstrous abilities and doing monstrous things, her humanity has still survived.

I could be wrong, I most likely am, but the the thing that's getting to me is this...

Figure 5 - The Broken Infinity.

At the centre of Viktor's chest, in the middle of Jayce's death blow and Jinx's cog of creation & destruction, is a symbol.

Now a diagonal infinity symbol is associated with the Firelights. Ekko. The boy who shattered time.

Broken Infinity? Shattered time? Seems to go hand in hand.

Though Ekko's symbol is a whole infinity, more akin to a Z than an ongoing X.

There are plenty of theories Ekko will play a role in Viktor's fate and the fate of everyone by rewinding time somehow. And the multiple shots of the coin rolling support that to an extend. Rewind time, change fate, change the flip of the cog. And I agree, I think Ekko is going to have a role to play. But there's also another character who fits with this symbol, who uses shimmer to move faster than humanly possible and defy fate time and time again. Who is the fulcrum of fate in the eyes of the story, the catalyst of everything. And only one character who has solely been associated with a broken infinity symbol before.

Jinx. That's Jinx's symbol. Her champion tag.

Jinx's symbol, right at the centre of Viktors chest. And this line to Jinx from Viktor...

"You have much to offer this commune, Powder. Your talents could be used to build instead of destroy."

And the line from Singe, about Viktor's fate being tied to the commune. Viktor IS the commune, he's the centre of it all. The one who can make the dream of Zaun - Vander's dream - a reality. And that line foreshadowed Jinx using her talents to help the commune. To help Viktor.

Hell, she was technically the reason he "died" in the first place. She fired the rocket that nearly killed him. Wouldn't it be poetic story telling if she was the one who saved him in the end?

I can't wait for Saturday.

I believe whatever happens, Viktor and Jinx's fates are inextricably bound.

[oh-wiw]

✦ Masterpost ✦ Part 1 ✦ Part 3 ✦

A lost composer

You arrived at Sumeru, apparently you entered the wrong ferry and entered the land of dendro. You were so excited to go to Mondstadt that you boarded the wrong boat in your excitement to finally leave Inazuma behind.

It didn’t matter that you had boarded the wrong ferry, because as you stepped Port Ormos, you remembered the Zubayr Theater beneath the Akademiya. A place where music and the creative arts thrived and maybe, just maybe, they'd let you perform. And with any luck, earn enough mora to buy instruments you’d never had the chance to touch back in your own world.

✧✧✧✧✧ 

The cheap bamboo flute in your bag has served you well. Its familiarity was a comfort, and playing it came as naturally as breathing. It’s sound easy to summon thanks to years of intimate practice. But now, something inside you longed for more. Strings, drums, reeds. Sounds that is foreign to your finger, you hoped to explore sounds you had only ever imagined. 

You first took a moment to fix your mask, adjusting its fit carefully so it sat just right on your face. Then you smoothed out the wrinkles in your kimono, brushing off the dust of travel. With that done, you stepped into the crowd and began to mingle.

The air was buzzing with excitement, conversations overlapped and the streets felt more alive. You made your way through the crowd, asking around, hoping to catch a ride to Sumeru City. But your hopes were quickly dashed with a polite answer and a firm “no.”

You weren’t alone, though. Dozens of others were being turned away, all trying to make their way to the city for some grand event. Whatever was happening, it had captured the region’s full attention.

As you lingered by the edge of the crowd, weighing your dwindling options. You approach a small group of travelers. They, too, had been denied entry to the ferries heading to Sumeru City, but unlike most, they were willing to make the long trek on foot from Port Ormos through the vast, untamed forests of Sumeru.

You offer to join them. After all, you had no map, no compass, and no real knowledge of how to navigate the dense jungles and paths of this region. All you had was the in-game knowledge from the game. A general sense of direction, vague landmarks committed to memory, and a few expectations that might not translate into this very real, very alive world.

Fortunately, they agreed for you to join. With that, you set out on foot, following dirt roads.

In return for their kindness, you offered your own services to the group. During rest stops beneath the canopy of the jungles, you brought out your flute and filled the air with gentle melodies. Soft tunes drifted through the leaves, blending with the calls of wildlife and the rustle of the wind, turning quiet campsites into moments of peace.

When you weren’t performing, though. You helped wherever you could gathering firewood, assisting with simple meals, helping set out tents, all while keeping the mood light with the occasional hum or rhythm. The others seemed to appreciate it as laughter came easier around the fire, and the long miles felt a little shorter with music weaving through the road.

The city thrummed with life the moment you arrived. The streets were a swirl of colors and motion, alive with scholars debating under shaded arches, performers drawing crowds with graceful dances and merchants calling out deals in every corner.

A celebration was clearly on the rise. Bright lanterns hung from balconies and tree branches alike, swaying gently in the breeze. Streamers of silk and ivy criss crossed above the streets, and the air was thick with the scent of fresh spices, incense, and blooming flowers. Every corner buzzed with anticipation.

Sumeru City was certainly bustling this time of year, more than you had expected. You weren’t sure what the occasion was. Maybe a festival? You quickly discarded that thought. Mostly because of the sheer volume of people. And the crowds weren’t just local, people from all over Teyvat had gathered here for some reason. 

This wasn’t just a local celebration. It was something bigger.

Either way, you had a plan. With your flute in hand and a familiar tune on your lips, you took to the streets and taverns of Sumeru City, weaving your music through the busy air. Celebration or not, a crowd was a crowd and with more tourists than usual filling the streets, meant more mora to earn.

You didn’t know how long the celebration would last, or what exactly it was exactly for  but it didn’t matter. Because the extra mora quickly added up enough to afford better meals, even lodging that didn’t creak when you breathed.

Unaware of your growing influence, you played as you always did. Gently, sincerely, with no real goal beyond earning a few mora and passing time. But what started as a modest performance slowly became something more.

Crowds began to gather wherever you played. The tavern, once half-full on quiet nights, are now overflowed with eager listeners around tables and stairwells just to hear your melodies. On the streets, foot traffic slowed as travelers and locals alike stopped to listen, enchanted.

Eventually, the commotion drew attention although not all of it was welcome. The Eremites, acting as unofficial enforcers in certain parts of the city, stepped in to disperse the crowds and restore order. You took the hint. With a polite bow and a soft closing tune, you ended your performance early that day, not wanting to find yourself playing behind bars instead of on a street corner.

That night, you kept to the tavern’s shadowed, playing softer tunes for the patrons who still lingered, unaware of the effect your music had. You didn’t see the way people paused outside just to listen. You didn’t notice how even scholars lowered their books to follow the sound. 

To you, it was simply a song, another way to earn a little mora.

But to them, it was something more. Something they couldn’t name, but couldn’t forget.

You thought nothing of it. With the festival in full swing, it made sense that people would gather. Music was everywhere, after all. You assumed the crowd was drawn by the celebration, not by you. 

It was just a lucky coincidence, you told yourself, a moment where your flute happened to fit the mood.

And while that was partially true, no one truly expected you. A wandering, masked musician with a worn farmer’s hat  and a simple bamboo flute, to play with such grace. 

There was something in your music that words couldn’t touch: a quiet divinity that calmed restless hearts, slowed busy minds, and softened even the sharpest tempers.

To the people, it felt like more than talent. It felt like a blessing, one they couldn’t name, but couldn’t walk away from either.

It felt familiar.

✧✧✧✧✧ 

Somewhere far at sea, atop the swaying deck of a lone ship, a certain bard sat with his lyre resting gently in his lap. He strummed a soft chord, eyes half-lidded as he gazed toward the horizon. The breeze tugging playfully at his hair and cloak. A quiet sigh escaped his lips.

“Seems like the wind misled me,” he murmured with a wry chuckle.

He leaned back and began to hum to the unfamiliar melody. It wasn’t a song of old tales nor the future. It was something different. Something on the now. A tune born of the present moment, carried on the wind from a distant land in the north.

And as his fingers danced lightly across the strings, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Whoever you are,” he whispered to the wind, “please keep playing.”

✧✧✧✧✧ 

✦ Masterpost ✦ Part 1 ✦ Part 3 ✦

[sadpartita]

How Mileven Strengths Byler?

I’ve been analyzing Stranger Things for a while now, and over time, I’ve come to a thesis: Mileven is actually the greatest proof that Byler is endgame, or at the very least, Byler is the most coherent narrative resolution for Mike, Will, and Eleven’s character arcs.

This post is my take on why that’s the case. It’s also a reflection of how I’ve come to interpret the show over the years, even before I became part of the Byler community.

The points I raise here aren’t necessarily new or original, many of them have been discussed in the fandom already. But rather than focusing on what we see on screen and speculating about what it might mean, I wanted to take a slightly different route: looking at how these characters were constructed (in this case, Mike and El), and how their very creation generates meaning.

In that sense, my central argument is this: Mileven, by the way it's written and structured, actually reinforces Byler. Not because of subtext or hidden clues, but because of the internal logic of the characters themselves.

Disclaimer: This isn’t a claim that my reading is better than others, far from it. If it weren’t for the amazing discussions already happening in the fandom, I wouldn’t have been able to develop my own perspective. My goal is simply to show that, even through a different analytical lens, Byler still emerges as the most narratively satisfying resolution.

Now for a quick intro to the framework I’m using:

Semiotics is the study of how meaning is produced, not just in language, but in images, media, gestures, and especially in stories. I’m using a specific branch of semiotics here, French semiotics, particularly the work of Algirdas Julien Greimas. He developed a method for analyzing the deep structure of narratives: what’s really going on underneath the surface.

One of his most important tools is the actantial model, which maps out narrative roles, not just who the characters are, but how they function in the story. For example:

The subject is the one who wants something

The object is what they want

A helper aids the subject

An opponent gets in the way

And a manipulator pushes the subject to act

These roles aren’t fixed to one character, they can shift or overlap depending on the moment in the narrative.

When we apply this model to Mike and Eleven, some really interesting patterns show up, and not in Mileven’s favor.

This post will walk through those semiotic concepts and apply them to Stranger Things, focusing especially on Mike and Eleven, and how their relationship does (or doesn’t) work in terms of narrative structure. I’ll also touch on Mike and Will, and why that dynamic hits very differently.

You don’t need a background in theory to follow, I’ll explain things as we go.

Oh, and just so you know: I’ll be working from the most surface-level elements to the deepest ones in each analysis. So we’ll start with the obvious... and then dig in.

Eleven

Discursive Level

First, let's understand how the show creates meaning through Eleven. Usually we are shown Eleven through the lenses of other characters, taking season 1 as an example, through the main boys' point of view of what Eleven actually is. For the audience, this creates an ambiguity, we aren't sure about what she really is, reinforcing her mysterious and "othered" position.

Also, the show doesn't expose her story line at once, on the contrary, it tells by short flashbacks through the seasons that progressively makes us understand who she really is. Not only it mirrors her identity, that is also fragmented, but also elicit us to want to know more about her and, with more flashbacks, more complacent we are to her as an audience.

Now, taking the visual clues, her shaved head and sterile clothing from the beginning of the show (S1-S2) sets a dehumanized character, more an experiment than a child. While in season 3 she starts to use more colorful wardrobe, making a shift onto individualization and social integration.

Sound also makes a huge difference when Eleven is in the scene, specially when she uses her powers, the sound is never really comfortable, and, when it is, is silence, the complete absence of any noise, which is, for us human beings, something alien. That reinforces the idea that she is different, she is, in fact, an alien (having that ET comparison established), a thought she brings with her, but she didn't want to bring.

In the early seasons, sound is used to reflect Eleven’s disconnection from the world around her. In addition to the unsettling noises tied to her powers, there is also a lot of low, ominous background music when she’s involved in scenes where she’s escaping or hiding. The sound isn’t just about the action happening in the moment — it reflects her emotional state. When she’s hiding from the lab, or when she’s confronted by forces that want to control her, the sound emphasizes the danger and the isolation she feels.

As Eleven begins to settle into her role as part of the Hawkins group, there’s a shift in how sound is used around her. In season 3, the incorporation of more upbeat, familiar music, like pop songs (e.g., her "shopping montage"), signals her increasing sense of integration into society. However, even in these moments, the underlying tension of her powers and past still lingers. The sound design starts to incorporate both the social integration of her character (through music) and her emotional and supernatural isolation (through sound effects tied to her powers).

Narrative Level

In its initial state (S1-S2), El's object of value is clear: she wants to belong, to be loved, and to connect with others. She starts as an object of manipulation, something to be used, therefore, she wants to get away from that by being seen as a human, as an equal.

Taking through semiotics term is not yet a subject, she is an object, here Mike and Hopper are the subjects, they act, protect and do things related to her. Narratively saying, she is more as an object to Mike than an active agent herself.

From season 2 onwards, El slowly gets her subjecthood, therefore she acts by her own objectives. Her stay with Hopper is overprotective, but what makes her arc go forward are her own desires, the desire to discover, to understand that moves the narrative forward.

So, that's her first transformation from an object to a subject, therefore an actant. In season 2 is the first time that Eleven has a relationship that is different from a father-daughter situation, not only by encounter with Kali, but also the romantic movies she watched on the TV, and her late relationship with Mike.

In season 3, those ideals are broken. Max comes as a disruptor in Eleven's life, the only thing El knows at that point it Brenner, Mike and Hopper, so Max comes to change this perspective. It is with that relationship that El actively becomes a subject that not only acts based on their desires, but rejects imposed desires from other subjects.

So she not only changes the way she is, but breaks up with Mike, she pushes away one of the few pillars she has, which is a big character growth.

However, in the end of season 3 she loses everything. Hopper is dead, she no longer has powers, she is far away from Max, the only thing she can get back, though, is Mike, so she does.

Now, before continuing, you see how terrible this is? To be fair, subjugating a female character to this situation is ridiculous and something that should NEVER be gratified, but I'll dive more this in the conclusion

In season 4, El lies to Mike about her situation, she wants to perform an idea that she is whole without her powers, that she can be a normal person, because, in her mind, Mike won't like her if she shows fragility, she needs to be strong. With Mike not saying that he loves her confirming that, without her powers, he doesn't see her that way, that she needs them to be loved.

And, honestly, Mike's "monologue" only reinforces this into El's mind, he was only able to say "I love you" to her when she was using them, when she was being a superhero.

Fun fact: that Mike Confession Scene was NOT a monologue, I'll explain in another post. It is a theoretical thing that no one cares, but I need to say to sound smart.

Deep Semantic Oppositions

Now comes the hardest part: summarize El's character in a simple semantic opposition. And, to be honest, there are a few of them. The reason why that is important is that, when we build the previous two steps - narrative and discursive levels - we use them to justify this opposition, therefore, they are build to reinforce it.

El's opposition I'm diving into is object x subject. Why? That's her storyline, the whole show, the desire to be a subject, but being subjugated into an object by everyone around.

In the first seasons, she is more of an object, being act upon, being experimented, but also, being the key to others' actions (Papa's control, the lab's weaponization, Mike's need for love)

While in seasons 3 and 4, she claims her agency: chooses her name, clothes, friends and battles, the turning point being the break-up, where she rejects the object status, becoming so, a subject.

Mike Wheeler

Discursive Level

Discursively, Mike is a character constructed to be an emotional anchor, he wants to protect, and, when he can’t, he feels bad, feels out of place. His self-image is about being needed, he derives identity from being El’s protector and emotional reference point. Not only for El, but for Will too.

Mike’s character says, not do. He is highly reactive, doesn’t change the world; he tries to maintain relationships and stabilize emotions. In summary, Mike rarely does something to show, he says, he promises and declares. Mike wants to be a protector to Eleven, he says it multiple times, but since Eleven has powers, he might not be necessary, and that breaks him.

However, when he can do this in season 4, when she cannot defend herself from Angela, he does nothing, he can’t react, or maybe, doesn’t want to.

When a couple is determined as the official, usually they move each other forward, both characters grow within the relationship and their motivations and troubles evolve accordingly. However, when looking at Mike, that doesn’t happen, Mike doesn’t have any major character evolution, differently than all the other main characters, which suggests that his drive to evolution is not in El, but something else.

His relationship with Eleven, therefore, is a self-validation tool, since he is in a relationship everything is fine, even so, he’s incapable of validating El’s feelings, since, for him, the status is enough and nothing else is needed.

With that said, let’s look through another lens and understand Mike’s relationship with Will. Here, Mike does the opposite: shows more than says. Which is interesting, is almost like that, with Will, he doesn’t need to reassure anything, just being is enough. Nonetheless, Mike and Will are almost always, if not always, framed into private and intimate moments, and mostly close physically, and consequently, emotionally.

Also, if not romantic, Mike isn’t as close physically to El than he is to Will, something that was really well observed by many members of the Byler community, and, the technical aspects of a text, in these cases, film, affect directly the understanding of the message. Therefore, not taking blocking into consideration when analyzing film is, honestly, superfluous. That said, Mike and Will’s relationship is more intimate, welcoming and, by consequence, less performative and dramatic as Mike and El’s relationship.

Mileven scenes, on the other hand, are fast-paced and, usually tense for reasons outside their relationship. Scenes like Byler only happen to Mileven when there are tensions in their relationship, so, it’s almost obvious to infer that when it’s a love scene, the focus isn’t their relationship, while, when it’s a fight scene, the focus shifts to them.

When it comes to protection, he’s much the same with both, however, he is more complex when it comes to Will, usually his dialogue and Finn’s acting is more complex in Byler scene than in Mileven scenes, which suggest more importance in those scenes. Framing Will and Mike’s relationship so ambiguous and complex is, for semiotics, what makes a relationship authentic, which never happens with Mileven.

Narrative Level

When it comes to the narrative level, both to Will and El, Mike isn’t capable of fulfilling the proper narrative function he’s assigned to, however, the ways he fails is different in both.

With El, Mike is the boyfriend, he has the function of supporting her romantically, so she can overcome the evil with love. Taking season 4 then, overcoming Vecna with his confession. However, Mikes doesn’t know how to help El, cannot say “I love you” when he needs to, he claims to love her, but never actively does anything to prove it and knows that he should be there for El, but rarely is.

He is therefore a failing narrative subject, someone whose role is clear, but who does not fully realize it in action. He’s given a romantic arc, but does not embody the transformation that should come with it. Mike is supposed to be a helper, an object of desire, however becomes an obstacle, a false helper (he lies, creates confusion, etc.). In summary, Mike’s narrative arc feels incomplete and, mostly, forced, artificial, there’s no emotional development or transformation.

With Will, Mike acts like the friend, but also as the unresolved desire. Here, Mike doesn’t have a clear function, but his arc is haunted by possibility. He is unaware of Will’s feelings, but knows how to support him and shows it more than just saying he does. That creates, “semiotically”, a more authentic subject.

Mike is a subject with a possibility of transformation, where he might change his relationship towards Will. Their relationship is structured as a coming-of-age arc or an identity arc that is yet to be resolved. 

In summary, at the narrative level, Mike is more of a genre placeholder in the El arc, he represents what a boyfriend “should be,” but without the corresponding personal transformation that legitimizes the role.

With Will, he becomes a subject in crisis, caught between a role he’s performing and a self he hasn’t yet discovered. It’s less dramatic narratively, but more authentic semantically.

Deep Semantic Oppositions

When looking at Mike’s semantic opposition, it’s correct to say it is Authenticity x Performance. That comes with the idea that, with El, Mike is over performative, he tries to prove every single time that he’s in love with El, while, with Will, he lets his actions shows, he just feels, creating a more authentic experience.

Also, that might encapsulate Mike’s identity crises, that’s implied in all the levels of analysis. His actions towards El feel imposed, proved by the fact that, if it wasn’t for Will almost begging for Mike to do something at the end of season 4, he wouldn’t have done. While with will he’s more emotionally authentic. However, it lacks language or social permission to express it directly.

This tension aligns deeply with semiotic theories of subjectivity, the subject is not fixed, but constructed through contradictory roles and expectations. Mike’s conflict between performance and authenticity is exactly that. The ambiguity created by this opposition is not resolved by the narrative, and that’s what makes it rich for analysis. Unlike characters with a clear arc (e.g., El’s growth from object to subject), Mike’s arc remains unfinished, precisely because he’s stuck in the performance of a role that doesn’t fully fit.

This produces tension for the viewer, and is why so many fans feel there’s “something off” about Mike’s role, it’s not that the writing is bad, but that the character is written to be incomplete.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it's clear that Mileven is not a fitting resolution for either Mike or Eleven's character arcs. For Eleven, Mileven reinforces her position as a narrative object, falling into a misogynistic trope where female characters are portrayed as incomplete or lacking without the presence of a man or male figure.

For Mike, Mileven reduces him to a passive character whose actions have little to no impact on the overarching narrative, as he relies entirely on others — especially Eleven — to define his identity.

While Mileven might fulfill the expectation of a typical romantic relationship, it doesn't serve the characters in the way a more nuanced, authentic partnership would. Mike’s emotional immaturity and lack of self-awareness, paired with Eleven’s ongoing struggle to reclaim her agency, make their relationship more of a hindrance than a fulfilling conclusion to their arcs. Their narrative roles are more about performing a "boyfriend-girlfriend" dynamic than authentically exploring what it means to be in a healthy, balanced relationship.

In contrast, Byler offers a more organic narrative, allowing Mike's character arc to come full circle and providing the space for his actions to truly resonate within the story. It creates a more organic narrative, where Mike can act like himself and act beyond this performative personality he has to Eleven. The subtleties in their interactions, framed by quiet, intimate moments, provide a sense of real connection that doesn’t rely on external pressures or forced conventions. Mike and Will’s bond has the capacity for transformation, both on a personal and emotional level, which is something that Mileven ultimately lacks.

Ultimately, while Mileven may serve as a convenient narrative device, Byler provides a more satisfying and realistic resolution for both characters. It’s not just about romance, it’s about character growth, emotional authenticity, and a relationship that drives the characters forward, rather than keeping them stagnant. Given that the creators have emphasized that Stranger Things is about the characters, not just the paranormal backdrop, Mileven undermines the very essence of the show.

Final Note: I'm NOT a semiotics specialist, therefore, it might have some conceptual mistakes here or there, however, the overall message is clear: Byler endgame :)

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Steddie Upside-down AU Part 26

Part 1 Part 25

“We can’t just make Steve wait even longer because some stupid kids–” Eddie yells.

“Keyword kids, Munson,” Chief Hopper shouts back.

“–got themselves in a little bit of trouble!”

“You mean the goddamn Feds staking out their houses? With guns?” Chief Hopper asks. “That’s the ‘little trouble’ you’re talking about?”

“Why is that my proble–”

“Eddie,” Will says. 

Eddie stops pacing the length of the living room to look down at where Will’s curled up on the couch, hunching in as the voices raise. He sighs, ragged and angry, but sits on the couch, flapping his hand dismissively toward Chief Hopper. “Just fucking go,” he says meanly. “You were always going to.”

“Boy,” Wayne says, warningly. 

Eddie groans. “Fine, just hurry, okay?” Eddie’s nails are ragged from chewing on them. He doesn’t look up as his uncle and Chief Hopper leave the house. 

Mom, Jonathan, Barbara, and Nancy are hunched over at the table drinking coffee and analyzing the maps of the areas surrounding  the lab. Will feels like his intestines are tying themselves in knots. Mike could be being held at gunpoint by now with the rest of his friends. 

Steve’s still stuck on the other side, thirsty and hungry and running for his life. And alone. 

Eddie jumps up and starts pacing again, running his hand through his greasy hair. Some of it comes out in a clump when his fingers get caught in a knot. He looks like he’s unraveling. Without Steve, there’s nothing anchoring him here. Will’s afraid he’ll float away.

“You’re not the only one worried, you know,” Nancy says curtly, not even looking up from the map in front of her.

Eddie stops in his tracks. “Excuse me?” he demands.

“Nancy,” Jonatha warns.

“My parents' house is being watched,” she says, using her level voice like a weapon. “Mike is out there, trapped and defenseless.”

“Yeah, but–”

“And I care about Steve, too,” she snaps.

Eddie’s fingers curl into fists at his sides, one of his fingers sticking out strangely, like it can’t quite curl like the rest of them. 

Eddie doesn’t say anything, but he does sit down, teeth grinding hard enough to be audible. 

They go back to waiting in silence. It doesn’t last long. 

The door bursts open, people pouring in. Mike first, standing by a girl with a shaved head that WIll doesn’t recognize, Lucas and Dustin hot on their heels.

It’s Lucaus who spots him first, yelling, “Will!” and colliding with him with enough force to send him sprawling partially on top of Eddie. More arms follow one after another. Dustin, then Will’s, until they’re all piled onto the too-small couch, sending Eddie falling off the side with an oof.

Voices overlap, demanding answers Will’s not sure how to answer, where to start. He feels his breathing hitch.

“Alright, back off kiddies, let him breathe!” Eddie says, pulling bodies away from Will until he’s got a little bubble around himself. 

Dustin still has his palm on Will’s calf, like he can’t help himself, while Lucas and Mike look at Eddie distrustfully. “Who are you?” Mike demands.

“Mike!” Nancy reprimands, making him whirl around. 

“Nancy?” he asks, incredulous, seemingly only now noticing that his sister was in the room.

She rolls her eyes, looking back down to the table. 

Knowing the signs of a Wheeler verbal smackdown when he sees it, Will says, “this is Eddie,” shrinking in on himself a bit when they all turn to him. “He saved my life.”

“Cool,” Dustin breathes, but Lucas’s eyes only narrow further.

“In the Upside Down?” Mike asks.

“That what you all are calling the parallel world?” Eddie asks, swinging his legs out from under his to sit cross cross.

Mike nods, “yeah,” he says. “Where the Demogorgon comes from.”

“Do none of you twerps know what a Demogorgon looks like?” Eddie asks, everyone ignores him.

“So everything is okay now?” Lucas asks. “We can go home?”

Chief Hopper, having made his way inside to loom over them all in the living room with his arms crossed as Wayne closes the door behind them, says, “no way kid. The Feds are swarming your houses.”

“Oh, man,” Lucas says, head in hands. “I’m so grounded.”

“And we’re not leaving Steve,” Eddie says, glaring up at Chief Hopper as Wayne rolls his eyes in the doorway.

“Steve?” Mike demands, whipping his head around to glare at Will. “Nancy’s stupid boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

Will nods. “He saved my life too."

Mike glares at him the way he always does right before he folds. He sighs, slumping down like Will had just asked him to do something abhorrent. “Ughhh, fiiiine. We’ll save stupid Steve Harrington.”

“You kids aren’t saving anyone,” Wayne says, shuffling into the kitchen and accepting the cup of coffee Joyce hands him with a smile. “We’ll get him.”

Chief Hopper asks, “any idea where he’ll be in there?” 

“I might know a way we can find out,” Mike says, turning to the unnamed girl where she’s standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, clutching at the hem of her dirty pink dress. “Can you find him?” 

She looks scared to have all the eyes on her, but nods, looking down. “I will find him.”

Part 27

[phoenixyfriend]

The groupings are not based on trying to ensure equal demographics in each, but by proximity to and impact of the Bering Strait Land Bridge theory or other relation to prehistoric colonization of the Americas.

I wasn't sure how to group Oceania and the Polynesian/Micronesian/Melanesian folks given the overall histories, so you get your own bunch. I can't remember if those theories about Polynesians reaching the Americas for trade on occasion, prior to written records, are legitimate/supported or just a thing I heard once. Either way, I think that history of 'discovering unpopulated lands by heading east from large landmasses' is similar enough that maybe it comes up for overlapping histories? IDK! You get your own buttons.

Also wasn't sure if it would make sense to include SEAsia with East Asia or lump it in with the rest, buuuut I think upon reviewing the maps that it looks like the Strait is a lot less geographically/politically related to most of East Asia than I thought, so there's less of a difference between EAsia and SEAsia than I thought, enough that marking them out separately from Russia but not each other probably works.

I initially wrote out a less America-Specific description of primary/secondary or elementary/middle/high but honestly? It took up too much space. Appropriate disambiguation made the title so long that people wouldn't have read it. So. You get K-12 or equivalent.

I'm including Mexico with Central America for two reasons: 1. Most Mexicans I've seen talking on the topic recently, at least on tumblr, prefer to be divided in that direction for cultural reasons. 2. Geographically much more distant from the Bering Strait than its northern neighbors.

Also, please reblog! I want this to go past my primarily anglophone-countries circle if possible.

[iwriteasfotini]

In the morning, James woke to his very own personal space for the first time all summer. He yawned, stretching his whole body, relishing the fact Sirius wasn’t touching him with a stray leg or arm, or curled into his side. He put his glasses on, trying to shift as little as possible, and blinked through the morning light. 

Remus was blinking back at him, but all James could see of Sirius was his black hair as he was tucked into Remus’ side. 

Ah, James thought, so that’s why I was spared. 

Remus lifted his free hand and brought it to his lips to indicate quiet. Sirius must still be asleep. 

James scooted as gently and quietly as he could closer to the other two. 

“So he’s always like this then,” whispered James. 

Remus gave a small nod. 

>>><<<

The reality is... I'm apparently obsessed with bedsharing. So if you are reading a fic and EVERYONE is sleeping in each other's beds in a totally platonic way... you can be like 80% sure I wrote that fic.

But I really did write this one...

Even the Slytherins do it...

No, [James] was looking for a very specific dot, and he found it easily, though he was not pleased to see a second dot labeled Severus Snape practically overlapping with the one labeled Regulus Black. The two dots were in the third year dormitory as James recognized the names of the other dots spread around the room. None of the dots were moving, which suggested everyone was tucked into bed. 

James narrowed his eyes at the two tiny dots. This is exactly what Remus meant when he told Sirius he might not like what the map revealed. And of course, James also had some nagging guilt he was prying into Regulus’ personal business. 

If it hadn’t been for Lily, James probably would have flipped a lid. But Severus had always been Lily’s or was it the other way round? Whatever their sleeping arrangement, James doubted very much Regulus and Severus were romantically involved. He could double check with Lily, but no, for she would want to know how he came about such a bizarre assumption. 

Cursing Remus and the map itself, James folded the parchment and tucked it under his pillow. The map would come in handy eventually. It had to. 

Plus, Regulus had admitted having feelings for him mere hours ago. And James didn’t think it likely he would be baiting James for a laugh. Still, when he closed his eyes, all he could see were those two minuscule dots: Severus Snape and Regulus Black. In a disgruntled mood he turned over and tried to fall asleep.

But Severus has had enough and puts his foot down in the next work...

Chapter III of The Heart of the Lion

“Okay, Lily wants to meet tomorrow night, Room of Requirement at eight. And I think we need to back off the sleepovers this year. People keep whispering about us.” [Severus said]

“Do they? I didn’t notice,” said Regulus with a worried expression.

[ranticore]

Helloo I have questions for you re: the author ask you reblogged recently!! If you'd like for Félix and Islin: 2, 3, 4, 12, 14, 19 (and 20 if you'd like!)

let's fucking GOOOOOOO!!!

2: How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

F: day fucking one babey i knew his entire life story from the first second i drew him. the only things that changed are some minor appearance details. the FINAL final version has not arrived yet because i haven't finished writing the third book ;)

I: sure he looked different but in terms of personality and behaviour, the early him was very similar to what ended up in the books. what has changed is my understanding of him (<- that is to say, he always behaved the same, but i had to keep teasing out WHY he did that to reach what felt like a 'true' conclusion)

3: What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

F: "oh I have to make a guy to be Jean's Twin Brother" so role in the story I guess

I: Absolutely the religiosity, there had to be a tension between his morals and what he did for a living (among the magpies). Personality I guess

4: And reverse, which one of the four things did you struggle with the most?

F: Name. I am TERRIBLE at naming

I: .... Name

12: Do you have a playlist for the character? What songs do you associate with them and why?

Both of them had separate playlists, but I hated how it crowded my spotify playlist window thingy to have so many, and there was a lot of overlap, so I consolidated their playlists into 1 big MVF draft one playlist with no rhyme or reason and no consistent anything

For songs, I can pick some random ones now just by hitting shuffle. It's a playlist I actually don't listen to much anymore (I made a new one for the rewrite) so this is a fun time capsule

Ok first Islin one i got was Devil Devil by MILCK, Point of Creation by Markéta Irglová, Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys OF COURSE, Judas by Lady Gaga... of course..., Los Ageless by St. Vincent, No Light No Light by Florence + The Machine, Without a Map by Markéta Irglová, and Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) by Florence + The Machine naturally

for Félix i got Heat Waves by Glass Animals, What's a Devil to Do by Harley Poe, A Mask of My Own Face by Lemon Demon hehe, Like a Prayer by Madonna, The Stolen Child - 2006 Remaster by the Waterboys (this is just. The Poem. yknow the one), Stalker's Tango by Autoheart, and finally Bad Believer by St. Vincent

14: Do you have any quotes tied to the character, either from the story itself or from another source that fit them?

Oh hmmm I don't think so? It would be hard to pick one line out of thousands except who am I kidding it's this line from the first draft of the book i'm writing right now

it's so dumb

19: What is your general favourite thing about the character? What is your least favourite?

F: who's to say

I: i like how mean-spirited he can be at times despite all illusions to the contrary. huge fan personally

20: Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

i got nothing lol i tried going to random spots in the document but i'm not feeling any excerpts rn

[indelicate-delicacies]

Hey so not to get too wildly off-track from the normal topic of conversation on this blog, but if you so permit it, I'd love to talk about another little theory of mine about the Magnus Protocol of all things. It's only a little hatchling, too young to really be too particular on the details, but we've got that season 2 drop closing in, so there's only so much time I have left to ship it off before it gets completely demolished from being proven wrong 6 times over.

As you might expect, spoilers incoming for pretty much the entirety of Season 1 (Not including the s1 epilogue).

So, the fears, right? If you've not heard of them, then you are the very rare individual that has somehow both found my blog, and listened to the entirety of Magnus Protocol before listening to half of Magnus Archives. I am very proud of you for managing to find this; though perhaps you should check if you've been marked by the Eye. (Joking.)

We're here to get down to the fears, where are they now, what's their new business plan, etc. etc. Well, I can say one thing for certain: Smirke's 14 is certainly not the main system we're operating with. There are some clear remnants of this system, such as the Stranger--they're still going strong, what with the Mr Bonzo and such. And I'll get into why that's still here later, but my point is we will not be relying on Smirke's 14.

But even if it's not 14, there are still some kind of division of the fears present. While the motifs may not be familiar to us, they are there if you look for them. The Deep is a clear example, because once it is literally name-dropped by an avatar external, the motifs become pretty easy to look out for. Even in one season, the amount of episodes involving drowning or water is too statistically significant to be some accident.

So you may be asking, "how does this work? How are the fears being stretched in such awkward ways that they have to go by completely different names?" Well, the thing is, they are not being stretched any more awkwardly by these new names than they were by the old ones. Think of it this way: they are mapping out the same landmass, but they break up the landmarks with completely different borders. You can see some decent overlap between certain fears, like the Deep with the Buried, and that's because that area has to go somewhere. And the Deep takes a good chunk of it, so as a result it seems awfully familiar.

The next question to answer: "If it's not 'Smirke's 14' anymore, then who's responsible for this one?" Shockingly, I think we can answer this. With the statement regarding Sir Isaac Newton himself, a Historical figure just like Robert Smirke, that shows him speculating on fear and its mechanics, we have a potential culprit for this new arrangement. Consider this parallel: Robert Smirke was always focused on balance, and how the fears are supposedly able to cancel each other out; Newton's third law of motion states that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." That's not much evidence to place him as specifically responsible for all the current fear stuff, but it would be particularly powerful foreshadowing if the guy who designed these new fears was name-dropped all the way back in Season One, and Mr. Sims has made it clear he is quite fond of making sure everything is included for good reason. So I'm just going to make an educated guess and point my finger at Newton.

But the main thing I'm going to be discussing here is what the new fears are, how they're broken up, what their motifs/"motives" are, and afterwards, how the old fears factor into all of this. The thing is, I'm not exactly studied up on all the alchemy stuff, or much of anything regarding Isaac Newton outside of his theory of gravity; Maybe I'll research in the future, but again, we're working with a limited amount of time so I won't be diving into Isaac's methods and ideas just yet. Right now, I just mentioned him as a possible lead so I could have a name in here for the sake of naming this system of fears. That being Newton's system of 8. But let's get into that, shall we?

Here's how I think the fears are broken up:

The Deep. Related to the Buried and the Dark (and a portion of the Vast and the Lonely).

(Note: this is the only name confirmed in canon--the only other possibly canon name is "Liminal Hunger," which although it could be a name, it is likely not a frequent name. But for all the other names, they are speculations based on their themes.)

There seems to be only a small difference between the choking of the Buried and the drowning of the Deep. But there is certainly a difference. In the Buried, there is no action, no moving, no seeing. But the Deep is always moving. It pulls you downward, always further in, perhaps even convincing you to try and swim. But the pull is too much. You are locked in its grasp, and it will never stop pulling you closer and closer. The shock of cold gets you, paralyzing all your muscles except the ones in your heart, that cannot stop beating faster and faster. You struggle and fight and you try to swim, try to get one gasp of air. But it holds you close, and yet closer still. The cold grip tightens until you freeze. And only then do you stop moving.

Occurrences of this fear are: Episode 11 case file; statement of the corpse from episode 15; Episode 29 case file.

The Wild. Related to the Corruption and the Hunt.

The climbing, crawling, creeping Wild. It describes the Wrath of Demeter, the dense weeds with desire to spread and take control, the angry beast that wishes to fight and defend its territory. Sometimes it comes to devour, sometimes it comes for the sport of sewing chaos. Its truth reveals we are all not too distant from animals. It's angry, and hungry, and it just wants to survive. So it will take, splitting rock open with its roots. From nature we came, and it promises that to nature we will return.

Occurrences of this fear are: Ink5oul's floral serpent tattoo (described in episode 2); episode 3 case file; episode 14 case file; Lady Mowbray (episode 15); episode 24 case file.

The Risk/Never Enough. Related to the Desolation and the End (and a portion of the Web).

There's always a risk. At any time, there's risk of an accident, an injury, death--every day is a gamble. We believe that we get control over our lives, but there will always be a risk of losing everything. And if that's the case, what harm is there in challenging risk? If you're already living with a ticking clock that could run out at any moment, why not try for something more? If a small gamble pays out, then maybe you'll earn yourself a bit of a safety cushion? You'll only be taking one risk to replace another, and if your luck is as good as it's been so far, with you still being alive and all, maybe you'll finally be safe from the risk entirely. Except, there's still a risk. Maybe smaller after taking that chance, but not small enough. You need more gambles, more wins, until you're finally safe. Finally free. It won't matter how many times you lose, as long as you win in the end. Just one more try, just one more risk...

Occurrences of this fear are: Episode 1 case file 1; Episode 9 case file; Episode 13 case file.

The Pain. Related to the Slaughter (and a portion of the Flesh).

Fear of pain is simple. We're all familiar with it; that sting as some new injury has disgraced your flesh. Perhaps some marking their brand forever on your body, cutting deeply enough that your skin cannot repair without producing scars. A fear so common, it is almost ubiquitous. And yet despite this, it is a fear so commonly disrespected. What harm is there in hesitance in the presence of a needle? Why compare it to larger injury, when even such a tiny thing is capable of causing permanent damage? One needle is enough. Enough to burrow deep into you with complete disregard for the body it has infiltrated. Even a single sting is small, but it stays, and leaves you with some unnamable, deeper ache. A fear of its ability to return, and to take the opportunity to cause something much, much worse.

Occurrences of this fear are: Ink5oul (episode 2, 11, 16, 20); episode 6 case file.

Liminal Hunger. Related to The Spiral and the Flesh.

I'm not sure I understand this one. It is a hunger that must be sated, an emptiness that wishes to be filled. A place waiting to fulfill its purpose. But are the people who made it the source of this desire? The wish to have their work mean something, brought to life? Or is it something carried by the viewer, who expects something from a building until it decides to oblige them? Either way, there's something about those places. That it was created, theoretically with some purpose, and now its potential is being wasted. Even if it's some niche use, it still deserves to be used. It deserves to have a place, to get the appreciation that it earned. It deserves to have its purpose. At first I believed this fear to be something from the Flesh, being that the Hungry Man Grill really suggested that that fear was still around. I considered that it could have just expanded to be more than just meat and food, shifted toward a matter of creation. A hunger for purpose. But that wasn't it. While there are shared components with the Flesh, it is distinctly separated from its desire for simplicity and nature. The Flesh says we are all nothing but meat, but Liminal Hunger says we are something more. Something strange. And whatever it is, the fear wants it drawn out of us, have it pushed out our lungs and our hands and our eyes. It wants to live through us. It wants to be our creation.

Occurrences of this fear are: Episode 7 case file; episode 8 case file; episode 18 case file; Helen Richardson (Episode 26); The Custodian (Episode 30).

The Stranger. Mostly similar to the version of the Stranger in the Magnus Archives.

This version of the Stranger is very similar to the one we're familiar with, but it's not the same. All these ideas on the "other" and the unfamiliar are present, but they have been shifted to be an examination of objectification and desire. For an example of the contrast: while the previous horror in the taking of Breekon and Hope's name was about identity theft and your name no longer being yours, the loss of Nigel Dickerson's self is quite different. Mr. Bonzo was a simple property of his, one that was such an obsession for people that it eclipsed him as a person. People knew Mr. Bonzo, they liked him and were familiar with him, but everybody forgot the person behind the character. And then, all of it was taken away when the famous face was turned infamous. Mr. Bonzo is a story about celebrity culture, about being popular but never seen. Breekon and Hope were quiet, a personal and secret theft of personhood, while Mr. Bonzo was loud, an identity tainted and swept away by a roaring crowd. Not all of the fear is reaching this level of publicity in its motions, but it does permit itself to be seen more often, even if that image will always be false. If the Stranger had a name-change to reflect the way it's been changed, it could be called the Performance.

Occurrences of this fear are: Episode 5 case file (possibly located at the amphitheater); Mr. Bonzo (episode 10, 12); Episode 27 case file (though seemingly a more traditional version of the Stranger than my suggestions of the Performance).

The Mirror. Related to the Lonely and the Spiral (and a small portion of the Eye).

Sometimes when we look in the mirror, we are disturbed by what we see. Either by what is there, or what isn't. Some become trapped by the sight, trying to make fixes, or make conversation. Some are disturbed by the warps they see in the reflection, wishing to find an image of themselves that portrays them in perfect accuracy--in the attempt to deny something they wish to not be true, or in the hope that they will one day be able to understand just what they are. It's a fear that many people interact with in many different ways. And because the way we fear the Mirror is personal, I can do no more than describe its silhouette. I cannot fully express the complexity of its design, the intricacies of its attack. Because it is impossible for me to be a part of the dialogue that only You and the Mirror can share.

Occurrences of this fear are: episode 17 case file; episode 21 case file; episode 22 case file; episode 23 case file.

The Network. Related to the Web and the Eye.

The Network is a lot of things. On some matters, it is much like the Eye, nosy and knows how to find people. But on others, it's blind and clumsy. Because the Network is the fear of people. Not like how the Stranger is the fear of people--crowds of unblinking dolls and false identities--but real, genuine humanity. People that are just the same as you, and yet will always stay separated. The disconnect from others that cannot truly be broken, despite how tightly we are all interwoven. The truth that everything, every bit of the social structure we have created to make people feel safe, will always be vulnerable to simple human error. And this fear is only exacerbated when systems of hierarchy are concerned. Humans that are no different than anyone, no better than anyone, are put above each other in a never-ending cascade of hierarchy. At times, some feel they gain power from this system, some genuine control over their lives, not subject to the bizarre whims of a stranger. But then, no matter how big the role they play, a bigger fish shows up. Even the Externals have something to fear. Because there is no top, no point where you're above other people. That's a fiction invented by the desire for control, for stability. The Network is the fear that there is no stability, because the world is filled with people just like you. The fear that we will continue to enforce a broken system, not out of ignorance, but because it's the best we can do.

Occurrences of this fear are: The OIAR (all episodes); episode 16 case file (though caused by Ink5oul, an External related to the Pain); statement of Samama Khalid from episode 28 (just speculative--motifs are unclear, but not sure how else to place it).

If you kept a careful tally of the different case files I divided up amongst the different fears, you might have noticed I missed a few. You might think this implies I left one of the fears unclassified or something of that nature, but I think it's different. All these edge-cases are essentially arguments between "philosophers"-- because despite the mostly lacking presence of Robert Smirke, there are clearly still some remaining artifacts from his work. Some examples include... You know... The Magnus Institute existing at all in the show. Also that violent violin that was nothing but a dead-ringer for the Slaughter (episode 4 case file). And I think they are present because, at some point in time, Smirke did actually get down to the brass tacks of trying to break up the fears like he did in the Magnus Archives. The only difference is, he failed, and most of the fear structures that he built eventually dissipated back into the format they were previously reliant on. There's a reason why the violin story was so old, and why the Archive only spits something out when someone goes picking at its supposed corpse. It's not clear whether the buildings were destroyed because Newton himself came down to beat Smirke to death with a metal pipe, or because Smirke made some little mistake that got him killed (resulting in his architecture being left to slowly erode over time). But clearly Smirke had a short time where at least some of his structures were in place, and if some fragments of their remains are intact, then they remain capable of producing the occasional little nugget of fear. The Stranger, however, might have outlived the rest for a reason. If Newton's setup already had something remarkably similar to the Stranger, it could have decided it was easier to adopt/reformat the new motifs than it was to wholly reject them-- perhaps even leaving the amphitheater mostly undamaged. This is why I listed the Stranger as one of Newton's system of 8.

With all that wrapped up for now, I wanted to leave you with an "honorable mention" of a theory. For how close the number of fears was to 7, and for the Christian themes in the Newton case file, I almost made my theory revolve around the seven deadly sins. But 7 just didn't make as much sense as 8, so you all have been saved from this theory cliché. But just so you all know how close it came: The Deep was Sloth, the Wild was Wrath, the Risk was Greed, the Pain was Envy, Liminal Hunger was Gluttony, the Stranger was Lust, the Mirror was Pride, and the Network was assumed to be from remnants of Smirke's 14--though that wouldn't have made sense when they were the ones responsible for destroying the Magnus Institute (and likely the other buildings).

[willtheweaver]

Mapmaking 101, part 3

Hello, and welcome to part 3 of ???

Pt 1 Pt 2

You will need: Partially completed map, notes, pencil, eraser, ruler (optional)

-Trees and forests-

Let’s be honest: a landscape of just grass, sand, and rocks is pretty boring. Adding trees spices things up.

For this tutorial, trees have two components: the trunk and the body. The first is done by drawing a short vertical line, with a perpendicular line at the base. Variety comes by carrying the main body of the tree itself:

Coniferous trees- The familiar pine, spruce, and fir are associated with colder climates and high elevations. The basic shape of the tree is a triangle, and can be narrow or wide. Keep the angles sharp to differentiate from deciduous trees.

Deciduous trees- These are the trees that have bread leaves which are shed in autumn. To differentiate them from conifers, draw them with a vaguely oval outline and rounded angles.

Tropical trees- For trees found in the tropics, use the basic shape for a deciduous tree, but make it larger, with a longer trunk.

Palm trees- These icon of tropical islands and beaches. For our purposes, a palm is represented by a tuft of leaves sprouting from the top of a single trunk.

Dead trees- A lone dead tree amongst a living forest, or an entire grove of bare branches and trunks can add a sense of spooky. Drawing a short straight line indicates a stump, while a full tree can be made from several lines forming a trunk and branches.

As with all plants, trees need water, and they should be placed in areas where water would be available, such as near a river or lake, close to mountains and hills, or along the coast where there is sufficient mist.

When drawing a forest, you may want to outline the boundaries first. Whether you do, or work freehand, start at the bottom and work your way up. Overlapping trees do not need to show the trunk (for those who outline, make sure to erase your lines as you go along).

-Wetlands-

Bogs, marshes, mires all form where the water table is high enough for the ground to waterlogged. To represent them on a map, start with three short vertical lines to represent reeds or sedges. Add as many as you want, until the wetland is of sufficient size. You can add dead trees as well as short lines and dots in between the rushes.

For those practicing on the example map, it should look like this:

Not sure about you, but things are looking interesting now.

Next time, we’ll be adding settlements and ruins.

[konig-varorson]

Happy 20th Anniversary Guild Wars - some stuff

As it is Guild Wars 1's 20th Anniversary, I thought I'd post some old things I did, as well as some old screenshots (which I'll put in another post).

A few years back I had taken the high quality maps from that_shaman and "completed" them. This one is of pre-Searing Ascalon, where I overlayed post-Searing regions onto it, and then shaded those regions green to make them more verdant and matching pre-Searing, to give us a completed look of what Ascalon would somewhat look like in GW1.

This one is of Tyria, where I added the pre-Searing, polymock arenas, guild halls, and other non-subterranean areas not on the world map. For guild halls, as there was no specific place for them to exist, I found geography which was fitting for the shape of the hall. The biggest thing is adding pre-Searing and darkening it (I didn't darken the snowry area because quite frankly, it looked bad, so it's a small white area where white otherwise isn't). I also fixed an error in Regent Valley that exists in-game since the world map changed for Eye of the North, where some parts of it has the unfogged appearance for some reason.

Nomad Isle and Isle of the Dead were a bit randomly chosen, as the former has no full distinguishing marks and the latter is subterranean, so it's not in this image but the next...

Like above, this is a "completed" map of Tyria, this time with all the subterranearn areas shown - the main purpose of this map was to show the Eye of the North dungeons and how they would look with direct connections in the floors. It's quite interesting just how far north Frostmaw goes.

One cool thing that I'm pretty sure was unintentional by ArenaNet, is that the boss area of Heart of the Shiverpeaks, which shows the skies and is on fire, ends up in a slightly blackened area on the world map!

My original plan for these images was to set up a small website similar to this interactive map from E3 2004, which would show each dungeon, outpost, and landmark with descriptions of them. I ended up scrapping the project due to time and budget, but it's still something I'd like to see. Maybe if I get more free time in the future.

With Cantha, I didn't need to add very much because all the PvP arenas were already on the map even without that_shaman. I did make use of his map that included Minister Cho's Estate, and the main changes were again adding the guild halls, but also the Alliance Battle maps to it. Unlike the guild halls, I didn't randomly guess location based on geography, but rather as the maps rotated in over a few months I took not of where opening the world map centered on (I did the same for polymock) and placed them there, or as close as possible without overlapping other maps. As you can tell, the Kurzick side got very cramped. Additionally, I added Urgoz's Warren - though I had to shift it a bit because it overlapped with Ferndale normally.

Cantha doesn't have much in the way of dungeons, but I did have this version that includes The Deep and Tunnels Beneath Cantha. This also shows the Undercity on the world map, overriding Xaquang Skyway.

Elona's guild halls were probably the least challenging, as two of them are Dajkah Inlet. Like Tyria and Cantha, the PvP maps were already on the world map. But the Hero Battles maps were not, so I found fitting places for those, and then added the Sunspear Sanctuary, Command Post, and the two zones that are underground and don't overlap. Unlike that_shaman, I also found a way to mix in the Turai's Story mission map, though I did notice that the geography changed quite a bit hmmmm, so I don't blame that_shaman from not including it in his own map.

Even less than Cantha, Elona only has the one dungeon that overlaps with above ground areas - Caverns Beneath Kamadan. So that was a fast one...

This one is left unfinished, however. It was a premise of making a Nightfallen Elona map - turn waterways into sulfur, turn the soil into gradiants of brown to blackish, etc. In the end, too much work, but I did enjoy overlapping Nightfallen Jahai, Nightfallen Garden, the version of Marga Coast from the mission, and the guild hall which I couldn't add to the normal version.

I had also considered making a map of Hall of Heroes similar to that_shaman's map of the Realm of Torment, but I never got around to it. Maybe one day.

[timdrakesbussy]

Do you have a Stardew fic recommendation list?

Oh, sure!

1. Stick Season by laststardrop | (Shane/Harvey) | Rated M

Harvey was two years into medical school when his boyfriend of three years up left him without a proper goodbye. Five year later, he finds him again.

2. No Place Like Home by Ash_Fountain | Multi (mainly Alex/Penny) | Rated E

[…] An AU where Penny buys the abandoned farm in order to build her own life. This fic follows several points of view, allowing for the drama of some of Stardew's younger citizens to unfold.

3. Things We Don’t Mean by maxRebo | (Alex/Sebastian) | Rated E

Sebastian has a complicated life. He’s been pining over his best friend for years and Sam loves him, too… just, not the way he wants. One day he finds some solace at the spa with someone he would never expect. Life doesn’t get less complicated after that.

4. In the Moonlight by UrsulaNoodles | (Emily/Shane) | Rated E

Shane's life has gone to hell, and he spends most of his nights sulking at the Stardrop Saloon, but Emily's positivity and friendship keep him afloat. He never meant to develop feelings for her, and he convinced himself that she didn’t feel the same way, but a night alone in Cindersap Forest has him thinking otherwise.

5. the wilderness farm map raises a lot of questions by eke | Multi (but mainly Shane/Male Farmer and Marlon/Marnie) | Rated M

6. Lighthouse on the Shore by CharalampidisGruber | (Alex/Sebastian) | Rated M

There's a small house in Pelican Town. Like every home in Pelican Town, this house keeps secrets. Tonight is no different when Sebastian shows up drenched on Alex's doorstep needing someone.

7. I Think I Love the Boy Next Door by animeboysruinedmylife | (Haley/Sam) | Rated M

Haley's not being dramatic, but the worst thing that ever happened to her was Sam moving in next door. She could tell from the second she first saw him that he’d be a pain in her ass. That smug little people-pleasing face. Gelled-up hair. Scuffed-up shoes like some kind of wannabe skater boy. She’s always been a good judge of character, even back then, and time has only proven her right.

8. Splinters by BlueberryFarmingForever | (Male Farmer/Others) | Rated T

The actions of a highly indecisive farmer from Robin's point of view.

9. In Your Eyes by Mouse_213 | (Sam/Sebastian) | Rated E

[…] Seb has his secret reasons for disliking Sam. Deeply rooted anger and anxiety whenever he sees Sam’s bright green eyes that Seb can’t even bring himself to tell Abigail about. And it seems like lately, all Sam wants to do is shove his way into Seb’s private, fiercely-protected life and become his friend. What’s he supposed to do now?

10. Things We Don’t Say by maxRebo | (Haley/Abigail) | Rated E

It's no secret that Haley and Abby have never gotten along. When a surprise coupling overlaps their social circles, they're forced to rely on each other for the sake of their best friends, and come to terms with what the tension between them is really all about.

11. on the (re)founding of rome by Sinister_Queer | (Alex/Sebastian) | Rated E

Sebastian remembers, in technicolor detail, the moment he first saw Alex. […] This is a story about falling in love. This is a story about re-building Rome. (Or: a jock and a goth fall in love)

12. i found nowhere (it got to know me) by szemkel | (Sam/Sebastian) | Rated E

The worst part of living in the city wasn’t the smog, the stench of car exhaust or the constant noise of traffic coming in through the opened windows; it wasn’t Sebastian’s current diet, made up mostly by instant noodles and delivery takeaways; it wasn’t the gray, soulless concrete which greeted his eyes wherever he went, either, and it wasn’t the berserk hoards of teenagers wandering about the streets every evening. To put it shortly, the worst part of living in the city wasn’t anything he had been warned about before moving there. The worst part of living in the city was the absence of Sam.

13. Book of Caroline by J_Unlimited | (Caroline/Male Player) | Rated E

For as long as Caroline could remember, she’s lived her life for others. Saddled with an unsatisfying life, she looks to the new farmer for comfort. Will he be the spark that Caroline needs to set herself free?

[txttletale]

bundletober #13: blazing hymn

alright i've fallen behind on bundletober (the series of blog posts where i review and talk about a ttrpg i got in a bundle every day) and am hoping to make up the difference by putting out two entries today. this is the first one, and i'm looking at the mecha-piloting, synthetic-armour wearing, blaspheming-against-God-and-his-angels game blazing hymn by peach garden games.

now sadly this game is not a lyric/blackout poetry game about rewriting church hymns to be about gay sex. someone should make that btw. no it's just about wearing highly advanced battlesuits powered by the song of your heart to kill aliens with weapons of pure energy. which is about as cool.

first off, the layout of this game is unique and stylish. there are hexagons everywhere:

the game puts sparse splashes of dreamy pastel colours amid a constantly shifting set of black and white hexagons. it gives the book a visual identity that is at once both visually distinct and also changing massively from page to page. it's a really cool way to mix things up and keep you wanting to turn the page if just to keep seeing what the next one even looks like.

what's the game about? simple. angels have come to earth to destroy it badly. with the power of song, young people can power specially designed battlesuits, called Hymnals, that when not activated collapse down into crystal necklaces. it's a pretty anime concept--the game is pretty open about being inspired by Evangelion and Symphogear, neither of which i've actually seen--but it's cool as hell. the aesthetics of the layout really help bring the aesthetics of the game itself, of technology and ethereal mysticism merged into one thing, to life.

the game uses a pretty simple three-stat system where you build dice pools with a state relevant to an action and can get a full success, mixed success, or failure, depending on what you roll. your characters have two resources, Health, which is what it sounds like, and Gain, which is essentially magical power. because you can swap Health for Gain and Gain for Health at a 1-1 ratio with no restrictions, i'm not really sure why they're separate things--seems like a missed opportunity to not only simplify the mechanics but also create a strong mechanical narrative element by making Gain the only thing that keeps you going--once your song is silenced, you're out.

to create a character, you pick from one of six unit classes--here's where i'd describe the six classes, but honestly, they don't quite feel distinct enough. a lot of the powers you can pick for each hymnal class feel very similar, or are outright overlapping in a lot of cases. this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the descriptions of the hymnals, while trying to clarify their combat roles, all end up seeming to repeat themselves or say contradictory things. i think some direct ties between those descriptions and their mechanics would have helped--i'd find it a lot easier to remember that, for example, the 05 Xyston type "brutal in combat" if that flavour text was followed by a direct reference to one or more of its abilities. they do all have pretty different stats--which, in a game with a very simple and elegant combat system, means i'm confident they play very differently once you hit the table. but just looking at them, as a prospective player, i struggle to tell the difference.

i don't have that problem with the next character creation mechanic, though, which is choosing the songs you sing to power your hymnal. each song, as well as a thematically appropriate set of stat boosts, also prompts a pair of revealing character questions. they're the kind of mechanic that i want to get my hands on because they make it fun to create characters, giving real mechanical expression to the emotional fundamentals of who they are.

the combat system itself seems really, really good. it's astoundingly simple--you're encouraged to use a map, but there's no fiddly grid or distance tracking, just the ability to move between being Close, Near, or Far from an enemy. it keeps the numbers low to keep it getting silly and doesn't bother with any of the unecessary bookkeeping and fiddliness that plagues TTRPG combat as a whole. no initiative, no separate turns--there's a 'player' turn and a GM turn, and during the GM turn the GM picks from enemy's listed actions until they've done two for each player. players can use their abilities on the GM turn, and the game encourages the GM to take enemy actions that wil lforce them to--so nobody's ever standing around twiddling their thumbs waiting for the whole table to rotate back to them, and having a lot of enemies doesn't mean the players listen to the GM talk for fifteen minutes.

there's two unique mechanics that i think are very interesting-- Civilians and Condemnation. Civilians are--well, exactly what they sound like. on their turn, players can use an action to evacutate up to 5 of them. this extremely small and simple mechanic is fucking genius. so many games tell you they're about saving innocent people, but yet the only mechanical verbs you have to interact with anyone are violent ones. as elaine scarry says in the body in pain:

so in a way i think blazing hymn puts its money where its mouth is in a way very few combat rpgs with emancipatory or heroic aspirations bother. angels are said to attack populated areas--you're sent to preserve life as well as destroy the enemy. it makes the game feel fundamentally different, like despite the questionable ethics of hymnals (after all, they only work on young people, who then have to be sent into deadly combat situations) there is something heroic you can do.

the second cool mechanic is condemnation, a reality-warping toxin that angels use to destroy the places they're sent to. this rocks because it adds a ticking timer to the battlefield, a passive threat that forces the player characters to be proactive. if condemnation gets too high, not only is the fight going to get harder, but civilians are going to die en masse. it's a great piece of game design that gives the GM a great lever to pull for pacing and urgency.

i also really like that one of the steps of the GM turn is to 'change the situation', whether that means something happens in the narrative or something on the map changes (a train arriving is the example the book gives) or more angels attack. in general, one of my biggest complaitns about d&d is that unless a DM takes it upon themselves to design additional mechanics and encounters outside of anything the game actually gives them, combat inevitably turns into two lines of people hitting each other with sticks until one of them dies. i love dynamic, progressing combat, combat where the stakes change moment to moment. and blazing hymn delivers.

anything else? oh yeah, the angel designs are cool as fuck.

god damn. anyway despite a few minor issues with the hymnals themselves, the core of blazing hymnal is fucking good, a nice tight and razor-sharp combat system wrapped up in pulsing pastel crystalline aesthetics. if you like cool anime fights and like having the rules to back it up but hate complexity, crunch, and tedium, this might be the perfect game for you. it's certainly given me a lot of cool design ideas to take foreward into my own projects.

blazing hymn is available for purchase as a digital download through itch.io

[empyrean-thrones]

Finished OS a couple weeks ago and just wanted to get my overall feelings out of the way before I publish an actual review later down the line. In no particular order, here it goes:

They didn't even bother to fix the Scottish Gaelic pronunciations in the audiobook after the backlash so what little respect I had for the publishers/author is now nonexistent. No, I didn't buy the audiobook (I refuse to give this author a single penny after that one Instagram post about Gaza), I found it on YouTube. After hearing the way the narrator says Tàirn in the first two chapters, I immediately turned it off and listened to something else. That's how angry it made me.

The gods suddenly becoming relevant halfway through the series with little buildup from the last two books felt jarring. I genuinely thought they were worshiping dead gods or at least ones fucked off eons ago

Andarna says Violet will have to commit crimes and do things she doesn't like in the prologue but these "crimes" are barely important and have no consequences whatsoever. I was hoping she'd do something heinous that would make her friends turn against her :/

I like Aaric and how unbothered he was about everything. Hopefully, his signet makes it so that he's capable of seeing multiple overlapping timelines/futures, but I don't have high hopes

King Courtlyn was my favorite new tertiary character. I found him much more enjoyable to read about than Xaden. The head platter scene felt like it could belong in asoiaf 💖

Talia is by far the most realistic feeling character out of everyone in the cast. It's fairly evident that she's trapped in an abusive relationship with men who don't value her and I wish this was explored more.

That being said, I don't care about Xaden at all. I was hoping he'd get some character development but he was mostly brooding about being a venin and lusting after Violet. I felt disappointed at the end when he became an asim because I didn't get a sense of… wrongness, I guess is the right word. He was the same as before personality wise and that cheapened things.

Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the things he did in this book were just typical Xadeness or the veninism. I'm still unsure if this was intentional, but he reads like someone unstable who's teetering on becoming abusive. I worry for Violet's future.

I'm glad there's no miscommunication between the two anymore, though

Violet's tic of blurting out fun facts is gone and I don't know why. It was such a staple part of her character; seeing it vanish feels weird.

I will forever despise the art department for not adding a map of the isles (a major setting) due to it being a "spoiler"

Violet's lightning growing to be an AoE attack instead of it being single target was pretty cool to see

The irids were an interesting addition, but I wish there was more of an in-depth conversation with them regarding war and pacifism. They are right in a way about dragon culture being based on violence and bloodshed (see: book 1) but they also seem like people who are all like "violence is never the option" when the alternative is to face death at the hands of the oppressor

Andarna being a literal child soldier is never properly addressed or given the weight it deserves. The adult dragons intentionally let a baby bond and enter a war zone with what seems to be little pushback from the other elders. Her accelerated growth and subsequent wing deformation is a perfect allegory for child soldiers/children growing up in war being forced to mature faster at the cost of their innocence. The irids should be more appalled by this imo. They should've called Violet out on the fact that she continues to bring this child into war even after finding out about her gift. Yes, she didn't know before but now she does. What's her justification for this? Why should they help a society that willingly lets children fight and end their wars for them?

Violet and Andarna dehumanize themselves by saying they're "the weapon" and I find that to be a testament of how society's failed them both

Naolin is mentioned once and never again. If he remains as Tàirn and Brennan's Dead Wife for the rest of the series, I'm going to rewrite every book myself to fix this

Theophanie was ultimately a pointless character since we never learn what it was she knew that Violet needed answers for

What is dedication and why is it so bad? Did Asher try to do what Hannah did with Samuel in the Bible?

Signets are apparently Pokémon types and we never find out this basic information until halfway through the series and it's treated as if it's basic knowledge

No one important died at the end which makes the stakes feel hollow and pointless

The only time I felt anything for Violet was towards the end when she had that conversation with Brennan about saving people. It's the one time I felt she was an actual person instead of a self insert power fantasy. Couldn't care about her afterwards

The venin have no nuance whatsoever. I cannot recall a single venin with complex motivations for what they do (Xaden doesn't count)

Yarros didn't even try to give Colonel Aetos any type of complex motive for why he does what he does. It's like mothers can be redeemed because of their "love" for their kids, but god forbid a man get the same treatment in the same series. He would've made a nice parallel to Lilith but alas

Tairn casually mentions that dragons draw on magic for their source and this is never mentioned ever again. So the dragons and gryphons look like a bunch of hypocrites rn

I fear this is becoming more and more of a white savior plot with the way Violet's so obsessed with saving Xaden. I hope Naolin comes back and drop kicks them both into the sun.

On the topic of Nao, I just know Yarros is going to make him insufferable if she goes through with making him relevant in the last two books. Please, I just want him to be like a depressed college student working retail who genuinely doesn't give a fuck anymore. Don't give me another Xaden. I'm so sick of that man 😭

The ending was personally worse for me since I saw the leaked images on TikTok before the book released. I was hoping we'd get more context for the Xaden chapter but no.

I will not acknowledge that whole second signet bullshit with the Marked Ones as canon. Fattest retcon I've ever seen; it pisses me off to no end

Please show us a dream where Brennan dies and gets resurrected in a future book Yarros. I still need answers as to wtf happened there. It's the only thing keeping me going

[iamheadcanontrash-deactivated]

The New Dusk Court (Az x Reader)

Chapter 1

word count: 1,051

It had been three days. And once again, the IC had met up at the River House, this time in the dining room, as they all sat in their respective chairs, and they all kept their eyes upon a single open book in the middle of the table. 

Nesta had found this book within the depths of the House of Wind with a little help from Gwyn. Next to it, a single, small map with singed pages laid–and replacing “The Prison” was “Dusk Court”. It was barely legible, but there nonetheless. The entire book was half-destroyed, but through the damage, one could slightly read stories of lush land, beautiful sunsets, and a secret that laid in a mountain within the island. A secret that only the High Lord of Dusk Court knew of, really, until what the IC can really only imagine was a war that left Dusk Court in ashes, and Morrigan’s family lineage no longer in control of Night Court, either. A time where there was still conflict over who could take advantage of Dusk Courts native animals, or who would have rights to the land once the High Lord died as he had no children. 

“You’ve read it all, Nesta?” Rhysand asked, his eyes remaining on the main attraction in front of him on the table.

“I’ve read it all. And that is all I could make out from the pages.” She answered. 

“This is still a lot of information, is it not?” Cassian looked to Rhys. He sat right beside Nesta, elbows crossed and propped up on the table as he leaned over it. 

“It is, I suppose. Mor, what can you tell us about the visit with Helion?” 

“Helion is doing well. He was very interested in what I was researching,” Morrigan swiped her blonde hair over a shoulder, “I told him I was looking for something to keep me celibate and he left me be. But I found some things that would definitely answer some questions.” 

Mor told the story of the book she’d read, how legend had it that the High Lord of Dusk was a shadowsinger. When the words left her lips, Azriel’s face paled slightly, as his suspicions were slowly being confirmed by the day. Manipulating shadows and darkness, as dusk would cast the longest shadows. It only made sense. But Azriel was gifted these powers, not born with them, and he constantly found himself asking, why? Azriel knew he was as strong as Rhys. Knew he was as powerful and quick as him, too, and he quickly realized what this all meant. 

“Azriel,” Az’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his brother’s voice. Hazel eyes met violet-blue ones, and Rhys spoke once again, “You are…” His voice trailed off, and Azriel could feel a familiar tapping on his mind as he slowly lifted his shields. 

How did I never notice before? Rhys sounded almost amused. My own brother… equal to me in power, heir to a court that I hardly knew existed. 

Azriel’s brows furrowed as he stayed in his own head. 

Why do you doubt yourself, Az? You’re smart and powerful enough… 

I don’t know the first step to becoming a High Lord of a dead court, Rhys. I’m not doing it. Azriel thought. Rhys’ low chuckle echoed in Azriel’s mind. 

There’s a first time for everything, brother. The Cauldron works in mysterious ways. The Prison sings to you things that I can’t even hear. Your shadows respond to the calling of the island. I’m not sure you have much of a choice. It’ll be tough losing my best spy. Azriel closed his shields. Rhysand wasn’t wrong, Azriel was feeling more drawn to the land as the weeks went by, and he knew he didn’t have much of a choice. His fear and insecurity was taking the reins more than anything. 

He couldn’t keep his head quiet. His shadows would speak, their becks and calls overlapping every night for a whole week, and Azriel’s face showed it. The Prison, the shadows, the dusk. A world, a woman, a love. A High Lord and Lady of Dusk. He’d attempt his late night walks through the city to quiet his mind. When that didn’t work he’d spend hours in the training ring until he’d noticed the sun was shining over the steppes. He’d lay in bed for hours staring into the dark, watching the stars and the moon. Wherever his eyes wandered, his shadows quickly followed, each one with a different request. 

Azriel stood in Rhysand’s office, staring at the different planets Rhys kept in his solar system model. He wouldn’t dare tell his brother that his eyes burned and he hadn’t slept in days, but Rhys would already know just by looking at him. Rhys sat as his desk, working through the piles of documents that lay there while he waited for Azriel to speak.

“I feel a pull to go there, Rhys.” Azriel finally muttered. 

“It’s supposed to be your court, Az. You’ll feel that.” Rhysand replied coolly. 

“I’m not talking about The Prison.” 

Rhys looked up from the papers he was working on. “A different world?” 

Azriel nodded. 

“I can figure out how to get you there,” Rhys started, but Azriel quickly interrupted. 

“No. I don’t want to raise any suspicion. I can figure it out myself.” 

Rhys sat back in his chair and shrugged. 

“If you can figure out how to get there, go.” 

---------------------------------

Days… weeks went by of studying and practicing how the Hel Azriel could leave this planet in favor of another one. He’d eventually made it there, with nothing but a single soul tie, diminished by the magic the world he’d stepped into seemed to lack. After lots of trial and error of how to function in this new world… Azriel found himself pulling up to a bookstore. He’d had a feeling that he’d need some kind of entertainment while he’d waited to magically appear upon his mate, so he’d set up the GPS on his phone, and took himself to a bookstore. 

He’d eventually wandered into a fantasy isle when he’d stopped in his tracks, because standing there was you, stood in front of a bookshelf with your phone and a coffee in one hand, and a thick romance book in another.