#though he’s also considered one of the best healers and there’s very limited options so there’s that to take into account

[quibbs126]

Dark Cacao is in desperate need of a buff; from what I understand he’s currently sitting at the worst of the Ancients meta wise and I want to use him in the game again and for him to be useful. They were able to give some to Hollyberry and Pure Vanilla back during City of Wizards, surely they can give him one too

Though also I do find it a bit ironic considering that when I started the game, Dark Cacao I think was considered the best of the Ancients to use, and now he sits as the worst

[exn0bisstudios]

As a preface: no need to answer if you don’t feel comfortable with it,I know people sometimes don’t like these questions so no pressure if you’re one of them! Who likes kids, who would like to be a parent (if their partner also wanted that of course!), and who is good with kids? Thank you!

Well, firstly, thank you for your concern! I'm okay with these topics so long as it's not about me personally, so don't worry! That said, though, I'll put this under a cut since the topic might be uncomfortable for some people.

CW for: talk involving conception, infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage

Edited 5/16 - Changes to include more inclusive language. My apologies! 

Since we're talking about the ROs and kids, let us talk about MC too for a sec.

It should be noted that it is typically challenging for a Seer to bear children/impregnate someone. The corruption that comes with their Void powers usually renders them infertile, or at least close to. However, it's not unheard of for a Seer to have children. Still, it usually results in a difficult pregnancy and can be dangerous to both the carrier and the child. Additionally, any child born from a Seer (either parent) would be Dream-touched.

That said, as we know, MC is a very special Seer. Canonically, their powers have not rendered them infertile, though their kid would still end up Dream-touched. However, I will be leaving it up to players to decide if their MC can or can't have biological kids for other reasons. And, obviously, adoption is also very much an option!

Now on to the ROs!

Mira

Mira likes kids well enough, and they're usually very good with them. They struggle a bit with dealing with noble children. Still, Mira's kind and empathetic nature tend to have children warming up to them regardless. They used to help take care of the young recruits back at the Order, both daily routine stuff and some training.

They would absolutely love to have a family one day, but it's something they kinda push to the back of their mind and try not to think about. Their lifestyle doesn't lend itself to the stability and safety necessary for raising children, considering they could be killed in action any day. They think it would be grossly irresponsible to have a family, then end up dead somewhere and leave them hanging. Mira was an orphan themself, and they know firsthand how hard life is for kids on their own. They have no desire to contribute to that lifestyle or put their own potential child through that.

If there ever came a time where they could lay down their weapons for good, though, then yes. They'd want to start a family in whatever way they could. Though not opposed to having biological children, both masc & fem Mira would prefer to adopt. Again, being an orphan themself, they would choose to take in a child. Mira would ideally like 2-3 kids so they can have a big family to grow old with, and they'd be a very supportive and doting parent. They'd probably struggle with discipline.

Nova

Children confuse the absolute shit out of Nova, and the way mortals procreate admittedly terrifies them. Nightmares are not born in the same sense that mortals are; they just kinda pop into existence fully formed. When Nova first learned about mortal procreation, they had a minor mental breakdown. The idea of another, smaller living thing growing inside someone strikes them as distinctly horrific. They've done their best to accept the idea at this point in their life, but mainly they cope with it by ignoring its existence. They see a pregnant person and basically go, 'suddenly I have no eyes.' Babies and children continue to confuse them despite their best efforts, and they have no idea how to interact with them. You put a child around Nova, and you're liable to hear them genuinely asking the kid why they are so small and dumb.

Nova's mortal body is also infertile by design. They chose this shortly after they realized they actually enjoyed sex and would do it again. They don't know if it would be possible for them to become pregnant/impregnate someone, considering they're not actually mortal. Still, they didn't want to risk it.

The only time Nova would consider starting a family is if it was something their partner(s) really, really wanted. They'd sit down and have an honest talk about how it's something that they know nothing about, that the process scares them, and that they are absolutely going to need help learning how to handle it all. But, if their partner is willing to accept all that, Nova would be willing to try. Though again, they don't know if they can procreate with a mortal, so they'd probably recommend going for a surrogate or adoption. Eventually, Nova'd grow into a good parent, very supportive, and surprisingly level-headed.

Stella

They don't have too much of an opinion on children, which shows in how they don't really know how to interact with them. Stella feels super awkward around kids, and they're more likely to tell them to shoo. Their own childhood has tainted their views, and being around children brings up things they'd rather not think about. Honestly, the fastest way to make Stella disappear is to put a child nearby.

Deep down, though, they like the idea of starting a family. It would take a lot of encouragement to get them to admit that. It'd take even more to help them process long-ignored family-related trauma and unlearn a whole lot of unhealthy habits. With the proper support from their partner(s), though, they'd really like to give things a try. Fem Stella wouldn't mind carrying a child. Still, both fem & masc Stella generally don't care if their kid is biological or adopted.

Stella would make for a very nervous parent, and they'd be absolutely terrible at discipline. They'd probably helicopter and be overprotective and would have to be reminded by their partner(s) that things will be okay.

Désiré

So a bit of history: Dez is one of the only two ROs who already has child-rearing experience. His best friend and second-in-command, Alix, was born and raised in the brothel with him. While he grew up to be an errand boy and bodyguard, she became one of the courtesans. He took up smuggling and worked his ass off to get them out of there, but unfortunately, Alix became pregnant before they could escape. Alix's son, Dimitri, was born in the cabin of the first ship Dez ever owned.

Alix eventually married Catarina, the crew's healer, who has acted as Dimitri's other mother. Thus, while Dez is 'officially' Dimitri's uncle, he has always been his only father-figure. Dimitri is 14 by the time of the game and is still a very active part of Désiré's life. You'll actually get a chance to meet him in-game since he's got a place on Dez's crew (he's the cabin boy)!

Now that history is managed, it's safe to say that Désiré would love to start a family one day. It doesn't matter to him how, though going the biological route, let it be known he's excellent at tending to pregnancy needs. He's a wonderful parent, generally gentle while supportive and encouraging, and is comfortable being stern when it's called for.

Vittore Simone

Sadly I can't get into the specifics of Vittore Simone's thoughts on kids and family without it becoming a spoiler. However, I can say that he vowed when he was young that he'd never have kids and has never thought of it since. Going forward, it would never be something that crossed his mind unless brought up by his partner and would be something he'd defensively refuse at first. Later, he'd come back with apologies and to have a more open conversation on the matter to express his reservations and fears.

Suffice to say that the idea of being a father absolutely terrifies him, and he has always taken great pains to avoid it ever happening. Even just the thought is enough to send him into panic attacks. His partner will need to be patient with him and accept that this is something he may genuinely never be able to do for the sake of his own health and any future child's. It would take a lot of time, reassurance, work, healing, support, and understanding before Vittore Simone ever agreed to give parenthood a shot. It will not be an easy road for him or his partner. It would likely be a road that never truly ends, and he'd need to be sure that they can both accept that without damaging their own relationship. He would try, though. He would do his damnedest. And, thankfully, there will never be any doubt that he genuinely does love his kid.

As a father, initially, he would constantly be terrified he was hurting his kid somehow. He would struggle with being overly permissive & overprotective at the same time. He's liable to have a panic attack any time the kid cries for the first several years. His partner will have to help him get through 'I'm a terrible father, this was a mistake' breakdowns periodically. Slowly, though, he'll build some confidence and be more comfortable interacting and expressing himself with his kid. He'll always be supportive, and he'll work his hardest to be sure his family knows he loves them unconditionally. His partner will have to accept the role of disciplinarian, though. That's never going to be something he'll be able to do on his own (but of course, he'll be there to support them in those conversations. He doesn't want to make them the 'bad guy' by any means).

Andrai

The other RO with child-rearing experience! Andrai has 15 younger siblings (yes, you heard me correctly) and absolutely adores them all. They're all grown now, but he loved taking care of them when they were little, and he still dotes on them whenever he can, in his own way. In general, he loves kids. He just thinks they're adorable. And, despite appearances, he's excellent with them. Kids love this man, they flock to him, and he has no problem with that. It confuses most onlookers.

The idea of starting his own family turns him to absolute mush. And, he'd love to, so so much. Adoption, biological, and surrogacy are okay with him. It would be up to his partner to limit exactly how many kids they have since Andrai would just say he wants them all. He makes an excellent dad, albeit quiet, and is unwaveringly supportive. He's comfortable with discipline and is the type to encourage self-assessing behavior. He's excellent at giving advice and genuinely just likes spending time with his kids and being involved in their lives.

He's probably not the one you would peg as the 'domestic bliss' type, but he absolutely is.

Vzridmi

She's very comfortable with kids since communal rearing is very common in ork communities, and she'd love to have a family one day. Some kids unused to orks might find her a bit intimidating just because of her size, but in general, children think she's fun to be around. She doesn't necessarily think about it too much, though, at this point in her life. It's not something she sees as being on the table for quite some time - she has research and exploration to be doing, after all.

Whenever she was ready to settle down for a family, she'd be comfortable with carrying a child herself, surrogacy, or adopting. She would really like to have at least one biological child if possible, though. She would make for an entertaining mother, excited about her child's life and ever-supportive of their interests and pursuits. She's comfortable with all the aspects of child-rearing. Still, She would definitely need her partner's advice if they ever discovered their kid was dealing with bullying. She'd need to be reminded by her partner not to be overprotective - she's not above threatening others with her war-hammer if they upset her baby.

[kadeu]

Accepted — Hyun Soomin

♣   Hyun Soomin looks like Kim Chungha (solo) ♣    She was December 17, 1918; making her 106 but she appears 25 years old ♣   This Kumiho is Pansexual, Heart Defector, and a Three of Clubs ♣   She is an attendant at the Dragonfire Hotsprings and an errand girl

BIOGRAPHY

Bora was born to a single mother, a three of hearts serf full of dread and regret. It wasn’t always like that, though.

Her mother was a thousand years old kumiho who had been aging quicker than before during the past century, due to the stress and poor quality of life she led after losing all her money and, with that, her previous nine of hearts rank. Being a successful drug merchant wasn’t exactly the safest profession, with fierce and ruthless competition to go against it didn’t come as a surprise, even though it turned into a traumatic, life changing experience, to be framed and driven to bankruptcy. Never married to the father, he took that as a chance to abandon them, since his rank hadn’t been affected by the scandal. She lost everything except for the baby in her womb. All the way down to a three and with the little savings she had outside the Zuihuo Bank -not enough to change her rank- she was left with a huge debt, a large belly and almost no options for a new job. Homeless and having a hard time facing reality she wandered around directionless. She almost didn’t survive giving birth to Bora if it wasn’t for a spade healer that took pity on the kumiho trying to do it alone in an alley, her water breaking in the middle of the Joker moments before. Wondering what would be best for her and the baby, deserting hearts and trying to join spades seemed like her best bet, but she never made it to the spade territory. For some time, other lower rankers in the heart faction helped her and the newborn survive, she didn’t even feed in a long while because the stress caused migraines and slowly drained her power, but the incessant cries of her baby drove her insane until she reached a turning point. If she wanted to survive, if she wanted Bora to do so, she had to let her wild nature as a kumiho come out and be as ruthless as they were to her. The day Bora turned one year old she went into a feeding frenzy. She stole and hunted. She lied and deceived with her illusions. She hid. Every human heart and every human kidney she could get in her hands was split into halves, one for her and one for Bora. She wanted her daughter to come into her power as soon as possible while she gained enough strength and courage to initiate her next move. It came soon as a conclusion that it was either selling her body, taking part in morally dubious business or serving a rich family, and if she was going to do so, then the family she was indebted to was the most reasonable choice. At that moment she didn’t have a place to call home, nor any income. It was a blow to her already humiliated soul, but she would take it for her daughter. You would think an infant wouldn’t notice any of this, but Bora knew and felt, she absorbed all of it as she watched her mother work and take care of her at the same time to the point of exhaustion. Years later, when Bora was old enough, she began serving as well under the name Wisteria. Every serf working for the family received the name of a flower, and she decided to take the meaning of hers as a mantra; longevity and endurance defined foxes accurately. In a fresh bank account, she saved and saved, hoping to one day rise in the social scale and help clear her mother’s debt. It was harder than it seemed though, not earning much as a serf led her to contact people in the darkest alleys of the heart borough whenever she had a chance to go out. She ran errands for the house and for a drug dealing gang always going by Wisteria and not her birth name. A kumiho’s illusions and transformations came in handy for many things as it would appear. Her mother wasn’t happy with her decision, but Bora couldn’t stand watching how the serving life was weakening her day by day. It took decades to take a step upwards. Many times, she thought it would be impossible, but keeping an eye on her own -almost nonexistent- expenses and limiting her social life she became a four of hearts. Did anything at all feel different? No, but it actually gave her the opportunity to consider other means of living.

IN RECENT YEARS

Even though it sounded like a good idea, Bora never left the family she worked for, not even when she made it as far as five of hearts. She couldn’t leave her mother there, still being paid with just food and a bed to sleep on. There were so many things the young vulpe could do now, but she had grown used to the job, the faces and the fake sense of security that even her questionable side job gave her. And still, every once in a while, she could feel a tingling sensation all over her skin, her blood rushing through her veins and her trembling hands trying to reach for something invisible. She couldn’t help but wonder if this life was really meant for her.

Sooner or later things would change -her gut told her- but the way it happened marked her whole existence and dictated her future.

In the middle of the 2023 winter, January, her mother passed away. Depression and anxiety took her slowly over time, but too fast for a kumiho. She hadn’t turned into her fox form in a long while, even though Bora tried to make her. It was like she was giving up and her daughter couldn’t do anything but watch her fade away.

Was it unfair to feel betrayed by her mother and those she worked for? Bora didn’t know. All she knew was that everything hurt. Becoming orphaned and indebted by inheritance, which automatically demoted her to one of hearts, were never in her list of aspirations. Even the family she served for years started treating her differently, even though she was the same person. Her own existence started losing its meaning.-“Sorry for leaving so soon, Bora. I don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen, but I can feel that I won’t stay with you for much longer. Take care. You’re the only reason I haven’t left before. I love you.”

It was written on a letter she found among her mother’s belongings, next to a stack of older looking ones that after inspection revealed the strangely close relationship her mother maintained with a club, and not just a lowranker like her, not even a regular highranker like she used to be, he was a jack of clubs.

Making sure her tears didn’t smear the ink on the letters, she read through all of them, starting from the most distressed looking, the oldest. She learned that they met through work around the time her business saw enough success to branch out to other districts. Their relationship seemed merely professional at first glance, but Bora quickly caught up with the little affectionate terms and endearments they exchanged more and more frequently. It was also very clear that her mother was already involved with Bora’s father, but it didn’t seem to affect their mutual flirtation. She also learned that he was a kumiho as well as they casually talked about feeding, transformation and everything that was quintessentially a fox spirit’s concern.

Bora wondered if they got to meet in person and how often. If their longing for each other ever saw compensation. Hyperfixating on the letters for a whole month kept her from drowning in the despair she felt every time the world reminded her of the current situation and when she finished the last one, already more than ten years old, an epiphany took place.

Maybe this mysterious, at least in her eyes, jack of clubs was her ticket to a new life. All she had to do was leave everything behind, unpaid debt included, and flee towards the club district. They wouldn’t send anyone after her, right? They didn’t care for her mother until she offered herself in exchange for a roof.

Meeting him wasn’t as easy as she initially thought, though, the club borough was recovering for the recent civil war after all, everyone was extra vigilant. It turned out to be hard enough just to find his whereabouts, not to mention he was surrounded by heavy security, a necessity for a drug and gem trader, plus there was no apparent or justified reason for him to direct his attention to a one of hearts kumiho that had nothing but the bag she carried on her back. Unfortunately for him, Bora wasn’t going to give up as she couldn’t turn back. There was nothing but emotional pain waiting for her back in hearts. Yes, in clubs she would have to endure the physical kind, but her determination wasn’t running low.

It was during the third of her futile, middle of the street at night, ambushes that she mentioned her mother for the first time since she died, in a cry for help as his bodyguards slammed her to the ground. That was enough to discreetly take her back to his place and hear her out.

It was then when Bora learned his name, which the letters didn’t mention for privacy matters. Kwon Iseul sounded as serious as he was, at least from what Bora could grasp during the first conversation they had. He agreed to help her, but only under a long list of conditions that included a fake name and limiting most of her activities to the night.

From that moment on she would be known as Hyun Soomin.

Iseul covered her tracks so her debtors back at hearts couldn’t easily find her, a bit of personal rivalry getting in the mix, he also found her a place to stay and immediately commenced the mentoring and training she desperately needed. As kumihos, feeding in clubs wasn’t as easy as it was before, they no longer turned a blind eye much to Bora’s disappointment, but there were still ways that he taught her. Regarding fights, she had no experience, she only knew how to use her powers at a basic level. There was so much to do. A few days later, already in the third month of the year, she was officially a one of clubs under his wing.

Little by little she proved her worth as a warrior, from using illusions to transforming into a beautiful black fox, she used every advantage she had to very slowly raise her rank. Always letting some time pass between battles as the last thing in her interest was to call attention upon herself.

Nowadays she is a three of clubs.

She got a job at the hot springs as part of her façade and to make some money of her own, but until the Dragonfire reopens she just keeps running errands -in the dark and away from the heart district- for Iseul.

PERSONALITY

In the eyes of strangers, Bora is a quiet, observant, maybe even a judgmental person. She usually speaks in a low voice that holds her real personality back, unless provoked. Indeed, this is far from her true self, it’s just a reflection of who she used and fakes to be. Slowly, she is developing a daring and bold attitude that sometimes comes out at unexpected times. She’s simply getting to know herself better now that she doesn’t have to obey anyone. She responds to her sponsor, but she isn’t serving him. Plus, the fights are basically forcing her to be more assertive, she knows that presence and psychological dominance can play a big part when you’re physically smaller than the majority of your opponents. It’s not like she was a submissive small fry before, never acted like one, but it is now she’s finally starting to match her potential.

Smart, cunning, analytical, untrusting, individualistic, dominant, fearless. She is driven by nothing else than proving her own worth to herself, she has found out that she thrives in violence and that she is pretty good at beating people up. Her fighting style is full of tricks and backstabbing.  Sometimes she shows another side of herself, more relaxed, flirtier and charmingly mischievous, a side she’s coming to after meeting new people, mostly those working for Iseul.

Her vulnerable side comes out at the memory of her mother and her mental health, especially during the last few months before dying. She doesn’t like at all talking about her or her past. This also leads to paranoia, wondering if one day someone will manage to take her back to the heart district, her debt still unpaid.

On another note, she rarely shows her fangs, tail, fluffy ears or anything that indicates her nature, which isn’t that common in the club borough and would give her out. Although, when she’s around people she trusts, mainly Iseul, she likes to display her foxy attributes.

She doesn’t discriminate based on ranks, knowing perfectly well what is like to be on the bottom, but she can be very judgmental towards highrankers if they show that very same kind of demeanor.

She has heard of the resistance many times, but she doesn’t care about it unless they mess with her lifestyle. It’s not like she disagrees with everything they stand for, but she obviously can’t accept their policies regarding vulpes’ feeding. Yes, humans are living beings, but she needs it to stay healthy and strong.

Congratulations Kisu your app has been accepted and we’re excited to have your muse on the dash with us.

PLEASE FOLLOW AND WELCOME @cunningtype TO KADEU!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

What do you think sky mages primarily do? Moon mages are described mainly as illusionists, and sun mages are described as healers. But sky mages are supposed to be “excellent acrobats, dancers, and sometimes thieves.” So does that mean they’re mainly performance artists?

The full quote is “Even with limited physical strength, a Sky mage can learn to perform feats of incredible agility, making them excellent acrobats, dancers, and sometimes thieves.” 

There’s other good info in there too, though, about magically enhancing movement to provide bursts of speed and leaps of great strength. The word that comes to mind when I consider all these options is versatility. The wind is very changeable. The Sky primal might be the one with the widest variety of applications out of all of them.

Performance art could be an actual Skywing thing, and I’d love to see it. Practically speaking, though, such basics as acrobatics, poise, body mechanics, artistry, speed, and accuracy might be the Skywing equivalent of Moonshadow dance, grace, teamwork, and other community-minded skills. Everyone learns them. They’re some of the basic building blocks of their culture. And then they take them and use them widely, not necessarily only as their narrow focus.

Example: Rayla can dance very gracefully. But she isn’t a professional dancer, she’s an assassin. It’s a skill she learned because dancing is part of magical community spells, and probably also a big social thing, in her culture. But if you had a dance-off with her, she’d probably wipe the floor with you anyway.

In the same vein, Skywings might all have an collective sociocultural level of grace, speed, and athleticism because those skills are used in everyday life. 

That said, there’s evidence in TTM that the Moon Druids danced their spells and were incredibly graceful at it. That level of grace and poise was professional, not social. They’d need their dancing to be top notch.

So Sky mages may need their ability to be dancers and acrobats because those skills, at a professional level, are needed to perform their best magic.

Skywriting, anyone? I want skywriting! Hah, that would be really cool! I always think about that cloud swirl over Katolis Castle in the opening shot of S1E2 and wonder if it’s Skywing or Storm Dragon created, as opposed to a general harbinger of doom, or maybe a nod to Runaan’s Hurricane--a very specific harbinger of doom in this context.

Anyway! Sky mages aren’t held to any particular moral calling any more than anyone else, I guess, so any light-fingered tendencies would only be bolstered by the ability to yeet themselves to safety, whether through strength, agility, speed, or actual wings. Look at all those versatile options!

I could only guess at what worldbuilding is in place for Skywings when it comes to mage specialties. I hope they have uhhh weather elves, I guess, who can tame storms and shoo rainclouds here and there, to keep the land below balanced, neither too hot nor cold, too wet nor dry. And I hope they’re kooky as heck! Chubby hobbitlike Skywing mages who potter about Xadia from cliff to peak, happily tending the land below as their personal garden and genially beaming down on everyone, but not wanting to go on any particular adventures of their own. That’d be cute as heck, tbh.

Anyone familiar with ElfQuest? Winnowill? Ooh she was a piece of work, an excellent villain! A Skywing Winnowill, treating people as breezes to be plucked and turned, changing the currents of fate around her. Basically a cult leader, powerful, charming, intimidating, and creepy af. “Staying outside the chaos” by controlling it. It’s the very antithesis of a Skywing, really, and therefore fabulous villain material. Almost an Aaravos, but fully integrated into the living world.

On a much lighter note, messenger elves would be vital in times of crisis. Maybe there are Skywing mage cultural attachés that dwell in the various elven capitals, or at least visit regularly, or who can be summoned in case of emergency, so that the separate communities can begin to work together against some kind of common threat? That would play to their strengths--speed and accuracy--while also letting them stay safe and away from fighting if they didn’t wish to engage. That’s basically what Ibis did: he fetched and gathered and assembled those who wanted to fight together, and then he uh, well we don’t know whether he fought or not, but he wasn’t on screen as a combatant. But he did use his skills in a way no one else could, and he played a vital part in assuring that battle’s success beforehand.

Not everyone has to be a combatant in Xadia, but can you imagine a Skywing mage in battle? Hoo boy! Even if they simply held an ordinary weapon and only enhanced their physical speed and strength, they’d be astonishing. Tossing the odd spell about on top of that makes me wonder... do Skywings have combat heroes? Is that a thing they celebrate? Or is it more like just one more option among so many that such a choice carries no more glory than choosing to be a masterful dancer?

Maybe that very versatility is why the Skywings are so spread out across Xadia. If a binary identity belongs to Sunfires and Moonshadows, then perhaps we can look at the Skywings’ range of options as far more than merely a spectrum--as a cloud, equal yet diffuse. They may blow together, or they may blow apart, and yet they are always cloud stuff. Maybe Skywings tend to hang out with other elves of like mind, or with no one, like Nyx, just as much as they hang out together, as birds of a feather.

As far as Callum’s future mage options go, it really depends on who trains him and how much exposure he gets to the basics behind the magic he’s learning. But Rayla is graceful and acrobatic on the ground. Looks like Callum will become graceful and acrobatic in the air, to both match and mirror her. And that’s super cool.

[dlamp-dictator]

Good, Unused Operators Allen X Recommends Leveling

Welp, 7-16 is kicking my tail at the moment because of the goddamn Herald spam... Jeez, five Heralds than increase mortar attack speed. This game can be a real pain sometimes, I swear.

Anyway, while I’m agonizing over how I now have to power level Cliffheart for this latest map, I’ve been thinking a lot about certain operators. With this limited banner going on and the regrettable amounts of whaling I did for W I’ve had some time to ask myself about all the operators I have and some of their utility. A lot of gacha games tend to be pretty cruel with their pull rates and meta, and Arknights is probably one of the few games that's decent with both. Due to the way maps work, most meta picks are only for about 60% of maps and supply maps, there’s still some strategy involved. The Blaze-Weedy-Saria trifecta can’t conquer everything, thankfully.

So I wanted to take some time to discuss the lesser used and off-meta Operators of this game and explain some of their utilities.

Zima

I only feels fitting to start this out with a Vanguard, and Zima has pulled in clutch for a lot of these chapter 7 maps. Kit-wise Zima has Scavenger’s attack boost plus DP on kill with her S2, making her a machine of DP on certain chokepoints. Not only that, she actually pretty tanky for a vanguard, matching up to some low level defenders in terms of defense. Where Texas would crumble like the glass cannon she is, Zima stands tall and can give a beating as well as she takes one. Not only that, but her personal talent at E2 lets her lower the DP cost of all Vanguard operators, meaning you can jet out Myrtle very quickly and maybe have some DP to spare to quickly drop Zima afterwards. However... it takes quite a while for her S2 to get ready, so it’s best to keep her on maps that don’t need the attack boost immediately. 

Perfumer

I admittedly don’t use Perfumer since I have Angelina and Ptilopsis, but her passive healing talent means characters like Vulcan, Hellagur, and Utage can have reliable, passive healing for free, which is always nice if you don’t have Sora or Angelina. Something I think a lot of people look over with 4-stars is that they’re cheap to promote. You don’t need insane 5th tier resources or a lot of chips and LMD to promote them. And while AoE healers aren’t meta, they’re helpful at times.

Shirayuki

Shirayuki is another cheap 4-star to upgrade, but her kit is actually really good. An AoE sniper who’s S2 gives her arts damage. And anything in this game that gives a character arts damage tends to be a tier higher than they would be otherwise, as very few enemies have heavy arts resistance with the exception of certain bosses. And again, she’s a cheap unit to promote, so if you don’t have Meteorite or Sesa, Shirayuki is a good pick. This woman carried a lot of my Annihilation runs before I got Sesa, so don’t under estimate her.

Waai Fu

Waai Fu is a fast-redeploy operator that can silence enemies and keep those exploding spiders at bay. She can outdo Red and even Lappland in some regards depending on the map. She does good damage if you level her up enough and her base skills are great in the workshops. She’s one of the many unexpected MVPs of my Contingency Contracts runs, saving my tail more than I care to admit.

Gummi

She’s a cheap Saria who’s S1 is extremely reliable. I’d honestly recommend her over Saria in some cases thanks to her lower DP cost. I don’t get much use out of her S2, so I can’t say much there. She’s worth promoting though, especially if you don’t have Saria.

Cutter

This is a blind recommendation since I haven’t used her much, but she’s essentially a cheaper Ch’en with more spammable skills. And while I already have Ch’en, she’s next on the list of Four Stars I want to level.

Broca

As much as I clown on Infall for simping him, and as much as I will continue to clown on Infall for simping him, any guard that can do arts damage is instantly more valuable than most, especially how clustered these Chapter 7 maps are getting. And Broca is an AoE Guard with access to arts damage. And while his S2 makes him stunned and block 0, Specter’s S2 has a similar drawback, and she’s in the meta. This is also another blind recommendation, but one I feel very comfortable making, as his S2 increases his attack range and you can just place him in front of a Defender to solve this problem.

GreyThroat

I talked about GreyThroat on this blog before, but just to reiterate, GreyThroat is a weaker Exusiai, but she also has high DPS, and has an easier time getting potential and a shorter DP cost. She can melt bosses with weaker physical defenses like Frostnova and Mephisto, and you don’t have to worry about her auto-activating her skill when it isn’t needed like Exusiai. She’s a good character to promote and raise if you want a cheaper option instead of Exusiai.

Pramanix

On that end, I also said on this blog that Pramanix is kind of niche, but great at debuffing enemies. Her range is insane and her DP cost is generously small considering her utility as both debuffer and emergency caster. She’s pretty good for Contingency Contracts, but... not really viable anywhere else, not safely viable anyway. 

Sesa

Anyone with Sesa that hasn’t E2′d him yet is honestly sleeping on him. Sesa is fantastic and is probably one of the better AOE snipers. I haven’t done much with Meteorite since I got here way after promoting Sesa, but Sesa’s damage on his S2 melts chokepoints. In the right hands this man is unstoppable. He’s destroyed entire clusters of enemies in just two bombs with his S2. His only downside is that his S2 turns his bombs into timed explosives, so some enemies can just walk away from the explosion without getting hit. His targeting’s also a little weird, but in the right chokepoint everything dies.

Sora

I think ever since Aak came onto the scene people kind of forgot Sora existed. She can stun or buff enemies depending on your needs. This is great for chokepoints and she can give passive healing like Perfumer, though for units in her range only. This is a great support unit overall. Nothing I’d recommend you should bring all the time, but... she’s good regardless.

And... that’s it for now. Time to go back to 7-16 kicking my ass... 

Ugh...

Well, next time I’ll probably talk more about Arknights’ gacha and gacha elements... when I conquer this goddamn, cursed level.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: and sings the tune without the words, ch. 3

Relationship: Jiāng Yànlí & Jīn Zǐxuān, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Characters: Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian

Additional Tags: Epistolary, Food, Music

Summary: An epistolary follow-up to “the thing with feathers.” Exchanged letters.

Notes: See end.

Previous fic in the series: “the thing with feathers”

Chapters: 1 | 2

AO3 link

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

To Jin-gongzi,

I sincerely apologize for the delay in writing back. A-Xian had an episode, like the one you saw, but he was unconscious for two days and very frightened and confused after he woke. I had a letter started before that occurred but am writing a new one now. 

I am glad you like Zihuang’s design. When a-die took me to the luthier, we discussed the various options available for both sound and decoration. Since my practice instrument was a shoo konghou, they recommended I choose the same, but the fong shou design called to me. 

I decided on the mother of pearl instead of a precious metal or jade because I liked the shine of it, but also for another reason. Before A-Xian fell ill, he and A-Cheng always brought me lovely shells they found while swimming in the river. They used to compete with each other to see who could find the most diving. So the nacre reminds me of them. I don’t know if A-Xian remembers this—perhaps I should mention it to him. 

I confess I am still a little distressed over A-Xian’s episode, so I apologize if I go off on tangents.

As a result of my childhood illness, I sometimes have dizzy spells. Largely it is under control, but Healer Kang said that improving my core might also improve my health. I’m happy that I can find a way to contribute to Yunmeng Jiang even with a weak body. I agree that there should be more avenues available to young cultivators who may not be able to fight monsters—if the sects encouraged such disciples to utilize their cultivation to heal or engage in other activities that would enrich the sect, it would only strengthen the sects!

Cooking is an activity I quite enjoy, and I would be happy to serve lotus root and pork rib soup sometime when you visit. My soup was the very first thing he remembered, actually. When A-Xian first came to us, he was scared and so malnourished, and I always cook it for him and A-Cheng, especially when they’re sick or troubled. I’m happy cooking it for him meant so much to him that it broke through his amnesia. 

Your suggestion about handstands was something I tried. It was very difficult, and I was so involved in trying to do one that I forgot Lan-xiansheng was coming to give me a music lesson. It was so embarrassing to be caught, as I was a little disheveled. But he smiled—I think he almost laughed, even, especially after I explained. 

He said your idea is sound, but I will need to work my way up to an actual handstand. For now, he showed me several exercises I can do to work on my muscles, and recommended I do the arm motions of sword forms with a light practice wooden one. I can move to heavier ones as my strength increases, and eventually I will be ready for handstands. Thank you for the suggestion. I am glad I can speak of this with you. 

I was unable to find a konghou score in our library, but I can write to Lan-xiansheng to ask if there is one in theirs. I, too, enjoy that song, though there’s a sadness to it, since it’s a farewell song. I may not be at the level where I can play it yet, but it is good to know what music you like. 

One of our cooks is from Lanling, but not near the capitol. I asked her about those dishes, and she knows them and will be happy to prepare them next time you visit. She’s also willing to teach me how to cook them! She cooked up basi pinggou for dessert once A-Xian recovered, even, and we all very much enjoyed it. It’s so sweet, and the texture is very pleasant. A-Xian and A-Cheng competed to make the longest thread of sugar.

Yunmeng cuisine is indeed known for its spice—but never take food from A-Xian, since he goes overboard with the spices. He dumps chili oil on everything, except my soup which he insists is perfect. 

I am very fond of re gan mian (hot dry noodles), and I like pianpiya (Hubei duck) which you might enjoy since one of the dishes you mentioned is a duck dish. As a dessert, I am very fond of sweet doufunao (tofu brains/pudding). 

A-Lian was a gift from the lotuses, our beautiful lotus meimei. A-Xian’s illness changed quite a bit for us. A-Niang became protective of him, and she started talking to a-die more. She also decided that we should seek orphans and street children and educate them so they may become cultivators, if they have the capacity, or take on a trade. She’s also made it her personal mission to rescue women enslaved at brothels so they might also be able to be educated and learn trades. Our family has grown, as has our sect, and we’re all very happy. 

I think a-niang is happy to have found more purpose, and to have reconciled with a-die. They had deep misunderstandings, I think. A-Xian’s illness forced them to talk, and things are much better now. 

I am including some of the rose petal candy you enjoyed with this letter. I hope it finds you and your family well.

Jiang Yanli

  To Jiang-guniang,

Your gift of rose petal candy is much appreciated. 

I am sorry to hear of your brother’s illness; you obviously care deeply for all of your siblings, so I have no doubt it was distressing for you. When I was there, he passed out for no more than a ke, which seemed from the reaction of everyone to be more typical. Yu-furen mentioned he was attacked and fell into a coma for weeks. It is quite understandable that you are distracted. Is he recovered?

The choices behind your konghou are interesting. I have not engaged in music beyond a rudimentary grasp of the suona as a pursuit of the six arts, but perhaps I should refine my skills and consider music more carefully. As you stated, we need not limit ourselves to the sword as cultivators. 

As such, I agree with you on pursuing cultivation for healing and perhaps the arts. I wonder if cultivation could be utilized in the visual arts, as well. I tried to speak of it with fuqin but he seemed disinterested and called the idea “quaint.” I believe it is a good idea—no one thinks the Lan quaint for pursuing musical cultivation, and I have heard a branch of the Wen sect is known for its healing cultivation. In fact, you might look into them, though I don’t know what branch it is. 

It sounds very much like you have used cooking almost as a healing art for the benefit of your brother. I wonder if, like with medicine, qi can be infused in food somehow. Maybe not for healing, but for other things like comfort. I have never considered this before, and I am enjoying this discussion. I may research it in the library here, but I would like to know what you find if you look into it as well. Regardless, your cooking sounds powerful on its own. 

I had not considered the status of your body, which you mentioned was weakened by your childhood illness, and I am relieved you did not injure yourself in the attempt. That is a very real consideration if you push your body too much; I once tried one of the more advanced Jin sword techniques before I was ready to and wound up hurting my shoulder. I’m glad Lan-xiansheng prevented any harm from coming to you. 

I will see if there is a konghou score for it in the Jin library, but it could probably be adapted for the konghou by a musician, perhaps with different levels so you can start with a simpler version and then progress as you improve. That’s usually how I learn footwork and sword technique. I’m not sure if your sect trains the same way. 

Your description of your brothers eating basi pinggou made me smile, as I do the same thing. It’s part of the fun of eating it when it’s hot. I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it, and I hope you also enjoy the other dishes when you get to try them. 

Some of our cuisine is spicy, but I can scarcely imagine eating something spicier than Yunmeng dishes—your brother must like strong flavors. 

I have been living in Koi Tower my entire life, but somehow had never gone to the kitchens before. The cooks were very startled to see me. I asked about the dishes you mentioned, and one of the cooks was familiar with Yunmeng cuisine. She cautioned me that the spice can be quite strong but can be adjusted to taste. In Lanling, our doufunao is salty, so I was surprised it could be a sweet dish. 

The cook kindly made a small bowl of it and allowed me to watch the preparation. She used ginger in the syrup. It was a little strange at first, since I’m used to it being a savory dish, but it was quite good. I asked if the kitchen would consider occasionally serving it for dessert with dinner and making it when you and your family come to visit, and they were amenable. 

I don’t quite understand what you mean by “a gift from the lotuses,” but it is not my place to pry. Yu-furen stated she was Jiang Wuxian’s adopted sister, so it makes sense that she would also become your sister upon his adoption. 

Yu-furen’s idea about orphans and street children seems sensible, especially given your brother’s past. Some gentry may be concerned about elevating the status of such children, though. She may face criticism for this, and for the other. I know a-niang hates prostitutes, but I don’t think it’s their fault if they’re slaves. What else can slaves do but obey? Rescuing them seems just. 

Your parents’ relationship has turned quite positive, and it seems good for you and your siblings. 

I am including some of my favorite malt candies in several flavors, and enough that your family can try them as well. My favorite is the date walnut candy. I hope you enjoy them. 

With best regards,

Jin Zixuan

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

Jin Zixuan is a little jealous that Jiang Yanli’s family is so happy and his, well, isn’t. He’s also tentatively fascinated by their discussion of cultivation, and a little mad that his shitty father won’t discuss it with him. He’s also aware of why his mother hates prostitutes but is not willing to say so. 

From fan-created maps, it seems Lotus Pier is in Hubei province, so I used several dishes from there as Jiang Yanli’s favorites. Doufunao is called tofu brains but is a kind of soft pudding tofu. In Shandong province it would be made with savory flavors, but in Hubei it’s made with sugar. Cantonese cooking apparently uses ginger with it, and the recipe I found also does. I also found a recipe for date walnut candy that looks divine. 

Also, apparently the suona is popular in Shandong province, but also kind of sounds like the mating call of a peacock and I just couldn’t help myself. Music is one of the six arts young gentlemen would be expected to have some proficiency in, so it makes sense that he has at least rudimentary competence. 

Jiang Yanli upped the ante by sending him the candy he noted enjoying. And Jin Zixuan is not one to be outdone, so of course he sent some back, and enough for her siblings to boot! This is a matter of pride!

[the-angst-chronicles-fanworks]

Draco’s Wish [Pt 1/14]

> | >>

WORD COUNT: 4411

PAIRING: Drarry

TAGS:

hidden identity

Down and Out Draco Malfoy

Pretty Draco Malfoy

Talented Draco Malfoy

Auror Harry Potter

Smitten Harry Potter

Harry Potter Being an Asshole (just for a while)

Angst

Fluff

Angst with a Happy Ending

Falling In Love

Torture

SUMMARY: Draco does a good deed and is granted a wish - 12 days of anonymity in a world that hates him

COMMENTS: This was supposed to be my take on a Christmas romcom, but I missed Christmas so now it's just my take on a romcom. This chapter is very angst, but it will get much more fluffy later on I promise

I tried new things with my writing this story. Hopefully it works out well.

CW: Sexual Assault

on FF.net

on AO3

STORY:

December 4th, 2007

Draco wakes up to a day like any other in the dull mundanity that is his life. He opens his eyes to a barren ceiling with cracks and spots in the plaster and sun shining in through the holes in his tatty curtains. His tiny apartment is freezing, containing neither a fireplace nor a built-in heating charm. Winter is Draco’s least favourite time of the year, the cold seeping into his bones and threatening to freeze them still for eternity.

There is no desire to curl up under his cover – his single blanket is too threadbare to offer any meaningful warmth, and the two minutes of warmth that his shower can manage is a much better option. Draco gets out of bed quickly and goes about his morning routine of a quick shower, his bath a race against the limited hot water. He gets out, dries off as quickly as he can before the water on his body freezes in he cold air of the apartment, and pulls on his baggy oversized clothes. He dresses fully, fingers shaking as he does up his ragged winter coat and slips on his holey gloves. Only once he’s dressed does he go back to brush his teeth, carefully avoiding getting anything on his clothes.

He glances over at his ‘kitchen’ – a battered old stove that only works half the time, a tiny ice box, with a folding table as a counter – but the only food he has left is a half-frozen loaf of bread. He weighs the effort of toasting some on the stove, but there’s no guarantee that it will turn on and he’s has limited time before he is due at work. Besides, he’d had breakfast yesterday – eating again so soon would be wasteful.

Draco slips his money pouch into his boot and gives his apartment a quick once over to double-check that he hasn’t left anything behind, then slips out into the dank hallway. He pulls his door closed firmly, jamming it as much as he can to assuage the fact that it doesn’t lock. It’s expected that the resident will use a locking charm, but Draco doesn’t have a wand. His had been lost to Potter and there was no-one willing to sell him another. When his mother died, he’d been too caught up in grief to consider asking to keep her wand, and it had been buried with her. So now he’s here, unable to lock his door or heat his apartment.

Draco shakes his head, forcibly banishing the thought. There’s no use dwelling on things that he cannot change. He tugs his hood up over his head and turns, making his way downstairs into the lobby and out into the street. It’s a cold day, and blustering, and Draco fights the wind as he makes his way down the street. It stings at the skin it finds through the holes in his gloves and lifts the ends of his coat. Draco sticks his hands into his pockets with a huff, lowering his head against the stinging snow blasting against his face in tiny pinpricks.

Then the wind catches his hood and whips it away from his head. Draco panics, grabbing at the fabric to pull it back over his head but it’s too late. From behind, he hears a snarl of “Filth!”, and then hands are suddenly shoving him roughly from behind. Draco yelps, flinging out his hands to catch himself and he lands hard against the cold cobblestones.

He feels his gloves tearing more, palms scraping against harsh stone. Draco can’t help his yelp of pain, looking wildly over his shoulder, but nobody is looking at him. With an inhaled hiss, he pulls himself to his feet, double checking that his hood is back up before bringing his hands up for inspection. As he’d suspected, the gloves have ripped and the scrape against the ground has broken through the skin and drawn bloody scratches across his palms.

He flexes them, and bites back a whimper at the pain it brings. There’s nothing he can do about it now, though, so he steels himself and braces against the wind, leaving his hands to get blasted so that he can hold on to his hood and prevent it from being blown off again.

Thankfully, it is not too much further to his job, and he’s soon slipping into the back door of Forsythe’s Potions and Apothecary. He releases a relieved breath as a wave of warm air hits him, and just takes a moment to stand and relish the feeling of comfort it brings. The sting in his palm makes itself known again after another moment, and spurs Draco to action.

He slips off his coat and gloves and hangs them on a hook on the back wall. He takes a moment to lean his head against the wall, exhausted already though the day has just begun, then turns and goes up to the door separating the backroom from the front of store. He pauses there and draws a deep, fortifying breath, steeling himself – facing his boss is never a pleasant process – and raises a hand to rap sharply on the door.

There’s a moment of waiting, then the door is yanked open and Draco is face to face with his boss, Edgar Forsythe Charles, a short, squat, beady-eyed man with a pencil thin moustache and oil-slicked black hair. “Malfoy,” he barks. “What have I told you about disturbing me?”

“My apologies Mr. Forsythe,” Draco says, making a tone to keep his tone deferent. He holds up his hand, displaying his bloodied palm. “I don’t want to handle the ingredients with bloodied hands, so I was hoping you could heal them?”

Forsythe scowls deeply. “Do you think this is St-bloody-Mungoes?” He rages. “I’m not your personal servant Malfoy. You can bloody well deal with this shit yourself!” Draco stares into his reddened face and swallows down his frustration.

“If I have to go out and buy a healing potion it will take up time. Surely it would be better to just –“

“Don’t tell me what’s best!” Bellows Forsythe. He steps forward menacingly, and Draco can’t help his own step back. “Your inability to cast a simple healing charm is not my problem Malfoy. Deal with this.” His face twists into a mean sneer. “And don’t think I’m going to pay you for any time you miss,” he hisses.

“Yes sir,” Draco grits out, vividly imagining hexing Forsythe to bits.

Forsythe gives an oily smirk. “Get to it then,” he says, “and don’t think of shirking out. If you’re not back by noon you’re fired.” Then he sweeps off back into the front room, leaving Draco standing there trembling with anger.

How he wishes he could just tell Forsythe what for and leave this ignominious job behind, but the truth is that he’s lucky to had it. When he’d been released from Azkaban, he’d found a world that had no place for him – he was hated from both sides, both for being a Death Eater and not being a committed enough one. He’d been at wits end, on the brink of starvation, when he’d found Forsythe who had been thankfully more enticed by the idea of exploitable labour than he was turned off by who Draco was. He may hate Draco, treat him like shit, underpay him – but he’d given him the job, and that was more than Draco can say of anyone else.

So, he swallows his anger and turns with a sigh to return to the chilly street. With the requirement to return by noon, there is no time to go to St. Mungo’s, and neither is there a guarantee that he’ll be seen there. It depends on who’s in front when he goes in, and which Healer he ends up with.

No, there is only once place that he can go – the only shop that will sell to him at only moderately extorted prices. It’s also Draco’s least favourite place to be.

The trudge to the shop is long, as it’s all the way at the other end of Knockturn right on the corner of Diagon. Draco spends the whole walk with his head down, hands thankfully tucked in his pockets as the wind is to his back, steeling himself.

The shop is not very large – tall and narrow and unassuming. A faded sign above the entrance declares it Ugbert’s Emporium. Draco pushes inside, the bells above the door tinkling to announce his arrival. The dark room is empty of another human presence, but a shout of “I’ll be right with you!” echoes from the back room.

Draco takes a steadying breath and walks up to the counter as the curtain to the back room is pushed aside and the shop’s proprietor enters. He is a long, spindly man with rich, thick chestnut hair and a well-groomed beard. His dark, sunken eyes dart to meet Draco’s, and a greasy smile crosses his face, revealing several gold teeth.

“Little Malfoy,” he says in an unctuous voice. “What a pleasure to see you.”

“Ugbert.” returns Draco, keeping his voice as bland as possible. “I require a healing potion.”

Ugbert steps closer, around the counter so that he can see Draco fully. “Aww, you poor thing. Are you hurt?” He asks.

Draco digs his nails into his own bloodied palm and forces down his disgust. “It is just a scratch. Nothing to worry about,” he answers shortly.

Ugbert is not dissuaded by his aloofness. “Good, good,” he says instead, running his knuckles down Draco’s cheek. Draco twitches, but resists pulling away. He’s learnt that lesson, knows what is expected of him here if he is to get anything he’s looking for.

Ugbert pulls him in closer, a hand sliding down Draco’s torso and hip to cup his behind. Draco raises his chin, fighting to keep his expression neutral. “The potion, Ugbert,” he reminds him. Ugbert leers at him.

“I will need to see the injuries, so I may determine which potion will be best,” he says. His hands are now massaging at Draco’s ass, and he shudders in revulsion.

“If you show me your stock, I can pick out what I need,” he tries.

Ugbert chuckles. “I don’t think so,” he says right against Draco’s ear, grinding his hips forward. Draco feels his erection pressing against him and shudders. He quickly brings his hands up and turns his palms to Ugbert.

“Here. It’s just scratches, as I’ve said,” he says. Ugbert pulls back, looking down at his palms. He looks almost disappointed.

“Very well, let me check my inventory,” he says, stepping around the counter. Draco waits impatiently as he ducks down and inspects the wears in the lower shelves. “I can sell you a Minor Wiggenweld for twelve Galleons,” he eventually offers, straightening up with the bottle of potion in hand.

Draco stares at him in disbelief. “A Minor Wiggenweld? That’s overkill Ugbert. Don’t you have just a Healing Potion?”

“I might have one at home,” Ugbert leers, and Draco grimaces in disgust. It’s way too much, a huge chunk of his salary that will leave his food budget for the foreseeable future considerably lowered, but –

“I’ll take it,” he says hurriedly, pulling his coin pouch from his boot. He counts out twelve Galleons, inwardly wincing at the amount as he places them onto the counter.

Ugbert slides over the potion bottle and collects his Galleons. “A pleasure doing business with you,” he says with his sleazy smile.

“Likewise,” Draco answers stiffly, collecting his potion and money pouch to his coat pocket. He tugs his hood over his head and hurries back out into the street, relieved to be away from the old pervert.

He makes it back to work with no incident, and just a single sip of the potion is enough to heal his scraped palms. He looks at the expensive and mostly full bottle dejectedly. What a waste of money. He tries to look at the bright side – at the very least he will have a stock of healing potion at home now. It doesn’t make him feel much better.

With a sigh, Draco puts away the potion and goes to wash his hands in the little sink in the corner. He stops by the door to the front room, rapping on it sharply once to alert Forsythe that he’s back. He waits for the answering thump – signalling Forsythe’s annoyance that he’s being disturbed, but now he can’t pretend he doesn’t know that Draco’s back and withhold pay – before making his way over to his desk beside which a pile of boxes sits waiting. It’s a new shipment of ingredients for him to sort and package, and with a put-upon sigh Draco pulls on his Nugskin gloves and gets to work.

The work requires practically no mental input, and Draco finds his mind wondering as he counts and packs ingredients. In the front room, Forsythe has the wireless playing as he often does, and Draco hums along to the muffled melodies he can hear through the door. Customers come in sometimes, but they rarely provide interesting conversation.

Draco does listen to their questions though, mentally criticizing where Forsythe’s answers could be improved, either with the potions he suggested for their issues or – more rarely – the brewing instructions he gave them for potions.

By late afternoon, Draco has finished sorting through the new shipment and moves on to preparing the ingredients Forsythe with need for the list of potions he’d left on Draco’s desk. There is a lull from the front of house, no customers having come in for the past forty or so minutes. The wireless fills the silence, now into a newscast about the case that Potter and Granger have presented to the Wizengamot.

The case has been on the wireless often in the past few months. The pair have been championing house-elf rights or some such, and the case has now apparently been presented and the Wizengamot is in discussion. The witch briefly recaps Potter and Granger’s journey on this objective this far, and then Potter is brought on. His voice is rich and warm, and still sends shivers down Draco’s spine as he talks about how he is confident that the Wizengamot will make the right decision.

Then a customer comes in and demands that Forsythe change the channel. She and Forsythe begin wanking each other off about how very insulted they are about Saintly Potter trying to take away their servants. Draco rolls his eyes, but he can’t help feeling a little relieved that they’ve changed the channel. It’s hard for him to hear Potter’s voice – the feeling it brings up is mostly shame at how low he’s fallen while Potter is a shining beacon for the wizarding world, but there’s also the lingering feeling of lust that thoughts of Potter always arise.

The new channel is recapping this weeks Quidditch scores, and Draco half listens as he ferries ingredients over to the cauldrons, each with their own long table on which Draco sets the ingredients for the night’s potions in the order they’re needed. It seems it’s been a good week for the Falcons and, predictably, Forsythe soon starts gloating.

“I always knew the Falcons had potential!” He proclaims loudly. “They just needed the right push. Good job that new bird joined and whipped them into shape.” Draco rolls his eyes. The ‘new bird’ – Ginny Weasley – has been with the team for over three years now. The customer opines that the Magpies are going to take back the title, and Draco tunes out the conversation as light bickering ensues.

Finished with the ingredient prep, he tidies the work area, sweeps and mops the floors and locks up the ingredient cases. As he’s finishing up, he hears the customer leave and Forsythe locking up behind him. He pokes his head into the front room and calls “I’ll be off then Mr. Forsythe!”.

Forsythe glares at him and snaps “Just go, how many times have I got to tell you not to stick your pointy little nose into my store?”

Draco pulls his head back and closes the door, rolling his eyes. It’s not like anyone will see him now that the store’s closed, so he doesn’t bother heeding Forsythe’s request. It’s in his best interest to ensure that Forsythe can’t pretend that Draco’s ducked out early.

It’s warmed up a little, so he takes his time walking back to his apartment, enjoying the fresh crisp air. He takes a little too long, because by the time he gets to his apartment Mrs. Doxley, his next-door, has also arrived home and is standing in her doorway arguing with her husband as she does every day.

Draco groans inwardly as he sees her, his steps faltering a moment before picking back up in resignation. Mrs. Doxely looks up and sees him, her face twisting in disgust. “If It isn’t Lucius’ boy,” she spits. “It’s your father’s fault I’m living in this shithole you know!”

So she’d told him every time she saw him, although he had yet to learn what exactly his father had done to cause her predicament. He likely wasn’t going to learn it this time either. “I’m sorry Mrs. Doxley,” is all he says, not wanting to antagonize her further. She leans close and spits at his face in response, and Draco doesn’t quite duck out of the way in time.

He does avoid the kick though, and she glowers at him before storming into her apartment. Grimacing in disgust, Draco lets himself into his own apartment and tiredly goes to the bathroom and scrubs his face clean. Then he returns to the main room to slump onto the bed, feeling properly downtrodden.

His life really has gone to shite, and it’s not as though he doesn’t deserve it but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. He thinks about his past self, that carefree spoilt child that he’d been, and mourns for him. He wishes he could go back to that time and stay there, suspended in cruel ignorance forever. Some days, he wishes he’d died at the Battle of Hogwarts, gotten caught up in the Fiendfyre after all or perhaps caught by a stray curse on the battlefield, or sentenced to death by the Ministry. Surely it would be preferable to struggling to eke out the miserable existence he had now.

But he hadn’t died, he was here, and so live he would. Draco forces himself to his feet, putting his potion and money pouch on his bedside crate before changing into his pyjamas and washing his clothes for the next day.

December 8th, 2007

“I’ll be heading out now Mr. Forsythe,” Draco calls, poking his head out into the front of the store.

Forsythe whips around. “No, you won’t,” he snaps. Draco stiffens, half expecting a reprimand, but Forsythe just says “I’ve got an appointment to make. You’ll have to close up front too.” He starts to leave, then pauses and turns to glare at Draco. “Don’t mess anything up or it’s coming out of your salary.” He barks, and then he’s gone.

Draco sighs but obligingly steps into the front room. He’s not allowed here often – Forsythe doesn’t want customers seeing him and doesn’t half trust him besides. But the man had always been self-serving first, so if it was in his best interest to let Draco close the front he would do so, trust or not. Draco locks up the cases here too, sweeps and mops the floor, and wipes down the windows, door, and case-fronts. He knows that Forsythe doesn’t do all of this daily, but it’s expected when Draco’s the one closing the front. He doesn’t mind, and he works languidly – he has nowhere to be after all, and the shop is warm.

He locks the front door then returns to the front counter to count the till and put the money into the safe under the counter. This is the special Draco-safe of course, here for the specific case of Draco closing the front. He isn’t to know the combination of the actual safe, or even it’s location. He isn’t complaining though – the less he knows, the less Forsythe can blame him for if there ever is a robbery.

That done, he turns to his final task of wiping down the counter, humming a tune that had been playing on the wireless earlier as he works. He picks up a crumpled-up bag that Forsythe had left on the corner, expecting it to be garbage, but to his surprise he finds that there is some weight to it. Confused, he peers inside and finds that Forsythe has discarded a pair of bagels.

Draco can’t believe his luck. Fresh bagels? All he has to look forward to at home is frozen bread – he could jump for excitement at this find. He carries them to the back room and tucks them carefully into his back pocket before returning to the front and double-checking that everything is in order. Finally, he shuts off the lamps and returns to the back, donning his coat and gloves and stepping out into the Alley, locking the door firmly behind him.

It’ s a cold evening, but not windy. Draco briefly considers the thought of going back to his apartment, but quickly discards it. He’s tired of looking at those four cracked walls, and it’s not like the apartment will be any warmer than out here. He’s been trying to learn wandless heating charms, but he hasn’t quite gotten the hang of them yet.

Instead, he sticks his hand in his pockets and walks down to the dead end of Knockturn, pushing on the slightly off-colour brick near his left kneecap to open the portal to Muggle London.

The Knockturn entrance is not quite as nice as the Diagon entrance. This way opens out to a rundown little street with cracks in the road, small houses with chain-linked fences, a brightly lit little corner shop, and a small park that was scarcely more than some grass and three trees. Nevertheless, Draco makes a beeline for the park, enjoying spending some time in the outdoors. It’s peaceful and serene here, the world blanketed by a layer of snow that seemed to insulate him, making it feel like he’s the only person in the world.

In moments like this, Draco can forget who he is and just exist.

He opens his eyes after a moment, sighing into the calm of the night as his stomach rumbles restlessly. He smiles slightly. He’ll have something better than stale toast tonight at least.

Turning, Draco makes his way to the only bench in the park so he can sit and eat his supper. When he gets there, however, he finds that it is not empty for the first time in the years he’s been coming to this park. There on the bench are a woman and a little girl, shivering, huddled together under a blanket for warmth. They are gaunt in a way that Draco recognizes, that he’s seen in the mirror during the bad months, and they’re clearly no more equipped for winter than Draco in his threadbare coat.

The woman looks up and catches sight of Draco. “Excuse me,” she says. “do you have any money for food? Please, we haven’t eaten in days!”

Draco hesitates. He has no muggle money on him, only the bag of bagels in his pocket, and he doesn’t want to give that over – he rarely gets much to eat and something so fresh is a treat. He has the last of his frozen bread at home, yes, but with the expensive purchase of the potion earlier he wasn’t going to have to reduce his food spending for the next little while. He has so little – surely the plight of these people shouldn’t be his to reduce?

He opens his mouth, about to tell her “No, sorry,” when something in her eyes stops him. It’s the desperation, something he has experienced so often in his own life – how often had he wished somebody would just give him a helping hand? Now it appears that he’s in the position to give the helping hand. He has little, but he has enough to help.

Draco curses quietly but stops and turns to her. “Here,” he says brusquely, shoving the bag of bagels at her. He doesn’t wait for her thanks – he doesn’t want it, not really. She calls it after his back anyway, and the sincere gratitude in it gives him pause. Somehow, he doesn’t feel too bad as he goes home and toasts the last of his frozen bread.

The night is still thankfully not too cold as he tucks himself in for bed, and he has a deep, uninterrupted sleep. The dream that comes to him is strange – he’s alone in a black place, or at least seems to be alone. His instincts ping though, with the feeling that he’s not alone.

“Hello?” He calls out, turning in a circle. “Is someone there?”

Before him, a figure blinks into existence. It at once looks human and not, bright and glowing with a shifting iridescence. Draco startles and stumbles backward.

“Who are you?” He asks.

The presence answers, but not verbally. Its answer seems to reverberate all around them, and within Draco’s own head. “I am a wish,” it says, “made by a child in her hour of need. You have fulfilled that wish. We thank your generosity Draco Malfoy.”

Draco blinks. A wish made manifest – a child’s tale from his bedtime stories. Merlin, he’d done one good deed and now his subconscious was dragging up a fairy-tale reward for his dreams. He rolls his eyes at himself.

“Great,” he says, not wanting to entertain this but also not wanting to waste time arguing with dreamt-up wish magic. “What are you here for then?”

“A wish granted is a wish given,” answers the light. It floats closer. “And your wish, Draco Malfoy, shall be anonymity. Twelve days, I grant you. During this time, you shall be recognized not, even by those looking plain upon your face. After this time, memories made of you shall not be connected to you unless the recaller lays eyes upon you. This you are given.”

Then the light grows, bright and brighter still, until Draco is surrounded by white.

[personality-alignment-test]

Everything About Personality Alignment Test

What is Personality  Alignment?

A creature's common moral and personal attitudes are expressed by its alignment: lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good, lawful neutral, neutral, Chaotic Neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil, or chaotic evil. An Personalilty Alignment Test may be a tool for developing your character's identity.

Likewise, what do the alignments mean? Alignment. A typical creature within the game world has an alignment, which broadly describes its moral and private attitudes. Alignment may be a combination of two factors: one identifies morality (good, evil, or neutral), and therefore the other describes attitudes toward society and order i.e.lawful, chaotic, or neutral.

What's your moral alignment?

Your moral alignment is "neutral good." you are doing the simplest you'll to try to be an honest person and sometimes feel dedicated to helping others. Neutral good is one of the best alignments because do you do what's right without bias and without going against the order.

What is D&D alignment?

In the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game, alignment is a categorization of the ethical and moral perspective of player characters, non-player characters, and creatures. Most versions of the sport feature a system during which players make two choices for characters. 37 Related Question Answers Found

What alignment is Thanos?

Lawful neutral or Lawful evil. He has a personal code of ethics he believes in. He's also obviously not good because he kills half the universe. So the question is whether his good intentions balance out his evil actions to form neutral alignment or evil alignment.

What is an alignment test?

Alignment Test. Answer each question by choosing the response that best describes your character's belief or presumably action.

What alignment is Batman?

Batman is a pretty good example of how and why the D&D alignment system breaks down. Batman's motivation ranges between chaotic neutral and neutral good (depending on incarnation) but requires society to be lawful (neutral).

What is your alignment chaotic good?

Chaotic good characters feel that each person must find their way and should have total freedom to act in any manner they choose as long as they hurt no one else in the process. Chaotic neutral characters believe that everybody should do what they need, no matter whether the actions are good or hurt others.

What is neutral good alignment?

Neutral Good. A neutral good character does the simplest that an honest person can do. Neutral good is that the best alignment you'll be because it means doing what's good disinterestedly for or against the order. Neutral good is often a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

How do you become true neutral?

True neutral characters are concerned with their well-being and that of the group or organization which aids them. They may behave in a good manner to people who they consider friends and allies, but will only act maliciously against those that have tried to injure them in some way.

How do you become chaotic neutral?

Chaotic neutral characters believe that everybody should do what they need, no matter whether the actions are good or hurt others. Both will lie and cheat. The chaotic good character will cheat and mislead others only good comes of it or to trick the evil.

What alignment is Robin Hood?

Alignment Examples. Two possible ways of watching it for both Robin Hood and batman. Their beliefs are Lawful good in so far as society as a whole needs to follow the laws and be good people. Their actions though are Chaotic good as although they don't believe they are above the laws they act outside of it.

What is a chaotic neutral?

A character is Chaotic Neutral when consistent with the best-known Character Alignment system, they fail to qualify for either Good or Evil but fall on the Chaotic side of the Law—Chaos axis.

What is lawful neutral?

Lawful neutral is that the best alignment you'll be because it means you're reliable and honorable without being a zealot. Lawful neutrality is often a dangerous alignment when it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and variety in society.

What does true neutral mean?

The neutral alignment, sometimes known as truly neutral, is without prejudice or compulsion. They either disregard any commitment to good, evil, law, and chaos or believe a balance is needed between these forces in the world.

What does lawful evil mean?

A Lawful Evil character is an evil character who either tries to impose or uphold a lawful system on others without regard for his or her wishes and/or adheres to a specific code. They believe in order, but mostly because they believe it's the simplest way of realizing their evil wishes.

What D&D class should I play 5e?

Weighing Your Options Barbarian. Barbarians are a core class in Dungeons and Dragons for a couple of iterations now, and permanently reason. Bard. Bard is one of the trickiest classes in the game. Cleric. Clerics are the very necessary healers of Dungeons and Dragons. Druid. Fighter. Monk. Paladin. Ranger.

What are the four types of alignment?

The four primary types of text alignment include left-aligned, right-aligned, centered, and justified. Left Aligned - This setting is often referred to as "left-justified," but is technically called "flush left." It is typically the default setting when you create a new document.

What is the text alignment?

Align or alignment may be a term wont to describe how text is placed on the screen. For example, the left-aligned text creates a line of text on the left side of the page (like this paragraph). Text is often aligned along the sting of a page, cell, div, table, or another visible or non-visible line.

What are the 9 alignments?

The nine alignments are, supported by these two axes: Chaotic Good, Neutral Good, Lawful Good, Chaotic Neutral, True Neutral, Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Evil, Neutral Evil, and Lawful Evil.

Final Words

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Also, get overall idea about what is and how personality alignment test work. And surely its find beneficial to all. If by any means, you’re facing, then comment to us so we can able resolve these issues.

[piccolina-mina]

The dynamics on this show are interesting, but I love how there are groupings because so many of them have such similarities. Objectively speaking, even characters you find unfavorable or unlikable are often in some way similar to characters you like. Like you have:

The Runners - Liz, Alex, and Rosa

Liz didn't used to be a runner which makes her so interesting. She said something broke in her after Rosa died and she was restless ever since. Running was something she resented in her mother and Rosa, but then she ended up doing the same thing. She and Alex, they're good at running towards things they can make sense of, concrete things, purpose: running towards science and achievement, war and battle, danger, but they run away from feelings.

Those are terrifying and harder to make sense of. Feelings and connections. In all of their relationships (friendships and romantic: Diego, Arturo, Maria, Michael), they always have one foot out of the door. It's not that they don't love someone or care, they show all of that in their own ways but it takes work for them to not bolt. They're fighting against their nature. It's survival and self- preservation. Rosa runs to escape too. Ironically, while the other two run for themselves, Rosa does too but also runs for everyone else. She thinks it's better to put a divide between her and the world.

The Internalizers - Kyle, Alex, and Max

This group, fks me up on a personal level because of this, but many of the characters have a bit of this quality, but these three really embody this to the hilt. But they all showcase it differently.

Kyle functions the best. He functions so well people don't even realise or consider he has problems. He's good at giving the illusion that he's sharing more than he really does, and he's great at coaxing other people to be more open, but he doesn't always practice what he preaches. He holds onto the past a lot in part because he doesn't want to repeat it. But that boy has internal battles, and no one really notices. The two people who do are Liz and Alex, but both are runners, and one is a heavy internalizer too.

Alex is one of those internalizers who feels everything but doesn't emote and show it. So he comes across like he's unfazed, but he keeps everything in. It's possible it's an effect of his abusive childhood. It's a conscience effort for him to express most feelings and he distributes them carefully and usually with specific intentions.

Max is the most emotionally open but he's the sort who internalizes blame like no other. It's actually funny that so many fans hate him because he would just take that totally accept it. He'll take blame for things whether it was his fault or not. Guilt eats away at him. He's the poster child for depression out of the three aliens. Hides his pain, sadness, most of his feelings that affect him and him alone, he buries.

The Caretakers - Maria and Kyle

They take care of people. Often at their own expense. There's a reason why Liz feels safe with Kyle, why Alex despite their history is less guarded with Kyle. There's a reason why Liz can confide in Maria. Why Michael responds to Maria, Why Max is at ease around Maria. Kyle and Maria are natural nurturers without even trying to be. They probably have the warmest vibes around them.

They make people gravitate to them with their personality and energy. They're the reason there are quotes about protecting your space, because they have a draw that the wrong people will siphon from at it can be at their own expense.

They take care of people, but they don't have people taking care of them often. They present themselves as if they don't need it. Kyle allows himself to be "a distraction" but also hints at wishing his needs were met too. Maria takes care of her mom without complaint but also doggedly pursues anything that can make her mom better because she misses her mom but she's also tired.

They're the emotional support characters everyone leans on. They tend to needs: physical, emotional, sxual, and mental.

*caveat. Max can also fall into this too. Some of his caretaking is out of guilt (Arturo) but he shows this most with his siblings. Later on with Liz. His entire life is the three of them. But it's limited. We saw that with how neglectful he was with Cam, how it doesn't extend to his mother etc.

The Fixers - Michael and Liz

This is probably why the Science Bros is so appealing even though Michael often treats Liz like trash. They're both highly intelligent, STEM geared, and born and bred fixers. If you have a problem, they can pull off some of the emotional labor (we see that with Liz and Maria when she's made aware and Liz and Isobel and Michael and Isobel and Michael and Maria), but they're fixers first and foremost.

That's why they work so well together and probably will be at the forefront of getting Max back if Michael can keep it together. Michael is the most literal fixer. A handy man and mechanic, the go to for any fix. He's not calculated though. He's impulsive and wants immediacy. He jumps into the first solution he wants it fixed now.

Liz wants it fixed right. She weighs the options and has to figure out the best solution. So they're so similar in that regard but still clash. But that's how they both end up dragged to a healer in the desert. Do they believe it? No. But a fix is a fix.

The Moral Compasses/Arbiters - Kyle, Liz, Cam

Kyle and Liz are definitely the moral compasses of the gang. They're balanced and fair. They run on both logic and emotion effectively. When one threatens to supersede the other, they catch it and correct it. They're driven by what's right. They're moral and conscientious. You can trust that they're always pointed at due north. They have codes they live by. Affirmations.

Cam is like this too. It's interesting how she was set up to be an antagonist, but what's right was prioritized over personal gain. She didn't compromise her ethics even for her sister. She lost her job doing what was right at her own expense.

The Masked Posers - Isobel and Alex

Posers isn't meant negatively, but I couldn't think of a better way to word it. Just FYI.

These two spend so much time hiding behind a carefully crafted facade and mask that sometimes they lose sight of themselves. They both ended the season having to meet themselves in the mirror. Alex is tapping back into who he was (that leather jacket 😍) and Isobel has to figure out who she is outside of Noah and Max.

They're shackled by image and projecting specific ones. But their masks crack and you see bits of what's behind them. They have the most prominent and consistent identity issues.

The Survivors/Outlaws/Rebels - Michael, Maria, Rosa

They're all survivors in their own way, but these three have a very distinctive style. Virtual outcasts of the town. Who they were was decided by outsiders whether they fit the profile or not.

They do what they have to do to survive, and they don't compromise or make apologies for it. They are who they are and they own it.

They're the ones who are inclined to break the rules or laws. Michael and Maria are both hustlers who do what they need to in order to make ends meet. Rosa self-medicated to survive. Michael is the known troublemaker and rabble rouser, Rosa is the town pariah and stain, Maria is the weirdo.

The Protectors - Michael, Max

The brothers probably clash so much because they'll both do whatever it takes to protect their people, but they don't always agree on how to do that. They will fight for you if they care.

Max can extend this farther and does since he's a cop. Michael protects the people he cares about and doesn't give a damn about anyone else. That circle is very small. So far, he protects Isobel, Max, Alex, and Maria. That's it.

The Riders - Michael, Maria, Cam

They are ride or die for their people. No questions asked. Even if you're fking up. They'll bitch but have your back. They will ride shotgun to your crazy every time.

Michael visibly didn't agree with things Isobel did or suggested and verbally and physically disagreed with Max a lot, but he'll still ride with you until the wheels fall off.

Maria endlessly supports and held a decade long grudge on Rosa's behalf. Knew a lot about Rosa and how troubled she was but was her ride or die anyway.

Cam knew Max was lying to her and put up with a lot, but she had his back the whole time.

[mazurah]

do you have any headcanons about alteration magic? i feel like due to game balancing limitations, it wasn't as powerful as it actually could have been in-universe. thoughts?

I’ve been sitting on this ask for more than a week trying to figure out how to answer. Yes I have Alteration magic headcanons, but a lot of them aren’t technically mine. 

First off, you’re absolutely right. Alteration is much more powerful in the lore than it is ingame. The Ayleids, who invented Alteration magic, could shapeshift.

There does, however, appear to be evidence that, just as the Psijics on the Isle of Artaeum developed Mysticism long before there was a name for it, the even more obscure Ayleids of southern Cyrodiil had developed what was to be known as the school of Alteration. It is not, after all, much of a stretch when one considers that other Ayleids at the time of Bravil’s conquering and even later were shapeshifters. The community of pre-Bravil could not turn into beasts and monsters, but they could alter their bodies to hide themselves away. 

⁠— Daughter of the Niben

The closest things we’ve ever seen to that kind of magic (not counting things which aren’t actually school-of-magic spells, such as the Wild Hunt, vampire transformations, and werewolves) are spells like oakflesh, which isn’t exactly what I would call shapeshifting. Shapeshifting implies that you’re actually changing your shape, not just changing the consistency of your skin, so I think it’s more likely that the Ayleids did things like make their limbs look like branches to blend in with forests. 

And then there’s that one NPC in Skyrim, the Face Sculptor, that will straight up let you open the character creation menu and change anything about your appearance except your race or sex. (What, no sex change option? Transphobic!) You can’t tell me there’s not Alteration magic involved in that somehow (although I would certainly listen to a case for Restoration.)

There’s also a spell (actually a greater power) that got cut from Skyrim called Polymorph Skeever which lets you turn yourself into a skeever. It was never implemented in the game, but it exists in the code, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s a valid piece of lore. Polymorph spells do exist! There’s even more of them in ESO.

So do I believe that a master Alterationist could potentially turn somebody into a chicken? It’s quite possible. Are we ever gonna be able to turn NPCs into chickens? Not without the Wabbajack. They gotta balance the game somehow.

To be honest, this is a limitation to magic in general, not just Alteration. If I was really a master healer, what’s to prevent me from healing somebody’s mouth closed? Or casting a spell that causes my enemy to have a heart attack? There’s all kinds of things I would love to be able to do with magic that I can’t because of game limitations, like casting a spell to send me to Oblivion so I can go exploring, or conjuring a Dremora or Winged Twilight to ask them about themselves (both of which exist in the lore.) Or using levitation in Skyrim. *sigh*

Back to Alteration though. If you want to know about Alteration in general, the lore book you should be reading is Reality and Other Falsehoods:

It is easy to confuse Illusion and Alteration. Both schools of magic attempt to create what is not there. The difference is in the rules of nature. Illusion is not bound by them, while Alteration is. This may seem to indicate that Alteration is the weaker of the two, but this is not true. Alteration creates a reality that is recognized by everyone. Illusion’s reality is only in the mind of the caster and the target.

To master Alteration, first accept that reality is a falsehood. There is no such thing. Our reality is a perception of greater forces impressed upon us for their amusement. Some say that these forces are the gods, other that they are something beyond the gods. For the wizard, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is the appeal couched in a manner that cannot be denied. It must be insistent without being insulting.

To cast Alteration spells is to convince a greater power that it will be easier to change reality as requested than to leave it alone. Do not assume that these forces are sentient. Our best guess is that they are like wind and water. Persistent but not thoughtful. Just like directing the wind or water, diversions are easier than outright resistance. Express the spell as a subtle change and it is more likely to be successful.

⁠— Reality and Other Falsehoods

This is a great start, but it doesn’t help us understand what it would be like to use Alteration on a daily basis, and that’s where headcanon comes in. I headcanon that people have different ways of conceptualizing spells, and this can result in different teaching styles. Sometimes the differences are cultural. But ultimately, it comes down to how good you are at envisioning the changes you want, how much you believe the changes can/should/will happen, and how good you are at willing those changes into existence. How to Disappear Completely by @chameleonspell contains an excellent illustration of what it’s like to try to learn Alteration and navigate the cultural differences between teaching styles as a novice: 

Iriel had studied Alteration. Had, at one point, thought he might specialise in it. It had sounded so impressive, when he first attended lectures at the Crystal Tower: change the world! Bend the physical realm to your will - sorry - your Will! Then he had attended classes, and spent months learning about counter-aetheric force (the academic term for what ordinary people, who didn’t understand these things, called gravity) and formulas to calculate water pressure and wind resistance. Altmeri magical tradition demanded that students first master the theory. You had to learn the rules before you could break them. He might be allowed to actually alter things in a few years, if he studied hard and passed the exams.

Things were different when he transferred to Cyrodiil. There, the Professor of Alteration was a steely-eyed Imperial known to students as The Cliff, due to her threats to throw students off one, if their problems with levitation persisted. Necessity focused the mind, she said. Alteration was all about willpower and belief. She didn’t hold with teaching the physics of it. You are a mage, she would roar. You make your own physics! Your mind will do battle with the Aurbis, and if you are worthy, the Aurbis will bow before you!

She was rumoured to be working on a transmutation spell that would change lesser substances into gold. They said she spent her nights concentrating on a rock on her desk, glaring the resistance out of it, molecule by molecule. When she looked at him, Iriel could believe it. But, struggling to levitate a feather on his own desk, he hadn’t felt that engaging the universe in mental combat was ever going to be his forte. It was so much bigger, and more experienced than he was, so much more self-assured. There were thousands of years of inertia behind its processes, grinding like endless Dwemer machinery. His will, even capitalised, was too weak a spanner to jam into those works. A minor blip in the rhythm, at most, and it’d be crushed as the gears churned on.

He’d found himself returning to the equations he’d been forced to memorise at the Tower. He’d discovered, to his chagrin, that the Sapiarchs had been on to something, at least to his Altmeri-educated mind. If you wanted to change something, it helped to understand the thing you were trying to change. Staring at the feather, he had realised he didn’t need to do battle with the entire Aurbis, he only needed to fight the air immediately around the object he wanted to move, convince it that local relative masses were very slightly different. The Cliff had been right about one thing: it was about belief. And Iriel found it considerably easier to believe things if he could construct a veneer of logical process, however flimsy.

He’d balanced the feather on his finger. It barely weighed anything. Using the standard formula, it couldn’t be constrained by more than a quell of counter-aetheric force. He had repeated the incantation, but instead of trying to command physics as a whole, he’d merely suggested a minor adjustment to the relative densities of feathers and air, just within these few square inches.

The feather had shot upwards and lodged an inch into the plaster of the ceiling. He’d blinked, brushed the dust from his hair, and began recalculating the ratio. An hour later, he’d floated up to retrieve it himself.

⁠— How to Disappear Completely, Chapter 93: force by @chameleonspell ​

(That entire work is amazing and contains so many headcanons and extrapolations of lore I couldn’t possibly begin to summarize them if I tried. You should read it.)

The thing about Alteration, and to a lesser extent, all magic in general, is that to perform it, you must wrestle with the very nature of the universe. Alteration, at its essence, contains what could potentially be understood as the fundamental principle of magic: to perform it, you must impose your Will on the world around you. When you perform it, you change the world. 

This is not without consequences. I headcanon that the greater skill a mage has with Alteration, the more trouble they have with distinguishing what is real and what is not, and with maintaining control over the reality of their personal environment. This is a headcanon I garnered from reading the works of @troloputo2012, and to some extent, @chameleonspell.

The advanced alterationist starts with sensory issues, since they start being able to listen and see the mechanisms of this world (also the plane where spirits and magic roam, that occupies the same place as this Mundus, and being this over saturated with information can be overwhelming), and slowly, they start having trouble attaching to reality and they can’t go back to their normal life as before; many have grounding sensory “mechanisms” to wake up, but many don’t because sometimes nothing works … .

Many experts get tired of constantly wrestling with existing or fail because their will is not strong enough, just give up and vanish, or they get consumed into their own reality and are unable to follow the currents of the world and time … .

To be able to live correctly and master alteration, one must have considerable willpower, or it’ll consume you. You learned to use alteration to weaken reality for you, now you must use it to also reinforce reality (for you start to unconsciously exist in weakened reality you created for yourself) to live.

— Alteration is not as harmless as it seems. by @troloputo2012

So a master of Alteration who fails to have enough Willpower to maintain their own existence might even disappear completely (a concept very similar to the tenuously canonical concept of Zero Sum, wherein a person truly perceives the nature of the universe, sees that they are a figment of the Divine Dream, confronts the concept head on, and fails to assert that they still exist, thus ceasing to exist.) Sure, a master of Alteration can change reality to an amazing degree, but there is a danger; there is a price.

Finally, I have a headcanon (which I’m pretty sure isn’t actually my idea, but I’m not sure where I picked it up) that schools of magic are more like philosophical models for creating spells rather than rigid expressions of natural law. Ultimately, almost any spell could potentially be created using almost any school of magic, but depending on what the spell does, it may not be a very good spell. It might use too much magicka, or it might be insanely hard to cast, or it might take a really long time to conceptualize the spell in that school of magic so nobody bothered trying to make the spell in the first place.

This is an easier idea to apply to Alteration than it is to some other schools like Conjuration (like, what am I gonna do, conjure healthy body parts for a dying person?) but it can go a long way to explaining why some spells change schools between games. For example, there are a few Alteration spells (mostly resistance spells) that get moved to the Restoration school of magic between Morrowind and Oblivion. If you’re looking for an in-universe explanation for this, perhaps spell researchers developed more efficient spells using the philosophy of Restoration, and the magical community had come to accept them as the norm by the time Oblivion began.

So yeah, there’s a lot of overlap between schools. In fact, there are documented arguments between mages about the similarities and differences between schools:

The School of Alteration is a distinct and separate entity from the School of Destruction, and Bero’s argument that they should be merged into one is patently ludicrous. He insists — again, a man who knows nothing about the Schools of Alteration and Destruction, is the one insisting this — that “damage” is part of the changing of reality dealt with by the spells of Alteration. The implication is that Levitation, to list a spell of Alteration, is a close cousin of Shock Bolt, a spell of Destruction. It would make as much sense to say that the School of Alteration, being all about the actuality of change, should absorb the School of Illusion, being all about the appearance of change.

⁠— Response to Bero’s Speech

While I believe that Alteration is an insanely powerful school of magic in the right hands, it’s probably still easier to heal someone using the principles of Restoration than it is to do it using the principles of Alteration.

Feel free to add your own headcanons, I love having discussions like this!

[fabulousquel]

GreedFall: Tips + My Review

So I picked up this game out of curiosity because I’m currently working on an RPG style historical fantasy that draws inspiration from a similar time period. I wanted to see how someone else handled the ‘flintlock’ genre and told a story with elements of this era. I am in no means a pro game reviewer but I completed the entire game yesterday and I have a lot I want to say.

There are some spoilers in this, so if you’d like to avoid reading them, don’t read the "Story” section. 

Tips:

Do your companion quests early and as soon as they pop up. There are some incredible lore bits and development of your character as well as your companions within them. Also if you sideline a companion for too long, they might leave your party in ways that might surprise or unsurprise you.

Certain dialog options will give you more quest content. For example, you’ve caught a criminal and you are given the choice to kill them on the spot, or capture them for trial. If you kill them, your quest line ends there. If you decide to trial them, another quest line opens up and you get a lot more flavor.

You can essentially just follow the main quest line if you want to speed-finish the game, but you lose a lot of context and additional dialog options if you do so. You will also wind up fighting the final boss at a much lower level, thus making the fight harder, but not impossible. They may have made this an option for people coming back wanting a challenge or to try a different build. But in my opinion, they should’ve made the side quests a mandatory thing because it’s a huge disservice to the context of the main story without them.

Don’t forget to give your companions gear upgrades- especially if you’re playing on more challenging modes.

If you want to avoid bloodshed and sneak into a camp, make sure you put on a chest piece of that faction. 

Put some skill points into Stasis no matter what build you roll with.

The Soundtrack:

It’s amazing. The snare drums going off in combat sequences create a very distinct and powerful mood. The zone music is very well orchestrated. It’s now up on spotify as well! 

Combat & Talents:

Of the RPGs I’ve played, this most reminded me of a combination of Red Dead Redemption, Final Fantasy with the option to semi-turn style with spells & traps, and a very versatile talent tree system that is really...fun. It’s the first time in a while that I felt I could make an effective solid build and playstyle around what I wanted to do most. Combat takes getting used to but I set up my keybinds to be a lot like ESO and I adapted very quickly. I went shortsword / gun tactical and it was immensely satisfying. 

The Story:

[SPOILS AHEAD]

The difference between historical fiction and historical fantasy is that a historical fantasy does not seek to retell history accurately, but rather take inspiration from it. How heavy this inspiration goes varies from story to story. This is how I approached interpreting the story, even in its very realistic parts. As I played through, there were several themes that became very clear to me. Keep in mind that I played through the game with De Sarde taking the Neutral Good alignment choice in most dialog options. 

The Elephant in the Room: Colonialism. This is one of the big criticisms I see with the game, and truth be told, it is a point of criticism for myself. The game treats the colonizing factions exactly like colonizers of real history, and it’s a subject that still rightfully touches nerves. One faction seeks to profit, another nation seeks to convert, and another seeks to experiment on. While there are subgroups of these factions that are more extreme than their leadership- the leadership seems complacent about it until condemning evidence is brought up. While extremely problematic this is, it is very true to what has happened in history surrounding colonialism, and places you in one uncomfortable situation after another in a frighteningly realistic way. It makes your decisions as De Sarde in some instances painful but it can be satisfying to see how your actions affect justice in these matters.

Some critics have said that De Sarde’s choices do not always condemn truly objectionable events enough. I agree that more depth could have been added. But in my playthrough, De Sarde’s role starts out as a truly neutral party looking for truths, and they gradually became more adamant on stances as the game progressed. By the end, my De Sarde was about to 1v1 Theleme, and drag out the Bridge Alliance governor. So I am unsure if this is a perspective coming from those who haven’t completed the game in its entirety with all side quests which influence reputations more & seem to flesh out more dialog options. 

Humanity Has a Sickness This was written both physically and metaphorically in how humans are as susceptible to committing atrocities as they are to growing ill. Throughout the story as De Sarde, you play almost a detective in uncovering the truth about the people you were raised to believe were benevolent. De Sarde does not take these accusations of corruption lightly, but they also treat it very seriously. Piece by piece, De Sarde learns more about each factions true intentions, and the lies, corruption and greed that intertwine. But at the same time, the story attempts to reveal the potential for all people to ‘do better’ and change- and some of this is seen when you use De Sarde’s charisma + intuition dialog options. This theme especially became clear in the arc when De Sarde finally gets to speak to the god of the island, En on mil Frichtimen, who expresses to him that the malicor (sickness) is a result of them poisoning their own land with their lack of care or concern for it.  En on mil Frichtimen urges that the colonists need to listen and learn from the Islanders’ ways if they wish to heal the sickness.

Where to Draw the Line at “For The Greater Good” I feel like this is a theme that crops up with any story involving Utopian ideas. GreedFall does a good job of backing up each faction’s actions with their point of view, whether it is morally misguided or not. This truly emphasizes the human element in the mix, underlining that no perspective comes without its flaws. As De Sarde, one thing you are constantly faced with as a detective is defining a line of where something has gone too far. It is sobering and somewhat frustrating to watch factions step over a line that could have easily remained morally sound. But it is also equally satisfying to see how much influence you can have in swaying others to make a different choice. This theme becomes the summit of De Sarde’s character progression when he is forced to make the choice of taking your dear cousin, Constantin, out of power, or joining him. And when you’ve done all the side quests there are in the game, the decision becomes far more meaningful than this just being the final boss fight.

This theme also seems to come full circle by the end of Petrus’s quest line, when you discover your true origin- how your mother was kidnapped from the island in a rash attempt to bring a healer to the continent. This realization that everything you’ve known has been a lie and kept secret from you...all for the “greater good”. 

Things I Liked:

I appreciated how much love and care went into the worldbuilding- especially with the native Islanders. From what I understand, a linguist was hired to write a language for them that was a mash-up of Flemish, Breton, Gaelic and Irish. I appreciated that they brought forth inspiration from the Gauls and Celtic nations of the Iron Age in Western Europe before they were subjected to Christian Missionary activity.

The art & atmosphere was amazing. While there are a few clipping issues with hair, even big AAA games have them. The level of detail put into the game art wise is just very visually pleasing.

The devs did a good job in making a fantasy world that was LGBTQ+ friendly, and giving us diverse character customization. Anyone from any faction had a diverse set of features.

Things I am Critical of:

While I understand that there is a point of growth to watch De Sarde go from neutral to invested in a cause, I really do think they should have been given less complacent responses earlier in the game. I understand limitations but I don’t think it helped with handling colonialism in a truly neutral way.

I wish you could start the game as someone from a faction of your choice, rather than only the Merchant Congregation, especially considering how your origin is written.

IT’S DEPRESSING. A lot of the game is depressing... which maybe makes all the little things you do that shine some shred of goodness still in humanity all the brighter. But it definitely hurt my soul in places and back to point #1, I wish I could have been more aggressive with De Sarde earlier in the game.

Recycled assets: there were quite a few of them- mostly noticeable with buildings in the main cities, which is probably what marks the difference between an AAA game and a more independent studio.

Potential Triggers:

There’s a lot of heavy subjects in this game including religious abuse, manipulation, some body horror (though it’s not super grotesque), one instance of suicide that I know of, xenophobia, and general violence. 

Features I Wish it Had:

You can’t ‘jump’...but you don’t really need to. I still wish I could though.

For all this beautiful scenery, I wish they gave us better screenshot taking options.

Different fights for the different Coin Arenas and a meta achievement for completing all of them.

I wish I could play it with friends.

More armor options!

I wish the companions had better and more in-depth romance options. They fall a little flat in diversity of personalities.

Final Thoughts:

I personally enjoy diving into stories that we should be morally critical of, and I like it for what it reveals in the best and worst of humanity. Colonialism has done and continues to do irreversible damage to peace and prosperity among people and nations in real life. Spiders picked a topic that nearly everyone has been affected by in one way or another and it’s understandably a heated subject. Some folks do not want to dive into such deep subjects, just as there’s some stories I cannot stomach comfortably. So I respect and understand that.

Overall, GreedFall exceeded my expectations but there’s definitely some hiccups. It’s a fun game if you’re into a detective-style RPG, political intrigue, history, and interested in exploring this sort of setting. While I think the story could have been written better in places, I was satisfied with the outcomes I triggered, even if that satisfaction took a very slow build up to. It left me feeling hopeful? That perhaps people still have a chance at treating each other better than they do.

[n0nesse]

𝐅����𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒   ♡   𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄

  Instead of having people send these in I just wanted to do all of them myself!

🍍  :    how comfortable is my muse in their body? how do they feel about their height,  weight,  strength,  and body type?  how important is being attractive to them?  

All Scanners share virtually the same physical form, and all YoRHa units use the same base endoskeleton, though the hardware differs between function. They’re short and small-framed to save the maximum amount of materials while still being able to effectively perform their duties. 9S has never felt self-conscious about himself physically because he looks almost identical to every other Scanner and there was never any pressure on any of them to look a certain way like there is with humans. They have no ability to change their height or weight (though non-YoRHa androids can do so for aesthetic purposes if they choose) and it’s forbidden by their uniform code to modify their bodies anyway. 

Since coming to Koi, 9S is quite aware now that he would be very short for a human of his apparent age, but he doesn’t feel bad about it or anything, other than occasionally being irritated at getting mistaken for a kid.

🍅  :    how does my muse feel about plastic  /  cosmetic surgeries   &   procedures?  is it something they have done or would do?  do they mind if others do it?  

As mentioned before, it’s forbidden for YoRHa units to try and alter their bodies, even if it’s for something like a tattoo or piercing. 9S doesn’t feel like he has any reason to do so right now, but that might change in the future. He doesn’t care if others do it. It’s their choice to do what they want with their bodies, as long as they understand the consequences.

🍏  :    how stable is my muse’s physical health?  do they go for regular or semi-regular checkups by a physician?  do they have any diagnosed illnesses and / or take any medication?  how often do they get sick?

9S knows maintenance is extremely important, and he is fairly accident-prone it seems. He’s had a limb or two blown off by machines more than once. Although he’s not a Healer unit, he’s gotten used to performing repairs on himself in the field and gets fussy if he has to sit around and wait while someone else fixes him up or checks him for viruses. As an android, he’s immune to biological pathogens, so there’s never any reason to worry about that. Currently he is functioning just fine.

🍎  :    how stable is my muse’s mental health?  have they been diagnosed with any mental illnesses and  /  or conditions?  do they have any undiagnosed mental illnesses and  /  or conditions?  do they or should they attend therapy?  

An android’s mind doesn’t work the same way as a human’s, but it’s still very possible for their data to get scrambled or glitched due to trauma. 9S was supposedly wiped clean after every execution, but that doesn’t mean nothing ever remained, and every time he rediscovered the true reason for his partnership with 2B it became more and more painful to confront. 

9S does an excellent job at convincing himself he’s stable, but it’s quite easy to push him over the brink. His emotions are terribly repressed so one needs only to scratch the surface to draw them out. He really should talk to somebody about this but there are no therapists on the Bunker.

🍑  :    how meticulously does my muse look after their physical appearance?  do they spend a lot of time on their hair,  makeup,  grooming,  and clothing?  is there a particular reason why they do or don’t?  

9S really likes to be clean! Although it’s not necessary for androids to bathe, since their bodies are naturally resistant to dirt and moisture and they don’t sweat, he doesn’t enjoy getting all dusty or covered in machine oil and will wash himself off the first chance he gets.  He finds being dirty very distracting. Keeping one’s dermal layer repaired is a vial part of maintenance as well, so he mends any small cuts or scuffs quickly. 

🍒  :    how much does my muse value companionship?  do they constantly keep people around them,  or do they prefer to be alone often?  do they have or desire to have many friends?  do they see every meeting as an opportunity to make a new friend?  

Although Scanners are often solitary, 9S really enjoys being around others and will eagerly socialize with other androids. If only the resistance members wouldn’t stop trying to get him to run errands for them... He’s friendly with the other Scanners and will spend time with them if they’re on the Bunker together, though they seem to hold him at arms’ length for reasons he understands now. 

2B is a special case, being his bodyguard of sorts. She could even be considered his best friend, and though his feelings of fondness for her are genuine, they’re very complicated. He’s happy she’s here. He’s also thrilled to be making so many new friends on the islands and does his best to make a good first impression, especially with humans. 

🍇  :    how would my muse describe their childhood?  how much has it impacted the person they are now,  or will become as an adult?  around what age did they or will they start to mature,  and why?  do they wish to go back to their days as a child,  or have they embraced adulthood?  

9S was ‘born’ fully-functional and did not have a childhood of any sort. He didn’t even get to shadow a senior Scanner or anything, he was thrown right to the wolves. Such as it is.

🍐  :    how intelligent is my muse overall?  are they smarter than the average person,  or less than?  are they primarily self-taught,  or did they acquire most of their knowledge in school?  are they more street smart or book smart?  

Uncommonly clever and observant, even among his own kind, though prone to making reckless decisions when driven by his emotions or his insatiable desire for answers. 9S has access to vast informational databases he can draw from, even in his own archives, with even more stored on his Pod he could summon at any time... if his Pod was here.

🍉  :    which of the four seasons suits my muse best,  and why?  

Winter. Everything is buried, dormant, appearing quiet and serene on the surface.

🍌  :    is my muse inclined to help others,  or will they only do it when it benefits them,  if at all?  what makes them this way?  has it ever gotten them into trouble,  or inconvenienced them? 

9S doesn’t mind helping others, though he can get irritated if given tasks he feels will distract from his mission, or that are boring or too difficult. When it comes to helping the surface androids, they more often than not involve combat with machines and him and 2B risking their lives, which he finds completely annoying, and not fun, but he still does it anyway.

🍊  :    does my muse desire romance?  is it something they would actively seek out,  or prefer to happen more  ‘  naturally?  ’  what is their love life like?  do they have any exes or past flings,  or crushes?  

Relationships between YoRHa units are officially banned, though the rule is not enforced very strictly. 9S has a hard time comprehending the complexity of romance and prefers not to think about it, perhaps unconsciously convinced he doesn’t deserve to have anybody feel that way about him. 

🍓  :    how is my muse typically seen by others?  does it ring true to who they really are?  does their reputation matter to them? 

I would imagine, based on his youthful appearance and friendly, earnest demeanor, a lot of people would assume he’s a lot more naive than he really is. 9S lacks a lot of knowledge about how modern society functions, but that’s because he arrived 6,000 years too late to the party. He picks up on things extremely quickly and is quite socially perceptive. Fitting in is important to him, having come from such a conformist culture as YoRHa. 

🥝  :    does my muse have any  ‘  unusual  ’  habits, interests,  and  /  or talents?  do they hide it,  or are they proud of it?  

9S is more interested in human culture than most Scanners and especially enjoys collecting human-created media, particularly music, which he stores on his Pod and plays when he’s out scouting. He’s had a great time in Koi renting movies from the library, because entertainment options back home were extremely limited. He’s also gotten into fishing because of 2B.

🍋  :    what kind of diet does my muse have?  do they eat regularly,  or the standard 2-3 meals a day?  do they have to be reminded to eat,  or are they likely to remind others?  do they cook,  or have others cook for them?  do they eat healthily,  or not so much?  

As an android, 9S doesn’t require food to live. He can’t feel hunger or satiation. YoRHa units are powered entirely by the reactors in their black boxes, which only require water to function. Most of the time they can get all the fuel they need from vapor in the air they breathe, though in dry climates they’d need to find a water source. 

However, eating is an important communal activity, so they have a limited ability to do so. They don’t have stomachs or digestive systems. Any matter they consume is incinerated as soon as it’s swallowed. As a Scanner, 9S can analyze the chemical makeup of things he tastes, so he’s always putting weird shit in his mouth just to see what it’s made of. He enjoys eating with others, especially after difficult missions. It’s relaxing, even if the food is usually terrible because nobody has proper ingredients.

🥭  :    how important to my muse is their hometown,  or where they’re from?  are they proud of it,  or considered a hometown hero? did they move away,  or do they wish to?

9S doesn’t have a hometown, unless the orbital base he was manufactured on counts. He doesn’t like spending extended amounts of time there, because there’s not much to do, but returning is often required in order to meet with the commander and receive mission details. It’s kinda nice to be able to look down at Earth from space, though...

[ncfan-1]

Three Houses: Master Tier Additions

So, something I’ve noticed since Three Houses’s release is that there is some level of dissatisfaction with the master classes and a desire for more diversity. The master classes tend to heavily favor riding-oriented units, the massive nerf to the Mortal Savant’s speed growths can easily wreck a unit promoted to Mortal Savant, and so on. Personally, I am not someone with any influence over how the master classes work in Three Houses, nor how many there are, but I will admit wishing that some changes could be made—and that new master classes could be added. Here are some changes I would make, and the master classes I would add on—keeping in mind that I’m not an expert in FE game mechanics, and there may be things you guys think of that I didn’t.

For existing classes:

- Remove the gender-lock from all classes, not just the master classes. Linhardt’s a born Gremory, Lysithea’s a born Dark Mage/Bishop, and I was going to say that the Pegasus line could keep the gender-lock because the Wyvern line is a perfectly viable alternative, but damn it, let Hubert be the Pegasus Knight he’s always dreamed of being.

- Remove the -10% speed growth from Mortal Savant. Seriously, I don’t know what they were thinking with that one. A 0% increase in speed growth would have been fine; for the most part, you’re going to be promoting units with already-decent speed growths like Felix, Catherine, and Lysithea to that class, so it’s not like a 0% increase would hurt them too much.

- Let infantry magic units use gauntlets. I understand not letting cavalry or fliers use gauntlets, but the magic users, too? Like, the developers seriously thought Dorothea wouldn’t be prepared to throw down if the situation demanded it? That girl used to have to fend off attempted kidnappers and murderers when she was a songstress, and she broke their arms as a deterrent. She was 100% ready to fight Ingrid’s would-be fiancé in that one paralogue, and 110% ready to fight Bernadetta’s dad. Also, there are magic gauntlets in this game. Magic. Gauntlets. Seriously; the Aura Knuckles scale attack power off of a unit’s magic stats. And don’t tell me they’re something you can give to a Mortal Savant. Let. Magic. Units. Have. Gauntlets. Let Dorothea punch people 2k19.

Now, onto the classes I would add to the Master Class list of Three Houses, if I had that kind of power.

--

The first thing you guys are going to notice about this list is that there’s a lot of classes on it. Well, it seems to me that the Master Class list should have the greatest diversity of all the tiers, the better to make the best use of a unit’s strengths. When a unit is first starting out, their skills and knowledge are limited, and thus, so are the number of beginner classes they have to choose from. You either know swords (Myrmidon), lances (Soldier), axes or bows (Fighter), or magic (Monk). But as time wears on, you hone your skills, train in other weapons and related skills, and discover you had talents you were never aware of, your horizons broaden, and more options become open to you. Hence the need for a massive Master Class tier list. Furthermore, while some of these classes would be the natural progression from a class in the Advanced tier, in keeping with the pattern this game has been establishing, not all of them are. And some of them you need to be planning to get a unit into since pretty much the beginning of the game.

1. Gold Knight

I’ve only played Awakening, Fates, Echoes, and Three Houses, and I haven’t played any of the DLC for the former three games, so I’ve only encountered this class in Echoes. But I loved the Gold Knight. It was a truly awesome class, and Mathilda was a fearsome tank once promoted to Gold Knight. For use in Three Houses, it would also serve as a good promotion for the Paladin that doesn’t involve putting a ton of time and effort into grinding the Heavy Armor skill level for riding units, or grinding the Riding skill for armored units.

Requirements for Gold Knight:

- Lance: A - Riding: A - Authority: B

You may be curious about the Authority requirement. Well, this goes back to my knowledge of what the Gold Knight is. Mycen and Zeke are both renowned generals; Mathilda, even as a Paladin, is regarded as a charismatic leader and a paragon of Zofian knighthood. These are people who have earned the respect and admiration of everyone around them, and thus, I think having an Authority requirement (and a fairly high one, at that) for the Gold Knight class would be appropriate. On top of that, part of the promotion to Gold Knight would involve a +10% increase in charm growth rates, thus making the Gold Knight’s gambits more and more potent as time wears on.

This would be a decent class for Dimitri to promote to, one that would actually be able to make good use of his budding talent in Riding. Other candidates include Sylvain, Lorenz, and Ferdinand. Leonie’s also a good candidate.

And I promise, this is the only cavalry unit on this list, though there are two three flying units.

2. Dread Fighter

I know Dread Fighter is a DLC class in Awakening, and maybe Fates as well, but my sole experience with it was as promotions for Gray and Saber, and damn, was this a fantastic class. Once Gray promoted to Dread Fighter, I could actually take him into late game battles without worrying about an arcanist one-shotting him; it was great. (Yeah, I know, I know; I shouldn’t have been directing him towards parts of the map that had arcanists on them to start with. I’ve learned better since then.)

Anyways, requirements for Dread Fighter:

- Sword: A - Brawl: A

This class would be a viable alternative to Mortal Savant for characters like Felix and Catherine, especially since I envision Dread Fighter getting a +10% increase to speed growths.

I considered making Apotrope (the class skill that automatically halves damage from magic attacks) a skill Dread Fighters learn automatically upon promotion, but it occurred to me that that would make this class incredibly broken, and while a Dread Fighter-only run would probably be fun to watch, it’s not very balanced. So Apotrope is the skill Dread Fighters learn upon class mastery instead, and unless you’ve been seriously grinding your units, it’s not likely to be something they’ll pick up until the last couple of chapters of the game (Though just peeking at screenshots of the map, it sounds like something that would be hella useful on the final map of the Blue Lions route).

3. Dark Flier

Personally, of my three Pegasus Knights in Awakening, Cordelia, Sumia, and Cynthia, I only made Cynthia a Dark Flier. Call me cautious, but I like to have as many healers on the field as possible, and to me, Falcon Knight seemed like a better option. But Dark Flier is a popular class, apparently, and I can see why. A flier that can use offensive magic, if they’ve got decent Defense/Resistance, would be a potent vanguard unit in any army.

Requirements for Dark Flier:

- Lance: C - Flying: B+ - Reason: B+ - Faith: B+

The Flying requirement is based on the Flying requirement for Falcon Knight also being B+. As for the Lance requirement being C instead of A, I made that because the Dark Flier is more magic-oriented than physical-oriented. Odds are, you’re going to be promoting units that were previously magic units, rather than flying units, to this class. And since, according to Serenesforest, Falcon Knights get a 5% buff to their resistance growths, Dark Fliers should conversely get a 5% buff to their defense growths. Again, it’s more likely people will be promoting magic users to this class, and since magic users tend to be a bit frail defense-wise, a 5% buff to defense would be a great thing for them. The Dark Flier’s natural role is to be the magic user that can kite in, take out a low-Resistance unit, and then Canto their way out of harm’s way.

The Dark Flier doesn’t get Lancefaire like Falcon Knights, and they don’t get Black Magic, Dark Magic, or White Magic Uses x2 the way a Gremory would. Basically, you’re trading the massive pool of spells at a Gremory’s disposal for the versatility of a magic user with much higher mobility than infantry mages. Instead, upon promoting, Dark Flier learns Avoid +10 and Canto as a Falcon Knight would. And similarly to the Dread Fighter, Galeforce should be the Class Mastery skill, since learning that right away would make them incredibly broken.

As for who might do well in this class, I would probably indulge myself and bust my ass getting Hubert’s Flying skill up to A so I could fulfill his dreams and make him a pegasus knight who can use magic. Practically speaking, there are other classes that would serve him better (sacrificing Black/Dark Magic Uses x2 is probably not the smartest move, especially considering he’s also got a negative modifier in Faith), but I still have a soft spot for this class for him. Interestingly enough, Flayn comes to your army with a positive modifier to Lances and Faith, a budding talent in Reason, and though she doesn’t have any modifiers to Flying, she starts out with a D rank in that skill. I suspect the developers wanted us to consider the Pegasus line for her as a possible alternative to any of the magic classes, especially considering she also has a negative modifier to Riding. If Dark Flier was a class in this game, she’d be an ideal candidate for it.

4. Malig Knight

Most people who have played Conquest have stories of how many times Camilla pulled their army’s collective asses out of the fire. Even if she gets RNG-screwed badly upon level-ups, her bases are good enough that she’s still viable throughout much of the game, and her versatility as a flying axe and magic unit is excellent. And since this game could use more variety in Master Class flying units (and I’m not fond of Awakening’s Griffon Rider, though given that the heraldic symbol of House Blaiddyd is Loog riding a griffin into battle… actually, yeah, I’ll make an entry for this one, too), Malig Knight gets an entry on this list.

Requirements for Malig Knight:

- Lance: C - Axe: B - Flying: A - Reason: B+

The Malig Knight is somewhat more balanced regarding physical vs. magic fighting than the Dark Flier, hence the Axe requirement being lower than Wyvern Lord, but still fairly high. The Malig Knight retains the weakness to bows and magic of the other Wyvern units, but makes up for it by being able to dish out magic right back. Like the Dark Flier, Malig Knight doesn’t learn Black Magic, Dark Magic, or White Magic Uses x2, trading a deep well of spells for high mobility. The Malig Knight will get 5% buffs to their magic and resistance growths, and will learn Savage Blow from Fates (a skill that enables the unit, when it initiates battle against an enemy, to reduce the HP of all enemies within a two tile radius by 20% after the battle) as its Class Mastery skill.

5. Griffon Rider

Okay, I’m only putting this one on the list because the heraldic symbol of House Blaiddyd is Loog riding a griffin into battle. It has world-building significance, and I’ll admit, the idea of someone riding a griffin into battle is a cool image, even if I didn’t like this class in Awakening. So. Griffon Rider.

Requirements for Griffon Rider:

- Axe: B - Sword: B - Flying: A+

I’ve put Flying at a higher rank than it is for either of the canonical flying Master Classes or the two previously mentioned on this list. This is because of a headcanon for me, that Griffons are harder to tame than pegasi or wyverns, and more difficult to direct in battle.

Mechanically, Griffon Riders are basically Glass Cannon: The Unit (As opposed to Awakening, where their growth rates are so average as to make them essentially mediocre). They have high strength and speed (though their speed isn’t as high as the likes of Falcon Knights or Dark Fliers), and given my headcanon about how hard Griffons are to tame and train, their luck and dexterity isn’t bad, either. Their HP growths are great. But their defense and resistance are both low. Griffon Riders in this game have the same weaknesses as Griffon Riders from Awakening; they’re weak to arrows, beast-slaying weapons, and wind magic (Other kinds of magic do not deal effective damage). You have to be careful about where you place them on the map if you don’t want them to get bum-rushed and killed in a single enemy phase.

The biggest appeal of the Griffon Rider is its exceptionally high mobility. Falcon Knights and Wyvern Lords start out with 8 movement, and the same goes for Dark Fliers and Malig Knights. Griffon Riders, on the other hand, get 9 movement. The Griffon Rider would be effective in its ability to, say, swoop in to rescue an infantry mage being closed in on by an enemy unit with higher movement than them. Any unit can be effective if used correctly, even if it’s in a class I don’t particularly care for.

6 and 7. Sorcerer and its Faith Magic equivalent (Sage?)

The Gremory embodies the saying “A jack of all trades, while master of none, is often better than a master of one.” Gremory is a fan-favorite as far as classes go, and I can see why. The fact that the Gremory gets Black Magic, Dark Magic, and Faith Magic Uses x2 makes them quite potent as a unit, competent in all forms of magic, though I suspect the fact that it’s the only infantry unit in the Master Tier that specializes in magic might make us appreciate it a little more than we otherwise would.

But, for these two units, let’s talk about a couple of Masters of One.

Requirements for Sorcerer:

- Reason: A+

If you aim to make one of your units a Sorcerer, you had better start training their Reason skill up early, because it can be hard to get Reason up to A+ if you’re trying to train a unit up in any other skills. The Sorcerer learns Black and Dark Magic Uses x3, learns Black Tomefaire as well, and learns Seal Resistance as a class mastery skill. However, this comes with a trade-off. Anyone who is classed into Sorcerer loses access to Faith Magic. Therefore, you have to really think about who you want to promote to Sorcerer. Hubert would be a decent choice, since he has a positive modifier in Reason and a negative modifier in Faith; the same goes for Dorothea, if you never foster her budding talent in Faith. But if you have a unit with a good Faith spell list, you might think twice about classing them to Sorcerer.

I’m not certain what to call the Faith Magic equivalent. For right now, I’m calling it Sage, though I know that in other games, a Sage is typically a red mage, rather than a pure white mage. Saint is a class unique to Seiros, so I don’t think it would be appropriate for this class. Anyways.

Requirements for Sage:

- Faith: A+

This really is the Faith Magic equivalent to Sorcerer. The Sage learns White Magic Uses x3 and White Tomefaire, at the expense of losing access to Black and Dark Magic. Like, a character like Marianne, who has an excellent Faith list, or Manuela, who has a positive modifier in Faith and a negative in Reason, would be good candidates for Sage. Someone like Lysithea? Well, you’d think twice, wouldn’t you? I mean, yeah, she gets Seraphim and Abraxas, but damn, look at her Reason spell list. It’s all about the tradeoffs you’re willing to make.

8. General

The thing about armored units in this game is that you get two infantry units, one for Intermediate and one for Advanced, and then you have to switch gears and start furiously grinding riding skill if you want to get them into the Great Knight Master class. And that’s okay for a unit like Ferdinand, who has a positive modifier in Riding and a budding talent in Heavy Armor. But if you’re trying to get Dedue up to Great Knight, grinding Riding is a pain in the ass. Hence, the need for an infantry heavy armor unit in the Master Tier.

General requirements:

- Axe: B+ - Lance: B+ - Heavy Armor: A

I’m not averse to the idea of training up skills for a Master Class that weren’t required in the closest equivalent on the Advanced Tier, though something as disparate as riding was an unpleasant surprise. Unless we’re dealing with a character with a negative modifier in Lances, Lance skill will be something much easier to get up to snuff, as an infantry unit can actually gain skill XP in battle, unlike with Riding skill.

The General gains 1 movement upon promotion, going from 4 movement to 5 movement, the same as a Gremory (And, for the purposes of this post, a Sorcerer and a Sage). Like the Armored Knight and Fortress Knight, the General’s specialty is to be a high HP, high defense tank that can shrug off blows from non-armor breaking weapons like they just got hit with a piece of straw. Magic can hurt a general quite badly, but unless they’ve been getting RNG-screwed badly on level-ups, or they get hit with an especially potent spell like Meteor (or as I like to call it, Death From Above), odds are they’ll be able to tank at least two hits.

A General learns Lancefaire, Axefaire, and Weight -5 upon promotion, and learns Wary Fighter from Fates as a Class Mastery skill, thus preventing attacking units from doubling. Like an Armored Knight and a Fortress Knight, a General is good for holding down a chokepoint and letting frailer units like archers or mages pick off enemies from behind them, but their higher mobility make them more viable for moving around the map and picking off physical-oriented units.

9. Adventurer

Adventurer was a Nohrian class introduced in Fates. It, along with its Hoshidan rough-equivalent (in terms of mechanics, rather than class description) of Priestess was a combination Archer and White Mage. Depending on the situation, the Adventurer works better as either an offensive unit with its skill in bows, or a support unit in its skill with staves. On Conquest, there were only two first-generation units who had access to this class, Niles and Shura, and the utility of having offensive units who could heal on Conquest’s maps was certainly useful.

Adventurer Requirements:

- Bow: A - Faith: B

For Three Houses, I’m envisioning the Adventurer as a unit somewhat more attack-oriented than magic-oriented. It can only make use of Faith Magic; no Reason Magic for this class. Basically, the Adventurer is a seasoned thief who has learned healing magic, the better to patch itself up when it goes on expeditions alone, and to act as a healer to the rest of the team when going on raids. Like the Thief and Assassin, the Adventurer learns Locktouch upon promoting, though this class is more bow-oriented, while the former two are more sword-oriented. The Adventurer has high Speed, Dexterity, and Resistance, average Magic and Strength, and is somewhat frail Defense-wise. I mentioned the Thief and Assassin, but this would be a viable promotion from Sniper as well, since it has the same Bow skill requirement as Sniper, and so long as the unit in question doesn’t have a negative modifier in Faith, it won’t be that hard to get their Faith skill level up to B while you’re waiting for them to reach Level 30. Especially if you’ve already been paying some points into Faith.

So, Adventurer. Hits hard, has a good chance of critting enemies. Bit of a glass cannon, and as far as Faith Magic goes, works better as a utility healer than an offensive magic-wielder, though if you promote a unit with a Faith spell list like Marianne’s to Adventurer, that can change. They do well with the Magic Bow.

10. Master of Arms

You know how I called the Gremory a jack of all trades? Well, the Master of Arms, introduced in Fates, is the ultimate jack of all trades. As you will see directly below, promoting to Master of Arms requires training up more weapons skills than any other master class, but while they all require fairly high skill levels, none of them are super high.

Master of Arms Requirements:

- Sword: B - Lance: B - Axe: B - Bow: B

In Fates, the Master of Arms could only use the first three weapons on that list, but Three Houses being the kind of game it is, and Master of Arms being the kind of name for a class that it is, I feel that the Master of Arms should be on the high-end of competent with multiple weapons.

Is this easily attainable? No. There are no characters in Three Houses who have proficiencies in all four of these areas—Ashe, Ferdinand, Petra, Seteth, Claude, and Cyril come the closest, with three. Hell, the avatar only has a positive modifier in one of them. You’re more likely to encounter characters who have negative modifiers in at least one of them—Mercedes has negative modifiers in all of them, aside from Bows, which she has a Budding Talent in. It will not be easy to get someone up to snuff for Master of Arms, and that’s the point. The Master of Arms is a seasoned combatant who has learned to fight well with multiple weapons, and knows the answer to roughly 90% of the problems combat will throw at them. That is not easy to accomplish.

Stat-wise, the Master of Arms will have high dexterity. Dexterity is the Three Houses-equivalent of skill, and in case I haven’t hammered it in hard enough, it takes a lot of skill to get up to B in four different weapons. Their strength and speed will be slightly above average, magic will be mediocre (but that isn’t really relevant, since the Master of Arms doesn’t have access to magic), and like the seasoned, versatile combatant they are, their defense and resistance are both fairly high.

Since the Master of Arms is a jack of all trades, they do not learn Swordfaire, Lancefaire, Axefaire, or Bowfaire upon promotion. After all, they are not a specialist in any one weapon. Instead, they learn Seal Strength upon promotion, which allows the Master of Arms to, if they initiate an attack against an enemy and land a hit, to reduce the enemy unit’s strength by 6, recovering 1 point of strength by turn. Their Class Mastery skill is Defiant Dexterity, which allows the unit in question to gain Dexterity +8 when its HP is at 25% or lower.

--

Anyways, here is my wishlist for additions to the Master Classes of Fire Emblem Three Houses. I suppose I can hope for at least for a couple of them to show up after more of the Expansion Pass DLC drops. (And for them to remove the gender-locks on all of the classes.) Given their popularity, Dread Fighter and Dark Flier might show up, at least.

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Part 1 - Fighting for Dalmasca

Got the PS4 version on sale so yay, can finally properly play this game. I finished the PS2 version back in the day thinking it was a crappy game back in the past, so let’s see if my opinion has changed😅 All I remember is liking Balthier hahaha. Anyway, poor Ashe, her husband died practically right after their marriage, it was supposed to be a marriage to make the people happy and show more stability in Dalmasca (her husband Rasler was the prince there) but in the end he died :( He was a pretty boy too. And as Dalmasca continues to try and protect their people and their territory, only more and more people die, including Vaan’s brother Reks. I always thought Reks was the cool and better looking brother (back when I first played it) so it’s saddening to see him die again. And omggg Vaan is so not cuteee, lmao, I still remember thinking Reks was the good looking brother and I wanted him to be the main character when I was young XD I feel like Captain Basch looks familiar…why did he kill the king of Dalmasca? Isn’t it better to have some sort of treaty rather than none, since now the Empire just takes over and does whatever they want? Hmmmm. And why did Basch have to kill Reks too? :( Reks was only 17😢

Ooh, Vayne is the Archadian Empire’s son and the new consul of Rabanastre. Vayne seems like the supposedly nice but manipulative guy that knows how to sway the people’s hearts. So Lowtown is basically the slums where the Empire throws anyone that disobeys them, pretty cool huh, you make supplies and everything destitute here to make everyone give up on doing anything since they have no job or money, and then up in town, you brainwash the people with kind words and making them accustom themselves to obeying the Empire, win win for them~ Vaan seems keen on sneaking into the castle to steal stuff though, does he want an airship that much haha. Yayyy, Penelo finally joined! Yes, please heal me and be my meat shield🤣 That flower cactoid was so annoying! Killed me with its 1000 needles😭 And omggg Montblanc (Centurion clan leader) looks like a rabbit but is actually a moogle?? What a funky moogle lol.

Lmao with the first distracting guards thing to go upstairs, it’s like c'mon guard dude! Vaan says “over here” and you completely ignore him and talk to the guy next to him?? Loll. I remember really liking Balthier when I was young, can’t remember much about Fran though😅 I wonder what the Goddess’ magicite that Vaan stole and Balthier wants is… And has Ashe managed to amass an army with the other captain guy in the beginning to destroy the castle and the imperialists? But what about the Dalmascan people that had to prepare that party?? What about Migelo..? Oh, was it actually the Empire who killed them, they knew that Ashe and then were coming to raid the castle so he planned to just destroy them easily like that with bombs and stuff.. lol at how snobby Ashe is when you save her in the sewers, at least she’s a useful healer! As expected, they all got caught and thrown into prison, poor Penelo that always has to worry about Vaan because he’s so reckless😞

Hmm, so Judges dictate the law and order of Archadia and are like the bosses of the Imperial Army, they look kinda familiar, do we have to fight a lot of them later? Ahh, so as I thought, the traitor guy that looks like Basch is probably his twin brother! No wonder when I first saw Basch I felt weird lol, I was like, I remember him being a good guy and faithful. Anyway, the Resistance guys don’t believe him or can’t accept him since his brother would technically be a Judge of the Empire then, and that’s not any better. So Vaan adopts him since he thinks that he can believe him😆 Too bad everything is finally a bit more merry but then Penelo gets captured to Bhujerba by those guys looking for Balthier (since they saw Balthier give something to her before he was thrown to jail). Shocked that Lamont is actually Lord Larsa, prince of the Empire and so Vayne’s younger brother! It was so nice when he helped Penelo out and is keeping her safe. He seems like a nice guy that sincerely believes that Vayne is a guy that will protect the people and give them the peace they want.

They’re always getting captured aren’t they, but I guess that’s what they gotta do to go save Ashe and Penelo. Seems like that guy who helped them (Halim, Ashe’s uncle, the guy who rules over Bhujerba) isn’t very dodgy at all, he’s just acting like that so he can conduct the things he wants to do in the background with less worry of the Empire suspecting him of rebelling. Well, now we have the whole party! I’m too indecisive though, who should be in my main party?! Anyway, understandable that Halim doesn’t think that this is the right time to act considering her lack of proof to show she’s the princess of Dalmasca and her lack of power tbh. He can’t do these things so rashly when he’s got people to take care of. Although it is also understandable that Ashe wouldn’t want to sit around and wait, so running off with Balthier and them to get the Dawn shard to prove her royal lineage, but I wonder how it proves it? Wouldn’t she be seen as a thief? And lol, Balthier is so soft with them, is there really treasure for him out of this? Sounds like more of a hassle to take care of a princess tbh.

I wonder why Gabranth (Basch’s brother) is loyal to the king of the Empire when he destroyed their hometown? Gabranth doesn’t seem like the type to be in it for power or something, he seems to really respect this dying king, enough that he seems to want to help fulfill the king’s wish for Vayne and Larsa to not go to war against each other after his death, since many people seem to want a king like Larsa who may be easier to control and talk to than Vayne who has a very strong agenda that won’t yield to anyone when it comes to his beliefs, imo anyway. I forgot to mention this, but omg there’s Japanese and English voices for the PS4 version and omggg, the English dub is so great, I tried the Japanese but just didn’t get into it, like dang, Balthier sounds so sexy. Gabranth sounds so great too. I don’t feel like I’ve heard Vayne enough to get a strong feel for it, but hands down Balthier is what makes this game for me right now lol. I can totally see why my memories of FFXII are limited to not liking Vaan (lmao) but loving Balthier, the leading man😆😆 Not only does he look awesome, his personality is great (I love all the banter he makes and how he focuses on his own objectives but is still pretty soft towards the rest of them) and his voice is the best☺️☺️☺️ Enough fangirling I guess lmao, but I gotta talk about something whilst I’m stuck in this huge desert zzzz😪😪 aaaand I finally made it out! Took me months to get out (I took a break from this game lmao).

Anyway, made it to the tomb! Great way to start my return to this game was dying to that Death Wall that comes smashing into you hahahaha, yes I didn’t realise you’d actually die if you don’t kill it in time hahaha. I couldn’t be bothered so I just ran from it and killed the next one lol! Mmm I see, the reason the Dawn Shard can prove her ancestry and rightful heir to the throne is because no one should know it is here in this tomb and even if they do, the tomb purges those that don’t belong so I guess you’ve got to be the right person or a super strong person to get it either way haha! It’s kinda funny how everyone was so guarded against Basch and yet Vossler ended up betraying them. Honestly though, you can’t blame Vossler. Indeed, Ashe is young and evidently naive as well, she has the heart and the resolve, but not only does she lack power, she also lacks the ability to look at the greater picture, currently anyway. She still needs guidance, but I guess Basch will provide that, whilst Balthier will provide her “reality”. I do admire Vossler’s loyalty to Dalmasca though, he honestly thought this would be the best way, and tbh Larsa is a good option to put your bets on, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be…Especially with all the variables that could have gone wrong by relying on the Empire, but at least Basch acknowledged him and his beliefs before his death. Otherwise, guess the shards are all overpowered nethicite (stones filled with power, the shards are probably enough to destroy countries maybe), and it’s likely Vayne has other shards in his hands, time for the party to look for some kind of elders to understand how to use these shards~

Omg, I died so many times trying to get better weapons in side areas loll, guess it was worth it? The anger was real though lmao, I had to take a break hahaha. Anyway, surprisingly, the Garif who created the nethicite are clueless about it~ As for Larsa suggesting that Ashe kinda compromise and work with him to prevent war from happening within Dalmasca, I can see why it would anger Ashe to co-operate with the Empire, but at the same time, Larsa is right, the ones that would suffer the most would be Dalmascans if they allowed this war to happen at all. Aaand is Gabranth on Larsa’s side or Vayne’s? Hmmmm. Eruyt village was an unexpected place to visit, I didn’t think we’d get to suddenly see a bit more background on Fran. Didn’t expect that she actually has two sisters! But it’s kinda saddening that she can’t really hear the voice of the woods anymore after leaving it. I think when she stopped her little sister from leaving as well and talked about how she won freedom but lost her past, it was quite heartbreaking to think about. She ventured out seeking a land beyond what she knew of, and yet because she chose that path, she lost everything that makes her who she once was. In a sense, she’s probably a Viera only in name and appearance, and I think regardless of what she won from being in the outside world, she also equally lost a lot. Whether it was worth it or not isn’t even something she can or will want to weigh either, since she made that choice and can never go back no matter what she does. It’s just saddening to think about tbh. But I do have to say, it’s gotta be worth it for Balthier! Jks, but seriously XD

[introvert-celeste]

Rose, Pearl, and Pink Diamond

Okay, I think this’ll be my final big theory post before the special airs. I apologize in advance if it gets a garbled or redundant, as I’m just going to put all of my thoughts on the matter of Pink’s shattering and Rose and Pearl’s involvement. There’s a lot to this, and it’s probably the longest theory post I’ve ever made, but here’s a very brief summary for your convenience. 

My final consensus is that: Pearl offed Pink Diamond somehow, Rose was incapable of shattering Pink herself (whether for moral reasons or reasons concerning her origin), Pearl wants to tell Steven and has been trying to for months but she just can’t (probably Rose’s doing), and Garnet may or may not know what happened, and signs have been pointing in both directions.

First, I wanna talk about something that I haven’t seen anyone mention yet:

When it becomes clear that Steven is actually going to follow through with his plan to turn himself in, Pearl covers her mouth. While this is obviously an upsetting moment for all of the CGs, it’s been established that Pearl covering her mouth is a notable gesture, acting as a clue that she’s hiding something and incapable of voicing it.

I bring this up because it makes me wonder: in the face of all the carnage caused by the war, did Rose consider giving herself to Homeworld before the fighting went any further? As her “sole confidante, for words she could share with no one else,” I imagine a situation:

Rose voices her plan to Pearl.

Pearl is naturally against it, and suggests another option: shattering Pink Diamond, to let Homeworld know that the Crystal Gems will not back down.

Rose, as we know, is against shattering. I also have a theory related to this that I will get to later.

Pearl offers to do it for her, no matter the cost.

Rose tells her absolutely not. She knows how Pearl is like, and she doesn’t want her to sacrifice herself like this.

Pearl desperately expresses that Rose can’t turn herself in. She’s too important.

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“No!”

“Why won’t you let me do this for you, Rose?!”

What if the argument between Pearl and Steven didn’t parallel just any disagreement between Rose and Pearl, but the argument that led to Pink Diamond’s shattering? My thought is that Pearl disobeyed Rose’s wishes, stole her sword, infiltrated Pink’s ranks, took out her Pearl and shapeshifted into her uniform, called to Pink to step outside her palanquin, transformed into Rose (so that the Crystal Gems will speak of what Rose, their leader, did for them, not Pearl), and shattered her, or destroyed her physical form, or whatever.

This puts even greater weight to the statement she made in Rose’s Scabbard: “Everything I ever did, I did for her.”

But this all brings up another conundrum. Besides the moral implications of shattering--ending the life of an otherwise immortal, or seemingly so, being--why did Rose have such an aversion to it, to the point of putting her entire cause at risk and dragging out the war for so long?

My theory, which I’ve stated before, is that Rose was made specifically to protect Pink Diamond. With her healing powers and her powerful shield, she’s too unique for her existence in this way to have been solely by chance. Her tears can heal any injury, no matter how severe (as long as the gem isn’t shattered). She can bring freshly dead organics back to life, for crying out loud! And her shield is powerful enough to block the combined energy attack from three Diamonds!

Shattering Pink would go against the very thing she was made to do, it goes against her base programming, and as we’ve seen with Pearl, that’s a very difficult thing to separate oneself from. She knew that she couldn’t do it, even if she wanted to. Maybe that’s why she said what she did in Greg the Babysitter:

“When a Gem is made, it's for a reason. They burst out of the ground already knowing what they're supposed to be, and then... that's what they are. Forever.”

Rose clung to the idea that, no matter what she did, she was still shackled to her origin as Pink’s protector, her healer. Perhaps she even felt that she wasn’t worthy to lead the Crystal Gems, or that she was less than her cause because of her limitations, thus feeling like she couldn’t relate to either the humans or her fellow rebels. But I’m just spitballing here.

We still have no clue how Pink was shattered, if she that was even what happened, because in every rendition of that moment (both verbally and visibly), it has included Rose’s sword, which as we all know, was specifically made to not shatter gems. What I want to talk about for my final point is what happened afterward.

Why is Pearl physically incapable of speaking about it?

First, I want to point out that every time Rose shattering Pink Diamond is mentioned around Pearl, she covers her mouth.

Instead of looking at Steven in concern when Eyeball confirms Pink’s demise like the other CGs, she covers her mouth, stares at the ground, and starts shaking.

She does this as Steven says angrily, “Does this have anything to do with Pink Diamond? I already know mom shattered her, so what is it about this that you can't tell me?”

And then she continues to do this as he accuses her and Garnet of lying to him and expresses that he deserves to know the truth. (Sorry, I have zero photo editing skills).

The next instance was in I Am My Mom, the one I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Steven claimed that he was Rose Quartz, and that he was turning himself in for what she did (as well as what he did, however unknowing he had been when he gave Peridot that list in Marble Madness). Then, he said something that  would surely have a profound effect on Pearl, if she did indeed shatter Pink Diamond:

“I get it now. I'm the only one who can stop what she started. I can stop all of it!”

He turned himself in because he felt responsible for Pink Diamond’s shattering and the other Diamonds’ rage because of it, because her death was attributed to Rose Quartz. If Pearl was the true culprit, I can’t imagine how guilty she must have felt seeing Steven be taken away for what she did, and how helpless she felt not being able to tell him the truth.

Then, most recently and most obviously, she did this in Gemcation, just as the truth was right on the tip of her tongue.

“Steven, I'm sure you have a lot of questions you'd like answers to, like about the Diamonds, for instance. There are things that are impossible for me to explain. But I want to. I-- [Covers mouth] Steven, I--”

I rehash all of this to set up for my next theory: what if Rose ordered Pearl to keep quiet about what happened, and then proceeded to take the blame herself?

This can mean one of two things: Pearl belonged to Rose, or Pearl had formed such an attachment to Rose that her programming took over.

I really don’t think that Rose would have willingly received a Pearl, as someone who preaches about uniqueness and non-conformity and freedom, but if she had been Pink’s right hand gem, I doubt she would have had a choice in the matter. Pearl obviously had an owner at some point, since Pearls are “made to order servants.” They aren’t mass-produced and sold like items at a store, with gems choosing which one they like best. They’re made with a specific gem in mind.

The other option, however, seems more likely for multiple reasons. Aesthetically speaking, Pearl just doesn’t look like she was made for Rose, because she isn’t the right color and doesn’t have the right gem placement, if that’s even a consideration in production. And as stated before, owning a Pearl would have gone against Rose’s entire philosophy, if she had been given a choice. What we know for sure is that Pearl was very attached to Rose, and took on an inferiority complex that is much akin to a servant--or a knight--to her liege. It wouldn’t surprise me if Rose took advantage of that in order to protect Pearl from the inevitable backlash. Though they both would have been punished if caught, Rose would have received the worst imaginable fate, instead of Pearl.

My final point is, thankfully, short, but worth mentioning: does Garnet know what really happened? There’s only two instances that may point to her knowledge of the situation:

In Steven’s Dream, when Steven was yelling at Pearl and she covered her mouth, Garnet stated: “Please, you're making Pearl very upset.” Pearl didn’t react in a way that would seem “very upset,” by Pearl standards, but Garnet knew that what Steven was saying would have a deep effect on her, and she might have known that Pearl was unable to defend herself.

The next instance was in I Am My Mom, when Steven said that he could stop what Rose started, Garnet replied: “You're wrong! Steven, get down here!” It’s a bit of a stretch, but she could have been saying that he was wrong in assuming that Rose shattered Pink Diamond.

However, if she did know what really happened, why couldn’t she have just told him herself? She doesn’t have the same limitations that a Pearl would have, so I doubt that Rose had the power to keep Garnet from speaking, as well, though she most certainly would keep it a secret from others out of respect for Rose and Pearl. Plus, she already affirmed that Rose shattered Pink Diamond twice, at the end of Bubbled and in her story in Your Mother and Mine, unless she had been lying.

But that comes back to the point: why hasn’t she told him? It would have saved so much trouble. Though it’s also possible that she only knows that something happened that was different from what she was told, and it involved both Rose and Pearl, but she didn’t want to pry for answers. It wouldn’t change the fact that Pink was gone and that they had to suffer the consequences.

[storytellingandtea-blog]

Adults Over-analyse Harry Potter - Part 1

@greenmornings and I are re-reading the Harry Potter series, and decided to do it book-club style. Since we ended up overanalysing it anyway, and had to start a google doc to even figure OUT some things, we thought we’d clean stuff up, and share it with you guys. Most of what’s in these posts will be based specifically out of the books, but we’ll have at least some conjecture in attempt to make sense of some events. This specific post is probably half-conjecture, due to the scarce canon info.

This post was supposed to encompass the first 10 chapters or so, but Wynne and I quickly realised there’s something very weird going on with the progression of events from the Attack at Godrick’s Hollow to Harry being delivered onto the doorstep of the Dursleys. This took close to an hour and a half to even slightly figure out, and even then, it makes somewhat limited sense. So, really, this entire post only covers the events of the Prologue of Philosophers/Sorcerer’s Stone. Under the cut are the best to chronological events of those two days that we could figure out. We’re still confused. Rowling, why ;; We apologise for the rambling, and would be happy to attempt to clarify. 

Voldemort gets the secret out of Peter, and storms Godric’s Hollow - it can’t be any later than 8 pm or so, as Harry is 1 year old, and still awake (and playing, not awake and in a crib while the parents are trying to get him to sleep). Voldemort kills James and Lily, and is killed by the backlash. Albus is alerted to something happening by a spell, and he sends Hagrid to retrieve Harry. Why does he send Hagrid, when he has no real idea of what the hell is going on over there? There could still be Death Eaters there, there could be any countless number of dangers -- Hagrid can’t use a wand. Sirius arrives after (somehow) coming to the conclusion that Peter had betrayed them — presumably he finds out about the commotion around Godric’s Hollow, but why would he assume a betrayal instead of a post-torture confession? Additionally, why did the Fidelius even fail in the first place -- Voldemort would have no reason to dismantle it, as he knows the secret. The Fidelius is obviously gone by the time the roof of the house explodes due to the magical backlash, due to Muggle reactions.

Sirius is denied taking Harry by Hagrid (on orders, as disclosed by Sirius in PoA book -- important to note that Sirius isn’t mentioned or implied in book 1), and runs off after Peter. Peter grabbed his Lord's wand at some point that day (Does he arrive trailing after V? This has to happen at some point, probably this night, as Peter DOES have Voldemort’s wand in GoF, but is never explicitly mentioned in the books, just in an interview. It had to have happened before Dumbledore or Auror’s arrived on scene. Potentially before Harry was rescued? Otherwise, it’s too strange that Pettigrew was never suspected if he snuck out with Voldemort’s wand? Though Hagrid isn’t particularly observant, and Sirius is a bit out of his mind at the time). Sirius runs off after Peter, presumably without telling Hagrid ANYTHING. For some reason. Presumably, because he’s not exactly in a position to think at all, considering the situation. Sirius would surely trust Hagrid to relay the information usefully? Presumably, his anguish completely melts his brain?

Unknown events happen for a while, presumably still the night of the 31st, maybe very early morning on the 1st. Hagrid presumably returns to Hogwarts with Harry, on Sirius’ bike, and either puts him in his hut, or gives him to Dumbledore. Likely the latter, as he knows Dumbledore will be at Privet Drive, and Dumbledore vanishes with him somewhere for a long while, hopefully including seeing a healer. During this time period, which is late on the 31st, but just as likely on the early morning of the 1st, Hagrid talks to Minerva, mentions Dumbledore planning on going over to Privet Drive. For some reason, Hagrid doesn’t tell her of the fate of the Potters and that baby Harry has somehow defeated Voldemort — maybe he doesn’t really know/hasn’t put it together? There’s no way Hagrid wouldn’t have blabbed to her— alternatively, does she really put that little significance into what Hagrid says?

By this time (the morning of the first), rumours are already flying -- what the hell happened? How the hell does everyone know already? What happened? Express Prophet fuelling rumours that happened from a leak or something? What the hell is going on with November the First, seriously. There are very limited channels where info could have come out -- is this where Dumbledore was for some of the period he was missing?

Minerva leaves to go to Privet Drive, implying Dumbledore was away from Hogwarts on the morning of the first (potentially night of the 31st as well), likely with baby Harry for some of that time, and possibly taking a visit to Godric’s Hollow at some point. As Hagrid is the one to arrive with Harry to Privet Drive, he  leaves Harry with Hagrid to be delivered by bike again, for some reason, and (probably) visits Godric’s Hollow immediately prior to apparating to Privet Drive. Otherwise, there’s no likely reason for him to have arrived without Harry. (Most of this is conjecture, because what the fuck really happened that night? Harry and Dumbledore just kinda go missing as far as canon info goes.) He could have just picked Harry up himself, and likely taken less time. Why bother going through Hagrid at all? Again.

Minerva has been essentially stalking the Dursleys the entire day (she was there in the morning when Vernon left), likely using eavesdropping charms for some reason (she could hear the TV, which is impossible unless they kept the window open all day which is unlikely with the season, plus her conclusion of them being the worst sort of Muggles is only possible if she actually HEARD their exchanges, realistically -- unless she knows details of Lily’s relationship with Petunia, already). Dumbledore arrives, alone, that night, AFTER the Dursleys have gone to bed, so presumably it’s after 10pm (again, where has he been that Minerva couldn’t contact him all day (patroni messaging? Owls seem pretty fast, too), and has been staking him out by the Dursley home?) They have a strange interaction that confirms that she only knows rumours about the entire situation with the Potters and Voldemort -- despite her having talked to Hagrid, which could have only happened AFTER he picked up baby Harry. It also confirms she doesn’t know WHY Albus was there, so her spying on the Dursleys makes no sense, as does her being positioned specifically in front of their house (unless Hagrid specifically mentioned their home, rather than the street?). Does she not question why the hell Dumbledore would go there specifically, considering the rumours (especially if Hagrid mentioned the specific house)? She seems both surprised and appalled when Dumbledore mentions leaving Harry with the Dursleys, which is very odd.

(And if by "rumours" Minerva means what Hagrid said, why doesn't she just say Hagrid?? She’s obviously implying the Wizarding rumours by the rowdy partiers that have been going on/around all day.)

That being said, she gives in surprisingly after a token protest, almost suspiciously so, considering her initial frame of mind. (also, Dumbledore, really? Why do you assume he’ll be bad-off if he grows up with fame? 'It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?' Presumably, he didn’t want him to end up like James, but why not leave him with someone like the Weasleys? Happy childhood, but he’d be taught the values of family and humility, plus he’d be less alien to the wizarding world, and he’d have slow exposure to his fame, not be dropped in the deep end. Not to mention, James turned out well in the end, as far as we know. Additionally, at this point, the Longbottoms would still have been a viable option -- presumably, they were friendly enough with the Potters, due to being part of the same organization. There were plenty of viable options in the wizarding world. This really gives credence to both senile and manipulative!Dumbledore theories. Additionally, it’s rather unlikely that Dumbledore and Minerva didn’t know at least a bit about Lily’s relationship with Petunia, surely.) Additionally, Dumbledore’s comment about not intending to remove Harry’s scar even if he could is rather ridiculous, considering it would link in so profusely to his fame in future (considering the reason he gives for leaving Harry with Muggles in the first place). Gives a vague sense he might know of the Horcrux already (as he implies it’s impossible and/or shouldn’t be removed).

After this, Harry is left on the DOORSTEP with a letter and a fucking blanket in the middle of the night in Autumn. He could’ve walked off? Death Eaters are still presumably at large, disregarding the likelihood of him being found (due to it being a relatively random Muggle neighbourhood, as far as Voldemort’s people are concerned. Though Point Me spells are still a thing. Unless the Blood Wards are already active?). Also, the neighbors could've noticed a kid on a doorstep? Minerva seems like the reasonable one, considering her protests, but she never mentions anything about him being left there. She never checks on him after they Apparate away, either, despite the fact that it wouldn’t take much time or effort to do so.  Why couldn’t they have left Harry specifically with his relatives, make sure he at least made it THERE safely. Maybe Dumbledore suspects their attitude, and doesn’t want Minerva to see, and go against him, take Harry away? They could have even raised him in Hogwarts if they had the desire to work on it, bloody hell.

She also doesn't ask Harry about his home life in First year, not even a "I left you there ten years ago, just making sure it was the right decision, because I had some second thoughts".

On a completely different note, the prologue also kind of confirms Wizards are idiots and the Ministry/Hogwarts kind of has issues -- I’m honestly surprised at all the recklessness the wizarding world displayed on the 1st, and that they weren’t discovered. I bet the Obliviators had a field day.

This took way too long to figure out. Also, a lot of what we thought is book canon isn’t. Apparently there’s no evidence of Snape being in Godric’s Hollow in the books on the night, and even if he is, no clue where to stick it in the timeline.