#tria rambles

[triaelf9]

I was thinking last night before bed like...I wish I liked doing fully finished illustrations more and like, I enjoy it for VERY specific thing, but really, what I love is comics. And I love telling my own stories, the connection there is just something I can't explain, I just LOVE it

Without that connection, it's really hard to finish something, or get started on it, and it makes commissions REALLY hard for me to do, they're SUPER draining. It also makes things other than patreon/ko-fi hard to make stuff for b/c like, I just wanna comics. All day, every day.

But the more niche I realize that I am, the more it's like "ah crap, comics don't pay well, they take REALLY long to make, how am I gonna support my family on comics" and then it's like, well, I know where my heart lies at least, but the collapse of things is just always there

It's funny b/c I know that my stories wouldn't be what they are without my brain and how it works, but also I would be so much more productive and be able to work on more things and probably support my family better without the ADHD. So eyyy, it is what it is I guess lol XD

So...yay! But also like... oh no ^_^;;

[superconductivebean]

#1282

Aesop and Eleazar go drinking and later are found by Sirona mid-discussion on some obscure uses of mugworts in Potion making of the 17th century.

[quatregats]

Coses bones: he començat a llegir Incerta glòria i mare meva quin llibre...només n'he llegit 80 pàgines i ja em té captivat

[misfitmagpie]

Well I will gladly take a look at the fully revealed logo! Though I will say that red-archivist pointed out some good stuff in this post. But we can take a deeper look into certain things!

Also p.s.: You will want to read the giant ramble to the end, because I noticed something as I was finishing, and it puts everything in an interesting context.

As mentioned in that post, the combination of the alchemical symbols for salt, mercury, and sulphur do indeed form the tria prima, the three primes or components of life.

⊖ or salt, which represents the earth and the human body. In alchemy it also symbolises the lower consciousness, self-knowledge, and wisdom.

☿ or mercury I already covered last time, representing the mind, the omnipresent spirit of life, and stood as symbol for intellect, imagination, moral judgement, and the higher mental faculties. The alchemical associations of mercury have a strong connection with the Greek/Roman gods Hermes/Mercury, a messenger god who also acted as a chthonic deity, a psychopomp and god of boundaries to be exact. Which might be relevant, might not. (He was also a shepherd god, just adding that detail)

🜍 or sulphur represents the spirit or soul of all materials and living things. In alchemy it is seen as synonymous with consciousness and the expansion of thought. And is seen as the bridge that connects the body with mind, thus it is seen as the key to understanding the inner workings of the soul and consciousness. It’s interesting to me that the sulphur is in the logo 4 times, connected to the circle that encompasses the salt and mercury symbols, and the chevrons (I’ll get to those in a moment). This could have been purely aesthetic, but they could have also simply opted to have the sulphur symbol instead of one of the chevrons and have pretty much the same effect. Instead they chose the alchemical symbol of the soul, also seen as what ties body and mind together, also an element that is strongly associated with heat and fire, to encompass the body and mind, together with heraldic symbols of protection. It’s an interesting choice which makes me wonder about the mindset of the people who founded this organisation. (Maybe they are the types to believe in purifying fire, or purity of the soul as a way to protect oneself against the horrors out there? Who knows.)

The double ^ are chevrons, a heraldic symbol associated with protection, and meant to represent the roof of a house. Even the name is derived from the French word for “rafter”. It is also used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service. It is interesting to me that the bottom left chevron is an inverted version of the top right. The inverted version being next to the symbol for mercury or the mind, and the regular next to the symbol for salt or the body. Without it being in full colour, I can’t say much about any particular heraldic or symbolic links that might have. At most I can speculate that maybe it’s hinting at how the mind might not be as safe as the body in such a service, of course that can also be my own knowledge of TMA colouring my interpretation.

The O.I.A.R. in the top banner has been revealed! And it’s nice to get confirmation that I guessed correctly on the R! Personally I am not very good with acronyms, but @emdashingaway correctly guessed that it would be this. In my previous post about The Magnus Protocol logo she pointed out that it might stand for Office of Incident Assessment and Response, which now seems very plausible!

Now the background has some interesting repeating symbols too.

🜏

This is the Leviathan Cross, in alchemy another symbol associated with sulphur (in particular black sulphur) and thus also the soul. However it is worth noting that Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, has adopted the Leviathan Cross as a symbol of his Church in the 1960s. Though I can’t immediately find much more about it and its origins beyond the alchemical association and the very modern Satanic association. (The name Leviathan strikes me as interesting too, but there is too much that can be said about it, especially for a symbol that just occurs in the background.)

🜇

This is the alchemical symbol for aqua regia (derived from the Latin for “royal water” or “regal water”), it is a mixture of is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, optimally in a molar ratio of 1:3. Historically aqua regia was used in alchemy in the process of attempting to create the philosopher’s stone. It is also used to help dissolve gold and platinum within actual chemistry!

♁

Is the symbol for antimony is associated with the animal nature or wild spirit of man and nature, and it was often symbolised by the wolf.

🜘

This is the symbol for bismuth, while it does get mentioned in alchemical texts, the particular use and associations seem to be unclear. All that I can seem to find is that in early days, it was often confused for tin or lead. And that apparently Miners in the age of alchemy also gave bismuth the name tectum argenti, or “silver being made”. (Also it’s chemical symbol is Bi, which is funny given how apparently some have discovered that they are bi thanks to TMA)

I hope this is visible, but one of the symbols in the background also looks an awful lot like one of the alchemical symbols for tin. It looks like a curved X with circles at the ends of the legs. Tin in alchemy is associated with the planet Jupiter, and is sometimes called the ‘breath of life. ’ It represents the idea that the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts.

⚥

From what I can find, this is not strictly speaking an alchemical symbol. Clearly a combination of the male and female gender symbols (each of which is actually derived from the symbols for Mars and Venus respectively, which do get used in alchemy actually), it is generally seen as a hermaphroditic symbol (using the strict broad biological label here, not referring to intersex, I just want to point that out). But given all of the alchemy references so far, I suspect that it might be referencing the rebis (from the Latin res bina, meaning dual or double matter), the ultimate end product of the alchemical great work. It is sometimes described as the divine hermaphrodite—a reconciliation of spirit and matter, a being of both male and female qualities. A lot can be said about the great work in alchemy, and this post is already long enough honestly.

And lastly…

Take this, flip it upside-down, and you have the shape of the logo in which all these symbols are displayed. This is the symbol for the philosophers’ stone. In alchemy it is an unknown substance sought after by alchemists, said to be capable of turning base metals into precious ones (like gold and silver), can be used to derive an elixir of life, and was even thought to bring about spiritual revitalisation. And it symbolises perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss.

And while researching this, I also noticed something rather interesting. It might end up not being relevant at all, but I discovered that a famous alchemist was named Albertus Magnus who was born some time before 1200 in the Duchy of Bavaria (the flag and coat of arms of which during the Wittelsbach dynasty sports a rather nice diamond pattern, a bit like the pattern you see within the triangle of the logo). He was a saint with a deep interest in a large variety of topics including logic, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, astrology, alchemy, mineralogy, zoology, physiology, phrenology, justice, law, etc. I recommend potentially checking out the wiki page on Albertus Magnus that I shared earlier if you are interested in knowing more, there is a lot of history there. But it’s interesting that he shares a surname with Jonah Magnus, founder of the Magnus Institute.

Conclusion:

Given all that I have managed to dig up about the symbols within the logo, and the indirectly connected links with suspiciously named historical figures, in particular with the context of there being another Bouchard within the Magnus Protocol, I can’t help but be suspicious of whatever this British civil service is actually getting up to behind the scenes. In particular what they think they might be trying to accomplish using the Fear Entities.

Of course at this point it becomes pure speculation. But I am more than happy to hear everyone’s ideas, speculation, and contributions!

[bonzos-number-1-fan]

Sam Messed Up + Tria Prima Ramblings

There are a few solid CAT# but one I really like is that it's based on if an incident affects the body, mind, or soul of the victim. This started off as an offhand example I used to explain how they could work, but there are a lot of fun links to it and will now make a semi-baseless accusation to continue to support it

Sam can't file documents correctly even when being told explicitly what to do.

Anyway, CAT#'s have been shown to have the following values, either in the show or on the Klaus doc: 1/2/3/12/13.

It stands to reason that if 13 can exist these are non-mutually exclusive categories and so 23 and 123 can also exist. And if an incident can be both 1 and 3 it would appear that these represent discrete facets of an incident's manifestation.

Given the show's obvious alchemic motifs it's not a huge leap to link that to the tria prima, alchemy's three primes; soul, spirit (mind), and body. These are represented by sulfur (🜍), mercury (☿), and salt (🜔) respectively. Each of which can be found on the OIAR's logo.

The strongest link here is that 3 is Body/Salt/🜔. Daria's transformation (full) was CAT3, ink5oul has 🜔 on their insta bio, and body is even the third thing in the list. Which is a great start.

We've also got transformation (eyes) at CAT23 which also helps back that up. There was an elemental of paranoia and mental manipulation to it as well as the transformation itself. That tracks really well for Spirit/Mercury/☿, which in alchemical terms is mind as most people would think of. CAT2 was also the watching doll which does also track.

The problem for me is with the last of our categories. CAT1 in the show has only been seen for reanimation (partial), combined with the extra context that said reanimation was "amalgamative", and I don't think that lines up well with a basic idea of Soul/Sulfur/🜍. If this was CAT13 I'd be all over this but I think given there is a strong emphasis of the physical body being an important detail here then it's not entirely convincing. Greater context could make it a stronger case though, if lots of undead ends up in CAT1 then it'd probably a sure thing.

The real problem with this idea is that Dr. Webber's incident seems to almost entirely disprove it. It was CAT2 and while it obviously had a strong mental component it's undeniably a huge physical transformation so it'd have to be CAT23 to really make this all make sense.

Which brings us to Sam. Sam definitely made one obvious mistake with the case number of Ep 3's incident. I think he also made a major mistake in its header. Both of which have solid foundations in the show's text. But I also think, somewhat seriously, that a third mistake has been made with the metatextual reason of obfuscating the meaning of this system.

So, after the incident plays and Sam talks to Alice about it she pretty explicitly tells him what it should be filed as. She says "“Infection” comma “arboreal”. Cross link it with “guilt” if you’re feeling fancy.", but this is what we get instead:

CAT2C8175-03042009-22012024 Infection (full body) -/- arboreal

Ignoring the header for the time being there firstly a very obvious and inarguable mistake. He missed out the R, and they all get the R because it's just a label. The header is also close to being different than what Alice mentions and arboreal as a crosslink specifically doesn't seem to fit in with the more emotional or mental elements crosslinks have had to that point. Arboreal doesn't fit in with regret, trespass, or dysmorphic, but guilt does. Which would make this the seemingly more correct case number and header:

CAT2RC8175-03042009-22012024 Infection (arboreal) -/- guilt

But based on the tria prima theory I'm now wondering if it's not meant to actually be this:

CAT23RC8175-03042009-22012024 Infection (arboreal) -/- guilt

And the 3 was removed to obfuscate the case numbering format. Because the stuff that was "wrong" is fairly obvious to find if that's all that was wrong with it but removing a digit from the CAT# is basically impossible to show unless you know for sure what's meant to be there. It's the sort of mistake that hides really well in ignorance, which makes it a great data point to screw with because of how it breaks ideas.

[klerothesnowman]

The Reason the Jedi Suck is Because Conflict is More Interesting Than Peace

Okay, here I go defending the Jedi.

I've mentioned it in a previous ramble, but my primary engagement with Star Wars for the past year or so has been a Neverwinter Nights roleplaying server set during Knights of the Old Republic. It is the most niche of niche corners in the overall Star Wars fandom, but it's given me a really great example of why a lot of people have the opinion that the Jedi are massive fuck ups who are responsible for all the problems in the galaxy.

If you somehow don't know, the big twist of KotoR 1 is that the player character is an amnesiac Darth Revan, the previous Dark Lord of the Sith who ruined everything. The Jedi concoct this big plan to mind wipe him, train him as a Jedi again, and then use him to turn the tide of the war. There's a lot of details to this that are up in the air, like if this plan was entirely premediated, or something spur of the moment when an amnesiac Revan exploded into their laps when Malak betrayed him. One of the Jedi Masters who is absolutely not on board with this plan is Master Vrook. Vrook is a real dick, he's crotchety and angry and he shoots down all of your achievements. At one point he flat out says that training you is a mistake because Revan will just come back. Homie does not care about OpSec.

In KotoR 2 one of the more shocking, yet extremely understated, twists is that Jedi Master Atris has fallen to the Dark Side and is partly responsible for the slaughter of the Jedi Order after she gave the location of the Order's meeting place away to the Sith in an attempt to lure them out. Because KotoR 2 was less about big twists and more about an unfolding of events you could see coming a mile away, the fact that Atris is evil isn't surprising, the first time you meet her she flips off the handle about how much she hates you and you watch a recording of her flipping out about how you should be dead later. The reason Atris' fall is shocking isn't because "Oh man, this character who I had a positive outlook on is evil? Say it isn't so" but more because she was all over the marketing for this game, she's on the box art fighting Sith, she's the one who juxtaposes the game's iconic Sith. She, metatexually, represents the light side for Kotor 2. Everyone who played Planescape Torment noticed that her name was an anagram of Trias and sniffed her ass immediately however.

These twists and characters are extremely well known, basically common knowledge to anyone who cares for KotoR. Like, for instance, the kind of reprobates who would roleplay KotoR in a 20 year old D&D RPG.

There was a time on this roleplaying server where, not getting into details, the Jedi players fucked up. The DM team deemed that their behaviour was unjedi, and that they needed to intervene to push them onto the right path. The method of doing so was to have their enclave be audited by Master Atris. When the announcement was given the Jedi characters panicked. Characters who were from Coruscant told horror stories they knew about how mean Atris was, one in particular described her as "The Worst".

There was another time where players ran into Master Vrook. Vrook was a dick, he smacked down any attempt to have fun, he seized on any attempt to criticize characters and completely wrote off particular characters as lost causes, almost gleefully rattling off lists of their failings. Vrook actually was The Worst.

These portrayals of Vrook and Atris were not challenged. Why would they be? They lined up with how players remembered them. Of course Jedi Master Atris is mean and awful, she was mean and awful to the Jedi Exile.

The issue with that should hopefully be extremely obvious. You're not the Jedi Exile.

Atris being an evil hateful shit is a twist, it's a reveal. Immediately after Atris flip out one of her Handmaidens steps up to her and asks "Are you okay? I've never seen you act like that before." The Jedi Exile was her hero, if you plan as a male PC she loved him, he stood as a testament to what the Jedi should be. And then the Exile betrayed the Order and joined Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. The Exile hurt her in a intensely personal way that only the Exile could. Atris acts mean and awful to the Jedi Exile and only the Jedi Exile.

Vrook is angry and dismissive of Revan because you're Revan, he thinks this entire plan is a mistake and that you're just going to fall to the dark side again and then everyone will be right back where they started. And yeah, he's angry, stubborn and dismissive of the Jedi Exile too, but again that's because you're the Jedi Exile, the guy who joined Revan. The guy who, in a very rare out of the way bit of dialogue that often gets missed, used to bully his Padawan.

Every time Vrook and Atris are interacted with is when they're at their worst, we the viewer never get to see them at their best, we just get to have the little not-Yoda's word that Vrook is actually pretty cool. The entire fanbases perception of these characters are tainted by whose perspective they were seeing these characters from, and the moment you are seeing them.

This is something that the Jedi get screwed by in the entire franchise.

Starting from the prequel trilogy, it's pretty oldhat to point out that these movies are about the Jedi Order falling for a trap, after being manipulated for over a decade. It's a story about good people having their flaws and fears preyed upon by an enemy they're unprepared for. The severity of the war, combined with the knowledge that the Sith are behind it somehow, pushes the Jedi to get involved. The Clone Army falling into their lap is too good to be true, but its discovery is intentionally timed with a sudden urgent need for an army. The Jedi are forced to make compromises on their ideals and convictions, and that's what leads to their downfall.

Meanwhile in the Original Trilogy, a similar narrative is playing out. The Jedi are defeated and in hiding, traumatized by life under The Empire. When Luke's friends are in danger Yoda urges caution to continue hiding, saying he's not ready to face Vader and that he's rushing into it. When Luke says that he can't bring himself to kill his father, Obi-wan laments that if he can't do it then the Empire has already won. But the thing is, Obi-wan and Yoda are wrong, their beliefs influenced by their fear. Luke isn't rushing to face Vader, he's trying to save his friends, Obi-wan thinks Vader cannot be redeemed but Luke holds onto that hope to very end. And in that end he's proven right, Luke redeems Vader, and the galaxy is saved. Luke stands true to his ideals and convictions and is rewarded for it.

Both of these narratives require that the Jedi falter, require the Jedi to not meet their own ideals for both tragedy and Luke's eventual victory as one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived.

Furthermore, once Luke can make a new Jedi Order, he makes one that has learned from the mistakes of the previous Order but also, crucially, understands why certain decisions that he wrote off as mistakes were done. There's an entire ass story about Luke coming to the realization that a lot of Star Wars fans have to make, that Attachment and Relationships are not the same thing, and that the Jedi Order were right to bar the Jedi from them.

The thing is about Luke's Order though is that the stories told within it could not be a three part movie series. They're episodic novels and adventures, where the writers have room for the smaller, day to day operations of the Jedi Order. Missions where Jedi swoop in and save the day, and it doesn't need to feed into a narrative that only has one to two hours to wrap shit up. Where they protect people, not lead armies against their enemies. Where they get to be everything they're supposed to be.

These novels are also a lot more niche. It's more of an investment to read a book than it is to watch a movie, meanwhile the movies are one of the most successful blockbuster franchise ever made, everyone watched the movies, no one read the books. So it's the movies that influence people's perception and ideas. And then it's those perceptions and ideas that make people go "It would be interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great." which perpetuates the image of Jedi as fuck ups.

And it IS interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great. You should always be critical of institutions, it's how you keep them honest and watching institutions fail makes for interesting storytelling. The institutions failing is the inciting incident for the movies. But the movies still maintain that the core of the institution was something good.

[annonmaly]

Let's talk about these creepy masked dudes, or as their official name, The parade of Charlatan. In my mind, I never considered these guys as an imagination or a nightmare. Sometimes, I think that they are lost souls of dead vampires. Other times I think they are the victims of the catastrophe that resulted from the babel experiment. However, the thought that's winning in my mind now is that these creepy masked dudes are the "stolen true names" If you're bored and have lots of to spare for my 3 am rambling, you may continue reading. If not, scroll ahead.

If we think about it, Naenia's goal is to steal true names of the vampire, not to kill them. According to the dictionary stealing is to take (another person's property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it. Therefore, these names must be in her possession, and maybe it's in plain sight, like maybe, they become part of the Parade. This idea is heavily inspired by FMA (I'm rereading the series, but part of my mind is still thinking about VnC, well, alchemy is also incorporated in vnc so this is inevitable)

This is the scene where Ed realized that there's hope after all, there's still a chance to achieve their goal of bring back their original body. (If your not familiar with FMA, google it) Now, to sum up Ed's very long explanation.

The soul inside Armor Al is a real soul since he has past memories before becoming a walking empty armor

Al is creating new memories even though he's just a soul inside an armor, he has no physical brain where memories is stored.

Conclusion: Al's physical body is still existing out there.

Also note that Ed mentioned that the mind is the one connecting the body and soul.

Ed mentioned that in alchemy there are three things in humans, the soul, body and mind. This is actually a real principle in alchemy called "Tria Prima". The Tria Prima, also known as the "Three Primes" or "Three Principles," is a concept rooted in alchemical philosophy. It represents the fundamental elements of all matter and is attributed to the Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (Now you know why I'm inspired). It suggests that everything in the world is made up of three fundamental elements: Salt, which is the solid part like the body; Mercury (Memory), which is the fluid and changing part like the life force; and Sulfur, which is the fiery and active part like the emotions and soul. Balancing these elements is believed to lead to transformation and harmony in both substances and ourselves. Just like in alchemy, where the balance and harmonization of the Tria Prima lead to transformation and enlightenment, achieving a balanced state of these three principles within the human body is considered vital for overall well-being and personal growth. In holistic approaches to health, understanding and addressing the physical, energetic, and emotional aspects of individuals are often seen as crucial for promoting optimal health and vitality.

Going back to the parade of Charlatan, we know that the memories, body, and soul (true names) is important. And I think that the true names (soul) can't be stolen by just rewriting one's formula. So, I think the their modus is:

Naenia will curse the vampire by tampering the formula within them

The cursed vampires would be beheaded, separating the brain where the memories is stored (Remember Ed said that the mind is the one connecting the body and soul.) We know that Ruthven is part of the group and he has a high ranking position in the vampire world so he has the power. Therefore, they may created the rule that the cursed vampire could only be beheaded to help their scheme of stealing names.

Without memories, the true names (soul) of the vampire will be part of the parade (Yeah, I'm pushing the Louis is still out there agenda)

Back in Gavaudan, when Chloe tried to give Naenia a physical body, Vani specifically warned her that they shouldn't make the former who she is, because as revealed later, the death bringer is Faustina. Additionally, as shown by Amelia and Thomas, they can't remember anything when their malnomen is acting up. This is just a proof that someone that's part of the parade or on the process of being one, has their memories cut off to disconnect the body from a soul. This may also be one of the reason why Naenia can't easily take Noe's name since the latter has a problem with his memories.

Now, why does the charlatan collect true names (souls)? The answer that I could think of is that Ruthven and co. need to use them as an ingredient for their goal. They may want to rewrite the humans formula and transform them to be a vampire or vice versa, revive someone, commit genocide, or etc. However it is clear that there are preparation needed to do what they want, like the crazy doctor's experiment, the thing they stole in Gevaudan, and maybe the true names they stole are included.

[monsterfuxkermarya]

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Hello!

You can call me Marya, 18f (she/they/it), and I’ve been a long time lurker. I don't tend to write a lot, so if I go missing after like, a three week spree, that's just me being an idiot. And also, it may not all be monster smut! I’ll write what I write! I am the totally all-knowing supreme source for monster smut (no I’m knot)

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[dee-guin]

Looking back through ref sheets and,,,, the difference in hair length between Tria's first and second agent outfit only implies to me that she used her PSA/EPF paycheck to afford hair extensions and that is VERY funny to me

[finniwinter]

Headcanon that one way you can get Zhongli to go into a gorgeous fit of laughter is to tell him puns. Make the old man find puns genuinely hilarious. One day the team is in content silence while taking a break, and Aether decides to tell a joke 'cause he is also old, cute and finds puns really funny.

"Hey, Diluc. What did the grape say when it got crushed?"

Of course, Diluc can already sense where this is going and has a deadpan stare on. But he's soft for Aether, so he heaves a sigh and indulges him.

"I don't know. What?"

Aether is already giggling when he gets out:

"Nothing, it just let out a little wine"

Diluc's shaking his head. Kaeya finds it funny and let's out a small laugh. But joining Aether's laughter is another, deep and richer voice. And they're all surprised to turn and see Zhongli genuinely laughing. Not a small elegant chuckle. Full out, breathless laughter. And they're all just kind of starstruck as tears form in Zhongli's eyes and he has to put down his teacup to avoid spilling anything with his shaking form.

Childe's in awe as he quietly whispers for Aether to tell another one jajjajdjs

They make sure to have at least one pun ready every time Zhongli joins them after that. Although sometimes it doesn't work and Zhongli mistakes the set up for a genuine question.

"Hey Zhongli, how did the picture end up in jail?"

"Hmmmm....how strange. I suppose if it were a photo of something particularly frightening, it might have been taken in as evidence for a future tria-"

Zhongli is seriously thinking an answer over as he cups his chin, and they all watch him go on a lecture with exasperated fondness. But it's okay. That part of Zhongli is incredibly cute, too. So they just let him ramble until he eventually stops short, color dusting his cheeks when he realizes his mistake.

"Ah...this question was intended to be a joke, wasn't it?"

[triaelf9]

Was thinking about my list of anime recs and how like basically none of the big stuff is on there and like I LIKE some of the big stuff, but usually my interest fades in those eventually, and the smaller ones that hit hard have stuck with me & I hope I can create stories like that, big is always nice I guess, and I'm sure some of the big stuff sticks with folks (heck, Sailor Moon is still a staple for me) but I'd like to be on the hard-hitting recs list & have really touched someone with my work than on the biggie bigs list. if that makes sense lol

[tareloin]

MS2 HCs: Tria Nobility Relationships

Or at least some fragments of it. Much rambling/scattered ideas below the cut

NPCs involved: Frey, Allon, Ereve, Luanna

Word count: 2,415

TL;DR

Allon and Ereve were raised together with the expectation of Allon becoming her knight, but they first regarded each other as best friends. Due to their own obligations to the city, they gradually drifted apart. Luanna and Ereve grew close after Luanna begins to address Ereve by her first name rather than her typical title, but they also knew of each other even prior to adulthood. Frey met Allon and Ereve at an event held by the nobility. There, they quickly bonded (as children usually do) before parting ways. During the next few reunions, Frey only meets with Allon, and the two of them gradually grow further and further apart until they're no more than polite acquaintances. It's only until after Allon's corruption that the two of them grow closer, as Frey spends a lot of time alongside Allon's bedside as he recovers.

I've talked about Frey and Allon being in a friendly/romantic relationship often on this blog, but it came to me that I really don't know how that'd happen exactly. I've always imagined that their relationship is somewhat distant in current day, mostly due to them parting ways in the past and no longer sharing interests at present.

This was pretty much influenced by Frey stating that their relationship is a bit complicated, and I feel like the desire to reconnect (but not really being sure how to/if the other person wants to at all) would be kind of involved in that discomfort. Plus the whole "the world is doomed by the presence of the BM returning" ordeal.

Of course, their backstory is completely up in the air, so I'm taking it upon myself to develop them. I'll be talking about Ereve and Allon first, because I think it's important to give context for them specifically.

I headcanon that Ereve was born as a mortal child that just happened to get the Goddess of Light's power, as she was the best "vessel" to be contained in. But since Ereve is of royal blood, she'd be assigned a personal knight.

I'm not sure who was the knight prior Allon (probably his dad), but Allon was definitely attached to Ereve at the hip. He was raised with the expectations to protect Ereve and be her companion until he retired/died, but Allon being like 4-5 years old basically paid no attention to that.

Likewise, Ereve didn't pay much attention to Karl's teachings when she was trying to fill the role of empress left behind by her mother when she passed (during childbirth, which is what I headcanon). The two of them would often sneak out of their duties to just spend time together, whether it be playing tag in the garden or exploring the giant city.

Of course, time and expectations change people. As they grew older, Allon was officially sent off to training to become a proper knight. Ereve would often be alone in the palace, left with only books to study and lectures to listen to as the days moved on. She found comfort in the prime minister's cat, Cordelia, as well and later befriended Luanna, a priestess in training. While Allon wasn't far from the palace itself, he rarely had the time to visit his best friend for long. And when Allon befriended Mason during his training, he eventually stopped visiting.

When Allon finally returns to Ereve's side, things are different. To her, things have become too formal between them. When he greets her every morning, his voice seems stiff and unnatural. Every time he addresses her, he uses honorifics. Your Majesty. Your Highness. Empress. She misses her friend-- the one that used to cheerily greet her at her chamber door, the one that used to call her by just her first name. Even if he's standing right beside her, things aren't the same anymore.

Allon isn't happy, either. When he was younger, he always knew that he would be by Ereve's side, protecting her. He saw it as a good thing-- after all, who wouldn't want to be with their best friend all the time? Protecting her, no less. Of course, he didn't realize exactly what knighthood entailed.

It meant throwing your life away to protect the one you serve. It meant absolute loyalty to the empire and the crown.

And while Allon was willing to follow the footsteps of his father, he began to question himself. Was he willing to die for the empire, even if the sacrifice would be in vain? What of Ereve when he falls in battle? What would happen to her? Of course, these thoughts were quickly dashed by ruthless drilling by his sergeants. It was the knight's honor to fight until one's last breath, loyal to the kingdom.

But more importantly, his purpose wasn't to protect Ereve. It was to protect the empress. It didn't matter who stood in her place, and Allon gradually took those words to heart. When he met with her again, he addressed her formally for the first time.

Ereve was uncomfortable. She laughed it off, reassuring him that it wasn't necessary to call her that. And yet, he continued, even against his empress's own wishes. He had a role to fill, after all. Their relationship has changed, and so has their dynamic. They're no longer on equal ground, and the two of them know it. Allon was her knight, and Ereve was his empress. Nothing more, nothing less.

Still, Allon cares deeply for Ereve. It's hard not to, considering they grew up together. In the event that Ereve would be in danger/hurt, Allon would appear to "break character" as he rushes to her side shouting her name. When she cries, he comforts her in the best way he knows how.

To him, Ereve being happy and in good health is what truly matters. He hates seeing her riddled with as the kingdom falls apart around her, and his assignment to Shadow Gate doesn't alleviate much of his worries. He just wants to stay by her side-- not just as a knight, but also as a friend.

Still, there still holds an air of formality between him and Ereve. Unlike Allon, however, Luanna eventually grows close enough to address Ereve by her first name-- something that she hasn't heard in quite some time. At this point, Ereve realizes how much she missed having someone address her with familiar terms. But this time, it seems a bit more intimate than usual, as Luanna only truly refers to Ereve by her name when they're in private. In public, she still refers to her with her titles.

This closeness gradually leads to the two of them falling in love.

... So, how does Frey fit into literally any of this? Where was he the entire time?

We're hopping back to when they were all kids again, around six or seven years old.

Like Luanna, Frey wasn't really part of the noble class. Rather, he was part of a line of blacksmiths-- specifically, royal blacksmiths. Still, while he wasn't considered noble class like Ereve and Allon, his family was still invited to more upper-class ceremonies. Whatever it is, I'm not sure, but let's just say that Ereve and Allon are both there and it's kind of boring.

It'd be the first time that Frey attended one of these, so Allon takes interest in meeting up with him. Frey, always being the more reserved one, was a bit hesitant with opening up while Allon pretty much barraged him with a load of questions.

Eventually though, Allon managed to figure out that Frey was part of the royal blacksmiths. He's totally stoked about it because he's really into the armor and cool weapons that knights use, and Frey's kind of taken aback because he's not used to someone being so interested in it. He's pretty happy with this change however, so he and Allon talk about armor and stuff for a while.

It's a little bit into their conversation that Allon interrupts the conversation to bring Ereve over. Frey has no idea who he's bringing back, but she comes over, Frey's rightfully awestruck by the fact that Allon knows the empress of all people.

Of course, this gets looked over pretty quickly because Ereve's also pretty excited to hear about the blacksmithing (Allon managed to sweep her into his interests after talking about knights so much with her). The three of them become swift friends (as children usually do) and talk a bunch about things like armor, weapons, animals, and miscellaneous cool things.

At some point, Frey admitted that he actually wanted to become a guard. Allon was reasonably excited about this idea and tells him that he wants to be a knight. They bond over that and get hyped over the fact that maybe they'll be able to see each other more often, but when the ceremony is finally over, they hardly see each other again (at least for a few years).

When they reunite for the second time, I imagine that they're both training together, squires and cadets alike. They bunk together and have a nice old time reconnecting and catching up, but as the training for the opposing factions grows more divided with time, they soon have to part ways again.

After they've both officially graduated from their respective jobs, they meet again as guard and knight. Allon is out on one of his assignments, and Frey's transferred from Tria over to wherever Allon (and the other knights) are as reinforcement. There, they reconnect a bit but remain somewhat distant due to Allon already being quite close with Mason from their time in training.

Frey, inversely, grew up more or less alone and spent most of his time with his captain, Condor. Unlike Allon (who became more or less disillusioned with knighthood), Frey gradually became more dedicated to his role as a guard, and his studies/training was more important to him than relationships would ever be. Somewhere down the line, Condor chose him to be the next guard captain-- the greatest honor Frey could probably have.

When both Frey and Allon have received their titles as captain, the ceremony (inauguration??) would be their third and last reunion. Not because they part ways again, but because they'd be working alongside each other until their duties are done and over with.

At this point, the two of them merely regard each other as "friendly acquaintances". While they do still hold conversation outside of work, it rarely lasts for long.

For Allon, it's sort of a lingering regret for not being able to talk to him and Ereve as often as he'd like. Even though he had made friends during his time in training, he still sometimes wishes that he made more of an effort to reconnect. But with him being so far from Tria now and with so little to say to them, Allon figures that maybe there was a reason why they drifted apart anyhow.

For Frey, he'd been used to being alone for quite a while now, and he's quite content with it. Still, seeing Allon stirs some fonder memories within him, and when Allon had left to maintain the Shadow Gate, Frey couldn't help but feel a bit lonely for the first time in a while without him there. But as always, duty comes first.

This would be their relationship for a while, at least until one of them gets hurt. I'll be using a theoretical future scenario where Allon is recovering from the corruption that overtook him post-apocalypse arc.

While Allon is recovering in the hospital/being cured, he notices that besides Luanna (for obvious healing reasons), Frey is usually the one visiting him by his bedside. At first, he's a bit confused. While he knows that Frey has a tendency to check up on any injured, it feels a bit strange to be tended to by someone like him.

It's even stranger to him that Frey would take so much time out of his schedule to even stay by him. The visits aren't much longer than an hour, but Allon understands that time is precious, especially within the context of Frey's own line of work.

When he asks about it, Frey simply responds that he just wants to make sure that Allon is doing well and that someone is standing in his place as he visits. Of course, things are a bit more complicated than that.

Even though the two of them have grown distant, there's still a part of him that worries about Allon. He was his friend, and he's still his ally. And while Frey never truly says it out loud, Allon realizes this and feels the same sentiment.

During the initial visits, the two made small talk about their work as they usually did. Reports on Shadow Gate and its status. How the glutamine pill development was going. Their conversations didn't last much longer than that, but still Frey stayed.

A few days into recovery, Allon asks if Frey would bring a chess set the next time he came. Frey agrees, a rare smile appearing on his face.

"Always the strategist."

Their conversations gradually become more familiar with every game, and Allon finds himself voicing complaints for the first time in a long while.

He's growing tired of lying in the hospital bed. His recovery's going smoothly, but he doesn't feel like it's going fast enough. He doesn't have anything to do while he lies in his room, and the television bores him half to death.

Frey doesn't make much remarks on it during their time together, but the next day after, he brings Allon a small journal with a few pens.

"You told me once that you liked to write. I hope this will suffice."

And for once, Allon finds himself speechless.

He hasn't told anyone about that in some time. After all, why would he? He's rarely found the time for it between his hectic schedule, and even less so to make a close enough bond with someone to talk about their hobbies. It's been years since he was last able to do that with someone.

And a few years later, Frey still remembers.

"This means a lot... thank you."

Those words were insufficient, to say the least.

The two of them grow closer as the days pass. Allon starts to journal the passing hours in the journal that Frey gave him, writing down his schedule as well as any plot ideas he may have come up with during his time alone. Eventually, he stops journalling his routine and starts to write about his meetings with Frey.

He begins to look forward to his visits now. Whether it be just for another talk or if Frey brings something novel to just keep Allon company, he appreciates it. And while Frey does notice, he doesn't mention it.

After he's released from the hospital, Allon makes sure to visit Frey to thank him for being there for him, even if it wasn't necessary.

Frey just smiles back.

"Of course."

AAAAND that's all I can really figure out right now. The writing at the end kind of dwindled off because I don't think there's much to talk about + it's built around a scenario rather than the actual relationship, but I hope that was a decent read for y'all :"D

[loo-nuh-tik]

When you though Priest will be industrial, but actually they are shitty synthpop. 

[katieskarlette]

Shadows Rising: A Reaction Post

Short, mostly non-spoilery version:  I liked it overall.  I give it a solid B, maybe a B+.

I was disappointed in how little Nathanos and/or Sylvanas content there was, but I think proclamations of the ship’s doom are premature.  

I’m intrigued by the first rumblings of new character development for certain characters, especially Anduin, Alleria and Turalyon.

I was rooting for Talanji so much.  She’s great. Zekhan is a cinnamon roll too pure for this world.  Sira was kind of boring. Fairshaw is so darn heartwarming I can’t stand it. I like Bwonsamdi more now. The lack of Wrathion is unsurprising but unfortunate. Nothing new with Tyrande but she’s already poised for major development in Shadowlands.

Much longer, spoilery version below.

This ended up being more of a ramble than an essay, but there’s a lot of disjointed thoughts pinging around in my head, so let’s dive in.

Overall, I enjoyed Shadows Rising.  Was it the best book ever?  No.  Not even the best Warcraft book ever.  But it was an enjoyable read.  It’s always a treat to get into the heads of characters we mostly know in passing from in-game events.  There are internal, emotional beats that cannot easily be explored in the game, and the books are a way to build the world and the characters in a more introspective, slow-paced manner.  I like that.  (That’s not to say there are no action scenes, because there definitely are.)

Talanji, Jaina, Zekhan, and Anduin were all written well and sympathetically.  Maiev’s only in a couple scenes, but she felt off to me.  Nathanos was very in-character, in all his snide, sour glory.   Flynn and Mathias are great together.

The pacing was fine.  The descriptions were good, and it all felt grounded in the game world (i.e. landmarks, ambiance, the ridiculous amount of stairs in Daz’alor...)  Each of the Horde leaders got a moment or two in the spotlight.  Despite a fair amount of chapters about Anduin, Alleria, Turalyon, and Jaina, it still felt like a Horde-centric book to me.  Not that that’s a bad thing.

Prologue:  Gayness detected on page 8!  And it’s even something I kind of inadvertently predicted.  In my reaction post for Before the Storm I wrote, “ In this book alone, it would have been so easy to have that blacksmith bringing a helmet as a gift to his long-lost Forsaken husband instead of friend.”  That’s basically what we have here.  I don’t know if they were married, and neither were blacksmiths, but the Westfall moonshiner describes one of the Forsaken slain in Arathi as “the best man I ever knew and loved.”  Tada!  See how easy it was?  Add Jago x Wilmer to the growing list of LGBT rep in Azeroth.  (Even if they’re super minor characters in the long run, it’s still great to see.)

There might be some kind of parallel to be drawn between Alleria failing Anduin (by not finding/killing Sylvanas) and Nathanos failing Sylvanas (by not killing Bwonsamdi) but my brain is too overloaded from binge-reading to articulate it right now.  Both failed their king or queen, but both were also given nearly impossible tasks. 

Alleria and Turalyon are definitely being set up as antagonists.  We are clearly supposed to side with Jaina on this, and be uncomfortable (if not outright horrified) at their torture methods.  It’s especially disturbing how they use their respective void and light powers to accomplish their goals.  I mean, on one hand it’s great that both sides of the great cosmic divide can work together, and their marriage seems stronger than it was for awhile there, but yeesh...can you not torture people?  I know, ends justify the means, slippery slope, greater evil, blah blah, but still...that’s not okay.  It’s yet another sign that the Light is not necessarily good (or the void necessarily evil).

I welcome conflict within the Alliance, though.  That’s been the Horde’s thing for long enough.  Time to see how the blue side deals with its rifts.

In chapter 2 Nathanos is annoyed when a dreadtick flies by his head.  What, was it too similar to a bird for his liking?  Heh. 

All that time in Nazmir, and we didn’t get to see a single crawg!  Harumph.

It took three chapters and 39 pages to finally get something from Nathanos' perspective, and he was much more scarce going forward than I had hoped.  The bits we did get from his perspective were great and in-character, but I wanted to get into his head more.  Most of his scenes were from the POV of Sira or the troll villain instead, and while Apari was a good character I find Sira to be pretty one-dimensional. 

I kind of got paternal vibes from Nathanos toward Sira, though.  He was like, “I’ve been undead a lot longer than you; I know how to handle the bloodlust and such.  Get it out of your system at appropriate times but learn to control yourself.  There’s more to (un)life than slaughtering people.”  She herself, though, was just “Rawr, I hate everything and want to kill anything that moves.”  I mean, I get that she’s been through some traumatic stuff, but I didn’t find myself invested in her at all.

Page 42, as a bunch of trolls are about to be slaughtered:  "Hungry birds circled, expectant of a big meal, and Nathanos so hated to disappoint."  WHAT?  Nathanos wanted to do something nice for BIRDS?  I know, the phrasing fits with his dry, sarcastic sense of humor, but considering the running joke about him hating birds, it still made me go, “Huh?”

Chapter 5 (and later on, as it turns out):  Zekhan having a soft spot for kids is too precious for this world.

Page 51:  Thalyssra's eyes were "sparkling as she gazed across the room at Lor'themar."  Awwwwwww.   There was a surprising amount of ship fodder in this book overall, with Lor’themar x Thalyssra, Turalyon x Alleria, Fairshaw, and Zehkhan x Talanji all getting a moment or two (or more.) 

Chapter 6:  Anduin says, "Turalyon, take Alleria Windrunner and investigate these deaths."  You know, Alleria...YOUR WIFE?  I don't think you need to say her last name there, genius. 

While I’m being snarky about the editing, there were at least two times where the word “grieves” was used instead of “greaves.”  I spotted a couple other little things that a better editor (or one with more time, maybe it was rushed, I don’t know) would have caught.

Chapter 7:  More matter-of-fact LGBT inclusion for minor characters, this time a lesbian troll couple who want to marry.  Yes, thank you Blizzard, keep it up.

Chapter 8:  If you’re going to make the “Zappy Boy” nickname for Zekhan canon, having Bwonsamdi be the one to wink at the camera and use it was a great decision.  I can totally imagine him saying it.

We learn the name of Varok’s wife/Dranosh’s mother:  Remda.  Although I read elsewhere that the vision Zekhan saw of the Saurfang family in the afterlife was just Bwonsamdi’s B.S., it was still cool.

Chapter 13:  Nathanos wearing cologne?  Love it.  And it’s not even to cover up the rotting smell, because apparently his new body doesn’t stink like some undead; it just doesn’t smell like a living person, either, and some find it unnerving.  So he wears cologne.  That’s such a delightful little detail, and surprisingly considerate of him.

Sira complaining about bugs:  "We'll be eaten alive."  Uh no, you'd have to BE ALIVE for that to happen. Tsk.

Nathanos being called "the pale rider" makes me think of old cowboy movies.  Like, “You greenhorns better clear out; the Pale Rider is comin’ to town and there’s gonna be trouble.  Go wake up the sheriff.”  

Sira says that while on the voyage to Zandalar the dark rangers liked to tell the tale of how Nathanos was promoted to Ranger Lord by Sylvanas.  I'm surprised he lets them gossip like that!  His quests in vanilla made it seem he wanted to keep those parts of his past on the down-low, at least from the player.

Chapter 14:  Thrall's second kid is Rehze.  *blink*  Reh-zee?  Rez?  Ruh-zay?  I guess she’s not named after anyone.  After he named his son Durak (sort of after Durotan) I assumed he’d continue the pattern with kid #2.  Maybe she’s named after one of Aggra’s relatives.  (Later I read on Wowpedia that the author actually said she dislikes the “fan service” trend of naming children after other characters so she just picked a random orcish name.  I don’t think it’s fan service, because lots of real-life people do it, but okay.  Fair enough.)

Speaking of orcish names, there’s an orc page helping out the council named Gunk.  Like, what you clean out from under your fingernails after gardening.  Gunk.  LOL

Aww, that’s no fun...Maiev's wearing a cape trimmed in white fur, not daggers.  What happened to her impeccable/deadly fashion sense?

Chapter 16:  Zekhan starting to clap at Talanji's speech and then stopping and shrinking back when he realized no one else was applauding was so freaking adorable.

Chapter 17:  Fairshaw, full steam ahead!!!  Their chemistry is everything I hoped it would be.  Learning a little about Flynn’s tragic past was both fascinating and heartbreaking.  (We learned his mom’s name: Lyra Fairwind.  R.I.P.)

Chapter 18:  Proodmoore keep has a gallery with floor to ceiling oil paintings of the Proudmoore family, extended family, and beloved friends.  It now includes Anduin.  I can’t help thinking that, in a different timeline, Arthas’ portrait would have been there.

Will wonders never case?  Ji Firepaw actually gets to do stuff!!!  GASP!

"Thrall understood that to other humans Wrynn was said to be pleasing-looking, but to the orc, Anduin simply looked like a small, pink boy swallowed by clunky armor."  So it’s canon that Anduin is good-looking in-universe.  But LMAO at Thrall’s description.

Chapter 22:  From Shaw’s POV, "These odds ranked pretty low...  Maybe just above the time he had relied completely on a shoddy network of spies embedded in a cheese business."  OMG leave Elling Trias alone!  He did his best!  LOL

Shaw wanting to hang out in a mountain meadow and whittle bird calls (perhaps even with a special someone) was so touchingly normal.  That’s the kind of characterization that the books are so much better at than the game.

I actually like Bwonsamdi more after reading this.  Not that I disliked him before, but I didn’t have a strong sense of him due to not playing Horde as much in BFA.  He’s a well-done gray character:  not good, not evil, insightful but a smartass, part of the great cycle, out for himself but also taking his duties seriously (saving troll souls from the Maw.) 

I’m not entirely sure that we needed as much from Thrall’s POV as we got.  I mean, sure, he’s a familiar character with ties to a lot of others, so it was easy to drop him into situations, and his ties to Jaina made cross-faction communication easier, but he didn’t seem as relevant to the lore of Zandalar and the Shadowlands as some other characters.

Maiev seemed OOC, especially in the Stockades scene.  I know one of the themes of the book was “people change,” and I suppose I should be happy that she has a more moderate viewpoint nowadays, dialing back the Lust For Vengeance Meter from eleven to maybe a five or a six, but it didn’t feel like Maiev.  Especially because her message of “maybe don’t go overboard with this vengeance thing” was aimed at Tyrande, of all people, someone who Maiev has had quite legitimate reasons to dislike for a very, very long time.  I could see her maybe mellowing out a little in front of fellow Wardens, but Tyrande?  Eh, it didn’t feel right to me.

No surprises from Tyrande in this.  She’s still steely cold, vengeance-obsessed, consumed by anger.  Not that I blame her, but it’s not healthy.  I know we’ll be exploring her situation more in Shadowlands, so this was more of a reminder/reinforcement of where she is right now.  It was kind of funny how Thrall, Baine and Calia tried to talk to her and she just gave them the stink eye and the silent treatment, though.

I’m fine with Anduin exploring his dark side a bit more, as long as they don’t go overboard with it.  I like him as an earnest, good-hearted character.  It’s only natural to test your limits, though, especially in times of crisis.  Power corrupts, and he’s got plenty of it, both politically and magically, so I can understand Jaina and Mathias being a bit uneasy.  Add to that the increasing themes about the Light not being as benevolent as we originally assumed, and there’s potential for interesting plot there.  In the end I want Anduin to stay firmly on the side of good, empathy, compassion, etc., but a deviation into the shadows along the way isn’t a bad thing for the story.

I imagine every single person who read about Anduin sneaking off to the Lion’s Pride Inn in Goldshire smirked about that place’s reputation on certain RP realms.  I was surprised he didn’t find scantily-clad elves and draenei dancing on the furniture.  And then it turns out Jaina was there, too.  Awkward!

Why, oh why couldn’t we have had a scene with Anduin and Wrathion hanging out (incognito, of course) in a tavern?  That was their thing in MoP, and now with Anduin desperately wanting to get away from his duties for awhile and soak up some tavern ambiance it would have been perfect.  Let Anduin show off the best taverns Stormwind has to offer.  Even though Wrathion was as much a guest at the Tavern in the Mists as Anduin was, he acted like he owned the place and Anduin was his guest, so let them turn the tables and have Anduin play host.  There could be jokes about how he better not punch Wrathion again or they’ll get kicked out for starting a bar fight.  They could have still seen the young recruits, ran into Jaina, etc.  But Anduin really needs a buddy to hang out with right now.  

And you can’t tell me after Nya’lotha fell Wrathion just disappeared again and never at least visited Stormwind to tell grandiose tales about how he stabbed an Old God, it was so heroic, and he wasn’t scared at all, and those mean adventurers were so quick to believe he’d been corrupted, but he hadn’t, and did you know Azshara was there?  And then N’Zoth almost won but KERPOW LAZERS and oh Anduin you should have seen it, etc. etc. etc.

I should be used to being disappointed about Wrathion’s absence by now, but there are SO MANY MISSED OPPORTUNITIES!

Sigh.  Moving on.

Being exposed to spoilers meant I wasn’t fooled by it, but it was still a deft bit of writing to have the dark rangers drink poison when cornered by Horde soldiers, then mention Nathanos having a vial in his coat, which he drinks when defeated--making the unspoiled reader assume he’s killing himself--only for it to be a kind of liquid hearthstone attuned to Sylvanas.  Had I not known that he survived the book I would have freaked out there.

So, like, was Bolvar just sitting there on the ground awkwardly eavesdropping while Sylvanas and Nathanos talked/argued?  Or did he use that time to sneak away unnoticed?  LOL

Which brings us to the epilogue that’s caused so much hand wringing and wailing from my fellow Blightrunner shippers.  It wasn’t the openly sentimental interaction between them that I had hoped for, but I honestly didn’t read it as the doom of the ship.  A bump, at worst.

[If you’re not interested in the relationship between Nathanos and Sylvanas, or if you’re one of those people who simply hate his character, you can skip the rest of this post.]

First of all, Sylvanas had just broken the Helm of Domination.  That was a hugely significant thing to do, both for her personally and in the cosmic scheme of things.  Her state of mind at that moment had to have been in a turmoil.  So if she was a little distracted and tense, I think that’s quite understandable.

Second, I saw other fans being upset that she threatened/wanted to strike him.  That’s not how I read it at all.  “Sylvanas could strike him, scream and hollow out his soul, but it would not correct the failing.”  She’s not saying she wants to do that, just that she could.  The instinct to lash out in violence is ingrained in all the undead; death knights have to do it or they go mad.  So for her mind to go there in a moment of high emotion seems natural to me.  She doesn’t actually attack him or verbally/physically threaten him.  People say things like “I could have killed my brother for eating the last slice of cake” or “I could’ve strangled my co-worker when she spoiled the ending of the movie” and it’s not literal.

Third, she doesn’t say “go away, I never want to see you again.”  She says “Go where you will, Nathanos, but do not be idle” and “I expect you will return to me with means to prevent [Bwonsamdi’s] meddling.”  So essentially she’s saying, “Fine, go home, regroup, come up with Plan B, and if it’s not possible to destroy Bwonsamdi at least concentrate on countering him.”  Also note that she still considers the operation to be theirs, not just hers:  “This was a blow, but one she felt sure they could overcome.”  That tells me she expects to work with him in the future.

Fourth, and granted this is before she learns of his failure, but she’s clearly happy to have him there when he first arrives.  “’My champion,’ Sylvanas purred.  ‘Your timing could not be better.  Tell me of your victory as we take these first steps together.’”  She wanted to cross into the Shadowlands with him at her side.  Hell, that’s bridal imagery...crossing the threshold together, and all that.  The only reason she tells him to go is because his work isn’t done and she still needs him on Azeroth.  But she explicitly says “I expect you will return to me.” 

Fifth, in the line from her POV about how “the unjust ladder of their lives must be dismantled,” the “they” she’s referring to is all of the denizens of Azeroth, true, but I think there’s also a tinge of bitterness there as she looks back on her own life, and her life with Nathanos.  Destiny has not been kind to either of them.

Sixth, she says “My path lies ahead” as she prepares to cross into the Shadowlands.  It’s a reminder of the scale of the forces she is trying to manipulate.  When faced with the potential fates of all the souls in the universe, her own regrets are insignificant.  She can’t stay on Azeroth any longer, even if some part of her does want to just chill out on a beach somewhere with Nathanos and watch his blighthounds chase seagulls.  She thinks “It would not be easy, but then, her mission required great sacrifice.”  Like leaving him behind.

Even this part can be interpreted different ways:  “She heard the note of hope in his voice, fragile as a fledgling dropped from the next.”  Putting aside the humor of comparing bird-hating Nathanos to a fledgling, we don’t get a value judgment about the comparison.  Sylvanas doesn’t think about him sympathetically, wanting to protect him in a vulnerable moment, but she also doesn’t think, “Geez, what a pathetic weakling.”  It goes back to that bit in Warbringers about how she can’t kill hope.  And she can’t.  Here, again, no matter how bleak things are, no matter how displeased she is at his failure, he still has hope.  And she needs that, whether she believes it or not.

When she “flicked her fingers, as if ridding herself of a speck of muck” that can be interpreted as her thinking of him in a derogatory way, but she was also talking about Bwonsamdi in the same breath so I can choose to believe that’s who she was being dismissive of.

I don’t know.  I get that some of the language is discouraging.  She describes him as having “blubbering lips” and she’s definitely not happy with him.  But these two have been through a lot, and their bond has remained strong.  I’m sure this isn’t their first fight, or the first time he’s disappointed her.  This isn’t the end for them.  Just another bump on a very long highway they’ve traveled together.

...

OMG this has turned into a monster of a post, rambling all over the place.  I hope it’s coherent enough to follow.  I’m just in lore overload at the moment (and enjoying every second.)  I know I’m forgetting things I wanted to talk about, too, but I’m going to go ahead and post it as it is.

[alivingmarionette]

It happened...

Reloader grew on me... still no fan of falsetto voice but... I still seem to like the song! damnit... not again!

...and my art has once again made it on their social media, and not in a bulk post on facebook, but this time, it’s on twitter... Shit. Umm, thanks? It seems Puppet Master’s highly advanced digital mind knows everything I’m up to, on every single social media! 

[riviae]

me @ myself: for the love of god please just have (1) normal conversation w/ ur friends. it isn’t that hard. ur at a panera,,, there are random strangers around. just. be. normal™

me: [rambles about ancient rome’s naming convention (tria nomina) & how it has influenced naming conventions in europe (ex: russia), talks about forensics in detail over dinner, makes note of proper snake husbandry & my desire for a BEL python, also somehow manages to whistfully reminisce about visiting pompeii & herculaneum (& how i need to go back bc all i got were a few polaroid pics since my phone ironically enough /died/ the moment we got off the bus to pompeii)]

the poor woman sitting in the table next to me, eating a salad: [legitimately gets up, grabs her food, & moves to another table]

me: .....yikes