ryeun

[ryeun]

Someone gave me a small slip of sticker paper so I drew waron’s helmet!!

And also… behold:

A knight I made in Human Fall Flat while playing with my niece… I wonder who it could possibly be…

But man, I’m so busy I haven’t been TEK-ing :(

I miss her…

[ryeun]

Najin...?

[ryeun]

if any of yall need motivation to be productive

[ryeun]

I don’t have a full body of her but I drew a bust so…

If this is a safe space, here’s my TEK OC, independent knight Deep Wine Raven Maeve… and I probably will not be dropping more lore LOL but just wanted to share ig!!

[ryeun]

I either want Waron to peg me or render me unconcious so i peacefully fall asleep in her arms for days and wake up all refreshed

[ryeun]

He does this all the time actually 😭

Silly man

?????????????

[ryeun]

I totally forgot that detail about the crystal sea!! Thank you for bringing it up! So even if a device did exist it would have to be a mix between both utilities. I didn’t get too into the color printing aspect of magazines, but if they have something for pictures and chewing gum for the common people, I’m sure they’ve figured out some sort of color printing press.

I’d have to reread Gilgamesh for any hint of electricity, but I doubt there will be one. In the United States, the electrification of homes occurred in the late 19th century, which is somewhat close to the invention of commercial chewing gum. However, as I previously mentioned, it’s hard to draw a connection between timelines of technological advances of our world and that of a fantasy world.

Plus, in one of the last chapters of Gilgamesh (spoilers ahead), we see a flashback to when Kandentia met Tludia roughly 8 years before the events of Gilgamesh. There, Kandentia makes a comment about a wad of magical papers for starting (camp)fires that are supplied to the knights. The way she says it implies that this is also not a commercial item for the common people, which seems to be expected of magical items in general. Of course, a lot can change technologically in 8 years! Our age of technology in the real world is proof of this, as well as the work of geniuses like Regia greatly accelerating and changing the world of magic.

About the topic of magazines and interviews, though—I want to discuss this in a separate post!! When I have time!

Rereading is wonderful because why did I forget about this little detail. Apparently they have chewing gum in the TEK world! A quick google search tells me the first chewing gum was patented in the late 1860s, which is interesting. Since TEK takes place in a fictional world and not on Earth, it’s hard to compare technological advances and eras.

On the same note, the reason why I went back to the earlier chapters in the first place was because I remembered that Nagyunn bought a magazine of Najin:

Which is interesting because having Najin’s picture on the cover and such (as magazines are) implies the existence of technology able to capture a person’s likeness and print it out. Either that or it is hand drawn and then printed, which is viable (unlike the possibility of every copy being hand drawn, because that is simply not plausible and entirely impractical/not cost efficient).

The extent to which the technology in TEK has advanced is unclear; there are magical scrolls distributed among the knights that are used for communication, and they seem to work like a messaging app or social platform on a phone (not sure if they have other applications or uses because we’ve only seen knights scrolling through chat logs or receiving an announcement/message).

But the question is… how long have they been around? They clearly don’t have actual scientifically made cell phones, as is common in fantasy worlds with the existence of magic, but Wild Dog Fidorance seems inept at communicating through the scrolls (I don’t have the screenshot sorry) as if they’re something new. Of course, it might just be because they don’t seem to be in the use of the common people, which would mean that those who become knights would not be accustomed to them growing up, but… I don’t know. Sure, Qilin and other knights, as well as Nagyunn, get the hang of it quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’s been around for a long time. In Nagyunn’s case, he didn’t even know they existed until he met the magician.

So, we know there must be a device used for printing copies of something, there is a magical device that is used by knights to communicate, and that somehow magazines with pictures are printed in color. Is there some device, likely magical, used to take pictures? Is someone meeting with people like Najin and having them pose for hours to capture their likeness? Who knows.

If you were looking for a crazy theory with an answer, I sincerely apologize… but I only bring questions, not answers!! Maybe you can think about it and come up with something, with these details presented to you. (And if you do, please share!! I’d love to talk about the TEK world more! I’m slowly in the process of rereading TEK and taking note of details whenever I have time, which is not too often. Originally I started rereading from chapter 20 and onward—the latest chapter I was working on was 66—but I came back to the first chapters to refresher my knowledge.)

[ryeun]

Speaking on this again, another huge question is… if the knights are named after animals, then that must mean all those animals exist in that world. However, not all animals exist in the same continent. This implies that either 1) they all just. exist in several different areas of the Central Continent, as it is quite large and we have only been presented three existing continents in the TEK world (to my knowledge) or 2) animals from other continents are used as well, meaning they are somehow heard of or known. The last part is mentioned because it can be something like medieval Europeans hearing of African animals, Indian spices, etc. due to exposure from trade. The only issue with this is that the continents do NOT have friendly public relations. Still, that doesn’t mean information is entirely barred, but generally the second option is not as plausible.

That aside, the myths!! I was thinking of vampire bats (for some reason), which I realized were named *after* vampires, meaning that the myth of vampires had to exist before they were named. In other words, if vampires didn’t exist, “vampire bat” would not be a possible name for a knight. Of course, it could always be that if “vampire bat” were to be used, it is just for us as the audience to understand what kind of bat it is, and that it is named something else in the language of TEK. There’s also that a knight would probably simply be named “bat” rather than a specification like “vampire bat”.

Of course these thoughts sent me into a spiral of researching the history of the myth of vampires. I didn’t thoroughly read everything I found (it was 3 am) but I do want to bring up what I did find: creatures similar to vampires have been described in several myths across cultures around the world, whether as some sort of demon who feasts on newborn babies, or whatever else. The common idea of a vampire today is quite new and also largely influenced by depictions in media, but if creatures similar to vampires have naturally come about in so many separate places, it’s not wrong to assume this might happen in the TEK world. In other words, maybe there is an animal called a vampire bat!

Sorry about the vampire bats. It’s really not that important; I don’t know why I had to do all that. The point was supposed to be myths and animals, not vampire bats. But this was the example. If human nature inevitably leads to the creation of myths, it’s not out of left field to think that maybe the TEK world has many similar to ours. Not only that, but many myths involving creatures and monsters are produced by fear, another recurring feature of humans! What humans are afraid of can change throughout time and depending on the location, but other fears last, and leave a mark. The fear of death is an easy example. If the fears that created monsters like vampires exist in the TEK world (which they probably do), then the monsters created must exist in a similar fashion in the TEK world as well.

And those are the mental gymnastics I did to justify certain myths. I’m still confused on the Qilin part though, because where did you get the Chinese from, but also this can just be another case of “this is the mythological creature that already exists that I want to use to represent this character and is already familiar with my audience so I will use the right term for it instead of making up my own creature that nobody knows” …or it’s giraffe, but I REALLY hope it isn’t!!! (If I haven’t made that clear already)

Honestly Qilin’s title makes me wonder. I mean, why would there be a creature from Chinese mythology in the Central Continent? The people of the Central Continent do appear to have myths and legends; dragons are considered creatures of the legends, despite being real. They also have the tales of fairies and other beings living in the Eastern Continent, though this is false and is a result of the limited contact between the continents. However, a creature of Chinese mythology…? It’s probably just the concept of the Qilin, but a mythical creature is an interesting choice for a knight title.

On the other hand, I’m considering the possibility that the author meant 기린 as in “giraffe” rather than Qilin, due to the mistranslation across cultures that occurred some centuries ago. This is a rather lame possibility, though, because… come on. Qilin is just way cooler. Also, I want to trust the translation team with this one.

So, if we are to go with Qilin being Zius’ intended knight title, then I guess that either means mythical creatures are viable options for the emperor to choose from or that Qilin exist in the world of TEK. It’s probably the former. Who’s to tell the emperor what to do, anyway?

[ryeun]

Rereading is wonderful because why did I forget about this little detail. Apparently they have chewing gum in the TEK world! A quick google search tells me the first chewing gum was patented in the late 1860s, which is interesting. Since TEK takes place in a fictional world and not on Earth, it’s hard to compare technological advances and eras.

On the same note, the reason why I went back to the earlier chapters in the first place was because I remembered that Nagyunn bought a magazine of Najin:

Which is interesting because having Najin’s picture on the cover and such (as magazines are) implies the existence of technology able to capture a person’s likeness and print it out. Either that or it is hand drawn and then printed, which is viable (unlike the possibility of every copy being hand drawn, because that is simply not plausible and entirely impractical/not cost efficient).

The extent to which the technology in TEK has advanced is unclear; there are magical scrolls distributed among the knights that are used for communication, and they seem to work like a messaging app or social platform on a phone (not sure if they have other applications or uses because we’ve only seen knights scrolling through chat logs or receiving an announcement/message).

But the question is… how long have they been around? They clearly don’t have actual scientifically made cell phones, as is common in fantasy worlds with the existence of magic, but Wild Dog Fidorance seems inept at communicating through the scrolls (I don’t have the screenshot sorry) as if they’re something new. Of course, it might just be because they don’t seem to be in the use of the common people, which would mean that those who become knights would not be accustomed to them growing up, but… I don’t know. Sure, Qilin and other knights, as well as Nagyunn, get the hang of it quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’s been around for a long time. In Nagyunn’s case, he didn’t even know they existed until he met the magician.

So, we know there must be a device used for printing copies of something, there is a magical device that is used by knights to communicate, and that somehow magazines with pictures are printed in color. Is there some device, likely magical, used to take pictures? Is someone meeting with people like Najin and having them pose for hours to capture their likeness? Who knows.

If you were looking for a crazy theory with an answer, I sincerely apologize… but I only bring questions, not answers!! Maybe you can think about it and come up with something, with these details presented to you. (And if you do, please share!! I’d love to talk about the TEK world more! I’m slowly in the process of rereading TEK and taking note of details whenever I have time, which is not too often. Originally I started rereading from chapter 20 and onward—the latest chapter I was working on was 66—but I came back to the first chapters to refresher my knowledge.)

[ryeun]

Just look at the way Lauzun runs straight to Nagyunn after class. Like a puppy. Look at his face! So earnestly asking about Nagyunn’s plans. I don’t know, I just think this was amusing.

[ryeun]

On the author’s twitter page he confirms Waron is chaotic good… and seriously when I searched up the description for that alignment? It fits her to a T. She may be someone who does whatever she wants but she isn’t a monster. She just who abides by her own moral compass rather than following the sheep. I also think it’s interesting that this is precisely Qilin’s opinion of her: she’s someone who wouldn’t do something cruel without reason.

On another note, her soft spot (?) for children is so cute.

(Epic of Gilgamesh): She’s so awkward with Nephren. It’s hilarious. Especially because she didn’t want to fight in front a kid, but Nephren will blast you away with one sneeze.

Waron who could be very petty but isn't. Waron who hates knights but doesn't hesitate to get her comrades the help they need. Waron who's never pointlessly cruel. Waron who does everything for a reason. Waron who really isn't the bad person others make her out to be.

[ryeun]

Made Waron stickers for my iPad case today just wanted to share <3

If anyone’s interested in having the pngs I made for them… lmk!

[ryeun]

I think it’s fucking hilarious that Regia looked at THIS:

And was like yep Black Hen can handle that. As if Qilin didn’t just blast a massive hole through this huge boulder/hill/whatever the fuck. And Daljan too? They were just completely sure Waron would be fine and dandy.

Which she was… So they’re right but I still think it’s funny. Waron’s a beast lol

Everyone give it up for my girl Waron!!!! She got beat up for sure but I’m sure she had plenty of fun for the five minutes it lasted,,,

[ryeun]

I love Kamelsia and Nagyunn’s dynamic because 1) it’s hilarious and 2) I think it’s really cute. Nagyunn doesn’t have to hide himself or try to be someone else with Kamelsia because… well… he can’t! Kamelsia can read his thoughts, which are his and only his. I mean, Nagyunn does have a habit of forcing a certain way of thinking (what would Najin do?) but that’s a discussion for another time. So I think it’s super sweet that Kamelsia’s existence makes it feel like Nagyunn is just a little bit less alone.

[ryeun]

as much as I love Cerulean Qilin Zius's pretty pretty eyebrows...

...I also love how readable his expression still is in their absence? it's subtle, but like

he's just?? so very expressive??? even though Nagyunn has trouble getting a read on him.

it's all in the space under and between his eyes! such a little detail, but so perfect for this character who's so calculating and controlled and yet so deeply affected, like. he can't help but care SO MUCH 🥹

anyway, Qilin neat. that's my TED talk.

[ryeun]

*kicking my feet n giggling* you're kinda scary

[ryeun]

I can’t really draw but I couldn’t stop thinking her so here’s a quick sketch … isn’t she so cute idk !!

Feeling giddy thinking about the possibility Waron’s hairstyle has changed throughout the years… Do you think she ever had a bob like Doe’s? Her hair in the panel depicted before the events of Gilgamesh is kind of medium length, so maybe? Doe looks soo adorable here 🥰

Seriously I wish we knew how much time had passed between the events of Gilgamesh and the beginning of The Ember Knight…