#//yes the blue ones an npc lol

[dangerous-realms]

"FIGHT ME YOU NERD-ASS PUNK!"

"At least try to sound sophisticated when you threated someone..." -(npc)

"Does thou wish to engage in a duel my good bitch?"

[minart-was-taken]

The wild references to Finland in Honkai Star Rail

Hello, in this post I'm going to go over the various references to Finland in Honkai Star Rail (Also touching a little on HI3) and explaining them the best I can so that non-finns can understand how hilariously delightful they are.

_

Starting with a funny one: Welt Yang.

The man is canonically 1/2 finnish, 1/4th chinese and 1/4th german according to sources I dont understand.

The way this is represented in Honkai Star Rail comes in one intentional form and one that may be an accident but I love it anyway:

1.

Welt's given name is Joachim Nokianvirtanen, a name that is utterly hilarious to a finn like me. Why? Well Nokianvirtanen is not a surname anyone here would ever have. Virtanen is a real surname, but for some reason Mihoyo decided slap Nokia in the front of it??

The name translates to "Nokia's rapids." Which adds to the funniness because yes Nokia is an actual place in Finland and not just the brand, but it is also very much the brand.

(Also Joachim is not a finnish name even if many finns are christian.)

This is the equivalant of naming an american character Jesus McDonaldslake.

2.

Welt's hair colour! A lot of people imagine blond and blue eyes when imagining a finn, but that's not actually accurate to the statistics. The most common hair colour here is in fact "Maantien harmaa." Translating to country road grey. Sometimes they leave out the word grey or replace it with blond. The colour is known as dirty blond or pale brown in english speaking countries 👍 This is less funny and just a cute detail.

_

Secondly we'll be going over Sampo Koski, a man many know to have a very finnish name.

BUT FIRST Fun backround info: I didn't know Sampo was in this game when I first started playing, so when he showed up and suddenly dropped finnish words at me I was utterly jumpscared.

Finland is very rarely referenced in media outside of our country, so most of us are NOT used to hearing anything about our home in media.

Furthermore there's actually a meme about this very thing that everyone in the country knows: Torilla Tavataan. This translates to "Lets meet at the marketplace" which is referring to the idea that when something massively cool happens we should gather together and celebrate.

The finns REALLY want to be acknowledged by the wider world lol

Anyway back to Sampo. His name is actually something I could totally see a real finn having, although his first name is a little out there.

Sampo is an item from finnish* mythology that was forged by a super capable smith with the help of his whole village. The item is golden with multiple spouts that produce valuable things like flour, gold and I believe... salt? You can find more about the item online.

Koski meanwhile means a river rapid. Uhm, lotsa water themed names here, huh!

Nothing that funny going on with his references to be honest. I can even say the voice actor did an amazing job pronouncing his name correctly.

_

Yunli's companion quest!

This is the newest batch of references I've ran into, but if I or anyone else finds more I'll be updating this list :]

In Yunli's companion quest we meet... Paavo. His name is Paavo--

This NPC introduces himself as a traveler from far away who's come to deliver a sword from his homeland back to the Xianzhou where it was originally forged. Here's why he made me giggle uncontrollably every moment he was on screen.

1.

Paavo is considered kind of a joke name, very comparable to naming someone Bob in america. The way NPC's referred to him sounded like "Mr. Bob" to me. It was so funny

2.

He is from the PLANET KALEVALA?? SAFlJ LJ ???

Kalevala is the national epic of Finland* and tells stories such as the one of Sampo's creation. The title does refer to setting of the story, but it is still weird to hear it as a name of a planet lol.

3.

Our food is really repetitive u right Mr. Paavo

4.

Paavo explains the sword he has come to deliver is called Miekka Kivessä. This is the finnish translations of "The sword in the stone." he proceeds to then explain the legend of the sword in the stone, which. It's not a finnish legend. We've never had a king, yet alone chosen them with a sword-- Not even in myths. Kalevala's highest ranking guy in the mortal realm is Väinämöinen who's an old wise man.

Also he says Miekka Kivessä wrong but that's to be expected, very funny, and also I admire the effort to at least try and make it sound natural.

5.

Finally, he later reveals his last name-- Which, why are we refering to him as Mr. Paavo if he has a last name...? Oh well! Mr. Paavo's last name is Kalastaja, which translates to Fisher. This is not a real last name in Finland. The english equivalent of this man's goddang name would be something like Mr. Bob Employee.

_

Since you've made it this far I assume you won't mind me rambling a bit more. I'm personally psyched to see Finland mentioned in non-finnish media and love the wonky but genuine attempts to include us!

I think considering how many weebs there are in Finland who've come up with illogical "Asian names" to sound cool online, it's only fair we got the same treatment back :P I hope they'll keep delivering and I'd love to visit planet Kalevala one day.

_

*It's worth noting Finland is a colonizer of the Sami people, and a lot of their culture has been annexed without any care or respect towards them.

Finland was also under colonialism itself for hundreds of years, and our myths have been largely lost to time with only some information left. It's super difficult to tell what is finnish mythology and whats the Sami people's mythology.

That's a fact that's deeply important to remember when discussing things like this, and I hope that the people reading this consider looking into how to help the indigenous people of the nordic region. Thank you.

[d1s1ntegrated]

hiiii i actually am obsessed with your shiggy hcs and i just have to ask… can we have some hcs of gamer shiggy 😓 more specifically would he play dress to impress on roblox (or just roblox in general) if we asked… thank u sm!!!

YES YES ABSOLUTELY MY LOVE

ask and you shall receive 🩷

shiggy gamer hcs (pt1) <3

he's reached diamond in league. he has over 600 hours in the game. it's very obviously his favorite, and he gets especially into "the grind" as he calls it. sometimes you have to remind him to get up from his chair if he's been there for too long.

he has a pair of blue-light glasses you bought for him because he constantly got migraines from gaming all night. he grumbles when you tell him to wear them, but does it anyways.

if you have a gaming laptop or pc, he's constantly checking it out and offering to upgrade it. he yelled at you one time for not deleting your downloads after trying to mod a game.

he actually built his own PC. he's extremely proud of the work- which, he should be. it's a beautiful build.

the first time you asked him if you guys could play roblox together, he looked disgusted. but you begged and pleaded, and he agreed. (he already had it downloaded. he just didn't want you to know he played it.)

now, at least once a week, he asks if you wanna play your silly dress up games with him (he's such a simp)

he SAYS he'd rather spectate the whole ordeal, but he's actually really good at it HAHA. he gets mad if you lose or if he loses, he automatically goes on rants about how you had the best outfit and those "npcs" are stupid and have no fashion sense (this is coming from the man who only wears black sweats and old band tees)

he actually only plays minecraft in creative mode, he likes to build shit for you for when you guys play together

he has a ridiculous amount of bells in animal crossing. like, his debts are paid off, and his house is huge. his island is actually...really aesthetically pleasing.

he still plays on his 3ds. he likes playing the older pokémon games

his favorite pokemon is zoroark.

he tried to get you to play overwatch with him but you guys kept dying and he shut his entire pc off.

he also tried to get you to play apex with him. guess how that ended.

he actually doesn't like COD, he says it's boring.

HE SUCKS AT MARIO KART! he pretends like he doesn't but every time you guys play, a controller gets thrown (and it's never yours).

very rarely turns his mic on when he's online, but when he does, it's to say the most creatively fucked up, debilitating, horrid insults known to mankind.

however he IS NAWT racist. or phobic of any kind. he just hates everyone equally

okay, this is all i got for now <3 i hope i did okay with the roblox part, i dont play a lot of roblox i just see a lot of DTI videos and have minimal knowledge ;-; maybe i should play it LOL.

thank you for the ask! i will return with more at some point 🫶

[blueteller]

Hello, Blueteller-nim! I just want to ask what's happening rn in tcf part 2? Who are the new gods that have been introduced (and how many of those newly introduced gods became Cale's enemies)? How many hunters Cale already defeated (and how many more should he defeat)? Is there any news about the Fake Hilsman? Did Cale adopted a new kid? (Pls say yes I want him to adopt more lol)

Hi! I believe this exact question was sent to me before? Sorry it took me so long to reply! Every time I started writing, new lore got dropped and I ended up re-writing this reply from scratch. There's a lot to cover, so brace yourself for tons of SPOILERS

I made a post about TCF gods once already, but turns out, parts of it are outdated! Some new information got revealed that directly contradicts my old assumptions about several of them. But we'll get to it.

First of all, the Hunter families. The plot of Part 2 so far consists of Cale going to different dimensions to deal with them.

So there were originally seven, but by current time there were only five left to deal with. Let's quickly run by each of them one by one.

Black Bloods; residents of the planet Xiaolen – specifically Xiaolen 1 – named Huayans (Fayence in the first raw translations, just in case you've seen that version before), led by Redok. They were human Black Mages who specialized in "White Magic", meaning their variant of Black Magic was more powerful and it looked white. Pretty neat. They flooded Xiaolen with dead mana in order to sacrifice the world and gather its energy called "Karma". Still little detail on how Karma works exactly, but we know it can be gathered by either killing or saving tons of people – guess which method the Hunters use. Cale got a dramatic fire power boost because of some universal balance rules, and defeated them pretty easily. (Xiaolen citizens made Cale a statue in his honor, much to his despair lol)

Blue Bloods; residents of Central Plains, a pretty young world from what we know. They were known as the Blood Cult, lead by a female leader called Blood Demon. They created hundreds of thousands of zombies called Jiangshi and planned to cause a 3-way civil war in order to do the same thing Black Bloods were trying to do. Cale got a water power upgrade because of a dead Dragon and defeated a tsunami with a tsunami and got a splitting headache because of some third eye mumbo jumbo – long story. They were a little harder to defeat than Black Bloods, but they managed in the end. Choi Han got to personally slay the Blood Demon. (Central Plains citizens turned Cale into a folk story/legend and apparently there's already a cult for him hahaha)

Purple Bloods; resident of Aipotu – who consists entirely of Dragons and Dragon-bloods, led by Dragon Lord Neo (yes I'm pretty sure the name is a Matrix reference – love the irony of it so much). Purple Blood's specialty was getting to "inheriting" Dragon powers via some very questionable blood transfusions and heart transplants. Nasty stuff. Neo's Attribute was time, or something quite similar to it, and he used his time powers to mess up Aipotu and the World Tree, intending to transfer himself and all his followers/slaves into a Virtual Reality the Hunters planned to make their own new world. Cale had to use Instant to defeat Neo, turning his own broken plate into dust and eating it to survive (VERY questionable method, Cale!!). Dragon Half-Blood also had to sacrifice himself so Cale set him up as an NPC in the Virtual World and he gets to be reborn from an egg as a legit Half-Dragon named Eden Miru. These has been the most recent events in the story (also Aipotu residents built Cale a church under Clopeh and named it Five Colored Light religion HAHAHAHA). Speaking of Virtual Reality…

Transparent Bloods; residents of Earth 3 – the world where Anh Roh Man lives, the guy who made Alberu's Taerang; leader unknown so far. Apparently ARM's parents are the one who made the Virtual Reality, and the Hunters bought/stole it (and named it "Raising My Very Own Precious Omnipotent God!"??? Which is just hilarious…) So the game wasn't originally designed by them. That matters a lot, because it seems like not only VR is sentient like every other world so far, it has even created an AI specifically against the Hunters and their influence. It seems that VR is, in fact, a real world, capable of containing real people and their souls. So Cale will definitely be heading there next to save it from Transparent Bloods. But before we get to them…

Five-Colored Bloods; no apparent residence, but I have a suspicion… We found out very recently their leader is called the "Wanderer King". Which just screams to me of the whole "Mercenary King" invented by the White Star – the exact same brand of arrogance, really. Their specialty seems to be collecting and transferring power; that's how Dragon Lord Neo was able to get so much power to influence an entire world and the World Tree. They will be a pain to deal with, because they seem to be allied both with certain gods and demons. Which is why, btw, in the most recent chapters Cale went to the freaking Demon Realm. But more on that in a bit~!

White Bloods; all we know about them is from Choi Jung Gun in Sealed God's Temple Test of Sloth. To directly quote him, "The White Blood family betrayed the Hunters and escaped!" (chapter 730) – which I actually mixed up in the past, my bad; I thought it was the Red Blood family that betrayed them and escaped. Speaking of which:

Red Bloods; also known as Thames, last known member being Jour Thames (or is it Drew Thames in the EAP translation? Whatever, I prefer Jour…) and the "Fake Hilsman" who stole Cale's retirement fund. Judging from Jour mentioning her brother when Cale got the Annual Rings of Life Ancient Power, I think it's safe to assume it's that guy. CJG said to Cale that " The Red Blood family perished a long time ago", but he also said that "The Red Blood did not perish", so I think they also betrayed the Hunters and faked their death.

If you're still with me after ALL of that exposition, let me now actually address the actual question: the gods involved in the plot of in Part 2.

There are 5 gods we must talk about, and why I need the Hunter families context first will become clear in a moment.

God of Balance; apparently female, wears heels, and approaches people from behind for intimidation. I'd call her the "gentle in disposition yet extremely scary" grandma type. Basically forcefully summoned Cale to meet her after defeating the Blue Bloods on Central Plains (Cale did not see her face) and told/threatened Cale that he should become a god. One of the "Five Ancient Gods", which seem to be one of the if not THE oldest Gods around who did not retire yet for some reason. Seems like a real piece of work, though doesn't seem evil? More like a strict law enforced or corrupt politician. She did beat up the God of Death over giving Cale the dimension-transporting mirror Divine Item that one time. She also wrote a rulebook on universal balance, apparently. That's why most of Cales powers were sealed and weakened during the Central Plains arc.

God of Hope; I don't believe their gender was ever specified. I think some people assume she's female too, but I found no evidence for it so far? I might be wrong. Anyway – thanks to them visiting Cale to "scare away" the God of Balance, we got tons of info. The God of Hope said: "Including Balance, Chaos, and I, there are a total of five Ancient Gods. We have continued to protect these seats without ever handing it over to another existence. My my, we are all quite greedy. We all desire power as well." So the five Ancient Gods seem to be Balance, Chaos, Hope, and I think the last two are Fate and Blue Wolf? [EDIT: The last two were revealed to be Justice and Injustice in the most recent chapter. My mistake!] Anyway – the God of Hope is sometimes stronger than Balance and that pisses her off. They seem to be one of the most reasonable gods we've met so far, not only admitting that they did not wish to become a god at all but were forced to, but also sincerely cheering on Cale's dream, explaining that Balance wanted Cale to replace Hope and be her lackey. No thanks, Balance, that's never gonna happen. …I mean Cale might still end up a god, with how things are going, but. Definitely not working for Balance.

Blue Wolf; I'm also unsure if the gender ever got specified, though I got the impression that they're probably male so far? In any case, they showed up during the battle on Aipotu. One of the evil Hunter Dragons tried to summon them with a corrupt Divine Item and Lock ended up swallowing a blue flame (yes it was exactly as weird as it sounds). They seem to be the reason why Beast People are able to control their Berserk Transformations at all? Which is quite interesting. Little to no depth on this god's character so far, though, except for apparently liking Lock and making him a successor of some kind.

God of Chaos; we found out a couple of things about them so far in the Aipotu arc. One, their followers are complete freaks; like, Shou Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist level of messed up.  Their followers experiment on people AND themselves, like re-sewing limbs and creating chimeras (which explains lots of Hunter experiments honestly). Two, their representatives are able to use some weird similar-to-Dominating-Aura power which involves creepy Eldritch Horror Eyes? And Cale's gonna try and replicate that with the Donating Aura himself?? Well okay then…? Three, that god's power seems to be characterized by grey color (Dragon Lord Neo intended to use grey stuff to kill Aipotu with. Also worth mentioning; Choi Jung Gun apparently got poisoned by it, so now he's unconscious, slowly turning gray and dying. We'll see if Cale finds a way to save him.) Which ��� plot twist!! Actually came up in Part 1!! Looks like Sky Eating Water herself was subdued by that very god's power?! Together with God of War, no less, which brings us to the final god on the list…

God of War; turns out they're a double agent, if not a triple agent!! It's quite difficult to figure out what their deal is. Before, I kinda assumed they had to have some good intentions, because they helped created shelters and Cotton was their Holy Maiden and stuff. But nope. God of War is either working FOR or WITH the Hunters, although I'm inclined to think the latter. There seems to be something going behind the scenes, some personal agenda we don't know of yet? We know from Part 1 that God of War gave the people of the north a river, which the Sekka family hoarded selfishly for themselves, turning it into a lake. The God of War emptied the lake in retribution and sent a Divine Item that was a watering can full of fury. However – despite apparently all that good stuff and "breaking the slave chains" from Sky Eater Water, they also forced her to work for them as a Judge, which she hated so much she ran off. We now found out in Part 2 that God of War must have wanted to control Sky Eating Water, because she was so powerful she probably could have defeated the Ancient White Star by herself!! So, God of War teamed up with God of Chaos and chained her down in the lake in the Eastern Continent where Cale eventually got the Ancient Power from. A tragic end for her, but shows how merciless God of War was for his very own chosen one, in the end. God of War was also involved in giving Neo the knowledge on how to control Aipotu's power and the World Tree. There seems to be a lot more going on with the God of War we EVER knew, and the fact that the grey color has been set up back when Cale got Sky Eating water is straight up thrilling for me. I can't wait to find out more!!

So we finally covered all the Hunters and all the gods so far – goodness I'm sorry there's so much, but in my defense, that's about 300 chapters of context for it.

I roughly covered what happened so far through the two lists, but I'll add a few more things:

Cale defeated 3 out of 5 Hunter families so far: Black, Blue and Purple (like beating someone up and leaving colored bruises lol), with Transparent and Five Colors left. Also the ever-mysterious Hunter Leader called "The King's Successor", no idea if that's the Wanderer King or not, but I kind of doubt it. We'll see… (I also totally hope Cale kicks the a** of the God of Chaos, because they're a creep and deserve to burn in hell)

There seems to be another faction aside from Hunters & their supporters, or anti-Hunter gods like God of Death and non-affiliated people – there's a group called "Arbitrators" (raw translation, EAP did not get so far yet), which include Demons?? We don't know what their exact deal is yet, they seem to be about specific Divine/Demonic politics maybe? And Cotton is one of them because she turned her back on God of War?? And now Cale is in the Demon Realm, meeting a middle-aged demon princess named Aurora (whose father got dethroned and another guy took his place so Cale's probably gonna dethrone yet another monarch soon), and it turns out that the Arbitrators are totally BROKE, which kinda explains why Fake Hilsman stole Cale's money if he's one of them… Now Cale is scared because they want him to sponsor them HAHAHA – Alberu is gonna love the irony

No Cale did not officially adopt more kids sadly, but there's been some adorable kid characters showing up, and there's DEFINITELY a ton of new loyal Caleism followers – much to Cale's despair, as they're starting to worship him across dimensions… And with the Virtual Reality apparently being able to connect worlds, it's only the matter of time before Cale's slacker life is utterly screwed by multi-dimensional religion starring him as their Lord and Savior LOL

…So anyway, I hope it's what you've been asking for? Thank for reading this freakishly long post about my rambling on Part 2!

[ageless-aislynn]

The initial previews of the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster are out and I just had to take some screencaps from Ruba's playthrough of the first 30 minutes!

Frank did get aged up a bit for some reason but at least my man is still thicker than a Snickers! Look at those brawny shoulders! 🥰

2006!Frank is one of the pre-order bonus looks if you want him aged more appropriately. I don't even care, though. I don't mind him looking a little seasoned, lol! *chef's kiss* (I can even get used to him not being voiced by TJ Rotolo but I still really wish they'd cast him again. His voice is so iconic as Frank to me, what can I say?)

Did we NEED a close up shot of Carlito's hairy chest as he walked towards the camera? Yes. Yes, we did. *nodnods* 😜

The remaster was kind to both of the Keyes siblings, lol! Carlito and Isabela are both looking pretty darn beautiful! 💖💖

And speaking of beautiful...

Jessie, my beloved, is looking gorgeous! 😍😍😍

Zombie hugs, lol! Seriously, though, the fact that your options when you're grabbed are now buttons instead of "every move is the same two buttons but it depends on which direction you move the stick, which order you do them in AND which direction the zombie is facing to decide which move you actually DO" is just... Oh man, if nothing else, I'd love to play this game just for this improvement! 😎😎😎

But you know what I'm here for, of course...

Leah, my sweet angel! Only one quick shot of her in this video but I'm really hoping to find somebody else who shows the full scene where we meet her because I'm BEYOND excited now that all of the NPCs are voiced instead of their dialogue just being text! In the 2006 version, the couple of things that Leah says aloud are the exact same thing that about 4 other female survivors all say (and they all share the same voice actor), so it's going to be fantastic for Leah to finally have her own voice! 😇😇😇

Mannn, I have to say, as much as I'm too scared to try the Denuvo Anti-tamper on Georgette (it might be fine or it might irrevocably wreck her and I couldn't get her back to how she's blessedly not crashing anymore), I'm so super sad at missing all of the pre-order and digital deluxe bonus stuff. 😭😭😭

I'm trying to be chill about it but, man, I hope they'll offer at least the 2006!Frank and Frank in Chuck Greene's outfit for purchase down the line. 🤞😖🤞The 17 other costumes say they'll be sold individually, but the 3 pre-order bonuses only say they "may" eventually be available for purchase. OHHHHH, I WANT THEM, FRIENDS. I WANT THEM SO MUCH, I CAN'T EVEN.

Anyway, just had to share my excitement at seeing some of the actual gameplay, cutscenes and the like!

*shakes fist at Denuvo* WHYYYYYYYYY MUST YOU SCARE ME AWAY? I had this in my cart to pre-order, you meanie, then I start seeing all of these horror stories about BSoD and system instabilities and now I can't trust that you won't wreck Georgette! 🤬🤬🤬

(I should mention that many, many people have reported that Denuvo works fine on their computers. But, if you've been reading my blog since last December, you'll know that, sadly, Georgette is not normal. She spent the first 5 months of her life in endless Blue Screens of Death, freezing, crashing up to 8 times an hours, etc. She has finally stabilized and is working correctly but if Denuvo DID cause a problem and I had to reset her, I don't know that I can replicate all of the things that caused her to stop crashing/freezing/etc. That's a BIG, MONSTER WORRY, friends. I don't want to go back to having a barely functioning, unfixable computer again. Ugh. 😭😭😭)

[inkydiamonds]

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SULLY ON YOUR ARTFIGHT I CAN NOW DRAW HER YAYYYYY

also any updates bout the fate of tirazia !!!! I am invested

YAYAY NP!!! I'm so excited to see your art! (Edit: I took so long to answer this that I have seen it!!!!!)

I also really gotta add more characters to my art fight- including more FOT NPCs maybe ?? Maybe ??? I have one in particular I wanna do but I'm not sure how to do it bc I don't want Blue to see him bc he hasn't shown up in the campaign yet lol

For the actual campaign itself! I'm not sure where I left off lol. [Looks at that one long post] Ah! Session 7 it seems, then Blue sent some memes about session 8.

We haven't done any over the summer bc now we're 8 people total and also. Timezones. But! We ended on session 9, and holy shit were these some crazy last two sessions.

Brief session 7 recap:

Sadly, Hans's player couldn't come, so he canonically spends the entire session digging holes in the ground (... long story) and inspecting the mysterious magical skull he got after we raided the Order of the Five castle (where Sully buried that one person alive). However! For the first time, we have a new player who takes over playing Paul. Through this, the rest of the party goes on a wild goose chase to get a magical artifact with him except Anawrete, who visits her parents' place, and we get lore there. At the end of the session, Alloces goes off to investigate mysterious smuggler's den with ties to Anawrete at the Order of the Five castle and Silen follows him. It ends up having a tunnel leading off into the Underdark, and Silen loses sight of Alloces and starts walking down there.

That's session 7!

Now, session 8:

Sully, Paul, Mal, and after a minute Alloces go and reunite with Hans. Hans is outside the Shipbuilder's Guild, having dug a bunch of holes without finding what he wanted to (a lead brick we buried in like session 4ish) This is very concerning, bc it was supposed to be a message to a demon to kill this one guy (we were trying to solve a mystery and didn't know what else to do..... so we did that. Then we tried to unearth it bc we finished the mystery). Also, it wasn't supposed to disappear, even if it did work! So. Um?

However, the party decides that it's not that important, bc we're preoccupied with something else: the skull. Turns out Hans figured out that it's "locked" and that he can brute force unlock whatever magic it has inside it by blasting it with all four types of elemental magic at once. We figure out that between Hans, Alloces, Paul, and Sully, we have the needed elemental magic to do this. Unfortunately, Sully has suddenly become very up-in-arms, saying that combining elemental magic is against everything she believes in, and that she could never help with this. Hans refuses to listen, however, but he's stuck bc Sully is the only one with Earth magic in the party (and Earth magic is hard to obtain as a spell lol). Therefore, he decides to do something... not the greatest. He whispers to Alloces to use Suggest on her, and bc Alloces likes chaos, he complies. (Fun fact: ooc, I was actually the one to propose the Suggest idea. I thought it would be silly. <3) It works, and Sully now has to participate in this ritual against her will.

Meanwhile, Mal is watching all of this go down. She sees Sully rapidly change character, and realizes that something is up. She pulls Sully aside, asking if Sully is okay. Sully, unable to say otherwise, says yes, she's okay, she's just decided to do the ritual now. Mal fails her insight check, and decides that Sully must be okay if she says she is. Mal's player then does something which makes me go CRAZY insane and makes me want to chew on glass (/pos) and decides that NOW is the time to do a scene which she's been thinking about for a while. The Context: back in session 6 during our big fight, Sully got Mal out of death saves with a healing potion. Healing potions are a bit expensive, and Mal had her own which she didn't use before she got downed (overestimating her abilities), but Sully probs didn't even think twice and used her own on Mal. However, Mal obviously has been thinking about it, because she gives Sully that potion, then. Mal, very obviously very nervous, apologizes for "letting Sully down" and for being a burden during the fight, and not being strong enough to stay up herself. AND SULLY CAN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING BC SHE'S PREOCCUPIED WORRYING ABOUT THE RITUAL + BEING UNDER SUGGESTION. Mal then leaves very quickly, and Sully is left there, speechless.

Then the fucking ritual happens and we all unlock the Skull, and Sully snaps out of her Suggestion. The Skull has some kind of spirit inside it, and is filled with Aetheric energy (which......... happens to be something Sully ALSO is very against). Sully then starts yelling at Hans, telling him to drop the Skull and berating him for getting Alloces to possess her (she also hates Alloces but like. She's always hated Alloces. She really liked Hans. This is a betrayal of literally everything she believes in). The spirit of the skull starts speaking and reveals himself to be Logan Mortem, the original founder of the Order of the Five, and with that name Paul freezes as well. Apparently Paul somehow knows him- and is horrified. Then we fight bc Hans still refuses to drop it: Hans and Alloces versus Sully and Paul. Sully and Paul lose as we both roll very low lol (also Sully was mostly trying to knock the skull out of Hans's hand), and Sully, fuming, injured and panicking, decides to leave. Hans and Alloces have a conversation with the skull where it reveals some of its goals. Alloces apparently knows Logan, and Logan is maybe his dad/creator (????). Hans has been chosen to be the next heir of the Order of the Five apparently. Logan wants to "bring order to chaos". Hans is like. "hm. btw, you're not evil, right?" and Logan is like "........no." Hans is like "seems legit 👍". Paul tries to attack Hans one more time, this time with his moon staff (the artifact we were looking for session 7), but it backfires and hurts him somehow. After Alloces and Hans leave, its revealed that when it backfired, Paul got some of his memories taken from him and forgot what he was doing and where he was. He also leaves for the Shipbuilder's hall.

MEANWHILE. Silen is in the fuckin UHHHH Underdark.

When he's walking down, he hears a thunk behind him and ends up running further in. He keeps going down, and down, and down, until he ends up in the Underdark. Honestly, nothing really happens here except him hearing some Drow or Duergar and realizing that he's in the Underdark, and heading back up the way he came. However, when he comes back up, he hears voices in Common (rather than Undercommon). The group of people hear/see him, and they're wearing colorful robes of some kind and have a huge piece of stone in the shape of a body with them. He's like "haha hiiiii". The people, ofc, ask wtf he's doing here, and with his very poorly made excuses, they decide to take him with them. He tries to escape, and they stop him- and when they use elemental magic to stop him, he finally realizes that their robes look quite similar to Sully's.

They take Silen and the rock with them underwater with water magic, and they go into a cliff face opened to show another tunnel in the earth.

Switching over to Sully's perspective, she decides to head over to the Monastery, for the first time as shown in this campaign (tho I think somewhere she goes there and leaves a note about Ansa after session 6 before session 7 for continuity). The party knows nothing about it other than it existing. Even though she's shaken about the fight, she was planning to go here anyways, and talks to Jenevra, a water-aligned monk, saying she's here about the "Anatheme". Jenevra leads her to a secret passageway she's never been in before, and there, she sees, against all odds- fucking Silen.

Adreyão, the lead figure in the party of monks, says that Silen claims to know Sully. Sully, ofc, confirms it, but asks wtf Silen was up to. He really doesn't have a good reason, but Sully takes it as Silen being Silen (which it is), and she says that they can let him go. But before they do, she explains what happened with the fight, and warns Silen not to trust Hans or Alloces, saying that they've been corrupted and don't have his interests at heart. (Kind of unreliable narrator- Sully is very very biased, close-minded, and is actively working to split the party against the two of them). Silen... kind of believes her, but ofc refuses to acknowledge that Alloces is bad bc bro is head over heals in love (why).

Silen is led out by Jenevra, and Adreyão guides Sully through a ritual of their own. She drinks a mysterious liquid, and is suddenly able to change the stone into orange-tinted quartz, revealing what was inside the rock that they transported- Ansa. Chained and cast in crystal, Ansa is transported into a larger room, where many many others like her sit. Surrounded by countless Anathemes cast in ice or crystal, Sully feels much more calm than before.

For the rest of the session, it's a lot of character interactions as we all try to deal with all the shit which just went down (and PAUL LORE). Unfortunately, Anawrete missed all of it (sorry Blue :((( ) so a lot of it is catching her up as she's like I WAS GONE FOR TWO MINUTES.....

When we take a long rest, some people hear weird rustling and chaos coming from Paul's room, and Sully (+unbeknownst to her, Alloces's shadow) investigate and find papers everywhere and a weird blue stone, which the shadow takes.

Meanwhile, Paul sees Anawrete on his morning walk, and tells her a bit about his moon rod, then about the fight and shit which happened the other day. Then he tells her to go touch the rock up in his room, saying he's "not been quite honest".

All the party starts meeting up and chatting in the common room. Mal is chatting with Anawrete about her new fit, Silen is trying to dissuade Hans from the skull (telling him about it possessing him earlier and saying "abomination") (end of session 6 idk if I mentioned this lol), Sully walks in and tries to talk to Mal, but is distracted by the conversation of what the skull is where Alloces says some ominous shit. It's very tense, but Paul walks in, interrupting the conversation by saying "who wants scoOOOOnes :D" (LMFAO)

We briefly talk about the stone, which Alloces gives up. Apparently Paul is losing his memories and says that we can access them through the stone- but that he doesn't want to be there for it. Sully take the stone, and says she'll do it in a bit, then takes Mal to talk to her. (Honestly even tho it was in character I felt bad about being like NO LORE NOW but I'm glad we saved it for the next session bc it was a long sequence of events lol).

Sully and Mal have a conversation, where Sully first says the same thing she did to Silen- explaining the fight, saying that Hans and Alloces don't have their interests at heart, etc. She says that Mal was correct that Sully was not herself at the time, and thanks her for being there, and also says that... Mal never let her down. But Mal has been slowly getting more panicked as Sully has been talking, and says "but now I've let you down twice now! Because I didn't even realize you were influenced by them!!" and Sully doesn't even know what to say to that. She tries to reassure Mal, but it doesn't really work, and they. AUGH THEMMM PIX I'M SO UNWELL ABOUT THEM...... THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE FOR SHIT..................

Anyways, Silen and Anawrete talk, because she figured out that he was at the smuggler's den (tbh I forget how lol, maybs Alloces said it or just Silen himself). She interrogates him, and although he was VERY scared of her, he somehow doesn't mention that Sully's people were there, but he definitely throws Alloces under the bus. He then immediately runs to Sully and says that Anawrete lives there at the den (???) (she does not. bro was confused and scared out of his mind). Anawrete sees him talking to Sully (who mostly ignores him) and I think guesses that Sully was somehow related to all this.

However, at that moment Paul decides he wants to talk to Sully. They go off on their own, and have a very interesting conversation, where it's revealed that Paul definitely has a (negative) history with Logan and he's on her side. He says a lot of other ominous things ("you might have to become a demon to fight one" and "if I start feeling the effects of the skull, finish me off" are notable), and it's pretty obvious that they're against the skull for different reasons, but that they're on the same team.

Anawrete, with so much new info, goes back to her family complex briefly and talks to her mom about it. Her family has been tracking the Order of the Five and their movements, and found that the remaining troops have been heading up to Nortepont (a northern dwarf city), which is very interesting.

Finally, Alloces and Silen have a hilarious talk where Alloces tries to do a deal with him (favor for crossbow Alloces found in the den bc Silen is a ranger) and Silen's like "sure :D. As long as you take me to lunch again" and Alloces, done with this shit, decides against it.

AND THAT'S SESSION 8! SO MUCH SHIT WENT DOWN !!

But uhhhhh we've gone up to session 9. So. There's still more to talk about, though sadly I do not have the time rn. I will get to it later, and I hope you like this very long update!!!!

(I also got a lot of analyses and theories and art AND a whole ass cipher puzzle thing I gave to my campaign so there's. That too)

Also @blue-rhapsody feel free to add on anything! (Or even summarize session 9 I would be so happy if you did that lol)

[obsessivelyloved]

I'm obsessed with this youtube video on exploring old dead games

__________________________________________________________

The upbeat tunes were eerie to listen to as he explored the game. It sounded quite similar to things he heard growing up, from commercials for these computer games he was never allowed to play. The family computer was really just his parent's computer. And they never trusted these types of games. 

His parents had claimed that anyone talking to people online was a weirdo. So. Anything with people in it was a no-go. It was his handheld game or nothing. 

 So it was cool, in a way, to explore this online game. It was empty, devoid of life, but it was interesting. Even with the unnerving tunes. 

It made Edd wish a little that his parents hadn’t been so strict about online safety when he was a kid. He would have loved making new friends on this game's servers in its hayday. Because contrary to their beliefs, not everyone online was a gross weirdo trying to get kid’s home addresses. 

Ugh, Edd did not miss seeing those PSAs on the tv or hearing about them in school.

Edd sighed as his avatar stopped moving. The building he was trying to enter was trying so hard to render and load. It had been so long since this particular server had been updated, let alone used by people. He had to wait a lot for textures and stuff to load. 

It took a few minutes, but shop after shop started appearing. Then the floor texture loaded, then…. a person! 

Edd wiggled his mouse and tapped on his arrow key, impatiently wanting his character to move already. This was the first person he’s seen in this game! And he tried six servers already! 

But as he got closer to the other person, his face fell. There was no username hovering above the avatar. It was merely an NPC. Or a statue, since it wasn’t moving. 

“Aw man,” Edd muttered, slumping down. He’d just have to keep an eye out as he explored forgotten worlds. 

Still, he moved closer to check out the statue. Finally close enough to see it, he stopped.

What the hell? Edd thought to himself. The statue was plain, up until you got to its eyes. It appeared to be a man, with black pants and a blue hoodie. With large, black empty eyes. 

Edd huffed. It was probably someone’s last project, a way to scare anyone exploring. He moved around the statue, giving it one last look, before he moved on. 

As expected, the game freaked out as he left the building. Slowly, the world loaded, grass and buildings popping up. 

Edd moved on, lagging as he interacted with things. 

He found the statue again. 

This time, it was sitting on a park bench. Watching him, no matter which direction he went. And it kept appearing in places Edd’s avatar stopped at, while the world loaded. Whoever’s idea it was to scare new players, it was working. 

Edd went to click on the leave server button but…. nothing happened. Goddammit. He was going to have to close the game and then wait forever for it to load back up. 

Tom: leaving so soon?

Edd stared at the chat, baffled. He spun his avatar around, searching for another player. Not a single user name popped up in sight. Let alone another avatar. Who was talking to him? 

Colalover15: hi! have you been following me? 

Edd nervously typed. He didn’t feel like getting jumpscared by some random player. This game was unintentionally scary already. 

Tom: yes. you are the first player I’ve seen in a long time. no one joins anymore. 

Colalover15: I bet! I’ve joined six servers and haven’t seen a single person lol. do you play often? where are you? 

Tom: I’m right in front of you. 

Oh hell no. The only thing in front of him was the statue. That’s it, Edd was done. He was not participating in a creepypasta or urban legend. 

He clicked the X button on the window and waited. And tried again. And again. 

He frowned, his heart beginning to beat fast. 

Tom: why are you trying to leave? aren’t you having fun? 

Tom: are you bored of this world? 

Faster than the game had been loading all night, the world changed. A new map appeared, a different set of cheerful music playing. Edd grimaced, quickly muting his volume. This one was actively giving him a headache. 

He was in a room now, the walls gray and furniture scattered around. Things he was sure kids in the early 2000s would have loved popped up. 

Obscure and old pop artist pictures, ads, and activities flooded the walls of what Edd assumed to be a hub building. The statue was still standing in front of him. 

Tom: is this better? 

Colalover15: it’s very interesting! i haven’t seen some of this stuff in years. how did you do that? are you a dev? 

Edd hoped this was just a weird dev messing with him. But, still, it was best to be polite. Just in case. As he waited for the person’s reply, he ventured closer to the pictures on the walls. As expected, the links on them were dead. Each webpage was long gone.

Tom: Is it not 2004? 

Can of worms. This was a can of worms Edd did not want to fucking open. Since closing the game window wasn’t working, he clicked his power button. To his horror, nothing happened. Perhaps it was a bit over dramatic, but he yanked out the computer’s power cord. 

His screen flickered, then turned off. Ugh, Edd really hoped that the game hadn’t turned out to have a virus or anything malicious in the code. He really couldn’t afford to replace his desktop. And his parents would be so mad at him… 

Speaking of parents, it was a school night. It was best that he got to bed before one of them got up. 

He laid down on his side, facing his wall. With his heart still racing, he snuggled into his blankets. As scary as that was, he was pretty excited to tell his friends at school about it. At the very least, Tord would like it. Then, they could explore it together at his house, on his computer. 

Just as Edd was falling asleep, cheery pop music played on a low volume. 

Someone was standing behind him.

[some-name-in-progress]

Alright, it's been a week since I started trying to catch up with Project Sekai, and I've read 7 stories already since I've read one every day. This pace is okay, but I wanna catch up by 4th anni since it seems like everything is gonna be wrapped up then, so I'm probably gonna bump it up to 2 stories per day.

Anyways I wanted to put down my thoughts, starting with Connected Through SEKAI's Cherry Blossoms and ending with Wishing to the Blue Sky for Your Happiness.

Connected Through SEKAI's Cherry Blossoms:

Imma be real, this event was a slog to get through just because of how repetitive and slow it was. That being said, I liked how it gave us more insight about the Sekais, but that's about it.

On the Stage of Dazzling Light:

I remember that Tsukasa himself seemed to take somewhat of a backseat to the Phoenix Wonderland plot in his first focus, so I'm glad his backstory was fleshed out more here. I'm surprised Toya had that little screen time because I thought he was more important to Tsukasa’s backstory, but that's just fandom influence, I guess.

Live with Memories:

I'll be honest, I didn't have the fondest opinion of Ichika before this event, but this event really solidified why I dislike her character. In my opinion, she just doesn't feel like as fleshed out of a character compared to the rest Leo/need. For example, every other member has something that makes them unique and shines through their focus events, but Ichika feels like she's just characterized enough to not be a blank slate. Yes, I know that she's going to be like that because she's the "MC," but it just serves as a detriment to her character. Maybe she gets better, or maybe I don't get it, but I just don't like her for now. Also, that Miku V4 ad was WAY too obvious. I know the whole game is an ad, but at least it's subtle.

Tied By Painful Hope:

Hasegawa seems like a nice character, so I'm excited to see how she develops. I like that this event went also went more in-depth about Haruka's backstory. Overall, this event feels like a good stepping point for the future.

The Climax! Kamiyama Cheer Squad!:

I don't really have much to say about this event, but I'm glad that we get to see a lot of good interactions between the Kamiyama students. Also, Rui's characterization here feels really nice.

THE POWER OF UNITY:

I like that VBS' story is putting more emphasis on the NPCs and their interactions with the main cast because it definitely makes everything seem a lot more full. The foreshadowing here is foul, though. "Take a look at this town" is absolutely evil knowing what happens in rotation 4. Anyways, the event felt like a nice way to way to end their first arc.

Wishing to the Blue Sky for Your Happiness!:

It's nice to see An struggle outside of her relationship with Kohane, and it really shows just how much Vivid Street and the people around her mean to her. Also:

(Is this appropriate to say now that I'm an adult? Oh well, lol.)

Other thoughts:

I'm sorry, I'm looking at the PRSK cast, and I can't stop thinking of this video:

Like, do these guys eat sunscreen??? (This is a bit hypocritical for me to say as a Milgram fan, lol.)

Closing thoughts:

I've honestly been having a good time with this. Yes, it takes a while to get through (I'm dreading getting to the 2+ hour ones), and I didn't like Ichika's focus, but I'm love seeing why I fell in love with this game again. Anyways, I'll probably do this again next week, until then. Also, HOLY HELL THERE’S A MOVIE.

[katyahina]

A compillation of Bloodborne characters data and model bits

I just decided to put as many bits about Bloodborne chaarcters as possible in one post, so to not have to check multiple folders every time I want to draw a character, but I thought it could be handy for other artists/writers! The following references feature the data mostly gathered by awesome Zullie the Witch but maybe also some others. I use the NPC data for the characters but also some model references, all put in one post.

1) Here are all the exact colors from NPC data gathered on one image.

They are gathered from this ( x ) sliders page, all in one image for the convenience. The white hovering effect over eyes color means ‘clouded’ eyes effect that the player cannot access in normal character creation, and the X mean that hair is missing (I did not count ‘bald’ eyelashes variant as one though).

1.1)  Almost all characters with brown skin have strange ‘reddish grey’ eye colors. Such characters are Henryk, Djura’s Ally, Yahar’gul hunter with Cannon and Ludwig’s Riffle, Yahar’gul character with Threaded Cane that uses Tiny Tonitrus (and ambushes you from the corner like a rat lol), Olek, Simon, Djura’s Apprentice and Yahar’gul hunter that’s trapped in Church’s chambers.

Exceptions are Afflicted Beggar who instead has hazel eyes and Yahar’gul Hunters that use Tonitrus (in Cathedral Ward) and one that uses Beast’s Claw, who instead have simply grey eyes (and share face data).  Interestingly, this red-grey color appears to be exclusive for characters with brown skin.

1.2) Adella’s hair is dark brown, not black. It is hard to see even on this image.

1.3) Tomb Prospectors have strange skin tones. Josef and Forgotten Madman have more purpl-ish skin tone, with his escord having it too but closer to blue on the color spectrum, Vitus and Queen Killer have greenish skin, Wallar has bluish skin. Olek seems to be the only one with realistic skin tone, it is simply dark olive / brown.

1.4) Plenty of characters have no eyebrows. So yeah, this might disqualify some of the above. These characters are: Djura, Djura’s Ally, Yahar’gul Hunters that use Claw and Tonitrus (idential), Micolash, Hunter of Despair (Black Church one), Edgar, Olek, Josef, Queen Killer, Afflicted Beggar, Unused Vileblood, Valtr, Brador, Damian, Yahar’gul hunter in Nightmare, Doctor in Research Hall, Antal, Vitus and Wallar. I have no idea what they all had to smoke to get their eyebrows fall out, lmao

2) Arianna’s hair lose color after she births a child, and her eyes are dark pink. Arianna has three face data - normal, after Bloodmoon, and after birth. In the Bloodmoon she just gets slightly paler, more sickly colored skin and lips and loses her blush, but after birth her skin gets MUCH paler, hair loses color and eyes get ‘clouded’ effect.

This eye color is not the same as reddish grey one from previous example, it is more saturated.

3) The most buff character is a Yahar’gul hunter with Cannon+Rifle. He is the only NPC of all who has all body scale stats (except for ‘head’) set to maximum 255. Queen Killer has only ‘chest’ and ‘abdomen’ set to 255, and Alfred has ‘abdomen’ on 255 but ‘chest’ only on 212. Yes, random hunters have way more of a male tiddy than Alfred.

4) Arianna is more flat than Adella. Yeah, it is a bit goofy remark, since ‘chest’ slider for Bloodborne NPCs is just chest width and not breasts size, but it could be interpreted as such. There are generally two types of ‘chest’ slider for female characters: the smallest 0 (Iosefka+Imposter, Arianna, Yurie) and the middle meaning 128 (Adella, Black Church Hunter, White Church Hunter, Henriett). Lonely Old Dear is a special case and has slider set to 192 (the largest).

5) Simon might actually lack eyes. MIGHT. Simon’s face data has two vertical stripes both going through where his eyes are. Djura is strongly implied to miss an eye where his face data has a scar going through where his eye is covered with bandages. It seems like developers can distort characters’ faces but not remove eyes, as you can see that despite implications, Djura’s data has both eyes. In either case, Simon has those strange scars for some reason.

6) Henryk and Afflicted Beggar share absolutely identical mole on the right side of their nose.

7) Edgar’s glasses are supposed to be round. But because his forehead/brows lean so strongly down, it causes glasses model to bend to avoid clipping, so it is a bit flattened at the top. Sure, it provides for a more unique glasses shapes, but... from technical standpoint bro frowned SO hard that his glasses frown too. xD

8) The ridge of Yamamura’s glasses is dark red.

9) Besides the eye colors shown in NPC data, there is some more. Willem’s eyes are grey, Maria’s eyes are greyish green and very pale, Gehrman has emerald eyes, and older daughter of Gascoigne and Viola seems to have greyish green eyes too. Ludwig appears to have his right eye blind and his left eye having its pupil so enlarged that it obscures the iris.

(Sources for models are Sinclair vid ( x ) and datamined corpses page ( x ))

9.1) Micolash has brown eyes in NPC data, but blue in cutscene model.

10) Some characters have interesting unused items equipped. Simon has Fist of Gratia and throwing knives equipped both of which he never uses, Yamamura has throwing knives that he never uses, Crow of Cainhurst has Hunter’s Bone (heavily implied to be Maria’s) and Executioner’s Glove that he never uses.

10.1) Simon only has throwing knives in Fishing Hamlet. Within lore, they are associated with Henryk. I personally do not see any other reasons for the developers to add them in this specific condition to the character that won’t even fight you, besides for the dataminers to conclude Henryk was likely participating in Fishing Hamlet massacre too. But heeey it is just a the-

11) Some interesting stats as NPCs. I am going to list every stat from the highest to lowest in order. Some characters have different stats depending on their questline and/or summoning location though; for such cases I only used the highest stat possible.

Blood Level (murder level??):  #1: Bestial hunter (234) #2: Olek (176) #3: Queen Killer (174) #4: Wallar (170) #5: Yamamura + Brador (162) #6: Yahar’gul hunter in Nightmare (157) #7: Gremia, Damian and Vitus (150) #8: Josef (146) #9 Djura’s apprentice and White Church doctor lady (145) #10: Black Church female hunter (143) #11: Black church doctor (121) #12 Simon (116) #13: Valtr (90) #14: Crow (88) #15: Henryk (81) #16: Madaras Twin (80) #17: Henriett (75) #18: Antal (72) #19: Edgar (68) #20: Alfred and Eileen (65) #21: Yahar’gul trio that ambushes you (60) #22: Micolash and Yurie (50) #23: two Hunters of Despair and Imposter Iosefka (46) #24: Suspicious Beggar (42) #25: Yahar’gul hunters that guard the entrance to Yahar’gul chapel (40) #26: Djura (30) #27: Djura’s ally (18) #28: Hostile Tomb Prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s Escort, Bone Ash Hunter, Hostile Executioner, Unused Vileblood (10) #29: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical Man, Lonely Old Dear, Arianna, Adella (1)

Vitality: #1: Olek (65) #2: Wallar (63) #3: Queen Killer (55) #4: Vitus (53) #5: Damian, Simon, Crow and Micolash (50) #5: Gremia and Brador (49) #6: Valtr (48) #7: Josef (47) #8: Black Church female hunter (45) #9: Yamamura and Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare (44) #10: Djura’s apprentice and Antal (42) #Edgar (41) #12: Henriett, Alfred, Eileen and Bestial Hunter (40) #13: Yahar’gul trio that ambushes you (37) #14 Black Church doctor lady (36) #15: Yurie (33) #16: Imposter Iosefka (32) #17: Suspicious Beggar (31) #18: Henryk and Madaras Twin (30) #19: Djura (26) #20: White Church Doctor lady 25) #21 Unused Vileblood and Yahar’gul hunter in Cathedral Ward that uses Tonitrus (20) #22: Djura’s ally (19) #23: Yahar’gul hunter with the Rifle (15) #24: Two hunters of Despair (13) #25: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical man, Lonely old dear, Arianna, Adella, Hostile tomb prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s Escort, Bone Ash hunter, Hostile Executioner (10)

Stamina: #1: Bestial hunter (80) #2: White Church Doctor lady (50) #3: Wallar and Brador (45) #4: Queen Killer and Josef (43) #5: Olek (41) #6: Damian (38) #7: Gremia (35) #8: Djura’s Apprentice (34) #9: Vitus (33) #10: Black Church doctior (30) #11: Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare (29) #12: Valtr (24) #13: Simon and Crow (21) #14: Henriett (20) #15: Black church hunter lady, Yamamura, Yahar’gul trio that ambushes you, Micolash, Edgar, Yurie, Eileen and Alfred (19) #16: Imposter Iosefka, Henryk, Two hunters of despair, Madaras Twin and Antal (18) #17: Suspicious beggar, Djura and two Yahar’gul hunters at the Cathedral ward (17) #18: Djura’s ally (16) #19: Hostile Tomb Prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s Escort, Bone Ash hunter, Unused vileblood and Hostile executioner (15) #20: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical man, Lonely old dear, Arianna and Adella (12)

Strengtht:  #1: Bestial Hunter (60), #2: Micolash and Crow (50), #3: Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare, Brador and Yamamura (45), #4: Edgar (42) #5: Alfred (40) #6: Yahar’gul hunter withe the claw (38) #7: Valtr (36), #8: Djura’s apprentice, Queen Killer, Madaras Twin and Black Church female hunter (35) #9: Henryk, Olek, Josef and Yharnam Hunter of despair (31) #10: Black Church Doctor (30) #11: Suspicious Beggar (29) #12: Henriett and Yahar’gul hunter in CW with Tonitrus (28), #13: Gremia (27) #14: Djura (24) #15: Hostile executioner, Vitus and Wallar (25) #16: Damian (21) #17: Hostile Tomb Prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s escort, Bone Ash hunter and nameless vileblood (20), #18: White Church doctor lady (15), #19: Eileen and Yahar’gul hunter with the cane and tiny Tonitrus (the rat behind the wall one) (14), #20: Imposter Iosefka,Yurie and Hunter of Despair from Black Church (13) #21: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical man, Lonely old dear, Arianna, Adella, Antal and Yahar’gul hunter with the Rifle (12) #22: Djura’s ally #23: Simon

Skill:  #1: Micolash (50), #2: Bestial Hunter, Yamamura and Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare (45), #3: Eileen and Black Church female hunter (40), #4: Yahar’gul Hunter with the cannon and Yahar’gul hunter with the cane (the FUCKIN rat one!) (38) #5: Simon (35), #6: Yurie and Vitus (33), #7: Imposter Iosefka, Black Church hunter of despair and Gremia (31), #8: Brador, White Church doctor lady, Black Church doctor and Djura’s disciple (30),#9: Josef and Olek (29), #10: Yahar’gul hunter with the Rifle (28), #11: Madaras twin and Wallar (27), #12: Antal (26), #13: Queen Killer (25), #14: Djura’s ally, Damian, Hostile tomb prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s escort, Bone Ash hunter, Unused Vileblood and hostile executioner (20), #15: Crow (15), #16: Alfred, Edgar and Yahar’gul hunter with the claw (14), #17: Suspicious beggar, Henryk, Yharnam Hunter of despair and Valtr (13), #18: Yahar’gul hunter with Tonitrus (12), #19: Djura (11), #20: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical Man, Lonely old dear, Arianna, Adella and Henriett (10)

Bloodtinge:  #1: Micolash and Crow (50), #2: Yamamura and Bestial Hunter (45), #3: Edgar (42), #4: Eileen, Black Church female hunter and Djura’s Apprentice (40), #5: The trio that ambushes you in Yahar’gul (38), #6: Brador, Simon and Yahar’gul hunter with the Rifle (35), #7: Yurie (33), #8: Imposter Iosefka, Henryk, Two hunters of despair, Olek, Queen Killer and Vitus (31), #9: White church doctor lady, Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare, Black Church doctor and unused vileblood (30), #10: Wallar (29), #11: Gremia (25), #12: Djura (24), #13: Josef (23), #14: Damian (21), #15: Djura’s Ally, Hostile tomb prospectors, Izzy’s Admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s Escort, Bone Ash hunter, Hostile Executioner (20), #15: Henriett (14), #16: Madaras Twin (12), #17: Antal (10), #18: Alfred and Yahar’gul hunter with Tonitrus (9), #19: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical man, Lonely old dear, Suspicious beggar, Arianna and Adella (6), #20: Valtr (5)

Arcane:  #1: Micolash and Damian (50), #2: White Church Doctor lady (45), #3: Edgar (42), #4: Imposter Iosefka and Alfred (40), #5: Yahar’gul hunter with the cane (he IS a rat tho) (38), #6: Queen Killer (35), #7: Yurie and Wallar (33), Gremia and Both Hunters of despair (31), #8: Olek (29), #9: Vitus (25), #10: Josef (23), #11: Hostile Tomb prospectors, Izzy’s admirer, Forgotten Madman, Madman’s escort, Bone Ash hunter, Unused vileblood and hostile executioner (20) #12: Simon and Black Church doctor (15), #13: Yahar’gul hunter with the claw, Valtr, Beastial Hunter, Black Church female hunter, Yamamura, Yahar’gul hunter in the Nightmare, Antal and Djura’s apprentice (14); #14: Henriett (13), #15: Annalise, Iosefka, Skeptical man, Lonely old dear, Suspicious beggar, Arianna, Adella, Eileen, Djura, Djura’s ally, Yahar’gul hunter with the cannon, Henryk, Crow, the two Yahar’ful hunters in CW, Brador and Madaras Twin (8)

(All stats are from this ( x ) page)

11.1) Micolash has all stats at the decent 50, except for the stamina that he only has at 19. Ironic for someone whose entire battle is running...

11.2) Bestial hunter ABSOLUTELY kicks ass as you can tell.

12) Some summons were canned. Such as: Djura (unknown boss), Yamamura (against Ludwig), Antal (unknown) and Bone Ash Hunter Carla (unknown).

11.3) You were supposed to find Henriett dead. Guess that was a way to explain her appearing in the Nightmare. Also, there is a secret catherdal ward NPC that you were supposed to find dying.

12) Some characters drastically change stats when you don’t see them. Such characters are: Alfred (from 33 to 65 blood level), Eileen (30 to 65) and Simon (97 to 116). Basically they were killing while being left to do their own ways, I just step in here to appreciate the attention to the details.

That’s all yet, I think! I might have made some mistakes (especially at the point 11) so if you spot any you guys tell me! But uhhh I think I actually gave my strongest attention span to all these numbers, so it must work :pensive:

[fallenasleepyetagain]

Flowers - Blue/Nightmare

Media: UTAU/UTMV

Genres: Past/Established character death, established relationship, grief/mourning, Nightmare is going Through It

Characters: King Nightmare, Blue (UTMV), Cross (UTMV), Lonan (OC), various npc characters

Pairings: Nightmare/Blue

CW/TW - Death, grief, idk LOL

Word Count: 1457

Ao3 Link

Blue was gorgeous.

A known fact, really.

Nightmare had yet to meet a person who disagreed with him.

Not like anyone would. Who would tell the King of Negativity that his beloved wasn't the most perfect man in the Multiverse?

Exactly, no one.

People flocked to him; he was beautiful, and sweet, and kind. He was so passionate about his interests and it was infectious. He wasn't perfect, but he was really damn close.

Nightmare didn't think that he would ever get over the fact that out of everyone in the multiverse, Blue had chosen him. Blue had wanted him.

The day their lips, their bodies, first connected was forever melded into his memory. It would never leave him be, and he would never want it too.

The kingdom, every resident: man, woman, and child, adored him as well. That made making him the crown prince a rather easy transition.

That was how the monarchy worked, had Nightmare married a woman (or even been remotely attracted to women), she would've become a princess, not the queen. Had Nightmare passed while Blue was prince, only then would he become a king.

That's how it worked. Nightmare had made the system himself.

"My king?"

Nightmare looked up from his desk, he was getting nowhere with his work. He needed to distract himself from the current event at hand. It was hard, and he needed any distraction he could get.

"Yes, Cross?"

"The welder's finished his work, sir. Would you like me to go get it?"

"No. I will retrieve it myself, thank you, Cross." Nightmare said, sitting up and stretching his back as he stood. He walked past Cross, hands neatly folded behind his back.

"Sir, I-"

"Don't." Nightmare held up a hand, stopping Cross in his tracks. "Please."

"Right. Of course."

The leaves on the trees shook on their branches as he exited the castle, crossing the courtyard before heading into town. Everything was quiet, as if the world has stood still.

It hadn't, though, and Nightmare knew that better than anyone.

Life would continue on, no matter what.

The town itself was also quiet, no sound of merchants or children playing. He wished it wasn't though. He needed things to be normal. To pretend to be normal.

His shoes tapped against the bricks, announcing his presence to his people.

Any other day, people would've cheered for him, adorned him with flowers, and whatever else they did to treat him like the royal he was. He never did care for it, but he found himself longing for it now more than ever.

The welder's shop was located near the center of town, a few buildings down from the uptown fountain. He wandered down the street, ignoring the occasional looks at him through someone's window.

"Ah, my king." The welder, an older gentleman by the name of Lonan, opened the door before Nightmare could even touch the handle. "Welcome in, please. Make yourself at home."

Nightmare gave him a kind, passing glance, before stepping into the shop, needing to duck his head down to avoid bumping into the door frame. His gaze followed Lonan as he trotted through his shop, fidgeting with his leather vest.

"Allow me to retrieve the crown. It was an honor being able to work for you, my king. Never have I worked with such a metal, it was such a privilege!"

Before Lonan could continue, Nightmare raised his hand, stopping him.

"Right! Of course, I shall get it for you now."

The soft patter of Lonan hobbling away grew quieter, and Nightmare was left with his thoughts once more. He never thought that it would happen so soon, he had prepared for it, of course. And yet he still couldn't believe it had happened.

"The crown, my lord."

The shiny box was opened, displaying a beautifully carved and elegant crown. It was more adjacent to a tiara, but it was utterly perfect for the man who wore it.

It was made with a fine, glimmering silver, and adorned with blue gems collected from all over the world. Nightmare picked them out specifically, meant to match his beloved's eyes. And they did their job perfectly, accenting those gorgeous, blue eyes, and yet never overshadowing them.

The crown looked good as new, thanks to Lonan's expert talent. It had broke, not utterly shattered, thank god, but the silver had been scratched and one of the gems had been cracked.

However, it looked as if nothing had happened. Even the sapphire looked good as new. How did he do that?

Nightmare took the box from Lonan, holding it close to his chest. "It's perfect, thank you."

"Anything for you, my king!"

"Your payment will be delivered by my guard. My apologies for not having it on me."

"Ah, do not apologize your majesty! It is no issue." Lonan opened the door for Nightmare, he stepped outside, leaning against it. His face fell for a moment, eyes glancing towards the brick road before slowly gazing back up at Nightmare. "My king, I...I am so-"

"Please. Do not. You've done more than enough for me."

"I...Of course, your highness."

Nightmare wasn't sure how much more he could take. He needed to get home. Now.

If one more person came up to him and tried to say anything, he might have an aneurism.

"My king, sir?"

Fuck.

A small girl with large brown eyes looked up at him, her black hair long and in a neat bun situated at the base of her neck. She had tan skin and many freckles dotting her body. She wore normal townsfolk garb: a dark colored skirt with a light shirt underneath, and a deep purple bodice on top.

Purple was a color found nearly everywhere in Nightmare's kingdom. It wasn't just for royalty, it was the color of the kingdom, not just him.

In her arms was a bouquet of small blue flowers, wrapped neatly in fabric and a ribbon bow.

Nightmare got down on one knee, making sure they were eye level with each other. He smiled softly at her, "Yes, my dear?"

"I got these for you." She said, as she handed him the flowers. Her voice stayed soft and monotone and she looked up at him as he stood up. "I'm sorry about your loss."

"...Thank you."

"He was a good man."

"Indeed. He was." Nightmare smiled because if he didn't, he worried that he might break.

The girl's mother pulled her away and he nodded at the family, a silent thanks. The walk back to the castle was agony, his eyes constantly darting down to the flowers in his hand.

Forget-me-not's.

A beautiful flower, small, blue.

Perfect.

"...My lord." Cross approached Nightmare when he entered the castle. "We have to, um, move him. Soon."

Cross couldn't finish his sentence, but he didn't have to.

To preserve the body.

"Understood. I will be a moment." Nightmare nodded, trying to keep his voice as monotone and calm as he could.

"Uh. Nice flowers?"

Nightmare couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, Cross."

The casket was open, completely unsealed, his body still open against the elements. He was nestled into white, silk cushions, with a soft outfit that wouldn't bother his sensory needs.

Not like it would matter, considering he was dead, but Nightmare wouldn't do anything but honor him in death.

Even in death, he smiled. Nightmare leaned against the casket, brushing his brown curls off of his cold forehead. His eyes, gorgeous eyes, were closed, his face pulled into a relaxed smile.

"You are so beautiful, my dear." Nightmare choked on his words as he kneeled beside the casket. His fingers played with Blue's curls, his breathing beginning to quiver.

With the small bouquet in his hands, he slowly began to pluck the flower from the rest of the plant, gently putting them in his hair.

The remains of the bouquet gently landed on the tiles beside the casket. All of the flowers had been plucked from their stems and placed in Blue's hair.

A stifled sob came from Nightmare as he stood up, hands clamped on the edge of the casket. The box containing Blue's crown had been placed on a nearby stand, and Nightmare pried it open, situating it on his forehead.

Gorgeous.

It didn't compare to Blue's, of course. And yet, it suited him perfectly.

"My king..." Cross said softly, approaching as silently as he could. "We...really need to move him. The casket."

Nightmare nodded, wordless as he stood up, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. He took a final look at his love, gently caressing his cheek.

"The next time we meet, my beloved, you'll be alive, and you'll never leave my side again."

[achilleasfury]

from the WIP ask game: 3zun mythical creatures sound FASCINATING please talk more

okay so!!

Currently im very undecided about what specific creature they are, because i keep moving it around lol

But tbe first idea is; Jiggy is half a fox spirit, half human. My notes on rhat are "BIG MAMA MENG is the fox spirit, a-yao is the precious treasure" i think im gonna stick with fox spirit, bc yes, but also?

NMJ was supposed to be like a bull-hybrid or something, but Im making him a minotaur/msht like that now bc I Can. (Shout out to NPC Bluud the minotaur from my dnd campaign who pushed me into fixation on minotaurs and centaurs. Love the guy.) Also i think i really want to give him the labyrinth symbolism. Like the haunted saber flesh cave thing from [nie-centric movie] but specifially for Him.

LXC is a dragon. I love dragons. I have zero (0) notes on him except "DRAGON, MATE MATE MATE" and half a note on egg-children. Love them.

The fic starts with a Xiyao meet cute with vaguely reversed dynamics? A-Yao is getting chased and caught by hunters and Xichen eats them :) what is one supposed to do, when a pretty, hurt fox is near your cave?

>>

It felt like his spine would snap any second. It was bent and twisted in impossible directions. His joints were pulled apart and squished together again, like he was just a tiny stress toy, for someone so much larger than him.

His innards were sloshing around, being made to fit all positions he was forced in.

Voices were screaming at each other, yelling commands, or maybe encouragement. He couldn’t tell anymore, for his ears had long since given up on functioning, trying to shield him from the cruelness of the hunter's words.

A high pitched sound came from somewhere above him.

He tried to get his eyes to open, to figure out which threat would come for him now. His eyelids fluttered, but refused to open correctly, for dried blood was gluing them together.

The sound stopped.

No more screeching.

The hands on his body pulled away and he could feel his body trying to snap together again.

A presence still lingered above him.

It seemed to bask him in shadow and cold, in silence and fear.

Something sharp tapped on his back, somehow caressing his body carefully.

“Are you alright?”

<<

(Again, just a draft And god i hate the word sloshing but i also refuse to look up synonyms out of spite.)

now that i think about it, Hydra!LXC is a fascinating concept. Or Hydra!JGY. He fits a hydra nicely maybe. Or hydra!wrh. Ohh, that'd be funky.

-

After LXC saves MY they spend Yunping-like time tgt in the cave :) cave buddies. They discover the joys of companionship and homoerotic woundtending. Technically also homoerotic companionship but i typed out the word cock once and had to close the tab, so.

i do really wanna get into the nesting instincts of both dragons and *handwave* fox-ish creatures because boy do i love a good nesting.

>>

Meng Yao watched with half lidded eyes as Lan Xichen moved around. The dragon was collecting softer material and piling it atop the bed.

It ranged from blankets, over robes to simply linen sheets, that were softened from being washed a lot.

He carefully made his own way across the room, running his fingertips over the blankets, then the pillows, already at the headrest of the bed. He could feel his own instincts lurk under his skin, begging to be let out. Begging to be let loose, free to arrange, mix and match the fabrics, make his own nest, a safe spot for what was to come.

Slowly, Meng Yao lowered himself onto the mattress, immediately drawing his legs closer to his core, when he was seated.

Lan Xichen shot him a short glance, his gaze softening, impossibly full of affection, before turning away again, just to press a robe - light blue, with fine embroidery - into Meng Yao’s hand.

When the fox spirit regarded the robe further without doing anything with it, the dragon made a slightly unhappy noise. Immediately after he looked like a deer in the flashlights, frozen, surprised with himself.

“My apologies, A-Yao.”, he muttered, gaze falling to the floor in embarrassment. “I simply meant- will you maybe -”, he closed his eyes and took a breath, unsure of his own desires and ability to express them. “Would you wear the robe? I think you’d look splendid in them.”

An almost mean little smile flashed over Meng Yao’s lips, but he nodded and began unceremoniously to strip himself and exchange robes.

“If that is what the almighty Zewu-Jun wishes, who am I to decline?”

<<

(I do feel like i have to add that both exerpts were written like. In september LMAO its been a bit, whoops)

I was originally planning for them to just. Have a neat little fluff thing going on, where egg-nant jgy meets nmj and they bond somehow and *handwaving* wuuh 3zun, but now its more of a. Xiyao finds NMJ in the Labyrinth/Castle thing and either they play curse breaker (which actually would be a fun thing to get into, if one goes into the direction of "dragon blood solves/cures everything" or they get trapped there for a long time all tgt, and its like. Forced proximity but because they all have like. Specific things which i forgot cause its 8pm and my bedtime (/hj i need atleast 10 hours otherwise i hit a downphase agter 3 to 6 hours of being awake LMAO).

they get eggs. Rusong. Children. I need Xichen (who did NOT give birth to the eggs, rip him) to be likem. Snake-style coiled aroind them all the time. But not in snake-egg version, im goinf with hardshell eggs bc snake eggs are so cool and fascinating but im not having them "need to be up and not too close so they dont stick tgt and also dont flip bc otherwise the babies die"- thing going on. Snakes <3 so interesting and cool. Hensheng should be a snake that 'imprints' on MY and gets into hissy fights wirh lxc. They deserve it.

[sumthinganarchy]

thoughts on this update so far

why can i never release a post on time??? ether way, hello! I'm going to be talking about this cookie run update! a trip to paradise!

characters: okay, ya i like blue slushy cookie, she's cute, her costume is nice, and i like the fact that wind archer is in her affections. not a lot to say though.

(i know she hasn't released yet but) honestly, i don't like sugar swan cookie, I'm happy for her fans/people who are excited for her, its been a long time coming, but i personally liked her as entity that existed in the world and was important. but again its been along time coming, and people are excited for her.

npc: can't say much cus i don't care for these two, but I'm glad there relevant again. we knew that wiped cream cookie was important (to the lore of wind archer/millennial tree). and the poor pilot cookie fans, you guys have had no content for ages. I'm happy for you all :]

!!! more under cut !!!

story: ye i like it, it ain't bad. a cupel things of note, first wal i have SEEN no one talk about it, i think its what everyone thinking, i thing that black sugar duck is sugar swan cookie. i like the fact that wind archer is mentioned (hasn't shown up though). one thing i don't like is the fact that the dessert gradians exist, up until this point we ONLY knew wind archer cookie was the only one, its implied he was made for that purpose, so it just feels weird.

UI/game changes: what??? why??? honestly i like the new shop (i don't have to do trophy race anymore lol, and i get a lot of rainbow cubes), but why did they change the rewards, fine if they want to redo the game mode currencies and shops, BUT why the rewards, just why.

that's all for now, bye-bye!

[a-mute-on-a-mule]

Hi!! for the oc asks: 🛋️ & 👥 & ⛰️

I love both modern and middle ages AU so I guess make the choice for me lmao (unless you want to answer each question for both OCs...👀)

Awww thank you!

It's the same character but in two different settings, in case there was some confusion there. Johann does get mentioned a couple of times though, so you do get a second OC either way lol. I'll go with the assumption that you're asking for both canons. Green for Medieval. Blue for Modern. Orange if true for both.

(Have an old style experiment to see the reason for the color code lol) _

🛋 [COUCH W/ LAMP] -> Where does your Original Character live? As in, where do they reside - one of the many stables across the Jorvegian Peninsula, or do they own an apartment/home within one of Jorvik's Cities?

Ruth does have a home to return to if she wishes, which is Johann's family farm (precursor to places like the Goldspur farmlands). But she's essentially a frontiersman for the Jarlaheim settlement so her usual home is wherever nature gives her the materials to build one.

Modern!Ruth has no permanent home. She can usually be found in places like abandoned storehouses, haylofts, and tree houses. Pre-built spots, if you will. Often in Harvest Counties. She does also build secret shelters around the map that tend to be built in a hillside or underground so they're virtually invisible. Yes, she basically makes Budget Hobbit Holes™. It's a very high compliment if she shows you one of those.

_

👥 [TWO PEOPLE] -> Has your Original Character formed any special bonds on Jorvik? Be it romantic, platonic, or a third secret option. Who have they bonded with?

Note: I may as well treat this as a light intro to the Medieval cast since just a list of OC names means nothing if people don't have an idea about who they are. This one does involve others' OCs and thus is an approximation based on what info I remember. So it may not be entirely accurate.

All of Ruth's and Johann's relationships both with each other and with other characters are platonic/familial by default.

Johann is Ruth's unofficially adopted son/little brother and a member of the Drake family. Ruth knows Johann through working with Ms. Drake. He is the "extrovert who finds and adopts an introvert" to Ruth and has a better moral compass than Ruth does, ironically. In the Medieval headcanon, his family may be Drake ancestors but they are not a medieval version of the game NPCs. Ruth does work for them for some of her early years in Jorvik. She's kind of his guardian as well.

William (Ravenyour. The player deleted her blog) is a Jarlaheim soldier that Ruth sees pretty often since she works with the livestock, including the horses. He caught her up on archery and horse riding once she upgraded to leysingi, and she became a guide for his patrols.

Renata is probably the first Jorvik native Ruth encounters (whether Ruth knows it or not). They're similar in some ways. Ren is quiet to start with, while Ruth is completely mute until she feels comfortable. So theirs is likely the kind of friendship that starts over common chores they have to be in the same place for and grows from there.

Astrid is a shieldmaiden of the Dundull settlement (under a different jarl) that Ruth bonds with as a fellow explorer. Pretty sure that's gonna become a friends-to-reluctant-enemies situation.

Suka is a Kallter and is probably the last member of the OC cast Ruth meets because of the distance and terrain between them. Don't have much worked out but at the moment she and Astrid run into her at the same time.

There is also a Vala called Lyssandra whom Suka knows before Ruth does. Haven't worked out how or when Ruth meets her but I imagine it's in somewhat close proximity to when Gunnar last meets Sive. _

⛰️ [MOUNTAIN] -> What is your Original Characters favorite spot on Jorvik? Are they more of a nature lover, or do they need the fuzz and buzz of the cities?

The Graydew Mountain Pass (the path we take to Epona the first time). It's a rough trail that most don't like to attempt but her mule is more sure-footed than most of the horses (plus the view and nature's bounty on the other side are great). The Pass may or may not become an escape route for Jarlaheim's inhabitants at some point as well.

It's a toss up between Greendale and Hollow Woods, though HW might come out slightly ahead because of the stream going through it and a water source is very appealing when you're a drifter.

She has no real issue with civilization or people in general. It's just more effort than it's worth to engage with most people when they're expecting you to talk and doing so is rather hard.

[atravelersnotes]

my two cents on the 4.1 event Waterborne Poetry

so, I have finally finished the main story for this event. And I am willing to admit I postponed it quite a bit because everyone trashtalking it made me less than enthusiastic to check it out, even though I had been spoiled on the fact that it revolved around one of my favorite stories in the entire game - the spring fairy - I assumed not so many people could be this horribly mistaken, right?

Well, they are, and I am here to explain why I liked this event so much. Even before the story was over it got me teary eyed with the beauty of Genshin Impact.

First things first, it is my belief that Genshin Impact is a love story. Not in the traditional sense of romantic love - not necessarily, perhaps - but a story of platonic or ideal love more likely, because a forbidden love is what caused the first recorded wave of destruction ("cataclysm") in Teyvat - when the Seelie and the (possibly human, possibly traveler-from-afar) would marry in the moon palace as witnessed by the three moon sisters, the earth was ripped asunder and the lovers tried to flee but disaster caught up, and they were forbidden to ever see eachother again.

If we believe in the idea that Teyvat is cyclic, perhaps this very story is happening again. And again. And again ... for they mustn't be together.

The story of Genshin Impact often speaks in metaphors, and at times the unsaid is just as important as the said - does mi muhe ye actually mean "I love you" ? How is Kaeya the captain of the cavalry if there are no horses in Teyvat that we know? Why are symbols like wolves, the moon, flowers in particular shapes and so many others evoked over and over? What does it all mean? Well, I don't know. This is why I am a lore theorist not a Hoyo spy, lol. I can only guess.

A lot of very important lore points were said in this event. A lot were left unsaid, but can be inferred through parallels and metaphors. A lot were lost in translation, but that's something else. Every language that's not Chinese seems to have struggled with the hidden meanings in poems. Sadly, because I feel like they're big.

But let me talk about the things I did witness - Callirhoe being obviously the biggest one and anyone who's been paying attention knew her identity as an Oceanid right away, because that's what we got in the 3.8 event and Fontaine in general too. Less obvious were her ties to the Spring Fairy story. The people complaining about them made absolutely no sense though, considering the 1.4 event Wishful Drops had the same theme lol. "I don't like events about NPCs" man how about you stop playing Genshin then, why did you even start? Since the 1.4 event the identities of the oceanids and eidolons involved in the Spring Fairy story were unclear - indeed, it seemed to be heavily implied that Rhodeia was the one Old Finch pinned for - but now it's all very clear. The possibility that things have been retconned exist for reasons I will talk about later, but anyways.

Then, the point about shapeshifting being cleared up - indeed, the human form takes away her energy and depleting it makes Callirhoe revert into a eidolon shape ; she did say to Old Finch she doesn't know when she will be able to assume a human form again, meaning, a long time. She wanted to convey her message before that. Old Finch seems to just accept that of course fairies can change forms.

Someone else had a huge character development in all of this - to Chongyun, changing forms makes her an adepti - ie, as per Liyue folklore. And then he starts wondering if his pure yang energy has something to do with it, and for the first time in his life shocking even Xingqiu he begins to wonder if it's such a bad thing to be like this. The scene in which 100% icy blue dragon eyed Chongyun goes wide-eyed at the 100% hydro blue eidolon changing forms like "whoooooa are u illuminated ms" is absolutely comical pot calling the kettle black

The event also reinforced my belief in two characteristics of elements: one, that "ice" may not be an element per se, but rather a form of water ; two, that there is a connection between it and "geo" judging by Noelle and Zhongli's appearances or roles. The explanation for the first one is Enkanomiya and the alchemy table - the sources that don't acknowledge ice isolately. The second one has a bit more convoluted of an explanation so maybe next time, but there is an island in which we find a combination of dendro, hydro and geo slimes that's hard to not pass by. We know the slimes' appearances in a territory means something about it as per Zhongli's story and we also know land needs water to produce flowers, and, well, perhaps just like irminsul (Did Morax Create It?) assumes a flower shape on land (ley lines disorders) and has hydro blue veins and all that. So that's the gist of my theory - maybe some time ...

The last point I want to address, and that perhaps was the most relevant to the deep lore of Genshin as I see it, is that this event showed us the perspective of love of different characters. And so we can compare and contrast to that which we already knew.

Endora's Educational Notes from the Wishful Drops event states -

Love. For Oceanids, this is to meld together as one. There will be no division then. That is why Oceanids need no learning or thoughts of their own. All that is needed is love. It seems that Oceanids cannot love others, for others will only drown in the embrace of pure waters. So they disguise themselves as the dreams of young children, and withdraw from the lives of all other people. [...] Love, that is our destiny. But I still have a whole world left to see.

Their definition of love is... almost LCL-like interesting. To meld together as one - perhaps this is why she says "when the stars in the night sky have all gone out, and all streams and dreams have mingled in the same ocean… then, we will meet again" to Old Finch in Wishful Drops. We keep hearing in Fontaine lore that all the waters will merge together. (that sounds a bit like a flood. Guizhong anyone? Fontaine submerging? whatevers) but in her saying it seems like she is suggesting that she will also meet Old Finch when that happens. Unless Old Finch is somehow from Fontaine, perhaps there is more to it all (hint: it's the abyss - it's absolutely the abyss she spoke of !! source: trust me ~ )

To Paimon she should talk to Old Finch because if they're eachother's "love of their lives" they would certainly still want to see eachother. This shows that Paimon whatever she is views love as something everlasting and unbreakable, unmistakenly so. A romantic perhaps like the moon that witnessed the seelie marriage, or... the "sinner" seelie herself? Or, even, the "villain" that opposed the seelie marriage and needs to make an effort to separate those lovers for eternity Or Else - who knows?

On the other hand, while characters like Mika and Paimon were supporting Callirhoe, two characters were nowhere to be seen: Xingqiu, who is obsessed with poetry and was off to write some (fuck the rules) and Noelle who was off to work. Everyone else in the event (Diona, Chongyun, Mika) had a cryo vision. In other words: Xingqiu was swept away by the feelings of it all, while Noelle was basically unfazed by it And Then There Is Cryo. Interesting! We don't know at this point much about the deep lore and can only guess who is going to be friend or foe in the future so this is merely food for thought ...

Lastly, not to jump too hard in the "Genshin Impact is a queer game" bandwagon because I truly feel this is a lot more convoluted of a topic than people like to pretend it is, for many reasons, but I did write a Tartali manifesto once that touched on the topic of love in the Genshin lore as well as the dynamics between elements and some flower symbolism and I truly love how the event not only legitimated the flower symbolism and parallels between flowers of different nations but expanded on them and brought new interpretations to the table. The parallel between the sweet flowers and the "sweetness" of Barbara (a hydro user? indeed, indeed) is made as explicit as the similarities between the Qingxin and the Cecilia which are both white flowers that grow in... peculiar places - namely, wherever the elemental energy of the land is stronger ie strong winds and tall mountains, respectively.

With all that this event has expanded on symbolism of key items, characters and elements, it does surprise me that so many people can't see past the concrete "it's an event about NPCs" into the "these NPCs are a metaphor to the greater lore of THE FUCKING GAME" . At a certain point I was wandering above the water with Wanderer and suddenly had thoughts of Raiden Ei creating him to be free (and her obsession... with anemo kind of shows in her statue of the omnipresent god really. Why are Barbatos and the omnipresent god - who still looks an awful lot like Paimon to me - the only winged statues and what did she want exactly .. ) and how we actually use him to do stuff like float above water - in the event Paimon is like "don't ask me to do it! yes I fly but I can't do that" and in Fontaine this happens too. I've been using Scara a lot for exploring so I keep thinking about it - he is the only character that "flies" or at least does something close to it and he is Raiden Ei's will, her puppet creation. What were her aspirations then? The event also got me thinking about the Goddess of Flowers who was known for talking about sussy things under the moon and water flowed from her body ... As it kept evoking night and moon and stars imagery when talking about Old Finch and Callirhoe - almost stating their similarities to the seelie marriage that wasn't. Another forbidden love story that couldn't be for reasons unknown.

But well, guess some people can't see past the grind and it shows. And oh boy, isn't that a metaphor for our real world at large lol.

[franstastic-ideas]

Actually, you know what the funniest thing about shipping Leaf or any of the first four gen girls is? THEY'RE ALL WAY OLDER. You'd think the biggest complaint fandom would have is going nooOOO they're ELEVEN. Except for the part where Gen 1 and 3 happen at the same time. As do Gen 2 and 4. With a three year timeskip. And then a TWELVE year timeskip. Two more; BW2 and XY happen at the same time. Add another year for Alola. Red and Blue are stated to be like. I think it was 31 in the S/M/USUM games last I checked. Leaf would be almost 10 years older than Leon (his Charmander could've been a child of Red's Charizard for all we know! I actually like to write Kantrio visiting Galar and inspiring the next gen of trainers in game-verse.) Instead I'm mostly meddling around in the anime-verse which is mostly a found-family fic so all my ships are really just joked about. Doesn't mean I haven't recycled through a ship or two as I was playing around with the fic though lol, but alas the interest wore off and I need to stick with my themes. I'm curious though, is Leaf and Green endgame for you? Also LOVE whatever you're doing including Mizuki in your Au. With the aforementioned "Kanto kids are millennials" my Leaf (game-verse) has lowkey adopted the Alola kids (with them completely unknowing she was One of The Famous Kanto Trainers From The 1996(7?) Indigo League, until Red and Blue come to Alola and hugs! reunions! tfw your mom is super friendly with your idols and your world view is flipping upside down) what's your version :D also YES shaking your hand Red and Leaf siblings trueee. out of all the protags, they look the most like twins to me. Even Hilda and Hilbert have diff eye colors, May and Brendan literally have diff parents and skin tones. Probs the only character other than Kris and Gen 2 Gold who doesn't appear as an NPC. Also, I like Thundra as a name for a Raichu! I think it fits :) laughing at you going with Kaminari as a name tho, bc I legit did the same thing with the Jolteon I give her in pre-anime fic AU (its a whole mess) or Denki (yes bnha lmao) until I saw someone spell it was "Denshi" as a nickname and thought that was cute and made it less like an obvious reference. Also considered Raijuu.

I think the funniest thing about the core series timeline topic is the fact that technically, according to several developers, there actually IS no true canon timeline.

Masuda: It starts to get a little complicated if you pay too much attention to timelines. Like, there might be a professor that appears, and it wouldn’t make sense at all if we applied that kind of timeline logic. So we try not to apply it too rigorously.

Matsumiya: Elapsed time is secret. Imagine freely!

I certainly will imagine freely, Mr. Matsumiya.

I stated this in the last ask I answered, but Sisterhood operates under a different timeline than the "canon" one. For example, the events of SwSh take place after HGSS/DPP and before SM/USUM, which takes place before B2W2/SV. BW also takes place at the same time as XY, and between FRLG/ORAS and HGSS/DPP.

I do have a visual guide, for reference.

As for Leaf and Green being endgame, I've considered Sisterhood being somewhat similar to an otome game, in the sense that the protagonists have a selection of boys they could date in a series of alternate story paths. However, for most of them there is someone who I consider their "true" love interest in Sisterhood.

For Leaf, this is Green. For Touko, this is N. For Haruka, this is Steven. For Hikari/Akari, this is Volo. And so on.

Some of the male protagonists are the sibling of the female protagonists in Sisterhood: Leaf is Red's younger twin sister, Touko is Touya's older twin sister, Gloria is Victor's younger sister by two years, and Juliana is the older twin sister of Florian. As a sidenote, Gloria and Juliana are first cousins.

Even when they normally wouldn't appear in canon if not chosen as the protagonist, every character has a role in Sisterhood somewhere. Kris is Kotone's friendly (but still tough) rival!

And speaking of Leaf's Raichu, 'Kaminari' was sort of a beta name until I found something else I liked better.

This ended up being 'Lumine'.

[better-off-crazy]

Anyways Spoilers --i never figured out how to do that undrcut thing on mobil if thats not obvious by now but whatever its tumblr your here for the Spoilers! Whether you like it or not really-- and not like many people are posting bout sandrock anyways(lame its great!) and when they do its all Spoilers anyhow and this is long enoguh so should do it automatically. Probably.

This is not in any order whatso ever.

Did they bascilly just spell out what the next game is gonna be? With the northern development? Could be dlc but it feels like a whole game could go there. Altho theres also the stuff happing in Ethea too so that could also be the next one.

This should help! Gives salt.

Tbh i thoguht they were gonna kill off Mort at the end of it.

It awalys ends by building a ship. I like that its like one last hurrah!

Bronco shows up? At the party?? In a room full of basic npcs??? Ok???? And bogan jack is there too??? And it made me fight him??? And then teleported me into the desert?!?!

Getting to see all the representatives is really cool!

Luna looks awsome, her concert was pretty nice. Except for the fact it was a bit outif sync

"Its been my honor to sink... so that others could swim" thats freaking sad! And inspirational!

Gaudi looks like he stole his outfit from Gust

Wei says Excelsior. Cute

THEY HAD THE BABY! YES I GET TO MEET DAN-BI AND RIANS BABY!

The fact that they asked cooper to fill up about 10hrs worth of time is not surprising

Avrio did it! Catori too! proud of Them!

Seeing Gale made me tear up a bit. Its been a long time buddy

AIR.SHIP.RIDE.AIRSHIPRIDE!

Unsuur being Unsuur, wanna give him extra hugs, i know how you feel reaching the end of the journey and its beeeen a long one.

Curie looks really cool! But where is that wind coming from to make her cape so flowy?

I love that there are items from portia now

That new story didnt work out to well for justice and owen did it? Lol

Why did matlida take that shot to the arm? It didnt extaly help her in the end? No one in sandrock suspected her? I did tho! I was right to be suspicious of her! I will awalys be happy about that.

Im glad larry and xena were able to stay and see that sandrocks not so bad and were actully pretty cool people

Justices real name is Maurice! The one question i never had has been answered!

We get to see mom and dad this time! Its not just dad! Its both! Cool!

THATS OUR PARENTS?! Wow they look so normal. And dapper. My Pa's eyes are left pink and right green, Unexpected. Unless thats like a bit of you inherited it from him? But my builds eyes are just pink n blue with heart irises.

Why dose the one rep look like J. Johnas Jameson

How did they convince cooper to give up that much land?

"Blessings to your sacred tree!" It sure is

Kept that promise to bring sandrock back. Feels good.

Nice I get to sit next to the pretty boy.

Love the fact that it was either me orr portia me to be the next top builder. Love that they exist at the same time.

Miguel is just there. Watching learing to be better.

Haha they still haven't found the rouge knight wonder if hell pop up next time?

Oh Qi awalys trying to show off the robot and hes relly improved with controlling it too!

FINAL BOSS!! : Cooper and his moon man conspiracy story witch i actully find kinda entertaining. Winner: Me

I would love to see more of the reps and just more ingeneral sandrock really made me feel things just like portia did! but just a lil bit more then portia did.