#火凤燎原

[1time2study4ravages]

SEASON 2 OF THE RAVAGES ANIMATED ADAPTATION STARTS THIS WEEK

hopefully this time around the immortal Pan Feng memes get more clicks and engagements than the Diaochan scenes, haha

[imperiumallaboveall]

Watch "Multi SUB【热血杨家将】高清1080P | 奇幻片 火凤燎原一触即发" on YouTube

[1time2study4ravages]

it’s really nice to see some notable people from the broader 3K fandom still bring up Ravages once in a while

that said, as a longtime re-reader and promoter of the series, it’s an oversimplification to claim that Ravages subverts for the sake of it or for mere shock value (without considering the thematic and textual considerations that shape how it reconfigures and comments on its sources), and while Ravages is not exactly known for its fidelity to either the historical account or the Romance (though I note in turn that it still manages to mix and match elements from both streams skillfully along with a bunch of other stuff), the other metrics tend to be invoked more in reference to reader responses and preferences rather than a careful assessment of the characteristics and quirks of the series (which would demand something akin to how the roots of 3K lore are being more closely revisited by some enthusiasts in recent years to correct certain simplistic trends and talking-points from years ago)

in any case, the main stumbling-block for Ravages is that since not enough people have been hooked into trying it (let alone survive all the way and continue re-reading until the bitter end, considering the low engagement and high dropout rate), there aren’t enough attempts to clarify and interrogate the series (this is why I’ve long held that principled critical commentary of the series is preferable to the deafening silence or the garbled rumors), and at the end of the day no matter how nice or masterful a given text is, it wouldn’t matter much so long as people don’t bother to pick it up and propagate it...

just to wrap up this rambling, it’s worth noting that while among sinophone and vietnamese readers the Ravages scene is pretty much acknowledged as a distinctive and robust (even if also small) sub-niche within the broader 3K umbrella, among international anglophone readers I’ve noticed that Ravages is still somewhat alienated from what should have been its ‘mother community’, and this is a big can of worms in its own right

I'm disappointed with how little attention Ravages of Time has received from 3K commentators. Granted, it's a work of fantasy, but a deep and richly written fantasy. It's not a comic book version of Dynasty Warriors. I was skeptical when I started, knowing ahead of time about some of the more outlandish liberties its author took, but I ended up quite engrossed with it. If nothing else, it's worth a look just for some of its strikingly different character depictions (Dong Zhuo, Xu Chu, Sun Ce).

People have mentioned it to me a few times. I know some people really enjoy it.

[theotherjax]

Ravages of Time drabble, “Chosen”

Bless the discord it has given me a request and I deliver. Lü Bu/Zhang Liao, 332 words, ANGST:

Zhang Wenyuan thinks about most favoured man a lot.

Maybe once he used to know it was a bad idea, to pour so much of one’s self into a single vessel. He understands sieges and chokepoints after all, places from which there is no going back or forward. When he was younger, he would have known. Men of Zhang, they know, even when they’re really men of Nie. That is the crux of the matter, after all. The man he is. Most favoured man.

He thinks about it, but more correctly, he thinks it. Says it. Shouts it, tastes it. When men die under his hands. When oaths are bent and broken. When Dong Huang falls under his sword. When he sees Lü Bu play chess with Liu Xian and thinks Son of Heaven at the wrong man. Sometimes when he’s tangled in his beddings at night, and replays Lü Bu’s eyes on him, and replays, and replays.

They do ugly work. He is committed to it. He does not think most favoured man means clean glory or honour. For a while he thinks it makes him strongest after his master, but then he meets Guan Yunchang and understands strength in a whole new way. He thinks it makes him destined, but Lü Bu does not believe in Heaven’s destiny. He thinks it makes him chosen.

And Lü Bu does not believe in Heaven’s choice either, but for Zhang Liao this sticks. Chosen. Trusted, wanted – a cherished subordinate, right hand man, a brother. Everything, everything, he thinks when Lü Bu, drunk with victory and plum wine, tilts his face up and kisses him with smothering intensity. Claims him, as though he this man of Zhang is a precious thing, worth wanting and claiming and holding. In the ice of Xiapi, the memory warms his heart. Chosen, he thinks as he dives from the parapets, and hits the water believing in everything – glory, honour, strength, destiny. Brotherhood.

Until, of course, everything falls apart.

[1time2study4ravages]

nice to see yet another online/mobile game collaboration with Ravages (and what's more, in this case the dream monster from chapter/episode 1 might be playable in addition to Liaoyuan Huo)

[1time2study4ravages]

now if only there were more Ravages fan art featuring picturesque landscapes or intricate background ornaments (though of course such scenes would take more effort to illustrate)

[1time2study4ravages]

it seems Ravages collaborative cameos in disposable gacha games are still happening, though I wonder how effective this method is to get people to watch the anime (let alone read the main comic)

[1time2study4ravages]

it's not often one sees Ravages fan art that involves fantasy renditions of established characters

[1time2study4ravages]

A Man Cultivating Wonders

(would be nice to see more Ravages fan art that mixes and matches outfits, say having more characters wear the attire of the 8 geniuses or someone else dressed as the handicapped warriors or something)

[1time2study4ravages]

the Romance famously pits Kongming and Gongjin in a one-sided rivalry subplot but Ravages doesn't really follow through with that, so it's a bit amusing to see the occasional fan art that happens to pair up these two masterminds

[1time2study4ravages]

at least Ravages still gets promoted via collaborative cameos in other mobile games (but how many international anglophone viewers even notice)

[1time2study4ravages]

RAVAGES ANIMATED ADAPTATION OUT NOW (first episode freely available, bilibili members/subscribers get early access to the second episode and hopefully those other anime sites post them soon complete with english subtitles)

so far it seems episode 1 covers the stuff in chapters 1, 3, and 4 (the dream intro and the assassination of Xu Lin), and perhaps episode 2 might have the brief setting exposition featured in chapter 2

[1time2study4ravages]

Ravages, like its source lore, has an extensive ensemble cast of characters, with multiple and rotating main figures depending on the arc or incident

that being said, thanks to recent developments, I was able to identify five critical nodes (I wouldn't say all of them qualify as protagonists, just to be clear) that happen to have dense connections/semblances among one another, not to mention they also contribute significantly in some major narrative threads and subplots throughout the series

although Ravages still presents an account of the impending collapse of Han and the slow rise of three rival kingdoms (plus the fourth faction that eventually wins out) not to mention the colorful life and death stories of many other heroes and villains and factions it does so from a sideways and somewhat subversive glance through the vicissitudes and vendettas of Sima Yi (a key player in said fourth faction, and thus cast in the role of political survivor par excellence) and his assassin agent Liaoyuan Huo, who would go on to embrace the identity of Zhao Yun (a famous general in one of the three kingdoms and poster child of the Dynasty Warriors series of games)

now it so happens that Sima Yi is typically portrayed in 3K pop culture as the main counterpart to Zhuge Liang (the most renowned and glorified adviser of the period, also belonging to the faction that Liaoyuan Huo ends up joining), and Ravages has opted to retain this time-honored link for the long term (albeit with some fun twists), in addition to lifting up Pang Tong (another adviser symbolically associated with Zhuge Liang, but who exits the scene relatively early) to serve as an early foil of sorts to Sima Yi (as well as an impetus to Sima Yi's character development, a plot point original to the series)

for his part Liaoyuan Huo has his own distinct trajectories and rivalries (since he's more of a fighter and less of a planner even if he too can cook up some decent tactics and tricks as well) but given that he's closely linked to Sima Yi in this series (not so in the source lore) his connections to Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong (who technically become Liaoyuan Huo's teammates at some point in the story) get enhanced as well

focusing on these four figures appears to yield a long-term horizon which Chen Mou might not even complete given the rate of publication, the overall pace of the series, and his commitment to complicate the lore culminating in Sima Yi's epic collision/collusion with Zhuge Liang (with Liaoyuan Huo as a conduit and enforcer with ties to both masterminds) before Sima Yi reaps the fruits of survival and reckons with the final fallout (via the other long-term setup of the death dream in chapter 1, though I note that the dream doesn't need to be literally realized), and while we can expect many other roadblocks and detours along the way (again, Ravages has way more players than just 4) the broad strokes for the end game appear set in stone, unless...

ENTER IMMORTAL ZHAO SHENG AKA 'TRUE' ZHAO YUN AKA 'FAKE' ZHAO ANG THE EIGHTH GENIUS, the mystery box whose gradual disclosures tease out some extra dynamic element to how things might turn out in the long run, for not only does he happen to be a deviant top-notcher from the same school as Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong (and operating in ways eerily similar to the both of them) he has also earned the enmity of Liaoyuan Huo (and what's more, the latest chapter suggests he might even compete with Sima Yi for the ultimate survivor championship and thereby intrude into the dream, one way or another)

with the 8th entering the scene by forging antagonistic ties with 4 key people who already have robust links to one another (as well as a few others), he gets to maintain some sort of foothold or trace in multiple storylines (and he gets to fill in for Pang Tong's imminent premature departure, seamlessly preserving the quartet arrangement and spicing up Sima Yi's destined dates)

until then, my main advice for readers would be to survive and to learn to enjoy the finer aspects that Ravages has to offer

[1time2study4ravages]

the mastermind of the dark arts in the light, the diplomat of the greater good in the shadows

[1time2study4ravages]

for those still confused about the volume contents and arc divisions of Ravages (or those interested to see how the big parts can be subdivided into more manageable chunks of multiple arcs)