#(and can serve as a focus and limiting agent to TRICK their perspective into more closely mimicking that of corporeal beings)

[justashadetalkative]

Details: Phosa & Linast

Mundane video technology hits something not unlike an uncanny valley for Phosa & Linast on two fronts:

1) Their spacial awareness is intense and encompasses the electromagnetic field around them, so trying to process 2D images as representations of 3D objects & space was a learning curve for them. Even after they learned the trick of it, it’s still more like viewing an autostereogram than anything natural or automatic. (They have to trick themselves into perceiving it as looking at something that is very far away and outside of themselves, even as it's (usually) radiating from inside their range of perception.) 2) They don't have a brain that smooths a rapid sequence of images into a perception of smooth motion for them, and while their conscious processing speed isn't precise or rapid enough for them to truly discern the actual movement of light through space (unless working with large enough distances), they can still sense it to some degree. Between those two factors, it's like touching a vibrating surface; they sure as heck couldn't count the individual jerks, but they can feel that something about the motion isn’t smooth.

Some of these factors were mitigated during that human incident, and it went a long way towards helping them figure out how to interpret 2D images the way most sighted humans do.

[sepublic]

A change in the Protagonists’ Goals (And a suggestion on Creepy Luz)

            I think Eda’s Requiem will establish a change in the protagonists’ agenda, as they go from mostly reactive, to straight-up proactive in a battle against Belos?

         Because up until now, they haven’t been particularly concerned, nor under the impression that there’s a final battle they’re building up to. All Luz knows is that Belos wanted the Portal for some reason, but she’s under the impression that she destroyed it, effectively putting a halt to those plans. Lilith is also aware of the Day of Unity, but we don’t know how much she knows… Which, given how Belos later explained it to the Coven Heads, leads me to believe Lilith was mostly clueless beyond Belos needing to consolidate power.

         My point being- The protagonists aren’t really planning nor considering any proactive steps against Belos! To them, it’s probably the status quo as usual, where they just live and mind their own business, occasionally evading the law for the odd crime they pull here or there, likely interfering when they see the coven system up to no good… 

        And that’s it! From Eda’s perspective, she might be under the impression that with herself and her family pardoned, Belos is just going to go back to business as usual- Ruling as he’s always had, for fifty-something years.

         So there’s a good chance that’s how the protagonists have been operating in Season 2 so far… Just focusing on surviving and getting by, like Eda had prior to Season 1- Rebelling against the system by leaving it and occasionally imploring others to do so, but there isn’t some particular idea of a full-on, focused revolution meant to target and actively supplant Belos’ influence. But, that gets us into Raine…

         Raine IS leading an active revolution, it seems- While Eda and the protagonists are focused on themselves because they frankly don’t have the resources for that, and aren’t aware of any drastic event/spell that Belos is building up towards… Raine does, they were fully privy to Belos’ plan to merge the worlds, and they know about the fixed portal, given how it was right behind Belos during that meeting.

         With their influence as a coven head, it seems Raine is gathering a proper, organized effort with an actual game-plan and everything, proactively dedicated towards overturning Belos’ dictatorship completely, by open confrontation if need be, and as it’ll definitely become. And they KNOW about Belos’ plan, so there’s an active time limit before everything is irreparable damaged-

         So regardless of how Raine and Eda work out together as a relationship… I think there’s a good chance that we’ll see the protagonists’ goals and status quo be shaken up now. While they were all preoccupied with just getting Luz back home, now they know that Belos plans to mess with BOTH realms as well- And that means we’ll probably see the protagonists rally up as they realize they need to do something, and start taking the fight to the Emperor’s Coven ASAP.

         The fact that they weren’t probably plays into Hunter sparing Luz, Eda, and King at the end of Separate Tides- Aside from the fact that he’s a kid with morals who is looking for any excuse to leave people be… They aren’t actively opposing the Emperor’s Coven with the initiative to overturn it, just minding their business for the most part, and interfering with the occasional, smaller scheme that they come across.

         But now they know that they HAVE to do something about it ASAP, lines need to be drawn now and sides taken… They have to focus on taking down Belos, and they’ll know he’s fixing the portal. Which, the synopsis to Eclipse Lake and Yesterday’s Lie indicate that Luz is still planning to make her own way back home- But it’s possible that with Raine’s information, the protagonists will consider, at least as a backup, using the repaired Portal by seizing it in a confrontation with Belos.

         Basically, this episode is definitely going to shake things up as the protagonists shift their goals to actively opposing Belos, because they’re aware of some endgame plan of his that will completely change everything- So no more living on their own like Eda had! We might see more of Raine’s rebellion, assuming it isn’t crushed and forced into hiding… 

        Or at least, the protagonists wait for additional information from Raine to act upon in the meantime. Their perception of Belos will change as they realize just how nuts this dude is, and that could really influence any later interactions with Hunter down the line, as they might confront him over this.

         Given how the Season 2 trailer shows Belos attempting to open the Portal with his own take on the key… That might end up coming into play with Yesterday’s Lie, and who knows! With Lilith’s Scrying Potion, the protagonists might attempt to take advantage of this… But on the other hand, Belos is aware of the Scrying Potion, and likely to weaponized that by tricking his enemies on the other end.

         On a final note- Now that we know Belos wasn’t looking for access to the human realm but to merge the worlds with a specialized Portal… This GREATLY increases the possibility that he has a reservoir of Titan’s Blood and has in fact sent people there- Possibly as research into Earth’s properties, and how it can nullify wild magic. Which means there’s a good chance that there are other people loyal to Belos, waiting on the other end for him….

         Which, increases the likelihood that Creepy Luz IS an agent of Belos- And that Belos was able to communicate with them across realms, when he realized Luz’s presence. He might’ve relayed a message to his scout to impersonate Luz to take Camila as potential leverage, while keeping an eye on the entrance to the Demon Realm from the human side- Especially if Belos took advantage of Luz opening the portal to send HIS own messages over.

        Belos would totally use this knowledge against Luz, especially to reveal that Camila is happier with Creepy Luz- Which could serve to demoralize Luz at a crucial moment, and make her liable to despair and desperation that he can manipulate.

[tes-trash-blog]

So, uh, a while back you mentioned making a post about how Prisoner McNord might affect the player experience/perceptions of the "default" and I would be super interested in reading that

So!

I have a few thoughts already on what is considered “default” in Skyrim to be expanded upon in a future shitstorm rant (it’s on the list, between Almalexia Is Interesting Actually and Even More Crying About Snow Elves Part 17: My Tears Have Become Sentient And Are Also Crying).

And as always, keep in mind that Skyrim is coming up on 9 years old, elements of it have not aged well, and this is in no way, shape, or form meant to be a “If you like Skyrim then you’re Bad” rant. In case you haven’t noticed, I kind of love that game. It has flaws; all games do, and frankly it’s a miracle this game is as solid as it is. The writers are that, writers. They had deadlines to make, hardware limitations to consider, and above all else, worked for a company that wanted to make money.

To keep this relatively short I’ll focus on how your perception of Skyrim is influenced by the first few minutes of the game via Ralof, the Nordiest Nord to Nord since Ysgranord, and how the writers really, really really wanted you to hold on to that perception.

Overanalysis and spoilers (Metal Gear Solid, Borderlands, and Bioshock respectively yes this will all make sense in context) under the cut.

Part 1: How To Make A Perspective In Three Easy Steps

As the saying goes, first impressions are lasting impressions. This is evident in.. well, every bit of media you can find. The first chapters of a book, the first episode of a show, the first 15 minutes of a video game, all as a general rule:

1.) Introduces the setting, a part of the main plot, and with these two, sets the tone of the medium (high fantasy movie, light hearted TV show, mystery series, horror game, etc.). Exceptions exist, especially in horrors, mysteries, and certain visual novels, but even these exceptions rely on setting a tone so they can subvert your expectations later on.

2.) Give you an idea of what is going on. This is normally accomplished with exposition of some sort; Star Wars had its famous screen crawl expositing the dark times in the Galaxy, Borderlands literally begins with “So, you want to hear a story..”, Metal Gear Solid briefs Solid Snake (you, the player character) on a vital mission to save two hostages and end a terrorist threat, so on and so forth. And again, there are exceptions: Bioshock purposefully disorients you with a plane crash in the middle of the ocean so you’re inclined to trust the first person who talks to you.

This all serves to suspend disbelief, immerse you, and earn your trust. This is a new world, you have no idea what’s going on, so you’re gonna take cues from someone who does. Combine points 1 and 2, and that..

3.) Gives you an idea of what is “good” and what is “bad”. Damn near every story has a central conflict, you gotta pick a side, and there’s gonna be a bias as to which one is superior or morally just. Using Bioshock again, this mysterious man named Atlas guides you through the first level, and tells you how to fight and survive in the hostile environment of Rapture; meanwhile, Andrew Ryan taunts and belittles you, and also has a giant golden bust of himself. The shorthand is: Atlas is humble, helpful, and good, while Andrew Ryan is a megalomaniac who wants you dead. Leaning on Borderlands again, the first voice you hear is literally a guardian angel telling you not to be afraid, and that you are destined to do great things. Once more with Metal Gear: Your organization and your commanders are good, you are good because you’re saving innocent people, and FOXHOUND is bad because they’re terrorists who have the means to launch a nuclear warhead.

Keeping all this in mind, let’s do a quick runthrough of the first, let’s call it 15 minutes of Skyrim. No commentary on my end, just a play by play of the beginning of the game.

Part 2: First Impressions In Action

You wake up on a cart. Your vision is hazy, and you are clearly disoriented. You see a man bound and gagged, another man in rags, and several men dressed like soldiers. Everyone on the cart is tied up, and the people driving the cart are wearing a neat, vastly different uniform.

Then comes the famous line: “You! You’re finally awake! You were caught trying to cross the border, got caught in that Imperial ambush same as us, and that thief over there!” The thief bitterly remarks how these damn Stormcloaks had to cook up trouble in a nice and lazy Empire. The Nord who first spoke with you nobly says that we’re all brothers and sisters in these binds.

The presumed Imperial tells you all to shut up. Undeterred, the thief and the Stormcloak provide more exposition: The gagged man is the leader of the resistance, is supposedly the true High King, and since he’s on the cart, it’s clear that everyone on board is bound for the executioner’s block. The thief is terrified; the Nord accepts his fate, but takes a moment to opine on better days when he flirted with girls and “when the Imperial walls made him feel safe.” There is also a remark about General Tulius and the Thalmor agents; the Nord, in a rare bit of anger, damns the Elves and insinuates they had a hand in this capture.

It’s execution time. General Tulius gives a speech about how Ulfric started a civil war and killed the former High King; Ulfric, being gagged, cannot say a word in defense. A Stormcloak is executed to mixed reactions (“You Imperial bastards!” “Justice!”, etc.). The thief runs away; he is shot by Imperial archers, demonstrating the futility of escape. It’s your turn. The Nord in Imperial armor states you’re not on the list; the Imperial captain doesn’t care and orders you to the block anyway.

You see the headsman’s axe rise up when, as if the gods intervene, a dragon appears and interrupts your execution. In the chaos, you run with the Stormcloaks. The game does not give you the option to run away alone, or with the Imperials; until you meet Hadvar again in the fire and death, you take orders from Ulfric.

Part 3: The Crux

A lot happens in the first few minutes of Skyrim. You’re disoriented from being unconscious, and that’s compounded by your two near death experiences (point 2), the first person you meet is a calm, almost reassuring mouthpiece of exposition while the other side, at best, doesn’t care if you die (points 2 and 3), one major aspect of the plot is revealed (point 1, and the tone is that this is a classic Rebellion story).

And people love rebellion stories. Americans especially; we spend billions on the day when a bunch of white guys said “fuck you” to a bunch of other white guys. With the additional layer of when Skyrim was developed, by who, and in what landscape it was written.. Yeah. There may be two ways to go for the Civil War questline, but for most players (myself included!) their first gut instinct is going to be “side with the guys who didn’t just try to kill me.”

It’s the same song and dance. In Bioshock, your instinct is to trust the Irish guy who wants to help you get out of Rapture alive, but he needs your help first. In Borderlands, your instinct is to trust the woman who is literally called a guardian angel, and she shows her compassion by asking you to help the people of Fyrestone and the poor robot who got hurt in a gunfight. In Metal Gear, your instinct is to shut down the threat because terrorists are evil and these ones are not just terrorists, they’re deserters. Hell, even in other Elder Scrolls games the plot is laid out by helping hands: you’re a prisoner being contacted by your murdered friend, and given the goal to stop Jagar Tharn (Arena), you’re a Blades agent tasked with putting a vengeful spirit to rest that leads you to a weapon that can secure the Empire’s power (Daggerfall), Azura literally tells you not to be afraid, and that you destined to stop an old threat (Morrowind), and a soon-to-be-assassinated Emperor voiced by Actual Grandpa Patrick Stewart recognizes you in a prophetic dream (Oblivion).

Where Skyrim departs from these games, and even the other Elder Scrolls titles, is how much it enforces the first thing you see as solidly good and evil, and how little it tries to subvert that perception. Remember point 2, when the game makes it clear that this person is trustworthy? Therein lies the bread and butter of psychological horror, mysteries, and heart wrenching plot twists: that trust gets tested, and often broken.

The rebel leader Atlas? He’s somehow more evil than Andrew Ryan, and has subtly controlled you the entire time with a command phrase (“Would you kindly..?”). You are unable to stop yourself when you bludgeon Andrew Ryan to death at Ryan’s command. “A man chooses,” he tells you. “A slave obeys.” His final words are him telling you that you are a puppet, only able to obey.

The end of Borderlands reveals that “Angel” was watching you the entire time.. from a Hyperion satellite. You were tricked into opening a Vault holding back a dangerous monster, and you don’t even know why. Borderlands 2 goes further into just what (or rather who) Angel is: a teenage girl and a powerful Siren, used by her own demented, evil, father, Handsome Jack, to manipulate the Vault Hunters and gain more power for himself. Her final mission given to you is simple: she wants you to set her free and end her father’s mad march to power by killing her.

Metal Gear Solid ultimately plays it straight in that you stop the terrorists and disable the nuclear threat, but you don’t emerge from the rubble as an action hero; you’re forced to kill your own brother, the terrorist cell is revealed to be composed almost entirely of people exploited by your organization, and you secretly carry  a virus designed to kill the people you were trying to save. War, as it turns out, is not as clear-cut as “we good, they bad”. The people you’ve killed without thinking are your genetic brothers. Sniper Wolf, the assassin who shot your commander’s niece, survived a genocide and has never known a life outside of war. Psycho Mantis’ telepathic gifts were exploited by both the KGB and FBI until he lost his mind. Ocelot is Ocelot.

Oh, but those are other games. What about The Elder Scrolls? Well..

In Daggerfall, your search for hidden correspondence leads you to finding the Mantella, a sort of soul gem that can power the superweapon everyone wants: The Numidium. There are six entities total who want the Mantella, some for their personal gain, one to make a home for his people, and one so he may finally die; the Underking’s soul is in that gem, you see, and he’s been trapped in this misery since the days of Tiber Septim.

In Morrowind, Dagoth Ur recognizes you not as a schlub with a dummy thick journal, but as his oldest and dearest friend. The Empire who guided you for so long? They’ve manipulated you into taking down the Tribunal, destroying the one weapon that could stand against their might, and depending on your interpretation of “then the Nerevarine sailed to Akavir”, have possibly killed you.

And what of everyone’s favorite game in the series to mock? Surprise! Oblivion isn’t even about you, hero! It’s about the actual chosen one, Martin Septim! Sure you can join the Thieves’ Guild and cavort about as Grey Fox, or uncover the traitor of the Dark Brotherhood, or run off and become the Mad God.. but none of those events actually acknowledge you. To be the Grey Fox is to literally be forgotten, by the time the Dark Brotherhood questline is complete there is effectively no more Dark Brotherhood, and to become Sheogorath is to lose yourself entirely. The Hero of Kvatch is one who is ultimately forgotten. Your actions were important, have no doubt, but such is the fate of the unsung hero: they’re not sung about.

Even Arena plays a little bit with your expectations in that the Staff of Chaos alone isn’t enough to stop Jagar Tharn; you need friendship (just kidding it’s a magic gem in the Imperial Palace). Skyrim.. kinda glosses over that. They land a few punches, but for them to stay with you, you have to keep an open mind.

Part 4: Why does that matter?

Because if your expectations are never subverted, your trust never tried in any meaningful way, then your perception of a very specific, spoon-fed worldview is never challenged. The trust you build with a group that is, in essence, a fascist paramilitary cult is never shaken in any way that’s meaningful. You get some lines intended to evoke sadness when you sack Whiterun, but by then it’s too late. Not that it matters; at the end of the Stormcloak questline, there’s not much question about who was in the right. You never lose friends or allies; the Jarls in the holds change, but is there much difference between Idgrod Ravencrone and Sorli the Builder? You might feel a little guilty when you see the Dunmer forced to live in the slums, but then the haughty High Elf says that she didn’t laze around and instead made a name for herself, or the Dark Elf farmer who complains about his snowflake kinsmen harping on about “injustices”. The Argonians seem decent until you meet the skooma addict/thief, and the Khajiit.. let’s just say that even if we disregard the two Khajiit assassins sent to kill you, there exist a lot of extremely harmful stereotypes that none of your friends dispel. They commit no horrific war crimes in your presence, the worst you hear is a Nord (normally a bandit) yell “Skyrim is for the Nords!”, or the clumsy Welcome to Winterhold script where a Dunmer woman is harassed by two Nords; one’s a veteran, by the way. Got run through the chest by an Imperial craven, or so the story goes.

Your only chance to rattle the Nord-driven story is to go against your gut feeling and side with the Imperials (the plotline is pretty weak, not gonna lie), or complete the optional quest No One Escapes Cindha Mine where you see what a Stormcloak sympathizer does to the Forsworn. Even if you complete that quest, the Forsworn still attack you. “They’re savages,” say the Nords, and the game isn’t too inclined to say otherwise.

When it comes to portraying the Nords in any light that’s not negative, Skyrim doesn’t deliver like it did in other games. You saw what life is like in Morrowind under Tribunal rule; it’s not great. The Houses are almost universally awful and they have slaves. You see the destruction in Cyrodiil and hear the rumors on how much the Empire is flailing with the Oblivion Crisis. Hell, even Arena tells you that life in Tamriel kind of sucks, but it’ll suck a little less when Tharn is dead.

That doesn’t happen in Skyrim. You are encouraged to join the sympathetic Stormcloaks, you find out your destiny as Dragonborn, and you set all these things right. Of course you do. You’re a hero, baby. Others have gone on about how storybook the Dragonborn questline is so I won’t go too much in, but that’s it exactly: Storybook. You’re Neutral Good. You’re going to kill the bad dragon that wants to do its job and eat the world. 

And that refusal to really examine the nuances and horrors of war, to consider what it means to be a hero that is never morally challenged or forced into a Total Perspective Vortex, to never challenge an extremely biased perspective or even explore its “logical” conclusion?

It leads to extremely dangerous ways of thinking if unchecked.

[justashadetalkative]

#(...some day I'm gonna try to properly explain Phosa and Linast's spacial perception / presence)

#(because like. Their 'bodies' [aside from the core] are just manifestations. Those manifestations do allow touch/hearing etc.) #(and can serve as a focus and limiting agent to TRICK their perspective into more closely mimicking that of corporeal beings) #([eg if they pour most of their focus & attention into just their 'eyes' then that does vaguely mimic having one-point perspective/vision])

#(but... their primary and instinctive perception of the world is much more spread out and spacial and field-like) #(the literal electromagnetic field within their entire sphere of influence feels like proprioception to them)

#(so! these kids are two marginally-corporeal entities playing puppets for the sake of socialization & to carry around/protect their anchor) #(and I probably don't emphasize that as much as I could ^_^;)

#(...then again I do *try* to focus most of RP on actual like. roleplaying. rather than narrating out thoroughly alien perceptions.) #(fun as this sort of thing is for me to try to conceptualize & visualize y'all are not here to read pages of experimental prose xD) #(the kids pick up X information and behave in Y fashion in response and those are the important bits!)

#(…Also.also. fucking hell let me tell you: reading about special and general relativity last month has Complicated things) #(I mean I can handwave absolute instantaneous perception across a distance as ‘eh. Magic.’) #(BUT. If I do that. Would that mean that Phosa and Linast technically experience spacetime in a very warped or extradimensional way?) #(defining time VIA light is a tantalizingly neat concept and also the Actual Science [to my current understanding] but I am still Processing it fffff)

Details: Phosa & Linast

Mundane video technology hits something not unlike an uncanny valley for Phosa & Linast on two fronts:

1) Their spacial awareness is intense and encompasses the electromagnetic field around them, so trying to process 2D images as representations of 3D objects & space was a learning curve for them. Even after they learned the trick of it, it’s still more like viewing an autostereogram than anything natural or automatic. (They have to trick themselves into perceiving it as looking at something that is very far away and outside of themselves, even as it's (usually) radiating from inside their range of perception.) 2) They don't have a brain that smooths a rapid sequence of images into a perception of smooth motion for them, and while their conscious processing speed isn't precise or rapid enough for them to truly discern the actual movement of light through space (unless working with large enough distances), they can still sense it to some degree. Between those two factors, it's like touching a vibrating surface; they sure as heck couldn't count the individual jerks, but they can feel that something about the motion isn’t smooth.

Some of these factors were mitigated during that human incident, and it went a long way towards helping them figure out how to interpret 2D images the way most sighted humans do.