#AND MAKING FUN OF ITEM DESCRIPTIONS BEING MORE LORE AND STUFF

[foxgirlmoth]

I'm so heated about hbomber's video on DS2 right now the thought of sleep repulses me. Sara felt the full intensity of my negative emotions blasted into her ears for almost 3 hours. The video is half that length.

[asleepinawell]

lingering questions and thoughts on the dlc lore

first off, some of these may have been addressed in item descriptions and i either 1) missed an item or 2) read it but it was 3am and my brain didn't retain some detail

all opinions are just opinions etc, i have no interest in getting in lore fights and block people who try and start them. I'm too tired for that shit. this is just fun speculation

one question i had that i feel must have been answered was what was the scadutree actually for?

what was the timeline regarding messmer and melina's birth? they're referred to together as if they're twins or were born close together. my assumption was that messmer at least was radagon's kid with marika, but the dialogue of the story trailer implies his purge took place shortly after marika's ascension. marika could have split off radagon fairly early (even as part of the process of becoming a god like miquella and st trina) but there was no mention of them having kids until after the rennala thing much later on. my assumption about his parentage is based on 1) hair color and 2) he has a special curse which gives him something in common with malenia/miquella. he is not an empyrean though so maybe radagon isn't the dad (did you fuck the god devouring snake marika????)

i don't want to touch on the miquella and radahn stuff too much since I'm not interested in The Discourse. (i found the parts of the story about marika and the hornsent to be far more interesting). i will say that while the radahn thing felt like it came out of nowhere, the reason miquella didn't choose malenia is probably because 1) she's another empyrean and therfore a candidate for being a god, not a lord, and 2) she's already been claimed by a god. godwyn would have been the more lore logical choice but he didn't even get a mention, like "miquella wanted him but his soul was gone". so weird choice (and bad boss fight) but eh

i'm not sure if miquella's two fingers is ever commented on but he and ranni both followed a similar path in abandoning their flesh to remove themselves from the greater will's influence except ranni then went feral and stabbed hers to death and then got engaged while still covered in its blood. 10/10 no notes

one thing I'd wanted but hadn't expected to get was the reason marika smashed the ring. the whole "woman went crazy because her son died" thing is very grrm and 😬 about what i expect from how his writing handles women, BUT! i think the dlc gives a more complicated possibility for this. marika gets her tragic backstory (which i was also dreading because grrm) and it's one that actually made a lot of sense in terms of the lore and did a good job explaining her actions without justifying them (she slapped the cycle of violence on the roof and was like this bad boy can fit so much perpetuation). the fact she removed death from the elden ring after having witnessed the brutal extermination of her people makes complete sense. and then her son gets killed. she obtained godhood to punish the hornsent and to protect what was left of her people (which seems to mostly be the children she had later) and the elden ring failed her and her kid died. it wasn't grief over her son, so much as past trauma mixed with extreme anger. she took on godship to prevent this and the elden ring had failed her. it had one job basically. radagon, who lacked her memories, was immune to this. overall i think that's a decent plot compared to what it could have been

the whole story with the hornsent also makes the story of morgot and mohg much darker (and it was already dark). marika must have been really pissed and upset to have omen children (maybe part of why she ditched godfrey?). since they were her blood she wouldn't have killed them (since protecting the last of the shamans/numen was her thing), but man. fucked up if true etc

marika probably would have gone apeshit about jarburg if she hadn't been off being crucified

also since ranni was not marika's kid (or wasn't raised by her per se) she might not have known anything about marika's backstory and not expected marika's reaction to godwyn's death. edit: this is not me being like ranni did nothing wrong. i support women's wrongs. i think they should do more of them. more like, imagine ranni kills godwyn and then suddenly marika smashes the ring and all the other demigods go nuts and start waging war and she's just like huh. wild. and then fucks off to her tower until they all get it out of their systems

the lgbtq community has forgiven mohg is possibly the funniest narrative choice they could have made. poor man didn't even get to yell sex in his fight 😔. at least he had some of the sickest looking moves in the game

rellana was the best boss in the dlc and possibly the whole game imo. the fact she may have been into messmer is really funny though because 1) if you go age of stars that is now your aunt in law kicking your ass and 2) your aunt in law who is into the brother of your wife. what a family. no wonder ranni wants to go to space

[ultrajtb]

Okay so my biggest problems with how the Steve Saga base color steves were designed are that they don’t match and they aren’t as vibrant as I’d like, sometimes even looking kinda muddy. Green and Yellow especially.

So I’ve redesigned all 5 to ease my brain, and will be adding descriptions of how I’d change them lore-wise (excuse me if the ideas seem jumbled, I’m not very good at compiling my thoughts coherently)

First there’s Red Steves

In terms of design I basically just brightened it up and made it shinier

The original lore had them be incredibly dumb. While it’s a fun gag, I would prefer if they were closer to average

So in my idea of a streamlined Red Steve, they’d still be pyrokinetic with anger issues, but they wouldn’t be boneheads. The original had them using redstone as a power source, but it was never really explained, so to expand on that, their ability to create fire demands they consume mass amounts of fuel to function. So lots of food and burnable items can help them. Alternatively, redstone blocks contain a similar level of energy that they will feed on to fuel themselves more efficiently.

Next Blue Steves

Honestly the best of the original designs. Once again, basically just brightened it up and made it shinier to match the more overhauled ones.

So, these guys are hydrokinetic as well as the smartest, strongest, and wisest of the 5. Not much I want to change there. I do want to add on to them that they have a level of hubris comparable to the SCU Red Steves, which does lead some to less than desirable fates

Now the first majorly changed design, Green Steves

The original green steve design always bothered me because it was the most different from the other base colors. In short, it’s just way too bright. The green just doesn’t really pop. So I actually darkened it a bit so that it matches the other colors better.

We never really learned much about the green steves in the steve saga. From what I know, they were all fairly timid and pretty weak.

Obviously I’d like to at least tweak that. So my ideal version would have them be Chlorokinetic, meaning they can create and control plants. I feel this could give them a bit more character by having them be more connected to nature.

Now for my personal favorite of the redesigns, Yellow Steves why doesn’t tumblr have a yellow text option 😭

My gripes with the Steve Saga design are that it has a lot more contrast than the others, has weirdly colored highlights, and is just a sickly shade of yellow. So I fixed the contrast and highlights up and made it a more golden yellow

These guys were known for being electrokinetic speedsters in the original. Honestly I like that about them, don’t really wanna change anything there. I do think it’d be interesting to make them drawn to metals because conducting electricity, and weak to resisters like wood since electricity can’t flow through stuff like that. They’re the only ones who actually fight using lighting. The other 4 will at most have lightning while using their own abilities, but won’t be able to use that lightning for actual combat

Lastly, we have Purple Steves

So the original was missing some highlights, and I didn’t really like the shade of purple. Pretty easy fixes

The power these guys were known for was being able to teleport basically anywhere at will. Pretty cool power, not gonna change it.

Personality-wise we only saw one in the series and he was brain damaged for most of it. I think a good general trait for them is that they don’t like staying in on place for long, both because they lack any real attacking abilities and they just instinctively want to teleport to new places as a means of avoiding people who’d want to harm them.

Lmk your thoughts and what you think I could do differently with the ideas or if you have your own that you think could be cool to add. I will be keeping an eye out and will add anything that I like (with credit obviously). I have some more complex thoughts for the upcoming prominent steves so keep an eye out for that.

Have a good day/night!

[agnol117]

001 Proposals, Part III

djkaktus’s Proposal - Ouroboros

Part One: The Children

By rights, I should probably hate this one. It’s a big scary thing, after all. But my god, this one is great.

This probably isn’t a shock to anyone who’s read this far, but I much prefer when there’s actual supplemental material to when there’s just a dry list of containment protocols and then a description of the item. That’s a good start, but I feel like the narrative (the tests, the recovery logs, all that fun stuff) is what really makes it come alive. And my god does this one deliver. It’s a fantastically told story. The idea of nine kids turned into a weapon really works for me. It’s just the right amount of amorality, because it explores another favorite trope of mine: you’ve got these things sitting around, why not use them? So they do, and predictably, the person using it goes a bit mad with power. Fantastic. Chef’s kiss. I love it.

8/10

Part Two: The Broken God

Once again, we have a big scary thing done in a way that I actually like. Hats off to the writers of this one for that (I still think I’d prefer SCP-001 to just be a random “first” item found, though). 

The Broken God is a fascinating concept. It manages to hit both my love of man-made skips and love of skips that are just sort of there mysteriously with no readily apparent origin. I also just like the idea of mechanical abominations, honestly. And the idea of attempting to put it back together is great. Combined with some good old fashioned lore connections to other SCPs, and you’ve got a proposal I genuinely enjoyed.

8/10

Part Three: Atonement

Meh. I don’t have a lot of thoughts on this one. It’s a person who worked for the foundation and hated SCPs, then got turned into one with the power to destroy them all, and talked the 05s into letting it do it. Or begin to do it, anyway. It’s not quite a big scary thing, though it comes close, but beyond that it just feels too…I dunno, human? It wants to destroy all the SCPs and everyone who’s ever interacted with them, probably in a sort of revenge for the fact that when it was human, his daughter was killed by an SCP. It’s well written, but it’s tonally weird.

5/10

Part Four: The Way It Ends

This one is a doozy, and will probably get its own, whole post at some point in the future. There’s just so much here, and a brief entry like this cannot do it justice. Watch for a follow up.

Kate McTiriss’s Proposal - A Record

I like this one more than I thought I would, actually. It inverts the big scary thing problem I dislike in 001 proposals so much. Sure, it’s still a big scary thing, but it’s a big scary thing that’s ultimately benevolent and wants to help the foundation. That’s a definite plus. Also, despite being meta, it’s not nearly as obnoxious about it as the Database.

7/10

Kalinin’s Proposal - Past and Future

Just straight up did not like this one. Big scary thing from outer space, wants to destroy humanity. Neat.

I’m also gonna take this opportunity to say that while I don’t mind reading tales and/or supplemental reports, when the front proposal page contains no real info but instead links to several other pages, my interest drops kinda quickly.

1/10

[anime-grimmy-art]

What do you do when there’s not much to an AU? You make up your own stuff, ofc. And as is per usual when I make Character Designs, I make up a shit ton of lore too.

The ramblings under the cut, but what I’m really interested in, is what you guys think. Do you guys have any headcanons/ideas for this AU? Let me hear them! Also, if you don’t wanna read on tumblr, here’s the Google Docs link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/151yshHxnb_--P6eMKkwkI2dee9xC_Llb/view?usp=sharing

Before I get into the characters’ roles, here’s some general facts and backstory of their town:

- Basically, it’s Undertale meets Harvest Moon / Stardew Valley. Well, kinda. I at least used that approach for coming up for the jobs for the characters. You know, how there’s always a general store, a doctor, a smithy, etc.

- The usual story of a HM game is that you come to a town that’s way past its glory days and you, as the player/farmer, help them get back to that. The “backstory” of the town is that that already kinda happened. I’ll get into it more in the character description, but basically when Asgore was still mayor, the town got really popular. Then yadda yadda, a certain tragedy happened, two kids died, and the town suddenly got very bad publicity. There was a lot of stuff going on back then, bad reputation being spread and also a lot of law stuff, cos, you know, supposed child murder ‘n all, so Asgore made the decision to shut off the town to ppl from outside. This was in the interest of most monsters living there, because as fun as it is to have a lot of people coming there, most just wanted to live a quiet life. Not everyone was happy with that though, so many moved away from town and some others are trying to get the town back on its feet. But more on that later.

On to the characters:

I’m just gonna start with the skelebros, cos it’s their fault in the first place I got so invested.

Basically, they are what the player is in hm/sdv. They just showed up one day, took over the abandoned farmhouse and began their life there. The two came to town way after it was “closed” and since then a new mayor has opened the possibility for new residents to move in. Their farm helps the economy of the town a lot and the mayor, like usually in hm games, is trying to use that to make the town more known again. The skelebros aren’t really working towards that goal however.

So, now a bit more detail on them individually.

Papyrus:

- The design is mostly based on what’s “canon” in this au.

- He works mostly on the fields and is in charge of the crops. Their fields aren’t spectacularly big, but still big enough to plant a few dozen rows of veggies. 

- Paps also helps out a lot in town when he has the time. He helps Asgore with his plants, he goes fishing with Undyne, helps Toriel carry crates around and so on. This is inspired by the part-time job mechanic in HM ToT.

- Unbelievably, in this AU Pap is not an absolutely awful cook. Since he helps out at Muffet’s and Grillby’s a lot, they tend to show him some tricks to cooking. Even though Pap’s not a big fan of the greasy or overly sweet cooking those two do, he picks up a lot.

Sans:

- Again, design mostly based on the “canon” look. Maybe a bit more baggy.

- This is finally an AU this dude gets to rest. Since there are no resets and he doesn’t have to see his bro die again and again, for once in his life, he’s not a sad ball of depression. He’s just a chill and lazy dude that loves to make puns. Though, since he’s not too experienced with the feelings of loss, helplessness or grieving, he still tends to hide behind puns and fakes smiles if he does feel bad.

- Sans is in charge of the animals on the farm. Papyrus begrudgingly gave him that role since Pap’s loud demeanour and hectic movements usually scare the animals. Sans’ relaxed attitude draws the animals to him naturally and even if Pap mostly finds him sleep against a tree, in a stack of hay or on one of the sheep, the animals are always fed, healthy and relaxed, so Sans seems to be doing his job.

- Sans always has a small chic sit inside his hoodie or hat. Is it always the same one? Who knows, maybe.

- Sans also, somehow, can produce eggs out of thin air. Grab into his hoodie pocket, in his pants pocket, in his hat, in his slipper, there’s suddenly always an egg there. On good days he can even make butter or cheese appear. 

Gaster:

- He’s literally just a scarecrow in this. Though, if you ask any of the bros why they designed their scarecrow that way, they won’t have an answer.

Frisk&Toriel:

- Frisk is mostly based on what I wore myself as a kid in summer. Just a loose shirt with a cappy. Toriel basically has her ut gown, just with an apron on top.

- Frisk just appeared outside the “magical” forest one day. Napstablook and his cousin found them and brought them to Toriel, who has been taking care of them since.

- Toriel runs the general store in town, but also often takes care of the few kids that still live there.

- Frisk usually helps out in Toriels store, plays with the other kids or sits around at Asgore’s. They’re notorious for nabbing small snacks, mostly from Asgore’s plants. You’ll always find them munching on something. 

- Frisk was in town before the skelebros. Since they’d moved in, Frisk often went to spy on their farm. After a small incident with angry chicken, Frisk got to know the two better and now they see them as something between brothers and uncles.

- But Frisk honestly gets along with everyone. Just like in UT, they’ve not only been adopted by Toriel but literally everyone.

- Toriel and Asgore’s relationship is not as bad as in the main game, since, you know, Asgore didn’t kill literal children, but there’s still tension between them. Back when Asriel and Chara died and the whole thing with the bad rep for the town began, Toriel felt betrayed by Asgore focusing more on the town than giving their deceased kids the grieving they deserved. They’re not divorced, but Toriel still moved out and said needed space to think. Now that Frisk is in the picture though, the both of them are slowly coming to even ground and may even be able to talk things out and clear up the uncertainty of their decisions.

Asgore:

-Asgore has his UT Ending / Deltarune clothes, just with a gardener’s belt.

- He’s the previous mayor of the town, but after all the crap that happened, he stepped down from the position. Now he has his own little shop and sells seeds, saplings, homegrown veggies and fertilizer. So, basically what e.g. the Marimba Farm is in HM AP

- His main customer is Papyrus and they’re on friendly terms. Asgore is worried about how much and how hard Pap works, so he often gives him a discount. 

- Since his family’s past tragedy, Asgore is kind of nervous around kids. So, when he first met Frisk, he hoped they’d not visit him too often. But to his chagrin, Frisk took an instant liking to him and spends a lot of time at his shop (and steals eats the fresh grown veggies). Now, he’s really grateful for that, because for one, he loves Frisk as dearly as he had his own children, and also because now the tension and mistrust between him and Toriel seem to grow smaller day by day.

Undyne&Alphys:

- I gave Undyne a pretty basic fisher’s outfit. Alphys basically has Elli from HM’s outfit, just a bit more doctory stuff added. She still has her canon lab coat too.

- In essence, Undyne and Alphys have 2 completely different jobs. Alphys is the resident doctor and Undyne runs the fish market.

Two things. Yes, I know Alphys is more a mechanic than a doctor, she fits the aesthetic though, so she’s the doc now. And no, Undyne being a fisherwoman is not cannibalism, think of it more as a shark hunting smaller fish.

- The reason I lump them together is because they act as the local “smithy”. Alphys is still really tech savvy in this (I mean, Mettaton is still part of this AU), so she takes on most problems with electronics and stuff. For Undyne, I didn’t want to lose her Royal Guard’s Captain image, so she’s really good at handling tools (and weapons, but Al doesn’t let her make them anymore). So basically, if there’s a broken tool, you can be sure that either Undyne or Alphys can fix it.

- As for relationships, those two are still an item. Alphys is still really shy and a shut-off, but since Undyne and Pap become best friends, she gets to know the skelebros better. She and Sans especially get along well, since most of the time Undyne and Papyrus are let loose, they sit back and talk about science-y stuff. (no, Sans doesn’t have a background in science but he’s still into sci-fi)

- Alphys has a bit of a strained relationship with both Asgore and Mettaton.

Back when Chara and Asriel died, it was because of “illness” (maybe poisoning?). Alphys feels awful because with her back then limited knowledge on medicine she couldn’t help the two. Asgore doesn’t hold anything against her but Alphys can’t help but feel guilty.

Alphys still built Mettaton’s body in this one. The two had a really big disagreement, because Mettaton hated the fact the town was going to close, and he couldn’t understand how Alphys could feel otherwise, even more so endorse the idea.

Mettaton, Napstablook, Mad Dummy/Mew Mew:

- Napsta and Dummy are pretty self-explanatory, they got straw hats. Mettaton’s outfit is a bit of a joke cos it’s a play on “work at the top and party at the bottom”. The tie has two different sides, one with the yellow red pattern, the other completely red. His “top part” is the business part, because when he’s on tv or in the mayors’ office, you don’t usually see his feet. The bottom is his party/dance part, cos his dancing/entertainment channels mostly feature his legs. 

- Mettaton, still a robot, Napstablook and Mad Dummy are all still cousins in this AU.

- Originally, they all lived and worked at the Blook Farm, the Animal Farm of this AU. Mettaton, however, despised that simple live and after befriending Alphys and her building him a body, he left the Farm to pursue bigger things. 

- Mettaton runs the local tv network. From weather to game shows, he does it all. He also runs the tailor shop in town that sells his designer clothes and merchandise. After Asgore stepped down, Mettaton also took over the role of town’s mayor and now works towards making the place more known again. Not everybody is happy with him doing that though.

- One of those people is the Mad Dummy. He can’t stand people anyways and he always claims that history would just repeat itself.

- Since the whole family is made of ghosts, they have different dummies and scarecrows they can use to take care of the animals. To mock Mettaton and kinda get back at Alphys for giving MTT such an opportunity, Mad Dummy found the blueprints for the Mew Mew robot and now modelled one of their scarecrows after it. 

- Napstablook isn’t fond of taking over obejcts like his cousins do, so he mostly takes care of the snails. Somehow, he can interact with them even when incorporeal. 

Muffet&Grillby:

- The two of them run the Inn together. Muffet cooks in the daytime and makes desserts, Grillby manages the bar in the evening. 

- The two still can’t really stand each other but working together like this benefits them both because their rivalry just spurs them on more.

- Even though Grillby is a patient person, somehow Muffet is the only person who riles him up enough to retaliate. (Well, maybe except for Sans, he’s a strong second).

So, basically everything between those two is a challenge in some way. Even if Papyrus doesn’t notice, even his cooking lessons are a challenge for them. 

- Even though they’re constantly bickering, after working together for so many years, there’s a strange level of respect and trust between them. Even if back when they first started this business, they’d pour salt into an already open wound, nowadays they’d know better and just take a step back from the other or even comfort the other (on very rare occasions only). 

Asriel&Chara:

- They be dead. Kinda.

Some Characters that’d live in that town too but that I haven’t made designs for:

- Gerson is the original smithy of the town. He’d grown up in a family of smiths, but he’d always had an appreciation for the sea. That’s why, when the town became more deserted and Undyne had a good enough skill level as smith, he took up the Captains hat and now mostly spends his days out on sea. He also ferries people to places if they need him to. Oh, and just like in canon, Undyne learned most of her skills from him.

- Burgerpants is a poor dude Mettaton basically kidnapped when he was trying to get fame in the city. Now Burgerpants works wherever MTT needs him to, be that as cameraman for the tv shows, cashier in his tailor shop or his slave secretary in the mayor’s office.

- MK is Frisk’s best kid friend. MK’s parents are in charge of shipping the goods out of town and paying the individual people. MK’s the one that usually collects the goods at the end of the day.

- Other than that, there are only a few people in town. I’d imagine the older folks or the really young families stayed in town after it was closed. I think the librarby dude would still run the library. Some Snowdin residents like the stone family or the dogs also might still live there. 

[amygdalae]

Do you dig into the lore in Bloodborne or is it more of a gameplay/tone experience for you? If you do care about lore, have you read/listened to the Paleblood Hunt essay? It goes into a lot of lore detail (way more than I’ve ever seen compiled) and it comes up with some pretty interesting theories/conclusions

I like to maintain a solid grasp on the lore, i do like me that gameplay and tone tho. I think I read paleblood hunt awhile back so I dont remember it with a ton of clarity but I do recall it bein quite neat!

Personally my approach to soulsborne lore is more about the broad strokes and themes and stuff that's in item descriptions and whatnot, I enjoy hearing and making theories, but even the ones I like I don't always necessarily treat as canon cuz I do feel like sometimes a lot of lore theorists tend to read a liiil far into things or base speculation on kinda tenuous evidence that could easily have not been intended that way or planned that extensively. However lore theorizing is fun and cool and i do like it so like i don't view it as some Big Problem this is just something I think abt

It is one of the reasons I like the way creators like zullie the witch approach lore stuff; like, keeping in mind that it's still a videogame and being able to discern between what were deliberate design choices with serious lore implications and what were likely just choices the devs had to make to construct the game and slap it into a playable shape, if that makes sense.

(And while I don't treat cut content as canon or try to base lore on it I think considering what was and wasn't implemented in the final game can give a bit of insight into what broader ideas the creators did and didn't prioritize)

[chibigaia-art]

Idk how to find it again but the other day I saw a tweet saying that if you don't read the genshin lore, you miss a good part of the fun, and it kicked off a domino effect in my brain so. Long rant under the cut???

On one hand, yeah, it's true: the exploration part of genshin is something you can enjoy without necessarily having knowledge of the lore around each place, but it would definitely be more interesting if you knew what happened in specific spots etc etc. Reading notes, talking to npcs, I love that stuff! Knowing more about the world you're playing in, especially if it's a fantasy one, is super fun, and it's something I personally love doing (I'm one of the idiots that reads most of the items' descriptions in soulsborne games and I'm also the idiot that spent hours talking to every possible npc in FNV)

But.

The exposition in genshin is boring as hell and I honest to God can't get invested in it at all, despite trying multiple times. Genshin's story has some REALLY cool bits, but almost none of it gets shown and is instead told to the player via convoluted and lengthy conversations with npcs, which ykno would be fine if. The dialogue was bearable. You don't always have to "show, don't tell" but it feels like genshin goes for the "don't show, tell in excruciatingly long dialogues with paimon repeating lines other characters said/making the xth comment about food" (I am still convinced that the game would be way more bearable without paimon around, or if they had made her less... Like that,, the traveler feels very passive because paimon does most of the talking)

And the problem is, with the way genshin is, with the type of game genshin is, I can't really expect anything different - it has to feel like a full single player game while also being a gacha and requiring all the gacha-like features which inevitably influences the way the story is written (constant updates > a lot of events to write, pad them with a lot of additional lines so it's added 'gameplay', add some useless npc quest lines + constant new banners > a lot of characters that get thrown in the story and get a spotlight once every ten months if you're lucky, and sometimes don't even contribute to the main plot)

Anyway, thinking about all of this made me wonder if genshin would have been better as a full, single player game, since removing the gacha/new story updates every X months would have helped idk, reduce the cast, flesh out the main characters (traveler included) and you know, maybe!! Maybe it would have! Maybe the dialogues would have been shorter, and the writing easier to digest, but the combat system is also very subpar, which yeah, it's not surprising because it's a gacha game first, an action rpg second, so that would have to be improved as well

If you reached this point, ty for listening to my 2am brain soup!!! I just needed to write my thoughts down somewhere and I didn't want to annoy my friends

So yeah maybe you lose some fun not knowing what the genshin lore is going on about, but the writers definitely don't make the job easy

Tldr genshin needs a skip dialogue button

[lairofdragonagelore]

DA2: Xenon and his Black Emporium

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

Tales of a mysterious underground shop run by an immortal—perhaps undead—proprietor who peddles impossible and implausible goods  […] No reputable source has ever found it and none ever will, because it does not exist.

You will, of course, hear the standard justifications: it appears only to the worthy, it appears only to the invited, it is hidden by blood magic, it exists only in the Fade. Rubbish. There is no magic that can hide an entire shop full of trinkets from the eyes of a Seeker of Truth. And I am not just saying that because I searched for six months and didn't find it; shut up, Tristan.

—From a letter by Seeker Benedict to Divine Justinia V.

The codex of the Black Emporium implies that this shop is truly hidden by powerful magic if a Seeker of Truth [who, thanks to DAI and Asunder, we know they have strong unique sensory powers] couldn't find it. What it's a fact is that Hawke and the Inquisitor found it and visited it, the place exists. Now, the description of the codex makes me _speculate_ that it could be hidden in a pocket of the Fade, a small plane like the Crossroads: if blood magic were involved, a Seeker could find it. DAI and books like Asunder showed us how strong a Seeker's powers are. However, they have not senses to identify places in the in-between the waking world and the Fade. In fact, we know by the book The Masked Empire that these places are very anti-human [non-friendly towards humans, I would say]. So this kind of space could pass invisible to a very powerful Seeker. In any case, that's total speculation on my part. It’s fun to play with the idea, though.

Among the emporium’s objects that are interesting, we find many re-used items with no meaning, or if they have it, it escapes me completely.

One of those is this masked bird.

It's a strange creature: a bird-like humanoid with human hands and arms, holding a mask, so we can’t see its face. Its legs are of a bird [bent backwards], with feathers or scales [the resolution of the game is not great for these details], and it has shackles on its ankles. It also has talons and wings.

The only hint we have of any potential meaning is given when we find it inside Hawke’s mansion: we know that the statue unsettles Fenris since he claims it’s similar to relics of the old gods in Tevinter. So it’s Tevinter-made? or Elven-made and co-opted by Tevinter? who knows.

On a less interesting note, there are some iron maidens used several times in many scenarios along DA2. They have a circle on their chest with something that resembles the shape of a star. Nothing more to highlight.

Continuing the less interesting objects: there are a lot of extra items in the emporium such as the dwarven sarcophagus we found in other quests, a lot of general stuff which is more related to fill and decorate the backgrounds than to have any lore significance, and many other objects spread along the Emporium with strange funny codex that can be found in the wiki and I don't think they require attention.

Now, what truly caught my attention in this place were 3 things:

A piece of red lyrium on the desk, as a component for potions, like it's a totally normal component. After analysing DA2, and specially in the posts of the Gallows or the one about Red Lyrium, I have the suspicion that Red Lyrium m ay have been used by Tevinter when Kirkwall was still called Emerius, which would explain why Xenon has pieces of this element even when we visit him before the expedition to the Deep Roads [or maybe it’s just a dev’s overlook. It can happen].  

However, the detail is very well-thought: because it's red lyrium, and may have some effect on the Fade around it, we see the desk surrounded by Felandaris, an herb that only grows where the Fade is thin.

The most shocking part of this DLC, lore-wise, is that Xenon has an eluvian infected with red lyrium, being the Mirror of Transformation. Yes, it’s close to the concept that, if the Fade alterations have effects in reality, and an eluvian allows you to have access to the Fade, maybe a mirror in this twisted/corrupted condition can alter its reflection in the Fade and see the consequences in the waking world. Something along those lines. As it couldn’t get worse, in the background, on a shelf, we see two of those cursed statues [see post of Strange Idol].

There is also a golem that, according to the emporium codex, is the defence that Xenon has when someone wants to steal something. I don’t think there is much to say about it.

Now we move on to the most interesting thing in this place: Xenon himself, the owner of the Black Emporium.

Seeing his design is fabulous. There is no way to understand what happened to him: he is a mess of limbs.

DA2 Xenon has the following characteristics: I can count 11 arms and 5 legs. Below the book there is another face, screaming, covering its eye sockets with two additional hands. It looks like small humanoid bodies were stuck or absorbed by Xenon’s core. Part of the 3 arms that reach the back of the chair are fused with the chair as well.

If we see the detail, his limbs are fused with the chair suggesting petrifaction?

 What is curious to me was that extra head below the red book. It looks like that, in order to keep his youth, Xenon may have used magic to fuse his body with other living creatures, adding more and more limbs to his body with each procedure. Once more, this idea resembles part of the narration of The Horror of Hormak, which features monstrosities with many limbs as a consequence of fusing living creatures. As a speculation, I think there is a remote possibility that Xenon has been close to this kind of elvhenan magic, in his many experiments to seek a solution to his state.

Just to discard an excess of hypothesis and wild speculation, for a moment I thought that the screaming face under the book could be similar to the cursed strange idol, or to the red lyrium idol. I placed these objects in the same picture to compare easily… and we can see there is no relationship at all. However, it’s disturbing that the small head comes from his heart, which is from where the red idol was retaken from Meredith’s remains [Tevinter Nights]. Maybe it’s not the exact same thing, but a similar procedure or the imitation of it. 

DAI Screenshots belong to  https://twitter.com/Legimel

I did not replay DAI yet, but I picked some screenshots to compare and remove some doubts I was having in terms of design. DAI Xenon is not different to DA2 Xenon, the effect of his body getting fused with the chair is more notorious, as all the details are, including the small screaming head below the book. So, Xenon is consistent through both games, at a simple glance. I’ll do a detailed post of him once I replay DAI.

I checked the art books to see if I could find something interesting too. What I found is that Xenon’s tarot card has not much to offer with the exception of a small detail: the hands that cover the small screaming head below the book seem to be tied, giving the impression that, maybe, those bodies attached to Xenon were unwillingly people [fusing with him in an attempt to keep his youth?].

In the book Art of Inquisition, we see the same detail again: those hands are tied with a rope.

When it comes to the information in these books, there is nothing interesting. Everything is narrated in a very vague way. 

The codex about him offer little important information: all of them are written by unreliable narrators that know nothing about the true past of Xenon.  [Codex in DA2, and in DAI]

Like in the book of World of Thedas, there are some lines, written in a very vague way, that suggest [if this can even be considered true] that the Antivan Witch of the Wild granted him eternal life without youth. This would mean that Yavanna and her dragons [which blood is the blood of the world] may have been related to all this, but seems very unlikely. Could she be that powerful? Probably Xenon will remain a mystery forever.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

[aussiegunsmoke]

(All art is drawn by me)

Name: Jack Mundy

Sexuality: Bisexual

Age: 43

Dom/Sub?: Depends on the person

Height: 6'2

Weight: 185

Class: Sniper

Team: BLU

Years of Service: 15

Hair color: Deep brown

Skin color: Tanned

Eye color: Blue

Nationality: Australian

Personality: Jack is quite the personality on first meeting. Considered a quiet one, he’s normally hanging back behind the crowd, observing, watching. The sniper prefers to keep to himself for the most part, as sharing personal things isn’t really within his job description. To new people, he’s quite standoffish and gruff. Trust isn’t exactly within his repertoire, the attribute being quite hard to obtain from him. When he’s in a good mood, Jack rather enjoys playing tricks or causing a little bit of chaos. It can be quite boring on his own, and his teammates can just be SO entertaining. Of course, nothing harmful, but he gets a real kick out of being a slight inconvenience. On the battlefield, his personality is MUCH less relaxed. Cold, quick, and calculated, he strikes with master precision and with little to no care about his opponent. Work is for work, so that’s where his mindset is going to go. 

Most of the time, he’s rather easy-going. With those he feels comfortable around, he can be incredibly playful and flirty. After all, it is more useful to make friends and allies rather than enemies. However, come to his turf uninvited, and he can be quite grumpy. Of course, the sniper doesn’t mind visitors, but he’d rather be the one welcoming you instead. Another thing he is; stubborn. This man doesn’t know when to quit, and he’s not trying to find out when that is either. Jack puts his foot down very readily, and hardly ever backs down from a decent challenge. It’s fun to go toe-to-toe with people and see what he can handle. 

As an enemy, he’s unrelenting and brutal. Jack won’t be afraid to tell you what he thinks about you, or come at you with a blade or bullet. He’s not really picky. He can also be incredibly condescending, shooting down those who dared to cross his path the wrong way. Jack may seem harmless, but this man can pack a real punch.

Simple personality: Private, sly, mischievous, easy-going, laid-back, calm, skeptical, snippy, stingy, hostile, loner, calculated, sharp-witted, seasoned, determined, stubborn, flirty, playful, resourceful

Likes: Music, alcohol, spending time with friends, cuddling, practicing his shot, wood-carving, playing the guitar, sleeping in, relaxing, playing a good prank, stealing items from people and hiding them someplace for his own amusement, birds, animals, 

Dislikes: Boredom, control-freaks, taking orders, being talked down to, don’t touch his stuff, losing, early mornings, hats (On himself. They create a weird tan-line.), cold metal objects, medics (Lore reasons)

Talents: Sniping, wood-carving, playing the guitar, singing (secret), tying and untying knots, giving massages, making moonshine, caring for animals, hunting, scavenging, plant knowledge

Notes: Only wears glasses when actively sniping

[katyspersonal]

Omg, I’m so glad to hear this! I totally thought you were maybe tired of writing those long posts, and I mean granted, I wouldn’t blame you. That’s A LOT of writing, but man, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy devouring every word of it. Your thoughts are incredibly insightful (hehe, get it?). No one else I’ve seen really delves into the Japanese text and all the visual details quite the same way. I really do hope you feel encouraged to keep sharing but with no pressure simultaneously if you are looking to keep your main blog mostly for art stuff! It’s all up to you of course, but yes, please know that you have a very dedicated fan hiding in the shadows that loves scouring through your notes like a Byrgenwerth scholar studying the cosmos lol!

...Ahaha allllllright I really need to find the weird guy that started to apparently pay people to send me compliments fshjghds Because recently I am having abundance of them and that never happens :^) /j

Thank you very much though; This means a lot! I will admit, I shared majority of my core theories, the rest are just some details I share at my own pace or when prompted <:3 Bloodborne solidified my belief that videogames ARE the best form of art for me. With BB, to understand more you need to analyse EVERY medium - more lore lurks in the songs lyrics, in songs leitmotifs, in colors, in subtle design similarities between clothes, in environment, in face datas, in cut content that is STILL useful, in internal filenames, in item descriptions, in item placements... And, ah, yeah, dialogue is there too I guess! xD

I have strong love for complicated, multi-sided things like this. If BB music was just pretty music with no lore significance - that would not be the same. Just check out how first stage of Rom's theme sounds like broken version of first stage of OoK's theme! If clothes designs were just cool drips with no lore significance - that would not be the same. Look at how interesting it is that default Hunter and Henriett are wearing bootleg style of Old Hunters! It just means a lot for me when someone enjoys all these infinite DETAILS with me ;-; Bloodborne is a godsend for my habit to overthink!

But... Yeah, never count on localizations of foreign media, ESPECIALLY Japanese ones. For some reason western translations often seem to warp the original context to fit their values/agendas more - and then western fans pick that up and continue. Or sometimes they simplify lore for no reason? Just ask Kirby fans what they did with Four Matters in Star Allies! Gehrman being made into a creep that tells you that you can do... things with the Doll is just one of the most awful examples, and I totally believe it was intentional and not a misinterpretation! Because a sexist creep is "easier to understand", in opinion of localization team, for western audience than an actually cool character or something? It is CRUCIAL for me to know what creators were truly trying to say! For example:

This is what Miyazaki had to say about Fauxsefka, and it changed my perception of her a lot back then! I used to think she was just a crazy binch using people to drain Insight from them once they're Kin with the cosmos yeah... But angle of Miyazaki helped me to look from different perspective and I could suddenly see what he meant with her character? Her dialogue about 'willing to save even if just one person' no longer seemed like bullshit lying to win sympathy, but as genuine sentiment - she was helping people to evolve past the risk of falling into beasthood the only way she knew how!

And it is arguable, twisted 'heroism' but isn't it what makes it SO interesting? THE core fun of interacting with overseas media is how different some things can be! Original Japanese script is just the next fastest way to access what creators TRULY wanted to say, after reading direct interviews of course x) So yeah that's why I always rely on direct excerpts from Japanese for my theories!

[bat-connoisseur]

HCBBS Theories and Stuff

This (potential) plotline has been occupying a lot of my headspace lately, and I just wanted to put out some of my initial ideas and theories on it, as well as perhaps some potential connections the whole thing has. Most of these ideas were stormed out on random infodumps to anyone who would listen, and on the HcHc discord. 

I should say for the record, I expect many of these to age poorly as we learn more.

Mumbo-

Mumbo absolutely built it. He was the first to show it in video, it’s got his building style all over it, he tweeted about it, he even put a hashtag in his description. This is absolutely a Mumbo Jumbo concoction, which is both exciting and worrying, for the same reason: Mumbo doesn’t really do plot stuff. Or at least he doesn’t start it. This means there’s a higher possibility it’s just an elaborate marketing stunt (more on that later), or going to wind up in some anticlimax. But conversely, it could mean we get something new and exciting in the way of plot, and the complete lack of knowledge we have is half of what makes this exiting, since it’s totally out of the left field. Not to mention Mumbo is a filmmaker, the guy knows how to do plot.

Cub-

It’s pretty probable that Cub is involved, although the extent of his involvement isn’t really clear. I don’t think he built it, but since it borders pretty heavily on his Origin shop, he at least knew Mumbo was going to be building it there, and gave permission for it to be there. That could be the extent of his involvement, but it’s very hard to tell with Cub, he handles lore very nonchalantly. Things that point to him having more involvement are the intro of his latest episode deviating from the norm and him claiming he was told about The Object being there by other hermits, but the Hermits who found it after him were seemingly clueless about the whole deal. He also makes a point of calling it a countdown clock like Mumbo does, rather than comparing it to the button like Grian and Keralis have done.

If Cub is involved, then that has some pretty fun repercussions. Even aside from a potential Concorp return (which would also mean Scar is involved, so we’ll just have to wait for him to see it) or vex stuff, he is good at doing fun plot stuff, and a weird mysterious alien fae thing is right up his alley.

Pacific-

It’s possible this whole thing is an elaborate marketing campaign for Pacific. Which would be one hell of a shame! However, I don’t think it is. When I said I expect this to age poorly, this is what I meant-

The colour scheme isn’t the same. It’s more akin to that of the button, and seems to be a fairly generic futuristic/sci-fi build pallet. The warped wart blocks in item frames are often citied, but they aren’t really part of the build’s pallet, just an ominously named extra on the floor. They look weird and otherworldly, perfect for a weird, mysterious, otherworldly mystery. There’s no stripped warped stems either, and those are a big part of the pacific pallet. As well as this, the gradient they use in the logo isn’t present either, even though it could be used in actual countdown clock.

Mumbo is acting clueless. Usually marketing strategies are fairly transparent on the server, or at the very least make sense from the perspective of the person who owns the business, however this is different. Even Mumbo doesn’t know what’s going on. Seems like a weird marketing strategy to me. He makes a point of saying he didn’t put it there and doesn’t know why or how it got there. As well as this, he put his own name in it. If it were a way to bring people in, why’d he put his own name into his advertisement, whilst acting like he doesn’t know what it is, and making it about as cryptic as possible? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

Iskall isn’t around. He’s working on an episode, but he’s also busy working on Vault Hunters and hasn’t quite been as active in Pacific and on Hermitcraft lately. Seems a weird time to run an advertising campaign when your business partner is busy, partially absent, and potentially not even aware of it.

The timer is progressing too fast for it to be counting down to the opening of pacific. There is still a lot to do. They have no floors, no stock, one module of the banking system done, a quarter of an elevator, and the island still isn’t terraformed. That’s a lot to do and honestly unachievable with the rate at which the countdown is progressing. (It’s already lost two lights, and I’d think it’s safe to say that the time between Mumbo and Grian being there was probably a day at most)

That’s all for now, although I’ll probably add more stuff as  I think of it and as the whole thing develops. This is a long rambly post and not at all like what I usually do, so apologies. This whole thing has just got me VERY excited. As of right now, I have no idea where it’s going. It could really be anything.

[jeawrites]

Tubbo is the young god of nature and animals. The forest is his domain and he is young and thriving in this new world when he meets someone he'd like to call a friend. god!Tubbo in a dream smp au where literally everything he has done has been for tommy. Soft found family content is what I LIVE for and I would die if you included Tubbo keeping his godly status a secret only to reveal it in some dramatic fight when tommy was abt to die

(This request made me go :D and I just wanted u to know that)

Warnings: Cussing, Violence, descriptions of injury, reference to Tubbo's execution, character death

Vaguely based off the smp lore, kind of an alternate to the overthrowing of Schlatt.

"I didn't help you just so you could replace one tyrant with another!"

Tubbo stood frozen with shock, the man before him shouting things that he couldn't understand. He was on their side. He was on their side! And, now they all ran a chance of a painful death.

He glanced around the world. The grass was soft beneath his feet and freshly made. The world was generated not too long ago and he was blessed to be the protector of its nature. The forest protected him as he came to terms with who he was now from who he was in another world. From where he last left an impact.

The wind brushed his cheek and he was startled from his bliss by the sound of footsteps echoing through the woods. With a sharp inhale he ducked around a tree, hiding with unease. Mortals weren't an uncommon sight, really he enjoyed befriending them, but it was so soon. People were already spawning in? He was sure he'd have more time.

A boy emerged from the trees, grumbling to himself as he gripped an Axe tightly. "Stupid people taking my stuff," he huffed, glancing around before letting the tool disappear. "Join the world! It'll be fun!" he mocked and rolled his eyes, rubbing his face afterwards.

Tubbo watched, his eyes studying the other. He heard a squeak from the bushes and made up his mind. With a bit of forced confidence he stepped out from behind the tree, a nervous smile filling his face. "Hello."

Tommy jumped, his head snapping towards Tubbo in surprise. "Shit! Who are you?" he asked, voice pitched and startled. "Christ you scared me," he added, gripping at his chest.

"I'm sorry! Sorry," Tubbo said, putting his hands up to show peace. "I didn't mean to scare you! I'm- my names Tubbo! I sorry, I just saw you here and I'm new and-"

"Jesus man, calm down," Tommy huffed. "No need to apologize, I was just caught by surprise s'all." He straightened up and nodded. "I'm Tommy. Its nice to meet you, Tubbo." He held his hand in front of him and a pair of boots appeared. "Here, your feet must hurt a bit."

Tubbo stared at the item in confusion but took it with an added insistence of Tommy shoving his hand forward a bit more. "Oh, um... Thank you," he said with a small smile. "You- that's really nice of you!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm a nice guy! Say, I don't suppose you've really been on all that long, yeah? Why don't we be friends," he suggested with a grin. "I'll help you get some stuff and you can help me stop people from taking my stuff," he chuckled.

And, Tubbo had never become attached this quickly. Despite being young he knew the consequences of relying on a person. But, he saw an underlying genuineness to Tommy's suggestion and despite being offered such simple kindness, Tubbo couldn't help but agree. "That sounds great!"

Tommy being his first friend on the world made Tubbo find a reason to connect everything he did back to him.

Maybe that's why he found himself gasping as Techno pointed the crossbow at him. Respawning took a lot out of him and he'd never make it back if he were to fall now. He'd never make it back. Tommy would be in danger and he wouldn't be able to help.

His fingers tightened at his side, his suit crumpled at the edges and covered in dirt. The world screamed at him to move, the grass pleaded for him to run but he couldn't. He needed to protect him.

Tubbo hummed softly, his fingers tracing over the leaves of some nearby bushes. Its been a while sense he had came to this world but the nature was just as beautiful as ever. Even with the growing populations and buildings beginning to stretch out, the forest still preserved a beauty around it that made him happy.

He heard a whisper in his ear with the wind and he mumbled a thank you to the trees around him as he stood up straight, patting out his shirt with a small smile before turning to spot someone coming from between the break in the woods.

"Tubbo! My friend, how are you?" Tommy beamed as he approached, arms opening wide to emphasise his excitement.

Tubbo laughed softly and shrugged a bit. "Good as I can be!" he grinned and stepped forward. "Its been... Nice these last few days," he noted, looked around.

"Its been a nice break," Tommy responded easily, patting his shoulder before gesturing back with his head. "Of course, we do need to do some planning in case something is to happen. Wilbur's going nuts," he joked.

Tubbo glanced towards the opening in the cave where Philza stood. He heard plenty about his adventures and his life in other worlds. The man was a living legend and the one dead before him was Wilbur. The one who Tommy had been looking up to.

He gazed back to Techno who was ready to fire until Tommy ran forward.

"No! Techno stop!" he shouted, punching the man. Techno stumbled, rubbing his cheek before he turned his aim to Tommy.

Tubbo's eyes widened.

He awoke with a gasp, clutching his face immediately. There was an ache where his fingers brushed, and he could feel the scarring. His eyes closed and he breathed out. He was alive.

He glanced over, pausing as he saw wide eyes staring at him. "... Tommy?"

The blonde shot from his seat, pulling Tubbo close. "You're okay!" he exclaimed, shoulders shaking. "Y-you're okay..." his voice shook. "I can't believe he shot you."

"I won't let you hurt Tubbo again!" Tommy shouted, shielding himself as Techno brought his sword down upon him.

"You don't understand, Tommy," Techno hissed, swinging his leg and knocking the boy down. He pointed his cross bow at him again, finger on the trigger. "This isn't a choice."

Tubbo felt his anger grow. "Stop it!" he shouted, vines extending from the ground and angrily enveloping Techno, restraining the man. Techno held his hand out, squeezing. The vines wrapped tightly around Techno, the man disappearing quickly.

He had killed him.

The battle field fell silent. Tubbo let the vines fall and he swayed a bit. He hadn't used his powers in so long, it felt as though his energy had completely depleted. Before he fell, he heard the distant sound of a shout from Tommy.

--

He woke a few days later, though he mostly stayed asleep that long out of worry. He couldn't bare to face his friend after pulling a stunt like that- he was afraid to be hated.

His eyes opened and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. This all felt oddly familiar... He turned his head and met a pair of eyes. They were calm and tired.

"Tommy," he greeted softly.

"I can't believe you," Tommy huffed as he stood, walking over and hugging Tubbo tightly. "Don't worry me like that, dick! I thought you died- that was scary," he huffed.

Tubbo teared up and gripped Tommy tightly. "You're not mad?"

Tommy pulled back. "Mad?" he rolled his eyes. "You mean over you killing Techno? Of course not! He had it coming."

"I- I mean over how I killed him."

"Oh," Tommy mumbled. Then, he shrugged. "Tubbo, that was the coolest fuckin thing I'd seen. If I was angry about anything it was your potential death! Besides, getting pissed at you would be pointless. You're my only family left," he smiled.

Family.

Tubbo felt a sob leave him at the word and he pulled Tommy into another hug.

They were family.

[itsclydebitches]

I've never played WOW, but my friends into it. I might as well try. Any advice for someone who's never touched a MMO?

Oh, fun question! It’s actually hard for me to think of things I’d have wanted to know when starting out because I started playing MMOs around age... 9? So in some respects I grew up alongside the genre, rather than trying to learn it after the fact, but some things I’d highlight about WoW now is:

Don’t worry about your race/class. There is SO MUCH about the “right” and “wrong” way to create a character, but at the end of the day you should choose whatever interests and appeals to you most. The caveat to that is that picking a tank or a healer class will put a bit more responsibility on your shoulders  — whether you like it or not at times  — so just be aware of that. Some people like taking on a specific role, others (me) do not. There are also classes that are better suited to soloing as much of the game as possible, if that’s something you’re interested in. 

Regardless, you will have to play with others eventually. If your friends are already into WoW it sounds like you have a good community/potential guild to turn to, but I’d recommend waiting until you feel confident in playing your character before entering groups with strangers. Frankly, the WoW community can be pretty damn toxic. I’m no expert, but I’ve played it long enough to feel confident in my abilities and I’m still cursed out by pissed off dungeon groups if we wipe. Raids will expect you to have learned the fights via youtube prior to coming in and when many inevitably haven’t (because it’s a game and homework shouldn’t be required lol) they’ll start yelling too. PvP is just a mess of accusations and slurs, depending on how badly it’s going... so yeah. I don’t want to make it sound like WoW is made up of nothing but assholes, but there are enough to make an impression. It’s something to avoid if you’re not feeling up to it, but given how much of the later content requires working with others, wait until you’re geared, have a good handle on your class, and are in a good head space before diving in. Or stick to playing with friends. 

Speaking of friends, if you do want to play with them I’d recommend picking their faction (Horde or Alliance). That will allow you to visit each other in major cities, help with the same quests, queue up for activities together, etc. Though the story has moved away from the Horde vs. Alliance rivalry recently, the gameplay still very much divides them. 

Check out everything you can (without getting too overwhelmed!) WoW has a LOT going on and while very little is required, much of it is beneficial while also being easy to miss, just by virtue of there being so much to do. Pick up any quests you find, explore as much of the world as you can, talk to NPCs, save the loot you get, etc. You can always get rid of something  — drop a quest, destroy/sell an item  — but it’s a bummer if you just go and sell everything only to realize you actually needed all that stuff for something else. So go slow and check out your options before making decisions. 

To help with that, I recommend WoWhead and Icy Veins for info, or just good old-fashioned plugging the thing into google with “wow” next to it. How often do I look stuff up? Constantly. MMOs don’t have cheating culture the way a single-player game might (I mean, there’s absolutely cheating, just not in the same way), so don’t be afraid to just google anything and everything you want. The comment sections of a page are your best friend. Whereas the official description may give you an overwhelming amount of information you don’t actually need, player comments tend to focus on what others really want to know: here’s where to find this NPC, yes this quest is bugged, make sure you do X before Y, etc. WoW has become a lot more accessible over the years in terms of helping players figure things out, but it’s still confusing at times, so make use of any resource you please. 

Another “cheat” is to use addons. I’d recommend grabbing WoWMatrix which will allow you to (safely) download addons without any of the hassle of putting it in the correct folders. I’d recommend Bagnon (makes all your bags open as a single window so you can see all your loot at once), Bartender (allows you to customize your action bar), Coordinates (puts a tiny, movable coordinates button on your screen which is basically necessary at this point to find things. Players will almost always provide coordinates when giving locations), HandyNotes (provides lots of info on your map, like how you go about summoning a rare mob), Pawn (helps you compare gear to see what’s best for your class/specialization), and if you do any PvP, Healers Have to Die, or HHTD, which marks all healers with a cross so they’re easy to spot in battle (always kill healers first! :D). WoWMatrix is SUPER easy to use  — just search for the addons you want via the application, download them, delete if you don’t like ‘em, and open it once in a while to “Update All” — and the various addons you can use are an absolute godsend. They make playing the base game that much better. 

If you’re someone invested in the story side of games, lore is going to be very weird here, just because WoW is 16 years old and you’ll be entering into the 8th expansion. I’ve played WoW since it came out and I don’t know wtf is going on a lot of the time lol. So just roll with it, or if you’re interested, make use of wikis, the novels, etc. But it’s not the sort of game where you’re in trouble if you have no idea who this person is or what battle they’re talking about. Just accept whatever they want you to do and pick up the story wherever you came in. 

You’re going to die a lot. A lot, a lot. That’s fine, everyone does. Again, not the sort of game where that’s a problem. Just know that you can either return to your corpse (flying there as a ghost) or rez at the graveyard you appear in if you’re willing to deal with a bad debuff for like 10 minutes. Also, all armor has durability that goes down over time, but it goes down faster the more you die, so you’ll want to repair (finding an NPC with the anvil icon) soon afterwards. 

There’s lots of little things to learn like that: a brown bag icon means you can sell to this person, blue exclamation marks are quests that will reappear daily, items with a gray name (as opposed to white, green, blue, or purple) are pretty much just junk and you can always sell them... there’s a lot. Pick things up as you go, keeping in mind that you’ll be given SO MUCH INFORMATION and no, you’re not going to learn it all at once. Part of the fun is figuring stuff out and seeing yourself improve. Feel free to ask questions too (there’s a chat box and you can speak to an entire zone at once), though frankly it’s a 50/50 chance whether someone will give an actual answer, or just roast you lol 

If you ever want to play “seriously,” I’d kinda recommend learning WoW with keybinding early on  — AKA, creating button shortcuts for various spells/skills so your mouse is only used for camera movement and targeting, rather than wasting time looking for the action you want to click on. I say “kinda” because I don’t do that. At this point my click method is too ingrained in my muscle memory for anything else, but I recognize that I’m in the minority for saying that’s an “okay” way to play. 

Anything is okay though. Do whatever. I mean, the above aside, literally my best advice is to just throw yourself headfirst into the game, accept that you’re going to mess so much up, shrug, and have fun with it. I spent an hour of my life running a Tourghast floor today... and then wasn’t able to beat the final boss. So I “wasted” that time since I didn’t get the loot, but who cares? It was fun! Literally do whatever and don’t let any of the assholes get to you. Someone sends a message you don’t like? Block them (right click their name in the chat box to get the option). Group is making you uncomfortable? Leave. Don’t know how to do something? Google it! The best thing about an MMO is also the most overwhelming: it’s a whole world with (almost) endless options, so though that freedom is exciting, it also means you have to curate your own experience. It’s a bit like being here on tumblr. Figure out all the nuances at you own pace, lurk as long as you’d like, and if someone is being annoying, google how to keep them out of your inbox. 

Idk how helpful any of these tips are, but I hope you enjoy it!! 😊

[irandrura]

The Elder Scrolls - a disclaimer and rant

I am going to make some posts about The Elder Scrolls, and in particular, its background, setting, and characters. That means that a disclaimer is probably necessary.

Here’s the tl;dr version: yes, I know about the lore. Please trust me when I say that I was really super into it about a decade and a half ago, and I’ve kept an eye on it since. I have read the Michael Kirkbride forum posts. I have read C0DA, The Seven Fights of the Aldudagga, Sermon Zero, the Loveletter from the Fifth Era, and so on. I know the forum roleplays like The Trial of Vivec. I know that Ayrenn is really a time-travelling mining robot from outer space. I think all the stuff I just referenced varies widely in quality, opinions quite reasonably differ on it, and it’s frequently at odds with what’s actually depicted in the games, but at any rate, I promise that I know it.

So when I go on and talk about Psijics – I know, all right? I know. I am choosing to engage with the setting on a level that focuses more on characters, human stories, and, well, the narratives of the games. The TES apocrypha is interesting, but of limited relevance to the things I’m interested in. There are many valid ways to enjoy TES. Okay?

Now, the longer part:

If you haven’t played TES, and… actually, scratch that, for like 90% of people who’ve played TES, none of the above needed to be said. The thing is, when you play a TES game, it is a fairly straightforward elves-and-wizards-and-dragons fantasy setting in the D&D mould. Indeed, the earliest versions of it, back in the 90s, were based on a D&D campaign. So there’s relatively little surprising about it, and “it’s like D&D” will carry you most of the way towards understanding it.

However, TES games are also renowned for containing lots of in-game books you can read, which are often some of the most striking and evocative parts of the games. These are supplemented by a large library of apocrypha: often unofficial material, posted by developers (and ex-developers) on the internet. The most infamous of these writers is Michael Kirkbride, who has some… very unusual tastes and interests, but there are a range of other names as well. In any case, the result is that TES has an ‘expanded universe’ composed of these non-canonical writings. Often canonical texts in-game hint at some of this vast, unofficial hinterland, and sometimes ideas invented in the apocrypha sneak back into the games themselves.

Further, the apocrypha often hints at what seems to be a very different setting to the one directly experienced in the games: one that’s less about warriors and wizards and adventure and more one about divine magic, transcendence, myth, and meaning. The descriptions often seem to be somewhat at odds. This can best be demonstrated with some examples.

For instance, here is Michael Kirkbride’s description of a High Elf warship, written before any game had depicted the High Elf homeland:

Made of crystal and solidified sunlight, with wings though they do not fly, and prows that elongate into swirling Sun-Birds, and gem-encrusted mini-trebuchets fit for sailing which fire pure aetheric fire, and banners, banners, banners, listing their ancestors all the way back to the Dawn.

This is Old Mary at Water.

 You will immediately notice two things. The first is that this sounds really cool. Some of it you need some context to parse (the old elven homeland is called ‘Aldmeris’, hence ‘Old Mary’ as a mocking nickname given by its foes; the High Elves believe that they are literally, genealogically descended from the spirits that created the world at the Dawn), but even so, man, that warship sounds awesome. This Kirkbride guy can write. The second thing, though, is that it is extremely unclear what any of this even means. Given that descriptions… what does this ship look like? Try to picture it! What the heck does ‘crystal and solidified sunlight’ look like? How exactly does a trebuchet throw fire? What?

You might then go on to play a video game where the High Elves are taking part in a war to conquer the continent. If you’re like me, you’re probably keen to see one of these fabled warships. But then it turns out that in-game, High Elf ships look… like this. Or like this.

(Indeed, the High Elves are often a good example of this. An earlier written text, in a pamphlet enclosed with the video game Redguard, described the elven capital of Alinor as “made from glass or insect wings” or “a hypnotic swirl of ramparts and impossibly high towers, designed to catch the light of the sun and break it into its component colours”. Needless to say, should you visit it in a game, it does not look like that.)

After a while, you start to notice that there is very little connection between the world implied by the apocrypha and the world experienced in the games. Kirkbride says that the “closest mythical model” for the ancient knight Pelinal “would be Gilgamesh, with a dash of T-800 thrown in, and a full-serving of brain-fracture slaughterhouse antinomial Kill(3) functions stuck in his hand or head”, and says “Pelinal was and is an insane collective swarmfoam war-fractal from the future”. Indeed in Kirkbride’s descriptions Pelinal seems to have been an ultraviolent schizophrenic who led a wild, genocidal band of anti-elven warriors, was very definitely gay, and who had only a red, gaping hole where his heart ought to be (which in turn is a reference to the missing heart of the creator-trickster deity Lorkhan, whom Pelinal was in part a mortal incarnation of). You might find that really cool or you might find it banal, but there’s no denying that it’s extremely different to the Pelinal whose ghost you can meet in-game. The apocryphal Pelinal is a mad butcher whose closest mythic model, contra Kirkbride, actually seems to be Achilles; the game Pelinal is a straightforwardly sympathetic chivalric knight. This is complicated somewhat by the in-game books being written by Kirkbride and therefore being gonzo bananas insane, so the ‘canon’, such as it is, is unclear – but at any rate it is impossible to deny that there’s an incongruity.

I could go on with examples for a long time. I haven’t even mentioned the most famous – the 1st edition PGE description of Cyrodiil compared to what it actually looks like in Oblivion – or more recent ones, like the gulf between Alduin the mythic dragon who will consume the world and indeed time itself in its terrible jaws and the frankly quite underwhelming beastie you fight in Skyrim. The point I’m making is that there are effectively two TES settings: one relatively down-to-earth, immersive, and depicted in great detail in the video games, and one that’s this absurd mash-up of magic and science fiction and whatever psychedelics Michael Kirkbride has been taking this week.

I write this long disclaimer because it has been my experience discussing TES in the past that people who are mostly interested in the former – in the relatively grounded setting experience in the games – sometimes run into an elitist attitude from people who are interested in the latter. Sometimes fans of the apocrypha can come on much too strong, or gatekeep the idea of being a fan of ‘TES lore’. Any sentence that starts with “actually, in the lore…” is practically guaranteed to go on to be awful.

My point is not that the apocryphal TES is bad. As I hinted above, in my opinion its quality varies extremely widely: there are things that Kirkbride has written that I think are pretty cool (I unironically love the Aldudagga) and there are things he’s written that I think are indulgent tripe (C0DA stands out). Ultimately it’s all about what you enjoy, and I would never try to tell anyone that they shouldn’t have fun reading or speculating about or debating the zaniness of some of these texts. Indeed, as far as online fandoms and video game fan fiction goes, TES probably has the most fruitful ‘expanded universe’ that I’ve ever seen, and I think that’s wonderful. Kirkbride himself has said that “it’s really all interactive fiction, and that should mean something to everyone” and “TES should be Open Source”, which is a position I wholeheartedly endorse – and does a lot to take the edges off some of the worse things he’s said.

Rather, my point is that everyone should enjoy what they feel most interested in, or most able to enjoy. Further, I argue that there is absolutely nothing wrong – and for that matter absolutely nothing less intelligent or less intellectual – about a person preferring to engage with the version of TES most clearly depicted in the video games. Part of this might be defensiveness on my part, because in my opinion what TES has always done best is a nuanced depiction of cultural conflict: this is particularly the case in Morrowind and Skyrim, and ESO’s better expansions tend to deal in this area as well. As such I take relatively little interest in the metaphysical content of much of the apocrypha. For me, Shor, say, is most interesting as the protagonist of several conflicting cultural narratives, rather than as a metaphysical essence.

I would also argue that the most recent game content has taken a good approach by going out of its way to legitimise a range of possible approaches to the setting. The latest chapter of ESO, Greymoor, includes a system where the player can dig up ancient artifacts, and a number of NPC scholars will comment on them for you. This allows the game to indicate in-character scholarly disagreement over issues fans have previously debated. One item shows disagreement over whether the mythical character Morihaus was literally a bull, or a minotaur, or whether he was a human allegorically referred to as a bull. Another one points to disagreement over the possibility of magical spaceships: apocryphal materials have referred to ‘Sunbirds of Alinor’, ‘Reman Mananauts’, etc., as sorts of magical astronauts, but that seems so ridiculous given what we’ve seen in the games as to be easily discounted. I like items like this in-game because they seem to say to players, “It’s okay to disagree over questions like this – no one is doing TES wrong.”

That said, I am reasonably positive that I’m in the minority here, because I am in the camp that usually says that legends exaggerate, and so Morihaus probably wasn’t a bull and magical spaceships don’t exist. This is not a popular position. My reason, of course, is that I think tales are more likely to grow in the telling rather than shrink, and I have a dozen of what I think are hard-to-deny examples of this happening in TES (e.g. heroic narratives of the War of Betony are very different to the grubby reality you uncover in Daggerfall, or Tiber Septim is almost certainly from Alcaire rather than Atmora). However, this means that I openly take an opposite methodology to Michael Kirkbride. Kirkbride was once asked by a forum poster whether some in-game writings are exaggerated. His reply was: “I prefer, "It is very possible, as is the case throughout this magical world, that some of the exaggerated claims made about some subjects pale in comparison to the Monkey Truth. ZOMGWTFGIANTFEATHEREDFLUTYRANTS."”

Needless to say, I find this implausible, and it means that, for example, I interpret the Remanada as an obvious piece of propaganda, inventing a story about Alessia’s ghost in order to retroactively explain why Reman, probably born the son of a hill chieftain with zero connection to the previous dynasty, really has imperial blood. This is a very different but in my opinion more historically plausible take than Kirkbride’s, who has a naked thirteen year old Reman standing atop his harem and slaughtering recalcitrant followers.

I’m not saying that my approach is objectively correct. It’s all fiction – and as Kirkbride said, TES is open source. The only thing that matters is what you the reader, player, or interpreter find the most interesting. For me, that means generally favouring what is seen in the games over the developer apocrypha, which I can take or leave.

At any rate.

I’m going to go on and make some more fannish posts about stuff in ESO that I liked.

Just… if it’s relevant, be aware that I am familiar with the zany stuff. Some of it I like, a lot of it I don’t like, and I feel no obligation to use it if I don’t like it.

There. Disclaimer over.

[thewinterwaifu]

Hiya Maria! Thanks for responding to my last message. Can you give us your headcanons of Gwyndolin, specifically DarkSouls 1 but I'd also like your take of the character as they appear in later games as well (if it isn't too much of a bother). Ik you're into the souls series and everyone seems to have their own particularly unique take on this character, from gender to personality, and I'd really like to know yours :)

Hello!THIS TURNED OUT TO BE WAY LONGER THAN I EXPECTED I'M SORRY I REALLY LOVE GWYNDOLIN-

Gender: We all know dark souls doesn't hand us much lore and we have to make our own theories but we know this much:Gwyndolin was born a male but under the blessing of the moon, which is considered girly, so Gwyn forced him to be raised as a woman and wear a dress. I know some people headcanon Gwyndolin as MTF transgender but I personally don't. They never said Gwyndolin identified as a woman, more like was forced to dress as one. In my opinion, he is a cisgender man but continues to dress as a woman because he feels like he owes it to his father and it's his 'punishment' he ha to go through for 'failing' him. So, what's with the boobs on the character model. I'd say it's either a stuffed bra or an illusion spell (I mean, he can create a whole illusion of his sister, who says he can't change his appearance a bit?) Personality: Because of how he dissappointed his father, he is very scared of failure. Thus, he is a complete perfectionist. When Gwynevere left, this feeling only grew even more. Despite of how much he may doubt himself, he will never show it, wanting to keep up this facade of a god who isn't restrained by human feelings, especially those of self doubt or anxiety, thinking that if he shows 'weakness' all of the knights won't see him as a fit leader and merely a shadow of Gwyn who will never be as great as him. Behind the mask of confidence and leadership, he is an introvert and fairly quite shy. If one of his knights tried talking to him about something that wasn't about orders and asking about him or whatever, they'd see that there may be a long pause between his sentences, thinking of what to say. Despite how he fools everyone by making them think Gwynevere is still there and how he tries his hardest to convince the chosen undead to link the fire, despite the consequences this has on the natural order of things, I don't believe Gwyndolin is a bad person. He really does believe in what he stands up for and than an eternal age of fire is the 'correct' thing to do. He is more than capable of compassion, empathy and love. His eye color: I like to think his eyes are golden yellow!I may be biased because most of the fanart shows him this way but I think it really suits him! Not like anyone will see them anyway, because he refuses to be seen by anyone without it. Gwyn, Gwynevere and Yoshka were the only exceptions, since they were his family. Snake bodyparts: The good old question. Where do the human (god,but you get what I mean) parts end and the snakes begin? His legs aren't entirely made of snakes, he has human (or well,god) upper thighs and from there on, the snakes begin For a while I used to wonder if the snakes were like, an extension of Gwyndolin himself and he can fully control them like a bodypart or they actually have mind and personalities of their own. After a bit, I decided to settle on a bit of a middle ground. They do have mind of their own but Gwyndolin can 'mind control' them and bend their will to do his bidding if he so desires. For his whole life, had viewed them as tools more than anything, but when he was left alone in Anor Londo, he couldn't help but feel lonely and start to view them as friends. By nature, the snakes have a sort of bond with him and are willing to serve him Friendship: Gwyndolin really did love his sister Gwynevere a lot, and when she left Anor Londo, he was completely devastated and felt rather empty. Something was missing. Even if he did create an illusion of her to not notify anyone of her dissapearence with a spell, he knew it wasn't real, and it hurt to even look at her. After this, he didn't think he could ever feel affection ever again aside from his snakes and Yorshka. He put up walls in his heart, not wanting to be hurt again. But say...if a blade of the dark moon cared about him a lot and kept talking to him, his heart would melt and he would really start to see them as a friend rather than just a servant. He would be insanely loyal, grateful to have someone who accepts him the way he is. The guy has abandonment issues though, and would be kind of paranoid about them leaving. And if they died?Oh, he would not be able to take the guilt, knowing they died doing their duty as a blade of the darkmoon for him. Even so, he still wouldn't let them see him without his crown. Love: If it's hard for him to consider somebody a friend, just imagine how he must be when he comes to love. Just like with everything else, he is afraid of failure and being abandoned. He'd need to have a very strong friendship bond with anyone before he even starts to see them as something more. He isn't a 'love at first sight' kind of guy at all. It's a slow thing for him. He'll be friends with somebody with years and slowly realize that he is starting to see them in a different light recently...Surprisingly, he doesn't mind being the one to confess and will gather the courage to do so. He isn't a very cuddly partner though, especially at first, as he isn't used to touch and is scared the snakes gently wrapping around his partner's arms or legs while they cuddle will scare them off. He really can't help that. He constantly reminds them how much he loves them and how happy they make him, wanting them to know that despite him not being very touchy. "It's almost as if thou art my destiny...I shall love thee for as long as thou will have me..." Remember how he won't show his eyes even to friends?He may actually do so with his s/o after they have been dating for a while, to prove he really does trust them Also, he gets flustered extremely easily. Interests: He doesn't have that much free time but when he does have it, Gwyndolin likes to read and write poetry. A bit of an obvious one here but he also likes archery and practices not just to improve his skills but for fun as well. Along with spellcasting, it's one of the few things he likes about himself and can be proud of. After Dark souls 1 and before Dark souls 3: Once again, much is left to speculation so we have to go off item descriptions and npcs conversations to try and get stuff together We know Pontiff Sullyvahn poisoned Gwyndolin so he was weak and Aldritch could eat him, allowing Sullyvahn to take over the valley. But what was Gwyndolin doing before that?In my opinion, pretty much the same as in the first game, trying his best to convince people to choose the link the fire. Aside from that, I like he sent his most trusted knights to look for Gwynevere. Even after centuries, he just couldn't let go of his sister. Meanwhile, he did his very best to keep Yorshka happy and be a good brother to her. He didn't want to make the same mistake and watch her, a loved one, leave. Back to his death, I believe his last thoughts were, just like always, for his family. Gwyn would be so disappointed right now wouldn't he?That broke his heart. But...maybe, just maybe he would have changed his mind by now. Gwynevere...was she still even alive?And Yorshka...oh poor Yorshka. He could only hope she would be spared

[monstrous-m]

Hey I’m new to Flight Rising do you have any tips for me?

You bet!!! For general tips I’ve got: Incubate your nests as often as you can! Incubating them daily is best & you can sell any hatchlings you don’t want to keep for cheap on the auction house to steadily make a good bit of treasure or gems (I usually list mine for 5 gems or 5000 treasure each and make the bulk of my spending money this way)

Gather every day and do it in different places! Gathering turns reset every day, so you only get so many a day to use so be sure to use ‘em as often as you can! Each flight has alternate colors and variations of items and animals, and they all have really fun descriptions and flavor text that might give you some cool ideas for dragon themes or lore. You don’t have to feed your dragons every day! As tempting as it can be, early on you will run out of food FAST. You can buy food in bulk on the auction house, during fests and other active times you can get all kinds of good stuff at a decent price. Your flight should have some kind of food bank to help if you do run out, don’t be afraid to check your flight’s forum if you need help!

Baldwins Bubbling Brew is a very good way to get cool apparel! There are glowing claws, horns and some neat alchemist type stuff. It takes a while to level up but its well worth it in the end.

Make some friends! You don’t have to be active in the forums or anything, but flight rising has an incredibly large community of so many fantastic people who draw beautiful art, come up with expansive lore, write cool stories, and make fun memes. The community here on tumblr is wonderful and I highly recommend going through the tags #frfanart and following the official account to see some of the cool things people are doing. On the topic of lore, I would also read some stuff from the site’s encyclopedia! It has information on all of the currently released dragon breeds, world setting, timeline, and some short stories to flesh out that established world.

As for some incredibly specific tips that may or may not be based on personal experience: If selling things, be sure to check the auction house for specific prices! Things listed in treasure tend to sell for just a liiiittle more than things being sold for gems, I’m not exactly sure why but check both categories if you’re trying to get the most out of what you’re selling! Dont be afraid to just slap whatever apparel you like on your dragons. If you want to keep a dragon, be sure to give it a familiar! This, along with adding any apparel/skins to it will keep it from showing up in the sell tab when you list things on the auction house, and will help keep you from accidentally selling a dragon you wanted to keep. :c Every month there is an elemental festival, and there are so. many. cool skins. They’re all super cool and up until the last few months or so I had no idea how much I was missing, so be sure to check them out when the festivities roll around! They can be found in the treasure marketplace during fests.

And last but not least, some general courtesy things: Don’t send messages to people to ask if dragons that look very much at home in their lair are for sale! Generally people don’t really mind this but some have the bad luck of having a dragon lots of people REALLY want and have most likely gotten a dozen requests like that before. Context is important and if a dragon isn’t in a sales tab, it is most likely not for sale. Try not to send random friend requests, but DO send random frogs to people. People love frogs!!! I have made at least two friends doing this it is 95% guaranteed to make someone go :0! frog!