#Abyssal Venefelis

[1-nexomon-a-day]

1/31/25 - Venefelis

(Click for better quality)

[player-1]

Long Cat Stretching Her Way To Success

(Reference pic below)

[tulipsnflowers]

The reason the ship stops in the middle of the ocean is bc they're diving.

That's why they stopped. And then just went back. They went underwater. Because Abyssal Zone of the ocean or something (I KNOW it's too deep for humans bc pressure ok)

It's why Venefelis (originally) crawls out of the lake.

That's it I solved it everyone go home

[crystalelemental]

With the Abyssal portions defeated, time for the final thoughts on Nexomon Extinction.

The Abyssals are exactly what I wanted out of the Tyrants.

My biggest complaint story-wise for this game was that the Tyrants themselves really didn't matter much. There's a thousand-year war among the Tyrants going on, that pushed humanity so far that one Guild leader created a cult to revive Omnicron, and their successor created artificial dragons to hunt Tyrants, an artificial Tyrant to command them, and then another, bigger one when that plan failed. But despite how significant this war was...all of the Tyrants we meet are pretty inconsequential, and most are associated with a human who does most of the talking and planning to begin with. I understand that this game is the human errors side of thing after the last game's presentation of the threat of Nexomon, but it's still kinda rough to go through all these story segments with the Tyrants not producing anything substantial. You get to postgame where you can hunt them down, and they're all a pain in the ass to find, with nothing drawing me to them.

The Abyssals, though? This is what I wanted. A thousand years ago, the first Abyssal arrived. And their first act? Killing Hilda. Another is stated to have made an attempt on Eliza's life. These are a much more pressing, salient threat. Sure, Tyrants destroyed cities, but we've never seen them do anything. The Abyssals have personal connection.

Despite their power, the Abyssals are odd in that they never aimed to become Sovereign of Monsters, and they seem immune to Solus' influence as the current Queen. What's presented is a pretty interesting mystery that builds up more questions than it feels like it wants to answer. What's the deal with these weird engravings? Why are Abyssals so weird? Apparently each is born with a clear goal from its creator, but this creator is unknown to them, and their specific goals are incredibly simplistic, with no known overarching goal. They're super unusual.

By gameplay, the Precursor Island is really fun. It might be an odd comparison, but it reminds me of the bonus dungeon of Ib a bit. There's a central location, and your goal is running around everywhere to collect the things you need to progress, solving puzzles that sometime intertwine a bit. It's a really fun system, finding each of the Abyssals and solving their puzzles. The only annoying ones were the flying one (Inominox) and the electric one (Volcel). The rest was really fun. Even the weird maze puzzle was fairly clever, though the final solution was a little...obvious but still hard to figure out the hint.

I think what really sells me on the Abyssals...well, two things. The smaller one is design. The Abyssals are just really cool concepts. Venefelis shows up and is immediately incredible, being super imposing but kinda goofy, and stated outright that he shouldn't be strong enough to pull off the nonsense he has. Kroma is my absolute favorite, and she's set up as super imposing given her drive is killing Eliza, only for Venefelis to rant about how incompetent Kroma is for being the only one of them to fail in her mission. Then there's Screaming Fire Velociraptor, who is hilarious in concept. And Inominox, who is such a coward that it won't face anyone with more than one Nexomon, and that one Nexomon needs to be weak to Flying. Or the soup for Volcel. There's Caelesa, who ran across the world, and was attacked by the Guild for little reason other than paranoia, since she hurt no one in her efforts. There's Pluvian, whose entire goal was to show up, scream, and then get killed by the Guild for no clear reason. There's Rotrimus, who you try to order around, and initially agrees, but is intercepted by the force of their creator bending its will back to refusing your call. It's a really interesting and dynamic group, that apparently has no clear association. Many of them insist they worked alone. They had a creator, but they themselves don't even think of themselves as a unified group. Only Venefelis seems to confirm that they have association.

The other is that this group is delightfully aligned to the themes of the game. Nexomon Extinction has two general themes I can identify. The first is a bit more obvious and repeatedly stated: second chances. The children of Omnicron refer to their support as their redemption, the entire plot is Deena attempting to grant a second chance at saving the world, your resolution of the central conflict is trading the destruction of your direct enemy into granting them a second chance at life. There's an ongoing importance to the idea of getting a second shot at things...but a second shot isn't necessarily going to mean doing better. The former hero comments that your actions amount to the same thing she did, and despite the failures of the dragons, Amelie's second chance is doubling down on a decision that worked out poorly. This leads into the second theme, and the one I like a lot better: the limits of personal agency.

The former hero is a good lens for this one. Repeatedly throughout this game, their actions are referred to as if it was a huge mistake. They themselves talk about it as a mistake. Deena outright calls it stupid decision made by her moronic friends. Even Ulzar, who is more sympathetic to the situation, talks about it as if it were a mistake, if an understandable one. Absolutely everyone treats their actions as something that led to the present problem, and thus was the wrong decision.

But...we were there. Omnicron was going to completely destroy the world. You can argue that the destruction of his soul in the netherworld wasn't necessary, and that was the mistake. But it's well known that he'll come back time and again; it'd be pushing the problem out to the next generation. And Omnicron could follow through. When you fail to destroy him in the Netherworld, Omnicron devastates an area so badly that entire maps are wiped out of reality. This was done in hours. Omnicron tells you outright he could've annihilated the planet in a day, but he stopped solely to challenge his rival, the strongest human, as a matter of pride. This wasn't an idle threat. It was an active, immediate devastation looming on the horizon.

Faced with that, what choice did you really have? Yes, there was a technically a choice. But who could choose the alternative? When humanity is faced with its destruction through the war of the Tyrants, yes, you had a choice to make those dragons or not. But faced with the destruction of multiple cities and further looming threat, what choice did you have? When those failed, you had the choice to stop. But then the destruction of the Tyrants continue unabated. Who would choose to stop? Vados embodies this. He's a creation of Amelie, born to hunt Tyrants to protect humanity. The thing about Vados is that he has agency and beliefs of his own. When told to destroy Petram in spite of the Laterians interfering, he refuses to harm humans. But we know that will happen anyway. We're told repeatedly that the Tyrants will continue to rise, until Vados has destroyed so much that the world is inhospitable to humans as well. He has his own agency, his own desire to protect humanity and protect the world. But he'll betray that through his own actions, regardless of what he wants. He was made to hunt Tyrants, and so he shall, til the end of days. The only way to avert this is to refuse to fight every Tyrant, to refuse to wage this absolute crusade. And that's the only choice he cannot make. He doesn't get a choice.

The Abyssals continue this theme. Like Vados, the Abyssals are created for a singular purpose. They are born with a goal, and that is all they have. They have their own personalities, but few of them seem interested in the specifics of what's going on. Kroma doesn't seem particularly interested in killing Eliza, she just has to. Pluvian doesn't seem to function as a willing sacrifice, but she does it anyway because that's her goal. Regardless of what they want, they will carry out their goal.

Unlike Vados, though, they have no overarching philosophy. Nothing that specifically guides their actions beyond the immediate. Caelesa runs around the world, but she doesn't seem to understand why. So when their goal is accomplished, despite getting a second chance at life...none of them know what to do with it. So they just sit around, completely docile, until you strike them down again. What other choice did they have? They never knew what they were aiming to do in the first place.

Except for Venefelis. The first Abyssal. At first, he had no idea what his point was. He had a goal, carried it out, and got sealed within the woods forever. Not ideal, but mission accomplished. Then 300 years later, another entity like him appears, carrying out a similarly short-sighted goal. Then 200 years later, another. And another 100 years after that. They appear faster and faster, until we get two within ten years. And as the only one to really survive, even if just as a spirit...you recognize the pattern. After all, Venefelis understands Caelesa's goal better than she understands it herself. She thinks it was just running, but Venefelis identifies it as a scouting mission. You know there's a grander design here; a purpose. But you can't figure out what. Because no one will tell you. You creator, the one guiding your motions, won't speak to you.

What else can you do but try to divine their intent? With nothing else to go off of, you watch their actions, and notice only one thing stands out. Kroma failed, and following that, no other Abyssals were created. Maybe your creator quit. Maybe it's because of Kroma. You don't know that, but what else could it be? You don't understand your purpose, but you desperately want to understand it; to know why you're still here. What choice do you have but to force a second chance on her? To enforce your creator's will, regardless of what she'd want? What choice does she have but to obey?

The twisted thing is, there really is nothing else for them. Rotramus shows this definitively. When you attempt to issue a command, he thinks about it, and passively decides sure, I'll help. It's not the resounding success of an authority check commanding its allegiance. It's someone making a choice, as if it has nothing better to do and no reason to argue. But its creator's will forces it to refuse. Even with its goal accomplished, and no reason to refuse, they interfere, denying your freedom. Quite literally, you have no other choice.

Everything that happens in this arc is driven by Venefelis' desires. His agency, his desire to understand his creator, drives everything forward. No one else even understands why they're here. They didn't have much choice either way. He brought them back, gave them a second chance they had no use for. But what else could he have done? To see what he wanted done, all he could do was solve Kroma's failure by pushing her into another attempt. And it wouldn't have even worked. It was entirely for nothing. But what can you do but try? You technically have a choice. You finished your goal, you could just let it all rest. But faced with the dread of an eternity devoid of purpose, who would choose any different?

Despite how many open-ended threads there are, and how many mysteries we're left with, this does feel like a self-contained story. We don't know what the point is. We don't know what it means. But neither did they. And the result of that ignorance, that impossibility, is they existed unable to live for themselves, and no second chance could get them to defy that fate. Which really resonates with me. I loved this side story a lot, and these open questions have really gotten me interested in the sequel game. I've heard they officially announced its existence but not a release date or any details. I can be patient. But I'm really invested in this one. They really hit a sweet spot here.

[nayvwriter]

(Looks at post) hmm n2 character... HMMMMM..

Is Saleem a character that counts?

(Nexomon Abyssals Spoilers)

Salem. As in Venefelis?

Huh. I... okay, you managed to find one of the few I haven't managed to find interesting yet, mostly because I haven't thought about her much. Because I don't think about Abyssals much, really.

I do intend to write her into an important role in a fic someday, whenever I get around to my Abyssals-canon-rewrite-with-vastly-different-themes.

Hm. I think I could get attached to her. Okay, this is entirely from memory, but:

She's following a plan but she doesn't know what it is and oh does she want to. She was created for this and she wants to know why and she doesn't know what else she could do. She's achieved her goal but she's still going. She's taking every piece of information she has to try and figure it out and she's actually decently good at it. She'll do anything to further her goals, playing a long game. And she's hoping, maybe, eventually, her dedication will earn her the truth.

...so yeah. Okay I think I like her now.

[dragonageloree]

Thedas

Type -  Continent  Location -  World Appearances -  Dragon Age

Thedas is a continent in the southern hemisphere[1], and the only known continent of the Dragon Age universe, upon which all of the Dragon Age games are set. It is presumed that there are other continents, as the Qunari do not originally come from Thedas but from an unknown land across the Northern Ocean. According to some sources, humans also came from the north.[2]

The word "Thedas" originates from Tevene, once referring to all lands beyond the Imperium and eventually, it came to encompass the entire continent.[3][4] A native of Thedas is referred to as a Thedosian. South of the continent's Korcari Wilds lies the mysterious Sunless Lands.[5]

Geography

High resolution map of Thedas (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Surface

Anderfels — a kingdom in northwestern Thedas

Antiva — a kingdom in eastern Thedas

Elvhenan — the ancient elven kingdom

Estwatch — an island stronghold

Ferelden — a kingdom in southeastern Thedas

Free Marches — a confederation of city-states in eastern Thedas

Nevarra — a kingdom in central Thedas

Orlais — an empire in southwestern Thedas

Par Vollen — an island in northeastern Thedas controlled by the Qunari

Rivain — a kingdom in northeastern Thedas

Seheron — an island in northern Thedas

Tevinter Imperium — a country in northern Thedas

Oceans and seas

Amaranthine Ocean — in the east

Boeric Ocean — in the north, surrounding Par Vollen and the Seheron archipelago

Buried Sea — located in the Uncharted Abyss beneath the Deep Roads accessible via the Bastion of the Pure

Colean Sea — between the Anderfels and Seheron

The Frozen Seas — southeast of Ferelden

Nocen Sea — north of Tevinter Imperium, including the Ventosus Straits

Sundered Sea — on the southwestern edge of Orlais

Venefication Sea — between Rivain and Par Vollen, including the Northern Passage leading to the Amaranthine Ocean

Volca Sea — west of the Anderfels

Waking Sea — between Ferelden, Orlais, and the Free Marches

Lakes

Lake Calenhad — in Ferelden, also the largest in Thedas

Lake Celestine — in the Heartlands of Orlais

Lake Luthias — a small lake south of Lake Calenhad

The Sulfur Lakes — south of Orlais

Mountains

Arl Dumat — a volcano between the Hunterhorn Mountains and Gamordan Peaks

Mount Daverus[6]

Frostback Mountains — separating Ferelden from Orlais

Gamordan Peaks — in southwestern Orlais

Hunterhorn Mountains — in western Orlais and between Orlais and the Anderfels

Vimmark Mountains — in the southern Free Marches

The White Spire — in Antiva

Unnamed mountain range in the Tevinter Imperium's east

Unnamed mountain range in eastern Rivain

Forests

Arbor Wilds — in southern Orlais

Arlathan Forest — in the Tevinter Imperium's far east

Brecilian Forest — in eastern Ferelden

The Donarks — a jungle north of the Anderfels

Korcari Wilds — in southern Ferelden

Planasene Forest — in the southwestern Free Marches

The Tirashan — in western Orlais

Underground

The Deep Roads span the length and breadth of Thedas which connect the countless thaigs of the dwarven empire. However after the empire's decline the last four major kingdoms of the dwarves are the following, though only two are still inhabited:

Gundaar (lost)

Hormak (lost)

Kal-Sharok — located deep beneath the Hunterhorn Mountains (inhabited)

Orzammar — located beneath the Frostback Mountains (inhabited)

Beyond Thedas

Few details are available concerning the lands that lie beyond the boundaries of Thedas.

Beyond the Korcari Wilds and Arbor Wilds to the south there is a frozen wasteland called the Sunless Lands that only the Chasind Wilders have explored.

There is land to the west of Thedas, although the Hunterhorn Mountains inhibit travel, as do the jungles of the Donarks in the northwest. The Tevinter call these lands the 'Viridis' - "The Green", and have rumors of wingless dragons and flying chimeras inhabiting the jungles.

Until the early Black Age, the Ander city of Laysh traded with ships that came across the Volca Sea. The travelers who according to Ander legend are named 'Voshai', had an excessive interest in lyrium. Tevinter expeditions to reach the homeland of the Voshai had failed with no ship ever coming back. In recent times, however, rumors have risen that the Voshai ships have returned, bringing with them tales of a 'massive cataclysm'.[7]

There are numerous islands in the Boeric Ocean. Some are havens for pirates, others are colonies of Tevinter or the Qunari, but others have indigenous populations. The most famous of these is the near-mythical Par Ladi. The Parladians are rumored to have the best coastal defenses in Thedas, practice arts similar to the Rivaini seeresses and to be bedecked in gold and jewels.[8]

The Qunari originate from a land far to the east, beyond the Northern Ocean.

The Executors claim to act "on behalf of powers across the sea", presumably entities which reside in lands beyond the Amaranthine and Boeric Oceans.

The land beyond the Amaranthine Ocean is referred in myths as the 'Amaranth'. Amaranth is said to be devoid of any sentient species and all thedosian attempt of colonization have failed. Legends tell that later expeditions found former settlements empty and that the only survivor was driven mad by something and killed himself a short time after being discovered.[7]

Leliana mentions that as of 9:41 Dragon, the Hero of Ferelden is traveling deep into the west to lands that have supposedly never known a Blight.

Notes

Thedas has two moons, the secondary moon being named Satina (from whence the holiday of Satinalia gets its name).

The presence of colder lands to the south would suggest that Thedas is located on the southern hemisphere of the planet.

According to David Gaider, there is no individual name for the planet where Thedas exists, as most Thedosians consider Thedas "the entire world".[9]

Time-telling in Thedas is an inexact science. Dwarven clocks are thus uncommon but notable.[10]

Trivia

The name "Thedas" is an acronym. It stands for "THE" "D"ragon "A"ge "S"etting.

[daughter-of-the-prophet]

Geography of Thedas

Lands

Anderfels - A kingdom in northwestern Thedas

Antiva - A kingdom in eastern Thedas

Elvhenan - An ancient elven kingdom

Estwatch - An island stronghold 

Ferelden - A kingdom in southeastern Thedas

Free Marches - A confederation of city-states in eastern Thedas

Nevarra - A kingdom in central Thedas

Orlais - An empire in southwestern Thedas

Par Vollen - An island in northeastern Thedas controlled by the Qunari

Rivain - A kingdom in northeastern Thedas

Seheron - An island in northern Thedas

Tevinter Imperium - A country in northern Thedas

Oceans and Seas

        Amaranthine Ocean - in the east

Boeric Ocean - in the north, surrounding Par Vollen and the Seheron archipelago

Buried Sea - located in the Uncharted Abyss beyond the Deep Roads 

Colean Sea - between the Anderfels and Seheron

The Frozen Seas - southeast of Ferelden

Nocen Sea - north of Tevinter Imperium, including the Ventosus Straits

Sundered Sea - on the southwestern edge of Orlais

Venefication Sea - between Rivain and Par Vollen, including the Northern Passage leading to the Amaranthine Ocean

Volca Sea - west of the Anderfels

Waking Sea - between Ferelden, Orlais, and the Free Marches

Lakes

        Lake Calenhad - in Ferelden, also the largest in Thedas  

Lake Celestine - in the Heartlands of Orlais

Lake Luthias - a small lake south of Lake Calenhad

The Sulfur Lakes - south of Orlais

Mountains

     Arl Dumat - a volcano between the Hunterhorn Mountains and Gamordan Peaks

Mount Daverus

Frostback Mountains - separating Ferelden from Orlais

Gamordan Peaks - in southwestern Orlais

Hunterhorn Mountains - in western Orlais and between Orlais and the Anderfels

Vimmark Mountains - in the southern Free Marches

The White Spire - in Antiva

Unnamed mountain range in the Tevinter Imperium's east

Unnamed mountain range in eastern Rivain

Forests

        Arbor Wilds - in southern Orlais

Arlathan Forest - in the Tevinter Imperium's far east

Brecilian Forest - in eastern Ferelden

The Donarks - a jungle north of the Anderfels

Korcari Wilds - in southern Ferelden

Planasene Forest - in the southwestern Free Marches

The Tirashan - in western Orlais

Underground 

     As the dwarves have expanded the underground of Thedas for millennia with their formerly sprawling empire of countless thaigs, the Deep Roads, therefore, span the length and breadth of Thedas which connect their thaigs. The last four major kingdoms of the dwarves are the following, though only two still are inhabited:

Gundaar (lost)

Hormak (lost)

Kal-Sharok - located deep beneath the Hunterhorn Mountains (inhabited)

Orzammar - located beneath the Frostback Mountains (inhabited)

Kal’Hirol - located beneath the Arling of Amaranthine (reclaimed as of 9:31 Dragon)

[player-1]

Uh oh…

[player-1]

Oh…That’s a wonderful piece of lore but now that’s going to be a doozy to fit into the main story (mostly figuring out how long each Abyssal were alive before they were killed by the Guild or Lateria). Also ignore the different avatar, I did encounter this convo before in my playthrough but didn't get the chance to get screenshots :')

And HC Abyssal timeline below

Venefelis (1,000-0): The real polecat (HC that she has phantom paws cause she has Pummel in her skill list :) and Operation Kill the Witch. Of course, after being forced to stay in the timeout corner for 1,000 years, she became really existential about her own existence, her creator's absence and trying to figure out why the Abyssals were made except being overpowered cannon-fodder.

Rotramus (700 [-300 yrs.]): Considering that the Guild would be at its infancy and still aware of Venefelis' impact, it makes some sense if they started hunting down Rotramus to prevent a repeat incident. Also consider he's a twisted mirror to Nara's personality (anti-human but will possibly answer any question to anyone that finds him) and might've been a rip-the-bandage creation due to Nara's infamy with her family's downfall.

Pluvean (500 [-200 yrs.]): Yet another pacifist Abyssal that was found by Palmaya and just waited for the Guild to kill him (but I like to believe he discovered Cadium at some point and was disgusted by the humans "corrupting the waters"). Even if he's the contrast to Arqua's short temper and drive for human adoration, Pluvean is also a bit snippy about stating the obvious and being revived past his expected lifespan.

Inominox (400 [-100 yrs.]): And just when the Guild develop a false sense of security with dealing with the Abyssals, Inominox comes in with the big guns and starting picking off any weak tamers he could find (possibly making the Frozen Tundra his main hunting ground). But with Ventra's pride and cockiness spelled his downfall when the Guild intervened during one of his attacks. But whether the victim was too traumatized to recall his trigger or the information was lost to time, the Guild was back to square one when the Abyssal was revived.

Helevolk (350 [-50 yrs.]): Of course, there's not a lot to say about Helevolk besides being a more unstable version of Fona despite having a surprising amount of mental/emotional strength (mainly with him breaking through the N1 Nightmare mind-wiping to an extent), but it's a bit of a mystery on how he got his name despite being just as mindless and violent as a normal Nexomon [Hele: "to hide" + volk: "army" or "person/people"]. And I assume Lateria killed the beast by redirecting his tunnels or cornering him in the tunnels.

Caelesa (310 [-40 yrs.]): But to make matters worse for the Guild, they have to deal with another pacifist, human-avoidant Abyssal that will surely make them doubt their anti-Tyrant campaign. Of course, there's no real explanation how she was taken out or how long she evaded the Guild (and/or Lateria), but she clearly had enough time to believe that humans were dumb and violent brutes that have nothing better to do in their lives besides hunt what threatens them (though mostly directed at Finn the second he explains the Guild’s history with her). And fun fact, despite Caelesa being Normal-type (like Metta), she has a interesting set of elemental moves under her belt (also like Metta) so do with that info as you will :) [Base moves: Rocknite Blast, Thunder Blast, Plasma Star, Psy Field]

Volcel (280 [-30 yrs.]): Then after that wild-goose chase comes the giant electric moth(?), also being human-avoidant but will also mock everything and everyone below him for being simple earth-dwellers (really embodying Luxa’s superiority complex, huh?). While there isn’t any concrete evidence on how he was caught (since the Guild jumped to making a standard Tyrant bait), I’ll assume it was Lateria and their extremely heavy ordinance.

Braccus (260 [-20 yrs.]): Here comes the boy~! :D And unlike the older Abyssals (and being the second-youngest), he’s the only one that specifically mentions hearing his creator’s voice and learning his mission to attract the world’s attention by any means necessary; which he easily turns to destruction and carnage (becoming the Grunda he was meant to be) until Xanders “Bare Hands” Nexomon killed the beast and earned his Gold Tamer promotion. Also his dex entry mentions him destroying multiple cities before reaching Lateria and/or Grunda’s Chasm, so I’m betting he started his rampage at Royalle City since a “unnamed Tyrant” was the reason for its downfall.

Kroma (250 [-10 yrs.]): And finally, Operation Kill the Witch: Electric Boogaloo. And what better way to complete her life's mission is to plop her right into the Immortal Citadel while having the handy-dandy ability to mind-control ghosts. Whether she can control both human and Nexomon ghosts is up to debate, but I'm all for her being a tiny menace using the IC residents, the Greater Drake Krainnull, and Ulzar himself when the going got tough with Deena the one-woman army.

Either way, I mainly followed the Abyssals locations on Precursor Mountain from furthest left to right (apart from Venefelis being past Kroma's position), though it's extra funny that both Braccus and Kroma's places are almost melded together (with the haunted woods being halfway through the Braccus’ maze) so that's kind of where the idea came from. Either way, how in the world was I supposed to expect that these two were the YOUNGEST!?!?

And I love that this were the first thing I thought of (if anyone’s willing to make an artist’s representation of the disaster siblings, I’m all for it :)

[tulipsnflowers]

if I haven't asked this already... ramble ask: Salem!

You did not! (Also I am waiting with Merida a bit till I feel like it,) but. Salem, I can do

(May have went a tad overboard.. 0 of this is canon)

Spoilers for N:E and N:E postgame(aka the Abyssals Update)

Salem! Aka Venefelis. Since uh, Venefelis is referred to as a He and Salem as a She, I'm just going with She for this whole rant^^

So. Salem. The girl in the woods.

She... Well, the time you play with her and the abyssal thing could be up to a year apart if not more in the time line (unless you did it at once like I did) , so...

First of all, she plays some Simon says with us, gives us a... I want to say Golden Nexotrap? Let me- Oh no, she gives you a Vault key. Vault key and there's Perfect berries nearby, figured.

She plays with us an easy game of Simon says, with how much it seems like Hilda's maze you truly have to wonder if it's because Hilda died around there, but when you're done, she gives you the vault key.

Now Salem... Is Venefelis, duh. But.

We know that at least with the Omnikids(thanks, Solus) they actually age, as shown my Solus in the orphanage, but so it's not far to assume similar for the Abyssals.

Salem was tasked with killing Hilda, and in return Blue(n1 protag) tied them to the woods(... Don't know why,) but you have to wonder. Surely she did it quickly, especially with Pluvian saying he practically did nothing and just waited, means they're made with adult Nexomon forms, so..

.... How old do you recon Salem to be? Not much, is the answer to whichever number comes to mind. Sure, she ages in the woods but, man, that's the WOODS. She couldn't exactly do much, other than obsess over the creator, we're returning here later

I'm noticing she never necessarily tried to push onto Solus the first time they came- Weather she just couldn't tell(which, isn't a non possibility) or because she actually wanted to do a game and then do so. Because she couldn't have known Solus didn't know they were, well, Solus.

You could argue she saw one of the revival beams and put two and two together, I suppose.

Then she tricks you with saying she's just a little kid and yada and- Well, she's not lying, to be fair here

Regardless, then she gives a speech and then she goes off, then, you kill everyone and then she has a meltdown.

.. Here's the thing, right. Kroma said that she cannot rest until she slays Eliza. That's telling me that they have that restlessness. When Pluvian did his task, he didn't have the motive to do much. When Braccus did, he found destruction amusing. When Salem did-

Well. She didn't have much to do. She was in the woods, kids came sometimes and they played, sure. But now she didn't have a "you need to do this" urge/voice in her head so. What was she supposed to do? Because she DID what she was needed to. And still nothing happened. So did all the rest of them, and nothing CHANGED.

She had all the time in the world to figure out SOME way that made sense to her in which she could get her master's attention back, because this was suffocating. Because kids came and went and then she was alone.

Nexomon are social creatures, so are humans, so it's not a stretch to say Abyssals are, too. And being all alone makes you desperate.

So when she figured out Kroma didn't do what she had to- Well that's SOMETHING. It's hundreds of years after she was trapped here, but it's something. Maybe this will work. It has to.

Then it doesn't. Then she just has a meltdown because these kids are stopping her from just getting her master's attention back because nothing else worked and-

Then she dies again. And I for one, don't love that. So! (Pulls out AUs)

[crystalelemental]

Personally, I think Ziegler might be the funniest character in Nexomon.

Dude is just trying to do his job, man.

Nexomon 1, your protagonist breaks into hell to destroy Omnicron's soul, and fucks it up so badly that you accidentally release eight souls from his charge. Dude is understandably pissed, and considering you apparently got your ass beat and possibly died, he's unwilling to let you go, as the wardens need a charge.

But you beat him up and escape, so he has minions go around the overworld map seeking you out and trying to stop you. But you can beat all of them, and then he's kinda just. Stuck. With no one who can stop you for being like this. Great. Spectacular.

Enter Nexomon 2, where honestly his inclusion is divine. Bolzen was my least favorite of the Tyrants, and Cadium my least favorite area, so I was ready to hate that section, but I love how it all tied together. Ziegler shows up because you're ripping souls out of hell again, this time to raise your Tyrant army in opposition to Vados. A conflict he has no interest in. He warns you against meddling in his affairs, and if you agree to release the Tyrants, he's pleased that you're reasonable about this and even gives you a Golden Nexotrap! And the Hilda and Eliza show up and arcane blast him back to hell as he screams about your betrayal.

Then the Abyssals. You were just trying to free Salem from a prison situation, something that shouldn't be anywhere near Ziegler's domain. But Venefelis redirects that power to revive not just eight other Abyssal Tyrants, but hundreds of extinct Nexomon. And Ziegler's just reeling like...what? Why? What the hell is the point of this? You didn't do it on purpose, but he doesn't know that. All he knows is your power caused this. And Venefelis, hilariously, insists that it is just you messing with him, so he's completely done and decides to stop you by force as needed. And you beat him up and he has to leave anyway. So he tracks you down around the overworld again, but he counts as a Nexomon so you can just trap him and now he has to be your friend for a while.

Dude just wants his job to go smoothly, and is being so rational about this. And you will not let him just have a normal day.

[tulipsnflowers]

Tulip rambles: Moving parts

Spoilers for just about everything in nexomon. If you haven't completed the post game for both games(Netherworld n1, Abyssals n2) do that first

One might be incredibly confused by what the Frick I mean when I say moving bits. So, to explain myself

When I say moving bits, I mean the moving ribbon like things first appearing on the CoO(Children of Omnicron), in n1, you can see them the best with Metta

Those guys. Moving parts. Elemental parts

It might not be obvious at first minus the mineral one, but they all have different little textures for their own elements

If you zoom into her green, or encounter her in n1, you can see those are actually leaf shapes in there that are moving!

Same for everyone else, for the most part. (We are going over the conflicting info later, for now this is just information dumping)

In n1, only the children of Omnicron, and some of the wardens had it. Particularly, Titan, Darine, Krowr, Hexia, *Tikala.

Ogoon... Has fire? Which I'm half way on counting, half way to not. Ziegler has like a moving body but not quite the same feeling

*Tikala will be a ramble later

The only legendary without it in short is Luhava(and Ziegler if you count it). Who knows what Luhava's deal is, doesn't matter

Now n2 gets... Interesting. Because they don't quite follow rule sets as much as they should (cough cough Solus and Nara cough cough), but still, to go down the list

From the tyrants, only Mulcimer has magma. Granted, it's red and Ogoon and Fona have been using yellow, but more on that later. No other tyrant does.

For Drakes... The ones with official moving elemental parts are.. Dracon, Graloon, Volta. That's three out of 9

... Now, to be salty, the ones who DON'T have it but SHOULD in n2 are Solus, Nara.

And in abyssals we have... Helovolk(again,), Pluvian, Braccus. Three, again, though different three.

So now, without me checking every single nexomon I am fairy certain non legendarynexomon don't have this, save for the Drare line and some fire types

So it's clearly at least a little important, right? Right. Ramble time.

So now we go into the deep end by discussing by types, and then some theories in the end, but for now, opposite order, which means-

Ghost.

None. Seriously, no ghost PT(primordial tyrant), Krainull and Fane don't have it either. They have like, blue flames if you want to count that as their thing, but generally they don't have anything

I can hear someone going "what about Titan-"

Titan still has his mineral things, for some reason, so he's disqualified (and also those aren't ghost shaped blobs, ya know? )

So as far as ghost goes... I'm guessing it's either purple or blue. I tend to lean purple because I like purple, but blue is a very valid leaning point (also doesn't create a bit of an overlap with Luxa, more on that later)

Psychic

.. Also technically 0! Technically. Venefelis, Solus and Mystigon don't have anything, but you know who does?

Darine.

Now the issue with accepting Darine, is that she was a water type, so that helps her design stay the same, but also, if Titan didn't change it, who says she had do?

That still looks like water to me, but! We can at least safely assume it would be pink.

... Now, why the heck Solus doesn't have it? I don't know. It would've been easy to take the orange and make it pastel pink and make it move but no, can't have nice things.

Normal

... So, conflicting information a tad. Mostly because:

And their souls are blue, which while helpful for my theory, I'm gonna try to be anti bias here.

I'm more included to believe Metta(even though, the fire being red complicates things,) so we're going to go with Black. And besides, red was already taken.

So normal is: Black (?)

Electic

Ho boy. Okay. This is a long one. So. First up we got the man himself, Luxa

He has this pale purple, which is we go above, it technically shared with ghost. But it's whatever right? At least he is always purple and-

His necklace is yellow when he revives Omnicron.

Well, that's less ideal. But whatever it's just Luxa, let's see our favorite bumble bee dragon-

So that's... Conflicting. Because that's just kinda... blue. Which is stealing from Water, and is also DRAWN like it's water, no I checked, Volta doesn't learn water moves

Okay Volcel is a no so maybe how about-

That's... That's just orange, which is a third color and is technically fire's! (And that shading is very weird. It's too goo-y to be pure electric)

So electric is.. Just spin the wheel and pick at this point. Who's saying fricking pink is off the table?

Granted, at this point there's little colors left, but if we kept mineral to a pale brown, yellow could have worked!

It's.. I honestly don't know what's happening there.

Water

Probably the clearest slam dunk ever is water and wind. It's just blue, that's it

.. Tumblr isn't letting me upload more images, but trust me on that one

Plant

Okay. I need to delete some image in the post I need y'all to just.. See n1 Tikala

So! Plant should be pretty clear, right? Nara in n1 has green moving bits, nothing else does, a slam dunk-

N1 Tikala says hi.

... So. I think those gems are moving but I also can't tell as I'm not home yet. Point being, that's just blue again!

And you know the funny thing? N2 Deena's things FADE INTO BLUE! instead of having like a moving elemental ribbon thing, her thing just fades into blue. That's it.

It feels connected but I wouldn't even know where to start honestly.

Forever angry n2 Deena doesn't have moving bits, but moving on..

Fire.

So.. You're just gonna trust me on this one my post is packed with images already

The thing is... Metta's ribbon and Mulcimer have red like magma. Ogoon, Helovolk and Fona in both games, have like yellow fire. That's... A bit contradictory.

As you probably saw in my redesigns, I just make fire red as a rule of thumb, but like, it can also be orange and yellow!!

I guess it makes sense because that's like the main colors of normal fires, but if everything could stick to a theme(excluding electric), you can too!

Wind

Just clear as day, use teal. That's it no drama no nothing, Ventra is the only one with it, anyway

Mineral

Finally. Okay so, mineral is this pale brownish yellowish color. That seems to be the consensus between n1 Grunda, Titan and Graloon, but. N2 Grunda is way more just out right gold. So is Metta's mineral ribbon.

Granted, I think the ribbon is because they needed to give him some gold, and didn't know where to put it, but that's irrelevant.

So brownish gold range? But then.

Braccus. He has just out right Magma like Mulcimer does. He doesn't learn any fire moves either.

But an argument COULD be made that he just spent a long time in hot areas so his rocks just... Melted? But then that's just speculation. I'm. Hhhh. Abyssal person why do you hate me.

In conclusion everything made mostly sense in n1 and then they messed it up in n2.

.

.

Now as for ending notes..

I think these basically show how powerful they are, maybe? Or what power they have. So then it makes sense that Titan is still lingering on mineral because lack of Ghost PT

So there has to be something going on with Electric, it just kinda takes whatever color of whatever elemental, that can't be great. Granted I don't know what, but, ya know,

Fire is on wayyy too many things. Every legendary and even common nexomon have fire. Also like the fire starters always start out with Explosion irrc which is really powerful. Dunno, there's something about them being maybe a touch too strong that I'm glancing at Fenrir

Nadine, Merida, Ulrich, James, thank you for being mostly chill

Deena what the heck. I don't know why she loses her elemental thingies and I will go insane over it, but she does. And I've always been like "WHY BLUE? " but now that I've seen Tikala I'm like "... W... Why.. Blue? " ya know

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk, everyone

[player-1]

Been thinking about the Abyssal Tyrants (shocking I know), but I love the implication that the main Tyrants are more of a threat to the Guild while they're basically 10-15 years old before the main story in Extinction. Of course, the Abyssals were still a threat for a variety of reasons and/or paranoia, it's kinda overshooting the fact that they were alive for a very long time; not as long as the Children of Omnicron of course, but still.

But going through the "family timeline" theory again, it's hilarious in hindsight to think that Braccus probably had the time of his life destroying what he can before becoming the hulky bulldozer he is (about 200 years before the main story) but Kroma had to suffer with the idea of wanting to destroy one specific person (ie. Eliza) around the same time and long before their real target was even born, only to get absolutely destroyed by Deena when she finally had the chance to fulfill her mission (also around 20-15 years before the main story so it's common knowledge for the Guild too)...

Long story short the Abyssals had all the time in the world to wonder why they were made/created as they were, just waiting until the time was right for their goals to be fulfilled, until they figure about that they might've been created to be glorified cannon-fodder in the grand scheme of things (even if they would've gone through that existential crisis or not)...Also I refuse to believe that the Abyssals wouldn't have run into each other at some point and figured out that they have nothing better to do but wait to be killed after completing what’s literally their life mission. Maybe they avoid talking with or about each other at Precursor Mountain so it doesn't hurt them anymore than it should (or conflicting goals making them distance themselves despite their origins being the exact same). Also letting Venefelis/Salem figure out that she has "siblings" running around the place would definitely help with their cabin fever, I'm sure of it :)

[tulipsnflowers]

Uh... So...

You know the Abyssal zone? In the ocean? Second deepest?

And that uh, Venefelis was supposed to crawl out of a lake originally.

And that the Valley has ships

And that Merida noticed ships stopping in the middle of the ocean

And that Salem hangs out near water

And that-

[nayvwriter]

suddenly I'm thinking about Blue (n1 protag) and Salem

(nexomon abyssals spoilers)

because Solus, that could have gone so much better.

you've got Mx Friendship on one side and a very lonely catgirl on the other. they literally live in the same forest. Do you see what I am getting at here.

But Salem's scared of Blue - and for good reason, given they were the one who killed her. And Blue's likely angry at Venefelis because Venefelis killed their friend.

Does Blue know that Salem is Venefelis? I don't think they do. The amount of miscommunication that would be required in order for Blue not to tell anyone about Salem being Venefelis and no-one to ask Blue about Salem would be staggering, so I think they just genuinely don't know. Salem's been hiding.

If Blue had come across Salem at any point over the centuries and actually tried to befriend her... redemption arc ensues? And that would make the Abyssals a whooole lot more interesting. Damnit I want to write this now-

[player-1]

I don't think you've made a post just about Deena or talking about what you think about her in N:E, but I think I can tell the general impression, so:

Deena in N:E?

And you're unfortunately right about that, I've been pretty caught up talking about the game in general to notice. Whoops 😅 Still, I have a lot to say, so buckle up it's going to be a long one!

Granted, I have played Nexomon 1 before, so I already knew the whole twist of Deena being Nara, but it still surprised me how level-headed she seemed in Extinction besides a few slip-ups (not to mention being MC's mom); whether it was to keep up appearances in the Guild or working behind the scenes to make sure her kid gets through everything in one piece without directly helping them.

To me, N:E Deena was forced to have tougher skin after everything she's been through, since she's pretty much the catalyst to Omnicron's death and the war for her dad's throne up until she decides to bring Solus into the world to fill the role as the new King of Monsters. While I'm sure it was a last ditch effort to bring back some kind of balance to the world, but also wanted to make sure her kid didn't become a repeat Omnicron; finally deciding to let Grunda/Ulrich raise her kid to be an equal to both humans and Nexomon (which was probably from learning about his Netherworld Nightmare second-hand), as well as roping her siblings into the fake Tyrant egg scheme to better transition MC into figuring out his real identity (though their reaction to that bombshell is up to debate for me).

Despite that, I like to think that she really wanted to raise MC on those ideals if not for the Drakes going crazy over their power and the Guild with their anti-Tyrant campaign, but she's also quick to have enough plans and backup plans just in case anything goes awry. Looking back in the story, there's a few attempts of her being a kind and welcoming presence in MC's life, Guild and Drakes be damned; but when everything finally calms down, Deena finally has a chance to relax and answer any questions her kid might have (though explaining everything during N1 would be tough enough). And while no one mentioned yet or had full screenshots, but she actually explains how her "time powers" work post-story after reviving her (later found in Hero's Tomb), but that's going to take a while for me to get the screenshots though :'). But from what I remember, Deena simply slows time down to be in sync with nature; so if it relates to how slow plants grow (extremely slowly) then it makes sense why everything seems to stop around her or why she's still alive post-N1 but is still weakened after everything she's been through. And bonus points about her still being hung up about the Mandrass Incident in N1 despite everything about it was only told to her second-hand by The Ghost of Nexomon Past. Then with the Abyssal storyline, Deena immediately goes into damage control and subtly urges the Guild to get rid of the Abyssals as soon as possible; but Logan (evil Cadium scientist) rebuts her with the once-in-the-lifetime opportunity to observe every Abyssal in a single place minus the 1,000 year timeline, so they made a compromise to learn as much as they can before killing them. Still, I kind of wish there was more for Deena to say about the matter since she literally was around to watch the Abyssals from beginning to end, from Venefelis killing Hilda to Kroma attempting to kill Eliza and is clearly aware of how erratic they are in personalities and goals. And with Kroma having the power to control ghosts, who wants to bet that Deena had to fight Krainnul (Ghost dragon) and Ulzar by herself? If so, I guess that's why she stayed behind just in case of a repeat incident.

But during the crusade, she eventually has the sneaking suspicion that someone with a similar lifespan to her and her siblings was the mastermind for the Abyssals' creations but can't figure out who (even after asking the PTs came up to a dead end). While I'm all for Metta being the main culprit, from Deena's pov she knows for sure that their bowling ball brother should be in the Netherworld for good as well as his main schtick was just reviving Omnicron and siblings, so the jump to creating a whole host of mutant Tyrants seemed completely out of left field. But since Venefelis appeared out of nowhere just after Omnicron's death, and the Abyssals were never told who their creator was, she probably put the theory on the wayside given the fact.

Of course, I'm all for seeing what changes in N3, but that's definitely going to be a long time coming.