#All Pacific Travel Concept

[ckret2]

So y'all know the Gravity Falls production bible that leaked three weeks ago. Someone in one of my discord servers pointed this out:

And, naturally, that spawned an entire AU.

AU Concept: Ford was kicked out instead of Stan and takes a job as a trucker to makes ends meet since he couldn't go to college, while still studying the weird and anomalous however he can.

Ford driving around from quirky small town to quirky small town, drifting through the liminal spaces of truck stops, meeting odd people in isolated diners, seeing strange things out on the road—a deer with too many eyes bounding across a two-lane highway, a flirty woman at a rest stop who doesn't blink or breathe, mysterious lights in the sky at night, inhuman growls on the CB or 50-year-old broadcasts on the radio—and taking notes when he stops for gas or food.

Aside from having gotten kicked out before graduating high school, Ford's the same person he is in canon.

He's still an ambitious guy, and here "ambitious" means working hard and saving as much money as he can—so, a long haul owner-operator who spends weeks at a time on the road. (He goes through a LOT of educational audiobooks.) Plus, this is the easiest way for him to get to travel the country; and since it looks like his "travel the world" dreams with Stan are dead, he'll take what he can get.

Since he's never in the same spot long and carries his life in a truck, almost all of Ford's research is in his journal. His bag of investigation supplies has an instant camera, a portable tape recorder, a thermometer, a flashlight, rubber gloves, and a few zip lock bags—and that's about it. It has to share space with all his clothes, toiletries, and nonperishable food when he's on the road. He doesn't have much opportunity to closely examine anything odd he finds, unless he's lucky enough to run into something when he can stop for the night. He has to cram his paranormal research around the side of his full-time job.

He doesn't live in Gravity Falls, but he knows it exists. Every time he moves—to Chicago, to Nebraska, to California—he seems to inch closer. He currently lives in Portland and usually hauls loads between the Pacific Northwest and Chicago or New York. He stops at the truck stop outside Gravity Falls when he can and has gone fishing in town a few times. He doesn't have the benefit of extensive research to know that this is the weirdest town in the world; but it seems pretty weird to him, there are local rumors about the town, and he's had some weird experiences in the area.

Plus, he can't explain it, but it's like the town's calling to him. He wants to move there, but it'd put him over an hour outside of Portland where the nearest jobs are. Maybe if somebody chucked him like $100k to build a cabin in the woods; but what are the odds of that?

He does know Fiddleford. Truck broke down somewhere and Fiddleford kindly pulled over to fix it on the fly. They looked at each other, had mutual knee-jerk "dumb trucker/hillbilly" reactions, and within ten minutes both went "oh wait you're the most brilliant genius i've ever met." Fiddleford's living the same life he was in canon before Ford called him to Gravity Falls—with his family in California, trying to start a computer company out of his garage—but they make friends and keep in contact.

One time Ford stops at a kitschy roadside knickknack store that also sells new agey magic things—crystals, tarot cards, incense, etc. He bought a "lucky" rearview mirror ornament that looks like an Eye of Providence in a top hat and hung it from his cab fan, and ever since then he's had weird dreams whenever he sleeps in his truck.

Things I don't know yet: what Stan's up to; or why Ford's the one who got kicked out. I tend to believe that in canon Stan wasn't just kicked out because he ruined Ford's college prospects, but rather because the family thought he deliberately sabotaged Ford; so in this AU, Ford would've been kicked out over a proportionate crime.

[howtofightwrite]

If a character can manipulate points of gravity (up becomes down, left is down, right is down for yhe duration of the scene) and essentially be a spiderman without the spider webs by getting to run up buildings, and essentially be fighting in a more 3-d space...anything worth commenting on? I think what I'm trying to ask is what should one take into account when it's possible to have fight scenes in three dimensional ways. I recall that you wrote a post about how sea battles would technically look nothing like land battles considering the environmental difference of enemies coming at *all* directions.

That's not, really, “all directions.” For one thing, they don't have to worry about your character phasing through solid objects. It's also not going to be as effective as the web shooters for avoiding fire.

One of the quirks of Spiderman is that he doesn't, and really can't, travel in a straight line. He travels in a series of arcs, and while those arcs are predictable, it's much harder to lead your shots when he can jerk away in a different direction with almost no warning.

This is in contrast to characters with gravity manipulation based flight, who tend to travel in straight lines.

The issue with a battle in the sea comes from this basic concept. If you're a mile underwater in the Pacific, it is quite likely that there is another four miles of water below you, with the nearest land thousands of miles away. There is no cover.

Somewhat obviously, an urban environment offers a lot more cover. Your character can come in around buildings, drop from above.

What's significantly more disturbing is the prospect of your character being able to alter gravity for others. Causing someone to “fall” away into traffic or the sky is probably far more horrifying than the idea that they could run up a wall. Though, I suppose it's important to never underestimate the sheer pants shitting terror one can inflict by crab-walking across the ceiling towards your preferred prey.

Of course if you're manipulating gravity, then it stands to reason you may be able to add or subtract the gravity. It's one thing to sneak up on a mobster and propel him into the sky at 9.8m/s2. It's another thing to casually create a small gravity well inside his brain and crush his skull. Or, an anti-gravity spike and explode him like a forgotten microwave burrito.

It should go without saying by this point, but this power set can get really messy.

It's also worth remembering, this is one of those power sets that are just as dangerous to the user as their foes. Hopping from one building to another while flicking gravity mid flight could very easily result in broken bones and a really unpleasant landing. Unless they also have some pretty significant kinetic resistances, this is probably not something they'd want to use as a travel power (unless they're carefully tuning it to create fight.) Otherwise, inertia is their greatest foe.

To be honest, wall climbing is a slightly strange choice for a primary travel power. Yes, it is a viable choice, but using those same powers to take flight is going to be much less risky.

-Starke

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[ashensgrotto]

The Sea's Sacrifice (Part 3)

Characters: Azul Ashengrotto / Jade Leech / Floyd Leech x F!Reader

Total Word Count: 14.7k+

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 (You are Here) Part 4 Part 5

Synopsis: A potential job as a marine biologist’s assistant leaves (Y/N) feeling something fishy going on behind the scene…

Author's Notes: Original Idea came from @merakiui 's annonymous ask with a short story / headcannon -> https://www.tumblr.com/merakiui/684490143936167936/ooohhh-i-love-those-writing-ideas-you-had-for-sea?source=share

and I absolutely love this concept and wanted to take it a step further. I don't write yandere nor fanfiction as much as I did a few years ago. However, I do hope I do this piece justice; I will had links to the next part once it is completed and ready for viewing.

Also, this is a work of fiction. I disagree with anyone that justifies the following behaviors which are represented in this fic (if I think of more, I will add them as I go):

rape/non-consent/dub-consent, possessive/controlling/dominating behaviors, and manipulation

***

Play the song you sang long ago

And wherever the storm may blow

You will find the key to my heart

We'll never be apart

***

“...And how is everything going with our trio?” Mr. Crowley had called both Trein and Crewel into his office along with Grimsley for a meeting that night after the rest of the staff had left for the day.

“Absolutely swimmingly,” Professor Crewel answered with a psychotic grin on his face, “Only nearly got my head bitten off by two mers today, but other than that, we’re fine!”

“You weren’t even near the pool,” Professor Trein let out a sigh, rolling his eyes heavenward, before turning toward Mr. Crowely, “The subjects have allowed test number 03182020 to interact with them as well as talk with them. We know that both of the morays see 03182020 as a match, we are still waiting for the octopus to make the decision as well.”

“I heard about that attack,” Mr. Crowley leaned forward on his desk, elbows resting on the surface as his long fingers criss crossed each other, “and the morays’ first instinct was to protect, not only the octomer, but 03182020 as well?”

“Yes, sir,” Trein answered.

“Hmmm…” Crowley shifted, fiddling a contract in his hands before one nail tapped against the desk.

“Whacha thinking?” Grimsley asked, a dark brow raised in question.

“We don’t have much time left before the contract is up - I had sort of hoped it wouldn’t come to this, not yet at least,” Mr. Crowely stood from his desk, moving toward the window and looking out into the courtyard behind the office, “When was the last time they went into heat?”

“All three had experienced their urges around September last year,” Crewel answered, pressing his hands into his pockets, “Now, normally for moray eels, their mating season runs from July to September - and octopi fry are typically hatching at this point.”

“And if they are anything like their counterparts,” Trein mused, “The twins and the octomer will likely die following the mating process.”

“Hold on, these things die after mating?” Grimsley cocked a brow at the two of them.

“Unfortunately so,” Crewel answered with a nod, “Octopi will mate somewhere between November and early February - following that process, the female will eat the male before she goes into incubation. The few lucky males that are able to escape their mate’s hungry clutches eventually succumb to death a few months after the mating process - some male Giant Pacific octopi have also been known to get dementia before passing. As for the females, after they lay their clutch of eggs - which can be roughly around a hundred thousand, they starve themselves and sometimes tear themselves apart piece by piece. After the eggs hatch, she succumbs to death as well - leaving all of her fry to the current of the sea and one can only hope some of the eggs make it.”

“As for morays,” Trein answered, “depending on the type, males and females will travel to a particular spot and breed there, the males - exhausted from the travel and mating - pass away. The female will incubate her clutch - which is about ten thousand eggs - before laying them in the rocky beds among seaweed before passing away as well. If the water is warm enough, the eggs will only take about 30 to 45 days to hatch - sometimes sooner depending on the temperature of the water.”

“Sheesh, talk about a sexual turn off,” Grimsley crossed his arms over his chest.

“But, we don’t know if mers act in the same fashion,” Crewel answered, “I’m guessing that they follow some of the same mating habits as their counterparts, but not all of them.”

“And we won’t know anything unless we try something,” Crowley spoke, turning toward the duo, “We can't wait seven months, it's now or never. Speed the process up - add about three degrees to the pool each day and try to see how the mers’ attitudes change toward 03182020 in the coming weeks. I want to see some results before the end of next month.”

“Consider it done,” Crewel and Trein smiled as their hands rested over their hearts, a sign of their understanding.

"We've got one last shot - do not fail me."

***

Floyd and Jade greeted you in their usual fashion the following morning, with chirps, clicks, and echoes of ‘Hello’ and your name.

“Good morning,” you smile with a soft wave at the duo, “Are you guys hungry?”

“Hungry!” Floyd shouts, back flipping into the water to toss it in your direction before reappearing on the surface again.

You only snort, pulling the buckets from the freezer before strolling toward the edge of the pool, kneeling down to deposit the contents into the murky depths. 

Before you can do so, however, both of the twins pounce. Jade had shifted so his upper body laid behind you on the edge of the pool, his long tail still draped into the water with your shoulders trapped between his webbed hands as his face buried itself into your hair, cool breaths tickling your nape; Floyd, on the other hand, had attached himself to your front - arms wrapped tightly around your waist with his head tucked under your chin as he rested against your chest. Soft clicks and coos came from both brothers as they twisted their bodies closer to yours, noses nuzzling your warm skin as the slippery film that coated their bodies clung to your skin and clothing.

“Safe?” Jade had asked after a moment, pulling away and looking directly at your face.

“Safe?” you ask, confusion slowly writing across your features.

“Shimpy safe, Jade,” Floyd grinned, sharp teeth on display.

“Wait a minute, who are you calling shrimpy?!”

The twins only clicked and chuckled before removing themselves from you, though each still clung onto each of your hands, sharp nails tracing the smooth skin of your wrists as the two brothers chattered with each other.

It was then that it dawned on you.

Following the arrival of Crewel after the first encounter with Azul the previous day, the twins had believed that you, maybe even Azul, were in danger - hence why Floyd had acted like a guard dog most of the day, even going so far as to refuse to return to the water. It had been yours and Jade’s gentle urging that allowed him to submerge under the water, allowing the gills behind his ears and on his sides to breath again; now, Jade - on the other hand - had paced the water, keeping one eye on the set of glass double doors and growling any time someone walked by it. When you set out to leave for the day, both of the twins had let out ferocious growls that you jumped in your skin - but seeing you frightened was the last thing they wanted. You had made it clear that you were going to be careful and that you would return in the morning like usual - the two could do so little as they watched you leave, worry filling their brown and gold gazes.  

You shouldn’t have been surprised since the two were likely very apprehensive about you and maybe had been up all night, wondering if or when you would return - and when you did, they wanted to make sure that you were safe; no injuries or pain on your body from the other humans that had made appearances prior to your arrival.

You smiled and patted both of their heads, trying to show some reassurance, “Don’t worry, guys. I’m okay. I was just a little nervous from that incident yesterday.”

Jade growled while Floyd hissed in agreement.

“I swear I’m okay,” you sigh, dipping your hands into the water as you lay on your stomach before the duo, “I wasn’t attacked or anything, I don’t have any bruises or cuts - nothing worth reporting. So, please be a bit more gentle when the others come in. I know you guys like me and all, but you also have to work with them too - after all, they brought me here to look out for you and vice versa.”

The twins looked at each other before clicking in agreement, although Floyd looked dejected - likely hoping you’d allow him to do more than splash the intruders during your time together.

You could only chuckle before standing and taking the knocked over bucket of seafood and depositing it over the side, “I hope you guys are hungry. You look like you both deserve this one!”

***

The next two weeks pass by slowly as you continue your interactions with the duo - now turned trio.

Azul made his appearance again a day or two after the Crewel incident, but only stayed and watched your interactions with the twins for a few minutes before disappearing beneath the surface again. Every time you saw him, you waved at him - trying to reach a hand out to accept your presence into the group, especially since Crewel had interrupted that near precious moment between the two of you; Azul was always shocked to see you wave at him and slowly began copying the movement with the tips of his fingers peeking out from beneath the water. He began to grow bolder, appearing closer and closer to the pool’s edge with each passing day until by the end of the second week, he was greeting you with the twins as you walked in - clicks and coos higher pitched than the twins'.

“Hey guys!” You grin, setting your bag down and heading over to the freezer, “And I see Azul decided to join us this morning! Nice to see you again!”

Azul ducked his head down, but you had seen the blush slowly creep up his face - turning his face and ears a deep shade of blue.

You giggled, setting the buckets down before them. You had stopped dumping the contents into the water earlier last week, instead handing out the food to the hungry mers as a way to continue to build trust between the four of you. Azul was far too nervous to approach you at the time, so you had tossed what he was interested in eating towards him - allowing you to get a good glimpse at his tentacles for the first time. They were long and black with a purple underbelly and multiple suckers that appeared to be the size of quarters and half-dollar coins. Whenever you tossed something in his direction, one of his appendages would shoot out of the water like a snake launching at its prey. It was fascinating to watch the tentacle curl around the meal, nearly crushing it within its grasp - the dozens upon dozens of suckers clutching it tightly as if it was afraid to let go.

 After giving the impatient twins their choice of meals, you smile at Azul, “What would you like? I still have some crab, shrimp, some fish, and a few snails left over…”

Azul looks into the bucket that is turned on its side before several tentacles reached forward and pulled several pieces of fish and crab from the container before dipping below the surface to eat.

You take the remaining contents and dump it over the side before standing to get your notes. You flip through the filled pages as you take a seat on the edge of the pool, your shoes discarded so you can soak your feet in the water. You absent-mindly begin to hum, your head swaying with the tune that had been trapped in your head for a few hours at least. 

Something slimy touches your foot, causing you to jerk slightly before you realize Azul had attempted to touch you. He looked broken as he regarded you, moving a bit away from you.

“Hey, it’s ok,” you offer your hand out, palm upward, “you just startled me is all.”

A soft click comes from the octomer as he comes to your side again, slowly.

“There we go, I won’t hurt you.”

The scene plays itself out how it should have been the first day Azul approached you; his hand slips into yours, allowing you to feel the surprising smoothness of his skin. One tentacle slips around your ankle, squeezing slightly as his gaze remains on your smiling face. You recalled reading somewhere that octopi used their suckers to help them travel along the ocean floor, but they were also used to taste by touch. Azul was likely testing to see if you were good enough to eat - maybe.

"Am I tasty?" you joked, which earned you a disapproving grunt from the octomer.

You giggled and reached out with your other hand to touch the top of another tentacle that had made its way up the side of the pool. It felt like a soaked piece of gummy candy - slimy and smooth - before lifting the edge and admired the pale lavender-colored suckers, rubbing your thumb slowly around the inner edge. Azul squeaked slightly, the tentacle around your ankle squeezing tighter and causing you to wince.

"Hey, not so tight there," you pull your legs up from the water and away from Azul’s grasp.

The octomer whined, his hands reaching out and clutching the ankle that had been in his grasp. Your eyes widened at the sight of multiple little circles that surrounded your ankle - deep blue in color and slowly turning darker to a dark purple. Azul releases you and ducks down so you can only see the top of his head and his eyes as they shift nervously between you and the marks in your leg. You offer another smile and reach out, stroking the top of his head, offering words of kindness and support - letting him know you were okay and that it didn't bother you.

One finger traces the outline from one of his suckers - a strange feeling settling in your gut at the thought that this was more than just a mere marking.

***

As time goes on and you interact with Azul more and more, you realize that he was touch-starved to an unhealthy amount.

He enjoys wrapping his tentacles around your legs when you sit on the edge of the pool before him, his head on your lap while you hold your notebook above him and jot notes down about your experiences with the mers. Jade and Floyd often attempt to sneak in for what you've deemed as a "cuddle session" - but Azul often growls at them with a few clicks in their direction before his arms wrap around your waist tighter. The trio do switch things up eventually, with Jade and Floyd both curled protectively around your form as Azul keeps a set of eyes on the glass doors.

Whenever someone attempts to enter the enclosure, all three go into defensive mode - Azul now taking a stance in front - or rather, over - you as the twins shift to lean over the edge of the pool, all three growling frighteningly and baring teeth at the intruders. It was also during the last week you noticed how their touches would linger longer on your skin, Azul - on more than one occasion - wrapping his tentacles around both your ankles, wrists, and your waist multiple times, leaving marks that had many of your coworkers arching brows at you.

"Not that I mind the interactions between the four of you, puppy," Crewel comments when you meet up with him and Trein at the end of the second month, two notebooks resting before you on the desk as Trein goes over them, "but the results we've seen are… kind of startling."

"I've noticed the trio has been a bit more aggravated than usual, as well," you answer.

"How so?"

You press your lips together, trying to think of the best way to describe the events of the previous week.

It wasn't uncommon for the trio to touch you - especially Azul, who seemed to now dominate the spotlight - however, those touches that had shifted from curiosity to protectiveness had now shifted to what you thought was longing. The trio's eyes would watch you intently when you were away from the edge of the pool - either as you were entering, getting their food ready, or preparing to leave - their gaze not once shifting away from your form. As soon as you had taken a seat at the poolside, all three were upon you in the same fashion following the "Splashing Crewel" incident. The twins would pull themselves up to sit behind you, pulling you into their arms while each of them grasped one hand to keep you still, as Azul would launch to lay on top of you with his tentacles curling around your legs and thighs. They would coo and click softly at you, noses running along the column of your neck and into your hair. It would take hours just for them to let you go, even with your soft pleading - only releasing you when you mentioned food. You also notice how the trio enjoy hearing your humming - it may have been the reason why they nuzzle at your neck, wishing to hear your voice bring whatever tune you happened to be humming out of your mouth.

As you explained this, Crewel’s and Trein's expressions turned dark.

"That is… unsettling," Trein answered after a moment.

"Perhaps those puppies should be put in place," Crewel thought aloud, crossing his arms and tapping a finger against his bicep.

"Why are they acting this way is what I'm concerned about," you answered.

"We couldn't be sure," Trein explained, "Personally, we've never had a keeper get this close to them, never mind see them react in this fashion."

"I would venture a guess as to say they might see you as a member of their 'family' or 'school'," Crewel answered, "Given the circumstances of your arrangement, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason they cling to you is primarily due to their worry when you are away from them."

"That’s what I was thinking as well," you nod in agreement.

"And as for the humming," Trein spoke, "Sound travels faster in the water than it does on land. Legends of merfolk often indicate that they are attracted to music - though it's typically the mers that use it to lure in unsuspecting prey."

"Do you think they were interested in my humming because of their love for music?"

"Perhaps," Trein nodded in agreement.

"I also noticed when they are, well, clinging to me, they also seem… warmer than usual?" You ask, trying to think of the proper terms, "I also noticed the water seemed visibly warmer too. Do you think their change in behavior may have something to do with it?"

"We'll have one of our men check it out," Crewel nodded, "If someone messed with the thermostat, we'll know."

You nod and leave the office, the door closing behind you.

"Think she's onto us?" Trein asked 

"Never trust anyone, Trein," Crewel pulled a cigarette out of its case, "even your own coworkers."

"I suppose with all of those hints we've dropped, if she hasn't figured out what our plan is yet she likely never will."

"The only thing we can do now is wait for the right time. Hopefully this will satisfy that crow's interest."

***

Unbeknownst to the world above, the waters of the enclosure shifted as the twin mers lounged about outside a built cave.

"Jaaade! I'm boooored!!" Floyd grumbled, shifting his body to drape over one of several rocks that lined the entrance to their dwelling, "I wanna play with Shrimpy!"

"In time, Floyd," His twin shifted, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the rocky walls, "Azul has to finish up the final piece. Besides, our little pearl isn't around right now to play with."

"This suuucks! Why couldn't we just pull her under when we had the chance?"

"She would never survive if we did that, Floyd. You know humans can't breathe underwater, nor swim like this. We need to bide our time, just a bit longer."

"Luckily we won't have to wait too much longer," Azul appeared in the entrance, his tentacles swaying with motion as he moved to greet his friends and fellow captives.

Both twins perked up, shark-like smiles appearing on their features.

"Did you make it?" Jade asked.

"It's almost complete, I just need scales from both of you," Azul answered.

"Sooo, what does our scales have to do with a mer potion?" Floyd asked.

“It will make our mate more compatible,” Azul answered, “In order for us to successfully, one, produce fry, and two, live with us, she needs to be our equivalent. A human mate isn’t a bad thing, we just need a bit more… well, given that those other two-legged monsters have been observing us for the past two years, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning on using her for something.”

“Hence we need to take precautions to make sure she’s safe and comfortable,” Jade followed through.

“Does that mean we can eat them?” Floyd asked.

“When the time is right, you’ll be able to squeeze those beasts who’ve harmed our mate to your heart’s desires,” Azul grinned, “Personally, I don’t think they would taste good, but if you want to eat them, by all means help yourself.”

Floyd grinned, all teeth and gums as he bounced giddily in the water.

“How long after the scales are added will we need to wait?” Jade asked, turning toward Azul.

“At least one week.”

“What’s the plan for our Shrimpy, then?”

Azul grinned, indicating for the twins to follow him into the lair, explaining things as they moved, “Our home here will only be temporarily. Once they realize their precious little angelfish is one of us, they will try every means to get her away from us to revert the process. When they make their move, we’ll be able to shift our focus to breaking out. I’ll need several things to create a temporary transformation potion that will allow one of us to move about the surface to transfer us back to the Coral Sea. And we’ll need to work fast - once (Y/N) lays those eggs, she’ll need to be protected and guarded at all times. I’d rather not have her lay them here - hence our haste to get her out of here.”

“And then the big family we’ve always dreamed of!”

“Indeed - so, two weeks?”

“Two weeks. When the moment is right, (Y/N) will be ours…”

[kaijuposting]

Jaegers of Pacific Rim: What do we know about them?

There's actually a fair amount of lore about Pacific Rim's jaegers, though most of it isn't actually in the movie itself. A lot of it has been scattered in places like Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters, Tales From Year Zero, Travis Beacham's blog, and the Pacific Rim novelization.

Note that I will not be including information from either Pacific Rim: Uprising or Pacific Rim: The Black. Uprising didn't really add anything, and The Black's take on jaegers can easily be summed up as "simplified the concept to make a cartoon for children."

So what is there to know about jaegers, besides the fact that they're piloted by two people with their brains connected via computer?

Here's a fun fact: underneath the hull (which may or may not be pure iron), jaegers have "muscle strands" and liquid data transfer technology. Tendo Choi refers to them in the film when describing Lady Danger's repairs and upgrades:

Solid iron hull, no alloys. Forty engine blocks per muscle strand. Hyper-torque driver for every limb and a new fluid synapse system.

The novelization by Alex Irvine makes frequent references to this liquid data transfer tech. For example:

The Jaeger’s joints squealed and began to freeze up from loss of lubricant through the holes Knifehead had torn in it. Its liquid-circuit neural architecture was misfiring like crazy. (Page 29.)

He had enough fiber-optic and fluid-core cabling to get the bandwidth he needed. (Page 94.)

Newt soldered together a series of leads using the copper contact pins and short fluid-core cables. (Page 96.)

Unfortunately I haven't found anything more about the "muscle strands" and what they might be made of, but I do find it interesting that jaegers apparently have some sort of artificial muscle system going on, especially considering Newt's personnel dossier in the novel mentioned him pioneering research in artificial tissue replication at MIT.

The novelization also mentions that the pilots' drivesuits have a kind of recording device for their experiences while drifting:

This armored outer layer included a Drift recorder that automatically preserved sensory impressions. (Page 16.)

It was connected through a silver half-torus that looked like a travel pillow but was in fact a four-dimensional quantum recorder that would provide a full record of the Drift. (Page 96.)

This is certainly... quite the concept. Perhaps the PPDC has legitimate reasons for looking through the memories and feelings of their pilots, but let's not pretend this doesn't enable horrific levels of privacy invasion.

I must note, though, I haven't seen mention of a recording system anywhere outside of the novel. Travis Beacham doesn't mention it on his blog, and it never comes up in either Tales From Year Zero or Tales From The Drift, both written by him. Whether there just wasn't any occasion to mention it or whether this piece of worldbuilding fell by the wayside in Beacham's mind is currently impossible to determine.

Speaking of the drivesuits, let's talk about those more. The novelization includes a few paragraphs outlining how the pilots' drivesuits work. It's a two-layer deal:

The first layer, the circuity suit, was like a wetsuit threaded with a mesh of synaptic processors. The pattern of processor relays looked like circuitry on the outside of the suit, gleaming gold against its smooth black polymer material. These artificial synapses transmitted commands to the Jaeger’s motor systems as fast as the pilot’s brain could generate them, with lag times close to zero. The synaptic processor array also transmitted pain signals to the pilots when their Jaeger was damaged.

...

The second layer was a sealed polycarbonate shell with full life support and magnetic interfaces at spine, feet, and all major limb joints. It relayed neural signals both incoming and outgoing. This armored outer layer included a Drift recorder that automatically preserved sensory impressions.

...

The outer armored layer of the drivesuit also kept pilots locked into the Conn-Pod’s Pilot Motion Rig, a command platform with geared locks for the Rangers’ boots, cabled extensors that attached to each suit gauntlet, and a full-spectrum neural transference plate, called the feedback cradle, that locked from the Motion Rig to the spine of each Ranger’s suit. At the front of the motion rig stood a command console, but most of a Ranger’s commands were issued either by voice or through interaction with the holographic heads-up display projected into the space in front of the pilots’ faces. (Page 16.)

Now let's talk about the pons system. According to the novelization:

The basics of the Pons were simple. You needed an interface on each end, so neuro signals from the two brains could reach the central bridge. You needed a processor capable of organizing and merging the two sets of signals. You needed an output so the data generated by the Drift could be recorded, monitored, and analyzed. That was it. (Page 96.)

This is pretty consistent with other depictions of the drift, recording device aside. (Again, the 4D quantum recorder never comes up anywhere outside of the novel.)

The development of the pons system as we know it is depicted in Tales From Year Zero, which goes into further detail on what happened after Trespasser's attack on San Francisco. In this comic, a jaeger can be difficult to move if improbably calibrated. Stacker Pentecost testing out a single arm describes the experience as feeling like his hand is stuck in wet concrete; Doctor Caitlin Lightcap explains that it's resistance from the datastream because the interface isn't calibrated to Pentecost's neural profile. (I'm guessing that this is the kind of calibration the film refers to when Tendo Choi calls out Lady Danger's left and right hemispheres being calibrated.)

According to Travis Beacham's blog, solo piloting a jaeger for a short time is possible, though highly risky. While it won't cause lasting damage if the pilot survives the encounter, the neural overload that accumulates the longer a pilot goes on can be deadly. In this post he says:

It won't kill you right away. May take five minutes. May take twenty. No telling. But it gets more difficult the longer you try. And at some point it catches up with you. You won't last a whole fight start-to-finish. Stacker and Raleigh managed to get it done and unplug before hitting that wall.

In this post he says:

It starts off fine, but it's a steep curve from fine to dead. Most people can last five minutes. Far fewer can last thirty. Nobody can last a whole fight.

Next, let's talk about the size and weight of jaegers. Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters lists off the sizes and weights of various jaegers. The heights of the jaegers it lists (which, to be clear, are not all of them) range from 224 feet to 280 feet. Their weights range from 1850 tons to 7890 tons. Worth noting, the heaviest jaegers (Romeo Blue and Horizon Brave) were among the Mark-1s, and it seems that these heavy builds didn't last long given that another Mark-1, Coyote Tango, weighed 2312 tons.

And on the topic of jaeger specs, each jaeger in Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters is listed with a (fictional) power core and operating system. For example, Crimson Typhoon is powered by the Midnight Orb 9 power core, and runs on the Tri-Sun Plasma Gate OS.

Where the novelization's combat asset dossiers covers the same jaegers, this information lines up - with the exception of Lady Danger. PR:MMM says that Lady Danger's OS is Blue Spark 4.1; the novelization's dossier says it's BLPK 4.1.

PR:MMM also seems to have an incomplete list of the jaegers' armaments; for example, it lists the I-22 Plasmacaster under Weaponry, and "jet kick" under Power Moves. Meanwhile, the novelization presents its armaments thus:

I-22 Plasmacaster Twin Fist gripping claws, left arm only Enhanced balance systems and leg-integral Thrust Kickers Enhanced combat-strike armature on all limbs

The novel's dossiers list between 2-4 features in the jaegers' armaments sections.

Now let's move on to jaeger power cores. As many of you probably already know, Mark-1-3 jaegers were outfitted with nuclear power cores. However, this posed a risk of cancer for pilots, especially during the early days. To combat this, pilots were given the (fictional) anti-radiation drug, Metharocin. (We see Stacker Pentecost take Metharocin in the film.)

The Mark-4s and beyond were fitted with alternative fuel sources, although their exact nature isn't always clear. Striker Eureka's XIG supercell chamber implies some sort of giant cell batteries, but it's a little harder to guess what Crimson Typhoon's Midnight Orb 9 might be, aside from round.

Back on the topic of nuclear cores, though, the novelization contains a little paragraph about the inventor of Lady Danger's power core, which I found entertaining:

The old nuclear vortex turbine lifted away from the reactor housing. The reactor itself was a proprietary design, brainchild of an engineer who left Westinghouse when they wouldn’t let him use his lab to explore portable nuclear miniaturization tech. He’d landed with one of the contractors the PPDC brought in at its founding, and his small reactors powered many of the first three generations of Jaegers. (Page 182.)

Like... I have literally just met this character, and I love him. I want him to meet Newt Geiszler, you know? >:3

Apparently, escape pods were a new feature to Mark-3 jaegers. Text in the novelization says, "New to the Mark III is an automated escape-pod system capable of ejecting each Ranger individually." (Page 240.)

Finally, jaegers were always meant to be more than just machines. Their designs and movements were meant to convey personality and character. Pacific Rim: Man, Machines, & Monsters says:

Del Toro insisted the Jaegers be characters in and of themselves, not simply giant versions of their pilots. Del Toro told his designers, "It should be as painful for you to see a Jaeger get injured as it is for you to see the pilot [get hurt.]" (Page 56.)

Their weathered skins are inspired by combat-worn vehicles from the Iraq War and World War II battleships and bombers. They look believable and their design echoes human anatomy, but only to a point. "At the end of the day, what you want is for them to look cool," says Francisco Ruiz Velasco. "It's a summer movie, so you want to see some eye candy." Del Toro replies, "I, however, believe in 'eye protein,' which is high-end design with a high narrative content." (Page 57.)

THE JAEGER FROM DOWN UNDER is the only Mark 5, the most modern and best all-around athlete of the Jaegers. He's also the most brutal of the Jaeger force. Del Toro calls him "sort of brawler, like a bar fighter." (Page 64.)

And that is about all the info I could scrounge up and summarize in a post. I think there's a lot of interesting stuff here - like, I feel that the liquid circuit and muscle tissue stuff gives jaegers an eerily organic quality that could be played for some pretty interesting angles. And I also find it interesting that jaegers were meant to embody their own sort of character and personality, rather than just being simple combat machines or extensions of their pilots - it's a great example of a piece of media choosing thematic correctness over technical correctness, which when you get right down to it, is sort of what Pacific Rim is really all about.

[txttletale]

i'll actually in a limited capacity defend the overwatch league's regional teams gimmick but the execution was bad. having regional teams could have been hype. like--during astralis' 2018-2019 csgo run, danish esports fans went fucking insane for them. and like of course they did. there's inherently something exciting about having a team you can in some way 'identify' with. and geography does create natural sports rivalries and pre-writes your stories.

there were two glaring bad problems in the dumb way blizzard did this though. one is forcing teams to come up with brand new branding. this was a horrible idea. it forced well-established esports organizations with strong fanbases across different games like cloud9 and optic to try and build new brands up from scratch. they realized this with their call of duty leage where they let teams play as 'atlanta faze' and 'optic texas' but yknow. kind of too little too late

the other one (and this is also the glaring fatal flaw in the overwatch league's entire silly, silly business plan) is the idea of a global league. now if you don't know much about esports you might think 'wait whats wrong with that. its gaming you can do it online players can be anywhere'. however that's not true! first of all, esports--well esports doesn't make money, esports when managed correctly is essentially a loss leader for the game it's an esport for--but esports makes a lot of its money on live events. yeah, people go to see esports games:

much more importantly, ping is a huge factor in esports. the higher the level you're playing at, especially in a game like overwatch that's full of twitchy hitscan aiming, the more a 10ms latency difference can make or break a game. you need to be running in-person events in order to have a competitive esports league and to make a good chunk of your revenue.

and that means that a global esports league runs into the exact same problem a global normal sports league would run into and the reason why that doesn't exist, which is travel logistics. the overwatch league has a london team, a san francisco team, and a chengdu team. these cities are very far away from each other [citation needed] and although overwatch league people will often blame covid for ruining their plans, i honestly think it actually saved them by preventing the horrible idea they had for how the league would work from actually happening. imagine all the problems that travel causes in a league like the NBA--jet lag, exhaustion, the obvious budgetary expenditure. now imagine that the travel itinerary also includes flights across the atlantic and/or pacific.

that's not even all! the thing about esports is that, because practicing for ten hours a day doesn't physically destroy your body like it would for regular sports, esports players and teams... do that. if you spend seventeen hours on a plane from paris to hangzhou for a match that's seventeen hours where you're not practicing. when you arrive, you can't just stay at a hotel--you need to be able to practice in the days leading up to the match too, especially because it's esports, which means the game can change. if you miss some practice as a sports team, you're gonna be rusty--if you miss some practice as an esports team, the rules of the game might have literally changed since your last practice session.

the result of this, by the way, is that the london and paris teams have never been actually based in europe--and that right now the dallas team is based in korea. it is very silly. every other multinational esport ever invented has created regional leagues--league of legends has a league for korea, china, europe, north america, pacific, vietnam, brazil, japan, and latin america. but blizzard entertainment are god's special little gamers and they weren't going to let something like 'the ocean' get in the way of their global league dream.

and ultimately this means that the entire local team concept was pointless. most of the teams aren't locally based. and even if they were -- the madcap way they play against each other mean that those city affiliations don't matter. when manchester united play liverpool f.c., even if you are not a big football fan, if you're from manchester you presumably have an opinion of liverpool and liverpudlians, and vice versa. there is an emotional hook to latch on to. if manchester united were to play khon khaen united, you would probably say 'where the fuck is khon khaen'. for the localisation to work, the overwatch league's london team needed a manchester or glasgow or dublin or amsterdam or brussels team (etc.) to play against. if you're invested in the esport itself and the players, you can get invested in a philadelphia-london or chengdu-houston rivalry--but the localisation aspect of it isn't doing the work it should there.

tldr: the overwatch league was a bad idea ever since the moment it was announced. people are too harsh on the team localization idea but the way it was executed was hot garbage and it's no wonder this entire venture failed badly

[iamthekaijuking]

Gigabash Character Overview

Almost 2 years ago I made a review of all the revealed Gigabash kaiju in the lead up to the game’s release and what they were homages to, but the game is now almost 2 years old and its third dlc pack of guest fighters has just released. So I thought now’s as good a time as any to revisit Gigabash’s ten original kaiju and provide much more commentary as someone who’s played the game extensively, starting with…

Gorogong!

Gorogong is essentially the “starter” or brawler character on the roster, an agile character with reliable attack and defense and movement options, but with a surprisingly high skill ceiling. Do not underestimate a Gorogong player! A truly skilled one can wipe the floor with you.

Design

Gorogong is pretty much the poster child of Gigabash and showcases the main design inspiration for most of the original kaiju in the game. Passion Republic Games is a Malaysian company, and Ultraman is really popular there. With this information in mind it becomes clear that Gorogong was designed using traits from a few monsters in Ultraman’s extensive roster. Off the top of my head I can see some silhouette inspiration from Red King EX, and the face reminds me of Bemular (which apparently was the main facial inspiration) and Guigass. Miclas was probably a bigger inspiration than those latter two though.

Overall he wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Ultraman. But despite being a grab bag of traits, his design process was actually quite extensive! And you can see concept art showing the multiple different iterations he went through before PRG finally settled on what we got.

Gorogong is also pretty obviously a volcanic monster, with his stony hide and lava leaking from its cracks. Gorogong burst into the modern world of Gigabash after being disturbed from his hibernation in a volcano after humans stole something from him. But why was he in the volcano, and what was the important thing humans stole?

Lore

Gorogong’s home turf is Luana Island of the Kahu’a Republic, a Polynesian island smack dab in the center of the Pacific Ocean. How long he was there isn’t known, but what is known is that when Polynesian settlers came to the island many centuries ago he was far from happy. Actually that’s an understatement, because Gorogong’s rage is his primary character trait.

He nearly eradicated the settlers and chased the stragglers for hours around the island before cornering them. But right before he could finish them off, Princess Luana, daughter of king Kahu’a and namesake of the island, began singing to crying children to soothe them. Her voice was so beautiful that it calmed Gorogong and pacified him.

In an effort to save her people she led him into the volcano on the island, and in the art showing this backstory in Gorogong’s story mode, Giga energy (what exactly it is or might be is something I’ll further elaborate as these overviews go on) is seen flowing out from the volcano as it then sealed the kaiju inside.

It was only through Princess Luana’s sacrifice that people were able to settle down on the island, and apparently they remained isolated from the rest of the world until the 1940s. Soon after, travel agencies and fast food companies flocked to the island and now it’s a tourist destination flocked with tourists and companies. Much to the frustration of the natives.

The entire time, Gorogong was sleeping in the volcano undisturbed. Of course word of Gorogong’s legend eventually reached the Global Titan Defense Initiative, an anti-kaiju international military organization created during the first kaiju crisis in the 70’s, nowadays though the organization is filled with corruption and uses its military power and resources to rig elections in favor of politicians who’ll throw more money at them, and many governments around the world are dependent on them. They cause more problems than they solve in their efforts to eradicate kaiju. They set up a base on the volcano to investigate if the legends were true, and it quickly became apparent that the volcano was filled with Giga energy and that a kaiju was indeed inside it. There was also a massive Giga Crystal inside (which admittedly looks kinda like a purple turd) and some point they were commissioned by OtamaTEC to remove and retrieve it for a project (which will be covered in another post). Taking away this artifact woke up Gorogong though, and it seems that he’ll follow anyone who takes it from him to the ends of the earth in order to retrieve it, and there’s some implication that the Giga turd is what became of princess Luana.

Overall, Gorogong is a great poster child for the game and was painstakingly designed by PRG to be loving homage to classic Ultraman monsters. He’s also very fun to play and draw.

[themissakat]

sorry about taking so long to think of words, but i think i finally have good questions.

what are your guesses for where the 3rd game is going to take place? Visit a new location or return to old locations of the first 2? the forbidden west and carja and nora?

How do you think aloy and friends are going to develop? where could the game go to further the character arcs of the squad?

words are hard you're good

gonna put a readmore bc it has a lot of Forbidden West spoilers!!

My first guess would be that we'll see something related to the Oseram homeland, as its the only one of the main tribes (aside from the Quen ofc) where we've met their people but not been to their capital. I don't have 100% certainty on this because the Oseram are the most nomadic of all the tribes we've seen thus far, those guys are everywhere, so its hard to say if visiting a centralized leader would be applicable to getting their support, as opposed to getting in touch with individual groups like the Vanguard at Meridian or the group at Burning Ember.

I think it would be so cool to see the Quen homeland, and I've read some fics that propose the potential use of Zenith tech (like the shuttle, its just hanging out still) to travel those long distances faster. It would be interesting to see if they push the travel that far, as they played a little bit with that in Burning Shores and going to the San Francisco area, but Vegas to San Fran is a little different than crossing the entire Pacific Ocean.

as for the characters, I really hope to see Aloy continue to open up about accepting help from others and not shouldering the entire burden herself. One of my favorite arcs in hfw was how Aloy contended with Elisabet's "legacy", and how she, at first, accepted sole responsibility for it, to the point of pushing everyone else away from her. Her being the "key" to the facilities obviously put her in a place of "if i dont do this, no one else CAN", but I think that the introduction of Beta and the staunch support of her friends really finally pushed her into "it is okay to accept help".

I think that meeting Beta and contending with their differences despite their being genetically identical was a very needed push for Aloy, because it put a mirror up to her experiences and reinforced for her that she IS NOT just a clone of Elisabet, but her own unique person as well. I will keep saying it but their sisterhood breaks me and rebuilds me into a better human, i love them so much sdjfhsd

I do think we'll be seeing a lot of returning cast of course, including Avad and hopefully the Nora as well. I'm very excited for the introduction of Seyka to the greater group, because I'm curious how the writers will handle Aloy actually having a requited romance, instead of just being the subject of a lot of people's attention. ( my thread for talking about hfw is called "Flirting With Aloy Like It's An Olympic Sport" for a reason ).

Despite not being the main focus of the story, there are SO MANY moments where Aloy interacts with romance and attraction that I can't see them not resolving that plot point for her and Seyka. I, personally, expect it to be tied into the concept of "after", of the future she will have once the future of the planet is secured. I personally headcanon that Aloy will struggle with this concept, as she has been completely goal driven her entire life, and to finally achieve that goal is something she has never considered.

I want to meet Federa and Zo's baby ofc. I dont have too many other specific thoughts about character arc resolution for the rest, aside from that I hope Erend finds something worth fighting for, as he has lost SO MUCH and at times seems to be the most lost amongst the group. He has his heart in the right place, but I feel he is very deep in his grief for his sister still, whereas a lot of the other characters have more specific goals or people to inspire them onward.

I can't think of any more specific thoughts atm sjdfd except, Gildun beloved, Burning Embers crew beloved, good characters all around.

[artsyco3xist]

Part of "Endure" a zine centered around two original characters traveling through different video game-inspired worlds. As far as I know, it was structured so that the zine would follow a loose structure. Mine would be near the last third of the zine since it's the characters entering the final dungeon, which I based on Horizon Forbidden West.

I wanted to incorporate more west coast elements in my version, so instead of the typical cauldron doors, I had the entrance be under a building resembling the Aquarium of the Pacific! I also had to research local flora to add and the ones that stayed in the composition were the California poppies.

Seeing this is a Horizon-inspired background, the post-apocalyptic scenario is that there are now half robot half animal creatures roaming the earth, all from a disease that robotifies organic organisms. I took that part from Sonic the Hedgehog comic lore and incorporated that early badniks look into this eagle creature!

So here, Juno is making shock arrows for Sylvie, referencing the crafting system in these types of games, while Sylvie is using an old-fashioned recurve bow. This whole concept I was what I had in mind from the beginning.

The execution part of it was a mess tho 😅

It was definitely a learning process, but I think it gave me a better understanding of how I should tackle backgrounds from now on. They've always been a struggle for me, but I'd love to try this piece again and fix some things.

Hopefully you guys like it for what it was because this did take me a lot of time and a lot of trial and error. The actual zine never got published though and I still think this piece is worth sharing.

[waeirfaahl]

Some thoughts about Quantum Jack and The Lost Worlds comics series

Post-2017 Samurai Jack comics were very weird, bizarre and even chaotic mess, I'd say. Quantum Jack had the references to Mad Max, Pacific Rim (or mecha anime), Total Recall and several other movies, but its story was both simple and hard to follow.

Like, if I got it correctly, the 5 chapter was the beginning of the story, i.e. the whole 5 chapter is the prologue and the flashback, which explains, how Jack had many lifes/personalities or whatever. The scientist created the unstable invention (for unknown reasons), which Jack mistakenly interpreted as the time machine (I have no idea, why previous scientists told to Jack, that this one has time machine — maybe it was Aku's trap again?), but that thing creates false memories, I guess, hence a person lives with different memories, life and personality (although, visuals kinda try to portray it as if Jack was teleported into someone else's bodies or whatever, what is also weird and confusing, because by this logic Jack's body and the sword have to be in the scientist's den, and Aku should destroy both Jack's body and the sword immediately). And during the 1-4 chapters Jack lives with false memories 4+ different lifes (and for some reason some of them have hints to his past and his true identity), unless his memories return, so he is again the samurai warrior with his eternal heroic path. And the questions arise — If I get it right, Jack's first "false life" was a tiger in jungle.

So, how he was able to recall everything, if it is a distant wilderness? He encountered Aku's army of scarab beetle robots? He travelled and again accidentally visited his destroyed kingdom? Poachers captured him and brought to one of Aku cities, so he escaped? Why he had exactly these dreams/fantasies/lifes? What happened with Jack in reality? Was Jack in coma during these trips and skips? How long was Jack in coma? And if he returned his memories, where he will awake? Why Aku didn't kill him? Did Aku capture him in this state and used for some experiments? Why Aku didn't kill Jack, again, before how Jack got back his memories?

Why Aku and all those characters Jack interacted with in his dreams didn't try to prevent Jack from returning his memories and the sword? From another side, it is pretty interesting aspect — Aku allowed to Jack basically five different lifes, full of either adventures and epic battles or calm life with loving family.

Well, if 5 season and Battle Through Time are one of these false memories-lifes-personalities Aku created for Jack in coma, i.e. they are not real, then okay. Aku actually won and destroyed the sword, Jack is in coma and captured, living in the perfect dream (in the matrix, if you're well), while nothing from 5 season and the game ever happened and existed. And then we move to The Lost Worlds. Honestly, I have no idea, why these comics exist and for what they were created. I mean, visually they are okay (a bit better than Quantum Jack for sure, but only the first story had good visual), the first and third stories had potential due to interesting and promising concepts and elements, since it had no villains, the second one had okay theme and message, but was handled bad (I mean, really? Jack wasn't able to defeat those creatures, who used no magic, no martial arts, but simple dishes? and how can't he know about them? how they can't know Jack?),

but their finale... Like, Quantum had open ending, but with some kind of resolution and conclusion (Jack returned his memories, identity and the path to fight Aku again), as well as the first three stories of The Lost Worlds had the ending with logical conclusion, while the fourth story... why it was created? For what? It just ends on nothing, it is just one big cliffhanger without the story and without the ending.

That's literally the final page of these series:

What does it mean? Was Jack imprisoned by Aku? Another matrix for Jack, where hints for his real identity still exist for some reason? Because these moments can give this assumption.

How it connects with the previous three chapters, especially the first story of The Lost Worlds, where Jack decided to travel the world again and return his duty and heroic role he always had? The fourth chapter is illogical and meaningless mess both as a story and a finale of the series. Plus, I can't understand, when the events of The Lost Worlds series happen — like, there's no Aku, it has no connection with Quantum series, and it was released before The Battle Through Time, in the third story there are some hunters for dead souls, escaped from the underworld (they are aware that Jack lives very long, but for some reason Jack has no idea about these hunters).

When these four stories happen? Is Jack still immortal, so he lives literally eons and still wanders on the planet and helps to all in this new future, where magic and technologies coexist, humans, aliens, robots and magical creatures coexist, but some of them still believe in "Earth is flat" crap? The first story and even the fourth story kinda gave the impression of exactly this.

It actually could be interesting theme — like, even after "fulfilling the prophecy" Jack has no inner piece, he has no goal and puspose in his life anymore, he still feels empty, he is again in depression, he has no family anymore, so he is alone, he makes his duty, but wants to relax, but remembering his past and all those who is gone, he isolates himself from the world (just like Aku) for several years or whatever, habitants worship to Jack, making a robot-protector with his face.

And after the fight with the robot with his face, he admits his mistake and prefers to return to his duty and to teach the habitants to find own path without blind worshipping or whatever, i.e. both Jack and habitants try to find new life and happiness. Well, sorta...

Zealots will always be zealots. So, yes, 5 season ruined and destroyed the show, so after this even comics couldn't write interesting and decent story, and after this we got the canon game, which was of the same horrible level and again used the concept of "the place, where everything is not what it seems, and it was made by sudden and imbalance spell of Aku or whatever". At least, in The Lost Worlds we have this beautiful art:

The only good thing, honestly.

[gemsofgreece]

Now stfu. Thanks :)

Oh wow. I kinda expected, you know, a page in an encyclopedia or any other page with educative content about Greece or geography in general, but you come proudly with a random Turkey vs Greece article by a David dude.

Honey. You will find anything spelled out on the Internet, including actual mistakes. That's why we check our sources. In fact, this article has many other mistakes as well.

False. Turkey gets more tourists than Greece.

False. The Turkish Republic is exactly 100 years old and the Ottoman Empire lasted about 600 years.

Where to start with this one... If Greece is famous for anything, that's not its urban locations.

Mistake #1: Aya Sofya is not famous because of its minarets and Mistake #2: Ephesus was built in the 10th Century BC, so its heyday or point in time it should be referred with was at least 900 years before the Golden Age of the Roman Empire. Although granted, a lot for its preservation was done in the Roman era.

OMG American mistake #18361986: Greece is NOT a tropical country and HAS ZERO tropical islands

Built by WHOM of WHAT? Perhaps David meant King Antiochus I Theos of Commagen, check an actual source for once

David is straight out pulling facts out of his ass, isn't he

"The major cities like Istanbul and Santorini" the guy is either trolling or hasn't stepped one foot in Greece ever. Santorini is a tiny island and its "major city" Fira has 1,600 residents LMAO my grandparents' godforsaken village has more than that

The guy does a super delicate trolling, I give him that. The guy says things like oceans and tropical and major city of Santorini but has also come across Slav-Macedonian. Amazing combo. David is a man of contrasts. For the record, I haven't come across it and I have lived all my life here. I mean, it exists but you have to struggle to find its speakers and they are all bilingual anyway.

Overall David, that international traveller, does not really mean bad... apart from this????

That was very professional there. But even though he says this, he proceeds to say equally good stuff about both countries, I 'd say. The article is a confusing text by a confused man. But that's not the point. The point is his myriad of inaccuracies and mistakes (as called out in several of the comments), some very typical of Americans, like mistaking Greece for a tropical destination or confusing oceans and seas.

Which brings us to you @libbyhaiku .

I believe, very politely, I added in the tags of that damn post this:

That really set you off. You sent me an ask, telling me to fact check in google... what... whether the country of which I am a native has seas or oceans?

And I did! Even though I don't need to fact check whether Greece has oceans. And once again every website of any actual integrity, apart from the David dude, repeats this over and over. Greece has seas. Which I told you.

Furthermore, @jamy-libations searched for it on their own accord, and to my understanding they are not Greek or native Greeks, they told you and you responded as you responded to me.

I wonder, did you tell them to shut the fuck up too in your message?

So, here's the answer. You and David are making a very typical American mistake, or maybe its not a mistake within your very own borders, which is that because the USA is surrounded by oceans, you think ocean is the standard generic term for sea.

In fact, the word ocean can be used in two ways: either as THE Ocean, which is the entire body of saltwater of the earth and derives as a concept from the Greek mythology, just like the very word derives from Greek so I know well what it means, or to describe the five major bodies of water: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Arctic, the Indian and the Southern ocean.

Greece, unlike the USA, is surrounded by neither. Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and its adjacent smaller seas like the Ionian, the Aegean, the Libyan, the Cretan, the Myrtoan, the Ikarian, the Karpathian Seas. While the Mediterranean Sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean through the very narrow strait of Gibraltar, it is so enclosed by land and it exchanges so little water with the Atlantic that it is both traditionally and scientifically considered its own body of water, a Sea, and not just a general area of the Atlantic Ocean.

Here's to explain to you the difference between an ocean and a sea by an actually serious source.

Here is a map of the Mediterranean Basin. As you see, it is almost entirely enclosed and it does not earn the status of being an ocean, let alone containing a multitude of them. Greece is also in the far end of the Mediterranean, as apart from the Atlantic as possible. None of the countries in the Mediterranean Basin have access to an ocean or oceanS, apart from Spain, France and Morocco, as evident here.

Now, I would honestly have not cared or written so much if you didn't throw a tandrum for a tiny tag in a post I reblogged in a positive manner. Unfortunately, you chose the asshole way.

And since we're at it that photo was actually taken in the Italian....... oceans

and it's edited... but whatever, we have this species too.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

One of the cooler things about your AU is the fact that is seems to have been a Mech Scifi Fantasy First that over the generations and years turned cyberpunk dystopia.

From my understanding, is seems that the Divine Warriors were all mech suit operators who fought their big bad and now their mechs are used as parts for the now flesh and steel cybernetics. That is a very cool and incredibly smart concept. (Weirdly kinda makes me think of the Divine Warriors as a Voltron esc group)

Now, heres a question. Does this take place in space and the mechs are used for interplanetary travel and fights or is this all on a single planet like earth? Cause mechs always make me think of space.

Mechs always make me think of the ocean and I blame Pacific Rim. I’ve never watched them properly, don’t know what they’re about, pretty sure there’s at least one scene of a mech in water.

Anyways!

I’m not sure if I want it to be planetary or inter-planetary. I know O’Khasis is the main city, with different areas of it and towns outside, but do I then make Ru’Aun the planet? Have Tu’La be another planet they’re in close proximity to, and at war with? Have the Enki Warrior Island be a moon of Gal’Ruk?

But if it’s all on one planet like canon then places like Tu’La would just be different countries. Which means I don’t have to figure out space travel technicalities, even though I kind of want to.

I’ve not ironed that part out yet.

But thanks for the compliment for my Mech -> cybernetics lore. Whilst a lot of cybernetic parts aren’t directly harvested from mechs anymore, there’s only so much metal to go around, you can definitely tell which mech designs someone used for their parts. Obviously the Ro’Meave company uses the Matron designs commercially and the Protector designs for the family, but the SKs are Destroyer-inspired, Scholars tend to privately commission Keeper-patterned parts, and so on. Not only for the symbolism of it, but the functions too. Like Destroyer and Protector designs tend to be bulkier, with Protector designs being sleeker and more durable, whilst destroyer designs are, well, more destructive and jagged. You get the idea.

[terrence-silver]

❝  please stop—  this is scaring me. ❞ with terry silver. It can be about anything !

---

Romance books would say 'I love you' and horror would say 'I want to crawl inside of your skin' and Terry Silver knew it was beautiful and in part hilarious how those two were the same things, really, only re-packed and re-phrased, depending of the genre.

The ultimate Yin and the Yang.

The same way he knew that in certain cultures kidnapping was a rite of courtship observed over centuries --- he's travelled enough to observe that crap himself. Turns out, people out on the Caucasus had the right idea about something. In the States, in Los Angeles, back home, it was a felony charge that could get a person anywhere from three, five or eight years depending on severity of the crime, though. Well, not for him, it wasn't. Not when you knew a guy who knew a guy and not when you had the habit of inviting regional attorney judges and his cabinet to dinners on the regular. But, in the moral and ethical sense once someone outgrew the law as a concept, which he did, and relied solely on their own senses as a compass and a guideline where rules and regulations meant for ordinary people couldn't do jackshit for him, it was bad. What he was doing was bad, he realized --- he wasn't delusional, no --- whatever bad even meant and he was as far removed from someone courting as can be in this moment, even though that was never the intent. This was all bad, but very much necessary, ends justifying the means. He knew that based off of your reaction. Packed into a private jet staffed with a smaller microcosm of luxury and comforts, flown back to his mansion, you still seemed displeased, Terry noted. Your drinks poured for you, fluffed and puffed, tended to, treated like the most precious someone on this flight and you still appeared distressed and shaken. The only crime he figured was broken here was the crime against your mood which he wanted --- no --- needed to fix. In any other genre, flying off together, like an alternative, happier ending to Casablanca, it could almost be elating and triumphant of a conclusion, but in this one ---

-"Please, stop ---"-

You mutter drily, your pleading subdued, stumbling over your words, seated opposite of him and strapped into your seat, not having touched the entrée you were brought at all. Disappointing. Seeing as how it was prepared especially with your tastes in mind. -"Terry, this is scaring me."- And then, there's an added urgency to your voice that shakes only slightly. Like you were frightened and didn't quite want to show it once you peek up at him from stubbornly staring at your own lap. The plane was somewhere over the Pacific Ocean right about now and you wouldn't look at him since you boarded. Why were you scared? Were you scared by the fact that his love wasn't of the passive variety and that he'd quite literally do the unthinkable for what he wanted, was that it? That he wasn't a bullshitter? That when Terry said extreme situations require extreme measures, it wasn't just fancy talk, him playing tough or a figure of speech and that he really, genuinely meant that crap --- was that it? What did you take him for? A wimp who wouldn't take what he wanted? A quitter!? Actually, scratch everything; you were meant to be scared. Maybe that would ensure you take him seriously next time.

-"I want to remind you walked inside of this plane of your own accord."-

Terry reminds, not unkindly, chuckling into his own chin, amused at your antics, setting his champagne glass to the side --- and it was the truth and nothing but the truth, for once. And oh, the plot twist! How he adored a good plot twist. He never pushed you. Never grabbed you. Never physically hauled you in. There was no infamous chloroform rag involved and no pushing or shoving. He wasn't a savage that threw you over a metaphorical stallion and rode off with you by force. No. He was ever the gentleman. He merely landed and opened the door and you instinctively knew what was expected of you. You came with him, because deep down, you wanted to and the tenacity of your own desires frightened you because it bypassed all reason. Because no option seemed better than that. Not even running, apparently. He scared you, yes, but you loved him. There was actually a wonderful proverb that fit the situation perfectly; A man is free the instant the wants to be. Voltaire said that. And clearly, you didn't want to be free. Not really. Not enough. You wanted him far more. That pleased him. Seemed like you desired this regardless what genre this thing was.

[siderods]

OC Post 8 - The Traveller

Another possible Doozy, The Traveller is an episodic anthology universe where every "Episode" centers around its own self-contained story, with the linking factor being a mysterious steam engine known only as Mutt. Because of the nature of this universe, i'll jot down a description of each "Episode" and then describe the characters. So let's begin!

"Chomping At The Bit" - The introductory episode. A Sharknose diesel has somehow found his way to the Rio Grande, and he desperately wants a promotion from his current lowly position. Mutt decides to help the poor engine by mentoring him on some basics for a few days, but also not letting the shark grow attatched to him. The episode contains a few vauge hints to Mutt's mysterious past and why he's a drifter.

"The Amazing Technicolor Paint Job" is a very loose adaptation of the musical of a similar name. Joseph gets a new coat of paint with some interesting properties, but it leads to him being exiled by the others out of jealousy until it saves them all big time by providing a temporary tourist draw when the freight work dries out. In the story, Mutt consoles the exiled switcher and helps him take pride in himself once more, before leaving with a mysterious warning about the upcoming crisis.

"Brotherly Love" - A PRR M1 named Maxwell is being followed by one of his deceased siblings for no apparent reason. Maxwell unravels the mystery behind his deceased sibling, and confronts him on the bridge. Mutt shows up as cameos throughout the episode but most notably appears near the end when he pushes a line of cars into the posessed M1, stunning it and saving the MC, who was about to get cronched. After that, the Entity is banished and the dead M1 is properly put to rest.

"High Class Pooch" - When Mutt comes across a particularly rough-riding P30CH, he takes it upon himself to help the poor engine out, while also accidentally revealing some interesting truths about his own past.

"Hound Dog" - A 50's story of a bitter rivalry between two Union Pacific giants - a Big Boy and a first generation GTEL. The two engines are very competitive over the concept of modernization, with Mutt initially helping the Big Boy as the two try to prove the other as a fraud. However, when the Big Boy tries to get Mutt to directly sabotage the GTEL, it reminds him of some of the reasons he gave up his old life, and Mutt, seeing the writing on the wall for both of them, leaves to two to quarrel on their own.

Some of the characters appearing in these stories are as follows:

Mutt - This engine is like a weird stray that keeps turning up in random places, a mysterious drifter who usually does a valiant act before disappearing somewhere else before he can be fully identified or rewarded. Some say that he has a secret hideout or a home base to fall back on, but nobody has found it yet.

Reese - An enthusiastic but troubled diesel that Mutt comes to the assistance of, this Sharknose becomes a fish out of water upon inexplicably ending up on the Denver & Rio Grande Western. While eager to prove his worth, he has issues applying himself to his work, which he ultimately overcomes.

Joseph - A small diesel switcher graced with a unique paint scheme that has interesting properties around cameras. Despite being humble and agreeable, his coworkers eject him from their shed until he proves his worth when a decline in goods traffic makes his unique draw become the only thing to keep their railroad afloat.

Rueben & Simeon - A 45 tonner and a Model 40 respectively, these two were rather jealous and stand-offish when Joseph received his new paint, going so far as to kick him out of the roundhouse they lived in.

Maxwell - A rather regular M1 still reeling from the sudden loss of his brother, Maxwell soon finds himself entangled in a plot of posessons, ghosts, and demonic entities. He soldiers his way through and is ultimately able to find peace for himself and his brother.

Marley - Formerly Maxwell’s closest brother, Marley unfortunately suffered a catastrophic internal mechanical defect and passed away suddenly. After becoming a restless spirit when his dead body was taken over by a strange entity to stalk his brother, he is eventually able to pass on in peace when the entity is banished and his brother is able to come to terms with his passing.

The Entity - An entity taking on Marley’s body, preventing his soul from being properly put to rest. His motivations for stalking Maxwell are unknown, but he is swiftly vanquished regardless.

Papillion - Another troubled diesel that we see Mutt assist, this P30CH is very eager to work but struggles with getting excited and distracted, leading to derailments.

With all the charactes out of the way, have a super duper secret lore moment!

"..."

"Y'know, I was a high-class pooch once."

"Wasn't the life for me. Too many.. fake people."

"I don't mind my current lot one bit."

"Because what I do now is real work."

To end off, have a Cronchy photo of Mutt.

I hope you enjoy these guys. I have so many ideas with this concept.

P.S: Very ironic that the character who canonically does funny things to cameras is also messing with tumblr's formatting lol

[synergysilhouette]

Plotting out "Weaver" (Disney movie)

You can check out my post on the fanmade Disney Reinvention era from which this is based here. (Disclaimer: this is probably the hardest idea I've had to brainstorm. I apologize in advance if I misconstrued Micronesian culture; I used Chamorro names for the humans, but the gods have names I just made up.)

Background (Let's assume "Moana 2" is successful or I may have to edit this, lol.") Given that "Moana" is the highest-grossing Disney princess movie--not adjusted for inflation--and has received love for it's positive representation, Disney opts to make another Pacific Islander story. They hire Taiki Waititi to co-write and co-direct the film with Jared Bush. Early on, it becomes very apparent that Disney is trying to craft another "Moana," pushing for another Polynesian story. However, they eventually feel Disney's pressure to copy their successful Pacific Island film, and opt to go in a different direction, covering Micronesian cultures instead. They manage to get Disney to lay off when they remind Disney that Micronesia and Polynesia are both Austronesian cultures and thus have some similarities. The two directors personally visit Guam, Kiribati, and the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as doing independent research on other Micronesian lands. Disney also brings over the team of Opetaia Foa'i, Mark Mancina, and Lin-Manuel Miranda--again, to replicate "Moana," but the team thankfully refuses to make a carbon copy. The animation also opts for the painter-y style used for "Sweetheart," and Minkyu Lee provides the concept art and general art direction. While originally planning to make a musical circling around the male protagonist, execs interfered again, knowing that the Disney princess line is their most profitable aspect, so the protagonist was changed to female. Certain tweaks to the film were made, again to make the film similar to it's Polynesian counterpart. One notable change was the protagonist going from well-rounded to having a thinner body type, with Disney concerned that they'd receive accusations of racism, similar to when they depicted Maui as having a more obese build.

Plot

(Plot used for visual aid; not entirely sure if it's AI or not)

In the beginning, the king of the sky created five worlds, and one of them was the world of humans, and they were all connected in a cosmic web. But one day, the trickster god sought to disturb the balance of the worlds, untangling the web until the worlds began to collide and clash, fated for eventual destruction. Only a hero filled with strength and compassion can dispel the chaos and bring order back to the worlds.

Characters

Chirika--A young woman tasked with connecting the threads of Isaulo (based on the Truk sky god of wisdom and magic, Anulap, and Nareau, the spider god of creation from the Gillbert Islands). She is shy and uncertain, but with the guidance of the gods of the seas and stars, she ventures to travel to various lands and tether them back to their place in the cosmic web with the help of her mother's spirit and a spider that's a servant of Isaulo.

Hirao--The second son of the chief and an object of affection for Chirika (one he reciprocates, but his higher social standing prevents her from acting on it; the film doesn't explicitly say this, but there are hints of affection between them), he is a dreamer who is renound for his heavily spiritual visions. He sneaks away to join Chirika on her journey, reasoning that having someone who can see the future is kind of important on a divinely appointed journey.

Kilimaed--Trickster god who untethered the 5 worlds, he dances in the chaos that came about from different beings colliding and the carnage that could come from it. That said, despite being a god in his own right, he has certain rules he must abide by; chaos cannot live without order, after all. As is his nature, he seeks to decieve and manipulate, but if Chirika can outsmart him at his own game, she may hold the key to unifying the worlds once more.

Songs

Web of Life--The introductory story about how Isaulo created the five worlds: the human world, the world of merpeople, the world of the gods, the world of the giants, and the world of the dead. While these lands had their own strengths and harmonies, eventual discord led to the conflation of worlds, creating turmoil.

Never Be Like You--Chirika's mother's spirit visits her, and she believes perhaps she is meant to be the one to reunify the worlds. However, the village looks down on her due to her sheepish nature, and doubt she has the mettle for such a task.

The Spider's Vision--Hirao has a vision about the rebuilding of the worlds, but only if a warrior with great strength and compassion does so. Many people attempt to take up the task, but have died, been imprisoned, or never returned to lacking the mental, emotional, or physical strength required to complete various tasks.

I Cannot Lie--Kilimaed visits Chirika when she's in the land of the mermaids and offers to make a deal with her: he will find Isaulo and ask him to reinstate the order of the worlds, but only if Chirika herself breaks the web immediately after. Confused, Chirika rejects his deal.

Divine Expectations--When Chirika discovers that Isaulo has been imprisoned in Kilimaed's domain to prevent him rebuilding the worlds, she realizes Kilimaed's odd deal: as the a human, Chirika breaking the threads the make the cosmic web will have no affect, but no one but Isaulo knows this, and Kilimaed wanted her to arouse the anger of the gods and take the blame for his crimes.

Never Be Like You (Reprise)--Chirika returns home a hero, and she rejoices in who she is, glad that it allowed her to save the worlds without having to compromise her identity.

Hope you enjoyed it--even if it's heavily "Moana"-coded. Lemme know if you have any questions about this or my other Reinvention Era posts. "Khoeli" is up next!

[demivrg]

//Demivrg: independent Final Fantasy XVI roleplaying blog for ULTIMA and BARNABAS THARMR.

Mun: Kkeungi (he/him, they/them) Age: 30+ Timezone: Pacific Standard (UTC−08:00).

-RULES-

This blog is essentially a big spoiler, so those who have yet to finish the game should probably not follow me.

I don't follow for follow and will be very selective with other FFXVI RP blogs.

I block pretty liberally, so don't take it personally- Or if it is personal, I just request you keep your beef with me private (vagueposts do get back to me through mutuals, even if you think you're being real smart and sneaky about it).

All hate will be blocked and deleted.

Triggering subjects will be explored, I will do my best to tag content and use read mores.

Make a new thread if we're continuing an ask answer.

I'm Korean, genderfluid, and a bunch of other stuff- so no racism or bigotry will be tolerated in my space.

I am on the spectrum, so I request you be direct and transparent with me in communicating, because I'm not good at parsing hidden intent or 'socially polite' ways Allistics use to not tell the truth.

I will give out my Discord on a case by case basis for my own protection, I know Tumblr DMs are shitty, but please bear with me until I get to know you a little better.

-ULTIMA-

Ultima is also known as the 'Blind God' and others of their species are also blind. They are able to sense and be aware of the world around them in other ways.

Ultima's kin are known as Archons.

Ultima is 'Ultimalius' and was primarily known as The Architect rather than a 'king'.

Ultima has no gender, though remaining texts writ by the Circle of Malius referred to them using masculine pronouns.

Ultima's species are The Fallen, a civilization of evolved humans who managed to harness the power of 'magic', which is in of itself is a technology (magitek) and a language they developed by communicating with a formless being of energy they believe to be or at least have created the universe as they know it.

Magic is a combination of voicing or writing the 'true words' of forces in the universe (The Eight elements) and imbue them with aether (energy/lifeforce that make up the Eight elements) while using willpower to visualize the outcome. For example, the symbols on the obelisks throughout Valisthea are able to work independently because they are imbued with a deposit of aether and the symbols inscribed channel the aether to do specific things (i.e., fast travel) as formulaic/geometric magic… which explains why they start releasing amounts of aether everywhere after Ultima starts Primogenesis.

Typeless 'magic' uses energy harvested or channeled from the formless energy being that I need to eventually name, but Eikonoklastes still were considered sensitive to or highly attuned to aether enough that they were valued to operate magitek.

The Magitek War was not even a 'war against god', but a war between Ultima's species until they realized they were draining their world of aether (causing death/The Blight) and used magic to assimilate to a higher plane of existence (beings of energy similar to but not the same as the entity they discovered) and became the Ultima Collective. They are the collective will of The Fallen's desire to survive, but also remake a world where they can live peacefully without suffering or death.

-BARNABAS-

Sleipnir is based off of Barnabas' former comrade and best friend, the original Lord Commander of Waloed's cavalry. Sleipnir's core personality is based off of Barnabas' memories of the man, but fails to be a truly perfect re-creation, which is upsetting to both parties involved.*

*Sleipnir roleplayers do not have to go along with this concept, it was an idea I personally wanted to explore having Sleipnir based off/having the memories of another's perception of someone and not matching simply by virtue of being what Barnabas WANTS them to be. I will happily plot with mutuals to follow along with their own personal lore and headcanons for Sleipnir.

Barnabas never wanted to occupy his father's throne, but when he was chosen as Odin's dominant, it became his responsibility to oversee the realm. He's the equivalent of a career soldier, the only time he ever felt truly alive was when he was in the midst of battle and returning to a 'proper civilian' life that involved political schemes and mindless bureaucracy was akin to sleepwalking.

He often feels completely emotionally numb and enters fugue states of depersonalization, which lead to more and more extreme ways to try and 'chase the dragon' in order to experience any kind of emotion- including negative. The act of killing soldiers during war no longer brings him joy, so he slaughtered women and children in order to experience the guilt and despair that came from enacting such profane crimes against humanity. He had members of the court tortured and imprisoned, he even killed his own mother with his bare hands despite harboring a deep familial love for the woman.

Being rendered Akashic by Ultima did not cure him of his lassitude, but gave rise to a more animalistic intensity and hunger for stimulation, which comes out most notably when he finds a truly worthy opponent.

He has been waiting a long time to find someone strong enough to put an end to him, believing that if no mortal man can set him free, then perhaps a God might.

[muses-inn]

OCtober 2024 - 03

Sakyr's Modern Fantasy Verse.

In this verse, I will vary between a modern & a more futuristic setting, depending on which fits more with the other muse I write with. All in all, the idea here is that there's a Hidden Realm, much like in Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah, I just really love that concept and I can cheat my way through it a little bit.

Orcs, Goblins and other inhuman beings exist in the Hidden Realm, once created by the Elves. It is also called 'New World' by its citizen.

Sakyr enters the human world to gather ingredients for his potions that he can't find anywhere in the hidden realm. He even acquired a special permit, but there are firm rules. Stay undetected, don't cause a commotion and keep the hidden realm a secret. Thanks to just being curious, he's not very good at the 'stay undetected' part of the contract, though.

Ingredients for potions aside, he likes to pick up other 'souvenirs' for his friends whenever he's there. That ranges from magazines, clothes, cheap jewelleries to whatever else he can find in the trash. He's quite a little Trash Panda.

[ I will use this setting for Balbok as well if I rp with Muses that aren't from fantasy series or not able to jump worlds. I hope that this makes both muses a little easier to approach. ]

The Hidden Realm and notable Citizens

If the thread has more of a sci-fi setting, magic co-exists with machines and advanced knowledge in the Hidden Realm and it has a cyberpunk-esque vibe. In a modern setting, the Hidden Realm is more steampunk-ish and will have stronger fantasy vibes.

Sakyr (and Balbok) aside, there are Sakyr's friends who help him maintain the Potion-INN. They may appear if the other Muse visits Sakyr, or get mentioned every now and then. There is Borke, a Orc who decided to turn to pacifism and helping Sakyr with keeping the INN running. He is in charge of maintenance and repairs. Florina is a Dragon girl who's able to change into a big, chubby pink Dragon. She joined Sakyr's INN, waits the tables there and keeps the rooms tidy. Then there's Ciar, a former necromancer who now works in the INN's kitchen. Orbiz is the INN's local talking black cat.

A few other local Characters: Shimp is a Freshwater Shark Imp and lives in the river nearby the Potion INN. Cillian is a traveling mercenary/barbarian who sometimes helps at the INN to earn extra cash for his travels.

I will definitely make more detailed posts regarding the Hidden Realm and its people eventually. I admittedly procrastinated a little too much this afternoon, but I wanted to at least roughly summarize the modern/scifi verse and some characters for OCtober today ^^/