#Cosmic Chronicles

[kennymcmann]

i still can't believe someone had the audacity to make a movie about tolkien's life and not include a single thing about c.s. lewis. do these people know that without lewis, tolkien would have never finished the hobbit or lotr? he would have never written the silmarillion without lewis' encouragement. lewis is treebeard, for crying out loud.

at the same time, lewis would have never written the cosmic trilogy without tolkien and the main character of these books is HIGHLY based on tolkien. their friendship was too much part of their lives to just be cut out like that. you can't talk about one without the other. unless you want to talk about a lie.

[st-peculiar]

Cosmic scifi media so good it’s got me contemplating my own cosmic scifi-esque story

[randomwriteronline]

One night, when all is over, when all can rest; when Kiina sleeps listening to the waves, Berix nursing the newest still unfinished project, Gresh not having any new scars to count, Click barely batting a wing; Ackar hears the voice of Mata Nui smile with such infinite love, and wakes up.

He sits up and listens again: if he strains his ears, if he forces himself to shut down the frantic beating of his heart, he thinks he can hear that voice again. He could swear he is talking, maybe humming, so close and yet so impossibly far away, even further than the resting place of the Ignika but somehow right next to him, tone filled with mournful joy, with an affection that brings one to tears.

Someone is out there, outside.

Someone is singing, outside.

He leaves.

One night, when all is over, Ackar forces himself to stumble out of town and into the cold, into the slowly receding desert which is giving way to life once more; he follows beneath the starlit sky barren of blue or green moons the sound, the song, the voice, an enthralled sleepwalker chasing desperately after a lucid dream he knows cannot be and yet so desperately wants to find, a spellbound seaman bewitched by a cannibal siren's serenade dragging his ship against the jagged cliffs upon which the object of his desire perches with monstrous arms outstretched so lovingly towards him.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: he could swear it's the same, the same deep and comforting sound upon whom he once laid his hand on to call 'friend'; he could swear it's the same, so sweet and so heartbroken, and his throat twists tight into a knot as he knows he will not see what he wants, yet he wants so badly.

He chases after the sound, the song, the voice: it splits but does not shatter. Like the hairs of a braid its pieces join together, tangle gently, form a harmony that no mouth can replicate.

He stops.

He looks.

One night, when all is over, Ackar watches and listens.

He knows them, he recognizes them: the twelve of them arranged in two concentric circles, only six of them singing, only six of them silent, their language so far beyond what his anatomy could comprehend or hope to produce, and yet he understands.

He understands from the inner circle's tight fists, their shaking shoulders, their shuddering chests as they struggle to breathe. He understands from the outer circle's solemn pronounciation, the anguish in their shining eyes, their longing and trembling voices.

He understands and hushes, and listens to their mourning song.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mata mourn who they were fated to protect and instead failed.

One night, when all is over, the Toa Mahri mourn who they could not hold back from the choice of fate.

One night, when all is over, Toa Takanuva mourns all who he will never accept he could not die in the stead of.

Six voices raise, six lights like an aurora across the sky - two figures, mighty and wise and yet so powerless, dancing in their dirge with bodies composed of mourning songs harmonizing together - warriors burying a king, a peer, a friend, a stranger. Six more join, louder to the point of wailing, no composure, burning stars bursting as violently as their destructive end allows, children crying inconsolable the death of a hero, a peer, a friend, a sibling.

The Toa howl like wild hounds into the empty desert night in which no bloody star shines, in the heartbroken artificial language of their manufactured living people.

One night, when all is over, Ackar looks and listens.

In their twelve voices he hears yet another, at once earth and sky, enormously strong yet as light as the birdsong.

In their thirteen voices he hears Mata Nui.

In their thirteen voices Mata Nui smiles.

He smiles with such infinite love.

One night, when all is over, Ackar whispers: I love you.

One night, when all is over, the Toa scream: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Matoro booms: I love you.

One night, when all is over, Mata Nui smiles: I love you.

Ackar cries.

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

Ooh we had to pull out both Mokonas for this one! The second earring gets it’s time in the spotlight as I frantically try to remember which one was which! Is this the one that boosts power? And the other one sealed it? At the very least it makes sense for now!

God you just don’t get characters like Yuuko every day. Look at this! This could be a poster all on its own. I could stare at this for hours. 

But if we have to stop doing that and pay attention to the actual narrative she’s pulling out the same tools she was using to track down Evil Wolverine back in xxxholic years ago, but this time with purpose and determination and ceremony and FLAIR and it’s perfect. And I just can’t miss the opportunity to note that, in a visual sense, she’s tying down the moon itself, and you could get SO MUCH good metaphorical analysis out of that. 

[augment-techs]

Apologies for the delay, @angel-of-chaos13 but the 'haptics' bit kept throwing me off.

[burialuntrue2007]

eld forest arc is life

[elvenwhovian]

Anna stepped up to the threshold. There was no portal, no magical path for her. Yet what if there could be? 

– The Door Between Two Stones, The Wayfarer Chronicles

[wormdramafever]

Goodbye Volcano High got 3 Honorable Mentions at the Independent Games Festival (IGF)!!!!

Excellence In Narrative, Excellence In Visual Arts, and Seumas McNally Grand Prize!!

[cosmichorrorsarestillnicerthanme]

Do you ever consider doing Xenoblade Chronicles asks? Just curious.

I can't say I have, though that's mostly because I'm not really familiar with the series. That said, it does look interesting.

Someone, give me a joke summary of the series that completely fits it to a T.

[hood-ex]

Day 15: Favorite Vehicle

Motorcycle/wingcycle. He's had a ton of different looking bikes across different titles, and I don't particularly have a favorite out of them. I'm actually not a fan of the bike he's been riding most recently. The one with the giant blue bird insignia under the headlights. Yeaaah... I just think it's ugly asldkja. There's actually a different version of that design from Vol. 2 that I like waaay more:

Nightwing #130

In general, I'm fine with a regular ole motorcycle or one with a more subtle insignia like so:

Superman #700

Oh, there's also the Sky Cycle from Titans Tower. It wasn't Dick's personal ride, but I thought it was funny how he was shown flying off in it not too long after telling Kory, “You always carry me, Koriand’r. I’ve got to get some sort of vehicle.”

TNTT (Vol. 1) #8

[cosmic-abysss]

my max is supposed to be 1600 T-T this is due friday we'll see how it goes...

[darksideofparis]

Now that Dot & Bubble has come and gone, and left quite an impression in it's wake, what's your view on the episode and how would your OCs react to the episode's events?

I can promise that all of my OCs will HATE Lindy, lol, no worries about that.

It will be especially interesting for my historical OCs (Abby, Ava, Esme, Julia, and Lizzy) since they come from time periods that we think of as having rampant racism and where it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the OCs themselves to be racist - but they’re not. Each of them, before ever coming into contact with the Doctor, are kind and compassionate to everyone around them, regardless of skin color, religion, etc. So, to see these people in the far future behaving in such a way… It’s shocking and appalling, as it would seem to them such bigotry would be a thing of their time periods, something that went away as society progressed, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

It will probably hit even harder for Ava, who is part Latina and has her own experiences with racism.

For the rest of my OCs, expect a lot of shock, rage, and getting of revenge. Alex for one and Shareen may just go after a certain blonde with a baseball bat…

Lol, sorry for the rant, but as you can see, that episode pissed me off and it will be reflected in my writing!

[mhb-oficial]

🇺🇸 Cosmic terror appears as an ingredient of the earliest folklore of all races and is crystallised in the most archaic ballads, chronicles, and sacred writings.

- H.P. Lovecraft

[honestlyvan]

In Xenoblade 3 Ouroboros can obtain one another's skills even outside their direct partner. Why do you think this is and do you think it has implications beyond that? Like for example, all of Ouroboros are mentally connected

That's a really good question. Off the top of my head, I can't actually remember any time outside of the cutscene that introduces the gameplay concept where they would use each other's skills in scripted scenes, and the next time the concept shows up is in the City to illustrate that it's not the "being Ouroboros" part that really makes them different, it's the "being free from a Flame Clock" part.

Honestly I kinda just took it as a functional metaphor -- it's meant to illustrate the way having that artificial shackle removed allows people to better take influences from their surroundings and grow in complexity. Exchanging classes is just where it starts, as a natural outgrowth of them already living in each other's heads. The way the classes start spreading, too, with someone in the gang learning a lesson and then that lesson propagating inside the group. Every class is a different sort of realisation, which the fact that the class inheritor is not always the best user of that class really demonstrate -- some lessons are more impactful for some people, even if they take longer to set in.

I also feel like Bladelore and consequently class are rigid as a more of a function of culture than the magic system. I haven't really posted about this outside of DW, but I think Keves has a technical complexity ceiling in the form of power frame maintenance that is a functional cap on how any given person's Blade can change over their lifetime, and Agnus has a martial culture that discourages individualism and tall poppy behaviour that functionally does the same. The kingdoms have anti-growth mindset imposed from without, and I feel like once removed from a Flame Clock, it's entirely plausible that the Heroes start picking up skills from each other and the Ouroboros, too.

The real mystery to me is how Irises facilitate this process, tbh, and that's mostly because we don't yet know how Irises interface with the Flame Clocks and Blades. We know Moebius use the kindoms' Irises heavily, but we don't know they were created by Moebius or if they're a part of the way Origin functions -- perhaps they're needed to inteface the body with the soul still stored in Origin, and becoming Ouroboros releases limiters placed on that process as a way to limit the imagination.

[elvenwhovian]

She could be wrong. This could be suicide. Death via space might be worse than death via suffocation. But she had to make a choice and she chose to believe in Justin's words. The latch popped and with much effort she twisted the helmet.

– The Second Choice, The Wayfarer Chronicles

[marshvlovestv]

Happy Next Fest! I decided this year to do something I never do and let myself get hype for some upcoming games! Over the past few days, I tried out twelve Next Fest demos - some of them weren't for me, but most were really promising, and I thought I would share the five games I tried which I am the most excited for, along with the notes I wrote immediately after playing each one.

(They're in alphabetical order, not ranked)

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood - THIS GAME IS SO DOPE I AM SO HYPE FOR THE FULL RELEASE!!! I was sad when the demo ended! It especially deserves a Let’s Play - let’s see if I will be brave enough to read aloud the sexually explicit dialogue when the time comes.

In Stars and Time - “Guy who speaks exclusively in puns” is not my favorite archetype already but to make them the FREAKIN PROTAGONIST… That aside, this was quite the charming introduction. Cool character designs and music. The rock-paper-scissors combat is so goofily literal that it circles back around to awesome, and I am a sucker and a half for a time loop.

Saltsea Chronicles - Very cute but I expected as much from Die Gute Fabrik. Has the same casual but profoundly human slice-of-life storytelling as Mutazione, and I see a lot of replayability potential in choosing which characters go on missions and the conflict resolution mechanics.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical - I would rather play this game than see most of what is currently on Broadway (meant as a jab at those jukebox biopics of pop musicians, not anything actually original). The way the demo was structured might have spoiled some story beats, but I don’t know how else they could have done it; it was a sampler of musical numbers, and from it seems these musical numbers really drive the plot in a meaningful way! Awesome!

Verne: The Shape of Fantasy - Puzzles are just tricky enough, although I think the game could let you struggle a little longer before giving hints. The pixel art and voice acting is so nice.