#Purge of the Rheddig

[yunatheintrovert]

Question of Tanta Prav's ethics in war & Tanta Sila's actions

We know that the Purge of Rheddig involved the Athian armies hunting down and killing any remaining Rheddig in Athia, "soldiers and civilians alike," as stated in the lore. This meant no taking prisoners of war and no Rheddig refugees remaining...as there'd be no Rheddig left alive in Athia.

That makes me wonder what Tanta Prav's ethics and code of justice were during the war with the Rheddig to permit such a purge. However, I also know this is set in a Middle Ages-like era, where modern concepts of wartime ethics aren't guaranteed to exist.

Would there have been any disagreements between Tanta Prav and Tanta Sila? Regardless, any disagreements probably wouldn't be public to Athians, considering how that'd affect morale.

Prav seems quite strict with her ethics. Meanwhile, Sila seems more in line with doing whatever it takes for a successful outcome in a war. I think Sila was described as honorable in the lore...but Athians are obviously unreliable narrators when it comes to their Tantas. And Sila was also described as merciless to her enemies. Furthermore, Sila's realm was described as a "realm dedicated to War" in the lore.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

I want to see her combat attire! I want to know if she also uses a sword or if she wields the giant warhammer I headcanon her with! I want her to meet Frey-as-Thalia and question why she's acting so weird! *flails*

In Tanta We Trust taking place in Visoria and not giving us a single glimpse of Tanta Olas. Evil. Maniacal, even.

[cruelfeline]

Ugh, how absolutely feral I went when the voice was revealed to be a Rheddig Tanta.

I had already guessed what the Purge was. Not the severity, perhaps, but the general idea. So the confirmation was nice, but holy shit, a Tanta of Rheddah!

Just like that, with so few words, the game's world and story opens up so wide.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

I'm being so very, very normal about the In Tanta We Trust gameplay trailer, I have absolutely not watched it three dozen times and counting, and I'm most certainly not about to do a long, rambly, I'm-on-my-period-and-my-brain-is-mush gush about it under the cut. Nope, absolutely not, I would never

...Hinges are an illusion made up by Big Normal to keep us boring LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO

SO to start off let's look at the description on YouTube, it brings me QUESTIONS

Like, guys, we know who they're fighting, they're fighting the Rheddig invaders before/during the Purge of the Rheddig, you've told us this before in previous trailer drops (edit: that I might have made up because I can't find any previous trailers??? memory wut r u doin) and the press release, so why are you being cryptic about this?

Well, the only lines of dialogue in this trailer is Frey and a mysterious person. Frey asks, "The Gloaming, what does it do?" and the mysterious voice who is decidedly not Cuff answers with, "It destroys Athia, of course." But... but that's Susurrus's job, right? Shouldn't Frey already know what's going down, know what's going to happen, and have a certain wrist idiot making noises while she tries to stop it? Is "The Gloaming" what the Rheddig calls Sus? If so that's badass and I love it, but if not, why are there no records about it in the main game? The continued lack of my sassy asshole best buddy in these trailers makes my heart do not so fun things, because I so desperately want him to go with Frey, fight back against the Rheddig and, ultimately, help her face down the Susurrus that existed before he loved knew her. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled for whatever I do get, I just hope nothing bad happened to Cuff and he's still there to be a snarky little fuck in Frey's general direction when all is said and done.

("Gloaming," btw, is twilight or dusk, it's when the day fades and night begins. I'm very much in love with this name and my Kingdom Hearts-saturated soul is going bananas right about now).

MOVING ON, we've got the new set of magic:

Sorry if the picture quality is crap, YouTube isn't playing nice with my iPad and I don't have a desktop computer that can handle my bullshit. ANYWAY! Looks an awful lot like Cuff's magic, doesn't it? I've seen speculation on the Forspoken subreddit that this is "yellow" magic, or, more specifically, Rheddig magic. Which makes sense, because it's almost identical to the magic that Cuff wields to protect Frey and deliver his killing blows. And in the fights against Susurrus, he has all that plus big giant laser beams of death, because of course he does. Frey has additional powers that Sus didn't though, like that big-ass sword that she uses to cut spacetime and summon a black hole at 0:36-0:42. Yes, look, I know that gravity spells are a staple of Square Enix fantasy RPGs, but I'm allowed to still be excited about them and think they're cool, okay?!

That said... what happened to the rest of Frey's magic? Do we still have access to Sila, Prav, and Olas's spells? We know we can still zip, but here's the thing:

That's not Sila's Zip spell. Moreover, Frey's using her left hand to cast it, not her right, which is where her magic usually comes from. So, what gives? Why doesn't Frey have full use of her magic, even though she went through that whole thing with Cinta's memories to unlock it? Did Cuff somehow integrate with Frey's magic and fundamentally change it to Rheddig magic only? Well, no, because Frey still chucks rocks in the trailer, so it seems likely he somehow gave her new magic. But the other Tanta's magics being conspicuously missing is very, very interesting to me.

Speaking of other Tantas and their magic, now we're getting on to what I really want to talk about:

MOTHER.

FUCKING.

TANTA CINTA.

What, did you think I was excited about the Rheddig war party? I am but that's a squee and a gush for later.

Cinta's magic is nothing like Frey's except purple and elegantly geometric, and I am fascinated by this. So far as I'm concerned, the fact that Frey and Cinta's magic manifests so differently confirms my headcanon/theory that Frey's magic is all hers, baby, not Cinta's. First of all, that saber is gorgeous and I want a replica of it to hang on my walls when I have a house I'm planning to stay in permanently. Second and more importantly, Cinta's magic seems to be based almost entirely around the Torana. There's nary a rock or vine or flower in sight, except as motifs in her armor or that one (1) scatter-shot spell we see her fling at 0:49. In fact, the only commonality their magics have are the effects around Frey's spells, and the same effect when Frey uses Flow and its offshoot magics, Leap and Shimmy. Cinta has integrated the Torana with her combat style (which looks like a fencing style that makes me wish I knew more about martial arts) and even using that ability to yeet Frey up the side of a mountain. As any good mom should do, lbr. Yeet your kids, it's good for them. But she doesn't use vines like Bind or Tendril, there's no other plant-based spells like Disperse, and we don't see obvious earth-based magic like Prime or Screen. It's all kind of... crystalline, almost? So that scatter-shot could be crystal bullets rather than rocks or seeds.

And let me tell you, as someone who made up a whole Final Fantasy-esque class based around crystal magic for an RP that shaped my life and who I am as a person, I am LOSING. MY GODDAMN. SHIT. Square keeps catering to me specifically and it needs to stop because my wallet can only get so empty.

[cruelfeline]

Did they call the part about the Purge of the Rheddig being a giant human sacrificial ritual disguised as an invasion?

I very much wish to know.

Got recommended some moron on YouTube with a video like “I predict every plot beat in Forspoken lol” like bro it’s a fuckin Hero’s Journey. Did you expect them to be like 🤓 We’re Actually going to subvert expectations and have Frey fuck off forever instead of protecting her people. Do you say this about every Save the World video game story with a white male protagonist

[cruelfeline]

I wonder what the Rheddig have been doing for the last twenty-odd years.

I expect they needed for recover from the Purge, too, but Athia has been a rotting husk for quite a while now. One would think they'd swoop in and finish the job at some point... after all, they've attempted attacks before, and now there's no one to stop them at sea.

Unless, of course, they can't fix the Break, either. Which is just another concept that makes me think that it was truly a sort of unexpected reaction. A horrific accident that is kind of beneficial in that it cripples Athia, but a disadvantage in the end because it makes the land habitable by no one. Even the aggressors.

[cruelfeline]

The actual Worst Thing about the Purge of the Rheddig is that it truly is the beginning of the end.

And it's such a deception. The Athians think they've won! Their Tantas vanquished their enemy. Yes, there's rebuilding to be done. Many were lost, and damage has been done, but there's hope. There's a sense of relief, even given what's been lost.

But the victory is a lie. It was never even really a war. It was a grotesque ritual designed specifically to work better and better as the Athians fought harder and harder. The more people sacrificed themselves... the more both kin and enemy were slain, the more surely was Susurrus going to return.

And in the end, that apparent victory simply confirmed that, in a few years, Athia would be no more. Either by Susurrus' hand, or by the desperate method attempted to restrain him.

It's just so uniquely horrific to think that the actions taken back then - actions assumed to have won victory - were actions that would ultimately lead to Athia rotting from within. Dying in a way so grotesque as to be unfathomable.

[yunatheintrovert]

Some musings about Athia's foreign relations (or rather the lack thereof)

One interesting thing I noticed is that the lore has no mention of Athia coming into contact with other peoples and nations aside from the Rheddig. There are no mentions of foreign trade as far as I could find. The only trade happening was between the realms of the Tantas within Athia. The game explains how many Athian writings and historical records were lost due to the Break and the wars with the Rheddig. But considering all the archive entries we can find throughout the game, it is a noticeable absence.

That makes me wonder if Athia practices isolationism and has cut itself off from the rest of the world. Or if Athia lacks the naval technology and ships to venture across the seas to other lands. Fishing boats were mentioned in the lore. Furthermore, it's possible to reach Athia by sea since the Rheddig did so during the second war. Still, foreign trade has yet to be mentioned. Plus, the attitude of Athians towards outsiders/foreigners in the lore and in the game's story seems rather hostile. The reaction to Frey is one example of that.

Granted, the reaction of Athians to Frey's arrival came at a time of great stress and hardship... But indications of the lore about how Athia feels towards the Rheddig and the description of purging "soldier and civilian alike" does give some reason to wonder about how Athians feel towards foreigners and foreign powers. There are some interesting similarities between Athia and real-life historical examples of nations being isolationist. But that's something for another post.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Dax was a Commander in Sila's army when the Break hit, and before that during the Purge of the Rheddig she was a Lieutenant.

I don't have screenshots of those archive entries and I'm not at home in to get them but yeah, Dax has Seen Some ShitT™

me writing a thing: "Dax is the youngest of the Council"

me: "... wait, is she?"

me: "huh. well, she is now!"

[cruelfeline]

All right. It's time to has out the game-relevant Athian timeline. I've been going through the lore entries and looking at various dates. Doing so has caused me to realize some little details that I find quite intriguing. This will go in two posts: this one about the Break and the implications of its timeline, and a second regarding the war against the Rheddig and its associated implications. So! Here we go.

The most recent war with the Rheddig, culminating in the Athian victory known as the Purge of the Rheddig, began with invader landfall on 3/10/3874.

The aforementioned Purge, and with it the decisive victory of the Athian defenders, occurred on 5/18/3874. This provides us with a war duration of approximately two months.

The next few years are spent rebuilding a war-torn Athia until the Break appears. Now, the Break does not actually appear until the first Tanta, Tanta Prav, goes mad.

She seems to fully fall on 8/1/3877, sentencing someone to death for stealing an apple. The Break is first seen on 9/15/3877, in all realms but Junoon.

Junoon remains free of the Break until 12/27/3877, upon which it succumbs as well. The Break continues to spread and, roughly one year later on 12/17/3878, covers about 80% of Athia and has killed 99% of its people.

So! What bits of information can be gleaned from this data?

1. The Break seemingly first appears when the Tantas lose their inner battles against Susurrus. It is not until the first Tanta goes mad that we see it mentioned in the records. And it is not until Junoon's Tanta falls that the Break is able to enter Junoon. It's logical to consider, then, that the Break doesn't just come from Cuff, but from some corruption of Tanta magic facilitated by Cuff being bound to and tormenting them. After all: Susurrus' first attack on Athia, many years ago, made no mention of Break-like phenomena. Likely because he was not bound to anyone, but broken and sealed in the Labyrinths. This is further supported by the Break being strongest around corrupted Tantas' castles but not around, say, Frey, who is bound to Cuff but not corrupted.

2. The Tantas internally fought Susurrus for at most nine months, much likely less. Cinta's memories inform us that Cinta fought against Suss and helped bind him when already pregnant with Frey. She loses her internal battle with him soon after Frey's birth. Frey was born on 12/25. We can assume this was 12/25/3877, as Cinta succumbs to Susurrus, allowing the Break to take Junoom, on 12/27/3877 the moment she sends infant Frey away. So for Cinta to have bound Suss while pregnant, only to fall very shortly after Frey's birth, means that she held him for less than nine months. The other Tantas held out shorter than she did. Cuff is apparently a very difficult person to live with.

3. We start the game in the Athian year 3898, given that Frey has just turned 21. Susurrus likewise states that he's been waiting twenty-one years for his vengeance. Game starts on 12/25/3898, likely moves into the year 3899, given that its events take at least a few weeks. This means that Susurrus is imprisoned for a third time in the year 3899.

Mind you, all of this hinges upon Earth dates and Athian dates corresponding, which we have no official word on. I like to think they do, given how Frey's birthday fits into things. And given how providing the Athian days would be sort of pointless if their year wasn't essentially like ours, simply because without that frame of reference, the dates just wouldn't mean much.

But! Assuming the dates correspond properly, this gives us insight on how long things took, so to speak. And how the formation and spread of the Break corresponded to the Tantas' internal struggles with Cuff.

Now... let me go type up this next bit about the Rheddig...

[cruelfeline]

So, this scene here. It's an interesting thing because it tells us a few things.

First, it tells us that, at least to an extent, the people of Athia are aware of Susurrus. He's not something the Tantas were able to keep completely secret from them, at least when he was free. They saw him; they know what he looks and sounds like, beyond just simple mythology.

Now, this was twenty-one years ago, and most Athians have died since then. It's possible that the current population is less familiar with him.

Either way, it still doesn't seem that the populace knew what happened to him once the Tantas bound him, so the weirdness of them keeping their eventual corruption a secret remains.

Now, second: this seems to show the first appearance of Susurrus in Athia during the year 3877; the way the Tantas and civilians speak during this scene, it's clear that they're just realizing that he's free. Which is interesting because it means that, even after the war ended, the Tantas didn't realize Suss had been removed from the Labyrinths. Apparently, they just never checked.

Which makes me wonder if the massive amount of damage the Rheddig did to Athia during the Purge had a partial objective of keeping the Tantas so occupied that they didn't realize their ancient enemy was being repaired and redeployed.

Also! This clearly happens in Visoria. And Olas states "you shall sully Visoria no longer" as the scene ends. This tells us that Susurrus' first attack in 3877 happened on Visorian soil. Which is interesting because the Rheddig originally invaded from the Praenostian shore. There's no mention of the Rheddig being present alongside him, which suggests that Suss (a) has come alone and (b) potentially flew/teleported over rather than being transported by boat.

Which is a minor bit of information by itself, but it does make me feel a certain way. This idea that he was sent alone. That he didn't have any comrades to battle alongside. That, should things go wrong, he also wouldn't have anyone to help him. He would have to shoulder the burden of this duty, and the danger of failure, alone. Mm.

During the scene, we also get this line, which... well, it's a simple thing, but the fact that Sila specifically tells Suss to report back to his "masters" makes me soooo uncomfortable.

Just. The idea that he has masters. That he's this thing on a leash, not acting under his own power but very clearly having orders to fulfill. That he's under someone else's control.

I wonder what that relationship is like. And I wonder why Cuff doesn't seem resentful of it. Why he doesn't seem keen on fighting it but is instead hellbent on obeying the orders his "masters" gave him. Why wouldn't he want to rebel? Why would he just... go along with this. With being someone's tool. With having a master.

The next scene involves his rebinding, and the main thing that stands out to me is this line, specifically because of his rage. He sounds so angry when he says this, and I just can't imagine... he's just gotten rebuilt. He's trying again, so hard, to fulfill the duty given to him by the masters he apparently feels he needs to obey, and he's being trapped again. He's fought what I'm sure was an arduous battle, and now he's going back in a different sort of cage.

That just... sucks, to be quite frank. His entire existence just seems to be one long train of battle and loss and hardship, over and over again. And the fact that he keeps subjecting himself to it rather than just saying "fuck it, I'm out"... I can't comprehend that. I can't comprehend why he won't just leave. What is it about the Rheddig and their imposed duty that he feels so compelled to adhere to, at his own painful personal expense? Why would he do this to himself, over and over again? It's insane to me.

It's insane that he won't just stop, because this all just seems a misery.

[cruelfeline]

Ah, so! Let me convey how I understood events; perhaps it will make the DLC more palatable. Or perhaps not! But I can at least explain why it makes sense to me.

...this got long. Sorry!

You're right: the first time Susurrus came to Athia, he was defeated by the original Athian Tanta (indeed, the act that gave her that position), broken up into parts, and sealed away in the Labyrinths. During the much more recent Purge of the Rheddig, these parts were collected by Rheddig soldiers and brought to a single location to do... something that the soldiers themselves were unaware of. This is where our base-game lore ends.

Now, the DLC, as far as I understand, tells us what this "something" was. Whatever "parts" Susurrus consists of were gathered together, and a ritual was performed to bring about his rebirth (as Cuff himself refers to it).

The way I understand it is that summoning Susurrus is a two-part... well, no... three-part process. You need his parts, first. We don't know what these parts are, exactly, but I don't know that that matters. They're some sort of physical objects that, I imagine, allow one to perform the impending ritual. It doesn't really matter what they are; it just matters that they exist and that they have to all be together for things to work. They could be talismans or fancy metal doodads or whatever; again: the exact specifics of this don't really change anything.

Second, you need the ritual. To me, this isn't like... a summoning ritual, per se. It's not like you do the ritual, and poof, Susurrus appears. It's more like... how to say... an infusion ritual? It's a method that kickstarts the process of energy collection that allows Susurrus to grow into his full strength. It gives him that first spark of life. Wakes him up, revitalizes him, so to speak.

What Susurrus is, in the most basic terms, is a flock of metallic birds infused with massive amounts of magical power. The ritual is what initiates the gathering of that power, specifically by using first a massive tree, then an Athian woman. The tree gathers the energy, and the woman focuses it into a single bird.

During the DLC, we also learn where that energy comes from: thousands upon thousands of lives. Susurrus' strength comes from human sacrifice.

Third - and this is implied via the Rheddig Tanta's dialogue, end credits, and post-DLC archive entries - is a fairly long period of gathering further power. It's important to understand that Susurrus isn't actually truly functional at the end of the Purge. Again: this isn't a traditional summoning where a fully-formed demon instantly manifests. Susurrus spends the next few years between the end of the Purge and his actual second attack on Athia gathering strength and growing his flock.

The Visorian Resistance is dated at 4/12/3874 in the archive. It's logical to consider that this might be referring to the DLC events. Indeed, the Purge is over soon after, with the last of the Rheddig forces being removed from Athian land on 5/18/3874.

The Break doesn't happen until a full three years later, starting with the Fall of Tanta Prav on 8/1/3877.

Now, to figure out when Susurrus returns to Athia, we have to do a little guesswork and math. Frey was born on 12/25/3877. Assuming Athian gestation is the same nine months as a Terran human, that means she was conceived some time in the third month of 3877. We know that Cinta was pregnant with her when she faces Susurrus alongside the other Tantas and seals him within the vambraces. And we know Prav falls on 8/1/3877. So it stands to reason that Susurrus returns sometime between 3/3877 and 8/3877; I tend to predict more towards the former given that Cinta isn't visibly pregnant in the flashbacks we see and is still able to manage during battle.

So this means that Susurrus takes about three years to grow before he is able to return to Athia, fight our four Tantas, and get sealed for a second time. Then, once the Tantas start to fall to corruption, his magic mixes with theirs and accidentally causes the Break.

That's how I understand the general logic of things. It's not that Susurrus' parts were retrieved and he was rebuilt; he's more complex and more energy-demanding than that. There's a whole system of events that has to happen to create something as wildly powerful as he is. And there is an astronomical amount of magical energy involved, energy sourced from life.

Now, a few other things:

"However, if this were his reassembly, I feel like a) we should have seen parts of him laying around, or the Rheddig dialogue should've hinted at that, or the tree should've had more of his gold-mechanical-fragments look, or some other visual or textual cue"

Again, I don't know that exactly what the parts are really matters. Susurrus' form doesn't make actual, physical sense, after all. He's made up of birds, but he can also solidify into other forms... I don't think it's odd that he doesn't have like... recognizable parts. He's not like... buildable like a robot, y'know? He falls into more of a "a wizard did it" logic.

The tree does have gold on it; so do the rocky spires surround it. Huge imprints of gold. The roots themselves have tendrils of gold crystal incorporated into them.

Furthermore, Thalia's markings feature not only the single bird on the back of her hand, but an entire flock of birds snaking up her arm. The lines that go from wrist to shoulder are, at close inspection, made up of tiny birds. There's also the sound that plays when Aldacor first brands her; it's the metallic sound that Susurrus makes.

Thalia's magic also has the appearance of a less-organized form of Susurrus' magic. The same gold geometry, just less refined. Suggesting she's using similar energy, just without Cuff's consciousness there to guide and organize it into the more detailed forms we see in the base game.

Overall, I feel like there's plenty of indication that it is Susurrus being revived, just... y'know. Not like super, super blatant so that there could still be some mystery to it. But if you look closely, the golden elements are everywhere. And the birds. Gosh, the birds on Thalia's arms are so clear when you recognize them, though I admit I didn't until my second playthrough!

b) he would seem a lot less genuinely clueless about what was going on (he's a good liar but he's not that good a liar, and now that the ruse is up he does enjoy being smug, especially when there's explicitly nothing Frey can do about it)."

I think Cuff being clueless about what is happening is actually an important aspect of his character and of what the Rheddig Tanta hints about at the very end.

He's not in charge of any of this. He's not like... a demon who directs the Rheddig in a mutual agreement. He didn't tell them how to do this. Something else did. Something else is responsible for his being here, and while we'll likely never know what that something is due to a lack of sequel, my theory is that it is whatever the Rheddig cult worships.

Susurrus is a living weapon who was essentially unconscious for this whole ordeal and had no control over it. Cuff doesn't know what happened because he simply wasn't awake for it, and he didn't orchestrate it. He's chillingly powerless in governing his own existence, to the point of not even really knowing how he was revived in the first place.

This concept adds to his frightening lack of agency and cements the notion that there is someone or something bigger and more powerful and more terrifying above him that is behind all of this; he himself is just a pawn, truly given life solely to destroy Athia by a different entity we have yet to meet.

Essentially: Susurrus didn't tell the Rheddig how to create and manage him. He didn't tell them how to revive him. He was made, he fought, he lost, and he lay dormant for many, many years before being revived not because he planned for it, but because his "services" were still in demand. Revived without any real understanding of what was going on because he is not master of his own situation.

Then the second invasion sends expeditions to set him free, although they (whatever higher-ups “they” are) don't tell the foot soldiers exactly what he is, and though the invasion itself is driven back in the Purge, Susurrus is successfully freed and causes the Break. 

The invasion itself isn't really driven back because it was never an actual invasion. It was a huge sacrificial ritual.

The Rheddig never intended to actually invade and conquer Athia. They intended to buy some time to grab Susurrus' components. After that, they did not care about being pushed back or killed because the death was the point. Remember how Aldacor thanks Thalia and Cinta for assisting in the ritual? Rheddig deaths also fuel Susurrus' rebirth.

The whole debacle was essentially throwing bodies into a magical meat grinder to collect energy used to revive their living weapon. Everyone's bodies. Athian, Rheddig... even Aldacor himself. It was a massive act of human sacrifice disguised as a military action.

Anyway! That's how it makes sense to me. Susurrus' components were always in the Labyrinths, but they needed to be re-infused with energy in order to truly bring him back. This energy comes from lives, and while the ritual-disguised-as-an-invasion provided the initial massive kickstart, he spent a further three years gathering more until he grew from one little bird to the magnificent murmuration we know and love and want to smack upside the head.

.......... actually wait that in fact not only answers very little, it directly contradicts your own lore

[cruelfeline]

Wait. Wait, then I was right.

The entire purpose of the Purge. That was the point.

And it didn't matter how many soldiers of the Rheddig died because it all fed his resurrection.

The whole point of all of this was to revive Susurrus.

[cruelfeline]

All right; I need to go to bed in a little bit, but I've been waiting to talk about this all day. And I won't be able to sleep until I do. So!

There's obviously a lot to unpack here. We have Frey in a fantastic new outfit. We have Tanta Cinta. According to summary info accompanying the release date announcement, this DLC will involve Frey somehow finding herself taken back to the time of the Purge of the Rheddig. Once there, she will combat Rheddig invaders alongside her mother.

So this takes place in the year 3874, twenty-five years prior to the current Athian year of 3899. I would guess between the dates of 3/10 and 5/18, given the timeline of the Purge. Now... let's see...

This would be about three years prior to the four Tantas fighting and re-binding Susurrus, in the year 3877. Likewise three years prior to Frey's birth on 12/25/3877.

We have Frey meeting and interacting with her mum roughly three years prior to her own conception. At the time when the Rheddig are invading. Likewise at the time when a small group of Rheddig soldiers are plundering the Labyrinths in search of Susurrus' pieces.

There are so many questions to ask here. I can't even properly grasp them all right now.

So I'm going to focus on the first thing that stood out to me upon seeing this image. Y'all already know what it is.

Her goddamn arm.

Look at this! What is even happening here?!

Cuff is... not a cuff. He has expanded all the way up to Frey's shoulder.

What in the world does that mean?

...I mean, is that even Cuff? I assume it's Cuff. Nothing else in the game world looks like that. That golden sun-bird-blade motif.

It looks consistent with the little spurs Cuff has. And with the suns present in the Rheddig banner. I don't know what else it could be, honestly.

So like... what happened? What in the world happened for him to look like that?

Is he expanding his influence? Is this what it looks like when he successfully begins to take Frey over? He travels up her arm like some sort of infection?

Or is this something intentional on Frey's part? Did she make him like this? Assimilate him further?

I don't know. I am so, so perturbed by her arm. Out of all the things I was expecting in this DLC, her arm looking like that was not one of them. At all.

It honestly makes me anxious. What could it possibly mean for their relationship? Is he finally destroying her? Is this what that looks like for them? It didn't look that way for the other Tantas, but she bound him so much closer...

And what even is Cuff's role going to be in this? I mean... the Purge of the Rheddig? The bizarrely short war that seemed to serve specifically to free him? How is he going to function, with Frey interacting with that? If she tries to interfere in that, perhaps tries to stop him being re-made, I can only imagine his only option being to try to hinder her as much as possible. Is that what finally spurs him into full action, into truly trying to drive her mad?

There's... just... so many questions. And they're all made more impossible to answer by her stupid arm!

Of all the things I was expecting out of it... this was not even on a long list.

[cruelfeline]

There is a significant span of time between the Purge of the Rheddig (ending 5/18/3874) and Susurrus' second attack on Athia (estimated to be potentially somewhere in March or April of 3877, at most nine months before Frey's birthday).

My personal theory as to why this is, is that it took the Rheddig that long to rebuild him.

I like to think that each labyrinth contained parts of Susurrus... "parts" being hundreds of tiny, golden metal birds in boxes. And it took approximately three years for Rheddig scientists to painstakingly arrange an enormous pile of itty bitty birds into a snarky asshole again.

Like advanced Lego, but with thousands upon thousands of tiny birds.

I will stand by this theory until proven otherwise.

[cruelfeline]

Knowing that the DLC will involve Frey essentially participating in the Purge of the Rheddig, I can't stop wondering: how will this affect her interactions with Cuff?

Throughout the main game, she and Cuff have a... not "friendly" relationship, really, but one that is roughly mutually beneficial. This works for two reasons. First, because Cuff is not forthcoming about his true intentions. And second because, intentions aside, both she and he are well-served by killing the Tantas. He needs them gone so he can be freed and return to his wanton rampaging. She needs them gone because, as they are, they are a true danger to her newfound friends in Cipal. It's a delightful sort of irony, really, and it allows them to work together throughout the main campaign.

Post-game, the two of them are essentially in limbo; they're stuck with their current status quo, and the adventuring and combat they do doesn't really harm either of them. Cuff isn't demanding anything of Frey that puts her at a disadvantage. And Frey killing Breakbeasts isn't really standing in the way of Cuff's goals. It's a sort of neutral activity. Neither of them really lose anything by engaging in it.

But the Purge of the Rheddig! How would that work? Frey fighting the Rheddig doesn't seem like something that would benefit Cuff at all. Especially if she goes after the group trying to recover his pieces from the labyrinths. And Cuff can't manipulate her properly anymore; she's wise to his deceptions. I can't imagine her being anything but suspicious if he were to try to persuade her one way or another.

How do they work together when Frey is directly fighting the people Cuff appears beholden to?