#Torma Making

[mahayanapilgrim]

I. Consecrate as nectar, the first part of whatever you eat or drink. Offer it visualizing the guru above your head... the yidam in your heart center and the dakini in your navel center. You should train in partaking of food in this way.

2. In whichever direction you go, supplicate the guru, yidam, and dakini. Visualize the guru above the crown of your head. Visualize yourself as the yidam and visualize the dakini and the Dharma protectors as your escorts. This is the training in walking.

3. Even at the cost of your life or limb, you should train in regarding the guru to be as dear as your heart, the yidam as dear as your eyes, and the dakini as dear as your body.

4. No matter what happens, such as sickness, difficulty or ease, joy or sorrow, you should train in supplicating the guru, making offerings to the yidam, and giving feasts and torma to the dakini. Other than that, you should not pursue other means such as soothsaying and shamanistic rituals.

5. Recollecting the virtues of the guru, yidam, and dakini, you should take refuge again and again. By taking refuge in the guru, obstacles are cleared away. By taking refuge in the yidam, the body of mahamudra' will be attained. By taking refuge in the dakini, you will receive the siddhis."

~Guru Padmasambhava, as taught to Yeshe Tsogyal, from Dakini Teachings

[innqufocus]

last part for now of the Insight’s main crew; bff edition. details below

left: Gehaol Viqsar, second to the head of the scientific team on the Insight. he’s insightful and compassionate and brilliant, specializing in genetics and bio-organic studies. Gehaol is one of Erkleid’s closest friends, having been a fellow scientist to Erkleid’s late mate, Nenfurt Torma. they’re extremely close, with Gehaol often going out of his way to give Erkleid extra help or sneak him things he might want from the labs. he’s still relatively young, but a valued member of his team. in the Another Voice series, Gehaol is invaluable as being the one to figure out a way to separate Erkleid and Donatello’s dangerous telepathic and genetic bond.  scales: ghostly pale blue bioluminescence: pale green age: 99 Earth years song: Astronaut in the Ocean, by Masked Wolf

middle: Erkleid “Ray” Naera, one of the youngest medical technicians on the Insight at a mere eighty-five years old. Erkleid is an extremely anxious individual, overthinking everything and seeking approval for his every action. he specializes in emergency medicine, being similar to an EMT on Earth. he is one of the five Caandensaurs in his entire race capable of bearing live eggs, making him an important member of his dwindling society. Erkleid has a deep crush on one of the Earth specimens his people abducted from the planet, Donatello, because of the identical brainwave frequency he shares with Erkleid’s deceased mate, Nenfurt Torma. Erkleid is sweet and attentive, willing to bend over backwards for Donatello’s safety and comfort. he appears here as he does at the end of the Another Voice series, sporting some... choice scars from a traumatizing event from the story’s third act.  scales: electric blue bioluminescence: canary yellow age: 85 Earth years song: To Tell You the Truth, by Written by Wolves

right: Enpaui Drefin, the head scientist on the Insight, and one of Erkleid’s close friends. his specialty lies with a healthy bit of everything; Enpaui is very intelligent and works with everything from technology to biogenetics. he’s often mistaken for lacking the Caandensaurs’ traditional heating bands, because the coloring of his bands is nearly identical to the color of his scales. a caring and logical individual, Enpaui is hard-working and enjoys taking notes on everything and anything he can get his hands on to study.  scales: robin’s egg blue bioluminescence: pale yellow age: 101 Earth years song: Royal Beggars, by Christina Rotondo

[riwotsegya1]

Nyempa puja for stupa in new center

Tashi Delek, we are announcing to our Sangha members that two stupas are in the process of being built in our new center in Lynden Ontario. Venerable Rangrig Rinpoche will be doing nyempa practice for two days at the center in Toronto. Those who wish to make offering to the shooting torma puja can bring a little black and red beans and also a few coins if you wish. Offering for this type of puja…

[caxycreations]

Yes!!! Oh thank you for this!!! I've been looking for an excuse to talk about Relanian storms, and asking for a tool or process to tackle a specific task brings them to mind!

Tool/process: Spires, Batteries, and the networks they make up Task: Collecting magically-augmented lightning for use as energy to power the various technology and support the electrical needs of Relanians.

Also I tag @moremysteriesthantragedies @that-one-enby-onyx @sparrowcraft and anyone else that wants to answer the question!

Okay, so Relanian storms are literally divinely powerful. Relan's weather is largely benign. It can get kinda windy, sometimes there's rain, but STORMS are a "once or twice a year" event.

Essentially, lightning storms on Relan are a mixture of science and magic. The natural lightning storms of the planet are kept at bay by the dense magic in the air, serving as a channel for that lightning to condense in. The magic essentially functions like...an energy sponge, catching and storing all that built up charge. It draws it in and builds over time until, eventually, it explodes in world-wide natural disasters.

Or...it used to~

Thanks to a mixture of Heavusian, Andronian, and Ferusian science, the Lightning Rods were built. The Lightning Rods on Relan are a system of spires built in areas commonly struck by lightning during the global storms. There are one hundred "World Spires", which are gargantuan marvels of multi-national engineering. They are built in critical areas of world government, serving as protection for capitol cities, diplomatic agencies, various political strongholds, and in international places of political meeting.

World Spires are large, with the smallest being located in the Kanorian capitol city standing at a measly 1,500 feet, while the largest, located on Greatwood Island, stands at a whopping 11,700 feet. They are designed to attract and redirect lightning from the sky into great electrical systems, with wiring leading from the spires into what are known as Batteries, though Spires only direct charge to the largest class of Battery, out of five.

In addition to the World Spires, there are countless smaller spires scattered throughout the various nations of the world, with the exception of Eikiria. These smaller spires also attract lightning, and are used to not only protect Relanian cities and towns from the devastating power of the storms, but also to direct charge to Batteries as well.

There are five class of Battery, which are, in order of smallest to largest: Vera, Lox, Torma, Oglan, and Suma. These are named after the Kanorian names for various stars, with Suma being the Kanorian name for "Sun", a fitting name for the largest power capacity on Relan.

Suma class batteries are capable of holding ~20 TW (terawatt). Suma class batteries are directly connected to Spires, and redistribute power to Oglan class batteries over time, slowly draining the Suma class.

Oglan class batteries are capable of holding ~10 TW. They draw power from Suma class batteries, redirecting not only to critical systems (city power, reserve generators for government buildings and civilian shelters, etc) but also to Torma class batteries.

Torma class batteries are capable of holding ~5 TW. They draw power from Oglan class batteries, and redirect this power to city businesses, mass residential buildings, and the like, as well as redirecting power into Lox class batteries.

Lox class batteries are capable of holding ~1 TW. They draw power from Oglan class batteries, and redirect this power to residential homes and Vera class batteries.

Vera class batteries are capable of holding ~500 GW (Gigawatts). They are most commonly used for reserve power, and are designed to function as backup power sources for government, military, and citizens alike in the event of severe emergency or in the event of power loss due to over-use of electrical energy between storms.

There are four times as many Suma class batteries as there are Spires on Relan, with each Spire connecting to four Suma class batteries. During storms, these batteries collect the charge from the magically-augmented lightning strikes, turning them into usable power for Relanians.

The first Spires were simple towers, barely a hundred feet high, that redirected lightning into the ground much like our own lightning rods. But it became apparent that lightning could be put to better use, and so scientists from around the world came together to create the modern edition of the Spires, as well as the Batteries, to provide plentiful power to the people of Relan.

This system works due to the unique nature of Relanian lightning: during a Relanian storm, lighting may strike a Spire thousands of times every minute, with bolts ranging from several gigawatts of power all the way to several terawatts. This is why every Spire is connected to four Suma class batteries: to disperse the charge and avoid overloading any individual battery.

As for the effect on the history of the setting, due to just how much power is drawn from Relanian storms, and these storms happening a couple of times a year, power has never been a concern. It is readily available, with all Relanians enjoying its benefits free of charge, so rather than entire corporations, organizations, and the like working to privatize power, it is a free resource, and has allowed many of the funds that once went towards the cost of gas power, hydropower, geothermal power, and the like, have been redirected into other costs, allowing for bigger budgets in more critical fields.

It also led to a rise in electrical vehicles far earlier than on Earth, with nearly 78% of all vehicles being powered by electricity rather than gas. Those that are not electric are only gas-powered due to necessity, either out of heavy risk of malfunction in their designated purpose, or out of safety concerns in the field of use.

The people of Relan appreciate the Spire system probably more than any other system. As of Tylvinian Tales, they are somewhat taken for granted as a fact of life, but the older generations, such as Ryder or David's grandparents, still remember being young adults when the Spires first came into being, and remember the days before when their parents would struggle with electricity bills, and when the risk of fossil fuels were a rising topic. With the invention of the Spire system, those concerns quickly dwindled, and the older generations and their children appreciate it greatly, a new level of security in the knowledge that power will always be freely available.

Also, Fulgurite on Relan is far more valuable. Lightning is a combination of not only the same things as Earth (positive and negative charges, raw energy) but it's magnified and empowered a thousand times over with condensed magical energy. When fulgurite is formed, not only is it formed in much greater quantity due to the much larger lightning bolts on Relan, but the formation of fulgurite traps that magic within the mineral.

Relanian scientists have developed ways to process fulgurite, to reshape it, and have learned to use it as a sort of energy sponge. It actively draws energy, be it electrical or magical, in. It's known to nullify Blessings, the innate magic in living things, and all forms of electrical and magical energy brought too close to it.

As such, it's been put to use as the final layer of defense in Spire safe rooms, which are heavy-duty, multi-layered constructs deep beneath the Spires, capable of housing anywhere from twenty to forty people or more, and built to defend against damage far more powerful than the most powerful lightning strike recorded thus far. Fulgurite serves as the next-to-last layer of defense, intended to absorb any energy that may get through the other layers.

It's also been made popular as insulation, with fragments of fulgurite being included in standard insulation as a protection against electrical fire or malfunction in homes and businesses, draining the electrical and magical energy from the surrounding environment before it can become dangerous during power surges and the like.

Worldbuilding Wednesday: Doing It The Right Way

Hello, folks! Having just concluded a terrifying examination less than six hours ago, I know find myself strangely energised! Here's this week's Prompt, while I'm still sane.

I'd love to hear about some tool or process that exists to tackle a specific task in your Setting! Who created it, who makes it, and who uses it most? How has it changed in form and function pver time? How much of an effect has it had on the history of the setting, and what do people think of it?

Tagging @athenswrites @hessdalen-globe @theprissythumbelina @username-cause-i-need-one @thatndginger @caxycreations @avrablake and anyone who'd like to take part!

[pluagemask042]

Gwen 10 Albedo Aliens - Divine Vulpimancer

"While translation efforts on the complex spoken language of vulpimancers are on going, we are able to make rough translations of their "written" language have yielded some promising results. as an example we managed to translate their apparent creation myth: their god is described to have tracked and consumed every star in the sky, finishing off with the sun and moon. using their claws to slice up the moon into smaller pieces for easier consumption" - Plumber Xenolinguist Torma, excerpt taking from "Research paper on the current state of vulpimancer communications."

[tarathingsofferings]

Charity

[zerogate]

In Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism, we are presented with a vast array of nonhuman beings: gods, ghosts, water-spirits, smell-eaters, etc. At the end of most Mahayana sutras, some of these types of beings in Lord Buddha's audience voice their approval of the teaching and vow their willingness to embrace it and protect others who also practice it. In tantra, nonhuman beings are referred to even more frequently. Various tormas are offered to a wide variety of spirits and gods. And in both sutra and tantra, pure lands or buddha-fields are frequently mentioned.

Once again, we might find this difficult to believe. Where are these beings? If they can influence our lives, why can't we see them? Where are the hells and pure lands? Are the hells in the hot core of the earth; are the pure lands somewhere in outer space?

None of this can be easily understood if we grasp solidly to this world as being real and concrete. If for a moment we can accept the primacy of mind, we might be able to understand how the mind could create any of an infinite variety of worlds, beings, and types of experience.

Could you dream of being in hell? In a pure land? That's not so difficult to accept. The next question is the obvious one--what's the difference then between waking and sleeping? If you can demonstrate some real fundamental difference, the other realms of being might seem implausible, but if waking and dream are basically similar in nature, then it's easy to understand how other realms can exist: We simply dream them.

I tend to think of these various realms like different TV channels. None of the channels is more real than the others. The events on one channel have no spatial relationship to the events on another; the characters in the soap opera cannot influence the basketball games I'm fond of watching. This makes it easier for me to imagine that there are different realms filled with many kinds of beings, each realm existing with its own space and time.

-- Bruce Newman, A Beginners Guide to Tibetan Buddhism

[vajranam]

Nandhipa Teaching

Jayananda was a Brahman minister to the king of Bengal who secretly practices the Dharma. In the course of time, he made many torma offerings which were reported to the king. He was caught and put to prison, the king refused to release him despite his pleas.

Because the Brahman was accustomed to give torma offerings, many birds appeared. Not finding the offerings, the birds gathered on the king’s palace. The palace guards tried to remove the birds, as the people watched and wonder. As the amount of birds increased, a man who had the ability to understand the voice of birds heard them say: “That Brahman, who was like a mother and father to us, has been condemned by the king.” He told this to the king, in reply, the king said he will release the Brahman to a lonely place if the birds to leave. The message was passed to the birds, and they left. The king took faith, and every day he gave the Brahman 20 bushels of rice to make torma offerings.

The minister came to be known as Jayananda and for 700 years, he worked for the benefit of beings, then he went to the realm of the Dakas.

[wrooom]

KARR - Knight Rider - INSTRUCTIONS (free Addition To KITT) 1 

"Have you seen my KITT built in 6 wide Speed Champions style? I have built its evil twin KARR too. (I know some of you have already built it as it is very similar to KITT, only some color and sticker modification is necessary :)) In my version I wanted to make the bottom gray line a bit narrower, therefore the side panels have been modified. Its parts list and instructions are free additions to KITT:"

By László Torma

[noxchievous]

Charging up my art skills by making shitty little doodles. Art is so fun because I can draw and it can be sooo ugly but there it is I just drew something. And it’s fun and it’s for me. Enjoy my doodles I enjoyed making them

[thirdeyecomics]

You guys really hooked us up on #christmaseve, #thirdeyefaithful — even cupcakes that look like Third Eye Torma made their way to us! Thank you all so much for making Third Eye a part of your holidays — we love you all so darn much, and we can’t even begin to express how much we appreciate you making Third Eye a destination for your holiday shopping this year! #buythirdeyeordie (at THIRD EYE COMICS) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJPaDaiBvgX/?igshid=mf7f0j8yi9bi

[gasoliya]

now, before anyone ELSE makes this joke first...

A ella le gusta la gasolina ! Dame más gasolina !

i am very much aware that my url is one letter from being gasolina, thank you very much, but the alternative would have been soliyaga and that didn’t sound too hot either, so...*gasolina by daddy yankee plays in the bg*

so anyways, let’s get on with this intro (fair warning i talk A LOT but it’s cause i’m excited!):

hi hi everyone!!  i’m aza (i’ve also gone by wren) and a few of you may know me as i used to frequent indie krp and closed krp sporadically over the past few years!

super psyched to be accepted and want to dive FULL FORCE into plotting with as many people as i can! i’ve already got a mind for a second air nation muse, so if nothing works out between liya and your muse(s) to start, don’t fret!

me, aza, helping repopulate the air nation like aang and katara

sooooo this is her full bio, and it’s bullet format and relatively short (i think?) BUT if you want the quick and dirty, here it is:

31 years old, airbender. first born daughter of council member rinzen (torma family!).

fc is sonoya mizuno and she’s literally the perfect fc because she’s a dancer and there’s a shit ton of pics with her in motion! would have made her a waterbender, but also - the air nation needed some loving!

her family calls her “liya” as the a is an easy way to draw out her name as a term of endearment, close friends will probably also call her liya or soli! otherwise, she also goes by “soli” or “so” to acquaintances...otherwise, assume full name of “soliya” 

inspiration for her actually came during a rando conversation with my roommate, we talked a little bit about sarira, which is basically...“although the term sarira comes from the sanskrit word for “body” (शरीर), and can be used for relics like teeth or parts of buddha’s skull, it typically refers to the crystalline traces that remain after a respected buddhist’s corpse is burnt...in some cases, sarira are said to grow from the bodies of living people, usually at the culmination of a religious experience.“ we then talked about how in her family’s case, her mother used to tell her that buddhist monks would carry all their rage and pent up feelings and it would be pressed into these little ‘remnants’ and after cremation, you could see just how much they suffered and how much their self-discipline kicked in, by seeing how many of these sarira remnants remained. (this is more clear if you read my bio)

soooo yes! wild child, cocky as hell, confident and just...like, she’d be someone you’d want to party with.

literally the most stubborn child/teenager you could ever have met. people on air temple island were convinced that she was swapped at birth with another baby, and thought that she may be better suited as a fire or earth bender. but she had a natural affinity for airbending which shut them up for a while!

traveled around a LOT to the other nations and the north, east, south, and west air temples with her father!

LOVES HER SIBLINGS TO DEATH AND BACK! would probably kill for them (esp during her wild child days)

but really seriously injured one of her younger siblings (looking for this muse/plot aye) at the age of 16, and like - so much guilt

self isolated for about 4 months in guilt after, then went on a soul search at the other air temples for about another month. meditated - a lot, started to practice self-discipline

went into hardcore airbending training for about another 4 months, so total of 8 months of only air temple interactions and turned 17 during this self journey (aka went off the grid to anyone else in the 3 other nations)

disposition changed HEAVILY, went from wild child to very calm, relaxed, placid (still friendly though!) so anyone who knew her before is probably like ???? tf ???

but from like 17-28 was still a continuous journey of self-control as she travels around with her father on diplomatic visits and then more so on her own as she gets older, but by now she’s pretty good at keeping her outward emotions/outburts all inside.

doesn’t mean her control and discipline is perfect though!

damn, not as quick and dirty as originally planned, but what ELSE is new? a MASSIVE plots page is incoming soon! and to anyone who has written with me before/knows me...vouch for me that i’m a good time, aye

let’s write together!!! 💖 

[mythanklessexistence]

Kool Skool (01) Teriyaki Asthma Session

Mythanklessexistence.tumbler.com – Session(1)

I found Chuck, freshman year at college.  We had a bunch of things in common… skating, skiing, surfing, mountain biking and most importantly the love of PUNK ROCK!!!  Thank GOD!!! Millersville was quite a cultural black hole, back in the late 80’s.  We ditched our roommates after Christmas Break and first thing ya know, Chuck and I are settling in to our cave of a dorm room.  That’s when he started getting tapes sent to him, from his High School best friend, who went to the University of Washington in Seattle.  It was a direct link into the Seattle music scene. Live & Direct... from his record collection, radio air tapes he recorded for us from local DJ radio shows, and even occasional freebie samplers direct from Seattle!!  What?.  By 1988/89 I wanted everything that came out of that arena… Sub Pop, Am-Rep, Estrus, C/Z, Glitterhouse, 1/ 4 Stick, Boner, Touch & Go, Alternative Tentacles, etc… what an era for original music.  Especially as eclectic music scenes where co-existing and erupting all around the country!

That was how I met Bill Tormas, after venturing into his seminal Lancaster, PA record store – Web of Sound.  He was very curious about how we knew so much about that scene, as he too was just discovering it and bringing in everything, he could for the store… it was a truly amazing experience, trust me.  There isn’t a scenester in that town that doesn’t owe a debt of gratitude to that man. He was the first.  He was the first one that went through that proverbial BRICK-WALL of Mennonite/Amish/PA Dutch conservative thick-headedness.  But damn was he cool and did he have an ear, head and taste for music and people!!  He could talk a douchey rich dude into being a juke box 45 collector to the must fuzzed out stoner dude$30 imports and everything in between.  He was sweet too – really cared about your experience with music and he was quite the gateway!!

Most of these singles where purchased around that era at his shop.  Some I just drooled at and had to hunt down once I got some cash in my pocket. So… KOOL SKOOL is sort of me recreating Bill’s distinctive “The Web” experience in honor of that great store, man and musical era!!  Sharing tunes, I enjoy and think you may have interest in, and then following the spider web out of the C/Z arena into its web of connections throughout the scenes across the country of that era.

Tonight, we started with the second release in the Teriyaki Asthma 7” Vinyl series.  ALERT – this entire series is available on a CD, or Vinyl LP collection – check it out here, I love Discogs, but I Really Love record stores (Shop Local): https://www.discogs.com/Various-Teriyaki-Asthma-Vols-I-V/master/41161

VOLUME II starts us off with Amorphous Head, playing Lonely Lonely and Hullabaloo with, Kill your Parents. Next, we threw VOLUME Four on the deck and played one of the iconic tracks from this series – Alice Donut’s, Mrs Hayes… I can still remember the first time Bill played this song for me – SOLD. He brought them to the Chameleon shortly after this for a “Business Person’s Special” Friday Night early show, that just BLEW the doors off the place, making us all fans.  The 2nd song is of equal caliber – it’s Gwym by Vexed. Then it’s back to the OG platter – TE Vol II for the second side with Pitbull Babysitter’s – The Head Talks Cheese b/w Hold On, by My Name.  What a killer side this is too!!  Back to deck two and TE Vol Four for one of the unsung heroes of that scene and era – Icky Joey for Josephine b/w God’s Acre – Wood.  Seriously check out some of the other God’s Acre releases for some real strong recordings of the scene and it’s sound.

Moving on, we throw down Teriyaki Asthma Vol VI with one of Seattle’s most obnoxious punk/noise bands – The Thrown Ups with Walrus Head.  Def a must check out, is some of the Thrown Ups stuff on Am-Rep.  The second song is also one that Bill turned me onto when he first pointed out Olivelawn, back when they first hit the shelves.  Freaking A, are they awesome!!  Key to the band in my mind is the ensuing friendship and sheer brilliance of Eddie Glass, from Fu Manchu and in later in my world – Nebula. Several times they came to the area and played shows in York and Baltimore with my band PORTER.  I really loved my time spent with those dudes.  Nebula’s drummer, Ruben is definitely one of the top five drummers born out of that era – if not thee best and a real great dude!! Hope someday to get to Cali and share some tasty waves with him and my new friend Ben a pretty good surfer from Cali, I met via Puerto Rico and my nieces wedding back in February.  

So that’s when we started a run on Olivelawn 7” ‘s.  First went the 1990 ish release from insta-noise records with Side A featuring: Instant Punk Rock Song and b/w a killer tune – Mom’s Farm.  Mixed in on the other deck was the Nemesis 7” with The Cat’s Meow and another version of Mom’s Farm.

That slab was followed by another Olivelawn – Nemesis release – 4 is greater than 2 and the tunes Whale Finger & Signed DC.  The last disc in the Olivelawn tribute is the Sympathy for the Record Industry 1991 release of the tune – Beautiful Feeling on side A and Carvin is the Devil’s Paintbrush as the B-Side.  That Olivelawn jag end by taking us back to the TA Vol VI record for the Pain-Teens with Come Up and See Me Sometime, b/w with a great tune from Unrest entitled – Caitlin Bums(?)

So I’m not exactly sure where the Instagram Live shut down, so the rest of my original set included the Teriyaki Asthma Vol. VII with it’s A-Side of Poster Children’s, It’s True and Hammerbox’s, Promise to Never.  The B-Side has two killer voices of the “Indy Rock” scene that was starting to filter over into the punk & noise scene, Superchunk with the rocking tune, Sister and the lovely band – Tsunami.  Since the moment I first heard the first note and beat from this band. I was in love!! Just awesome!!! Their tune Punk Means Cuddle was to be the Segway into a Tsunami jag with their Simple Machines release with the tunes: Flameproof Suit, World Tour and Ski Trip on the A Side. The B Side has Kickball Babe w/Candyman.

I hope you enjoyed checking out these records as much as I enjoyed collecting and listening to them.  Thanks for the memories, for sure!!  Buy more Porn Orchard records… seriously!!!!  See ya round…  

[teefa85]

So, Ruins of Lore beat!  Opinions under cut...

Honestly, it’s not a bad game when looked at objectively.  There are a lot of good ideas, like the job system and ‘mon catching.  But at the same time, there really could be some rebalancing.  You find a lot of the equipment for your ‘mons, and go figure the stuff I chose couldn’t wear ANYTHING I found!  They had weak store brought equipment for much of the game, with one or two rare drops to power them up.  So...they became useless!  You also can’t use the Combine feature without one being in your party so that weakens the potential of your combined forces for someone having a few turn buff (and the less said about “no reviving/switching out dead ‘mons” the better...my first run had a dead ‘mon, and Eldin/Torma/Rami as the party I fought Goldiark with).

Job balancing...it takes forever to master Magic Based Jobs and they’re a bit underpowered.  Put it in perspective, by the time Rami mastered her first Job (Mage), Torma was halfway done with Bishop (the second tier healing Job) and Eldin had Mastered...Swordsman, Knight, Fighter, Brawler, Thief, was far along on Chemist, and had Rapidfire (first Tier Rogue Skill).  I think the other reason, besides Confusion hax, I noped out of the Ancient Cave was the guide I used had “use Mirror to protect Eldin from damage” as the strategy for a lot of bosses.  Mirror...is the next to last Tier Mage skill!  The one Rami hadn’t Mastered until Eldin had most of the physical skills learned!  It’s also kind of annoying that Bau and Dekar can’t get jobs, because boy does Bau need it and Dekar isn’t with you for the final battle (though I swear he was in my first run so I don’t know what I was remembering or didn’t do).

But while I find it a good game objectively, it’s a horrible Lufia game.  There are a few books and NPCs that reference Lufia II, but that’s it!  Oh, and Dekar...who for whatever reason looks like he was just beat up in his portrait!  Dekar wouldn’t get in that condition...this guy survived a collapsing shrine with no real damage in this ‘verse!  Honestly, his only reasons for being there seemed to be his popularity (which I was more lenient with Dekard on because he’s doing a lot of awesome shit that this Dekar doesn’t do, plus it’s an alias and what guy who wants to be awesome wouldn’t use a legendary awesome guy as his inspiration).  And to finally get him laid!  Yes, I find his relationship with Marin adorable in context of the game, though it does lose some points because she’s effectively a fangirl who got to be with her idol, and I’ve had some BAD experiences with that sort of fan.  Still think it’s cute, but Dekar’s relationship with Tia in Curse is a lot more adorable (do wonder if it was done as a natural follow up to their convo, not having time to work with Tia past the timeskip in the original, or Neverland rebelling against another company creating a love interest for one of their characters).

I’m not that big of a fan of having Eldin as a mute main character, though at least he has expressive emotive portraits to sub in for dialogue at points.  I tolerate it with games like Suikoden/Breath of Fire (which don’t have modern games anyway)/Dragon Quest/Zelda because they have used a mute main character since Day 1, and were created back in a time when that was still a trope.  But Lufia heroes actually have had voices since the first game.  Still...it’s less a knock against Eldin as a character and more a knock against the decision, as he’s still one of the better mute main characters in gaming!

The Ancient Cave being only 60 levels, limited to Eldin and his monster (and remember what I said about monsters up above), and the stupidity in beef gating rather than being something you could work around through repeated going in like in II and TLR (or just getting levels like the first game) CAN go to hell though!

Now, I have problems with the story as-is.  Mostly in regard to Eldin’s role...his dad all but tells Rubius he’s adopted, then she sees an inscription and realizes he was sent forward in time so his parents could save him from Eristol’s destruction.  But does he ever find this out...no!  Unless there’s some obscure sidequest I missed out on twice.  It’s wasted potential...not that he’d react much other than the upset face and possibly some lesson on Family of Choice and Not Blood Parents.  Other than that...the story we are given isn’t bad, besides the ending (really too much out of nowhere stuff, a villain who doesn’t show up until right before the finale, and padding with the extra run up Mt. Ruhei and third run up the Tower of Guidance...oh and the solution being “seal Beast in Holy Land and destroy stones” making it stupid that this all happened in the first place).  Also, WHY did Irmis have to seal the half of the beast in Nazare?  Was it breaking free?  Did Ragule attack?  Well...probably not the latter since he didn’t know where to go for it else they’d have gone there sooner.  And how long ago was it/what age were the twins?

I do have issues with the lack of connectivity to Lufia II, despite being only 20 years later in the same area of the world.  Which is ALSO wasted potential!  How about, instead of the Eastern Continent being razed by Gratze, have some of the missions be helping those areas!  We could have checked in with the scientists in Portravia (if they hadn’t all followed Lexis to Westland), Ferim’s possibly now Queen Jerit (maybe have them doing pretty good since she finally got together with Hans and his military expertise is making him a good wartime ruler’s consort), and of course Leon & Thea (see how their countries, the ones closest to Gratze, are doing and how they’ve been ruling since neither had a sibling to take the reigns of their own country to live with the other).  Also, the geography could use some work...HOW did we walk from Parcelyte to Gruberik, with no land bridges and no water on the map?!  And maybe equate the sealing in Nazare to the Sinistrals’ power having weakened the seal and it eventually started cracking after about five-ten years or something.

The other thing I can think of to fix this...instead of Eldin as the MC, make it Maxim and Selan’s son, Jeros, either making it 15 years later instead of 20, or changing Torma/Rami/possibly Rubius’ ages to better fit with him.  They could go with an angle of him being proud to be the son of heroes, but worried he won’t live up to them.  Proud that they saved the world, but angry that they left him behind.  Possibly even have him and Rubius strike up a romantic attraction, and then make it clearer that she will sacrifice herself too!  This can lead to Jeros having to face the loss of his love, and eventually come to terms not only with that, but what happened to his parents.  Then, in the end, he resolves to go to Westland so his descendants could watch over Doom Island as it was the one thing he could do to honor his parents.  It could also be an excuse to bring Tia into the story, as she moved to Parcelyte and took over the shop so she can help Selan’s auntie care for Jeros, with it being her own way of doing what she could for Maxim.  Honestly, what Eldin brings is his “ancient blood,” but they could easily have ignored the curse (which had SO LITTLE impact on the plot...see Atelier Iris for a game where a character gets a debilitating “curse” and it has affect on both plot and her combat prowess without making her suck) or had it (and the eventual “merge with the Beast Half which totally should have granted him a new skill or something”) be due to his powerful Energy Waves like his dear old dad!

Still, I did enjoy the game and the world, as long as I didn’t think of it as a Lufia game (yet that didn’t stop me from using Dekar for most of forever).  Though I also wish it had been its own new IP!  That would have removed the connectivity issues that caused a lot of people to hate it right off the bat, plus could have left the door open for a sequel or prequel, possibly with the system flaws fixed (just look what the Lufia Series did going from I to II, and how much of an improvement it is considered by fans).  But eh, what can you do?  I just don’t have the same need to replay it when I do Lufia-thons myself, and only did it this time due to being in quarantine and having loads of free time (I might still have been playing II or be early in TLR if I was doing my weekend only runs).

[x-heesy]

DΔΠCΣ ΩҒ SKΣLΣTΩΠS IΠ TSΔM

Most species of Tsam include skeletal dances in their “repertoire,” among which there are three main classes.

The first class includes "defenders of the four cemeteries." These skeletons (they come out in four) belong to high-ranking deities and are therefore adorned with a crown with three or five miniature skulls. A pair of rainbow-colored fans is attached to their mask, which is an enlarged copy of the human skull. Tibetans call these fans "graveyard decorators". The Mongols also call them "butterflies" and also call the dancers performing this type of dance. They are dressed in white tight-fitting costumes with a skeleton traced on them and tiger skin loincloths.

Dancers who perform the second kind of “skeletal dance” also wear a mask with a skull, but without rainbow ornaments. Their costume consists of tight white trousers with yellow, red and green patches and a loose white shirt. Despite their sinister appearance, skeletons belong to peaceful deities, bringing happiness and wealth.

Skeletons of the third type are holding in their hands a white stick with a length of one and a half meters with a red spiral applied on it. The purpose of these sticks is to drive away from the sora-torma prepared from dough (a sacrificial figure personifying evil) both the real crows and the crow-mask, which makes repeated attempts to steal the "sor" throughout the ceremony.

[future-post-magazine-blog]

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