#Witch king kreide

[kreideisgone]

Witch king kreide

[ryuucha]

Silly thing yesterday

Sudden brain strike to make this commission style option— Anyone interested to commission me like these?? 😂

[axenyan]

Finally some goat

These will be available at comifuro 19~

[sol1t41r3]

i contain an unbearable amount of yearning (i miss him)

[potatoescanbesadtoo]

[arknights-archive]

Leithanien PV

[snackbyte]

arknights originium notes

with the release of babel, i just wanted to finally write down my own messy personal notes of arknights concepts that fascinate me

namely, what IS originium? what does it do

a lot of these thoughts aren't from CN, and mostly through our own notes and theorycrafting with my best friend.

So let's go through what we know:

Originium can have a host. - People can get infected. - Mephisto can make Originium Zombies by having them animate corpses, even if they are no longer alive.

Originium speaks. - Earthspirit: I think one of the first instances of this is Earthspirit, she can hear the voices of rocks, minerals, and originium in particular. This was further expanded with the introduction of Mudrock, who literally talks to said rocks. - Specter hears voices in her head. - Ifrit: very early on, also talks about how she hears a voice in her head. The Diabolic Crisis is only hinted at at this point, but there's a clear short story with her hearing this voice.

Originium has memory. - Originium stores information and has memory, like a computer.

Originium causes "natural" calamities. (Catastrophes) - They make storms, droughts, sandstorms, blizzards, you name it.

Okay, so here are the theories / notes with some rambling:

1. Originium is meant to terraform using past humanity as a blueprint. - Originium causes catastrophes, can have hosts, and weirdly gives control over different elements or magic. Heat, fire, ice, light, thunder, etc. - The idea that originium goes out of its way to create natural calamities, infect things to make them rapidly evolve, and have powers seem like its main purpose was to recreate Earth by rapidly evolving wildlife. - Through human memory imbued in itself, originium rapidly attempts to recreate Earth in the state it was in before it ended. In Terra, technology rapidly progressed but culture did not! - But the rapid evolution isn't perfect. The reason why old races exist might be because Originium cannot distinguish between real animals and the mythical beings from human culture! Thus we get the Pegasi and Draco!

2. Originium is sentient and contains human memory. - Ebenholz: In Lingering Echoes, we learn about how the Witch King was pulled out of Kreide just by having a fraction of him within him. This same Witch King also continuously haunts Ebenholz. - Ifrit: The Diabolic Crisis turned a young Savra girl into a burning superweapon by imbuing her with Originium that contained the memory of the Diablo, an old Sarkaz king. - Surtr: I think one of my favorite things about Surtr is the amount that's unsaid about her. Her stand/persona/golem is headless with an originium halo. She has extremely powerful arts. And she has no memory. You know who else has fire powers? The Diablo. The Diablo's boss mechanics are incredibly reminiscent of Surtr. He summons a [Stand], he refuses to die, and he does a whole lot of arts damage and fire. My guess is that when the Diablo King was finally defeated by the old King of Sarkaz, he was not killed, but his memory was destroyed, and returned to the Sarkaz Originium Hivemind Network. And poof, we get Surtr. AND POOF, WE GET IFRIT.

- Passenger: Many of Passenger's lines imply that Elliot Glover, is dead. And not in a figurative sense. The Blue Originium imbued in him literally killed the child that day, and his animated skin implies that Passenger is exactly that, a Passenger in Elliot's body. - Another note I like about this one in particular is that Mon3tr, a creature made of full Originium, is wary of Passenger. The Blue Originium is alien to him because it's not of the same network. - Specter: When we got Specter the Unchained, we didn't get a "sane" Specter, but instead we got two characters: Laurentina, the original host, and Specter, the originium infused into her. For a long time, Laurentina was out cold, and Specter is the originium mind. The entire idea of Specter's character is about how two people share one body, and I'm really fascinated by this concept. - On a side note, this also says a lot more about Aegir, but we'll get to that later. - Executor: Executor is a cold, emotionless character, to a point where even his decision making is really interesting. He NEVER, and CANNOT break rules, like a robot. But my favorite thing about his character is that even with the way he speaks, his actions will always reflect "good". It's a huge contrast to his sister Arturia, who revolves around emotions. My guess is that there is no Frederico to begin with, only remnants of the Originium network forced to learn how to become human. - Amiya: Amiya holds the power of the King of the Sarkaz and all of their memories. But she also gets access to the Sarkaz Hivemind. The most interesting thing about this is that the most powerful Arts is one that has to do with memory. Because controlling memory means controlling Originium directly. 3. Originium is not compatible with Aegir. - Because Specter and Laurentina exist as completely different entities, Laurentina is not ACTUALLY infected. The fish people living in the sea have much less animal features than on land, so it's possible that the rapid evolution of the Aegir is on a completely different branch of induced evolution from Originium. A lot of Caerula Arbor also implies this. - The Originium Hivemind is completely different from the Aegir hivemind. No rocks involved.

4. At the heart of Originium lies the Boundless Master of All Creation. Which sounds pretty Evil.

Both Kal'tsit's (apocalypse) skin and Laurentina's skin imply that Originium has a link to this master of all creation, which may or may not be originium itself. It's the harbinger of the end, an entity that will consume everything.

4. Originium is NOT the only Terraformer. - AEgir: The rapid fishy evolution and high incompatibility with Originium feels like it's a completely different branch of tech that attempted to do the same terraforming to ensure humanity's survival. - Sankta Network: If the Sarkaz Originium Hivemind are 5G+ internet, then think of the Sankta Network as a localized network. It's a stronger, faster reception to spreading thoughts. This hits a little harder considering the Sankta were originally Sarkaz. - Nearls: The Nearls have perfect "blood" compatibility with Originium, but Maria's is the purest. They aren't "infected" in the same way the others are, but they have control over Originium in the way other people don't.

5. The Doctor and Kal'tsit are just Doctor Who lol - Regeneration, big box for time travel, companions

tbh im surprised a lot of this was discussed during Babel and i can't wait to see more. my favorite thing about Arknights is that they say just enough for you to figure things out by following the crumbs, and it's such a lovely storytelling format

[gancegancerevo]

Zwillingstürme im Herbst Thoughts

ZT to me, is a story of endings. Not just the factual endings of eras, Arts, and songs. But also the great question of "What happens after the end?"

Each major character faces an ending in this story. Leithanien faces the end of both the Kaiserinnen and the truest finale of the Witch King. The Liches end their stay in the country. Viviana comes to terms with her Leithanien heritage, Ebenholz frees himself from all of his demons, and Arturia, well, we'll get to Arturia.

One of the most notable things is how this story treats hope and the indomitable human spirit. Unlike other stories, it does not praise humanity and treat them as some unstoppable limitless force by virtue of their emotions. Instead, it takes a very nuanced approach that's informed by how powerless these characters can actually get. Sure they can charge forward towards their goals but they'll still die and they'll still be faced with darkness and regrets. Even still, we should embrace our emotions and the turmoil they bring.

The Genesis Horn and Kagenreich are such interesting ideas but it can feel weird that much of the climax is emotional conflicts made manifest. Viviana's is the most obvious. The constant doors to possible new lives culminating in her real one. She comes to let go of the past and stand for herself which is nice. It's also nice that it was Margaret's light that helped her fight back the darkness. An exquisite call-back to the Radiant Knight.

Ebenholz helped to paint a very unique lesson in my opinion. That suffering doesn't NEED meaning. Even after promising Kreide that he'd live and fight fate, he's still plagued by headaches and Witch King Remnants. The revelation that whatever was in his head, the Voice of Mundane, was just a mundane voice upends many of the things we've (us and Ebenholz) assumed about his life. That his suffering was tied to the Witch King and that his conflict would culminate in a big fight against the man whose shadow terrorized him. Instead they have a heart to heart and the Witch King challenges him to look back on his life and realize that "the night itself is meaningless." It is totally fine to have a terrible thing just be a terrible thing and moving on doesn't have to involve a great trials to overcome, sometimes your enemies kill themselves and you just walk away.

Arturia is the most interesting but I'm afraid I can't do her full arc justice. In contrast to his accommodating spin with Ebenholz, the Witch King challenges Arturia at every turn, questioning her motive and why she wants what she does. It comes to a head when he forcefully dives into her and sees that there is only one thing that stirred her own emotions. Everything else is a mirror of someone else. He ultimately gives her the answer she's looking for and the natural doubt that comes when the answer she found didn't meet her expectations. But her bouncing back as chaos descended was beautiful and I might reread this and Hortus just to really grasp her character.

Cora and Brandt, Hildegard and Lisellote (no idea how to, spell the Kaserinnen's surnames), Michel, Lessing, and the Liches. All sorts of stories come to a close as new beginnings emerge. And the most troublesome of them is definitely the makings of the newest source of conflict: the Disaster, the encroaching of chaos upon reality and the return of the supposed Creator.

It's quite likely that that may be the angle of the next major story arc, especially with the role Nearl's light played and the fact that Laterano is trying so hard to unite the nations.

This event was great and I recommend it. Not sure if I have any major notes or ideas to share but I really liked it.

One last thing: seems people are kinda wary of Lisellote, the Eternal Grace. I love it when the supposedly fluffier one has the greater potential of evil

[kara-knuckles]

While I'm not entirely sold on the "Ines is a relative of the Witch King" theory, I can't deny there is a decent amount of evidence to support it. I have seen multiple analyses of her E2 art and speculations that her Arts might be related to his. However, I rarely see people talk about it from the angle that interests me the most, namely, her first meeting with Hoederer.

Let's begin with the timeline. Ines's profile claims she has 19 years of combat experience, and it is safe to assume that she started to actively participate in battles after meeting Hoederer. So, were there any significant events in Leithanien about 20 years ago? Why, yes, that was when the Witch King was killed and the Empresses initiated the purge of his bloodline (the Witch King fell in 1077, the Londinium arc is happening in 1098).

Next, here is an excerpt from Hoederer's diary from his profile:

I heard that tomorrow a Leithanian caravan will pass through the northern birch forest. They chose the worst route and leaked information, attracting more than one group of raiders. But the Scar Market sent a mission to rob these raiders. Who would give such a commission?

This can be interpreted as a power struggle between the Empresses' forces, who sent mercenaries after the fleeing relatives of the late King, and the King's men, who put bounties on these mercs.

Finally, I find it interesting that when we see Ines's dream about this encounter, it is painted entirely in black and white, the colour motif shared with Ebenholz and Kreide, as well as the Twin Empresses.

Pale trunks and dark shadows. White snow and black Originium crystals. It is always emphasized that it's a birch forest, and birches have white bark with black parts. I wonder if Ines was dressed in white during this scene.

But in the retelling we see in Ines's profile there is a third colour: red. Red blood of the people she killed. Red hair of her saviour. Red signifies abandoning her past as a Caprinae of Leithanien and starting her life as a Sarkaz of Kazdel, as she and Hoederer "decided to carve [their] own path."

[kreideisgone]

lingering echoes spoiler

[autumnnnsun]

Sorry if this sounds like I’m overreacting but I just realised smth and I found smth on twitter and I’m kinda going insane and need an outlet

[MAJOR Spoilers abt Ebenholz, it’s stuff that’s only on the CN side of AK rn]

IM GOING INSANE IM GOING INSANE IM GOING INSANE IM GOING INSANE IM GOING INSANE IM GOING INSANE IM NOT NORMAL.

I’m going lightheaded I’m breathing in and out of a paper bag rn

THEY FR JUST HAVE A FULL ON FUCCINF STATUE OF HIM??? IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET??? THIS DISRESPECT IS INSANE BRUV.

Okay but like fr someone said that Eben witch king appeared in the pv SO the copium within me is thinking this is just like a vision of the Witch King or smth like he’s doing the whole “Ooohh this is whats gonna happen to you isnt that so scaryyy” kinda thing. Cus like his appearance was slightly different when the whole Kreide thing happened so maybe the Witch King just, has different appearances depending on the vessle who knowS

The OTHER part of me is screaming over Eben’s death flags what with the whole letter and his entire third module, and the lettering, and just *gestures at everything*

Does Arknights have the balls to have a playable 6 star character die in the story??? IDK They haven’t done that yet! And Beagle and Ceobe don’t get to count cus it’s only implied! IS3 doesn’t count either cus those are totally just hypotheticals Mizuki totally made up!

[merakime]

Have you seen The Witch King from Arknights?

Any thoughts on him? (ФωФ)

(through tears) yes i have indeed seen the witch king. my utmost apologies to ebenholz and kreide. your grandpa or whatever is so gnc. i think i lost it a bit when i saw his sprites. please drop your haircare routine king

[sol1t41r3]

Little mipys. few of my silly hcs for kreide lives au (so i dont forget lol, more ramblings after)

oldest: kreide, eben, lessing

fluffiest ears/tail: lessing, kreide, eben

tallest: lessing, eben, kreide

hand roughness ?: kreide, lessing, eben

patience: kreide, lessing, eben

can carry both: lessing

ends up in the infirmary the most: eben

after ZT, kreide probably wont be able to go to urtica with eben and lessing, so he stays behind at the landship. it would also cause a bit of an issue considering hes also a descendant of the witch king, hed get needlessly involved in the politics.. but they do exchange letters. yoo... What if eben leaves one of his goats behind to keep kreide company.. thatd be really cute. itd be similar to eyja’s sheep.. Of course he would have to visit again from time to time for health checkups and admin stuff

kreide can finally make friends too... he probably joined that book club eben was in. theres a slim chance he could be a field operator (he would definitely be a bard) but i think he would be more human resources adjacent. maybe he’d join hibiscus as a medic, or as an assistant at least

i also imagine that eben would start wearing his eine variation after ZT. hed also buy new clothes for kreide and lessing too.. Many... Many clothes (also eben: money is how youll remember me?!) Its also quite funny that eben gets enrolled at a university after ZT, as if he hasnt suffered enough?? good luck eben lol

i crave for kreide and lessing interaction.. kreide would be very thankful for him babysitting eben during ZT, as well as accompanying him to urtica. lessing would really look up to kreide too, very much a positive influence in general.. hed also swear to protect kreide the same way he does ebenholz (reminding me of a very nice art where ebkr are twin emperors and lessing is an emperors voice)

[knockoffmordred]

What if we get a new gamemode that's about the past?

Like we get campaigns where the story is about characters we've fought against in the game during their prime. We witness important moments in their lives, and if those are battles, we actually have to fight in them. The final fight always has the actual character as the final boss, more powerful than before, they'd be optional because I think these fights should be insane in terms of difficulty.

We witness the campaigns the Steam Knights fought in, maybe near the end we also see their last stand against the Sarkaz. The last stage is us fighting against at least two of them, they're faster and hit even harder with new attacks, maybe they get buffed when they get too close to one another.

FrostNova during her days as the leader of the Yetis, before meeting Talulah. Maybe in her fight, she has a concerning amount of range, maybe even a global range attack where she immediately freezes the last deployed.

Patriot during his time in Kazdel, him joining the Ursus Army, and his eventual defection. Maybe we can even see the time he met Kal'tsit. Give him some Shieldguard that can buff him and each other when in formation, break it and they lose it. Also, Patriot is not even intimidating to fight here, he's actually horrifying, we need a Patriot with a mechanic description that has to scroll down a little with the amount of mechanics and attacks he has.

The Witch King during his reign. Fuck it, let see some atrocities and hear some godly music. Maybe Emperor cameo? Maybe have some elemental damage to him when he plays music, not sure what to do with him. Just make Kreide feel like a grunt.

Lin Kojui before he became the Rat King. Letting us see a younger Lungmen, maybe explore his relationship with Wei. Maybe have him be more of a melee focused unit with sand attacks.

The Zhayedan, when he was still guarding The Golden City of Sargon. Another chance for Kal'tsit to show up. No clue what to do with him besides actually making him move and attack.

Fuck it, let's see the Yan's First Emperor's war against the Feranmut through the eyes of Sui.

Hell, why not show the Abyssal Hunter's offensive against Ishar'mla, with it ending right after it finds Skadi.

[pagingdoctorbedlam]

“Wish I Knew You When I Was Young”: Ebenholz, Czerny, and the Romantic Aftermath of Lingering Echoes

I need to ramble about Ebenholz, Czerny, and why this ship (which I’ve dubbed Czernholz) has rocketed right into OTP land for me. If you want some analyses on character, story themes, and Why The Musical Germans Should Smooch, step right up.

First off, let's talk about some parallels, because hoo boy do these lads have them. First off, let's look at how similar their fates were before joining Rhodes Island:

Physically trapped. Ebenholz was first trapped in the orphanage as an experiment, and then was locked up in the Spire. Meanwhile Czerny spent most (if not all) of his life trapped in the Afterglow, and as his oripathy worsened, spent an increasing amount of time housebound.

Pawns in the games of nobles. Czerny has to dance to the tune of Gertrude and other sponsors so he can maintain the resources to support himself and the rest of the Afterglow. Nobles groomed Ebenholz into the part they wanted him to play, and only through his own savvyness did he avoid falling into deeper traps of alcoholism and other weaponized luxuries.

Unwitting figureheads of a cause. Ebenholz is obvious, being the vessel of the Witch King's Voice, with cults after him for the power he doesn't want to use. Meanwhile, Czerny is the representative of the Afterglow, the figurehead on which their hopes of music and freedom rests. Even though that's a more positive connotation, it's still a heavy burden.

Traumatic loss of loved ones. First off, they lost their parents young, with Ebenholz's parents being murdered after the Witch King's demise and Czerny losing his father at a young age and then his mother to Oripathy as a teenager (which also led to him contracting the disease and barring him from attending the academy that would've been his ticket out of the Afterglow). These specters return to not only haunt our musical lads, but those next closest to them too, as it is his own link to the Witch King that ultimately kills Kreide, while Czerny's closest friend passed from Oripathy.

With these similarities in place, these two had a lot in common even before the events of Lingering Echoes, where these lads went from bickering their heads off to being ready to sacrifice their lives for each other. How they got to this point is also important. Czerny called out the worst of Ebenholz's habits, but also noted that he could do better, he still had the potential to change. At this point, Czerny fully believed he was close to dying, but he saw the potential in Ebenholz and that he could do so much more with his life. Beautiful! And once Ebenholz takes these words to heart (plus all his time with Kreide), our goat boy does open up and become more selfless.

You will note that, throughout Lingering Echoes and his operator record, Ebenholz is a dynamic character who changes and grows, seeing as he's the protagonist of these stories. Czerny spends most of these stories as a static character; we learn more about him as the stories progress, but who he is and how he acts doesn't change...that we can see. It won't until he joins Rhodes Island and has the chance to process all of what happened: that he survived, all the fear and other emotions his near-death experience unlocked, and all the implications these had. (I have ranted at length about these before, so if you want more light reading, check 'em out).

"Okay Doc," you say as you read this, "these are some cool parallels and story notes on these boys. But this doesn't explain to me why they are oh so clearly in love."

To which I say "hold ON I am GETTING THERE just stay with me."

Before I continue with the text, I do want to quickly note one element of their dynamic that I'm sure others have considered at least unconsciously, and that is the age gap. Or the assumed one.

See, we don't actually know how old either of the lads are. For Ebenholz, we only know he's the age of a University student, and that he'd be old enough to run Urtica on his own but was manipulated out of this by the nobles. For Czerny, we know he's older than 21 because that's the age he revealed Morgen und Abend and that happened...an indeterminate number of years ago. We can surmise from this that both of them are adults, and we can assume that Czerny is older than Ebenholz, but not by a large amount. Seeing as Czerny doesn't show many signs of age, I would assume he isn't that old; I'd pin him as mid 30's at most, but a musician can achieve worldwide fame in a short span of time. (I mean, look at the Beatles. Their entire career spanned about 10 years.)

So sure, call Czerny a dilf if you must, but I don't think any potential age gap between him and Ebenholz is that intense. In any case, I think that element of "older, experienced, and a bit resigned vs young, vibrant and ready to explore the world" is an important part of their dynamic, as you'll see further on.

Now, let us proceed!

After the concert itself, the lads don't get to talk much in Lingering Echoes proper. In fact, Czerny even remarks that he hasn't seen much of Ebenholz since they joined Rhodes Island (because they both need to grieve what they've lost — Kreide, the Afterglow, leaving the only homes they ever knew even if they were cages — in different ways. Also because Czerny was in so much medical hell). However! There is still one important turning point in their relationship, and that's in Ebenholz's Operator Record. If you haven't already read it, give it a readthrough here: https://arknights.fandom.com/wiki/Ebenholz/Operator_Record

See how they trust each other and talk openly with each other. See how Czerny finally opens up to Ebenholz that he's having a hard time, both physically and emotionally. Not something you'd tell a "coddled noble" you barely trust. But note at this point that Czerny has determined he can't do anything to help the Afterglow after all music has been banned.

And how does he react when he later hears Ebenholz breaking these rules to perform for the silenced residents?

"Ebenholz?! The one who brought music back to the Afterglow... was you?! On behalf of the entire Afterglow, thank you... But please, stop that right now! Your situation is already dire!"

Two points here. One, THIS is the exact moment, to me, when Czerny falls right the hell in love. How could he not? Ebenholz has thrown off his old self as a selfish noble and has not only become an Infected commoner physically, but emotionally. He's using the last of his privelage to give voice and song to those who've been silenced. Which brings us to point two: Czerny is so thankful for this, realizing how much it means, but he is far more concerned for Ebenholz's own safety. In a way, Czerny is finally being selfish in a small way: he'd rather protect this one person important to him, over the whole district he's spent his entire life supporting.

Aaaah my heart.

Alright, so that's what the text gives us of their relationship. Which is already a lot, but where do they go from here? What can we surmise, and how does it lead to that romance my heart so dearly craves?

Along with their parallels listed above, our Leithanian lads share a common theme in their archives and dialogue as their trust levels increase, and that is growth and recovery. As I've rambled about before, Czerny is (slowly) trying to get his health back in order with the unexpected extra time he has left to live, and he's also working to grow as a musician, but he also has a lot of emotions to wrestle with, especially fear. Meanwhile, Ebenholz comes to process his grief for Kreide, become the hero he needed as a kid by rescuing children from a different experimental orphanage, and taking pains to make friends at the book club. As part of this process, both of them reach out to Hibiscus (though Ebenholz initially runs from this development). They're confronting the sources of their respective traumas and learning to move forward with their lives.

This means, inevitably, these two are going to need to talk to each other. They are the only two surviving performers of Licht und Schatten. They are the only two who have stood up to the remnants of the Witch King and lived to tell the tale. And again, they were both ready to sacrifice their own lives to save each other.

So let them talk. Let them both embrace their passion and sincerity by opening up to each other. Let Ebenholz talk about how much it hurt to lose Kreide, where Czerny can comfort him because he's faced that same sort of loss before. Give Czerny the chance to admit how terrified he is, how he doesn't know how to cope with all these emotions, and let Ebenholz listen and maybe even recall his own fear from his time at the orphanage, which he only survived through the kindness of Kreide and others. Give them the chance to realize that their circumstances are far closer than they realized, and that maybe they can help each other recover and move on together.

With being so similar yet different, I find myself drawn to the idea of them coming to lean on each other. You've got Czerny with more experience but who'd been resigned to an early grave and is taking his sweet time breaking out of old habits to embrace what he now has. You've got Ebenholz rushing into this world he's only ever seen from his lonely Spire, with so many gaps from his sheltered experience to overcome but is charging ahead with a passionate heart. I love to imagine how they compliment each other in these ways. Ebenholz dragging Czerny out to go exploring and meet people. Czerny giving Ebenholz a chance to hone his own skills instead of the Witch King's, stepping in to smooth things over when Ebenholz trips over things from his old upbringing. The occasional argument born from misunderstandings and differing opinions — they're both incredibly passionate men with tempers they're still learning to reign in — but they always end up reaching an understanding with each other.

Whether you call their relationship romantic or something else, they end up with this emotional intimacy, an understanding and trust unique to the two of them. They give each other hope. They support each other.

And yeah, there's this potentially tragic element too. While they both have Oripathy now, Ebenholz's star is arguably still on the rise, while Czerny's decline is slowed but nowhere near halted. He's given his farewell concert and while his overall health is better for the moment, his infection isn't going to reverse. Unless something goes horribly wrong in a mission, or a miracle cure is discovered in time, these lads are stuck in a downward spiral and they both know that Czerny will be the first to crash and burn. Their time is limited. But unlike all their other losses, they're aware of this limit ahead of time, they see the parting on the horizon.

That makes it all the more precious, doesn't it? There isn't time to hold back or dance around their feelings. Whatever's going on between them, they have to embrace it and each other for all they're worth, before it all slips away. Their love is like a live concert, a performance that only happens once and can never be repeated once it closes.

...well, that's about that. How I fell for the Czernholz ship, how I view it (which you can see in the content I create for it) and why I need more people to jump on this bandwagon and talk about it with me because there is so much damn potential for these two.

[ouroborosorder]

There’s a Fun update to this now that Ifrit has gotten her Module!

it turns out that Ifrit can actually speak to the Diabolic implant in her head, which is actually the voice of the long-dead Sarkaz whose DNA-laced Originium was implanted inside her body during the experiments at Rhine. This was hinted at before, but what is particularly interesting isn’t just that she can hear the voice of the dead, but how SIMILAR it is to the Voice of Terra, but how differently she reacts to it.

See, functionally, it’s very similar to Ebenholz and the Witch King. They both were given their respective voices through artificial means, through fucked up child experimentation. She can communicate with him for short periods of time, but to do so causes her severe headaches, just like the Voice. Her internal monologue talks about to fire Arts as drawing on Diabolic’s Arts, rather than her own, mirroring Ebenholz having the ability to draw on the Voice for power.

The difference is that Diabolic is… kind. Patient. Encouraging. It wants to encourage Ifrit, wants her to grow up happy, tries to allay and empathize with her pain, understands that she is just a child who is crying out for help. The Voice is domaneering, destructive, and… well everything you’d expect from a long dead despot. She willingly draws on his Arts as her own, while Ebenholz sheds his identity as the Witch King’s heir and refuses to draw on his Arts, much to the Voice’s chagrin.

So, okay, cool. They have nearly identical ways of handling having another person’s DNA artificially implanted in their body, so what?

Well… Ebenholz wasn’t Infected. Not until Kreide. Ifrit had Originium implanted in her mind, giving her the Diabolic voice, but Ebenholz didn’t. He had a spell inscribed into his mind, stuck there like a bad song, a spell that carried the conciousness of the Witch King himself. He didn’t have Originium in his body at all. And once he did get Kreide’s Originium in his body, his files mention… he can be seen speaking to a voice that is not there, like an old friend.

I posit, as an addendum to my previous theorizing about the nature of art and DNA on Terra, that though Originium may carry your DNA, your Arts can carry your soul. And Originium, the fragments left behind after your death, just so happens to be able to carry the fragments of your soul perfectly. The physical labors of your life, left behind after death, and the soul you imbued into every bit of them.

So, Deepcolor's oprec released, and upon reading a summary of it, I basically felt the entire world of Arknights click into place. Hear me out.

Deepcolor's Oprec details that Deepcolor was convinced by a messenger of the Cult of the Deep to become Seaborn. But she stopped her own assimilation when she realized that the Seaborn do not appreciate aesthetic beauty. She was disgusted, and literally left and stopped her own assimilation entirely due to her love of art, and has been holding it back with her painting.

And this made me realize. This is true of every character with seaborn blood who has resisted assimilation. Skadi sings. Specter sings. Laurentina sculpts. Gladiia dances. Mizuki cooks. Deepcolor is a painter. Amaia still translated books long after she had become Seaborn. Garcia played the piano. Lorenzo cared for the Stultifera.

Which also means...

... Anita was never assimilated. Not fully.

But this makes sense, even outside of a "art holds back the darkness" power of friendship-tier story beat. Assimilation is the surrendering of the individual self to unity, the acceptance that you do not matter, that all that matters is giving your life and your existence to the perpetuation of a greater Whole. They cultivate only to consume. They sing, but their song is a profound silence.

And what is more individualistic, more self-revealing than art? There is no artistic expression without the self, without the understanding that you are a distinct voice, that your perspective matters, that there is only one you.

Perhaps you may have noticed, but this is the same as the Yan-Sui. They hold back the collective with their individual passions. Painting, movies, poetry, games, war.

There's one other thing with a connection to artistic expression - but this time, positively. Originium Arts. Artistic ability has long been associated with Originium Arts capability - Amiya plays the violin, Frostnova sings as she enters the battlefield, Goldenglow's hairdressing, Astesia's divination powering her arts, Lucian the Blood Diamond. I mean they're called Arts for the love of god, it's not exactly subtle.

But the Rhine Lab manga tells us that when an Oripathy carrier dies, the Originium left behind contains their DNA sequence, left behind after death. They may die, but there is something that is always left behind, something that always remains behind. There is always the thing that let them do their Arts. There is always their artistic ability.

There is always their art.

You do your art until you are taken by death, but what remains behind is the traces of it, the artistic DNA you have left behind, your Arts itself. You're gone, but the remnants are still there. And someone else will find it, taking your Arts into themselves to do their own Arts themselves. Sometimes it becomes part of you, living with you and growing inside you, granting you your abilities. Sometimes you simply hold it and use it as fuel and inspiration to make your own Arts.

And this is always what Arknights has been about. Not just metaphorically, but literally.

They hired individual artists, asking them to make characters according to their own sensibilities and style, then putting them into a cohesive world. They got talented musicians and gave them carte blanche to contribute to the musical identity of this game. They got talented voice actors and let them just go ham on the mic. The game's story concept debatably originated because of Lowlight creating Kal'tsit for a make your own OC art game.

It has always been about individuals, putting everything they have, everything that makes them unique, every part of their histories and sensibilities and quirks and personalities and identity and selfish desires and allowing them to shine as a collaborative effort, working together towards a greater goal that means something to people.

An organization of people, Infected by the artistic DNA of those they carry close. People using their Arts to push back the darkness, as best as they can. Even if they stumble and fall, even if they make mistakes, they will always try. To enjoy their life and practice their art.

Because the two greatest threats to the world of Terra, the Seaborn and Sui, are held back by.. simple artistic passion.

The passion and love of the community, the individual given space to shine and collaborate, singing to drown out the terror of the song without sound, the art without beauty, and the collective without the individual.