#aax fable smp

[ya-boi-haru]

Anyone else find it sus that Ulysses and Aax/Percy are talking about "getting a happy ending" and how great it is that they found each other and all that cute, hopeful, family stuff, (about) 2 weeks before the final?

Something that could end in a lot of character death?

Does this not look like a recipe to tragicly kill off a character to anyone else?

[arlo-rose]

It’s been a bit since I’ve done any smaller projects so I did some lighting studies!

[creature-premium]

Aax :D

[the-sunshine-dims]

Day 9: Fours.

everyday I think abou,,t,, aax,,,

[crazydoughnutlady]

Fable smp lock screens,

please give me more duos/trios for Fable

[schwepsee]

Aax, Rae, Caspian.

my forever favorite character dynamic of all time

[mettaounce-real]

This may be a cop out and really the reason I haven't gotten to finishing Aax's epilogue is just other stuff in my life means I haven't gotten around to it but...

Aax's domain is the unknown. The forgotten. Something not dissimilar to that which is kept in the depths of your mind- something you may not ever get to understand, but that's the point. You don't need to know everything in life- some things will stay when they were as they needed to happen.

I may not ever actually get around to it tho it is something I hope I do, but I don't actually think I'll be too upset if I don't.

I do know they went out there into the ocean and found what they could that remained of the other test subjects. Buried what they could find left of their siblings. They told the story of Ulysses to whoever they found in hopes the tale would help bring peace to them in the same way the stories she was told as a child did.

I don't know, I have thoughts about it and I'll admit some of them are kindof direct parallels to a god in one of the DnD games I play in which I 100% have an AU for where he's a paladin of Thana but that's so niche that's staying for me heh.

So if you're wondering what happened to her? That. There's more to it as there is with any life, but that's the part that wasn't really out there before. ✨

[athena-xiii]

Athena’s Uncles

[lunarmoo7]

Aax in a bottle

[ya-boi-haru]

I just noticed that in the little hug cutscene, Aax wraps their tail around Ulysses, everyone stfu-😭😭😭😭😭

[monarchburdi]

I love going into a piece intending for it to be a sketch but then getting too invested... So anyways, here's Aax!

[thatbiblob]

happy ( belated- ) birthday Vaeh !!!

[ it took me three days but i got it done !!! ]

[the-sunshine-dims]

I refuse to believe there were not at least a couple times Aax and his boyfriends danced in the rain

[crazydoughnutlady]

Starlit Ghaae

let them relax for FIVE minutes

[connorsnothereeither]

So, was Ulysses always supposed to be like a dad to Aax, or did it only come about after he was redeemable and wouldn't die at the end?

Definitely the latter! I don’t remember how much I’ve talked about things in depth before in terms of this, or how much I might be forgetting, so Metta or others can definitely correct me here, but he definitely wasn’t going to be Aax’s dad originally, in the slightest. That was a very late game decision. He was originally going to be almost a villain specifically for Aax and Ocie to combat.

Ulysses was originally just going to be involved with Project Leviathan, but would be able to give some information on Proteus (leaving the spot of the person who freed Aax open for a potential guest NPC)! At that stage, he was still going to be evil and die at the end. I remember at one point even pitching to some people (half jokingly) an almost Hannibal Lector style situation where they basically had him locked up in prison behind glass but would come to him for medical information, or for ways to help the gods (it would be why Fable ended up killing him, so that he couldn’t give information that could harm Fable).

Then at some point I think Metta was the one to suggest that Ulysses be the one who freed Aax. It would have just been a spur of the moment, sudden gaining of a conscience in what Ulysses thought would be his last moments. His final good deed, to make up for as much as he could as he realised how wrong he had been all this time, would be to free Aax. To make even the smallest of amends for the harm he’d caused, not because he cared for Aax, but just because Aax was there to be freed. Ulysses would have found that out not long before he died, and would have died knowing he was, despite everything he did, at least trying to do good. He might not have been a good person, but he did something good, in letting Aax out.

But the longer we sat with that idea, that Ulysses would free Aax, the more we developed it! As Ulysses was planned to stick around and not die, and we started to tie in that storyteller aspect, Metta approached me with the ideas for the animated cutscenes! This idea of Ulysses telling stories to taunt Perseus, but eventually growing despondent to the ways of the Telchin, to the point where he freed her. We scripted the four myth animatics (which eventually were cut down to only three, Proteus, Arachne, and Perseus) where they got softer each time, and we actually rewrote the last one to make it more parental and loving, in the end. And then that arc eventually became more of a caring, loving relationship. Where Ulysses viewed Perseus not as “a living thing that deserves a better life” but “the child I care for and who is my responsibility, who I need to give a better life”.

The actual loving parent decision was very last minute. Like as in,,, the few weeks before that reveal stream I think, when we recorded the cutscenes of the final myth and Ulysses freeing Aax, and saying he was proud of them and cared for them. Not quite being able to say he loved them. It basically wasn’t until we were in prestream call and then actively in the stream role playing live that we decided to have Ulysses say he loved Aax and thought of them as his child, and Aax to say that Ulysses was his dad. It just felt so right to play it like that in the moment, even if we hadn’t planned it to be specifically like that.

And I’m so impossibly happy with how those decisions snowballed and came together and formed into the story we have. It’s genuinely one of my proudest moments as a storyteller and creator and it means so much to me and I can’t thank Metta and everyone else involved enough 🫶

[mossygrovel]

Sighs. Ulysses having a "talk" with Fable.

"Do you see how every parent is with their child here? Do you see it? See the pattern?"

"They're no different than me."

"Bullshit. They are gentle with their children. They are kind and forgiving."

"Do you see how Kai is gentle with her son? How Wanda is gentle with her family? How much kindness they show?"

"As am I."

"No you're not. Look at how Icarus is with you! I don't think there's been a moment where he hasn't been disassociated in the time that you have been here."

"..."

"You have never been kind or caring to them. You've used them, hurt them. You're a bad person. And an even sadder, sorryier excuse of a father."

"What about-"

"I swear to the gods that remain if you say Rae and Enderian, I will shove my trident where the sun doesn't shine."

".."

"You're wife is in a tube, you've murdered 2 of your siblings, your child is self destructing and-"

"My children you mean."

"I meant what I said, you goblin shark. When you look at Rae Morningstar, what part of him makes you think he has EVER wanted to be your son? What part of him has EVER looked like you?"

"His wits."

"He got those from his mothers. And as a matter of fact, what happened when he called you dad? The one and only time he's ever done it? What happened to him, Fable?"

"..."

"You slapped him across the face. And had the audacity to wonder why he ran away everyday. Why he had so much fear around you and Icarus. You and your child, are cowards. Now, stay away from my kid and his family."

ULYSSES DESERVES TO BE UPSET