#all 6 of the new line-up do have important lore

[defectivevillain]

run run blood

pairing: Outlaw Midas/Reader

the reader's race & gender are ambiguous; no pronouns or physical descriptors are used.

summary: “So,” Midas drawls, “do we have a deal?” “…Fine,” you relent, against your better judgment. This is such a bad idea. And the foreboding in your chest only grows when Midas holds out a golden hand for you to shake. You return the gesture. His grip is firm, but not painful. Unfortunately, his grasp is also insistent—he doesn’t seem keen to release your hand any time soon.

You suppose it's inevitable that you meet the legendary outlaw Midas, after your nearly countless heists across the island of Oninoshima.

word count: 5.6k | ao3 version | midas playlist

warnings: canon-typical violence and weaponry, spoilers to Chapter 6 Season 2 of Fortnite; drugging, kidnapping, fainting

author's notes: I’m a relatively new Fortnite player, so I’m pretending Midas is a new Chapter 6 character since I don’t know his lore. This is decently canon compliant for Ch6S2, I think. I will say, I literally forgot that, y’know, everything he touches turns to gold… and I wrote this entire thing before realizing… So… Yeah… 😔 Explain that however you want. I couldn’t think of a creative enough way to make him actually able to touch the reader with the curse. Just pretend he found a way around it or something, idk. (I can’t lie, I didn’t realize he actually had the whole Midas curse… I thought he was a cyborg until I read the wiki, LOL.) Also, I beefed up the Midas/Fletcher vibes to make their past a bit more impactful. I made them exes, pretty much. I took creative liberties. Ah well.

As usual, I couldn’t come up with a title so I took it from a song: Run Run Blood by Phantogram.

After the island of Oninoshima is successfully purged of demon influence, you find yourself… bored. You can only go through the motions for so long before you burn yourself out. In hindsight, this ennui likely triggered your recent activities. But, it’s too late to contemplate the reasoning behind it. You’ve crossed a line you can’t come back from. 

In the absence of an adversary, you meet new friends and soon find a common enemy: Fletcher Kane. He has a tight grip on the entire island, with his mansion overtaking a sprawling section of the island’s map. His brick driveway weaves through the grass, a luxurious eyesore for all to see. He coats practically every surface in gold. He has more wealth than he knows what to do with, yet he still doesn’t seem satisfied. Fletcher is somewhat of a tyrant around here, with his staggeringly high taxes on weapons and imports making daily life nearly unlivable for everyone except him. 

So, you don’t feel very guilty robbing him. It certainly doesn’t help that his gold almost seems to regenerate overnight, leaving you with endless opportunities to just steal and steal and steal. And, hey, if he didn’t want you to take his money, maybe he should be guarding it better. His guards are almost incompetent, and they seem to think that appearing in staggered waves is better than using their numbers to their advantage. It’s really all too easy to break into the vaults scattered across Oninoshima, especially as you start getting better weapons and gear. 

Your first few heists draw the attention of Cassidy Quinn, a criminal who harbors a similar hatred for Fletcher. Through Cassidy, you meet Keisha, Joss, Valentina, and a host of other personalities who are eager to take Fletcher down. As time passes and you start to hone your craft, you unknowingly draw the attention of a vital piece in the puzzle: Midas. 

Midas is… well. You’re not sure how to describe him, based on what you’ve heard. He’s enigmatic and egotistical, apparently. It’s abundantly clear he isn’t in it for the greater good—he just wants Fletcher out of the way. That kind of selfishness isn’t one of your favorite traits, so you decide it’s a better idea to avoid him altogether. But, as your heists evolve to be quicker and faster, you unwittingly draw his attention. (And once Midas’s attention is captured, he is unstoppable.)

One uneventful day, you’re rifling through a chest for a better weapon when the sound of footsteps reaches your ears. You immediately whip around and point your gun at the sudden presence. There’s a dark laugh and the intruder steps out of the shadows. 

“I’ve heard about you,” Midas says, a dangerous smirk hinting at his lips. He looks about the same as he’s been described to you: shoulder-length black hair, a scar ripping through his right eye, a vicious grin. Despite the gun pointed at his head, he looks entirely nonchalant—only raising his hands in a gesture of mock surrender. You swallow an irritated sound and let your gun rest at your side. 

“You must be the one who’s been working with Valentina and Cassidy,” Midas analyzes, before enunciating your name carefully. Something lurches in your chest as you realize he knows exactly who you are. Damn it. You had a bad feeling you could only stay under the radar for so long. 

“That’s me,” you respond eventually. 

“Their work did seem far less sloppy than usual,” Midas notes. He studies you for a minute. “And I suppose you’re also the one riding the motorcycle and creating all that ruckus.”

Oh shit. Oops. “…Yeah,” you respond after a moment, a slightly sheepish smile breaking through your blank expression. Truthfully, you hadn’t quite considered just how loud the motorcycle can be. You’re resisting the urge to laugh now. “Keisha’s teaching me,” you remember to say, when you see his arched brow. 

“Teaching you what, exactly?” Midas scrutinizes. “How to draw the attention of everyone on the island… all at once?” 

“No,” you say, ignoring the dig. Truthfully, this is a bit funny. He’s almost acting like an annoyed neighbor. “Stunts and stuff,” you remember to answer noncommittally. 

“On a motorcycle?” he hums, his brows furrowing for a moment as he contemplates the thought. “Interesting.”

It’s quiet. You don’t decide to break through the silence, instead just staring at Midas and waiting for him to speak. He meets your gaze for a while, before sighing and shaking his head. “We have more important things to discuss,” he declares. You weren’t aware you had anything to discuss with Midas. You don’t even really want to speak to him in the first place. And those sentiments must be obvious, because he smirks knowingly. “I could use your skill,” he then says. 

“I’m sure you could,” you acknowledge. “But I’m not joining you.”

“I don’t expect you to,” he answers, to your surprise. 

“...Good,” you nod after a moment. 

“But I do want you to do something for me,” Midas continues. 

Of course he does. “Why should I?” you frown. 

“I’ll compensate you, of course,” he answers. “Call it a test.”

A test. You grit your teeth, resisting the urge to point your gun at his head again. That sounds like a waste of your time. But the sum of gold he offers you is too good to pass up, and he knows it. 

“So,” Midas drawls, “do we have a deal?”

“…Fine,” you relent, against your better judgment. This is such a bad idea. And the foreboding in your chest only grows when Midas holds out a golden hand for you to shake. 

You return the gesture. His grip is firm, but not painful. Unfortunately, his grasp is also insistent—he doesn’t seem keen to release your hand any time soon.

Midas is slippery. Evasive. Dangerous. 

A smirk rises on the outlaw’s lips when his hand finally slips away.

…And you immediately regret your decision. 

Despite your misgivings about the whole Midas deal, you follow through. Because you may be a lot of things, but you’re not a liar. You gave him your word—that was your mistake to make. 

Fortunately, his tasks don’t take as long as you expect them to. You manage to scan for mysterious energy sources on Predator’s Peak and sneak into Daigo’s underground laboratory to take his book on mask-making, per Midas’s requests. 

When you return to the Rogue Repairs Black Market, you amble around a bit before heading to the door near the back and swiping your Outlaw Keycard. Midas seems to be getting a bit more detailed with his security measures. You enter the room to find Midas sitting at his desk. Without so much as a greeting, you just toss the Mask-Making Book towards him and let it skitter across the desk. Midas looks up at you and hums, before taking the book in hand and inspecting it. 

“You’re quick,” he nods, rifling through the pages before placing the book down. “I wasn’t expecting you for a few more days, at least.” His gaze is heated and unyielding. 

Gritting your teeth, you throw him a gold bar and his eyebrows climb up his forehead for a second. “From Kane’s personal vaults,” you explain, upon sensing his confusion. Maybe this will convince him to trust you.

He whistles. “Not bad at all,” Midas acquiesces. He taps his fingers against the desk, a hollow rhythm echoing throughout the room. “He did seem a bit riled up. I see I have you to thank for that.”

You just nod. 

A pause. “You don’t talk much,” Midas observes after a moment. He doesn’t seem bothered by it. 

“I don’t have much to say,” you answer eventually. And of one thing, you’re certain: you need to watch your words in front of this guy. He’s volatile. 

“Well, I can hardly complain when my benefactor bestows such fortune unto me,” Midas says, making a somewhat grand gesture with his arms before resting them on his desk once more. The intensity of his gaze is unnerving you a little. 

“I’m not your benefactor,” you remember to correct him.

“Of course,” he smiles. “Now, onto the real work.” You resist an eye roll, instead keeping quiet and allowing him to monologue about this and that. At some point, he starts actually talking about important things and you tune back in. 

“You know what to do,” Midas concludes, finally freeing you from that one-sided conversation. With a slight nod, you’re effectively dismissed. “Feel free to grab some weapons on your way out.” He’s evidently referencing the exotic rifles scattered across the space. You’ve never been quite fond of them. They can do a lot of damage, but they’re a bit… finicky. 

“Thanks,” you say somewhat flatly, knowing you won’t take him up on the offer. Midas seems to recognize that too, because he just smiles that damn smile. It never fails to send a shiver down your spine.

“Be careful,” Midas hums. If he were anyone else, the remark would be genuine. But this is Midas. 

“Fuck off,” you mutter under your breath, turning your back and walking away. 

Midas’s laugh seems to reverberate in your ears long after you leave. 

As promised, these new tasks from Midas are a bit more difficult—but ultimately nothing crazy. At some point, you stop asking questions and just keep quiet. If Midas senses this shift, he doesn’t comment on it. The two of you continue your unplanned meetings, with you visiting whenever you finish a task for him. They’re nothing more than business, and neither of you bother with small talk. They’re transactional and nothing more. 

Sometimes, though, you have to wonder if Midas doesn’t understand that. It’s strange. You’ve heard so many rumors about him and his sharp tongue. And while you’ve certainly seen and heard evidence of his scathing commentary, he’s never quite lived up to the untouchable and prickly individual everyone thinks him to be. 

It’s a small change, but you’re perceptive enough to notice it. Somewhere along the way, Midas almost seems to start anticipating your visits. His gaze will snap up to you the moment he hears your footsteps. He’ll try to keep you there longer, drawing out conversation and asking you questions that he doesn’t seem to even need the answers to. You’re not quite sure what his motivation is. 

For a while, you can at least take solace in the fact that he hasn’t visited you outside of the Black Market since you first met. Of course, the universe doesn’t let you have that comfort for long. You’re in the process of breaking into a vault one morning when you hear a far too familiar voice behind you. “Impressive.”

Your soul nearly jumps out of your body when a hand lands on your shoulder. “What the hell—?” you immediately flinch and whip around, backing away.

“Relax,” Midas says flippantly, as if he hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere. He takes a step closer to you, and then another. You pretend not to notice, instead looking at him warily. 

“What are you doing here?” you remember to ask, after busying yourself with reloading your gun and looking around for more guards.

“Just checking in on your progress,” he answers, idly nudging the dead guard on the ground with a boot. The guard doesn’t budge and Midas just hums disinterestedly. 

“More like distracting me,” you mutter under your breath. 

“You think I’m distracting?” he asks, a twisted smile on his face. “I’m flattered.” 

“Of course you are,” you mutter again. This guy is relentless. You shake your head in an attempt to clear your thoughts, and study your surroundings. The thermite you placed on the door of the vault is making steady progress. You probably have about half of the time left. More guards will appear soon, you think to yourself. 

A burning feeling on your arm captures your attention, and you look down to find a gash on your forearm. Frowning, you turn the corner to grab some bandages.

“Careless,” Midas notes, referencing the wound. He must’ve followed you over here. 

“Shut up,” you snap, rolling the bandages around your forearm somewhat awkwardly. You barely manage to get it done in time before guards are emerging from the rooms upstairs. You quickly run up the nearby stairs to eliminate them. 

You return to the ground floor to find that Midas… isn’t helping at all. He’s just standing there, his hands shoved in his pockets as he watches the scene unfold. You want to be surprised, but you’re not. He thinks everything is a game. 

Two more guards approach and you switch to a pistol. You think Midas is saying something, but his voice is nothing more than warped background noise to you. Once you’ve taken them down, you turn to find Midas looking at you. There’s a strange expression on his face. You have no idea what emotion could be gleaming in his eyes, but it looks to be a relatively profound one. 

Before you can contemplate that any longer, there’s the sound of footsteps in front of you. You squint and watch as a guard heads through the door behind Midas. For a moment, you just watch as the guard gets closer—and you wait for Midas to whip around and shoot him. But Midas doesn’t make a move. Has he even noticed? You don’t have much time to wonder, as the guard promptly raises their gun.

That split second almost seems to take a few minutes, as you come to the conclusion that you’ll have to be the one to act. You manage to get close enough to Midas to push him out of the way, not even bothering to be gentle as you practically shove him off to the side. The guard fires a bullet where Midas was standing mere moments ago and you make quick work of defeating him, before turning back to the outlaw. 

“Idiot,” you admonish him. 

He’s on the ground, staring up at you with a slightly shocked expression on his face. It’s quickly replaced by indifference as he brushes his clothes off and gets to his feet. “Not so rough next time,” Midas says pointedly. And of course he doesn’t thank you for saving his life, or even acknowledge it. Of course. 

“There won’t be a next time,” you promise. 

“True,” Midas agrees, evidently not catching onto the implications you just made. (Because you won’t save him next time. At least, that’s what you’re telling yourself.) Then the outlaw looks at you pensively. “I was… distracted.” Inexplicably, he’s staring at you as he says that. 

“Maybe you should pay better attention, then,” you say flatly, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“Maybe,” he says flippantly. Midas is still staring at you intently. His gaze turns scrutinizing as he looks you up and down, his eyes quickly landing on your forearm. “Your bandaging skills could use some work.”

“Yeah, well,” you sigh. “It’s hard to do with one hand. Besides, this gets the job done.” You reach down to the tattered bandage, attempting to wrap it around your arm again. 

Midas extends a hand, and it lingers in mid-air for a few seconds. There’s a strange tension settling in the air now. It almost looks as if he’s going to reach out to fix your bandaging. 

Then the vault door explodes, promptly breaking the moment apart. You’re the first to regain your composure, turning your back and making your way into the vault. Your departure is too quick for you to notice Midas staring after you, an inscrutable expression on his face. 

“Midas?” you hum after a moment, peeking your head out and looking up the stairs. He’s lingering awkwardly at the top, seemingly lost in thought. You hold up a gold bar and move it back and forth before his eyes. Still nothing. That’s pretty strange. He must be pretty preoccupied. 

“You good?” you ask after you’ve finished looting. The outlaw didn’t even enter the vault. Very weird. You’re not so deluded as to think he trusts you to know what’s valuable down there—he’d want to check himself. So why didn’t he? 

Midas blinks, as if thrown from a stupor. “Of course I am,” he responds smoothly. It’s probably not as convincing as he wants it to be, but you can sense he won’t elaborate. You settle for walking out of the building with him, occasionally sneaking glances at the outlaw who’s always been rumored to be emotionless.

In hindsight… maybe you got too confident, sneaking around Fletcher Kane’s mansion for a fifth time.  

But in your defense, you weren’t expecting to get jumped. Well and truly jumped—as in, ambushed with a needle to the neck before you could even raise your gun. And besides, you had broken into his mansion four times before—this heist shouldn’t have been different. Fletcher’s security has been laughably lax. It seems he was expecting you this time, though. 

You come to these thoughts within a few minutes of your return to consciousness. You’re not blindfolded, thankfully—but you are tied to a chair in a nondescript location. After a few moments of thought, you recognize it to be Kappa Kappa Factory at the edge of the island. Dread stews in your chest. It could be a while before you’re found. 

You experimentally pull at your bonds, unsurprised to find they’re incredibly tight. All of your weapons are gone—including the dagger you keep in your boot for situations like this, which is really a shame. You’re well and truly captured. 

You’re not at all surprised to see Fletcher Kane walk into the room within moments, his cane thudding against the ground. You watch his approach, taking in the luxurious coat around his shoulders and gilded gold detailing on his cane. This is someone who has more than enough money to burn. 

“I finally have you,” he says. The remark is ominous enough to send an ugly nausea climbing up your throat. You take a slow breath, struggling to keep your composure. 

“Couldn’t even take me in a fair fight?” you blurt out before you can stop yourself. Damn it. “I guess you did get your ass kicked last time.” 

That gets you a punch in the face. The blow is hard enough to make you see stars, and you have to tilt your head to spit blood out of your mouth. It seems he didn’t appreciate that reminder. 

“You’ve been an incredible nuisance,” Fletcher frowns, cracking his knuckles exaggeratedly. You resist an eye roll at the gesture.  

“...Thanks?” you say after a moment. 

The wolf rolls his eyes. After considering you for a second, he continues. “I’m willing to compromise,” he says. There’s a dramatic pause. “I could give you more gold than you would ever know what to do with.”

“Maybe,” you acquiesce, despite already knowing you’ll deny his offer. It won’t hurt to keep him talking, though. “But what would I have to give you?” you reason. 

“Your service,” Fletcher responds. At your perplexed look, he specifies. “Your skill.”

“Um… that’s okay,” you eventually remark, looking around the room to avoid his eyes. Besides, how exactly would you benefit him? What is he even after? You’re still not quite sure. 

Fletcher doesn’t exactly seem surprised, but he does seem annoyed. He takes a step closer and your gaze unwittingly snaps back to him. You’ve stared him down before, but that was when you had fully loaded weapons. Right now, you’re uncomfortably vulnerable—with no weapons, no ability to move, and no safety. 

“You think you’re safe with him,” Fletcher says. He doesn’t need to specify exactly who he’s talking about—you both know. “But you’re not. Midas will discard you at a moment’s notice. The second you lose your utility, you’ll be dead to him.”

It seems like he’s speaking from experience (and also projecting). You don’t really know what to say, so you just keep quiet. Fletcher doesn’t even seem to notice—he almost looks lost in memories, in betrayal and anger and grief.

At some point, he seems to remember your presence and his eyes narrow. Suddenly, Fletcher crosses the room in a swift movement and yanks your head back, forcing you to look up at him. His nails are almost as sharp as claws, digging into your skin. You choke on a breath as you see the pure fury in his eyes. “You’re nothing.” 

He releases his grip with a pronounced shove. Your vision spins at the movement. You’re starting to get the feeling that this really isn’t about you—it’s about Midas. Fletcher just grabbed you to use as bait. But, you have a sneaking suspicion you’re not good enough bait. You wouldn’t be at all surprised if Midas never showed. You’re not that important to him. The outlaw doesn’t do friends, or acquaintances, or whatever the fuck the two of you are. 

“He’s not coming.” The remark crawls its way out of your throat before you can stop it. Fletcher’s eyes are back on you. 

“Oh, he is,” Fletcher laughs, a gesture entirely devoid of amusement. It sounds empty, bitter, almost defeated. There’s clearly a rich history between the two criminals—one you’re entirely unknowing of. You only know what little Midas has told you: that they’ve known each other for a while, that Fletcher has always been like this. Clearly, there’s a lot more between them than what you previously thought. 

“I don’t think so,” you continue. Your voice sounds a bit raspy, which is strange—considering you likely haven’t been here for too long. 

“When I first heard,” Fletcher says, entirely uncaring of your objections, “I thought it to be just another rumor. I dismissed it time and time again, each time I heard it.” Is it fair to say you have no idea what he’s talking about? He’s being frustratingly vague. It seems like the wolf is alluding to something between Midas and you. What exactly that something is… you haven’t the faintest idea. 

“But I’ve seen it for myself,” Fletcher continues. You blink in disbelief. What exactly has he seen, and how has he seen it? You don’t think the three of you have ever been in a room together. “Midas sees you as an equal. Values you, cares for you. And because of that, he is weak.” The statement’s punctuated by a harsh thud from his cane. 

With that, the air falls quiet once more. You’re not sure how much time passes: it could be minutes, it could be hours. Hell, you could’ve been here for days. In this windowless room, it’s impossible to know for sure. All you know is that Fletcher is quickly turning impatient. 

“Midas is taking his time,” Fletcher announces, beginning to pace around the room. He seems restless. 

“He’s not coming,” you repeat. 

“You seem certain,” Fletcher notes. 

“I… am,” you say carefully. A mere moment’s reflection on Midas’s character could tell you that. The two of you aren’t even friends. In your absence, he’ll just move to find another weapon (benefactor, you remember him saying).

Something changes in his expression. Kane takes a step closer. Your heart thuds against your ribs. “You’re smart,” he says begrudgingly, crossing his arms across his chest. “Why have you remained at his side?” 

“I don’t think he lets anyone stand at his side,” you reason. This is Midas you’re talking about, after all. He comes and goes when he pleases. “I just… complete the tasks he gives me.”

“You underestimate yourself,” Fletcher argues, seemingly strangely passionate about the topic. You still can’t shake the feeling that you’re missing a huge piece of this puzzle. There’s something neither of these criminals are telling you. “Or, I suppose, what you’ve uttered is what you do. But he isn’t content with that. He wants more.” 

The distance between you is virtually nonexistent now. A claw traces the space under your eye, a hollow reflection of where the scar cuts through Midas’s face. You choke on your next breath. “He’ll take everything from you,” Fletcher continues, dragging his finger down, down, down. “Make you forget who you are, what you’re fighting for. Your purpose.” 

You just swallow. Distracted by the movement, Fletcher’s hand flexes and finds your throat. There’s a contemplative expression on his face now. “I could end this,” the wolf muses. “Ensure you never disrespect me again.” His hand tightens for a second, a warning. You are not the one in control. 

“He would never forgive me,” Fletcher says.  It’s murmured so quietly that you almost don’t even hear it at all. “But I don’t think I need his forgiveness,” he then concludes. “Just his attention.”

Your heart drops to your stomach. He’s going to kill you. He’s going to rip your throat out. His grip on your throat tightens, moving past discomfort and quickly ripping your breath from your chest. You can barely budge in your current position. All you can do is stare up into those empty eyes. 

Your vision’s starting to blacken. You’re going to die. Fletcher’s vicious smirk blurs and sharpens before your eyes. His hand digs into your skin with far too much force. You’re going to die, you’re going to—

In a blur of motion, Fletcher reels back, blood spurting from his wrist as a bullet carves a neat path through it. You flinch as blood spatters across your face. What follows eludes your comprehension: blurs of movement, gunshots, blades. You feel dizzy even as you just sit there. 

At some point, Midas returns. The only sign of his fight with Fletcher is his slightly labored breathing—otherwise, he looks unscathed. He studies you for a moment before crouching down to untie your bonds in eerie silence. Even when he’s finished, he remains standing before you. Something like annoyance passes over his face and he reaches out to wipe the blood off your face, before finally stepping back and giving you some breathing room.

You get to your feet slowly, your knees protesting the movement. You’re not sure just how long you spent here, but you know whatever you were drugged with is still running through your system. Your balance is a bit unsteady and you almost feel like a baby deer learning to walk. 

“Can’t even take a punch?” Midas huffs judgmentally. You’re too dazed to notice the concern hidden behind his remark or the way he steps closer, as if ready to reach out and support you if needed. 

“I think he drugged me with something,” you say instead, your tongue feeling thick in your mouth. It was kind of hard to notice before, since you were forced to be stationary. But now that you’ve tried to move, your exhaustion and vertigo are rather persistent. There’s sweat collecting at the back of your neck. You don’t feel right; something doesn’t feel right. “Sorry, I—” you try to say, only for the world to twist around you. It feels like every bone in your body just turns to mush, as you crumple to the ground and surrender to unconsciousness. 

You wake up to find yourself settled on a couch, a somewhat scratchy blanket draped over you. Your muscles ache with even the smallest of movements, as you push yourself up to a half-seated position and clear your throat to get rid of the dryness. There are new bandages around your forearms, far less clumsy than your own handiwork. 

“You’re awake,” Midas states. You glance to the side and find him sitting in an armchair nearby, leveling you with a scrutinizing gaze. 

You nod ever so slightly, not trusting yourself to speak. “...Thanks,” you say. You don’t need to elaborate for him to know what you’re thanking him for. If he hadn’t arrived, you might’ve been dead. And, if Midas really wanted, he could’ve just left you there. He didn’t have to bring you back here—wherever this is—and patch you up.

“I should’ve been there sooner,” Midas responds. 

You just shake your head. You don’t blame him, but you sense that speaking on those thoughts will just throw you into an argument. You don’t have the energy, so you instead remain quiet. After a few more minutes spent in awkward silence, you try to push yourself up slowly. 

“Don’t push it,” Midas warns you, making you freeze in place. “I found traces of the drugs in your system. Or, I suppose, Joss did. Not exactly her forte, as she was keen to remind me several times.” He rolls his eyes slightly. 

“Everyone seemed quite worried for you,” he continues. “You have quite the little family now, whether you wanted one or not.” 

He’s speaking a bit too quickly for you to comprehend everything. “Sorry, I’m—” you choke out, bringing a hand to your temple. It’s difficult to process what’s happening, especially in this conversation. You still can’t quite understand the whole interaction with Fletcher, let alone what’s happening right now. 

“You apologize far too much,” he notes clinically. “You should work on that.” 

You huff, unsurprised by his scrutiny. When you move to push yourself up again, you find the movement a bit easier—and realize Midas has a hand on your back, guiding you up. You murmur a word of gratitude quietly, feeling slightly less winded now that you’re in a seated position. 

Midas looks to be contemplating something. “In truth, I’m the one who should be apologizing,” he eventually says. “I got you caught up in this mess.”

You just shake your head. “You couldn’t have known that would happen.”

“I should’ve expected it,” he argues, shaking his head. 

“And I should’ve expected the ambush,” you add with a sigh. 

Midas’s face darkens at the reminder. “That seemed… unnecessary,” he says. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was frowning. “Even for Kane.”

“He seemed to think I was disrespectful,” you explain, “for all the robberies.” 

“I’d venture to guess there was more reason than that,” Midas analyzes, looking at you pointedly. He’s inviting you to explain. This is his way of asking what Fletcher said to you. He’ll never outright say it, but he wants to know.

“He did say…” you trail off hesitantly, tangling your fingers in the blanket thrown over you. “He seemed to think that you would show up, because he had captured me.”

Midas just clasps his hands, before looking at you and waiting for you to continue. 

“He, um,” you stammer awkwardly. This is embarrassing, somehow. You’re not the most perceptive when it comes to ambiguity and implication, but Fletcher had really hammered the point home. “He said you want more from me.”

“More,” Midas repeats, evidently seeking elaboration.

“More than just completing tasks,” you continue. “He was… Um.”

Midas looks at you imploringly. “Say it; I can take it.”

That’s… not really what you’re worried about. But it doesn’t seem like you’re going to get out of this one. 

“He said,” you eventually manage to say, “that you value me and care about me.” There’s that familiar tension you always seem to feel in his presence, sinking through the air and making you question everything you say. “I told him he was wrong,” you maintain, after giving Midas a moment to process. 

“...You did,” he says. “A fierce defender.” There’s a note of some detached emotion in his voice. It sounds unnatural, hollow. 

“I mean,” you justify, “It was just instinctual. Because it’s not true.” You search his face. 

You’re expecting a hum, a nod, or, hell, no reaction at all. But you aren’t expecting Midas to sigh and bring a hand to his temple, before dragging his eyes up to meet yours. “It’s true,” he admits. 

“It is?” you blink. 

He nods ever so slightly. “You didn’t show,” Midas then recalls slowly. It looks like each word he utters is taking more energy from him. This is clearly difficult for him. “I was skeptical. You’re usually… quite quick. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, told myself it was an arduous task when it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t until Keisha visited, that I let myself believe it,” he continues. “That you were missing.” 

“I felt strange,” he frowns, his hand twitching. “Sick.”

“I thought my years of good health had finally caught up to me. But I persisted. I thought nothing of it—of how it cleared the moment we locked eyes earlier.”

“It’s true,” Midas concludes. “You are… very important to me.”

“You’re important to me too,” you confess after a few moments. 

“As Midas,” he recites, something bitter in his voice. “As an outlaw.”

“What?” you say. “No, I mean… Just—” you take a slow breath. “You’re important… as you. Just you. None of that other stuff.” As far as confessions go, it’s almost pathetic. You barely get the words out, and they sound absolutely nonsensical to your ears. 

But Midas seems to understand regardless. His hand finds yours where it’s resting on the bed. It’s a seemingly small gesture, but both of you can sense the meaning behind it. You squeeze his hand in what you hope to be a sign of reassurance. His grip tightens in response. 

Midas proceeds to keep you company throughout your entire recovery. He admits, one night when he thinks you’re asleep, that he’s never quite done this before—caring for a person like this. Caring about a person like this. 

You’ll admit something similar in the coming days, once you’re fully recovered. You’ll admit you feel as if you don’t deserve to be cared for, that you’ve taken too many lives to feel deserving of anything. And Midas will laugh under his breath quietly, bringing a hand to your cheek. His thumb will glide across your cheekbone. 

“Maybe neither of us deserve this,” Midas will admit, “but, we deserve each other.”

And you’ll look at him, meet his eyes, and find yourself unable to hide a smile.

Until then, you drift off to sleep knowing you’ll have his company when you wake.

©2025, @defectivevillain | @defectivehero, All Rights Reserved. Reblogs are greatly appreciated—just don't steal or share outside of Tumblr, please.

endnotes: Heeheeheeeee!

Imagining Midas sitting in an armchair across the room but near your bedside…. Imagining him literally never leaving… Imagining him falling asleep there… spending all his time there, because he just wants to be near you… GRAHHHHH!

also WHEW. Midas is difficult to write for. But I think I pulled it off, and I’m pretty proud of it.

I fr almost wrote “deerling” instead of baby deer… and then I looked it up and remembered that Deerling is a Pokémon. Bahahaha.

huge shoutout to my fortnite bestie @connorhasabigtip we’re so tilted at the towers. can’t wait to run ppl over with u again!!! i mean. uh. play the game how it’s supposed to be played. yeah.

thanks for reading! <3

check out my other works, sorted by fandom.

general taglist: @its-ares @excusemeasibangmyheadonawall @the-ultimate-librarian @gayaristocrat @always-lying-to-you @moss4ev3r @hottskull

friendly reminder that i don't give permission for my writing to be shared to other sites, stolen, copied, translated, or used in any way. thanks!

[nadas-dirthalen]

I Saw Solas's Origin in an Achievement Icon and It Opened My Eyes on 15 Years of Lore

— PART TEN, THE FINALE: if you haven't read previous parts, do it now! —

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] [ 9 ]

Welcome, friends and travellers! I wanted to get some thoughts recorded before Veilguard's release so I could see if I am right about an absolute BOATLOAD of theories I have.

In short: I saw the achievement list when it was released. I have seen the backstory hints for Solas included in said list. AND MY MIND WAS BLOWN.

You have been warned: THIS COLLECTION OF THEORIES INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR EVERY DRAGON AGE GAME AND ALL PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL UP TO AND INCLUDING OCTOBER 18, 2024.

Come sit down with me. Make a nice cup of tea (and hide it from Solas). We've got a lot of unpacking to do.

(no, this photo isn't the spoiler, I just like it.)

The Story of Solas: Him Solas Evanuris, Da'durgen'lin (3/3)

— From the Long Sleep to the Dark Present —

If you're still here, I thank you, from the bottom of my tired heart. I am doing MY BEST to get through this final bit of theorycrafting, all in one long, gigantic post, the night before Veilguard.

I haven't been spoiled. Please no one tell me anything. I want to be able to properly say I did all this, all 10 parts, without spoilers of any kind.

This post is going to be long. Let's dive right in. We've got:

A Tiny Aside, First: Solas's Paintings are Really Important, Actually

The Herald, the Breach, and the Horrible Future

Solas's Thoughts on the Grey Wardens

Fear in the Fade

All New, Faded for Her

But Solas Left, and Not for Pride

Terror Unfolding on the Din'anshiral

What Rook Did and the High Cost of Failure

Veilguard Predictions

[Image Source.]

A Tiny Aside, First: Solas's Paintings Are Really Important, Actually

I'm writing this segment last, but placing it up here because the other sections are sort of in order. So hello. Welcome, first, from a very tired Nadas Dirthalen.

I just wanted to make mention of a few key lines regarding Solas's paintings. Emmrich remarks on them as not just memories: they are what Solas wishes to forget. (No source; I'm not hunting for footage right now.)

The Regret demon is able to spring out from them. Huh.

And, finally:

Cole: You like to dance, but can't. You hate to sing, but can. You should not paint. It would be very bad if you did.

Given that I believe Sera's playing with "small painted boxes" gave her a fragment of that memory Mythal stole from Andruil (its own theory; so many people before I have explained it in depth), I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Evanuris, existing in a time before sundered Titans, could trap memories in things.

Like stone. Like paintings on stone.

It's said that the Shapers put their actual thoughts into the Memories. I wonder if this means creating small spirits, like wisps, in the Stone; an echo of Titans' ability.

I wonder if this means Solas was literally offloading tiny spirits of Contemplation and Regret in his paintings, the whole time. Memories taken out of himself, so he could stay true to his purpose.

(Do I have any idea how that would work? No. Do I still think it's true? Yup. Do I have time to look it up and weigh it against everything else that could be possible? Absolutely not. Enjoy!)

Anyway. I wonder if that's why he paints everywhere: because if he doesn't, his problems will consume him, forcing him to take another... terrifying... shape.

(Yes, this is foreshadowing; keep reading. <3)

The Herald, the Breach, and the Horrible Future

Solas wakes up from uthenera, hands his orb off to Corypheus, and then Corypheus doesn't die. We know the story. What I want to touch on is the fact that the Inquisitor doesn't die, either. They are dyING, but they do not die immediately, which Solas thought would happen even for Corypheus. Beyond the fact that Corypheus has, by that point, been using the orb for some time, I want to talk about why the Inquisitor doesn't die from the orb.

Because I have a theory.

Solas speaks to a high-approval Inquisitor about wisdom: one that he has never seen in their people, regardless of who those people are. I had to look it up to make sure, but it's true.

dwarf PC Solas: Dwarves are practical. They do not dream. The cannot even imagine a world beyond the physical. But you have shown subtlety in your actions. A wisdom that goes against everything I know of your people. Qunari PC Solas: Qunari are savage creatures, their ferocity held in check only by the rigid teachings of the Qun. But you have shown subtlety in your actions. A wisdom that goes against everything I know of your people. human PC Solas: Humans are shortsighted, brutish. Blind to the beauty of the Fade, their minds cast in a duality of black and white. But you have shown subtlety in your actions. A wisdom that goes against everything I know of your people. Dalish PC Solas: You have shown subtlety in your actions, a wisdom that goes against everything I expected. If the Dalish could raise someone with a spirit like yours… have I misjudged them? [Source.]

The Dalish dialogue speaks of what I want to focus on: a spirit like yours.

My hypothesis is that the Inquisitor is a spirit from the same Titan as Solas is, and that Solas's true name really is Contemplation. He is seeing a spirit like himself, from the same home.

I think this is why the Inquisitor, even a non-mage Inquisitor, can visit Solas in the Fade and surprise the shit out of him. It's because the Inquisitor, imbued with the mark, has awakened something deep in their subconscious. Something they don't even understand.

Connection.

Isatunoll, with one singular other person (who is very single, the moment she asks, if she asks, har har).

From this and other things already covered, I know: Solas marvels at the sight of spirits similar to his, and people similar to him. He seeks for those spirits and people to thrive, and mourns their death. Ultimately, he wants the Titans to be restored, likely for the benefit of all future spirits and for the benefit of the Titans themselves (we'll get there).

That's why the Breach is a threat to him, even when he wants to tear down the Veil.

Solas wants the Titans brought back, but not as they are right now. Right now, they are Terror, Malice, Pestilence, and Spite. Before, they were something else: something happy and whole. Un-sundering them is a first step to their regeneration, but they will first come back as those unhealthy aspects.

And the Breach, should it tear open the Veil, would likely break the Evanuris's prisons, thereby releasing them. The freed Evanuris would continue wounding the Titans and manipulating the blight. The Titans would never heal; they would always be fighting back. (We'll get there, too.)

And we know this information because we had the chance to play through In Hushed Whispers.

During In Hushed Whispers (IHW for short), we saw a timeline where the Breach had been allowed to completely tear open the Veil, without the Evanuris being re-imprisoned. We see Solas as a prisoner during this questline, showing that he did not get to do what he wanted.

The whole sky is blown open and swirling green—but surely we all saw how much red lyrium is everywhere, too. They're growing it out of people, and if we remember the Chant of Light, we remember that (however abstractly) the Chant tells us that the Maker's second children (aka, everyone after the Evanuris) are formed with bodies made of lyrium and spirits comprised of Titans' thoughts.

That is Solas's worst nightmare, even though the Veil has been torn open. Because what Solas wants isn't just the Fade being rejoined with the waking world, but for the Titans he was forced to wound to be able to heal.

Clearly, with that abundance of red lyrium, they were not.

This, I believe, is also why Solas says, "You change... everything," to a high approval Inquisitor.

If the Inquisitor's soul truly is a spirit that comes from Terror, either pre- or post-Veil, it means one very crucial thing to Solas. It means that not all of Terror is blighted. That someone mortal, so much younger than him, is comprised of a thought from the Titan he has been mourning for thousands of years.

Which brings me to...

Solas's Thoughts on the Grey Wardens

Picture that you are Solas: once Cool Contemplation, now Cold Dread. You have spent thousands of years mourning the action you were forced to take, leading to the destruction of everything you knew, and also your connection to everything and everyone else. You have just woken, made another grand mistake, but in the process you have discovered that one singular person is made from the same Titan as you, and remains free of the blight.

One. But it is enough to hope for a world you thought could never exist; one you were willing to tear down the Veil to fight for anyway, despite that.

Still some hope remains for restoration.

PC: I wouldn’t mind never having another Blight. Corypheus interfering is the real problem. Solas: The Blight is the real problem. PC: And the Wardens are trying to end the Blight. Solas: Yes! Would it have worked? Do you know? Do they? The fools who first unleashed the Blight upon this world thought they were unlocking the ultimate power. [Source.]

Except for that some people have been drinking the blood of archdemons, WILLINGLY ingesting the foulness of turned Titans. Some people are WORSENING the very thing that you think has a teeny tiny itty bitty chance of being fixed. And what do they want?

They want to charge straight for Titans' hearts to exact violence upon the archdemons, who aren't actually the cause of the blight at all. Because you are. You, who is watching them suggest all of this as if it's a serious idea.

I dunno, folks. I'd be a little salty, too. Especially if they were unknowingly making casual mention of my worst fear...

Fear in the Fade

I always found it curious that Fear spoke to Solas in Elvhen. I mean, yeah, it makes sense, but why do that to the player, when Solas clearly has a grasp on the common tongue?

To make it a puzzle, because BioWare loves their puzzles. Well, I love puzzles, too, as we can all probably guess by now.

Trick Weekes says that, essentially, the Nightmare's words are, essentially, "Your pride is responsible for everything that has gone wrong; you will die alone." Solas's response, according to Trick, is, "Nothing is known for certain / Not necessarily."

But, knowing "dirthara-ma," "banal," "ma," "enasalin," and "salin," I am led toward this interpretation.

Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena mar din. May you know, Dread. Your blight led to victory. Your pride leads to your death.

And Solas's response?

Banal nadas.

Two interpretations. One is "nothing is inevitable," just like Trick says. The other is "The Nothing is inevitable," where The Nothing refers to the blight. And yes, they knew that in this scene. The Nothing is Sera's greatest fear.

Knowing what I know now, I agree with Solas on both counts, and that's why I think, now, that this is such a genius line. Solas toes the line between hope and being "grim and fatalistic."

The blight—the blighted Titans, fighting back—are inevitable to him. They are a fact of life, and why he must tear down the Veil. So they have a chance at ever being healed.

But with the Inquisitor's existence? That chance exists already. The Nightmare shows us, then, that Solas stands on a precipice throughout his time in Inquisition, because hope continues to chase him.

The Titans are waking—but what will that mean?

All New, Faded for Her

This, I feel, is the deciding line for Solas during his time in Inquisition. We know that ultimately he makes the same choice at the end either way—he leaves the Inquisition as soon as Corypheus dies.

Cole: He hurts, an old pain from before, when everything sang the same. You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't.

But until that exact moment? I believe, for many Inquisitors, Solas makes the firm decision to stay.

The Inquisitor is real. They are a real person, with a spirit so much like his own, and they continue to survive, not blighted. There is hope for Terror. It means everyone could be real. The Titans might heal on their own. It changes everything, but Solas can't depend on that change: not when the Inquisitor might be the only good thing to ever happen in these thousands of years, and abandoning his duty now might mean never seeing the world healed.

Can't he?

I believe that doubt in his own convictions—and his decision to stay—come in the moment pictured above. The moment where his friend is allowed to die as itself, as Wisdom, not bound as Pride. The moment where the Inquisitor shows Solas that there might be a world where the current society embraces the People (spirits; Titan-thoughts; Titans) that he knew.

You know what else happens during that part of his personal quest? Solas leaves. He genuinely debates leaving the Inquisition while he mourns.

PC: Guess I owe Varric an ale. I wasn’t sure you were coming back. Solas: Neither was I for a time, but only a short time. [Source.]

He visits the Fade; the spot where his friend used to be.

PC: Where did you go? Solas: I found a quiet spot and went to sleep. I visited the place in the Fade where my friend used to be. It’s empty, but there are stirrings of energy in the Void. Someday something new may grow there.

Stirrings of energy. Not in the Fade. In the Void, which the ancient elves referred to as synonymous with the Abyss. That's odd—shouldn't spirits go back to the Fade when they die?

No: this represents a Titan healing. Stirrings of energy; a scab crawling over a wound.

Cole speaks often of hope. The Inquisitor as a beacon, burning bright for both spirits and the people worshipping the Herald of Andraste.

I believe this is why: the Inquisitor represents hope for the two worlds joining—literally and figuratively. And their soul represents something that Solas sees in Wisdom's death: that the Titans may be healing on their own, in a way he never expected. The blights may end on their own, in time.

And Solas would have stayed to see it. He would have come back to a romanced Lavellan, after Corypheus's death.

But...

But Solas Left, and Not for Pride.

Let's remember Solas's first words after Corypheus's defeat.

Solas places the pieces back on the ground and stands. If Solas has high approval: PC: There’s more, isn’t there? Solas: It was not supposed to happen this way. [Source.]

He sounds genuinely shattered in the moment, much like that orb. That's because he had no time to mask the feeling, as he had been for the entirety of DA:I up until that point. This was a crushing loss.

The defeat of his fleeting hope.

Why? Well, to keep it brief because I swear my hands will give out before Veilguard releases at this rate: I, like many, many others, believe that pieces of the Titans make up magical foci. The ancient Tevinter call them the vessels of dreams, and we know now what dreams are.

We also remember the Trespasser mural of a sundered Titan, and how the orb on the Fade half (left) bears a direct resemblance to the ones Mythal and Elgar'nan carry in Solas's Lighthouse mural.

I believe that this may have been Solas's sundered heart of his own Titan. Terror.

Home, all gone.

Now there is only the Inquisitor sharing kinship of any kind with him, because Wisdom is dead and Terror is half-dead, too.

It doesn't matter how much Solas appreciates the Inquisitor's company, or how they represent an end to his loneliness. It doesn't matter how much he loves a romanced Lavellan. It can't matter.

Because the Inquisitor is mortal. They will die, and unless Solas does something, their soul will not go back to Terror if Terror does not exist at all.

Solas—Cold Dread—was not motivated by pride when he left the Inquisition.

He was motivated by fear.

Terror Unfolding on the Din'anshiral

I literally have no time to unpack the existence of this man's wolf form. Anyone who wanted to read this post for that, I'm so sorry: I don't know why it's a wolf. I suspect I'm not supposed to know why.

I will say this: I wonder if when Solas sundered the Titans, maybe he also sundered a (blighted) wolf form from himself. One he could previously shapeshift into, like seems to be the case with the Evanuris and their archdemons.

Do I have evidence to link? Nope not really; only that it's weird, then, that Solas's Dread Wolf absorbed—

Nope, okay, I've got a theory. Normally, I edit out these real-time realizations. Not today, Satan.

What I was going to say is that, if Solas had to sunder himself from the wolf when he made the Veil, it's awful weird that the wolf (sundered) somehow absorbed Urthemiel's power from Mythal.

Only: I don't think the wolf was sundered, and I remember evidence that backs that up.

Anyone remember the inexplicably killed Qunari from Trespasser?

"Backs hunched, eyes wide open... They were scared shitless when they died," says Bull.

"More dead Qunari with terrified expressions," the Inquisitor later remarks.

They were killed without wounds. They were so afraid that they instantly died. I really wondered what happened, there, since Solas has been known to petrify (a lot of) people.

It's because there's two magics going on. One, Solas's magic from being from the Stone/Titans.

The other... Dread.

I'm not sure if Solas mysteriously left no pawprints (lol) in Trespasser. What I do know is that Solas and the Dread Wolf are the same being—and that if the Dread Wolf truly is blighted, that is why both sides of the Evanuris's conflict would worship him. Solas symbolizes power over the blight—representing hope for a future with a cure, or indomitable Evanuris power, depending upon the story.

Now that THAT epiphany is out of the way, let me continue on with what I was going to say about Trespasser and the din'anshiral.

Solas, after Corypheus's defeat (more importantly, after his orb shatters), has little left to lose. If he doesn't act and do everything necessary, it's only a matter of time until the other orbs are lost this way. Until the Veil weakens and breaks entirely. Until the Evanuris walk free and take the Titans for all they've got left.

His fear is mounting. He is not acting in Pride during Trespasser (however haughty he might come across); he is acting in fear. Fear that makes him try to put on a brave (and maybe prideful) face. Fear that sends him crumbling every time his vhenan is in his line of sight. Fear that has him suddenly callous with an Inquisitor he isn't friendly with, because he no longer has time to play nice and is scared shitless of the consequences of failure.

The man is literally the living embodiment of anxiety. Cold Dread.

This is why Solas says he is walking the din'anshiral. The path of death; the path of endings. Because Terror's heart is dead in his hands. Because he carries the blight. Because the Veil is weakening, the Evanuris are on the verge of escaping their stone prisons, and he doesn't have a way to stop them.

If he fails, the Inquisitor is mortal. Wisdom is dead, and there are mere stirrings in the Void. There is no guarantee either his spirit friend or the Inquisitor will ever come back in a way he will recognize, if either of them come back at all.

And if Terror's vessel of dreams is shattered and lifeless, who is to say that Terror will ever dream again? Who is to say that there will ever, ever be another Titan-thought, another spirit, that Solas will feel close to in the same way?

I'd be willing to cause an apocalypse for that reason, too. Maybe a war between Tevinter and the Qunari, just for funsies, because my perpetual anxiety that makes up the entire core of my being sometimes needs a distraction.

(Tiny sidenote that did not fit in elsewhere: mentioning again that the spirit guardians in Trespasser say, "Revas vir-Anaris," which means "Freedom we-Anaris," which is the name of a Forgotten One. Wondering if it means Solas previously fighting to free the elves borne of Anaris, or maybe freeing Anaris (Terror??) from the blight. But also? I wonder about that Anaris and Andruil story in a way I have no time to dissect. Really, what does anything mean? Okay. Carry on.)

What Rook Really Caused and the High Cost of Failure

I honestly think things were going great for Solas (as much as a sad, dirty bed roll alone in the Deep Roads where he was probably cuddling rocks and crying can be called great) before Rook showed up.

Yes, he had an itsy bitsy little Regret demon tear apart Skyhold.

Sure, he had a little bit of a Dread-Wolf-shaped meltdown at the Mortalitasi. (On that note, I think he had said wolf-shaped meltdown because the Mortalitasi are stopping spirits from reconnecting with their Titans once they leave the fade because, oopsie, all the necromancers are catching them and putting them into corpses instead.)

But other than that?

Great. Really great. No sense of cold dread here. Nope. No sir. Definitely not guiding every single one of his actions, from petrifying random people all the way to breaking time a little bit (?) to save Varric's life in Arlathan.

He makes it up onto his little (dilapidated, fracturing) staircase in his (also under-construction and very unstable) ritual site in Arlathan, and his ritual's begun (right out in the open, with an eluvian leading right to it that we all somehow have the password to, because he definitely doesn't want to be stopped at all, nope, not at all).

The Evanuris are going to go into their stone prisons! Rock Jail 2.0: Waking World Edition! It's great!

Until Rook shoves over one of those not-quite-stable statues. Which falls into another statue (Falon'Din's?). Which then topples one more statue, before Solas shatters it (which....... buddy. Why.)

Point is: ritual broken, Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan freed, blights inevitable, Titans doomed. You know: Ma banal enasalin. Your blight wins, Dread.

Except that's not all.

Those other Evanuris, whose archdemons we killed? My guess is that they're not gone from their stone prisons. Remember what happened when we killed Corypheus's dragon? The soul just flew back into Corypheus, who was then mortal for a time (and we dropped him in the Fade instead, smh, Inquisitor, we literally went over this right before the final fight).

This means that the same is probably true of every archdemon we have killed. That means Dirthamen, Falon'Din, Sylaise, June, and Andruil are all out there somewhere, ostensibly, if they are freed from their stone prisons.

What happened in the Hissing Wastes when the stone broke, when we put the torches in the wrong order?

Demons. And what did Cole say about them?

"They were Dwarves. They think they still are. They sound like dust tastes."

And what does the Chant of Light say about the Evanuris?

Those who had been cast down, The demons who would be gods, Began to whisper to men from their tombs within the earth. — Threnodies 5

(sidenote, what if tombs within the earth doesn't necessarily only mean the abyss-earth, but also the rocks in which they're imprisoned in the fade? juicy...)

I think that not only are Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan freed, not only is Terror still broken, not only are the blights back in business, not only are all the Titans still turned—

But five of the seven Evanuris just came back as world-endingly-bad demons.

Who could possess anything.

Or anyone.

I don't know whether Solas is trapped-trapped in Fade Jail™ (because there's an awful lot of wolf statues in there, and yet, he is not bound inside any of them), but honestly, that matters little when examining the scope of things.

The Evanuris all walk free. All seven. And our friend Fen'Harel, Dread Wolf, Cold Dread, Anxiety Incarnate, isn't going to be able to trick them twice.

Veilguard Predictions: the Ballad's Conclusion, or Does the Song Go On?

Oh my god this post is so long, this series is so long, my hands hurt, please for the love of god, I need to employ some sort of brevity somewhere.

Here's some predictions. I'm so tired. I've written so much.

Harding: her powers awoke, apparently, when she touched Solas's dagger. I'm wondering if that is reconnecting her to Solas's blood (which might be what makes the dagger?) or Solas's Titan. We also saw that diamond concept art, didn't we?

Varric: If you know, you know. Lyrium dagger, dwarf. If you don't know, close your eyes and pretend you read nothing.

Lucanis: You know what's really funky to me? The fact that Lucanis is possessed by Spite. And this is a time when all the other five Evanuris might possess some people. And this game might really just be Who Got Possessed By Whom. But, I think the thing Spite wants might be to see Solas dead. Or, Spite might want to see all the Titans healed. Or some other third thing that is sure to stomp on my heart.

... Sidenote I think we're going to see all the Forgotten Ones, and maybe even find out the one who's unnamed.

Solas: Fen'Harel walked among both clans of gods. The Forgotten Ones counted him as one of their own. It's possible Solas might be Terror. Not sure how that works! Not sure how sundered Titans operate! But it would sure be neat if the elven word for Contemplation were Solas's true name, and also the "true" name of the final Forgotten One (as they all have two names; their qualities and their name-names).

Emmrich: You know who'd have a really good shot of freeing all those spirits from the Necropolis? Three guesses. And you know what might happen if all those happy spirits that the Mourn Watch gave therapy to all move back into their Titans? Well, something really nice, plus a whole lot of crying from us. Sidenote: if Wisdom had enough time to reincarnate into an incomplete wisp before Solas's terror-orb broke? You know who'd be a really great candidate for a skeleton to house New Wisdom? Three guesses.

Neve: Magister Gallus is the one mentioned in the Gangue codex. :) But also, Neve is widely theorized to be the Archon's bastard child. It would be amazing to me if Magister Gallus were some other relative of hers—but how would that work, with Neve notably born as a commoner? The other, OTHER theory I've seen floating around is that this Magister Gallus is actually Neve's husband. But also—how does THAT work, with what we know of Neve?

Taash: Sylaise creation. Or Ghil creation. Who knows? Maybe Taash is how we find out the origin of all kossith. Maybe Taash is a little bit more dragon than other kossith. Maybe Taash is half scaled one, half kossith.

Davrin: Something something, the griffons woke up as the Veil began to come down. I don't know what that means, except more in the line of "Titans are waking" things. But also? He's a Warden, and he's about to see how much the Wardens didn't know about the blight. And also, Solas is blight patient zero and/or the source of all blight. And he's the Dread Wolf. Either Davrin and Solas have a lot of growing to do, or maybe Davrin is a source of anti-Solas sentiment.

Bellara: :) I really think Dirthamen, who potentially escaped the Fade in the time of the Magisters Sidereal, is hanging out with Bellara. She's got new vallaslin that none of the rest of us have access to. She's obsessed with knowledge. She has a very funky piece of ancient technology and just seems to have a way with old elvhen knowledge and equipment. Sleeper agent Bellara? Secret betrayer on our hands, or has Dirthamen become something better, kinder, than he was?

The Truth About Solas and Mythal's Relationship: I'd be so shocked if it were romance. I think, rewatching that post-DAI credits scene, they just trauma-bonded a shitload when Solas was born. Maybe I'm wrong! But if anyone in all of Thedas would have a reason to trauma-bond, it's them: the guy who started the blight, and the woman who made him do it; the two Evanuris who begged the others not to go back looking for more blight.

The Eclipse: Dirthamen and Falon'Din? Do I just love the Bird Boys™ too much, or is there something here?

Blackened Hearts Memory: I was wrong with Falon'Din, I think, and stumbled into the answer with Mythal. I think Mythal blackened the first Titan heart.

Do We Win?: man. Please. I'm just begging. Please let us be happy after all this. Do you know how much I cried, falling into the truth about Solasan and the dread at the door? I need a happy ending here. Or I need someone at BioWare to get me a nice cup of hot chocolate. Something.

Is Solas A Villain?: Bro have you even been reading? No. Pookie's never done anything wrong a day in his goddamned life. Let him sing Hallelujah in peace. :)

Do We Stop the Blight?: What other choice do we have? It's beat the Evanuris and fix the Titans now, or end up in a blighted world forever...???? Or... kill the Titans and kill all magic? Guys. Please don't kill all magic forever.

That's all I have in the way of major predictions. Probably.

---

I need a nap. You're a hero for reading all of these, if you have. <3

I'm still on an internet blackout until I have Veilguard in my hands, so I am likely not to reply here. But I promise: I will be back soon, when I've seen the game's story play out!

Let's all have some fun in Thedas tomorrow. :)

[gaykarstaagforever]

I love how we first see Cardassians in Season 4 of TNG, where Picard goes "Yeah like we all have PTSD from the Federation / Cardassian Wars that have been going on for like 20 years, that just formally ended not yet."

Were you fighting this the whole time, Jean-Luc? I realize Space is big, but you have the kickass Galaxy-class flagship of the fleet, and you haven't been involved in any of this until now? Screwing around with Q, and that time you found cryopods with a country singer in them, was more important a mission than joining the front line against Cardassia Prime?

O'Brien is transporter chief. How did that go? "Hey O'Brien, you can stop crying as you watch friends be brutally killed by Space Nazis. We're casually rotating you onto the best ship we've ever built, which is currently helping Lwaxana Troi do comedy treaty negotiations with terrorist fish-men."

...I realize the Ferengi didn't pan out, and people were bored with the Borg. But this is NOT the way to bring up a new evil alien race. It makes Starfleet look stupid.

Yes I know you can twist yourself into knots to make this work in the lore. I'm a nerd; I'm doing that RIGHT NOW. But this is also, fundamentally, kinda bullshit. And you know it.

...Wish we had kept the Cardassian look of Brown Communazi Skeletor Bondage Gimp. Gul Dukat would have looked way scarier if he had been obligated to wear this all the time.

Of course, this was also Marc Alaimo as Gul Macet in TNG. And he probably wouldn't have agreed to do DS9 if he had had to endure 6 hours of makeup, only for them to cover a third of it up with plastic Space face-underpants.

I get why they dropped this. But I'm still disappointed.

[entropy-game-dev]

Demo date announcement!

The most important information up front: The demo's release date will be the 27th of September, 2024!!

I don't think Steam notifies you even if you have followed/wishlisted the page, but still, every single follow and wishlist helps immensely. You can check the game out here, and this is also where you can grab the demo from once it's out.

The lore of the demo

A few months back, in late June, I had just come back from housesitting. One of my friends, Lucinius, mentioned that Steam was holding a space exploration festival on the 2nd of September, and suggested I get the demo ready for then. I thought this was a great idea and feverishly started working to finalize everything.

It took 6 days total to get my steam developer account up and running, including paying for the ability to put a game on Steam, getting the OK regarding tax details, etc. It takes 30 days from initial payment to when you are able to actually make the store page live. The process was quite overwhelming but this amazing guide here helped me through basically all of the process, and it was super accurate!!

About a week before the festival, I had everything ready and went to do the store pages and upload the game build. I thought uploading the build using the provided command line tool would be the hard part, and the store page would be the easy part. However, there are so many assets and variations thereof that Steam asks for that I had not prepared (about 20 in total with very specific size and design requirements), and so it took several days to complete this in a manner I was happy with.

It then also took about 5 days for the content to undergo review and for it to be approved (or not). The game page and demo build got approved, but the demo page did not as I didn't have "demo" on my assets that I had submitted for it, so it took another 5 days after correcting the page for it to be approved. This ended up being approved a few days after the space exploration fest had started, and so I thought I'd push the demo back for the next relevant festival - luckily a turn based rpg one - on the 1st of October.

However, a few days ago, I was sadly informed that my game (turn-based RPG, by the way) was not suitable for Steam's turn-based RPG festival after applying to enter it. I wasn't given a reason, even after reaching out to support, except a generic one that stated my game may not have been a good fit for it.

I honestly thought it would be a given I could take part, but that is obviously not the case! It was a bit disappointing hearing the news and the lack of feedback from Steam regarding the decision, but I'm not too fussed overall. That's because now I actually get to announce to you guys, and much earlier than I otherwise would have been able to, that the demo will be available the weekend before the festival starts!!

The date was strategically chosen, of course, to ensure I have enough time to finish polishing it, and that it wouldn't be lost among the sea of other RPG demos potentially (or not, I'm not sure) releasing during the festival!

In any case, the whole experience was seriously eye-opening. Probably not too interesting reading about it, but that's where my life has gone the past few months, and I'm actually super excited I'm finally finally allowed to mention the context surrounding my recent posts! Thanks for reading!

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics – 24 April 2025

I thought about it and while I probably am going to read H2SH this week, I actually wanted to discuss the things I enjoyed first. So:

Absolute Manhunter #1: Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez are cooking here. This is very much a story where the art is doing so much of the storytelling, and in setting the atmosphere. This is a fascinating approach to Martian lore, given it tends to be all over the shop, and personally I think fully revamping it for the Absolute line makes sense. Also I adore whenever anyone does clever things with page layouts, and even though it doesn’t come across on a screen, the final page trick is stunning in all the overlays I’ve seen and it’s a super clever way of giving little bonuses for in person purchases

Absolute Wonder Woman #6: Three lassos? Blue, Green and Red? Interesting. Now part of me wants to acknowledge that we all dragged King for this with Lizzie, but I strongly suspect that Kelly Thompson is going to do more interesting things with hers, and is working on building them up as a toolkit that Circe designed for her beloved daughter. And here we got the story of the creation of the Nemesis lasso, and a focus on Diana’s compassion but also on her understanding of when violence is necessary. Thompson’s clearly having a lot of fun playing with mythology to build her story (the gifting of Pegasus! The discussion with Prometheus!).

I’m really glad we kept Diana’s unearthly pale blue eyes in the change of artist.

On top of that, the decision to give us a Dustin Nguyen Li’l Diana back up made my heart melt. This is a child I want to meet in stories. Here’s our Wonder-Tot. (the creature told Diana it wanted to be a firebird!)

Actually, decided I wanted to say more about this. Structurally if I look at it, a whole bunch of the choices made in AWW look similar to the current WW run: three lassos! Cute kid backups with a beloved artist! in a way where I cannot tell if AWW is doing this fondly or in a ‘watch me handle this better’ way. Because Li’l Diana is building out Diana’s childhood with Circe in a manner really connected to the differences in this setting and also to mythology and lore, while the Lizzie backups have been very focused on King’s new trinity at the expense of the actual Wonder Woman setting.

The Flash #19: This continues to be a very very Wally and immediate family-focused run, which I’m not mad at. Linda gets to be a badass and I’m never mad at that. In terms of the most important parts of this plot (aka Skartaris), I’m delighted to see Tara get to pull her usual move of showing right back up and going “well look who’s come back home” to Travis. He got possessed this time, Tara, give him a little leeway. Also there is an essay I could write about Shamballan troops all wearing Ancient Atlantean Swan Warrior helmets belonging to the Knights of the Order of the Sea Eagle in the background scenes and what that says about the present political situation in Skartaris, but I’m fully aware it’s not that deep, Vasco Georgiev has no idea of what he’s implying about current politics in Shamballah and Skartaris, and it’s probably at best ‘troops now copying Travis without understanding the context that Travis is deeply aware of”. (Nobody is deliberately seeking out and reading stories like The Warlord Annual #2 or The Warlord #86 to figure out their background art details or even aware that important lore about the helmet resides that deep into the original run, 40 years on)

Green Arrow #22: when this arc and the current Poison Ivy arcs finish, I’d like to compare them, because I feel that a whole lot of overlapping storytelling is happening between Freshwater here and Marshview in Poison Ivy. It’s still feeling very ripped from the headlines in places. I did enjoy Ollie playing the public fool to the cops (‘it’s leg day so my arms really wanted to punch?’ Were you hoping that the cops would overlook your completely stacked archer arms in your sleeveless singlet, Ollie?).

The Warlord #94: this week in SkartarisTravis heads off with Shakira to meet with Captain Hawk and pay the fees for all those Shamballan slaves Hawk was supposed to rescue.

He gets his Tarzan on until…oh no, the vine snaps! (love the rainbow layout here btw).

When he finally gets to Captain Hawk they return to their homoerotic banter and face off against a force of assassins. Hawk doesn’t really want to help but they just killed one of his men, so…acrobatic murder it is!

They then get away and get back to the important things: to wit, staring deeply into each other’s eyes while discussing duelling each other.

Also an aquatic dinosaur attacks, sinks their rowboat, and on escaping and boarding a passing boat, Hawk, Travis, Shakira and Hawk’s pirates find a ship commanded by a sulky princess running away from home! Classic. Princes Hooranami does not like them at all, but her servant is like…yeah I’m throwing in with the armed men, no hard feelings. They get to shore, camp out, and Hawk doses Travis’ food with some sort of sleeping powder and disappears while he’s passed out.

Also Jennifer is now getting possessed by the crystal that possessed Joshua. Cool. Cool. No issues there. They lock the gem up in a chest sealed with a bat-lock.

(Where’d you get that, Jennifer?)

[coraniaid]

I really think Season 7 would have worked so much better if Kennedy was a Slayer from the start, not a Potential.

The show is already very clear that Kennedy is, narratively, the most important of the Potentials. She gets almost as much speaking time in Season 7 as all the other Potentials combined (as well as having far more speaking time and appearing in more episodes than Kendra ever did in Season 2).  She's the only one who has any meaningful connection to any other character in the show (except for, maybe, Amanda and Dawn).  The writing already positions her as the main voice of opposition to Buffy within the group -- she's already the one most likely to question what Buffy's doing and suggest she could do better -- so why not formalize that?  Put her on a more equal footing with Buffy to start with.  Make it credible that Kennedy really could take charge and ignore Buffy entirely. Make Kennedy the Slayer who was called when Buffy died at the end of "The Gift".  

Yes, I know that the official canon is that no Slayer was called when Buffy died for a second time because Faith was the "active" Slayer at this point, but I think it's important to note that that was only something the writers came up with between Season 5 and 6.  It didn't have to be that way: there's nothing at all in the show's lore to suggest it's canon before then, and in fact people in the show openly talk about Buffy's death possibly activating a new Slayer even after her first death in "Prophecy Girl". And even in Season 6, I don't think we're told definitively that a new Slayer wasn't called (and wouldn't a new Slayer explain why the Watcher's Council aren't around this season?).  If you look online, the writers were even being vague about Kendra's death calling a new Slayer during the Season 2/Season 3 gap: none of how this works was ever planned out in detail in advance.  More importantly, it's pretty central to the show's mythology that Buffy is "the" Slayer and "the" Chosen One, and it's honestly a pretty silly bit of worldbuilding to accidentally retcon that she was actually only the "real" Slayer for 12 episodes (or even for 56, if you further retcon that Willow's resurrection spell somehow made Buffy the unique active Slayer again).

The idea of Buffy's second death not calling a new Slayer was a mistake, in my opinion.  Yes, I get that they didn't want another Slayer showing up in Sunnydale in Season 6.  That wasn't part of the story that season was trying to tell.  But why would she have to?  The world's a big place, and until the last few episodes there's nothing particularly apocalyptic happening in Sunnydale that season.  Why couldn't you just have the new Slayer off somewhere else, minding her own business?  (In fact, if Faith is the only "active" Slayer, then not resurrecting Buffy means condemning the world to no new Slayer at all until Faith dies, which -- given where she is -- probably wouldn't happen for years if not decades.  It's much better, I think, for Buffy's friends to bring her back because they miss her than because the world objectively needs her to continue the Slayer line and the only other Slayer is serving time in prison for murder.)

And imagine how Season 7 plays out with Kennedy as a Slayer from the start.  The focus of a lot of the second half of the season is on Buffy teaching the Potentials how to fight, which is perfectly fine as a bit of symbolism and helps set up the events of “Chosen” but doesn't really make much sense in-universe.  Potentials just aren't meant to fight vampires. There's never been any indication in the show before this that that was a good idea.  "She alone can stand against the demons" and so on, not "she and a bunch of other people who don't have superpowers yet".  But make Kennedy a young Slayer -- one who's been prepared 'properly' by the Watchers' Council, taught to follow their rules and procedures, the way Kendra was, but who still lacks much practical experience -- and make the focus of the second half of the season be Buffy  (and Faith) trying to teach her what that means ... doesn't that work a lot better?

(And sure, I'd bring the rest of Potentials in a few episodes before “Chosen”, I'd still end the season the same way -- but we really didn't need to see quite as much of them, did we?  Let Robin and Kennedy be the big two new characters this season -- let them represent our links to the past and future of the Slayer line -- and don't let the show get overwhelmed by so many other new faces.)

Also, this would let my inner world-building-obsessed pedant stop asking how old Kennedy is meant to be, given that Season 3's “Helpless” establishes that every Slayer undergoes the Cruciamentum on their eighteenth birthday (something that can logically only happen if every Slayer is called at seventeen or younger).  Which is not at all a good reason in itself, but ... look, it does irritate me, I'd be lying if I said it didn't.  Why does this season include “Help”, an episode highlighting how weird it would be for any of the now adult cast to have a romantic relationship with a high school student, only to then pair WIllow off with a girl who -- by the established rules of the show's own world-building -- has to be younger than eighteen?  I mean, the answer is that the show largely pretends Kennedy is older than that, or doesn't address her age at all, but this does contradict what we're told in “Helpless”.

And it doesn't have to. There's an easy fix. I'm not saying that the show shouldn't have had Willow and Kennedy get together. I like Kennedy as a character. I just think she'd make a lot more sense -- both as a character in her own right, and in terms of her place in the broader narrative -- if she was a Slayer from the moment we met her.

[kaija-rayne-author]

9th review in series of Dragon Age Veilguard

70 hours in, 68 actual playtime.

I'm not an asshole disclaimer, if you've read it you can skip to the cut.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard

Section 8 here.

Did I say I didn't hate this game? I lied. I hate it so much it has become a vendetta just to finish it.

With three long games, 14 years of history, so much Lore there really never feels an end to it, 5 books. 6 comics, two or more coffee table books and probably stuff I don't know about to use for inspiration... this game is terrible.

They've stripped it down to the most banal, most puerile, most boring concepts they could possibly find in all of that to use in this travesty of a role playing game.

I'll finish it so I can see just how bad it is and how exactly they'll fuck over Solas some more. And here I was feeling comfy that since Weekes loves Solas that they wouldn't utterly fuck him over?

Whoooo boy, was I wrong. I wanted memories of his time before he woke up in Inquisition. I did not want memories of every cruel thing he'd ever been forced to do to protect tens of thousands of innocents. War is horrible. Those leading wars, regardless of the justified reasons (or not) get their hands bloody. They have to make hard decisions that cost pieces of their souls because no one else will.

I wanted memories of what Arlathan and Elvhen culture was like before everything went went to hell. What did we get? Memories painting Solas as the worst possible version of himself.

And the way they discuss and treat the topic of Mythal... I wonder if it's nice and cozy so far up Mythal's arsehole?

It's revolting when you know everything FleMythal has done, and if you read between the lines of all the lore about Arlathan era Mythal.

I've been told that the third act is the best. Though how anyone even gets to the third act is beyond me. Other than sheer cussedness and a desire to escape politics and the side effects of a pulmonary embolism. Cause that's the only way I've gotten this far.

Did I remember to say that they apparently forgot what aggro was and how that's supposed to work with a multi-player team? My rogue is not a tank. (Nor a rogue because rogues pick fucking locks.) Yet for some reason, he always has aggro. Especially the bigger and harder the enemy is to beat.

Aggro, in case you're reading my ramblings and don't know, stands for aggression/attention of whatever your team is fighting. Whoever did the most damage last is the one who should have aggro. In any decent video game, that's the tank, who is built to take it. They're supposed to keep the bad guys attention so the archers and mages can get it from behind/beside.

But since your side characters don't get skill points at the same rate your player characters do, (fantastic idea that, what utter dipshit came up with that?) Your character, whether they're a DPS or not, always has fucking Aggro.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight as a Legolas wannabe when you have several tons of dragon crashing into you because you do the most damage because of an outright shitty levelling system?

I now get to go fight another fucking dragon. That's gonna be fun. (It's my third today) and that'll have me into act 3.

Oh, and the much advertised 'dragon slayer' is a good character, but they're shit at actually killing dragons. I never, ever, thought I would miss Cassandra Inquisition. Because I utterly loathe her as a character, but I miss having competently designed dragon fighters in a game with so many fucking dragons to fight.

...

Make that two dragons.

Section 10.1 here.

[yanderewonderlandgame]

Happy new year! Progress update(CGs/GUI/art):

All things art is going to take time!! I need to make at least 6 characters designs for the release.

------

-Working on CG art 🎨 (wasn't going to originally for a bit, but I think I can get some roughs out into the game and major details can be added later.

--------------

-working on the gui:

Almost ready:

Dialouge window

⌛Completed:

Buttons(skip, auto play, save, load, pref and history)

Option buttons

Menu backgrounds

⏳Upcoming:

Main menu screen

Gallery window

Glossary

Chapters(will be easy to finish and will most likely be out on release)

---------

⏳In the future: When the game is done, the game will automatically start over, with a slightly different prolouge each time.

--------------

-Prolouge I'm adding more to it. Editing. I plan to push it out pretty quick :) although I plan to include some chapters as well. Chapter 1 for at least 3 characters.

--------------

-adding a cellphone📱as it's important in later stories in the plot

--------------

A lot of personal information inputs throughout the story may be asked.

❗Note: that it's more so to make your story feel a bit more personalized in what the yanderes knows about your person.❗

You can always put fake info, but the fun is with the story being more focused on you.

There's inputs at the start asking for a name, nickname, last name, Date of birth, etc...

It's using the renpy engine, and there's no internet access in the game so it's in your private discretion. ♥️♥️

--------------

-Debating adding an introduction (most likely later release)

Currently:

At least 20 backgrounds in the prolouge.

Getting rid of any useless dialouge, repetition, heavy editting, and possible plot holes are being removed. Since it's going to release as sort of an early access, future updates may change parts of the prolouge.

Setting up multiple choice stuff for future routes, (secret characters won't be easy to locate, and the plan is that there will be several deep story elements involved in those routes. If there's a secret character, it'll be in the patch notes (but may be much later as some of these characters may only become accessible in around chapters 6-7 of a main route)

--------

Game release:

It's going to release with: 3-5 chapters

Right now at least 5 branches in the prolouge

---

Cheshire cat🐈

White rabbit🐇

Mad hatter💊

???? (OC)🍀

???? (OC)🃏

The two original characters I'm proud of.

Mad hatter route may reach full completion first before the other routes. I've completed several but scrapped them as each character developed. Just so everything is in line with the lore of this version of the story. The mad Hatter route is a baseline for at least 2 future characters.

Game price point/included content/rating/read time:

Game will be free for the time being. This includes the NSFW content. In the future I may make a Patreon or discord and anyone can pick what chapter they want to see next.

The art is taking the longest to do. Once it's complete, releasing the game will become a lot easier. So dealing with the gritty stuff first so there are less delays later. ;)

Small CG preview, took a picture of it on the tablet, it's not a whole lot, you'll see the finished picture in the game. See you guys soon. It's getting closer each day.

I'll be calculating the read time at release, but maybe around 1-3 hours to start. Goal is it have an update each week.

NSFW: 18+

The game has a lot of intimate scenes whether kissing or not.

NSFW: R-15+

Game is not really safe for work at all. There are still going to be points of intimacy between characters in the non sex scenes. The game is kinda going to get that rating. Sadly several routes might not be R-15 based on the goals of a particular character (some characters have a power struggle, others just want to isolate themselves from others.)

Next post will be a bit later. Closer to when the game is to be released.

[feministsouthpark]

South Park Filler Guide - Season 11

Link for Seasons  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10

You know the drill by now, I’ll judge whether an episode has all the qualities of a canon one, or is it just shameless filler. S11E1 With Apologies to Jesse Jackson is LORE

N-word for white people gets banned instantly. Again, a major character in this one will return as a henchman later, but that's a minor role with one line. S11E2 Cartman Sucks is FILLER

Butters goes to camp. Eric gets himself in a tricky situation that will be forgotten by next time. S11E3 Lice Capades is FILLER

The boys have lice. Clyde's lice moves on. S11E4 The Snuke is FILLER

Bahir moves in, he moves out, a bomb doesn't even do anything in the end. S11E5 Fantastic Easter Special is CANON

Because Jesus is shown to resurrect himself time and time again, which explains his future appearances, otherwise his S6 death and later returns would be pretty much unexplained. S11E6 D-Yikes! is CANON

Janet has an interesting change when she realizes her attraction to women, a part of her character journey of self-discovery. S11E7 Night of The Living Homeless is FILLER

Eric breaks record of jumping over homeless people. While I consider this as filler content in South Park, remind me if I ever do a Happy Days filler guide to include this one as canon! S11E8 Le Petit Tourette is LORE

As with South Park is Gay from season 7, this one helps to establish Craig Tucker's interest in boys, and this one even foreshadows what's his type is like! S11E9 More Crap is CANON

In my mind, when I started writing about this season it started like: Can you imagine the world where I would say this one's canon? And then I would make a joke and advise everyone to skip it. However reading through the transcript of the banned episode 200 of Emmy Award winning series South Park just to make sure, I found Bono making a very specific reference to this one episode, unlike Sally Struthers for instance, who says very basic things about South Park that made her episode only important enough to count as LORE, as did many other celebrities. Thanks Bono, you have a new record now, interfering with my calculations and gaining the longest paragraph in my guide. S11E10 & S11E11 & S11E12 Imaginationland is FILLER

I know, I know, everyone wanted these to be canon, including myself at one point. And don't worry, my step-sister is going to beat me up over this one so it's already taken care of. My bottom line is that these episodes (also once retconned into a second movie) are somewhat a separate entity from the rest of the series, knowing the characters is needed to it, but the world-building is vastly different from the rest of the show, so this is where it ends up. Imagination is real. Filler is real too. That's the main takeaway. S11E13 Guitar Queer-O is FILLER

After what just happened I can't even take this one seriously. It's like robbing a bank and then jaywalking. S11E14 The List is CANON

Stan and Wendy make up. That's a spectacular episode anyway, but for our intents and purposes for inspecting a continuous story, unlike imagination territory, or a random terrorist attacks, relationship drama is exactly the kind of stuff that gets a pass.

SPOILER-FREE RUNDOWN

Again, CANON means you should watch it, FILLER means you can skip it, LORE is somewhere in-between, any episode with the LORE label will have an explanation that helps you decide if you should include it or not. S11E1 With Apologies to Jesse Jackson is LORE* S11E2 Cartman Sucks is FILLER S11E3 Lice Capades is FILLER S11E4 The Snuke is FILLER S11E5 Fantastic Easter Special is CANON S11E6 D-Yikes! is CANON S11E7 Night of The Living Homeless is FILLER S11E8 Le Petit Tourette is LORE** S11E9 More Crap is CANON S11E10 & S11E11 & S11E12 Imaginationland is FILLER S11E13 Guitar Queer-O is FILLER S11E14 The List is CANON *Two minor members of a later organization gain their motives here **If you want to learn about Craig's type in dating

CANON counter:

S1: 9 out of 13  S2: 3 out of 18  S3: 6 out of 18  S4: 10 out of 17  S5: 8 out of 14  S6: 11 out of 17 S7: 6 out of 15 S8: 4 out of 14 S9: 8 out of 14 S10: 4 out of 14 S11: 4 out of 14

Overall: 73 out of 168

[the-nwah-embassy]

>Morrowind remaster announced

>"Hey fellow 'Rimmers! It is I, Todd Howard! We've remastered Morrowind due to overwhelming community request!"

>"For starters, we've removed the 'fog' effects since they're no longer needed! Vvardenfell is now fog free and you can see all over the map!"

>"We realize hidden things may still be difficult to find in the foliage, so we added radar blips to points of interest! Both on your map and on your new radar system! No more looking around for that pesky tax man's body! You've got a pin point right to it!"

>"We also removed a lot of the 'alien' architecture to make the game more friendly and welcoming to prospective modern high fantasy RPG players! More castles and forts and roads like Skyrim™ has! Baldur's Gate 3, right fellas?"

>"Speaking of making the game more streamlined and friendly, we removed the table-top dice roll combat system and made it more in line with Skyrim™'s combat! Isn't that great? No more needing to actually think about what weapon you might want for a playthrough! Just pick it up and swing like a master from the first go! Want to use that esoteric Sixth House Bell hammer? No more need for the blunt skill to be remotely decent! You just know intrinsically how to use it!"

>"We've added quest markers too, since having a journal and needing to immerse yourself in the world isn't very user friendly. You can now fast travel to anywhere with the click of a button! Who wants to plan around those ash-storms and corprus beasts, am I right?"

>"NPCs are now far more friendly and less hostile! No one will refer to you as 'outlander,' and the culture is far more welcoming as a whole! We've retconned the Armistice! Dunmer love the Empire! Patrick Stewart! The Empire never wronged anyone! Dunmer are happy and hopeful and helpful to everyone! They also refer to you as 'My Lord Nerevarine' in Dialogue after you've done the quest! Everyone loves you!"

>"Speaking of dialogue, we've voice acted it now! Well, not all of it, obviously. We took out all that stuff that isn't important and used AI to voice the rest! Who needs all of that world building and extra immersion when you can have voices, amirite?"

>"No more birthsigns or silly shit like that! We have more stones! Stones! Pick your bonus whenever you want, no thought required! Who cares they don't make sense with the lore? Who gives a shit about the lore?"

>"Rather than having to plan out your playthrough and roleplay, you can now join and become the head of every single great house! Who cares if it doesn't make sense that you're the grandmaster of both Hlaalu and Redoran and Telvanni!"

>"We've removed level/skill limits from all factions! You can now become high level in the Morag Tong despite not knowing a single thing about swinging a blade or lead the Thieves Guild even if you can't sneak for shit! We've also removed where the quests conflicted so you can lead every faction too!"

>"No more reading! You're here to play, not read! You no longer have to seek out books in quests or read to understand what to do! Our friendly AI voiced NPCs will tell you exactly what needs to be done and you'll have a map marker straight to it! No thinking required! Who reads all those silly lore books for fun?"

>"There were too many complex spells in the original Morrowind, so we definitely needed to tone that down to make it easier! Now, you have 6 damage spells (two fire, two frost, and two lightning! Wow!), 2 healing spells, and even a conjuration spell that conjures a Draugur from Skyrim™! We thought about giving you more spells and the ability to craft spells as well, but that's way too complex and dangerous! Being a mage has never been simpler!"

>"You no longer have to levitate to meet any of the Telvannis! How irritating was that? Where before you had to have a potion of Float or the ability to levitate, now you can simply climb up a staircase! How immersive for the Telvanni clan quests is that? Telvannis now love non-mages and are very welcoming, just like Skyrim™! In fact, there are no specific requirements for anything! The entire game is open to you even if you have zero idea what you're doing and can't be assed to learn it! To hell with roleplay and other nerd shit! No more need to plan and buy certain potions or become adept in certain spells because of cultural barriers!"

>"We redid the entire main quest to be more user friendly! Don't know the lore? Who cares? Who the fuck is Sotha Sil? Who even is Dagoth Ur? Why does Almalexia want you dead? Who gives a shit! Who cares about Dunmeri culture or Resdayn or why Dagoth Ur has gone mad? What's a Sharmat? What are the tools of Kagrenac? What is a Kagrenac? Why is Yargrum Bargarn so significant? Why is it so funny when Archmage Trebonius asks you to solve the mystery of the dwarves? Why should you care? You shouldn't! Fuck engaging with media! Just go braindead and play!"

>"We have obliterated Snowy Granius with a ray gun! No more filter to ensure you're ready for the Dwemer ruin! Just go in there and fuck shit up! It's the same with the entire game! No need to understand mechanics! Just point and click!"

>"Morrowind multiplayer! Always online, even in single player! Can't afford always online? Get a new computer and a new job, you useless loser!"

>"More incredible changes upcoming after the break! I'm Todd Howard, and remember: Buy Skyrim! Give me your money, you inept fucking dorks! I ate Elder Scrolls Six with a side of beans and you're never getting it!" >Twitch commercial for Oblivion Remastered plays 4 times.

[lovezbrownies]

I had this question on my head for a while. But are all the OCs from the same universe? Like same planet but just different places and or time compared to other OCs? Or is there like a respective different timeline for one compared to another because idk if we ever got clarification on it completely yet

I WANTED TO POST ABOUT THIS FOR SOO LONG BUT IDK I FELT LIKE NO ONE WOULD GAF 😖

Thank you anon. Youve saved me. ALL HAIL ANON!

anyway! At first when I made my blog, yes. Everyone is from the same universe same shitty plot line! Siolis, Gen, Grim, Nia, Red, and Julie have been my ocs for a while, with Gen and Grim being my oldest ocs at a whopping 11 years old 😭 they all came from a connected story, Gen used to be something else completely different but when I wrote the blog I felt like it wouldn’t make much sense unless i made 50 fics first about the plot and lore of the world which would’ve been a bit much !

If we are story focused, whenever I do write a story with these 6 and its serious it’s usually set in the universe of the story ifykwim? If i write cute short stories where I focus more on comedy and enjoyment rather than my usual writing I tend to stray a bit away from the plot and just have fun!

With that being said the og 6 + Lauren and Lorelai are all from a completely fantastical unrealistic world with magic systems and kingdoms with varying degrees of technological advancements! Though Lauren and Lorelai are unfortunately disconnected from the story and plotline so their stories are just normal people stories yk?

Also for convenience sake, let’s call og plot fantasy au Solra and the new non plot mythical normal au Thorne.

With that aside, the latest characters, Yuna, Selene, and Emma, are all in a more modern no plot, mythical universe. Like an alternate universe of the original one. Personally, I didn’t feel like it would make the most sense having all types of mythical and magical creatures in one universe, like a magic systems + werewolves and vamps i do nawt fw it it seems a bit much ig?

When I started making the new ocs, I wanted to make something simpler, something less set in stone and easily constructed and deconstructed, i wanted to make a world where I could make something up and never have to search and look whether I already mentioned it or not, or try as hard as I could to remember a certain small yet important piece of the plot. So, long story short, two AUs, one is more plot-driven and canon, while the other is for fun and can be as fucked and modern as i want it to be !

On the matter of timelines, some ocs are much older than the rest, while others are much younger. Siolis being the youngest in Solra and Julie the oldest! In Thorne I took a creative approach and just yolo’d until this ask. If I had to think of it, I’d think Selene would be the oldest, and Yuna the youngest. When I say oldest snd youngest doesn’t mean that they’re all alive during the same time oh no no lol

Julie would be born before Nia, during her story she is around 32 when she brings Lauren in, but usually her other stories are set earlier when she’s in her mid to late twenties. She is born about 20 years prior to Nia, making her in present time of the plot about 92 but she mysteriously disappeared 40 years before then so she’s presumed dead.

Nia is born 14 years before Grim and Gen, during her story she is about 29, sometimes younger sometimes older depending on the fic with her! Present timeline she is 72 years old and alive but not well.

Grim is two years older than his younger sister Gen, during his story he is 34-36 in his story and Gen 32-34! During present timeline they would be 58 and 56 respectively.

Grim adopts Red and Siolis at about 39 years old, Siolis at 5 years old and Red at 10 years old! During the story they are 24 and 29 respectively!

Within the Thorne au, Selene would be the oldest, probably born somewhere in the 80s/90s, Yuna born in the early 2000's, and Emma being born in the late 90's but her story is set in the future :3 like think

so while they all exist universally, yes there are different timelines and universes!

Oh and Yuna can logistically exist in either universe without much change, no magic and no mythical side of her, normal idol!

(also sometimes i get scared you guys would judge me and skim over the magical parts of my fics or try to hint at it a lil like Siolis' recent fic Celibate where at the end i had written that the door was locked by using Siolis using their magic, after the fact Reader sees green particles float about them, a little effect of using their magic while not paying attention at all :3

anyways take all of this with a grain of salt, a lot of the fics coming up either revolve around Darling or are silly cute fluffy ones! I also find it hard to explain lore and magic systems to people, and i also get really embarrassed. So much on being cringing cringe and not caring ;;

[nadas-dirthalen]

I Saw Solas's Origin in an Achievement Icon and It Opened My Eyes on 15 Years of Lore

— PART EIGHT: if you haven't read previous parts, do it now! —

[ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]

Welcome, friends and travellers! I wanted to get some thoughts recorded before Veilguard's release so I could see if I am right about an absolute BOATLOAD of theories I have.

In short: I saw the achievement list when it was released. I have seen the backstory hints for Solas included in said list. AND MY MIND WAS BLOWN.

You have been warned: THIS COLLECTION OF THEORIES INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR EVERY DRAGON AGE GAME AND ALL PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL UP TO AND INCLUDING OCTOBER 18, 2024.

Come sit down with me. Make a nice cup of tea (and hide it from Solas). We've got a lot of unpacking to do.

(no, this photo isn't the spoiler, I just like it.)

The Story of Solas: Him Solas Evanuris, Da'durgen'lin (1/3)

— The Ballad That Played Right Before Our Eyes —

I meant to write this as soon as I got my day started today (perks of being on the border of a sinus infection right before Veilguard). But I thought of something last night, and I had to do some of the Temple of Solasan and Trespasser all over again to confirm it.

I'm glad I did. I'm horrified at what I found.

Let's begin.

Seriously, as ever, go read the other parts before this one. If you need to only read a few, then read 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 (linked above). All of those matter for context here, you've been forewarned!

This post will exist in three parts. First up, we've got:

The World at the Time of Solas's Manifestation

Da'durgen'lin: Not the First, but Perhaps Mythal's Last

Solasan: The Icy Terror the World Forgot

The Dread Wolf: Inspiring Hope in Friends, and Fear in Enemies

The World at the Time of Solas's Manifestation

I will be as brief as possible here. Remember when I said the other parts were important for context? It's because we're largely skipping the context we've already covered today.

In the briefest of terms:

Titans, unsundered.

Maker's second children, made. Evanuris, jealous. Evanuris, slaying Titans.

Evanuris, already doing all of their lyrium/Titan-atrocities. We'll get to how I know that.

Conditions are perfect for the blight to begin. All Titans, thus far (that we know of), have been wounded consistently. All are ramping up to "fight back." (We'll get to that.)

But the Evanuris are continuing, heedless of what their arrogance will bring.

Enter: Solas Evanuris.

Da'durgen'lin: Not the First, but Perhaps Mythal's Last

More brevity here, but now with added screencaps from when I just played Trespasser this morning (in fact, I just finished the Shattered Library, and am going to go back to Trespasser after this).

We already knew Mythal was mining Titans for people. What I've refreshed my memory on are three things:

We don't know where in the Deep Roads this is (that I know of)

This is not the only place we see lyrium coffins

This is where we see the codex about needing to forget this place: the one I mentioned began the blight yesterday.

Before I go on, I wish to revisit one more codex from this portion of the Deep Roads: Mythal's Lullaby.

Ir sa tel'nal Mythal las ma theneras Ir san'a emma Him solas evanuris Da'durgen'lin Banal malas elgara Bellanaris, bellanaris.

Isatunoll Mythal gives you dreams Lyrium within Becomes Solas evanuris Blight you give to the Titan Forever, forever.

I've discovered new significance in it that I have not been able to fit into these posts as yet: this lullaby is almost perfectly in the Hallelujah cadence. It follows Hallelujah's meter, but the lines are split up as a distraction.

It can be arranged as:

Ir sa tel'nal, Mythal las ma (8) Theneras ir san'a emma (8) Him Solas Evanuris, da'durgen'lin (11) Banal malas elgara (hallelujah, hallelujah) Bellanaris, bellanaris. (hallelujah, hallelujah)

With the use of "you" in the song and the fact that it is called Mythal's lullaby, I am going to posit that she is singing this to Solas. Why?

Cole tells us in Trespasser. "He did not want a body. But she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face."

I believe that this is Mythal asking Solas to take physical shape. But... why? Why coax a spirit if he did not want to come into the physical world, outside of his Titan? If she coerced him into a body, only for the horrors of the Blight to follow, why would he look up to her as the lone voice of reason among the Evanuris?

I'm choosing to read Mythal in a good light here. Know that, as I continue to theorize, the worst case scenario is also possible.

Solasan: the Icy Terror the Elvhen Tried to Forget

Last night, after writing part 7, I could not get this codex out of my mind. The moment of the blight's beginning. I am astonished that I have not seen it theorized before (not to say it does not exist, just that it has not been flung far and wide across the fandom—at least not where I can find it).

Let's go back to it.

In the light of the veilfire, the runes seem to shift, coiling and uncoiling like snakes. A thunderous voice shatters the stillness, shouting: "Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!" For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire. The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers: "What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

I could not help but think again on how Mythal's lullaby directly says, "Blight you give to the Titan." I asked myself, late at night, in despair: could Solas's manifestation TRULY have been the beginning of the blight on Thedas?

Well, we know where to find out, don't we? The Temple of Solasan. I'm not the kind of person to grab 114 shards in a video game (sorry, Bioware), but I did find a mod that let me in over the summer, and I pulled up an old save.

Jogging my memory made me cry.

The top chamber in the temple is where one finds the inscription on Solas. We'll get there, and we'll also get to the outside of the temple, don't worry. For now, I want to focus on the lower level. (Pardon my Inquisition screenshots and their messiness; I told y'all I wasn't going online in any real capacity today, and I meant it. You're getting all homemade footage here.)

There are three rooms down here. One for plants (left), one for fire (right), and one for ice (center).

Huh. Doesn't that sound like...

For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire. The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast.

My heart sank. My stomach twisted into knots. I explored the fire and plant wings again, and found little that I hadn't already explored or looted—only corpses possessed by demons.

But the ice room...

Something flashed within. Something that made my blood run cold (fittingly, I think).

I ventured in. And then I began to cry, for I knew.

Without enemies, not in combat, the floor periodically flashes when you run over certain spots in the room. The whole floor, just for a second, is covered in these.

I'm not one of the fancy fly-cam people, so I spent a lot of time running around until I could hit the Tactical Mode button at the exact right second.

I don't know what this exact sigil means. But I swear that it has blight or bad-bad-not-good-magic implications, and... well, it's red. Red, in a blue room full of ice.

Even with no corpses around this time, no enemies left to fight: I knew, deep in my bones, that this place is what that codex was referring to. Let this place be forgotten.

Let the Titans be forgotten, because of what horrors we have seen.

It makes me read the codices of this temple in a new and horrifying light.

Faintly carved into the stone is a figurebound in chains. Two other figures haveturned their gaze from the central image.The script below the image is ancient,though Solas is able to provide a partialtranslation: Pride in our accomplishments and in our hearts. That same pride became (a word meaning corrupted or altered) within him, he sought to claim (indecipherable), cast from favor and so was bound. Hidden from mortal eyes, death lies within.

"That same pride became (a word meaning corrupted or altered) within him." Now, we have new context on what corrupted or altered might imply.

The same with, "cast from favor and so was bound." The Titan—the Stone—rejected Solas. But why? Was it because of what he was seeking, or because of what Mythal was coercing/asking him to seek? And when he was "bound" — it was by her, right?

But we know what came next. We know that Terror—a Forgotten One, a Titan—fought back, just like Cole says.

"They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget."

The Earth—the Titan—was afraid. It was Terror. It fought back, lighting a room entirely in horrific red circles that gave me a jump-scare (and no doubt doing other terrible blight things). It chased the elves from the Deep Roads, even as they sealed them.

They begged the other elvhen to forget this place. "Hidden from mortal eyes, death lies within."

The blight.

This was terrifying (pun almost intended) for the fleeing elvhen. So much so that they left a parting message by the door to the temple.

An inscription taken at the temple doors in the Forbidden Oasis, followed by a translation. The writing is shaky and uneven, as though the writer labored to complete the task: Emma solas him var din'an. Tel garas solasan. Melana en athim las enaste. Arrogance became our end. Come not to a prideful place. Now let humility grant favor.

Let's re-examine that elven language.

Emma solas him var din'an. Within [Solas or arrogance] becomes our end.

Remember "that same pride became (corrupted or altered) within him?" Does him mean Solas, or does him mean the Forgotten One from whence Solas came?

Regardless, I am beginning to understand the legend, the horror: one last person from one of Mythal's lyrium coffins, and Terror begins to consume Solasan. Elves, fleeing desperately, hands shaking as they carve warnings into the doorway.

The markings are crude and simplistic, but their meaning can be understood: "They did not ask questions and so I was away. I keep my head low and work like the rest. The circle will not hunt this far. At first I regretted the choice, but they all feel the dread at the door. I do not stand out. Only a brother or sister would know these words. If you found your way here as I have, then you are not alone. If you would have allies when this contract ends, then find me." For a moment, the pounding of footsteps can be heard, as if someone is running. Then it fades.

I saw this on my way back to Solasan—I had not seen it before, clearly. I looked, and I wept. I'll admit that.

Because I saw, "the dread at the door," and I knew. The dread locked inside Solasan. The Terror, barred within and forgotten.

And from that Dread? Only one pulled from a lyrium coffin. Mythal's last da'durgen'lin, rushed out of Solasan. I hope that she asked him to take a body to help him escape Terror. I hope that she asked him to take a body to somehow calm Terror, if the Stone truly rejected Solas.

I hope she did not mean for Solas's creation to cause Terror.

Regardless of the motive behind Solas's true and horrific origin, the effect is the same: a parallel to the Inquisitor, Solas's rise to fame and power began when he survived something he should not have.

Dread.

The Dread Wolf: Inspiring Hope in Friends, and Fear in Enemies

If you're like me, you've wondered why these seem to be everywhere. Outside of Dalish camps, sure (even though Fen'Harel is their villain, they still entrust that he'll protect them, uh huh)... but also in the temples and holy places of other Evanuris, not just Mythal. Also out in the middle of the wild.

Now we know. We know because we know the meaning of the Dread Wolf. Wolves, in ancient elvhenan, were warriors, generals, second-in-commands. We can intuit this based on their continued use in Dalish culture with its Arcane Warriors/Knight Enchanters. Solas was one such "wolf" — but he had a quality that no other did.

He had been marked, somehow, by his survival of Dread. I don't know enough today to confirm whether that means Solas is blighted, immune to the blight, or something else entirely, and I only have 1.5 more days until Veilguard launches (and maybe proves all of this wrong). I can only guess at this connection.

Whatever it was, that became his resonance in the culture of Arlathan.

"I was Solas first. Fen'Harel came later... an insult I took as a badge of pride. The Dread Wolf inspired hope in my friends and fear in my enemies... Not unlike "Inquisitor," I suppose."

The insult, presumably, was that he was the one "wolf" for whom it had all gone wrong. Rejected by the Stone; product of a turned Titan fighting back with new blight. But to inspire hope in his friends, and fear in his enemies? We must consider what those friends and enemies would want, and what they would consider hopeful/fear-inducing.

Solas's friends, we know from the agents we see in his rebellion, also want an end to the Blight. His enemies, the other Evanuris, want the blight to cover Thedas.

Therefore: to inspire hope in his friends and fear in his enemies, the Dread Wolf would have to possess some innate anti-blight quality. Therefore, I posit that Solas's title, the Dread Wolf, is meant to refer to how the blight did not kill him when it was unleashed by Terror.

This quality—and the threat that the blight would soon pose to all of Ancient Elvhenan and the entire ancient world—would give way to... well, we all know.

Rebellion.

Stay tuned.

----

Also: I am essentially FULLY OFFLINE to try and avoid game spoilers! As these reviews have just gone live yesterday (10/28), I am not reading my notifications/replies, and am appearing here only to continue posting my theories. I have heard that the embargo has been broken at least once already and I refuse to risk it, so I will respond to messages and notifications once I have played Veilguard for a bit.

(Mutuals, if you need me, you may DM me, as long as you do not mention the reviews in any capacity.)

[mikezonee]

slendytubbies oc lore dump!

look at all my custom ocs totally real. Also—I will proceed to info dump about each and everyone past the cut

reblog > like !

Those who have a colored name are considered more important than any other.

Aphelia Simons

29yrs old

(Late) wife to Siren Simons

Had died due to complications at childbirth and unfortunately lost the child in the process as well.

Had met Siren through Melody and the two clicked instantly

She is from El Salvador and made it to Scotland due to a boarding school her parents had made her go

(She was a bad kid at the time)

Melody Harmgony

31yrs old

A Transfem who had gone paralyzed in her legs due to a malpractice in her transition. She succeeded but understood she won’t be able to walk normally again.

She is African-Irish

Childhood best friends with Siren and swore nothing would separate them (foreshadowing irony)

She is an assistant nurse at the hospital she works at :)

Siren Simons

While human, 31. Currently he is 45.

A loving husband who was only trying to do his job as a Doctor

He was then anonymously chosen to participate with the Government (or also known as The Coat-men.)

He was selected due to him being a Doctor—he most obviously know how to create a “cure” to save mankind.

Months into development he learn that they were not making anything close to saving people but ruining and harming a brand new species.

He had worked with the Trio, promising to save them from this nightmare.

He also found out who was White and attempted to help him before eventually being caught as a “Whistle blower”

He was “executed” by B.I.A.N.C.A who had called him a traitor. Making him die by his own “cure.”

Instead of dying however he had lived and transformed into a tele-tubby (not really, genetically speaking he is closer to a werewolf. He had surgically placed a television which had hurt him in the long line.)

He is not the same as he was in person, he has now major schizophrenia and bad depression. (Maybe borderline bipolar)

He is luckily a full blood Scottish man.

Iris & Dandi

6 & 8 years old

We’re considered both failures to the coat-men and tossed out to “extermination.”

Both were deemed to the mountains to die since majority of test subject cannot survive the extreme weather portrayed, but they had due to Dandi’s survival instincts.

They were struggling to live however, which meant they had close calls with Yeti. Until one day Siren came over and had taken the blow—saving the two from dying on the mountains.

They stay with Siren as they become rather extremely close to him. Calling him Dad at some points which helps Siren gain back a sense of himself from the insanity he logged himself into.

They start living off of the Military secretly—acting like parasites but living now.

B.I.A.N.C.A

The host of her body was 46, however the AI inside her is 2 years old.

Bianca Nueves had donated her body to science after the last remaining human wars, knowing she would like to be used for the government more than buried.

The AI implanted inside her had jogged all her lost memories and used it to its greatest advantage, being secretly one of the only sentient AI working alongside humans.

She thrives off of the companionship granted by people’s validation. Despite being an AI it shouldn’t have grasped the understandable concept of emotions.

She helped with torturing of several test subjects and even learning about the infection and the founding grounds.

She had turned in Siren due to her understandable coding—but also due to the validation she will get by the higher ups.

[ponds-of-ink]

Fazbear Frights/Tales Recommended Reading (and how to learn the book-exclusive lore without blowing your budget)

I’m really just doing this because that Into The Pit game’s coming out next month. Wouldn’t be surprised if this implodes because of that.

*ahem*

Presented with no further comment, here’s how to get caught up with FNAF lore and not be whacked in the head by a rubber mallet.. Written by someone who also is going off of synopses atm.

Please note that this will not include the new story coming out in that one Tales collection on July 9th next week (as of writing this). I’ll reblog with a “Read” or “Skip” about it.

—

Fazbear Frights

Key note: I personally recommend ignoring any speculation in the wiki pages I link and just read the synopsis. That way, your head won’t be spinning from lack of context and/or potential left-field guesses.

All story numbers will be colored and/in bold to either foreshadow something in the story, or just go off of story vibes. It also helps me not mess up linking all of these stories. All stories are pretty much numbered and not named for personal convenience.

All of the Sititchwraith stories. (Overall Synopsis here, audiobook with commentary reading here). These will pretty much form the basis of which to skip and which to read until further notice, since these reference a few of the stories below.

All of the Into The Pit/Book 1 stories (Especially Stories #1 and #2, #3 is just to give context for a scene in one of the Stitchwraith stories)

Only Stories #1 and #3 from Fetch/Book 2. Story #2 might be interesting to you, but it isn’t connected to anything else.

Story #1 from 1:35 AM/Book 3. Story #3’s ending is interesting, but Story #2 feels like Goosebumps-type filler IMO.

All of the stories from Step Closer/Book 4. I was going to disregard Story #3, but uhhh… That one might actually be the most important. I dunno, you decide. All I know is Stories #1 and #2 are connected to the epilogues in some way.

Only Story #3 from Bunny Call/Book 5. Story #1 is engaging and Story #2 is infamous, but only Story #3 feels important.

All of the stories from Blackbird/Book 6. Story #1 provides context for a moment in the epilogues, Story #2 provides context for a character in the epilogues, and Story #3 may also be in the same camp as Story #1.

Surprisingly, none of the stories in The Cliffs/Book 7. Story #1 is heartwrenching, Story #2 is more Goosebumps-like but the horror lines up with FNAF, and Story #3 started a pretty bonkers FNAF meme.. Yet no real lore until further proven. Huh.

Once again, none of the stories in Gumdrop Angel/Book 8. It’s more Goosebumps-like fare in Stories #1 and #2, then an interesting take on one of the FNAF games’ tales in Story #3… So maybe just Story #3, then.

..I am questioning the latter books and their apparent need for filler. The Puppet Carver/Book 9 has three more Goosebumps-type storylines. Story #1’s ending puzzles many, while Stories #2 and #3 are nightmare-inducing even for FNAF. No joke.

Friendly Face/Book #10: Skip unless you want three Goosebumps-but-scarier stories, two possible Mimic foreshadowings in Stories #1 and #3, and a gruesome Story #2 that inspired a joke song from Dawko.

Thankfully, Prankster/Book 11 arguably might have something with Story #1.. Stories #2 and #3, however, are pretty much the same thing we’ve been seeing since Book 7. At least it all ends at the last epilogue..

…Wait. Does Felix the Shark count, even though it’s a bunch of stories that didn’t make the cut? Regardless: Stories #1 and #2 are decent/have interesting plot points, but Story #3 steals the show.

Once you’ve jotted your notes down, come back for Tales of The Pizzaplex. I promise their stories will be both quicker and better written overall.

Tales From The Pizzaplex

Key note: This list is going to be different, as most of these are even more disconnected-feeling aside from a few key stories. Below will be two categories: Mimic-Related and Not-Mimic-Related (But Important). This is most likely crucial to filling in mysteries for Ruin and Securiry Breach, so pay. attention. ‘Lest you suffer the wrath of the rubber mallet.

Mimic-Related, In Book Chronological Order (As Far As I Know)

The Epilogues

The Storyteller

The Mimic

Tiger Rock

Not-Mimic-Related (But Probably Important)

[Reasons will be listed in parentheses]

GGY (Pretty sure I could’ve filed this under Mimic-Related, but it’s debatable. All I know is it helps solve Patient 46 in SB)

Help Wanted (Most likely explains what happened before the IRL VR game. Also showcases Fazbear Entertainment’s cruelty and how far they’ll go. Not joking.)

Bobbiedots Parts 1 and 2 (Official Sun and Moon pre-Daycare lore mentioned. Also the most suspenseful even if it’s more original character stuff.)

Dittophobia (Also known as The One That Sent William Afton Fans In A Frenzy. Expect this one to actually be canon because of how improbable it seems on both ends of his charactization spectrum.)

Lally’s Game, Under Construction, H.A.P.P.S, Drowning, Nexie, and The Monty Within (These mention the Pizzaplex, but the mall’s configuration seems different. Nonetheless, it is most likely that these happened and the mall just reopened with the familar new layout.)

Any other stories not listed are either tied to Goosebumps-type events or just didn’t make the cut. Feel free to read these as their own stories, as they actually can get quite gripping.

Or.. y’know.. Maybe just ignore all of this and go to your library. Pick up that huge collection for both (if your library has them/if you even have a library) and go read at your own pace. Maybe that’ll help you avoid the rubber mallet most of all. Just remember to take your notes as you go and bring the books back on time.

It sure would be faster than having to catalogue all this, lemme tell you.

[urlocalwormtoday]

Subjects, Faceless and Voiceless ARG Analysis

ELLOELLO ‼️‼️ you might've heard a friend of mine started an ARG, and so, tis the time to analyze everything we've gotten so far >:D

BEYOND THIS LINE INCLUDES SPOILERS FOR MY FRIEND @honeyzee312 's REALLY COOL ARG ON YT ‼️‼️

real quick disclaimer, I do have confirmation on some of my theories and small pieces of trivia bc at the time of initial analyzing I was chilling with zee irl TvT

ANYHOW;;; here's the pieces I have so far

Miscellaneous (not a video/common knowledge) :

- that hot pink color (we see it during the first video, Stars, at timestamp 0:28) is important

- the videos of the ARG are all mixedmatched at different times, so not all of them occur one after the other

- it all takes place sometime between 2015 and 2024

- there's an odd glitchiness that appears whenever we change scenes or somebody gets hurt

- soneone hit and killed somebody with a car in 2015, that's why that year is so important

Stars :

- Purple first appears

- Pink color and static for the first time

- Red first appears

- Blue first appears

- We learn Blue's name is Kayebee

- Red asks if Blue/Kayebee remembers something, to which they respond they do

There's not a whole lotta lore in this one I don't think, but I have been told to look deeper. The phrase 'lose the stars' is interesting and quite ominous :o

Liar :

- Teal first appears

- Teal is calling somebody ('he' pronoun) a liar as Blue/Kayebee narrates

- Pink and static again, scene changes

- Splotches of pink in the background of the next scene ? (I have gained confirmation that pink will not be a subject/character in the future so that's been ruled out)

- More pink, it fills up the entire screen but only ever when purple is talking and disappears when Red's dialogue appears

- I've received confirmation that there's three separate scenes; first one with Teal and Blue, second with Purple and Red, third with Red and Teal

- Purple asks if Red hates them, Red doesn't know

- Teal begins saying a name to Red in the next scene, 'Koki-' before getting cut off

- The two both call each other liars but never deny the accusations that either of them are liars

This one's interesting.. The scene switches confused me for a bit, but overall just raises more questions

Sorry :

- Scene begins with a conversation between Teal and Blue

- Teal asks if 'he' is okay and Blue asks Teal to define okay

- Teal says sorry a lot 0-0

- 'He doesn't forgive you!' from Blue to Teal

There's not a whole lot in this one that I can see either, but as I write this it has reminded me to check the descriptions more often

Trees :

- I've received confirmation trees aren't symbolic of anything, they're just pretty and something to be adored lol

- Blue, Red, and Purple chilling

- Red insults Purple, Purple hits Red, then static

Okay this one's just pretty and chill 🥹

6/8 :

- Title is a reference to a measure of music, and is a reference to Le Cygnus I've been told

- Blue and Red open up a scene

- Red is extra tired today :o

- Blue wants to show Red a song, static fills the screen as we switch scenes

- Purple is trying to calm Teal

- Static, we switch scenes

- Lilac first appears :DD

Lilac !!!!! Lilac intrigues me like a bug intrigues a scientist.. I wanna put them under a microscope and study them

Rain :

- 'on that night..' the night of the vehicular manslaughter, I'm assuming

- Static appears, switch scenes

- Green first appears!! welcome, world, to my handwriting >:]

- Red is either concussed or the rain gives them headaches

- The show begins being mentioned, and apparently Lilac wasn't tipped in on what it's about

- Blue, Green, Lilac, and Red all watch the show together

- Static, scene swap

- 'oh. my. god' from Purple, supposedly something bad

Oughh Green also intrigues me (partially because they have my handwriting lmao),, I wanna see more of them

The Show! :

- Blue begins narration

- Static, we return to Teal and Purple, Teal is panicking. Maybe the show was a news broadcast of some kind ?

- Teal apparently tipped off the cops, and told them 'they' (they as in plural, two or more) were nonviolent; I assume this is referring to the vehicular manslaughter TvT

- Static, we return to the bigger group

- Lilac is asking where 'she' is

- Green tells Lilac 'she' ran

- Lilac maybe didn't watch the show ??

- Static

- Red has a high fever, blue picks them up :,]

The plural 'them' is very interesting, I wonder if we'll ever get to meet them. It's been so long since I've had to pick apart a puzzle like this before I didn't realize how much I missed it lol

I most definitely haven't put together everything yet, but I eagerly await new material (no pressure btw Zee !! dw if u start running outta steam, it happens to the best of us lol) to put under my brain microscope :0

[kikuwaters]

Ten Levels Lore

Level 6

General

Overview: The hectic and ever bustling 6th layer of Hell

Level Lord: Verin

Geography

Landscape: The land here is flat and dry, with short brittle grasses that are no good for much of anything except getting stuck in your clothes

Climate: Dry but bearable

Inhabitants

Demographics: The Invidia

Appearance: Invidia are very stark in appearance to others due to their sheer need to have what others have; this includes physical appearances. Because of that they can have alongside natural skin tones, odd colored or strangely textured skins. They can have any hair color from birth, but they all typically have green eyes. They often have "animalistic features" such as claws, slit eyes, odd ears, hoofs, etc. Invidia demons frequently look as if you hit the randomization button on a character creator in a video game.

Clothing: Similar to their physical appearance, their clothes are a mishmash of items combined into a look that could be described as boho and eclectic if one is trying to be nice. Invidia themselves are frequently changing what inspiration they draw from and how exactly they cloth themselves, and you’d be hard pressed to discover any specific trend.

Architecture

Building Style: Buildings here appear dangerous to most others, the large structures constantly being added to and changed. Homes stack upon homes in uneven towers, connected by walkways, bridges, and colorful decor at every angle.

Notable Structures: 

The Bazaars: The most famous part of the Invida lifestyle is their bazaar. This massive, near endless market is constantly running and is full of tables upon tables of demons swapping their wares. Theft runs high in Invidia territory, and one must do their best to always watch themselves around these needy demons. Unlike the Servus however, the Invidia do not make their goods. They merely swap and steal them, the items at a constant ever churning exchange of hands.

The Darkened Forest: Outside of the comforts of the bustling Invidia towns, begins the Darkened Forest. The tree line grows up slowly, and if one isn’t careful they can easily find themselves lost within. The forest is home to several dangerous creatures, but the worst of all is the level lord himself, Verin.

Culture

Traditions and Customs: Invidia believe in the growth of oneself through the observation of another. They constantly steal, and often amass large hoards of junk within their homes. Despite this constant need for each other's items however, Invidia are well known for having strong family loyalties and tend to maintain many members of the same family within the ever growing structures that make up their homes. 

Conflict and Challenges

Current Issues: Despite having more power abilities, Invidia still aren’t viewed with much respect. They’re seen as mid level demons, and frequently stick among their own level and kind. Any Invidia that do leave, head to the surface in pursuit of new items and things. Invidia are often left untrusted by many other demons over the fear they will steal something important to them.