#amashilama

[cordate-chordata]

Commission of Indra and Amashilama from Axiom Verge 2 :D

Alt. bg and transparent bg under the cut

[corntort]

your post makes me conclude that damu now has 3 moms bound by hate for each other

correct! this is the right observation to make

[fathercharlesoffdensen]

"Terracotta plaque dating to the Amorite Period (c. 2000-1600 BC) showing a dead god (probably Dumuzid) resting in his coffin [...] A collection of lamentations for Dumuzid entitled In the Desert by the Early Grass describes Damu, the 'dead anointed one,' being dragged down to the Underworld by demons, who blindfold him, tie him up, and forbid him from sleeping. Damu's mother tries to follow him into the Underworld, but Damu is now a disembodied spirit, "lying in" the winds, "in the lightnings and in tornadoes". Damu's mother is also unable to eat the food or drink the water in the Underworld, because it is 'bad.' Damu travels along the road of the Underworld and encounters various spirits. He meets the ghost of a small child, who tells him that it is lost; the ghost of a singer agrees to accompany the child. Damu asks the spirits to send a message to his mother, but they cannot because they are dead and the living cannot hear the dead's voices. Damu, however, manages to tell his mother to dig up his blood and chop it into pieces. Damu's mother gives the congealed blood to Damu's sister Amashilama, who is a leech. Amashilama mixes the congealed blood into a brew of beer, which Damu must drink in order to be restored to life. Damu, however, realizes that he is dead and declares that he is not in the 'grass which shall grow for his mother again,' nor in the 'waters which will rise.' Damu's mother blesses him and Amashilama dies to join him in the Underworld. She tells him that 'the day that dawns for you will also dawn for me; the day you see, I shall also see,' referring to the fact that day in the world above is night in the Underworld.'"

[supernovaae]

Mesopotamian Mythological Figures to Use for Dislyte Ocs:

Anu, Enki/Ea, Enlil, Gilgamesh, Marduk, Tiamat, Ishtar/Inanna, Ereshkigal, Nanna/Sin, Enlil, Ningal, Ninhursag, Mamu, Hadad, Nabu, Assur, Simut, Nergal, Ninsianna, Ninurta, Dumuzid, Gula, Nimintabba, Nindara, Ninegal, Ninkarrak, Bau, Ishkur, Itsaran, Nanaya, Nanshe, Ninmug, Ninpumuna, Lulal, Iiaba, Ishmekarab, Irnina, Isimud, Ishum, Kabta, Kanisurra, Ki, Kus, Kusu, Lagamar, Laguda, Mami, Mammitum, Mandanu, Manzat, Martu, Misharu, Nanibgal, Ninsar, Lugaldukuga, Nammu, Lahar, Las, Dumuzi-abzu, Duttur, Emesh, Enbilulu, Ninmena, Shuishaga, Ninkilim, Ningirima, Ningishzida, Ningublaga, Tiamat, Alammus, Ama-arhus, Uttu, Wer, Ningal, Ningikuga, Tutu, Uras, Ningirida, Ninhegal, Ninimma, Erra, Erragal, Ezina, Gareus, Gazbaba, Geshtinanna, Gibil, Gugalanna, Ninazu, Ninlil, Ninshubur, Nisaba, Zababa, Alala, Belili, Anshar, Kishar, Duri, Dari, Enki, Ninki, Tashmetu, Urkitum, Usur-amassu, Enmesharra, Gunura, Gatumdug, Haya, Hegir, Hendursaga, Humhum, idiurugu, Ninigizibara, Lumma, Ninkasi, Ninkurra, Ninmada, Ninmarki, Bitu, Bizilla, Damu, Dingirma, Amasagnudi, Amashilama, Antu, Asarluhi, Ashgi, Aya, Bel-Sarbi, Belet-Seri, Bilgames, Enkimdu, Enlilazi, Ninsianna, Ninsikila, Ninyu, Nirah, Numushda, Nungal, Nunusdug, Nusku, Pabilsag, Paniginarra, Ninisina, Nintinugga, Lisin (brother is ashgi), Lugala'abba, Lugalbanda, Lugal-irra and Meslamta-ea, Sadarnunna, Sarpanit, Sarrahitu, Serua, Shala, Shara, Subula, Shullat and Hanish, Ennugi, Enten, Shulpa'e, Shui-utula, Shuzianna, Sirsir, Siduri, Silili, Sumugan, Tadmustum, Allani, Asratum, Belet-Šuḫnir and Belet-Terraban,

Note: Keep in mind that this list may not be accurate and/or may be missing some mythological figures because I put down what I knew and did the bare minimum of google searching.

[atwas-gaming]

Gotta love how even the OST track names in Axiom Verge tell a story. Trace Awakens -> Trace Rising -> Trace Reborn; the tracks for the ancient Sudran capital are Occlusion and Occlusion Lens; the Breach variation of Silver Pipes is Argentum Alias (argentum being Latin for "silver"); Nephropidae, which, as it turns out, is the scientific name for the kind of crustacean that Amashilama morphs into at the end of AV2. There's more examples, this is but a humbly small sample of my favorites.

[logicpng]

ahaha ama no why u do these ridiculous things

[sudra]

something something injoke about indra being one of those rich furries

[angisfunland]

Honestly, Possessed Indra's probably my favorite part of Axiom Verge 2. Amashilama's totally nuts, and I loved that duel boss fight. I just wish it lasted a bit longer, but story reasons.

[rediankhesi]

Praises be to the Divine Leech,

Whose Face is beautiful in its oddity.

Your teeth latch onto those who call You,

But You are never feared,

For the ill blood must be removed to become something new.

Great Healer of Ills, hear me as I sing to You,

Writhing as Your brood,

Rejoicing in this new blood,

Healthy and happy as You intended.

May I always find comfort in the remedy.

[ace-of-anunnaki]

Inktober is done! I feel pretty good about this year, though as usual, I skipped a few days (sorry Ashgi, Boat-god and Amashilama :() Though I do realize my art would look a little better if I had a scanner and scanned it instead of taking pictures. If anyone has recommendations for a good one let me know!

Now I will get back to working on the 2and part of the comic I hoped would be done by now!

[pvfa-r]

idk what amashilamas goin on but its kinda transgender

[chocolatemilk-mob]

indra. and amashilama.

We serve axiom verge here, sir

[corntort]

amashilama hammond and indra could have something rlly lesbonic going on

[quickboot]

Thinking about Amashilama telling the Sumerian dog joke, Indra looking annoyed/confused while Ama and the other Arms laugh

[athetos]

Also I think it's pretty neat how Axiom Verge 1 and 2 both explore themes of identity and trandhumanism- those are always fun themes to explore

I agree, they’re one of my favorite themes to explore in sci-fi. While the plots of both games are “stop the destruction of the multiverse while being toyed with by morally ambiguous characters” the personal crisis each protagonist undergoes is about who they are now. Trace has to cope with being the clone of a genocidal supervillain (who actually may have been framed!) and whether he will fall prey to the same corruption, and Indra has to cope with having an inorganic body and perhaps being a copy of her own consciousness - considering the original Indra apparently retained her memories after Amashilama left her, and she even made it to the afterlife. It’s… a lot to take in!

[atwas-gaming]

Building on this theory, I've actually come up with something even crazier:

So, Damu was just a kid, and he didn't seem all that crazy about destruction and killing. He also kept apologizing for various things, like not being able to turn Indra into other creatures (which was what he was initially supposed to be able to do, but it never worked right), or not being able to turn Indra back into a human. So Damu is characterized by innocence, deep concern for others, pacifist tendencies, and a tendency to feel guilty for not being able to fix a situation.

Trace- at least, the Trace that we play as- is strongly opposed to violence, and apologizes frequently for various things (apologizing to his other self in the hallucination boss, apologizing to every boss he has to kill, apologizing and taking it upon himself for not understanding certain things that Elsenova says). He's not someone who holds grudges or loses his temper, even when Elsenova killed him. He also doesn't use strong curse words- and as we see in AV2, the developer, Tom Happ, is not opposed to using strong language. In short, Trace comes across as being innocent, pacifistic, concerned for others, and riddled with guilt.

Do you see where I'm going yet?

In my last AV post, I suggested that Ophelia's real reason for creating a clone version of Trace was to use him as a test run for creating a body for Damu. BUT... what if Trace wasn't just a test run? What if Ophelia already did put Damu's consciousness into Trace?

I've often said that I just can't see how someone as innocent and as opposed to violence as Trace could have possibly turned into Athetos. But if Trace's personality is being influenced by Damu hiding in his subconscious, then that could explain a few things.

In addition, Damu is the one who gives Indra the ability to turn into a drone. And Trace has the drone ability, albeit somewhat jankier than Indra's drone ability. No explanation is ever given for the process of Trace's nanites being transferred into the drone, nor is it ever explained how Trace learned this ability. It seems like he just somehow knows how to do it. He comments on almost everything else he gets in the game- the gun, the lab coat, the bioflux mutation- but not the drone ability. (And, tbh, I've had a headcanon for some time now, before I ever came up with the theory in this post, that the names and instructions for all weapons and items just randomly appear in Trace's mind as soon as he picks them up.)

It would even explain Trace's amnesia. Trace doesn't seem to consciously remember anything from Damu's life, but Trace also forgot "over a year" of his own life. If Damu is tucked away in Trace's brain somewhere, then Trace's memories are likely suppressing Damu's- but Damu may be suppressing some of Trace's memories, as well, in an attempt to bring Damu's memories to the surface.

Now, a large problem with this theory is that it still goes against what Ophelia was trying to do. She wanted Damu to have his own body, his own life. But if Damu is in Trace, then she's essentially just transferred Damu from her body to someone else's. And in fact, Damu is in a worse position, because Damu never even speaks for himself, aside from possibly influencing Trace's personality to be more gentle and pacifist. But outwardly, he's forced to go by the name Trace, and sees all of Trace's memories and none of his own.

In addition, if Trace's mind and Damu's mind are conflicting with each other, I would expect more than just a personality change. I would expect an outright war in Trace's mind. You remember in Star Trek 3, how Dr. McCoy basically went a little nuts because he carried Spock's memories? That's more like what I would expect if Damu was inhabiting Trace's mind.

But then again, Ophelia is the one who experienced having her body stolen by Amashilama. And the notes seem to indicate that Amashilama and Damu are brother and sister. So perhaps Ophelia thinks that Damu can take over Trace's body?

Is that why they put Trace to sleep instead of either killing him or sending him home?

(BTW, the thing about Amashilama and Damu being siblings is straight out of ancient Sumerian mythology. The story goes that Damu died and Amashilama was supposed to bring his blood to him so he would resurrect, but Damu realized he could not be resurrected and accepted his own death, with Amashilama eventually dying so she could be with him. Interestingly enough, Ophelia has been the one to take on parts of Amashilama's role. And we don't yet know how Damu feels about any of whatever Ophelia is planning for him.)

For the record, I realize that this is one of the craziest theories I've ever had for anything. But at this point, we don't have enough information for me to come up with anything better. And, uh, it might be another 4 years before we do.