#and the fact them being close is lore or at least a legend and i like to think legends to some extent are all true

[stolememory]

I was reminded by my friend of the lore in Khajiit legends of Azura going to Mora for advice and knowledge (kind of being a mentor figure) and the two of them help maintain the tides and phases of the moons and all I can say is I think I need an Azura rper for my Mora so they can be friends

[harveybwabbit92]

Speedy ultra facts (Revised, with a few more facts):

4 out of the original 6 ultra brothers are actually related to each other.

Taro and Ace are brothers, Seven is their cousin.

Jack is married to one of Mother of Ultra's sisters making him Seven, Taro and Ace's uncle.

Seven has a sister and brother.

Seven was raised by his sister after his mother died.

Seven, Jack and Taro have children.

Seven is Zero's father.

Taro is Taiga's father

And Jack has an unnamed son.

(And I guess Ace counts too? since he's Ultraman Z's godfather.)

Taro and Ace are the sons of Father and Mother of Ultra.

Ace is adopted.

Mother and Father's real names are Ken and Marie.

Ultraman is a university professor.

Leo and Astra are twins and princes.

Zoffy is apparently the grandson of ultraman King.

Zoffy smokes (in the manga he does anyways)

An Ultra-baby appears in it's capsule for a few seconds at the end of Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends in the crowd of ultras who have been unfrozen.

The baby parents are a red(or silver) father and a blue mother.

Jack is one of the few original ultra brother's who stays in regular contact with his human host.

Ultraman Mebius's favorite food is curry.

Zero has a childhood friend named Voice who is a musician.

Ultra's mouths can open and close considering they also need to eat and drink.

Father of Ultra is terrified of angering his wife.

Taro and Ace used to have a pet dog.

Apparently there are cats and dogs in the Land of Light, though they look very different from their Earth counterparts. (Cos Aliens)[though in the comics the pup looks like a normal dog, but in the show it looks like white puffball wit' spider legs.]

Mother of Ultra has at least two sisters, one of whom married jack and the other is Seven's mother.

80 is adopted (at least in the manga adaption he is.)

80's adoptive father's name is Ultraman Red and he's Father's best friend.

Color timers were surgically grafted onto an ultra's chest in early childhood. (Taro has his as a young child in Ultraman Story and Ultraman boy has one...but then there's Geed whose timer really was grafted onto him after birth...Ah, I'm not going down this rabbit hole.)

{(Okay, I went and reviewed the wiki and some other sources on this the Color timer thing has been sort of retconned, They changed the age for Color timers to teen or adult Ultras who have the choice if they want to have a color timer or not (there are lot civvy ultras who don't have a color timer), and that it's mainly for Ultras whose jobs require them to travel off planet or for Ultras who are active warriors in the IGDF. but for the earlier installments (like the original 60s lore) it was at birth.)}

The reason Ultraseven doesn't have a color timer is cos he wasn't meant to be a fighter. His original mission was to scout out and draw a map of the milky way galaxy.

The creator of Pokemon was inspired by Ultraseven, in fact the reason it's called Pokemon is because the name Capsule monsters was already copyrighted by Tsuburaya.

Most Ultras are born through gestation capsules.(However according some of the novels *they might be outdated and thus not considered canon anymore* There are a few that still make babies and give birth the ol'fashion way.)

Fuma, Gai and Jugglus are from the same planet O-50.

The inhabitants on O-50 Aren't born ultras their original forms, As much as it sucks are human-like in appearance, but they do have super abilities to sort of make up for it. The only true way to become an Ultra on O-50 is by being chosen by the Light ring or The voice of light to become one.

The Light Ring/Voice of light is this big blue halo that floats over the planet O-50 that sometimes gives people super powers... ([there's not a lot info on O-50 other then the few snippets from the R/B novel, Orb saga and Fuma's voice drama, so work with me here])

O-50's trial to become an Ultra requires one or more people who must climb to the very top of the planets highest and deadliest mountain: Crusader's peak. Now, they can do this completely on their own or be summoned personally by the Light ring. (According to Fuma a lot of people fail the trial because they either kill each other or die on the climb up.) Anyway when they reach the peak the Ring will pass judgement if they're worthy or not, if they're found worthy then it grants them the power they need to turn into an ultra....If not then, it'll electro yeet them off the mountain like it did with Jugglus.

Though not inhabitants of O-50 themselves, the original R/B/G siblings crashed landed there and got the power to transform into their ultra and Kaiju forms, from the Light ring while to fighting off a monster they'd accidentally woke up while fighting off a gang that had chased them off their home planet.

According to Fuma, Grigio is considered an idol on O-50.

Now on to U-40 Where the inhabitants are called Ultra-people who are all born human in appearance, they're just ultras but human size.

the ancient inhabitants of U-40 through unknown means created the Ultra mind. (It's a core of light that works similarly to the plasma spark.) which helped them achieve a higher state of spiritual evolution that transformed them into ultras.

Unlike their M-78 counter parts the U-40 ultras can't naturally grow into giants; except for this small group of eight warriors who have achieved the ability to grow giant, though much like the creation of the Ultra mind this isn't fully explained on how or why this can happened. (though in Titas's backstory it hints at that it might be connected to resolve and finding balance within one's self.).

Despite that the few inhabitants of U-40 that can turn giant prefer to stay small or in their human forms rather then their giant forms.

Unlike the land of light U-40 still has it's sun and thus has day and night cycles, though one of it's two moons was destroyed by the Heller Army (the bad guys of The⭐Ultraman anime.).

[.....Though, I think I heard somewhere that the Land o light Ultras use technology that's similar to switchable film windows or something to mimic a night-cycle (Well, indoors they do anyways.) but I could be misremembering.]

Titas is a dark giant.

Titas was born in the dark nebula to two soldiers in the Heller Army but his parents didn't want him to follow in their footsteps, so they sent him as an infant to U-40 where he could grow up safely and choose his own path.

Ultraman X possibly dated an alien space cat monster Mu who looks like a cross between a Beholder from DnD and a cat, she also had memory erasing farts.

X doesn't remember dating Mu...

Ultraman thought humans were too primitive to have develop the ability to fly, He was proven wrong moments later by getting hit in the face by a jet being flown by his host Shin Hayata.

Ultras aren't completely made of energy, they actually have skeletons and organs that are sort similar to a human's but also having a few extras that are very alien.

Ultras stop aging at around 10000 years and 1 ultra year is equivalent to 300 human years.

[circeyoru]

collection of overlords??? I love it so muchh 😭💗💗. I have some questions for this, does reader have any connection to Lucifer? By that i mean are they close and does he visit them from time to time. Or does he just ignore them as long as they don't bring harm to his family and to most of the residents of the ring? I feel like for someone like reader that owns all of the overlords soul, Lucifer would at least be acquainted with them (all of your writings are so addicting, I've already read all of them twice by now)

Go to MASTERLIST for the works. This ask is for {Collection of Overlords}.

Thank you for liking this newest story!! And my writings!! I can't believe there are part 2 requests. Now there's ask!! AHHH!!

Anyways. Back to the topic at hand~ A bit of lore too

Simple answer yes. (ok end of this post, just kidding)

Okay, essentially, I see Reader/you with this background. You were the Ruler of Hell, before Lucifer and Lilith's arrival. Since Lucifer was a powerful angel then fell, you let him hold the title of King of Hell since you saw him to be the one with more power. And the fact that if he used holy magic on you, there wasn't much of a way you could counter it. However, Hellborns still see you as a royal of the highest rank, but they don't rebel against Lucifer or Lilith's reign so it's all okay.

You were the one to help Lucifer and Lilith rise to power once they arrived, nothing like what you did to the Overlords. You introduced them to the demon nobles and the sins of different Rings of Hell. Naturally, they were stationed in Pride where you were formerly. The Overlord system wasn't in effect yet, it only started when Lucifer and Lilith's reign became less public and their focus shifted. You suggested a new hierarchy ranking that was specific to Sinners since there were a vast number of them and they do aim to stand in power. There can't be a rebellion and the Hellborns were in line because of their respective Ring's Sin. What of Pride? Because either the King or Queen were taking their duties, you took the role of maintaining a balance.

Your relationship with Lucifer in the beginning was a mentor and mentee type, since you had more experience with ruling, you showed him the ropes. Then it turned to friends when he was in his Kingly position. While others may see you two as rivals with your 'army' of Overlords and Lucifer's angelic powers, you two respect each other on serious matters. Plus, Lucifer understands that you basically still hold authority over Hell like back in the old days, but you just don't show it. Your history as the Ruler of Hell was painted as a legend that the Hellborns passed on to their children from generation to generation.

You notice how there are eyes everywhere? I'll adapt it to you being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. That's how you keep an eye out for things and know when to act.

Fun fact: Lucifer makes you ducks too, it's basically like a private phone between you two. It's still a bit awkward when you hold up the ducky to your ear. You're also his unpaid therapist when it came to listening to him rant and whine about missing his daughter, Charlotte all the time.

[sapphicseasapphire]

Remember when I said I’d make some informational posts about the Cryptid au? Well, here’s some lore! I originally wanted to talk more about Wind. But I can’t talk about Wind without also talking about Legend! So buckle up while I tell you about an old, old war.

Legend is Mer. Wind is an original species that I call Aquili. On my character sheets, before I came up with the name, I called him a Sea Monster. But then I thought about it for two more seconds and realized that in a world where monsters are in fact real, tangible things that are always evil and are constantly being fought, doesn’t calling someone a monster sound a little derogatory? And then that SPIRALED.

So throughout Hyrule’s history, there have been many creatures that make their homes in the sea. Among these are the Zora, an amphibious group that make their homes on land but close to water; the Aquili, an amphibious group that make their homes underwater but close to the surface; and the Mer, an entirely aquatic group that live 100% underwater. They rarely interacted with each other, peacefully keeping to themselves until an influx of monsters started driving them out of their homes.

The spike in monster population took place just before the events Ocarina of Time. The Zora were least affected affected because their homes were on land, but the Mer and Aquili struggled. They fought back the monsters as they invaded their territories, and eventually, the threat of the monsters led them to cross each others borders. And suddenly, they had a turf war on their hands. They simply didn’t have enough space to coexist while the monsters lurked. And so they fought.

The timeline splits. Legend and Wind both know different conflicts, but neither end well. In Legend’s era, the war is won. The Mer were victorious, they drove the Aquili away and lowered their numbers enough that they aren’t a threat anymore. The term “Sea Monster” is Mer propaganda, meant to villainize the Aquili and turn any sympathizers away. The war might have been won centuries ago, but the Aquili are still out there, still scraping by, weakened but never defeated. Legend has been taught all his life to fear them. He’s been taught to call them monsters and to fight them on sight. He’s been taught that there’s a reason that the Mer were able to win, and he must live up to that standard.

Legend was attacked when he was young. He was chased out of his territory by an Aquili scavenger, forced above the surface to escape. Except it’s law in Mer controlled areas that so much as breaking the surface tension of the water is grounds for banishment. Since Mer are completely aquatic, it’s dangerous for them to go on land. Plus, Aquili, being amphibious, go above the surface on occasion. Anyone following them is seen as a traitor. Unfortunately, even though Legend was only a child and only trying to escape a very dangerous situation, the law was strict. He had no loophole. He was banished, forced to take refuge in the surface kingdom of Hyrule. And that experience did not help him see Aquili in a kinder light.

Wind, on the other hand, had an entirely different perspective on the war. In his era, the war never really ended. There were no victors, no losers. When Hyrule flooded, the war just sort of… fizzled out. Of course, with the extra ocean comes even more, even bigger monsters for the Mer and Aquili to try to manage. There are still skirmishes between the groups. A lot of fighting around borders. Occasional battles and invasions. The conflict, while it might not be as intense as the war in Legend’s era, is still very much ongoing.

Except… there’s this little place in Wind’s era. A little island where Aquili and Mer alike seek refuge. A common ground, an area of peace. Outset Island is populated entirely by both Mer and Aquili who wanted an escape from the war. The ones who gave up on holding any territory underwater and settled on land. There, everyone’s welcome. Wind’s parents left him there with his little sister and his grandmother to save them from the constant fighting. But they believed in their cause, and so they left to reclaim their territory- their home. They never returned.

Wind sees the war as something that’s far away. He lives in a bubble of peace. He’s friends with Mer. He doesn’t have these prejudices. He knows not to venture too far into the ocean (hence why he sails on a ship instead of swimming everywhere), but other than that, he doesn’t have to worry about it.

When Legend and Wind meet, immediately their cultural differences are made very, very clear. Legend is cold to the young boy (colder than usual, that is) and no one can figure out why. Wind’s such a little bundle of energy! His laughter is infectious and his enthusiasm is contagious. Why does Legend avoid him so much?

I had this idea in my head that Wind’s so far separated from his culture, he doesn’t even know that he’s called ‘Aquili.’ All he’s heard from everyone in his life is ‘Sea Monster.’ On Outset, the Aquili called themselves that with pride as if they were never anything else, so Wind never saw any issue with that.

So one day, when talking to the rest of the Chain, Wind calls himself a Sea Monster. And Legend LOOSES IT.

Suddenly, Legend rushes over and pulls Wind into his arms and just hugs him as tightly as he can. Because this child should not be saying such things about himself. Legend’s been dealing with his own prejudice this whole time, but hearing it come from Wind’s own mouth actually breaks him. He cannot pretend anymore. He cannot separate himself from the conflict, he cannot use the blanket description of ‘Monster’ for all of the Aquili, he cannot blame the child in his arms for the desperate soul that chased him from his home.

“You’re not a monster,” he’d whisper into Wind’s shoulder. “Don’t ever say that. You’re not a monster.”

Wind’s just confused because he didn’t say he was a monster. “I called myself a Sea Monster. There’s a differen… oh”

And Legend has to watch the light leave his eyes as Wind realizes what he’s been calling himself… what everyone he knows has been calling themselves… is so fundamentally wrong.

It’s Legend who tells Wind about his heritage. As much as he can think of that isn’t propaganda. (Which… isn’t much). Legend tells Wind that he’s called Aquili, he tells Wind about the Aquili that he knew in his era. He hates that he knows so little.

And then they start to bond. Wind is definitely in shock about the whole thing, maybe a bit of denial. Legend just feels so sorry for being so harsh towards him in the past. But they go swimming together, they catch and eat seafood together. Each of them are learning from each other. They heal.

Okay that was long. I have many more thoughts about this! Like what the war looked like in Lorule, what it means for Legend and Ravio. But I’ve rambled long enough haha! I’ll make a post about that later if you’re interested, but for now, thank you for reading haha!

[maverick-werewolf]

Werewolf Article - (Play As A) Werewolf Video Games

The results of the poll for this month on my Patreon are in, and the winner is an opinionated article on werewolf video games! Apologies in advance if any of my opinions here anger you. I was asked for opinionated, so I went opinionated and did not hold back.

For clarity's sake: this will be a relatively concise list of SOME video games in which you can or do play as a werewolf. It will NOT include every single game in which you can or do play as a werewolf, nor will it include certain kinds of playable werewolves that exist in gaming, for the sake of brevity. You'll notice some missing and then want to be first to tell me I left out [thing], but I assure you I am aware of those too. I am also not going to list games in which you can play as a werewolf but it requires either user-made mods or else playing in a custom campaign/tileset/server (like Neverwinter Nights <3), only games wherein you can play as a werewolf as part of base game or expansion pack mechanics.

This IS a tiered list. It is tiered based on the werewolf gameplay mechanics and elements in the game.

Let's get started. I will begin at #9, go to #1, and then I will close with some words on some other games that didn't make the numbered list.

9. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Note: your player character will never have torn-up clothing or use his claws like in this artwork/like the enemy worgen do

I'm just going to list Cataclysm here because, frankly, I don't even want to discuss WoW at Shadowlands and beyond... even if discussing the model update will reach into that era of content. Obviously, I don't play WoW anymore and haven't in quite a while, but yeah, I used to really enjoy it. Played it for many, many years. Probably too many.

Cataclysm was a pretty outright bad expansion, but it did add playable worgen (something I obviously wanted from day 1 after seeing the worgen mobs running around), and they can even turn into human form, which is a must for me in terms of actually being a werewolf instead of just a wolf-person, which I wouldn't even roll. That was a nice touch I didn't actually expect from the devs.

Unfortunately, the model update turned them into something far "cuter" and more cuddly than I liked, not to mention adding preposterous fur options like stripes and merle, but the human form customization was nice. Still, the model update drove me toward playing different races, like maining my kul'tiran and night elf instead of the worgen I was always ultimately pretty disappointed in, given his wearing fine armor and wielding giant weapons. Anyway, the entire game took a huge nosedive not long after the model change, so it's a moot point for me regardless.

As for the deeper worgen lore beyond "they are werewolves with a funny name": I hate it with all my heart. I did my best to ignore every scrap of that and how they are just self-parodies, to delete the Gilneas/worgen starting zone quests from my entire brain, and especially to ignore the fact that they were all preposterously British despite England being one of the last places historically to even have many werewolf legends of its own. I have an article about that here if you are interested in the topic. The game made all of these things very difficult, especially how hard they wanted to drive home that the worgen are silly posh British parody dog-people strutting around in waistcoats and tophats instead of being fearsome cursed werewolves. So I won't bother going into all that.

The mechanics are fun except for the fact that you have to wear armor and use weapons, so ultimately you just look like a beast-person instead of a werewolf, especially after the model change making them far more appealing to a certain demographic. If Blizzard had wanted to put in effort, they would have made your gear look tattered and would have made you swap to claws when you turn, but that would've been a lot of work. They could have at least added a specialized class or something and then also given it to some Horde races to make the precious Horde players happy. I don't know. I just think werewolves wearing fine clothes and armor and wielding weapons is immensely silly. They're supposed to be werewolves.

So while they are extremely far from perfect, the worgen are at least relatively fun in that, if nothing else, you can go between werewolf and human forms and run on all fours as fast as the fastest ground mount, and I am deeply surprised they did either. I immensely enjoyed both of those things during my time playing a worgen, and they helped mitigate the great disappointment otherwise in many other regards - though not enough to keep me from maining other races, especially later on. But, in the end, WoW sucks now and it's unrecoverable, and WoW Classic is a joke, so I'll never be playing a worgen again anyway.

8. Diablo II

I'm sure you were looking for this one - the werewolf druid in Diablo II (preemptive sidebar: I am not going to talk about Diablo IV). I love his design and gameplay mechanics. He's fantastic. However, he is of course yet another instance of "the werewolf must be a druid," which I personally find a little tiresome after so much of it. But hey, this was one of the earlier games to do that, so it predated a lot of the craze.

At any rate, the Druid class in Diablo II obviously gets a werewolf form. It also gets a requisite werebear because werewolves can almost never just be werewolves, but at least the werewolf does not completely suck. You can also summon wolves, which is a bonus.

While I'm not really that big on Diablo-type gameplay - I prefer either third-person or else a proper isometric, party-based RPG - so Diablo II didn't really hold my interest a lot, the werewolf druid is very fun and a very cool werewolf, the setting is great, and the werewolf suits the dark Gothic feeling and look of the game that is enjoyable and well conveyed in the first place. The werewolf druid is a great addition that I am glad they added.

7. Baldur's Gate II

Let me make something perfectly clear: Baldur's Gate II is, in my opinion, the best game ever made (only Uncharted 2: Among Thieves also makes this rank for me). Combined with BG1 to create the Baldur's Gate Saga, it is one of the best stories ever told and also my favorite game mechanics-wise, again alongside Uncharted 2 even if yes, I know that those games could almost not be farther apart in terms of mechanics. I absolutely love BG2 beyond words. Please note I am talking about the original Baldur's Gate II, as released in 2000, not the "Enhanced Edition," which is a disgrace to the game, the entire series, and a piece of garbage. It's shamefully difficult to find the original game anymore, but it's worth it over playing the EE; trust me. I'll try to spare you any further ranting on this topic, as the original Baldur's Gate Saga is something very close to my heart.

Anyway, the werewolf in BG2 is - once again - a druid, specifically a druid subclass called Shapeshifter. It doesn't really have any werewolf gameplay mechanics in that you are not treated differently for it, nor do you transform out of your own control. In fact you will be spending the majority of your time in werewolf form, which can get quite tiresome. I'm not the biggest fan of a werewolf holding normal conversations with NPCs, etc. But regardless, it's there, and I love it, and it looks awesome, and that's more than I can say for so many games. Plus, you get cool bonuses and stuff. The power of it varies over time and with the progression of your character. I will not go too deeply into it, as I am actually an insane D&D video game nerd and even today I can spend far too much time building characters and tweaking numbers and doing ridiculous tricks in D&D games to powergame. If you want just one of my credentials I beat BG2 on the hardest difficulty with Ascension and no other gameplay mods. Long story short, the Greater Werewolf is quite powerful, and it shouldn't be a detriment to your party to either be one or bring along Cernd, one of my favorite companions.

So don't listen to the people down on the Shapeshifter in BG2. You can get mods that make them overpowered, anyway. Also don't listen to my complaints about it not feeling werewolfish enough because that's nearly impossible to come by anyway if you're not playing the #1 game on this list. Go try one out. It's fun! Plus, BG2 is the best game ever made.

6. Altered Beast

What are some of Mav's favorite things? Ancient Greece, hoplites, hot men, werewolves, dragons, tigers...

When I found out Altered Beast exists and is a game wherein you play as an awesome hoplite dude and turn into a werewolf, a green dragon, a tiger-man, and ultimately a werewolf is still the most powerful of all his forms, I was ecstatic. I had to play it immediately.

I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun, unforgiving game, because it was made before video games started becoming what I think we're supposed to call accessible today. I don't know what else there is to say about the game if what I've already said hasn't convinced you to play it. The werewolf form is your first transformation, and your most powerful is a golden werewolf. Me being me, I appreciate that a werewolf form is still the best in the end instead of being outshone by other creatures, and even the other forms available are all very cool.

As I said, I really don't know what more one could ask for of this setting and gameplay. I've never been picky about genre; I play a very wide variety of video games and have plenty of fun, and I certainly had fun with this one.

(Note: I'm not going to talk about that 2005 Altered Beast remake, I like to pretend it never happened)

5. Werewolf the Apocalypse: Earthblood

I'll be the first to admit I'm far from the biggest World of Darkness fan ever, as has brought many insults my way already, but I was pleasantly surprised by the mechanics of the werewolf form in Earthblood. I will not call it the "crinos form," as that terminology is so immensely silly that I could no longer take it seriously if I did. So anyway, the gameplay actually lets you feel like a werewolf, and you even get two stances you can swap between for different combat styles instead of anchoring werewolves down to just doing one thing. I'm not going to wax on about the lore, the story, etc. - but man the werewolf mechanics really are fun. It is, of course, the main draw of the whole deal, and they didn't slouch on that element.

It's important to me that a werewolf feel powerful and also violent. Werewolves should not be cuddly, or else they are no longer werewolves. Painting hallways with the blood of my enemies as if I'm recreating the Ninja lead-up in Metal Gear Solid while in werewolf form is cathartic and a good way to give the player a sense of being a werewolf instead of just an animal-headed person. This is a very solid "play as a werewolf" game, and one of the few games that exist with the primary purpose of letting you really play as a werewolf, whether you are a predetermined character or not. Be warned, the game is notoriously janky, but if you're like me, you're enjoying the werewolf mechanics enough that you don't care - or you can be even more like me and not give a toss about "jankiness" in a game in the first place.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While a significant and crushing downgrade from the werewolves in certain other Elder Scrolls entries - more on that momentarily - at least Skyrim let you become a werewolf in the base game. No waiting for an expansion pack and no waiting forever until you move on (thanks, Oblivion). However, the differences between the mechanics of werewolves in past entries and the Skyrim werewolves are many and tragic. I confess I did not play Skyrim much, partially as a result of these exact elements, and partially because I just don't spend much time playing video games anymore, among other things.

In Skyrim, being a werewolf becomes what is colloquially called an "awesome button," letting you turn into a big, strong, cool werewolf that can eat people to extend your werewolf timer. It's great and enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't actually feel as if you are truly cursed with lycanthropy or smelly lupus or whatever silly name Elder Scrolls gave it (yes, I know the name, but that doesn't make it less silly). You have no real disadvantages to being a werewolf, such as having to worry about when you will transform outside your own control - because you never will, which is an immense downgrade in terms of feeling werewolfish and adding appropriate challenge and downside to being a werewolf. You also don't have to worry about being forced to devour a civilized race in order to sate your accursed hunger. Instead, you're doing that on purpose to turn out of werewolf form again, because the more you eat, the longer you stay transformed. Still, the werewolves in Skyrim are good - they just don't compare to previous entries. But I certainly appreciate them and the fact that they are present in the base game.

3. The Sims 3

Trust me, they do look better in game, but I couldn't find any of my own screenshots because it's been a hot minute since I played this.

You probably think I'm trolling you, but the werewolves in The Sims have always been pretty fun; I remember when the ones in 2 first came out, I enjoyed them like crazy. The ones in 3 rocked and were easily the best variant; too bad the game is relatively difficult to get running properly, and many aspects of the werewolves are delicate and easy to glitch, including your entire Sim's werewolf form design. I am not going to talk about those abominations that were added to The Sims 4, because they are some of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune of seeing and are not werewolves by any metric.

Sims 3 changed the aspects of Sims 2 werewolves that I didn't like, such as how being a werewolf altered your sim's entire personality over time and how the werewolf form always looked the same. They made the system much more robust. Frankly, the Sims 3 werewolves are some of the better werewolves in gaming, especially for the kind of game that The Sims is (expect assorted dog jokes, for example, given it's The Sims, yet it still isn't half as bad as it could be). I also love the wolf-man design; it works much better with Sims than something bigger and more wolfish. Certainly far better than whatever the hell is in Sims 4, which again, I will try my best not to talk about.

Anyway, I absolutely recommend Sims 3 if you enjoy Sims games and werewolves and want to have some werewolf fun. I'd probably still be occasionally blowing my finite amount of time on this earth playing it if I had it properly running on my current PC.

2. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Bet you didn't expect to see this one, did you? You thought I was gonna say Skyrim as #2, right? Actually, I bet you thought I was going to say that one as #1.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is a game many would consider unapproachable today. I enjoyed it. Obviously, I played it for the playable werewolf, and I had fun! They work similarly to the ones in Bloodmoon, but, in my opinion, they still aren't as fantastic as the Bloodmoon ones. But the game does force you to actually live and behave as a werewolf - I love the werewolf hunter[s] mechanic - which, again... it's almost the only one of its kind other than Bloodmoon. For that, it gets #2 on this list.

And that means you know what makes #1, untouched in its glory, undimmed by time...

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Bloodmoon

Alright. Have I ever talked about how this is the single greatest werewolf game ever made? I think I have, but let's get into it again.

I like Morrowind in the first place. I think it's hands down the best of the Elder Scrolls series and, frankly, the only one really worth dedicating much time to (forgive me). I played it when it first came out, and while I have never been the kind of person to pour hours into any ES or even any other open world game, Morrowind held my attention even as a kid - before I knew about "open world" and before it was such a buzzword - whereas other games before and after it struggled to do so or else failed entirely. Morrowind was groundbreaking for its time in many ways. And then they announced the expansion pack called Bloodmoon that would let you play as a werewolf. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, and even with my extreme werewolf pickiness, I was not disappointed. At all.

This is a game wherein the werewolves are treated as a serious threat, they are insanely rare to encounter in the wild in any capacity (I actually became a werewolf through a random encounter because I ran around on Solstheim obsessively every night rather than just becoming one through the story - it took me many nights, IRL, to encounter one), and when you do run into them, they are likely to destroy you. You are insanely, over the top powerful when you turn into a werewolf, yourself. Some would even call it stupid. I would not. You run at the speed of light and your jump turns into borderline flight. It's basically gliding. You're also preposterously powerful in general. I love it.

Most importantly of all, however, is that you are actually forced to roleplay as a werewolf. You will turn each night, and you must consume 1 victim NPC of any of the playable races. Solstheim is full of assorted enemies that will work for this, but when you go back to Vvardenfell, it can be harder to find a nightly meal while avoiding devouring any quest NPCs. Plus, you have to manage your gear before and after transformations, and you have to be sure you are never witnessed transforming. The entire system is in-depth and very awesome, making you actually feel like a cursed being that has to worry when the sun starts to set, forcing you to run far from civilization.

I cannot put into words how much I adore this game's werewolf system. Nothing compares. This is a real werewolf system, instead of "play as a wolf-person" or "hit the awesome button to become a werewolf for a little while with 0 consequences" like basically every other werewolf game out there.

So long story short, if you claim to love werewolves and want to play as one in a video game, and you haven't played Bloodmoon, then you're lying to yourself and the whole world. Shame on you.

And now for things that didn't make the list...

10. Assorted Acknowledgements

This category is for ones I don't even really have a lot to say about, but I figured I would mention them.

Terraria - You can get an item that lets you turn into a werewolf when night falls. It's pretty fun! I like the mechanics of it, plus it has a neat werewolf design, to boot. I dock serious points in this game for straight-up replacing the zombies with hordes of werewolves in hard mode, though. "Werewolf infestations" and werewolves being zombie stand-ins these days is preposterous and overdone. But I had a lot of fun running around as a werewolf and exploring, so it's absolutely top of the non-tiered list especially as far as werewolf mechanics go.

Pillars of Eternity - The "werewolf" in this game is one of several animal-person forms the druid can get, continuing the common theme in gaming of druid werewolves. The wolf is decidedly the worst of the lot, less useful even than the prey animals available. Put bluntly: they are basically terrible, and you're an idiot to ever use this form when there are so many build options available. There are also lots of other RPG options available. As in other games out there in the world. You should play those instead.

Guild Wars 2 - You cannot actually play as a werewolf in Guild Wars 2, but I figured I would mention it because lots of people do. If you want to roll one of the Norn giant race, either as a pretty giant woman who is the mommy stepping on you from some men's dreams or as the ugly tiny-headed cartoon men, you can get an ability to turn into a werewolf for like 30 seconds; it's far from exciting. And like so many werewolf abilities today, it comes with the option to also turn into other humanoid animals with different abilities. I've heard that, of them, only the cat and bear are useful, which is not a shocker as video game logic goes (game devs think wolves straight up suck at everything lol). I didn't play a Norn during my stint with Guild Wars 2 - I played a male human. He's Nolan North, so he's obviously the only choice and also why I played the game as much as I did.

The Elder Scrolls Online - This disgraceful abomination of a "game" is terrible in every way and could not have been a bigger disappointment on the promise of an "Elder Scrolls but MMORPG" concept even from the very beginning. It was never good, it only ever got worse, and I am happy to say I abandoned it long ago (I am not happy to say I was playing it in early closed beta because of the promise of werewolves - and I played it far more than I should have, so I am not coming at this from ignorance). It is a game with designs so ugly and unremarkable that you want to quit and walk through the woods just to remind yourself beauty still exists in the world. ESO clearly had no idea what direction to take itself in from the moment it dropped, and it certainly was never created with the pretense of playing like an Elder Scrolls game but being massively multiplayer. It has no sense of mood or atmosphere whatsoever and possesses writing that will make you long for the riveting tales in other low-rent, low-thought MMORPGs. You can play as a hideous weird sad werewolf model that is absurdly small (most likely smaller than the race you are playing as, which means you actually shrink when you transform) and should have been left in beta, which functions like a worse awesome button werewolf than the ones in Skyrim, because you also suck gameplay-wise especially depending on the dev's mood with the meta. It is terrible, as is everything about the game. ESO also went out of its way to completely wreck all previous Elder Scrolls werewolf lore that was actually really good. Anyway, don't play this. Your time is worth more than that, even if you don't think it is.

That covers some of the best! Requisite apologies if I didn't include your favorite.

( Free Newsletter  — Patreon — Wulfgard — Werewolf Fact Masterlist — Twitter — Vampire Fact Masterlist — Amazon Author page )

[grimmcheems]

Yakuza Hinami AU🌸

This has been brewing in my head as an idea for like years lmao😭. Idk but I always thought it’d be kinda cool if Hinami’s father was also an important figure in the underground of ghoul society aside from being a doctor bc Jason fr tore him up and Mado was on his ass too. That mixed with the fact that Hinami does become involved with ghoul society later on in canon made me love her even more.

They have her father’s kagune up on display as decor, she obtained it at some point and Akira is pissed about it(though she does not know it is being used this way), newer members don’t know why it’s there and think better than to ask directly, so the older members just got used to referring it as “Daddy”😬

I rly need to start providing the initial context to my ideas bc there’s so much that goes on in my head for my AU lores before I draw a particular setting of it and which characters I choose to include. Hinami is basically a selective mute in the beginning of this after her father is killed by Mado and her and her mother form a close relationship with a ghoul investigator (Nakajima, but before they figure out that Ryouko is one of heir suspects but after his partner is killed by Touka) Later on Hinami is on the run and living in disguise with Touka until her parents followers find her and try to raise her to be the next leader of the group.

The yakuza group is named “The Winds , which is sort of a play on how her parents were inspired by it when naming her, and sort of used as a one liner by elite group members and those who manage to escape the hands of the Doves by saying “it must’ve been the wind”(or something similar to that phrase, it it also how the Doves speak about them in public settings as to not cause alarm and used to brush off any inconveniences they experience from the group itself).

Uta is the spokesperson of The Clowns and they often butt heads with Hinami over territorial disputes and whatnot, so his visits are frequent and he is rather surprised when he sees her for the first time again when she’s older and sees just how far and high up she managed to climb in ghoul society. He mostly teases her and Yomo does not appreciate it. Yomo joined her group at some point because he wanted to maintain ties with Ayato, and he does reveal himself to be his and Touka’s uncle and last living relative (it always bothered me that he never said anything to either of them about that in canon but at least he treasures his niece)

I also gave Uta a lot of color, he was gonna be paler but I thought more color to his face would suit him. He also has a soft expression bc his eyes are closed.

Banjou sort of takes care of the more visual side of things when it comes to Hinami(he does her hair but who does her nails?!?), I love how they have a bond in canon but in this he’s mainly like a big brother and he is always concerned with the way she is presented to others because she’s their leader.

She practically becomes like a legend and spoken of like a myth by the CCG and has a SS(-) rating. They’ve never seen her in combat and only have her combat with Mado on her file record so they base it off that, and she never really has to step in because other people take care of things for her. However being the head of the group they gave her a high rating as well as factoring in her chimera type kagune she’s sure to deal a lot of damage to anyone who’d cross her path. A lot of the wierdo investigators dream of having parts of her like a trophy someday, hence the dialogue of an investigator wishing he could see her kagune up close and in action someday.

[cynthiav06]

I loved the Vengeance saga, an absolute banger. Might be my second favorite after the Wisdom Saga, but here's the thing:

Odysseus wounding Poseidon or even being able to use his trident or trapping Poseidon amidst the storm is all extremely unlikely as in impossible even in the Epic canon.

Before everyone starts a riot, here's why.

Poseidon is a god. Not just any god either, one of the Elder Gods (as in first olympian gods). In fact before the Dark Ages of Greek, from at least Homeric Era to Classical Era, Poseidon was called Wanax or was at least heavily associated with him by the Myceneans and was the old King of the Gods according to them. But I digress.

Point is Poseidon is basically an Eldritch horror on legs while Odysseus, despite his brilliance and strength, is just a mortal, not even a demigod, a human. Albeit one blessed by the wisdom goddess.

Poseidon is a God of storms. And sure Epic might have some different connotations but apparently not cause Hermes himself quotes in track 2 of Vengeance saga Dangerous that no mortal can survive Poseidon's storm I.e he created it so he's the stormbringer confirmed. Plus, Odysseus himself does say that he will make Poseidon stop the storm.

That aside, Poseidon is literally the God of the Seas. No god, not even Zeus, can beat Poseidon in his own bloody domain. So Odysseus has no chance.

Even if Odysseus trapped him on land, Poseidon can create earthquakes with his trident, which is also prominent in his lore. So that's a no, no.

Sure, Odysseus could have made Poseidon drop his trident, but even if that happened in no scenario, would Odysseus be able to lift it. Poseidon's trident was forged by elder cyclops and is one of the three absolute weapons of power in Greek myths ( the other two being Zeus's bolt and Hades's Helm). These weapons were designed specifically for these gods and obey none other. Not to mention it weighs a lot, i.e., "only a god can lift it heavy."

In the impossible scenario that Odysseus lifts it(by some miracle or other), Poseidon could just summon it back to his hand.

For all those saying maybe Poseidon can't do close combat, he has fought titans. He has to all but breathe strongly in Odysseus's direction, and Odysseus will literally die, which is why Odysseus's survival is Odyssey is such a legendary feat.

It also beats the point of Odysseus's legends. Odysseus is the King of Ithaca, sure, but he's no demigod. He doesn't even have any special abilities aside from quick thought or the occasional godly assistance. He's basically a mortal that achieves things everybody, even demigods, failed at all through his wisdom, wit, and trickery. He is only human, but his mind is what makes him on par with the divine.

Odysseus resorting to physical fighting against a literal god goes against his very nature. Odysseus is the smartest Greek hero, a strategist, a manipulator, and he knows very well how to play to his strengths.

In the original works, Odysseus escapes Poseidon the second time due to intervention from both Athena and Ino. Ino is the goddess of protection, especially the protector of sailors. She gifts Odysseus with a veil of protection. And Athena pulls her usual strings.

This is Odysseus playing to his strengths. He has the situation in his favor, a plan as he has convinced these gods either with his past deeds or his unbreakable will to intercede on his behalf. By manipulation or sincerity, doesn't matter. He lies, manipulates, tricks, and thinks his way through, so he would never ever resort to a 1v1, that too physical with a god.

[Circe was a special case. He had the blessing of molly on his side due to him earning Hermes's favor. Through a plan]

I love Epic, I do, and I love Jay even more. He's phenomenal and Epic the musical is an absolute work of genius and I know he said he is taking inspiration from video games and anime which might lead to some divergences but this is a bit too big of a liberty from both the source material and the essence of Odysseus. Sure, it's enjoyable and badass, but it's a disservice to the original Odysseus in a way.

Just wanted to give my honest opinion cause I love Epic so much, especially with its imperfections.

[nevesmose]

Bandages on Broken Souls: A Nostramo Culture/Lore Post

Sometimes I think about the wee lower-deck people that were all covered in bandages in the Night Lords Trilogy. Why so bandagey? (Bandagepilled wrapmaxxers, not beating the bandage allegations, etc)

She glanced at the wretch, who was unhealthily tall and sexless in its overcloak, keeping its face behind stained bandages. Several others lurked close to the door, whispering amongst themselves. It was impossible not to smell their sweat, their stinking, bloodstained bandages, and the rancid oil-blood of their bionics.

Those ones. The attendants providing for Octavia's needs as a Navigator. Octavia's attendants.

It turns out ADB does tell us a bit later on:

The chlorine reek of them offended his senses, the way it rose in a miasma from their antiseptic-soaked bandages, as if such trivial protections could ward against the changes of the warp.

This is very interesting to me for a few reasons since it can lead to various interpretations about Nostraman culture, even though it's important to bear in mind that what we're seeing is the degraded situation after however-many thousand subjective years of dicking about in the Warp, Eye of Terror etc.

They believe, or at least Ruven the POV character here thinks they believe, that warp mutation can be defended against with purely physical items i.e. bandages and disinfectant. While it's easy to point to examples of people from all kinds of cultures in the setting using spiritual or metaphysical ways to protect themselves from the warp, I find it interesting that this doesn't seem to occur to the Nostramans.

In fact, unless I'm remembering it wrong (always a possibility tbh) other than a small mention in one of the Gendor Skraivok short stories about there being a secret Lectitio Divinitatus cult among the serfs, there seems to be very little spiritual/religious belief organic to Nostramo itself.

That makes some sense, I think. It is after all Space Gotham, a world of armoured groundcars and looming starscrapers where everyone is living under some form or another of very high pressure just to survive whether that means getting their next meal or keeping their position in high level gang politics. Whatever beliefs the original settlers brought with them to the Sunless World were, I imagine, ground away over time as generations passed and people had other, more visceral concerns.

There are a few scenes in the 1984 nuclear war TV movie Threads that take place in the period about 10-20 years after the bombs have fallen. It's clear that the by now rapidly deteriorating survivors of the pre-war world are trying as best they can to provide some kind of education for their post-war descendants, but this is extremely limited and relies on what they can gather together from whatever books, VHS tapes etc happened to survive the war:

"The skeleton of a cat! A cat's skeleton!"

And we can see that it simply means nothing to the children and young adults whose entire existence revolves around basic survival - mostly food and the things they have to do in order to get it.

This, in a way, is what I think happened to whatever beliefs in anything beyond the material that may have ever existed on Nostramo by the time we see it in the Crusade/Heresy era. It's a sad, stunted little world and I feel immensely sorry for the nasty, skeevy people it produced.

Another factor affecting this would of course be the Night Haunter. You don't really need to have a spiritual/metaphorical figure or system dispensing rules and justice when Konrad is actually real and inside your home making it brutally clear what his views on law-breaking are.

So, in my usual roundabout way, we come back to the bandages again. My view, as I've expressed before in my ramblings, is that Konrad didn't truly eradicate crime on Nostramo so much as eradicate the appearance of it.

There's a legend from Ancient Greece about a Spartan boy training to be a warrior which I'll post as a screenshot below since I think we could all do with a break from my writing style for a bit:

"He could steal and suffer and die rather than be found out" is the relevant part here I think. Much like the idea that snitches get stitches or the mafia code of omertà where one's value in society and life itself hinge on a mutual keeping of silence against any and all authority figures.

We know that even before Konrad arrived, Nostraman society functioned on a gang allegiance basis, so already fertile ground for a very insular and secretive type of culture. But then we add the Night Haunter to the mix and the numbers spell disaster for you at Sacrifice the social pressure in this direction ramps up massively.

It's also made very clear pretty much everywhere that Nostramo is a vicious, predatory society. There's a description in one of the Skraivok stories of Phy Orlon, the canonical smallest saddest uwu-iest Night Lord:

It astounded Skraivok how such a vulpine little thing had made it through the selection process. Even bulked by legionary gifts, Orlon still managed to convey the impression of feebleness. Towards the end, Nostramo had been providing only the dregs of the dregs. No wonder Curze had levelled the place.

Weakness was like the scent of blood in the water to the Night Lords. Legionaries like Orlon would always attach themselves to those they deemed powerful, for protection. That explained the ridiculous batwings welded to the top of his helm in emulation of Sevatar, and why he had appointed himself as Skraivok’s adjutant.

It's like prison or high school. Even the transhuman supersoldier Nostramans still function this way. What hope do ordinary people have?

Not much at all, I think. Just in order to survive day to day it'd be necessary to conceal any injury, weakness or deformity at the risk of having it being ruthlessly used against you by just about everyone.

So we come back to the bandages again. Told you I'd get there eventually. We see that the attendants are in fact completely covered in bandages Joshua Graham style:

‘Lord,’ they hissed through slits in their faces that were once lips. Their bloodstained bandages rustled as they shifted and lowered their weapons.

[...]

She raised a bandaged hand, as if she could possibly bar the warrior’s passage with a demand, let alone with her physical presence.

I can imagine the impulse to cover up and conceal any weakness applies very strongly to warp mutations of any sort. Curdled and degraded over millennia roaming the immaterium in the bowels of a ship with the changes becoming worse and worse the longer they go on, it would be plausible for this to develop into a need to cover up and disinfect every inch of oneself in order to maintain some pretence, however flimsy, of being a capable human being.

The saddest part of it for me, though, is that all of the attendants are like this. It's a situation where everyone is quite literally in the same boat, undergoing the same suffering, and yet they still retain this deeply-ingrained need to hide and conceal themselves from each other. It feels like even here, ten thousand years after its destruction, Nostramo's poison is still influencing them, still flowing through their veins to keep them separated, afraid, and deeply alone.

Oh wow, a few paragraphs from ADB somehow led to a great long wall of text. Congratulations if you've made it this far!

PS: This being ADB I feel obliged to consider the possibility of Ruven either lying or being mistaken. I don't think this is likely since he is a) also Nostraman and b) a sorcerer meaning that if there was any spiritual aspect going on he would more than likely have the requisite cultural/magical knowledge or experience to be aware of it or otherwise detect it. Ruven is a conniving goth thot but he has no reason to lie in that particular bit of his own thoughts.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

I have a couple of older asks that need longer replies, and I’ll try to answer at least one of them tomorrow… but today we have a bunch of shorter ones!

furubatsu asked:

In an ask you answered ages ago, you mentioned how Malleus threw off your Top/Bottom radars at first and I was curious, are there any other characters that made you go "their x! No, wait, y!"

Ooh, good question! The only other character I can think of is Lilia, but he wasn’t as confusing as Malleus: his design threw us off, but the moment Lilia opened his mouth, we figured him out lol

We really very rarely have problems with that, because it’s more about feeling the vibe of a character than anything else.

But Malleus really did confuse us for quite some time…

Anonymous asked:

are you two aware of league of legends? maybe the jhin x hwei dynamic would be interesting…

We know of it, but we aren’t even remotely closely familiar with the lore and stuff, but we actually went and read a bit about Jhin and Hwei after receiving your ask and YEP WE GET IT LOL to be honest we’re flattered that you thought that we might like them… they really do have an interesting dynamic, and the fact that it’s rooted in deep feelings about art and has some much despair and inner and outer conflict honestly makes it very spicy.

And Hwei’s design 👌💖💖💖 instantly love him.

Anonymous asked:

Even though Regina George isn't really fitting for Vil, I bet the in universe rps/rpf community loves casting him as her in Mean Girls AUs and frequently make comments about how Vil should've been cast as her in the musical version and/or remake.

Anon, I 100% agree that the in-universe fandom fancasts him as Regina all the time. He should start asking Mira who is the most “he should’ve played Regina in the musical omg” person in the world lol

But at the same time I feel like this is the reason why Vil doesn’t read comments under his posts sometimes…

Anonymous asked:

One of my favorite 'Kalim Overblots' I've read, we don't even get to see him Overblot.

He overblots after an enemy tricks him into thinking he murdered a comatose Jamil right in front of him, leading him to attacking the 'culprit' in a rage with Oasis Maker and then-

Cut to the aftermath.

There you go, another interesting way to make Kalim overblot! I like how it’s still related to him feeling responsibility + despair because of Jamil’s death, it seems like this is the main trigger for Kalim to get an emotional reaction of this magnitude.

Anonymous asked:

Najma and Jamil are basically siblings who like to mess each other but still love each other. I mean Jamil has a better family relationship to her than his parents. That doesn't mean he doesn't like how she often annoyed him.

Azul will likely try to win Najma over for her to accept her brother's relationship to her. I mean having inlaws together is worst.

Aw this is very sweet. I’m glad Jamil has a sister like that.

God I didn’t even think about the Azul-being-into-Jamil aspect of all of it, oh god this guy is going to annoy Najma too, although for some reason I get the feeling that she’s only going to be nice to Azul to annoy Jamil.

But then again, I can’t say anything concrete about her – haven’t met the girl yet.

Anonymous asked:

IDK why but I really like the idea of Ruggie unintentionally 'stealing' Azul's 'boyfriends'. Like Azul is already upset that Jamil prefers Ruggie over him and then finds Ruggie on top of Idia when he arrives at the Board Game Club room (in reality they fell over and accidentally landed in a compromising position).

Poor Azul, this is going to make him overblot again lol  I like how this is turning into a weird romcom, although with how petty Azul is, it could end up turning into an entirely different kind of anime.

Anonymous asked:

when i was starting twst i thought neige was the name of jamils sister

Jamil and his randomly French sister…

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 8 - Legends (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

I really enjoy how Zhao (Azula) is a much smarter villain in the live-action than he was in the animated series. While I do love them both, leaning into the Fire Nation not just working off brute force, but rather being strategic and clever with their attacks was a great choice. The Ice Moon caveat for the spirits and Kuruk's spirit knife made the world feel bigger to me than just having the moon and ocean spirits conveniently always sitting there to kill by any means. I don't think the live-action team went in with the idea that the ocean and moon spirits being mortal was 'a plothole to fill' like some claim (yet again, always jumping to the least charitable interpretation of the live-action rather than spending three seconds to think about what it ADDS to the story to flesh that part out), I think they used it to seed a lot of lore and worldbuilding while also giving reasons as to why events played out the way they did.

Like I said in my post about episode 6, it makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense.

The fire sage being the one to explain the spirit oasis and the origins of waterbending to Zhao was a really cool change! It shows Zhao formulating his plan rather than having it just told to us like in the animated version - it includes the lore behind the ocean and moon spirit without making it so obvious that that's the solution to their problem, it introduces it as the problem and we have to work our way to the solution instead of it just being given to us. The fact that the sages still know and revere (even though they're using it to form an attack plan) the histories of bending is a nice touch. Especially the older sages, they remember the old ways and stories and don't discount the power of the old tales like younger people might. It doesn't stop them from falling into fascism (it stops some, but not all), but it does add layers and nuance to their world view rather than the very surface-level 'all others are bad, we don't pay attention to them' view that was shown mostly in the animated version.

Kuruk appearing to Aang to warn him was super cool!! I like how past Avatars can appear to their current iteration (not to mention they were right outside his shrine) to warn them of something and having it be Kuruk's knife that he can feel added a lot. It's another instance where the Fire Nation can turn anything into a weapon against the world - the weapon Kuruk forged to PROTECT the world from evil spirits and keep the world in balance is now being twisted and used by the Fire Nation to hurt the good ones and throw the world out of balance. Just as Zhao and the Fire Sage took a beautiful story about the creation of the Water Tribes and twisted it into something to harm them, they're taking a weapon of protection and making it a brutal weapon against the light.

UUUGGGHHHH Zhao and his twisted 'justifications' as to why killing the moon isn't actually all that bad. "Killing the ocean would deprive people of their lives - I'm not a monster!" of course he wants a world to rule, so he can't kill them, only fully subjugate them and wipe out their culture! See, they will get to live under his amazing rule, why would he deny them that opportunity?? Watch closely, everyone - that's the reasoning a lot of fascists give when they start trying to eradicate cultural practices - they argue that they're leaving the people alive, so it's not actually bad! We're just stripping away their identity and replacing it with our own! Save the man, kill the savage and all that.

"The Avatar's power is great, but it pales in comparison to the elemental spirits" SUCH GREAT FORESHADOWING WITHOUT GIVING IT ALL AWAYYYY!!!!!!! Also a great way to show the power scale of the world - as powerful as Aang is in the Avatar state, the spirits are the OG - especially the elemental ones. Aang ISN'T the most powerful thing in this world. It sets up how they're going to defeat the fire nation army without Aang in control of the Avatar state really well! They're leaving breadcrumbs rather than telling you the plan in a monologue or just randomly deciding to join with the ocean spirit - a power that hadn't been discussed at all in the animated show.

That Momo fake out death was CRUEL!!!! He just saved a girl's life and we think he gave his life to do it!!!! But it was a great way to introduce not only the spirit oasis, but also the healing properties of its waters. In the animated show, that's not mentioned at all until Pakku gives Katara the water vial and tells her it can heal - it's actually SHOWN in the live-action that it's powers are beyond normal healing. Yue's story about her being healed in these waters makes a lot more sense here as well rather than in the animated series where she tells the story once the moon is in trouble. At the time, it seems like it has nothing to do with the immediate danger, it's just a way to set up that she'll give back that life in the end - a quick lore set-up break in the action. In the live-action, it's directly tied to what's happening - she's doing the same thing to Momo that was done to her to save her life. Her connection with the moon isn't relevant yet, so that part of the story is held till later when it is relevant.

Honestly, I think the spirit oasis is much more impressive in the live-action. In the animated show, it's just a small island of grass with a pond - in the live-action, it's a whole valley filled with life. And I love how NO adaptation can resist showing Zuko fire-blasting his way out from beneath the ice - it's just too damn cool to leave out! I like how Iroh is still playing his loyalties close to the chest - he's not going to outright attack Zhao yet, but he'll definitely stall and not help out as much as Zhao wants him to.

Zuzu!!!! Like always, huge shit is happening all around but Zuko still thinks him capturing Aang is the most important thing in the world. I like that they're keeping that narrow focus for him - one of his biggest flaws - that blinds him to everything around him. He's not concerned about saving Agna Qel'a, he's not concerned about saving the spirits, he just wants to capture Aang and restore his place in the Fire Nation.

His face as Katara says she's gonna fight him and Aang agreeing - oof. Here he is thinking he's Aang's biggest threat and Aang is just handing his battle off to Katara. And Aang's sly little 'go easy' that wasn't to Zuko - the poor thing. So we begin Zuko v Katara round 2!!! Back in episode 2 on Kyoshi Island, Katara stood against Zuko - untrained and terrified, but knowing she needed to protect Aang. She was beaten easily, but now, she's had training. She's had experience. She's forged herself into a warrior and she's ready for everything Zuko can dish out. Well, not EVERYTHING as even in the animated series, Zuko does win due to his extensive training, but she puts up a wicked fight!

I am good with the siege only lasting one day rather than several like in the animated version. Though I do miss the 'you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun' line, it does kind of feel like Zuko kidnapping Aang was more to provide a cliffhanger for the end of The Siege of the North: Part 1 rather than a necessary narrative choice. In a 2-part finale, yeah we want a cliffhanger, but since this is all one episode, like I mentioned in my post about how episode flow has to change given the new format, that just wouldn't have worked out as well as a smooth single-night attack. Aang seeking guidance before the battle rather than getting kidnapped mid-meditation I think was a smart move. (I've always felt like that cliffhanger was a bit of an odd choice anyways because they make this huge deal about Aang not being able to find his body if it isn't right where he left it, but then it's…not a problem at all - his spirit just zooms back to his body - conveniently showing the Gaang where to find him and Zuko and nothing actually comes of that 'threat' of him not being able to re-enter his body. I'll talk about Zuko's speech about Azula later when it's brought up and altered in the live-action).

I LOOOOOVE Zhao's little speech here - his ambition to gain status - to become a legend, has led him to more and more dangerous things. He truly believes he could become the new Fire Lord. Iroh pleads with him not to do it, but Zhao is too filled with the desire for power that he's not listening to reason. Even after Iroh's threats, Zhao isn't concerned in the least - he views the threats 'empty' and is so smug about how 'this could still work out for you'. As if Iroh is like Zhao and would cave to any opportunity for power.

Like always, Aang tries to talk his enemy down - he tries to appeal to their better nature, an idea that they wouldn't want to throw the world into chaos. The exchange here is SO FREAKING GOOD. Aang pleading with Zhao that this isn't power, Zhao so drunk on his own importance that he can't imagine why anyone would give up the chance to wipe out an entire race of benders - and Aang knowing exactly what that's like, how horrifically awful it is. But for Zhao, those are only stories - he's never known a world with airbenders in it, but Sozin went down in history for that 'accomplishment' he, himself, can be in the history books along side such a 'legend' with no thought to the actual real, human hurt necessary to get there.

Aang finally tries the last thing he can - making Zhao the same offer he made Zuko: leave the attack behind and he'll go with them peacefully. But Zhao isn't Zuko - he wants more than just the Avatar. He wants to cause pain and suffering and have people look upon him with fear. I think it's such an interesting take to have Zhao, like June, not view the Avatar with reverence. He's bought into the Fire Nation propaganda that the Avatar isn't actually all that powerful - the Fire Lord has taken that place. Even the legitimacy of the concept of the Avatar itself is called into question - after all, the Fire Nation wants all the power and the Avatar would stop them. That's not helping  them, so the Avatar must be useless.

Unknowingly, Zhao has just struck at Aang's biggest fear: while Zhao thinks the Avatar doesn't matter on its face, Aang is afraid that he's not good enough as an Avatar TO matter.

I've seen people confused about Iroh's loyalties and his true goal in the live-action - is he really working against the fire nation or not? And some criticism that it seems like he's helping Zuko capture Aang TOO much/ doesn't stop Zhao soon enough from killing the moon spirit. I'd point them, yet again, to the animated series where he very clearly, in The Waterbending Master episode, tells Zuko "once we get to the north pole, the Avatar will be yours". At the moment, animated Iroh is fully on board with Zuko capturing the Avatar. If he plans on trying to influence him not to turn the Avatar in to the fire lord, it's not even hinted at yet, so I think keeping it up in the air for the live-action is staying true to Iroh and Zuko not being 'good guys' - their goals are still to capture Aang. Live action Iroh even attacks Zhao BEFORE the animated Iroh does! In the animation, Iroh threatens Zhao, but doesn’t make a move until Zhao has killed the moon spirit - in the live-action, he attacks in an attempt to save the spirit. Yet another example of people criticizing the live-action for something even more apparent in the animated series - often because they're thinking of the character 2 seasons from now and what they think THAT version of the character would do and trying to apply it to season 1 when that's not even the characterization the animated show gave them in season 1.

I think the subsequent fight in the moonless night is even more emotionally intense in the live action than it was in the animated series. You can FEEL the terror and SEE people dying as the waterbending fails and the fire nation advance. The way this sequence was shot is honestly amazing - it's not gruesome or violent for the sake of it - it's showing the truth of war and the horrific cost of such an assault. Letting the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe have a heroic stand against the firebenders even when their best resource was taken away was great to see. Giving Hahn and Chief Arnook their moment showed that it truly wasn't just about Aang and his friends - this story is about every single person who stands up to fight against tyranny, no matter the weapon they might wield or power they have.

[jewishcissiekj]

oh man i've got a few questions because i havent actually gotten to her yet.

first ones kind of rehetorical but what is up with ventress and being orphaned? everyone in star wars has a dead parent or two but damn.

im curious about that planet you always talk about that i simply cannot remember how to spell. starts with an r.

oh and i NEED a fun fact. multiple if you have them.

abd finally, whats your favorite source material? what screams "best characterization" to you? i think i know the answer to the second one, but whats the absolute bottom of the barrel trash that you wish you could wipe from existence?

ooooh I have answers

for the first one, I feel like it was originally (in Legends) just to get her parents out of the way so she'd has a reason to ally with Ky Narec and make her story more tragic. She was the daughter of two warlords who were killed by an opposing warlord (who also killed her Jedi Master eventually), and she ran away after their deaths. In TCW she wasn't orphaned at all but she was given away by the Nightsister nad her mother (who we see in a flashback in the episode "Nightsisters"), and was later raised by a slave owner who was killed by Ky. So she's basically an orphan to benefit her origin story.

yessss Rattatak!!! my glup shitooine. my love my sunshine my favorite Star Wars planet ever. It only appears in a few comic issues and two tv episodes and I'm still not sure what is the appeal it has on me but I love itttt. It's the planet Asajj grew up and was trained as a padawan on, and it's this war-ridden wasteland with bald people and a whole lot of problems. There's not much lore for it, and most of the lore there is comes from the Old Republic video games that I haven't played, but its people are prone to have Force Sensitivity and I just like its vibes. I have a lot of headcanons about it and the wars there, and I love the Rattataki a lot, it's just a fan playing ground for me and it may not sound like it but it is miles more interesting to me than Dathomir.

a fun fact um wait a minute. when developing her younger model for the flashback in "Sisters", Katie Lucas wanted her to have a mohawk. that led to these fucking concepts (from TCW season 3 witches and monsters featurette)

also she canonically once stole a Wookie doll from a Gungan child for some reason (hyperspace stories 3). very silly of her

my favorite source material for her is Star Wars: Republic #60. it's Obi-Wan and Alpha 17 trying to escape her castle and find out her origin story. I'm very normal about it. It's honestly a great issue for her and it establishes many of the things I love most about her (Ratttatak, Aidus, Ky, Warlord Origin, castle Ventress, and more). Haden Blackman's writing is in is so good. the cover is amazing. a close 2nd is her Clone Wars (2003) appearances for many reasons. least favorite is very very unexpected. Dark Disciple. I don't need to just erase it from existence I need to travel back in time to the pitch meetings where it was suggested and burn the paper and the computers it was written on. I need to kill that book

ok!!!! not sorry for the rants I love writing especially about Asajj

[deltaruminations]

saw a discussion in a lore channel re: connections between the ideas of “74” and dessknight(1). i don’t have strong opinions about whether the narrative of 74 warrants close comparison to dessknight. i do however think it warrants comparison to dess as the angel. so i wrote a bunch of shit about that lol

(1) obviously 74 itself is a collaborative work that is as much Itoki Hana’s as it is Toby Fox’s, and it’s not About Deltarune and is not meant to be literally descriptive or predictive of any event in Deltarune. but especially given that deltarune has already directly referenced 74’s melody in its soundtrack, i think it’s fair to discuss how deltarune might be pulling from a similar well of themes and narrative interests, and how deltarune might be using 74 as an intertextual reference to underpin its ideas. anyway

on its own terms, 74 is a narrative of subverted damselhood — the “princess” to be “rescued” is actually a monster of some kind, her captivity an illusion that she herself constructed in order to lure in unsuspecting “heroes” who will inevitably fall to her monsters and traps. she does this in order to feel “special” — maybe because she enjoys the fantasy of being desired and pursued as a beautiful maiden rather than being seen as the monster she really is. when the 74th hero manages, against all odds, to reach her, she’s impelled to end him herself, because if she were to be “rescued,” she would no longer be able to enjoy her fantasy.

we can identify a few ideas that this story might share with a hypothetical Angel Dess narrative:

dess has been presented as a ”damsel” — a lost girl needing to be found. at present, the game uses a few techniques to emphasize her presentation as “helpless” and “innocent”: the UNUSED strings (assuming they are, in fact, dess) depict her in moments of childlike fear, possibly in the moments when she first disappeared; and most of the information we have about dess comes from a time before she disappeared, when she would have been a child or teenager, which contributes to a picture of powerlessness.

if dess is the “angel,” however, this means the “powerlessness” is, if not a facade, then an incomplete picture: she’s actually achieved a significant degree of at least coercive power in the time since she went missing, enough power to be able to “pull the strings” of fate and potentially do such things as silence spamton for offering spoilers about the knight, or discard gaster’s vessel, or railroad narration so that kris can open a fountain in defiance of The Legend.

as previously speculated, dess as the “angel” might be complicit in enforcing or even constructing aspects of deltarune’s “canon,” because this story has become her primary source of comfort and “control” in a situation that she believes can never change for the better. this is not the gleeful, fully intentional and empowered narrative-construction of 74’s princess, but it does share the basic idea of a “damsel” crafting or at least maintaining her own prison — in this case, it may be less out of a desire to feel “special,” but rather due to internalized helplessness in the face of a cruel fate, and possibly a desire to see herself as something other than a “damsel” or “victim.”

in the time since she disappeared, dess may have created a fantasy around herself in order to cope with her situation: a fantasy of being the world’s champion or hero, whereby she’s able to “watch over” and “protect” noelle and her other family and friends, ensure that they get to live out their “journeys” and “roles” (things that she, herself, was denied when her place in the story was taken from her), and maybe ensure some kind of “peace” for them in the end. she feels that deltarune’s story is her story — and it’s comforting to her because she knows how it goes. she knows exactly how bad it is, as well as how good it is. dess may have been missing for so long that she’s stopped imagining what a new future for herself could look like; the idea of being found or helped might even frighten her, because it would rip this new norm of comfort and “safety” from her and force her to reckon with an uncertain future — to reckon with change.

so, similarly to the case of 74’s princess, “rescue” represents an existential threat to this “damsel” — it threatens the fantasy of control and greater purpose that she’s created for herself. and, like the princess, dess as “angel” might fight back against anyone who intends to “rescue” her, in order to preserve her self-perception — maybe the very idea that she needs “help” is, in itself, offensive to her, whether or not it might be true.

as mentioned previously, the 74 reference in “WELCOME TO THE CITY” (specifically the weird route version) is immediately relevant to noelle’s situation in the weird route, as it echoes the way that the player’s actions in this route twist and subvert noelle’s potential “damsel”-hood by forcing her into “monstrous” behavior, making her into a prisoner of the player rather than of the queen — simultaneously victimizing her and making her “stronger,” both in terms of increasing her coercive force and of pushing her to question kris’s changes in behavior, possibly “waking her up” to the presence of the player. the persistence of the “gastery” part of the melody in the weird route version might reflect his role and responsibility in enabling the player to take these actions.

but this stripped-down pairing of melodies — 74 and gaster’s theme — could also reflect a broader conflict between the angel and gaster; where a normal route might keep these forces simmering in the background, the weird route, in its transformative extremity and its effects on noelle’s awareness, might be starting to expose and escalate that conflict.

so, we could say that the 74 motif here suggests parallels between noelle and dess’s subverted “damsel”-hoods and paradoxical acquisitions of “power” by way of “helplessness” – maybe noelle wouldn’t have come to question kris’s situation if she hadn’t been subjected to the cruelty of the weird route, just as dess wouldn’t have become aware of “fate” or been able to “pull its strings” if she hadn’t been subjected to the cruelty of being ripped from in-universe existence. we could also say that its presence (if it does, in some part, represent dess-as-angel) reflects dess’s role in controlling noelle’s fate and precluding her (and the rest of the world) a better future in order to prop up her own self-concept as the World’s Protector — the direct foil to gaster’s reckless experimentation with that fate as the World’s Liberator – in a conflict brought to its head by the new variable of player involvement.

perhaps the angel, gaster, and the player all have something in common: they’re all “Eldritch,” out-of-universe forces who are simultaneously powerful in unusual, metaphysical ways, yet still operate from perspectives of “powerlessness” and limitation – the angel can pull the strings of fate, but either can’t or won’t change that fate on her own; gaster can engineer systems that enable change, but can’t implement in-universe change himself, either because he’s physically incapable of it, or because the angel prevents it; and the player can implement in-universe change (by acting through a vessel), but is bound by the options imposed on them by the other two, only able to create their “own” options through oversights or “exploits” – and all three of these forces are making choices about the fate of a world that, itself, has been given no say in the matter.

in conclusion. 74 is a good song. bye

[aotoreiki]

Shadows of Almia has this kinda theme going on with darkness and shadows and light, and that's all well and good, but it's not really explored in a very... clear way. Like, man, they put Cresselia and Darkrai both in the game in some kind of semi-prominent role and then did nothing with it. Lorewise they're both really only there to act as bosses for their respective special stones (+ to be the final boss in Darkrai's case).

Similarly the game brings up the themes of the "darkness" in people's hearts, negative emotions (being embodied in the Shadow Crystal, and experienced by the folktale's king), rekindling light that has been submerged in darkness (the JPN-titular "vatonage") and the three stones shining with their own lights to purify the Shadow Crystal...

Which is, again, great, but very vague and nebulous. I mean, the characters in-game don't even know why the three gems work on the Shadow Crystal, why they exist beyond serving to seal the Shadow Crystal's power or what they actually are (or why the Pokémon guarding them are there and are what they are either!). The Ranger gang never figures that out, they're canonically just working with a very desperate plan that was put together on the fly. Supposedly the Altru side knew more considering they already knew about the fact the Gems even existed, which was only discovered on a stroke of luck almost for the Ranger Union, but we never hear anything on the subject from that side, so... it doesn't matter.

(We were this close to not even knowing wtf was up with the Shadow Crystal either but at least Hastings had those few throwaway lines of dialogue about how it's thousands of years old and contains immense negative emotions. That's... about it as far as the lore goes.)

SO, in my very generously headcanon-based Almia lore, a core theme of the Shadow Crystal and the Three Gems is that of balance.

In giving the three Gem Guardians more actual lore relevance, at some point in my disorganised reading I stumbled on the idea of the three primary virtues (in reference to Japanese culture). These being valour, wisdom, and benevolence. These are also speculated to have influenced the Lake Trio, which makes sense; they are about spirit, and Almia's name seems to come from a word meaning soul, so...

I matched Cresselia up with benevolence, Heatran up with valour, and Mew with wisdom (my lore-specific, later in history passing the role on to the in-game Lucario). Together they created the three gems to seal the power of the Shadow Crystal, a long, long time ago. The Shadow Crystal itself is an immense accumulation of negative emotions and is related to the "darkness" in people's hearts, those flaws of character that if unchecked lead to evil and harmful actions; implied to tap into it in some way in the case of Brighton and his son and in my interpretation, even the otherwise-benevolent king of legend. It was never supposed to be within reach of people to start with; it only became so after a disruption of its originator's balance, after - several evil acts caused immense harm to countless souls.

Basically, the idea is that with the three virtues (and the power of the legendaries corresponding with them), a certain balance is achieved that neutralises the out-of-control power of the Shadow Crystal (etc), same as with balance in self to control those "shadows" in the heart. On the other hand, if this balance is lacking and things get out of control, it causes pain for everyone, which can get worse and worse as it exacerbates itself.

Also, you can't neutralise the Crystal with only one Gem. It'll affect it to a degree for a moment, but it recovers. It has to be all three.

[darkestrellar]

Shadows of Almia has this kinda theme going on with darkness and shadows and light, and that's all well and good, but it's not really explored in a very... clear way. Like, man, they put Cresselia and Darkrai both in the game in some kind of semi-prominent role and then did nothing with it. Lorewise they're both really only there to act as bosses for their respective special stones (+ to be the final boss in Darkrai's case).

Similarly the game brings up the themes of the "darkness" in people's hearts, negative emotions (being embodied in the Shadow Crystal, and experienced by the folktale's king), rekindling light that has been submerged in darkness (the JPN-titular "vatonage") and the three stones shining with their own lights to purify the Shadow Crystal...

Which is, again, great, but very vague and nebulous. I mean, the characters in-game don't even know why the three gems work on the Shadow Crystal, why they exist beyond serving to seal the Shadow Crystal's power or what they actually are (or why the Pokémon guarding them are there and are what they are either!). The Ranger gang never figures that out, they're canonically just working with a very desperate plan that was put together on the fly. Supposedly the Altru side knew more considering they already knew about the fact the Gems even existed, which was only discovered on a stroke of luck almost for the Ranger Union, but we never hear anything on the subject from that side, so... it doesn't matter.

(We were this close to not even knowing wtf was up with the Shadow Crystal either but at least Hastings had those few throwaway lines of dialogue about how it's thousands of years old and contains immense negative emotions. That's... about it as far as the lore goes.)

SO, in my very generously headcanon-based Almia lore, a core theme of the Shadow Crystal and the Three Gems is that of balance.

In giving the three Gem Guardians more actual lore relevance, at some point in my disorganised reading I stumbled on the idea of the three primary virtues (in reference to Japanese culture). These being valour, wisdom, and benevolence. These are also speculated to have influenced the Lake Trio, which makes sense; they are about spirit, and Almia's name seems to come from a word meaning soul, so...

I matched Cresselia up with benevolence, Heatran up with valour, and Mew with wisdom (my lore-specific, later in history passing the role on to the in-game Lucario). Together they created the three gems to seal the power of the Shadow Crystal, a long, long time ago. The Shadow Crystal itself is an immense accumulation of negative emotions and is related to the "darkness" in people's hearts, those flaws of character that if unchecked lead to evil and harmful actions; implied to tap into it in some way in the case of Brighton and his son and in my interpretation, even the otherwise-benevolent king of legend. It was never supposed to be within reach of people to start with; it only became so after a disruption of its originator's balance, after - several evil acts caused immense harm to countless souls.

Basically, the idea is that with the three virtues (and the power of the legendaries corresponding with them), a certain balance is achieved that neutralises the out-of-control power of the Shadow Crystal (etc), same as with balance in self to control those "shadows" in the heart. On the other hand, if this balance is lacking and things get out of control, it causes pain for everyone, which can get worse and worse as it exacerbates itself.

Also, you can't neutralise the Crystal with only one Gem. It'll affect it to a degree for a moment, but it recovers. It has to be all three.

[snugglyporos]

Dude, the Poro Moot is canon! That's as big as... well if Nintendo acknowledged Linkle was more than a funny side character!

I swear, someone at Riot must know about my account. So many of my ideas have ended up in canon lore, albeit in modified ways.

The poro moot is just the latest one. Examples of other things:

Proto Poro: similar to my idea that Riceball was a 'throwback' poro; originally, Riceball's concept from years ago was that Riceball was sorta like a derp caveman poro, even though he evolved from that with time

Exalted Poro: snuggle regal poro? With eyeshadow? It's Punky! it literally says "As far as divine rulers go, she's awfully fond of snax." Poro ruler of all the hoomans!

baby poros. just... baby poros. I introduced snowball years before the idea that poros could have tinier ones existed.

Plucky poro: Is Conflict! Just with a demacia helmet rather than pantheons!

Sinister Poro: poro unaffected by the harrowing! Mimics the spooky ghosts to fit in! And speaking of...

Poro mimicry in general: I originally started thinking that poros, being innocent and curious, would mimic the behaviors of other people they were around, ergo, they would end up taking on traits to make them fit in, being herd creatures by nature. And we keep seeing more of that!

Poros thinking the sky is full of snax and/or poros: the great poro concept! Or at least, the idea that poros' idea of 'faith' is basically 'the sky has things that are good in it if we're good!'

Poro Fluft card: reveals that poros in fact snuggle in giant piles, as I suspected!

Affectionate poro card: "Noxus has no room for... for weakn--Will someone get this DAMNED THING OFF ME?! -Darius" Poros can't imagine that anyone wouldn't want to snuggle a poro, and can't imagine any being having hostility towards them, because they even think DARIUS is a friend to be made!

The Poroflies: literally, basically, @jupiterprincesshouou's jupiter poros, right down to having 'wiggly horns' as my poros like to call them!

poro sled card: not so much for the idea but the flavor text: "An' den DAT Bobjim da poro was like "DAT WAY!" an' so off dey went into da horizahn, with da other poros scamperin' behind, tryin' their bestest to keep up!" My idea that poros just sorta get the idea to explore and wander about, which has led to them ending up everywhere!

Porofessor subtitles: when describing how poros talk, they write 'x-emotion poro noises' which is basically just 'happy poro chitters'

Actually, porofessor himself is a good example of poros taking on features of those they're close with, as he begins looking like heimerdinger.

Mighty Poro aka Ol' Longhorn: literally my Thor Poro joke, as all poros would be 'worthy' of Thor's hammer, which led to much silliness years ago with Snowball: god of thunder.

The entire 'legend of the poro king' in terms of a lot of the ideas: coffee causing poros to become super energized and fly away, as just one example! I suspected that several of the creators at least knew of my account there too.

And there are probably more! BUT.

Let me say this: I could be entirely off the mark. It could be coincidence, and I'm just like, super good at just knowing the vibe and ideas that come with poros somehow. It's entirely possible I'm overthinking this, and literally other people just had the same great ideas.

But if they do know about this account, somehow, someway, I hope I can continue to give them ideas, because honestly, either being right about or similar to lots of things that came out since starting this account about poros? It makes me so happy.

I adore poros, man. They've made my life so much better, and I hope they make everyone else happy too. I may not play the game anymore, but poros are my adorable sheep puffs, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

So yeah, either they know about my account, or I'm like, the poro lore whisperer or something, capable of divining the true nature of sheep puffs. XD

[luvsavos]

Hey, it’s the Aiden anon again! I’m sorry bro, but I don’t have Discord, but I’m STILL SUPER interested on your thoughts on Aiden. PLEASE I’m begging you Mr. Martin, I need a MASSIVE text post from you about him. And honestly it’s for my friend too. Aiden is her babygirl. She has been in love/loved him since 4U and we both are always so excited to see him.

oh hello again!! it's no worries that you don't have discord, i definitely do Not at ALL mind going on a ramble about my boy, though i absolutely apologize in advance for the length of this post LMAO

for the most part until after the events of iceborne, my interpretation of him is fairly close to canon, though there is Some differences or original things here and there so disclaimer in advance since i'm maintagging this for canon divergence, this is my own little au that i am completely normal and not at all insane about; all of the stuff post-fatalis is based on rps with a friend so there's a Lot

if you/whoever's reading this just want my general Thoughts on aiden as a character and not my whole batshit insane au lore stuff, that'll be at the bottom of the post! (sorry)

when he was a kid, he was pretty carefree as you'd expect, he loved to help out around the village when he wasn't off playing with the other kids or his little sister (i don't think we ever got anything about his bio family in canon so this was entirely just me making things up LMAO). when the elder dragon activity caused the monster stampede that destroyed his village when he was only 7, he tried desperately to save people (specifically his sister) but, of course, failed, and i BELIEVE i'd headcanoned that he watched At Least One of his family members actively get gored/trampled by some monsters?

obviously the entire experience left him with a fear of monsterkind, and even into adulthood it still weighs heavily on him and likely occasionally causes nightmares and the likes. running blindly from the stampede with absolutely no sense of direction nor semblance of anything to help him survive in the wilderness, it's a miracle that he came across timben when he did, and naturally the people there took him in. though still weighed down by his trauma, aiden did his best to be as helpful around the village as possible, and he quickly became popular among the villagers for his willingness and readiness to help out wherever he could, and for his cheerful, outgoing personality. eventually, he decided he was tired of being frightened of monsters, so he took to studying them and making puns of their names as a way to cope and make himself less afraid of them. all this is pretty much just canon so far, from the legends of the guild movie (save for the parts about his old village, other than the stampede thing; i think that's the only real details we get about his home village?)

and then, of course, when he was fifteen (this isn't his canon age, i don't entirely know how old he's supposed to be in lotg? i THINK 17-18 but cmon he gives me the vibes of Unmedicated Adhd Teenager. fun fact julius is only 4 years older than aiden so that makes him 19 in this so that doesn't make a ton of sense but its fine i can ignore that, bro's already stressed himself to the point of white hair LMAO i think i'd make him a bit older than that though, maybe in his mid-late twenties?) came the elder crossing, and with it came julius, to warn timben of an oncoming lunastra that was headed in their direction. honestly idk why i'm recapping this canon stuff but listen i love talking about aiden okay ahdnsbfjgn

since the villagers refused to budge, aiden accompanied julius to go see the elder dragon for himself so that he can tell the villagers so they'll evacuate, and of course imprinted onto julius like an orphaned (ha bad joke) duckling along the way

don't need to recap all of lotg since it all plays out the same way; he admired everyone that helped try to fight off the lunastra, but he particularly looked up to mae like an older sister (this would later lead him to naming a kinsect paisley in honour of her's), and he still in present-day keeps her journal. the entire experience was... rough on him. he didn't feel any sense of victory, just a sort of hollowness and guilt---he blamed himself for mae and ravi's deaths, considering it was his impulsive suggestion to fight the lunastra rather than run that got them killed. it also left him with a permanent terror of lunastra specifically (this will come into relevance somewhat a bit later), and it solidified his resolve to become a proper hunter, so that he could learn how to properly fight monsters and protect people like he wanted to, and ensure nothing like that would happen again.

now here's where we start to get a Liddol Bit of canon divergence; anyone who's talked to me about my au knows that i REALLY like the idea of the guild being not as clean and morally sound as they like to seem---i really like exploring the concept of corruption within it, and the shady practices they keep under wraps. after all, power tends to breed corruption, and even if it's run by wyverians and Is primarily dedicated to genuinely trying to preserve the balance, the guild IS an incredibly powerful and influential organization (if not the single most powerful/influential one in the mh universe), and that's likely going to inevitably attract people who don't exactly have the best intentions in mind.

so! the guild. guild knights. we know that the knights are sent out to deal with poachers and the likes via apprehending them and/or killing them. that already means that, more than likely, our sweet boy aiden has human blood on his hands. so why not delve into that? aiden tended to prefer to stick to just helping protect and maintain the safety of places rather than do the whole Killing People thing, as i don't doubt that the concept of taking another human/wyverian/etc life upsets him. HOWEVER. early on into his days as a knight, he was sent out with a group of unfamiliar knights to deal with a velocidrome that was "causing problems" in a small village. the problems? it had been injured, and an old woman that lived some distance away from the village had taken it back to her house and nursed it back to health, and it chose to simply Stay, and that made the villagers uneasy. honestly, it wasn't really causing any genuine issues---it was just existing and choosing to stay with the person that had saved its life. the orders were clear cut: deal with "the problem" by any means necessary. aiden was gentler than the others (who were far more shady and... much less well-intentioned than him), but the woman was resolute in that she wouldn't let them kill the drome. so, as a "rite of passage," so to speak, the other guild knights forced aiden to kill not only the velocidrome, but the old woman as well. Guild Trauma, Babey!

the experience left a lasting mark on him, and he never told julius or the other ace hunters what exactly happened, but they could all tell that Something had based on how quiet and somber he was for several days after the incident. that was the first human life he took, and while he's undoubtedly had to kill poachers and other people who genuinely Were in the wrong, knowing that he has innocent blood on his hands has remained with him even long after he left the guild to join with the research commission. i'm nice to my faves i swear (<- lying)

so! fast forward to the commission, since there's not much else of importance for his guild days (yet, once i play 4u/gu this might change). this is where things really start to get divergent as they involve my ocs so buckle up lads we're going on An Adventure™️

like i said, really things are Mostly the same until post-iceborne; rather than a proper hunter, my player character oc is a "rider" that was raised by an anjanath so rather than kill all the monsters (though he doesn't have much issue with doing so) in the story some were simply communicated with and/or relocated if necessary, ie the agitated pukei, vaal hazak ("without a vaal hazak the entire rotten vale ecosystem would collapse!" [kills vaal hazak anyways] thank you monster hunter very cool!)

aiden takes a liking to the field team leader (achilles, as my friend i rp with named him<3) and they grow closer throughout base world, enough so that aiden ends up his second-in-command in seliana (this appears to be canon? idk he can be seen giving out more direct orders during the defense of seliana quest while ftl gives out generalized ones and theyre Always Seen Together except for in One (1) cutscene, post-velkhana death (i'm normal about them i promise) and theyre both at the council table right next to each other.....), things are Nice, everything's Great

and then Fatalis Happens. canonly, as i recall, aiden Nearly Died because of fatalis. like. lea/serious handler talks about how if he'd died she doesn't know how she would've kept going, aiden talks about how thinking about julius and ftl gave him the strength and willpower to keep fighting (totally normal bro things to say just guys being dudes am i right) and Not Die, it's a whole Thing. so my interpretation of aiden has a TON of absolutely AWFUL burn scars across the right side of his body from that. they're obviously nowhere near as bad as they COULD be, since i'm assuming he had some fire res on his build (that feels weird to say when not talking about gameplay), but they're still Bad because. well. fatalis LMAO

fast forward an indeterminate amount of time (i don't think my friend and i ever decided on how far after fatalis our stuff is💀) and everything's Great. here's where the balls to the wall canon divergence starts btw! shang, my "rider" oc, has helped people learn that some monsters can be reasoned with, and the monsters he's befriended are allowed about the base and the reach as they please (even if some AHEM VUGEL (my bastard of an ebony odogaron) COUGH are an absolute hindrance on purpose). aiden and ftl have gotten together by this point. shang's taken in a lot of orphaned monsters, one of which is a little lunastra that he's named chang'e, that seems to sense aiden's unease and tries to capitalize on it, but shang (halfheartedly) tries to hold the young elder dragon back from doing so.

one particularly notable monster around base is a gold-crown sized namielle, "nami," who's pretty much adopted shang. she's warm, motherly, and after the initial unease of having An Entire Elder Dragon around wore off she quickly became a familiar and welcomed face. another is the mountain god, shara ishvalda themself, having chosen to try to aid the commission as a way to "apologize" for the damage and chaos their presence in the everstream caused. nami's presence attracts a tall, foreboding man, with white hair and a beard, scars across his face, a permanent resting glare, and piercing golden eyes---he speaks very little, and when he does it's in a low mutter, and he seems to be observing the people of seliana. his presence is dread-inducing and sparks much unease, but nami is ecstatic to see him, stating he is an old friend who she hasn't seen in ages. for some time, things continue normally---until an argument between shara and nami breaks out, and the imposing stranger reveals his true nature as a dire miralis-sized white fatalis; the destroyer moon, alaakiilah, he who wiped out the ancients in a single night, in order to get the pair to cease their bickering.

aiden ends up being absolutely fascinated by al---sure, he's scared shitless of fatalis, but all the same... a fatalis, there, IN seliana, the fatalis of legend, and he's... not attacking them. granted, it's because he knows nami is fond of the mortals there, and he begrudgingly promised her that he wouldn't do anything to them, but still. the moon god is begrudgingly tolerant of aiden, and eventually achilles as well, as the pair typically don't stray far from one another (unless they Do, but that's not relevant right now), and eventually, through sheer persistence in his fascination, aiden (and achilles) are allowed the one single highest honour one can have: the permission to touch alaakiilah's beard. much as he might disdain to admit it, al ends up being genuinely, albeit begrudgingly, fond of aiden, and aiden's all but dadopted him (he's collecting white haired father figures, isn't he?). this comes into more relevance later.

after some time, al comes across an abandoned fatalis egg (i have my own whole Thing on fatalis eggs and reproduction in general but that's its own post LOL), which he brought back to the supply cache (after achilles offered to let him nest there with the egg) to incubate, and after a day, it hatches, into a tiny, defenseless, harmless baby female fatalis, which namielle names yunhind---that translating to "new hope," in honour of how no fatalis in recorded history has ever been raised in proximity to mortals before, and the destroyer moon's decision to trust in the commission to not fuck things up. the little one immediately takes a liking to aiden, and though he's more than a little nervous at first at the prospect of babysitting the destroyer of humanity's adopted child, he quickly becomes more confident in it as she grows and he becomes more attached to her---it makes him think back to his younger sister, and his inability to protect her, and he's determined to make sure absolutely nothing happens to yunhind.

there's a whole Thing that happens with the guild, having learned of the abundance of monsters around seliana, threatening achilles to try and pressure him into killing and/or relocating them all to "protect the people," then taking matters into their own hands when he refuses---this entire debacle (affectionately dubbed The Guild Arc, Part One) leaves aiden shaken up as it confirms a lot of his fears and doubts that have been building under the surface for years on end now.

fatalis mature quickly, even when naturally hatched, and within a few months, yunhind is a fully grown and wholly unique fatalis, dubbed an "ashen fatalis" due to adapting to her surroundings and taking on the properties of ice element as well as fire (they're interchangeable, though her ability to use both at once is somewhat limited), and the unique ability to transfer energy to heal others, and her scales being an ashy grey colour. she spends most of her time in her human form, and she views aiden like an older brother. things settle back down around base, and everything is okay again.

until it's not, of course<3

achilles goes missing, which stresses aiden out, naturally--and then vodrem happens, because nothing good lasts forever. well, vodrem happens Again, but i hadn't started rping aiden by the first time, so uhhh. idk he was on a vacation in the old world i guess?? that was an entire Year before the second Vodrem Event

now, dear reader, you're probably wondering, "martin who the fuck is vodrem", which is a VERY good question! vodrem is my nonfandom/multiverse god of chaos oc, who's part of his own little original oc bubble, though they're all based on monhun monsters; vodrem in particular is based on nergigante and morodumunto, though he usually takes the form of a not-quite-right nergigante

he makes a habit of consuming entire universes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and psychologically tormenting people just for the hell of its. he's power hungry, immensely dangerous, and cunning.

in his wake, he leaves "instabilities"; where the very fabric of reality itself gets fucked up, and these can have a variety of effects on anything that enter the area, but the most common has been people getting turned into monsters. the five were INCREDIBLY meticulous about mending any left behind after the first vodrem event, and they made absolutely certain to mend them all.

but a new one appeared. one which aiden wandered into---the change wasn't instantaneous, it started with just feeling sick and feverish, with heat specifically concentrated in his chest, to the point that it would get unbearable and he'd have to lay in the snow just for some relief, and finding his temper to be increasingly short and explosive. then came the headaches and soreness of the throat, and tiny black scales forming across his skin. then the desire to find some small space outdoors, perhaps a cave or the likes, though he ended up seeking comfort (ironically) in the destroyer moon's presence. i'm sure you can see where this is going, yes?

of all the monsters in the world, it had to be a fatalis. because of course it would be. as you'd expect, this caused him an IMMENSE amount of distress on top of the distress he already had from achilles' absence. for some time, there were no other signs of vodrem, and yunhind and al (mostly yunhind) helped aiden learn How To Fatalis.

and then all hell broke lose, as it does with vodrem. he claimed to have killed achilles, and though aiden had been trying his absolute damndest to suppress the fatalis rage and instincts, he let them overtake him---he went after vodrem, intending to unleash an ocean of flame upon him... didn't SUCCEED, all he got was speared through the lung and his back torn into by vodrem, the wounds afflicted with what was dubbed as "tarblight"; a corrosive, highly painful substance that vodrem secrets that seems to only be able to be cured by vodrem himself or his much more well-intentioned brother, vodinok. for the rest of the fight, aiden was simply unconscious, so he doesn't have much relevance for the rest of it. as i recall, one of the five managed to transform him back into a human, and vodinok cured the tarblight while yunhind healed his wounds.

unfortunately for my poor darling aiden, the form of the fatalis is not one so easily controlled, and so despite the five's best efforts, that part of him never really left---strong negative emotions still cause spontaneous transformations, and he's typically very skittish and nervous in this form because of how hard it is to suppress the fatalis instincts. the transformations take a LOT of energy out of him too, and while he CAN force a transformation back, that takes even more energy, so he's usually just kinda Stuck like that for a few days, which he usually spends hunkered in the supply cache, because for as good as he's gotten at maintaining his usual demeanor, the innate rage and violent instincts are always just a breath away from the surface, bubbling and boiling, like a pot of water just seconds away from boiling over. Not at All a fun experience for him!

after this the Guild Arc Part 2 happens, with aiden traveling to the old world with al to retrieve achilles from the corrupt and shady part of the guild who'd come to seliana in the first place; that's a whole Thing in of itself as well, and aiden ends up having to take a few more lives, though the guilt and emotions of, well. Everything, really, don't set in until after its all said and done, considering this entire thing takes place only maybe a few days after the vodrem event, if i recall correctly, so aiden's still more than a little out of it, and the dissonance of everything that happened there only made him even More out of it.

aaaaand i Think that's It? i don't believe i've had him be involved in any major plot stuff since then (aside from the temporary vampire event that was for halloween), so he's finally gotten to have the break that he oh so DESPERATELY needs and deserves... for now! i would like to involve him with more things again in the future (i never did get to write out a storyline where he briefly looses himself to the fatalis instincts---even just using the elemental abilities tend to have that effect on him, so using too MUCH would be Bad---and has to be brought back down from them...), so who knows! maybe he'll end up Going Through It a little bit more, as a Treat<3 the amount of suffering i put my faves through is proportional to how much i like them☺

now then! for my thoughts on aiden as a character; i love him. he's a sweet, caring and well-intentioned person, and i see a lot of myself in him (namely with the Incredibly Obvious adhd). it makes me happy to see a character like him (again, adhd) not treated like the butt of a joke, and instead be shown to actually be incredibly competent and important to the commission. i really hope we see him again in another game in the future, even if it's just as a cameo (he and the field team leader WERE planning to take that vacation to the old world so aiden could introduce ftl to julius........) and nothing else. of all the wonderful characters mh has to offer, i think aiden is by far my favourite i am so incredibly normal about him (this is by far the longest ramble post i have ever made LMAO) and he is just. absolutely Wonderful. my darling beloved my son my everything etc etc. i hope that if he does come back in a future game, if he's Not Just a cameo, we get to do another hunt properly with him; fatalis was obviously the testing grounds for the npc followers in sunbreak, so i'd love to get to do a proper hunt with him now that that's A Thing, if they choose to keep it going forward (and i don't see why they wouldn't, given the positive reception it got). i think that the duality of him being so bubbly, positive and outgoing even despite everything he's been through is interesting, and i find the concept of exploring that trauma to be fascinating because, let's be real, poor guy has definitely been through some shit. NORMALLY if my faves don't have a backstory i come up with one for them but i didn't even Have To give him a traumatic backstory capcom did that for me LMFAO

anyways. thank u for the ask nonnie i am SO incredibly sorry for the length of this post the tism took the wheel, i know i went on a few tangents that weren't that related but ahdkdhfjd i just have A Lot of lore for my au and aiden's been involved in a fair bit of it