#and i'd have to think abt it much much more

[alackofghosts]

vierapril day 30 - future

text from here

[turnaboutfix]

Hey! Your blog makes me very happy, I love the relationship Phoenix has with Maya. However, I have a question about them in canon that I'm not sure who else to ask, it looks like you know a lot abt them and it felt like you were the person to go to. I hope you don't mind.

This sweet relationship they have, is it really like that in canon?

I've played the first trilogy and I really don't get the impression they're as close in canon as fanon says they are...?

Phoenix thinks rather poorly of Maya a lot. In 2-4 despite being so worried about her, he thinks he'd need to explain what a watch is to her, unlike Pearl, which kinda implies he thinks Maya's dumb. That's the case in which he's most worried about her too.

He ignores her during most of aa1, he's constantly body shaming her internally and out loud too. He calls her a glutton after she was starved for two days.

In 1-3 Maya's sprite has tears when Sal Manella harasses her and Phoenix ignores her too. In 3-2 he doesn't do anything again when Larry gets pervy with her, and in 3-3 he essentially offers her up so Kudo can perv on her too.

It isn't until 3-3 too that Phoenix realises Maya has a lot to think abt. Despite all she's gone through and him thinking to himself that Maya always gives him crucial evidence in 2-4 he thinks she's stupid or immature all the time.

I know he cares abt her cause he does a lot to save her a lot of times. But is the bond that deep if all the times Maya isn't in deadly danger (most of the time) Phoenix thinks so little of her out loud sometimes?

At the end of 3-5 Miles has a better understanding of why Maya is acting strong than Phoenix. Miles doesn't even know Maya that well by comparison, and he knows her so much better.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nick and Maya. But I don't see their relationship in canon as close as it is in fanon. I left the games with the impression that Phoenix is fond of Maya as Mia's little sister and a nuisance.

Ig I'm missing something. Ig I'm taking everything too literally or something, because I've never seen anyone share this view. I'm asking for your interpretation of their canon (game canon) relationship, since you have a better grasp on them than me. Thx

Hello there! I'm glad my blog makes you happy and I'm very flattered you came to me to ask this question.

Fanon certainly tends to mold these relationships into idealized, nuclear-family archetypes. This doesn't really match the games, but it brings a lot of people catharsis and I think that's great.

As for me, I don't know if I'd describe their relationship as "sweet". On top of what you've pointed out, Maya dunks on Phoenix's looks ("You're not very photogenic, are you?"), hits him with objects, insults his intelligence, what have you.

But on the other hand, they believe in each other. They stick together during their cases and give each other a push when they need it. Maya throws herself before MVK's taser. Phoenix rushes across a burning bridge. Maya gets herself arrested for contempt of court to help Phoenix save Edgeworth. Phoenix rushes to the train station so he can tell her that she's worth more than her spiritual power to her face. Phoenix nearly throws away his morals to save her life when she is kidnapped. Maya tells him to prove Engarde guilty knowing that it would mean her demise.

If I can talk about the Japanese version of the game for a moment, just the way they call each other illustrates their closeness. Phoenix calls her "Mayoi-chan", the "-chan" honorific being one of familiarity. But what's even more revealing is what Maya calls Phoenix, which is "Naruhodo-kun", what Mia addressed Phoenix as his boss. The "-kun" honorific being familiar as well as describing someone of lower rank. Phoenix never corrects this, and they call each other those names all the way through into Spirit of Justice.

And "close" doesn't mean "perfect". It doesn't even mean they don't go for months or even years without seeing each other. But they're always on each other's minds. Phoenix can't even get himself to work because Maya is away for training. While Maya is training, she thinks about Phoenix, that she'll return to him as what she believes is an improved version of herself, despite Phoenix telling her that she's already valuable.

This multifaceted nature of their relationship is what is interesting and endearing to me. They have flaws, a therapist would probably raise their eyebrows, but at the end of the day, they have a unique and firm bond.

And I love them, your honor.

[r0sy-maple-m0th]

How do the fairy tale parents in your EAH au differ from those in canon?

From what I've seen Monty's mum is still basiclaky the sme, I'm referring to like, Pluto. We've only seen his father so in your au will it be his mother or father that's the Cheshire cat?

Oh and also, is Berenice's parents still Little red riding hood and the wold or is it different in your au?

I'm asking for all the ppl in it, because I'm really curious and your au is cool

oooh this'll be a fun one to answer! ;D

the genders of their parents will stay the same as they are in nevermore, genderswapping only a few characters always confuses me haha

ok now onto the specifics yaya! I haven't thought about everyone's parents, since storywise they aren't super relevant, BUT here are the ones that are;;

so ye montys mom will basically be the same, except A WHOLE LOT worse, but I'm not gonna get into that just yet cause there will be a wonderland arc 🙃 just know I'm very excited to get to this at some point!! monty is very not excited. he is unexcited.

plutos dad is still a jackass, just altered a bit to feel more cherise catty. I haven't given too much thought about him yet other than the reasons behind plutos scar, which i will also not elaborate on. gatekeeping story information is so fun😍😍 lmao

bees parents aren't story relevant so I haven't tried fleshing them out, BUT I actually don't know if she should still be part wolf like cerise! id love feedback on that if anyone has any :']

eulalies dad, while only mentioned once(?) in nevermore, is going to be such a fun character! he loves his daughter sm and is willing to support all of her ideas (based on how he BOUGHT A WHOLE ASS HOUSE FOR HER TO "TUTOR KIDS"...like that is dedication and I respect it). it'll be a nice change in pace to have a 100% unconditionally loving parents cause guys most of the characters were not as lucky 😭

wills parents arent too relevant on their own, but I have thought about them a bit since it fleshes out some of wills insecurities about himself. they're loving parents, but they often cast him aside without even realizing in favor of his younger sisters for.......plot reasons I'm not sharing LOL

I should proly think more abt annabels parents buuuut I haven't yet. whoops. all i really have for them is that, similarly to wills, they're a massive contributor in her insecurities and fear of going against destiny

LENORES PARENTS WILL BE FUN! all I wanna say about them is that there's a reason the evil queen is a queen. theyre really important for the story i wanna write so you only get that little crumb haha ;>

thank you SO MUCHH for the ask!!💞💞

ALSOO I HAVE A QUESTION OF MY OWN NOW FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN ANSWERINGG!! ik as of rn I've only worked on the main cast, but eventually would you want to see designs for ppl like the deans, staff, and parents? cause I'd totally be down for that

[ricopop]

mini oscillo ref aahh what EVERRR dies @superbellsubways @cephalonheadquarters

[saintlesbian]

hey. wake up. they've invented a new kind of citrus fruit that is also a Girl. and they're calling her Mabel

happy birthday @girlballs! here is shark picture 4 u.

+ lemonade variants

[fauville]

inspired by some posts i've seen floating around: who would your detective romance if they couldn't romance their current love interest? 👀

[sk-yay-sk]

I don't like any of the maps I've seen for HTTYD so i'm playing a puzzle game w all the locations. This is the 3rd version so far

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

debate

(topic: how many and what configuration of kids do they give off vibes of having (either at present or in the future)(partner is irrelevant in most cases, some could be single parents for all i care))

[withthewindinherfootsteps]

So we know that Wei Wuxian's treatment after his death was horrible. Even if nothing could impact him directly, there was still neverending slander, hatred, misinformation, theft...

But, for a while after he died, the sects did try to impact him directly – namely, frequently trying to resummon his soul. And today I'll explore the possible reasons for this, their likelihoods, and why I'm so, so thankful that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the summons. Because, spoiler alert (or, you know. maybe not)... none of them are good.

(Long meta ahead)

In my opinion, there are four likely motivations for this: confinement, coercion, torment, and potentially destruction.

Out of all of these, confinement is probably the most likely motivation, at least for most sects (Jins and Jiangs excluded, though it was likely what the Jin sect said their motivations were – but I'll get to them later). This one is the most simple – we know spirit-trapping pouches exist, and we know the sects also placed 120 stone beasts on the Burial Mounds to prevent Wei Wuxian's soul from escaping. Therefore, this seems to be the most likely motivation – and fortunately for Wei Wuxian, probably also the best case scenario, though it still certainly isn't a good one.

For the second, coercion – this is where the Jin sect come in (more specifically Jin Guangshan with the help of Jin Guangyao). Due to their wealth and resources, they're likely the sect who played the largest role in the soul-summoning rituals. We know what they're willing to do to try to gain power – keeping Wen Ning under the pretence he was burned to death and trying to control him with the nails, and working with and helping Xue Yang torture people to help him refine his demonic cultivation, in order to have the Yin hufu fixed. Along with working with many other cultivators, alongside Xue Yang – Jin Guangshan really, really wanted that seal.

And so, Jin GuangShan sought after all those who imitated Wei WuXian in cultivating the ghostly path and gathered them under his rule. He spent a great amount of money and resources and these people, ordering them to study and analyze the structure of the Tiger Seal in secrecy so that they could replicate and restore it. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

(Note that working with these cultivators very likely happened after Wei Wuxian's soul had failed to be summoned, since this happens some time after Wei Wuxian's death, whereas the soul-summoning ceromonies presumably started happening very close to it.)

In the previous paragraph, he's also quoted as having 'lusted after' the Yin hufu, which we already knew but it's nice to have a direct quote as evidence.

Now, would Wei WuXian willingly work with the Jin sect in doing this? No. We know that, and, given Wei Wuxian's actions in his first life (refusing to hand over the Tally, not being afraid to stand up to the sects, etc), I’m pretty sure Jin Guangshan knows that, too:

He beat around the bush a couple of times, using all his skills, yet Wei WuXian didn’t give in no matter what, and it made him run into a bunch of obstacles. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR

So this could actually make things go two ways. One, I'm wrong and that wasn't actually part of the Jin sect's motivations, since they know they wouldn't be able to control him (and in that case, had they managed to summon him, I could imagine them putting him in a spirit-trapping pouch and doing something similar to what Jin Guangyao did to Nie Mingjue's head. Which, also, not good). Two, it was a part of their motivations, and they hoped to find a way around that. After all, there are other guidao users out there now, and Wei Wuxian would now be a gui*. Also, cultivators can obviously harm ghosts – see the very existence of Night Hunts, and I'd include Xue Yang's talisman-caused destruction of A-Qing as well (while he isn't a traditional cultivator, talismans can be used by everyone).

Now, would either of these methods actually work? I'm inclined to think not really (and I expand on the former method in a note below). Would that stop Jin Guangshan/Jin Guangyao/the cultivators they employ from trying? Especially considering Jin Guangshan's lust for power?

I'm inclined to think no, too.

For the third, look no further than Jiang Cheng's reputation of capturing and torturing demonic cultivators after Wei Wuxian's death, due to thinking they could be him. And this does happen – Jin Ling knows and talks about it, and there's not real motivation for him to negatively lie about someone he loves. Also, when they come across each other at Dafan Mountain, we're told this in Jiang Cheng's inner voice:

A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. - MDZS Chapter 10, EXR translation

This mainly shows that he's tortured people before, rather than that he's tortured people because he thinks they're Wei Wuxian, but this reason is confirmed by Jin Ling in Chapter 24. Of course, the reason is also mentioned in this chapter, and there are other moments in the chapter that illustrate my point better**, but they come from second-hand sources which I know are easier to deny. Do take note of Jiang Cheng's expression both times he comes across 'Mo Xuanyu' (after he suspects he's Wei Wuxian) in Book One***, though:

After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring [Zidian] again. He spoke softly, “… Well, well. So you’re back?” - Chapter 10, EXR Although his face had always been clouded, marked with arrogance and satire, it seemed as if every corner of it had come alive. It was difficult to determine whether it was vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy. - Chapter 23, EXR

This does seem to line up with what people say his attitude to Wei Wuxian is – there doesn't seem to be any happiness at seeing him again at all. The only time a word that could suggest that ('ecstasy') is used, it's accompanied by 'raving', and considering the context and the other possibilities of his expression, it's... probably not due to happiness at being reunited.

So, considering 1) this, 2) his contribution to the Siege specifically intended to kill Wei Wuxian, and 3) that at the time of frequent soul-summoning Jiang Yanli's death would be even closer for him, I feel pretty confident in saying that yes, this is likely a motivation for the Jiang sect in trying to re-summon Wei Wuxian's soul after his death. And, as mentioned earlier, cultivators can harm ghosts (and we know Zidian is able to remove souls posessing a body from that body, and that Jiang Cheng used Zidian on 'Mo Xuanyu' in Chapter 10. If it wasn't able to restrain/harm ghosts, or other methods weren't able to, why would he risk Wei Wuxian's soul escaping?).

And finally, option four: destruction. We're heading into much more speculative territory here, so don't consider this on par with the first three. But consider this:

We know there are some spells, like Xue Yang's talisman used on A-Qing and the body-offering ritual, that can ruin the returning soul’s reincarnation cycle by destroying it. Therefore, soul destruction is possible.

The 'main'/supposed reason for summoning Wei Wuxian's soul back is to stop the "cultivation world, or even all of mortal land" from being "faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair" when Wei Wuxian inevitably returns. While, as mentioned above, I severely doubt this is the motivation for certain sects – and to me is likely a rumour which the Jins (again, especially Jin Guangsha) fanned the flames of to justify summoning Wei Wuxian back for their own purposes**** – there are other sects which would take it more seriously.

Although likely disrespectful, people already thought it served Wei Wuxian right to die without his body intact by the time of the second siege – something believed to negatively affect your reincarnation in your next life*****. This is only the logical next step, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people would believe that, again, it would serve Wei Wuxian right, or would at least lead to less harm of the world in the long run.

For these reasons, I could definitely see this as an option for some sects, especially the sects who consider themselves more 'righteous' (cough cough the Nies under Nie Mingjue cough cough). After all, evil is evil and good is good, and the evil deserve what's coming to them. And what better way to prevent that than from preventing his soul from returning at all? So for the Nie sect – and likely some of the smaller sects involved in the Siege, since among them, additudes probably vary – yes, I do think it could be a motivation.

I’m not as sure about the Lans being willing to go this far, and that’s largely for two reasons. One, Lan Wangji’s presence and his relationship to Lan Xichen, who does (not always, but he does) let this affect how he treats Wei Wuxian. An example of this is that, when Wei Wuxian's return is made public, Lan Xichen does let him hide and shelter at the Cloud Recesses instead of trying to pursue him, likely majorly due to Lan Wangji. I'd argue that the aftermath of the Nightless City also acts as an example of this, although it definitely isn't perfect. But though he, Lan Qiren and the 33 elders do come to find Lan Wangji and do not let him continue to shelter Wei Wuxian (after they see Lan Wangji's feelings), Lan Xichen doesn't use this opportunity to kill/capture Wei Wuxian, despite Lan Wangji being in a worse condition due to having fought 33 elders, Wei Wuxian being catatonic, and Lan Qiren likely supporting this outcome (especially considering he was the one who led the Lan sect in the Siege – chapter 68, Wei Wuxian's POV). And he did let Lan Wangji take Wei Wuxian back to the Burial Mounds after:

After he went out of his way to send you back to Burial Mound and returned in such low spirits to receive his punishment, how long he kneeled before the Wall of Rules! - Chapter 99, EXR

Again, this was right after the Nightless City massacre – there isn't any goodwill towards Wei Wuxian at this point in time.

Of course, the Lan sect did participate in the siege after Lan Xichen knew of Lan Wangji's feelings towards Wei Wuxian, which Lan Xichen was no doubt a part of (although Lan Qiren lead the Lan sect in the siege, Lan XIchen had to have at least known/given his support, if not participated.) And it should be considered that Lan Xichen letting Wei Wuxian shelter at the Cloud Recesses was after Wei Wuxian had been back for a while, and had not caused the downfall of the Cultivation World, like many suspected he would after his death. And of course, as stated previously, his handling of the aftermath of Nightless City wasn't perfect either (though please note that his main motive here was to protect Lan Wangji from being potentially executed, rather than anything about Wei Wuxian himself). So caring about Lan Wangji doesn't mean he won't harm Wei Wuxian. But I do think he could find bringing Wei Wuxian's soul back to completely destroy it a bit excessive. There is, though, the chance that the elders of the Lan Sect would react to this differently, and of course they would have a sway on both Lan Xichen and the Lan sect as well.

The second reason is smaller, but there seems to be more focus in the Lan sect than in others when it comes to letting ghosts rest peacefully/helping them move on. And that could definitely lead to more resistance to the idea of summoning a soul back to destroy it as well, which could especially impact the elders. So I'd assume that the Lan sect would be the most likely sect to summon Wei Wuxian's soul back just for confinement, or just for some way of making sure any resentment is disippated, his spirit moves on, and he can't cause more harm to the world (eg via Inquiry)******. Not that he would or does as a ghost or as a reborn person, but that's unfortunately not relevant to this.

But yes, as a motivation for the Nie Mingjue-led Nie sect? Absolutely.

So, these are the main motives I suspect to be behind the attempted summoning of Wei Wuxian's soul after his death (and if I've missed any, please let me know – I'd love to have a discussion). And, of course, none of them lead to anywhere good. Because of course it wasn’t enough to besiege Wei Wuxian, murder the 50 non-combatants he was responsible for (and throwing them into the blood pit as a mark of disrespect because why not?), and lead to his death via him getting torn apart. It wasn’t enough to steal all his inventions, and use them commonly while still slandering him with no reprieve – or to steal his notes and give them to people like Xue Yang to study (Villainous Friends, again) and to use for their own, extremely extremely harmful, purposes. Of course, the cultivation world has to try to harm Wei Wuxian after death as well ((:

We don't know whether Wei Wuxian rejecting the summoning ceremonies was conscious or unconscious, but if it was the former, these are very likely reasons he refused to return in this way. If it was unconscious – for example, maybe during the frequent soul-summons his soul was in a weakened state due to him dying from a backlash of resentful energy and getting torn apart, and it healed over time but not before the soul-summoning rituals stopped – well, I can only be thankful.

Finally, let me leave you on the thought that – although it may well have happened since we don't spend much time in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot campaign – there isn't even any textual mention of this happening to Wen Ruohan. Who, while not being a guidao user, was still very dangerous, still an extremely powerful cultivator, and still had a lot of reason to feel resentment. So.

:')

Thank you for reading!

--

*Considering what we see of how Wei Wuxian's guidao functions – redirecting the ghosts'/corpses' resentment into doing something they'd want to do, eg attacking people, and directing it towards a target – I'm not sure using it to force a spirit to do something 1) extremely specific, and 2) explicitly against their will would actually work. Iirc the closest thing we get to this in text is Wei Wuxian using the corpses of Wens to attack other Wens in the Sunshot Campaign, but he's still just directing their resentment to a target of his choice, and fierce corpses do tend to be on the less concious side of things (hence why Wei Wuxian had to awaken Wen Ning's consciousness). Considering how Wen Ning attacks Wei Wuxian and the Burial Mound Wens before his consciousness had fully awoken, I... really don't think those fierce corpses were able to differentiate (or didn't care).

Meanwhile, ghosts seem to be a bit more in control of themselves – see A-Qing, and Wei Wuxian's own descriptions of his ghost self.

That, alongside ghost!Wei Wuxian being able to resist his soul-summoning and the fact that pretty much all of the new guidao users are a lot weaker than he was, does make me think that this this wouldn't work. I do wonder about Xue Yang, since his methods are pretty different as well, but he's more of a modao user than a guidao user (he controls living corpses rather than dead people) and I don't think you can insert physical nails into ghosts?? Though if he was specifically instructed to figure out some way to control ghost!Wei Wuxian (who's probably kept in a spirit-trapping pouch in this scenario), he might be able to do something at least. Though also he was also struggling to piece Xiao Xingchen's ghost soul back together, so he may struggle with those areas?

Well, whatever the potential outcome, I'm so so happy once again that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the soul-summonings...

**Mainly this:

Everyone in the cultivation world knew that the young leader of the Jiang Clan watched out for Wei WuXian in an almost crazed manner. He would rather catch the wrong person than let go of any possibility, and took anyone who seemed like they held the soul of Wei WuXian away to the YunmengJiang Sect, inflicting severe torture on his victim. If he wanted to take someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their life. - Chapter 10, EXR

But I have heard people say 'you can't prove that it's just more rumours' before, and I wanted my evidence to be as watertight as possible.

(And, off-topic... isn't it really sad how Jiang Cheng, in the present day, is described as young? Because, for a clan leader, he is. And another thing he is, is close in age to Wei Wuxian – who was killed 13 whole years prior :') )

***And do note that the only other time they run into each other before Wei Wuxian's identity is revealed to the world apart from this is their brief interaction at Jinlintai, where he can't just act however he wants. The next time they run into each other after it, Jiang Cheng is literally taking part in another siege against him, and still extremely hostile ("surrounded by hostile energy, face insidious, staring straight at him" – from EXR chapter 60). Then he loses his spiritual powers and can't do anything. By the time he regains his powers, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and the Wen remnants' corpses have saved everyone during the Second Siege, and though public opinion hasn't properly shifted quite yet, it will soon after Sisi and Bicao tell the story of Jin Guangyao, and voila, a new scapegoat (do note that he doesn't completely bar Wei Wuxian from entering Lotus Pier after the Second Siege, though). Plus, throughout it all, Lan Wangji is still constantly present, which makes it hard for Jiang Cheng to really do anything. And then he's finally faced with the Golden Core reveal, which does alter his motivations towards Wei Wuxian (obviously the resentment is still there – read chapter 102 – but it's also mixed with other complex emotions, and he seems to start being able to move away from that a little in Chapter 103). I still definitely wouldn't describe Jiang Cheng's attitude towards him as positive, but it isn't at the point it was at the start of the novel (eg Chapter 10).

But even if his attitude does change, or would for whatever other reason apart from the reveal, that still doesn't change an initial motivation so isn't relevant to this meta. We know his intentions at the start.

****It's also possible they may have originated it, but I think WWX's reputation was bad enough for it to form naturally. Though you can trace a major part of that back to them, too.

*****That belief isn't outright stated in MDZS, but the fact people are specifically talking about the status of WWX's body in the aftermath of his death suggests that this belief does have some grounding in the MDZS universe, at least? And we know MXTX has included it in TGCF (though that doesn't mean it's definitely in MDZS), so she has used it in her works. If this isn't the case in the MDZS universe I am sorry (although that could also mean there's less importance placed on not disturbing the reincarnation cycle in the world of MDZS...? Which would work towards my original argument) – I don't want to spread misinformation that something is definitely true, I just think there's evidence to suggest it is true, which isn't the same thing.

******Again, I think this would depend on who ends up having more influence over who in the Lan sect. After all, normal resentful spirits only do what they do because of their resentment in death, whereas Wei Wuxian is 'dangerous' because of who everyone thinks he was in life – so him being reborn naturally could also 'cause a lot of harm to the world' during the time period this version of him would live in, unlike the resentful ghosts they appease. This could definitely lead to many advocating for confinement, I think.

[crypticcanidae]

okay so i saw a post recently that introduced me to. several kinda badly written vg codex entries. but specifically the entries 'halla's resolve' and 'contract: the next march'. i didn't find either of those when i played the game, so when i read them i kinda just. yknow. fucking what???

i have Some Thoughts about them. and some of the implications they have for. thedas' worldbuilding? idk. i've done my best to make this readable

halla's resolve mentions 'mutual respect that began when Antiva stood strong with the Dales'.

this is a retcon, right? i know that's been thrown at a lot of things in vg regardless of if it's correct or not but. this for sure is i think? there's never been mention of anything like this before?

antiva and the dales are pretty far apart, geographically. they have orlais, nevarra, and the free marches between them on land. by sea, antivan ships could follow the coast down into the waking sea, but that's assuming the dales have access to the sea and weren't cut off by orlesian territory. the dales also seem to have been fairly isolationist, and happy to keep to themselves as long as no one bothered them - understandable, given the elves had only been freed from the imperium for. a couple hundred years? but not really conducive to forming alliances with neighbours.

overall, the dales and antiva weren't close enough for sheer proximity to have forced any sort of friendship to form, and even if they were, the elves may not have been interested (which again. fair enough, honestly.), but there was also little reason for them to form any sort of relationship through trade or anything else. the dales don't really seem to have had any ties to the human nations around them, and none of those nations would really have had any reason to be willing to oppose the orlesian empire for the dales.

also. during the exalted march against the dales, antiva was. kinda busy? fending off an invasion? so they probably wouldn't have been able to help, even if they wanted to. (this is how i can tell i'm putting more thought into a 30-word codex entry than the writers did, i spent like half an hour on the wiki throwing together a timeline to figure out what events were happening around the fall of the dales lmao. and i looked at a map of thedas. i'm not entirely convinced the writers did that either.)

mutual respect between who exactly? the nations of the dales and antiva, one of which was destroyed? the nation of antiva and the dalish people? we don't have reason to believe antiva's elves are treated any better than in the rest of thedas.

if we ignore all that and assume that antiva was, for some reason, involved in the exalted march, on the side of the dales. shouldn't this have had consequences we would have heard about? given that they lost? was the antiva of the glory age more supportive of elves than every other andrastian nation, and those elves were simply blamed for dragging antiva into their war until any support had vanished? did orlais seek any sort of retribution against antiva for siding with their enemy? we know thedas' people can hold grudges for centuries, given that elves and mages are still mistreated for actions over seven hundred and a thousand years old, respectively. what impact did siding with the elves and then losing actually have??

contract: the next march has the line 'If nations march on the elves, Antiva will not be silent. Never again.'

does this not directly contradict halla's resolve? to me, this one implies that when the dales were destroyed antiva stayed out of it, but the other one implies antiva directly involved itself in some way. which is it?? (or is this just another casualty of vg being scraped out of joplin and morrison's corpses in. what. 2 years? like how the griffons are simultaneously both a decade old and also still babies. yes im still pissed abt that.)

or is the implication here that the crows wouldn't allow antiva to be silent in the event of another march? in which case. other people have already said plenty abt vg portraying the crows as a family of friendly freedom fighters (and i do not buy the justification that house arainai was actually the only house buying slaves and abusing it's assassins. arainai was first, then second talon until shortly before the fifth blight, if anything they would have been the gold standard for how crow houses operate. also. zevran deserves better.) the crows are an organisation of contract killers. yes, entire houses can be hired for an operation, and presumably the crows as a whole, if you had enough money, but that brings up another problem for me (actually a couple):

who hired the crows for this contract? with what money? and what are the targets? 1. presumably, the dalish in an effort to protect themselves in the future, but was this something arranged by one elf, or one clan, or was this debated and decided by every clan at an arlathvhen or several? 2. the dalish are self-sufficient nomads, with only a few clans willing to trade with humans. they can likely make a decent amount of coing through that, but not enough to hire enough crows to ensure a response from all of antiva. the most valuable things most clans probably have are artifacts from the dales, which they would never part with willingly given that their culture is built around preserving and recovering as much of the dales as possible (which. why are the veiljumpers dedicated to recovering arlathan? where did they even come from? what was bellara's clan like? was she their first? did she want to be a keeper? and also. how does the lords of fortune's dalish expert work? do the lords get paid for returning elven artifacts? with what money? what about old human or dwarven artifacts? how many advisors do the lords have? which cultures get advisors?). 3. if a march is called against the elves. do the crows murder every chantry official in antiva? blackmail the nobility into noncompliance? what are they actually supposed to do against a march??

contract: the next march's wiki page also notes the game files have a comment abt this entry, 'A standing contract should the elven nation come to threat.'

as i've noted before, there currently isn't an elven nation. unless vg is canonising the origins boon of the elves being granted land in ferelden! (and it's somehow survived the unspecified incident alistair can mention in da2). which is an odd choice but at this point. what the hell sure. that's why there's no dalish or city elves in vg, they're all actually getting blighted to starvation down in ferelden. which, if we're ignoring worldstate canons, could have three circles now! kinloch hold, the orzammar circle (the chantry prevents an independent circle so mages might head to orzammar anyway), and the jainen circle (from da legends, the mobile? game) which is mentioned in this crossroads note (the only good thing vg did).

also that timeline i mentioned, just in case anyone wants to check what i'm working off here

-165 ancient - land of the dales given to the elves

-30 ancient - nation of antiva formed

1:05 divine - darkspawn emerge in anderfels, second blight begins

1:16 divine - battle of cumberland

1:20 divine - nevarran accord signed, circle/templars/seekers founded

1:25 divine - darkspawn nearly destroy montsimmard, dales provide no assistance

1:31 divine - darkspawn assault minrathous, city survives but imperium is weakened. drakon's forces relieve siege of weisshaupt, conquer and convert anderfels.

1:40 divine - ferelden alamarri unite against darkspawn

1:45 divine - drakon dies, andrastianism becomes popular in antiva

1:50 divine - alamarri defeat chasind and avvar

1:65 divine - anderfels declare independence from orlais

1:95 divine - zazikel killed at starkhaven

2:09 glory - dales-orlais war breaks out after red crossing

2:10 glory - elves capture montsimmard, reach val royeaux. exalted march called, only orlais provides troops.

2:15 glory - starkhaven begins conquering free marches and antiva with tevinter support

2:20 glory - halamshiral conquered, elves split between city and dalish elves

2:33 glory - antivan cities ally with each other and free marches cities for defence

2:45 glory - starkhaven betrayed and annexed by tevinter

and some notes i couldn't really fit into the timeline

the imperium abandons the anderfels as the darkspawn spread east, at some point in the 26 years between the blight beginning and the darkspawn assaulting minrathous

drakon's armies are present at every major battle against the darkspawn across thedas, and they spread the chant of light everywhere they go

the elves don't help against the blight because they don't consider the orlesian empire to be any better than the imperium - this one's difficult because. yknow. the blight's an apocalypse, how can you not try to fight that? but also again. the elves have good reason not to trust humans. and if they had sent soldiers to combat the blight, who's to say orlais wouldn't have taken the chance to conquer the dales while they were weakened, even in the middle of a blight? they did exactly that in the anderfels, after all.

drakon's heir is ineffective militarily and politically, leading to a lot more damage from the blight, and creating the conditions for the anderfels to seek independence

the first dated crow contract (possibly just the first notable enough to be recorded?) was in 3:09 towers. the crows themselves began as an arm of the chantry in antiva. andrastianism, and then the orlesian chantry, was only becoming popular in antiva by 1:45 divine. the crows aren't mentioned in regards to starkhaven's invasion attempt in the glory age - does that mean they didn't quite exist yet, or that they just didn't have the power/influence to make an impact?

[clarisse-doodles]

Cass + ballet 🩰 (ft. supportive siblings and good dad Bruce)

I love the idea of Cass enjoying dance. It's an outlet that allows her to express herself without words, and I think she would enjoy the highly technical aspect of ballet combined with its storytelling and emotional side. and as a former dancer I always have fun imagining my fav characters do ballet :)

[rosykims]

having a lavellan who is kind of an absolute demon in her own right is so much fun because sure that cut content of "oh solas didnt deserve a happy ending but lavellan did" is lovely and worth centering in the conversation.... but you know what else hits? "oh my god i dont even care anymore" "if this is what it takes for them to both fucking LEAVE thedas then good riddance"

[gotchibam]

Just a heads up, I might open commissions soon since I'll need extra budget for the next month! I know I still have a backlog of ko-fi doodles I need to work on but I'll try my best to do them alongside the comms 😤💪💪💪

[turtleduckmocha]

trimeshi enjoyers i see your chimera!vash and raise you... wolfwood as [MANGA SPOILERS] marcille

or as my partner @sozosnipes named him, Wolfcille <3

[evelynpr]

BNHA x Alien Stage but idk how to make it work???

Despite all of the complex and intertwined forms of love/admiration/obsession in BNHA's characters, I can't seem to form a fitting Alien Stage AU that fits the base dynamics of alnst's own main four.

Why? Because Himiko Toga is Ivan, Till, and Sua coded all at once. Ivan (unrequited-ish, blood, vampire), Till (aggressive, compulsive, gets sedated), Sua (worshipped love of the mc who dies, scarring her for the rest of her life).

Even if tgck were simply Sua and Mizi, idk who in the world would fit Till because no one in the cast worships Ochako like how Till worships Mizi (Izuku does not). I even considered Ochako as Till who admires Izuku and Himiko as Ivan, but Ochako being that compulsive and open about her feelings like...goes against her character so much so no... Himiko as Till, being obsessed with Izuku as Mizi but not Ochako also doesn't work for me either, because Himiko would like them both, not only one at a time, and that's important to me.

Bkdk as Ivantill is also too easy, but doesn't work either, because their love is so requited to me I can't imagine either as Till. Aka, the one who doesn't look back while obsessing over someone else, because they don't obsesses about literally anyone else but each other and All Might (and not in that way).

For the time being, I'm sticking with Ivantill-Togachako and Mizisua-Bakudeku but no exact roles yet. It's very strange at first glance, I know, but this makes the most sense in my brain.

I even considered dragging Shoto, Iida, Kirishima, or Tsu into this but they don't have enough connections for me to work with either, and not as insane. Sigh what a weird conundrum I'm in...

[shouchan11]

thinking abt how post crash Curly likely doesn't have any genitals... So naturally I would peg him (also I think Curly is lowk a freak and also has a subby side... so he would like anal regardless LMAO) and you can tell he's cumming when milky white semen starts leaking out of his hole... He's so pretty to me I love him so much