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invadernurse · 11 months ago

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Catching Flies (Revised) Ch. 19

Chapter 19: A Knife to the (Brain)

Overall rating: Teen

Summary: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. That’s what they say anyway.

Teacher!Reader makes the mistake of trying to help the two most troubled kids in your class. This leads to forming a science club, learning some childhood psychology, adopting an alien older than you, and somehow catching Professor Membrane’s interest.

Afab Non-binary Reader;

The reader does have a last name: Nemo– which means no-name.

Chapter One |Master post |Ao3

There were four levels of priority calls that Professor Membrane had taught his children as well as programmed into their phones. Priority Three were more like quick messages that needed to be shared but didn’t require a response if he was busy. Such as when Gaz’s favorite series announced a sequel, or when Dib had a Swollen Eyeball meeting and would be late for dinner.

Priority Two were things he would need to address but not urgently. So a small reminder would notify him as soon as he was no longer busy with an urgent matter. Such as Gaz wanting a forward on her allowance for some DLC, or Dib needing another permission slip signed to attend a paranormal conference.

Priority One was for non-life-threatening emergencies and would call through unless he was in something critical. Like settling fights between his children or talking to teachers or whomever else to avoid a lawsuit because his children were anything but typical.

Priority Zero was for life-threatening issues only and had only been used twice since their invention. These calls would go through even if the Professor was literally inside a fission reactor, on a time crunch to fix a fault before it went into catastrophic failure.

Thankfully, that was not the case this time. He was merely enjoying a cup of Earl Grey as he allowed his mind to rest after work. Between the emotional confusion you put him through and the stress of his career, he had found himself needing to take a calming moment to straighten his thoughts as well as his priorities before he began on his ‘home projects.’

But the blaring alert startled him out of his meditative state, causing his heart rate to skyrocket as the holo screen flared to life, not even waiting for him to accept the call.

“Dad!” Dib appeared, his eyes wide with panic. “I don’t know what Zim did, but Mx. Nemo is unconscious. There’s a hole the back of their neck and I think they’re leaking that cerebral fluid stuff and I don’t know what to do and neither does Zim and--“

“This never happened before!” Zim interjected, sounding defensive, but he could see the fear in the boy's expression, as well as his hair in massive disarray (a part looking like it was antenna pointed downwards, but surely it was just hair at an odd angle) and eyes bloodshot. (He’s never seen eyes so bloodshot they lost their iris and pupil, but the boy had a lot of health issues.) “Previous test subjects would pass out when the computer detached, but would wake up within seconds!”

None of their words made much sense to the Professor, but he understood enough to figure out you were injured in some way. He stood and made his way for the first aid kit underneath the kitchen sink out of habit. The one prepped for anything from a paper cut to loss of a limb or radiation sickness. "Calm down and tell me what happened."

--+--

Professor Membrane met the boys at the front of Zim’s home, where they had you secured to a hovering stretcher. He didn’t pause to wonder how or why Zim happened to have a hover stretcher at his home, he was far more focused on you. pale, sweating, mumbling, and completely delirious as you struggled against the straps that secured you. He forced himself to hold your thrashing head still long enough to inspect the bandage on your neck, and felt ill at the Halo sign that stained it.

Panic was something very rare for Professor Membrane to experience. Yet right now it threatened to overwhelm him. A Neural Spike. The boys essentially shoved an electrometer straight into your neurological system, via your brainstem. The part that controlled the most basic of functions.

Membrane Labs had been working on Neural Spikes, but they were strictly theoretical at the moment. Every simulation they ran ended poorly, ranging from paralysis to death. And these children thought they could do better?!

No. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as they loaded the stretcher into his car before rushing down the few streets to the Membrane home, torn between focusing on your vitals and driving.

“Wouldn’t it be better for them to be in a hospital?” Zim asked as he and Dib sat on either side of you in the back.

“Typically, yes,” Professor Membrane admitted, gripping the steering wheel tight. “However, I highly doubt their physicians have encountered this kind of situation before. Nor would they have the experience needed to properly treat them."

“And you do?” His son asked, doubt coloring his voice.

If it wasn’t for the failsafes engineered into his prosthetics, his grip would have completely crushed the steering wheel. “Well, not first-hand experience, but I have more theoretical knowledge of the situation and the various complications that may arise. Which means I’m the most qualified. Thankfully my lab has the proper equipment to keep them stable while I assess the situation and formulate a plan.”

What he didn’t want to admit to them --as well as himself-- was that he didn’t feel qualified or as confident as he usually did. He felt overwhelmed, his mind racing and a sense of dread weighing heavily in his stomach. He felt ill and on the verge of panic. He wasn’t used to uncertainty or fear. He wasn’t used to his emotions coloring his thought process and the apprehension only made it worse.

Things didn’t get any better once they reached the Membrane home and you were transferred onto the small medical table to allow his instruments to do their work. His feelings actually intensified once he instructed the children to stay upstairs, leaving him alone with you. He was sure if he didn’t have stabilizing protocols programmed into his prosthetic arms, his hands would be shaking uncontrollably.

His body was on autopilot as he started the machines and scanners, his mind running through the potential outcomes. You may not be dead (yet) but there was a strong possibility that you would never wake and remain comatose. Or you could semi-wake into a permeative vegetative state. Or wake with amnesia. Changed personality. Aphasia or some other type of neurological disorder.

Or you could be left with some kind of physical disability, though that was probably the least concerning at this point. Those were outcomes that he and his team could easily deal with. As long as you were mentally okay. As long as you were still you. That is what he truly worried about.

But really, he would take whatever outcome as long as it meant you remained in his life, in the boys’ life. It seemed irrational that he was so emotionally invested in your wellbeing when he had only known you for less than half a year, but you had made such a positive impact in all of their lives in such a short time. For you to be ripped from them so suddenly… For him never to see you smile again, listen to your voice, your laugh. The way he could see your emotions so clearly on your face, the compassion and care you held.

He pressed a hand to your forehead, less to allow his sensors to measure your vitals, and more of an instinctive action to reassure himself. He could do this. You would pull through. He would see your eyes open once more. Maybe even feel your hand in his.

You would pull through. It made him ill to imagine otherwise.

--+--

When you came too, bright lights shined down from above, nearly blinding you.

“What the hell?” You groaned, covering your eyes from the light. You tried to sit up, but barely moved an inch before falling back on the bed. Table? Whatever it was, it was not your bed. Even it was more comfortable then whatever you were laying on.

“I would recommend not moving,” Professor Membrane’s voice stated coldly from somewhere nearby. “I’m still reviewing your neurological system for any abnormalities.”

“Uh…” Your hand was frozen mid-movement to shield your eyes from the bright lights. Your memory was finally waking up with the rest of your body (which hurt like hell) and you could recall helping Zim and Dib. Volunteering to allow Zim’s computer to ‘read your memories’ and then…

Pain. Confusion. Feeling very, very ill. “Am I going to be okay?”

“My preliminary reports indicate you should,” the professor sighed from somewhere out of your line of sight. “Thankfully. And despite whatever insanity compelled you to allow two middle school children to conduct a highly theoretical experimentation of hijacking your nervous system via a spike to your brainstem.“

Ok, he was… he was definitely upset. And when worded like that, you could see why. In retrospect, that had not been one of your brightest ideas. You swallowed carefully, hoping it wouldn’t interfere with whatever tests he was doing before quietly adding on: “I’m sorry….” Sorry you agree to something that in hindsight was a stupid idea. Sorry for apparently worrying him. Sorry for being such a bother.

“I assume the only reason you agreed to such a thing was because you didn’t understand the potential consequences.” His voice returned to that initial coldness that was not at all the Professor Membrane you were used to.

“Well, Zim said it might hurt, but that was likely the worst of it.” Though now you wondered if he even knew what it was like being hooked up to the thing. To have your brain and mind scanned by a computer. He was Irken, the pak knew all his thoughts, controlled him completely, was him.

You fought back a wince from the sharp pain that thankfully faded as quickly as it came. Still, the thought, the idea, lingered and occupied your thoughts during the long, heavy silence before Professor Membrane sighed. “You can move now.”

You let your hand drop to the side of the table and looked over at him. He moved away from the computer on the other side of the lab and walked up to where you laid. The glare of the lights off his goggles prevented you from seeing his eyes as he looked down at you, making you feel even smaller.

This must be what a lab rat felt like.

“‘Might hurt’ isn’t even a broad oversimplification appropriate for this situation,” he started, his hands clenched into fists at his side. “In fact, that would have been the most pleasant consequence if something had gone wrong. Previous simulations have included partial to complete paralysis, permanent loss of bowel and bladder function, detachment of consciousness, several varying degrees of mental disabilities--”

“Hey,” you interrupted between breaths as he tried to list everything. You reached over to grab his hand, and was disappointed to find that took a large chunk out of your energy. Still, you offered a smile as he looked down at you. “I don’t have any of those. See, I can even wiggle my toes.”

He glanced down at your toes, which wiggled freely. You even rolled your ankles to prove your point, causing him to sigh as he looked back towards your face. “I’ve had the unfortunate experience of having colleagues suffer for science, but they often fully understood the risks. But you…” he squeezed your hand tightly, his coldness evaporating and replaced with a pained tone. “Those boys should have known better.”

“They’re kids. They didn’t know better.” Despite feeling like your body was cut from lead and weighed ten times more than it should, you forced yourself to sit up. Professor Membrane automatically reached to steady you as you swayed on the edge of the table, gripping your shoulders tightly.

“They should have. You should have. If something had gone wrong, if you had been seriously injured…”

Later, you would blame the lightheaded-dizzy feeling for the fact that you reached up and cupped his face with both hands through his lab coat’s collar. You weren’t quite prepared to actually feel the shape of his face beneath the heavy fabric. Logically, you knew it was there; knew that his face wasn’t some vague, shapeless form hidden from view. But now you could feel the firmness of his jaw and the soft give of his cheeks. Your tactile sense happily trying to supply your brain with enough information to imagine what was beneath.

There was a face there, strong and masculine from the way it felt.

Focus, you mentally scolded yourself after a moment had passed. Sure, he hadn’t said or moved an inch, but you were probably massively weirding him out.

“Everything’s fine, so you don’t need to worry about that,” you continued, hoping he’d be reassured and not more freaked out. Yet just as you began to pull away, his hands grasped yours, making you pause. You expected him to pull your hands away, but instead he laced his fingers with yours, squeezing tight.

His head lowered, his forehead pressing against yours and the collar of his lab coat tickling your nose as his goggles pressed into you. Your heart hammered in your chest as you felt the subtle warmth of his skin pressed against his, his breath ghosting across your face as it escaped the confines of his lab coat.

“I can’t understand it,” he muttered softly.

“What’s that?” you whispered, not wanting to break whatever this moment was. Dare you admit to yourself how tender and intimate it felt?

“These feelings. These emotions. I tried to ignore them, to not allow them to interfere with our relationship, but controlling them is far more difficult than I anticipated.”

No. No no no. There was no way, no way that Professor Membrane would have feelings. For you.

Yet what else could he be talking about?

No. You had to be imagining things. “You’re allowed to be upset with us,” you said, hoping maybe that was what he was talking about. “In retrospect, what we did was idiotic. And dangerous. So it would only be natural? I mean, Dib is your son, and we’re friends, I think, so…”

You trailed off as he hummed thoughtfully, “Friends… maybe I’m simply unfamiliar with non-professional relations and that is what’s causing this confusion.”

You were pretty sure he was talking to himself, but couldn’t help but nudge his nose slightly with yours, catching his gaze. His eyes were a dark amber, both pleading and full of confusion. As if you held the answer he was looking for, and he needed to know. It made your tongue feel thick and your chest tight. “Well, if so, we’re in this together. I don’t exactly have a ton of friends myself, so we’re both kinda new to this, I guess.”

If possible, he sunk against you a little more, squeezing your hands tightly and filling you with warmth. “I cherish our friendship, Mx. Nemo. So please, don’t do something so idiotic again.”

“Yes sir,” you said, sure this was a dream. Much more realistic and less, uh, mature than others. But to have this kind of closeness with him… it had to be a dream. “No more experiments, I promise.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far to refute any further experimentation,” he added with both a tone of skepticism and humor. “Just none that involves a metal rod into your brainstem.”

“Okay, yeah,” you finally smiled. “I can definitely promise that.”

--+--

It took another hour before Professor Membrane finally conceded on letting you stand and leave the lab. Both Dib and Zim were sitting at the kitchen table, looking rather morose and anxious until you stepped out from behind Professor Membrane.

“Hey boyos,” you greeted as they instantly perked up.

“Mx. Nemo!”

Both instantly plowed into you, wrapping their arms around you tightly and knocking you back a few steps into Professor Membrane behind you. You barely registered his hands on your shoulders to keep you steady and were more focused on the boys’ futility trying to hide their crying as you wrapped your arms around them. “Hey, woah. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

You rubbed their backs as best you could, and after a long moment they reluctantly let go, both sets of eyes proving they had indeed been crying.

Proving that Zim was faulty because Irken Invaders didn’t cry. They felt nothing for no one-

You bit back a hiss at the sudden influx of sharp pain at the base of your skull. The only reason you didn’t stumble to your knees was the Professor’s firm grip on your shoulders, keeping you stable before the pain disappeared as quick as it came.

“Perhaps you should sit,” he offered, voice colored with concern as you regained your balance. “It’s quite likely you will experience adverse effects from your incident, so it is best to take it easy in the interim.”

“I’m fine,” you insisted as you purposely stepped away, proving you could stand on your own without issues. You did wobble, but just a little. “Just a little headache, that’s all.”

While your words were meant more for the professor, Zim latched on to them as he glared at Dib. “See! I told you they’d be fine!”

“They are not fine!” Dib shot back with a snarl. “They’ve been out for hours! And you heard dad, Mx. Nemo could still experience issues because of your stupid machine!”

“I agree,” Professor Membrane added, sounding firm once more like he had in the lab. “Just because everything is stable now doesn’t mean that something disastrous--“

“I am fine!” You interrupted, giving him a pointed look. You didn’t want the boys to feel any worse than they already did. That, and you didn’t want to think about what could have happened, ordwell any more on the fact you had massively messed up this time.

You all had learned a lesson, and that was sufficient. Right?

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to agree as he crossed his arms. “Just because no serious complications are currently apparent doesn’t mean that you are completely unharmed. The insertion site in your neck is still prone to infection, and other issues--“

“Yes, yes, yes,” you huffed, crossing your own arms. “But you don’t need to go over all of that in front of the children.”

“They need to understand that their actions have serious repercussions,” he argued. “They could have killed you, or worse. If they are going to conduct such experiments, they need to realize the responsibility that comes alongside cutting-edge science and human experimentation. This time, you three were extremely lucky. It’s more than possible that in the next experiment with such risks you won’t be so fortunate.”

Silence hung heavily over the kitchen at his words. And you had to admit, if the boys were doing ‘experiments’ involving life or death, they needed to know the risks, but you felt like he could be a little gentler about it.

Or maybe that was your own ego protesting.

Besides, Zim was no boy. He was an Irken invader who had killed more than you could know. Whole planets gone in a blink because of Zim. He was no child; he was--

“I thought luck wasn’t very ‘scientific’,” Gaz commented from the table, where she had apparently been sitting the entire conversation, engrossed in her game.

“Wishing isn’t scientific,” the professor pointed out. “Unfortunately, sometimes when facing variable outcomes, luck is indeed a component. Or rather, luck is a simplistic term for the randomness of quantum variables that make it impossible to correctly calculate all factors to arrive at a predicted outcome.”

You blinked trying to understand his words. "Dad, just say luck is real," Gaz sighed, looking up from her game with a deadpan expression. "So what, now that Mx. Nemo's okay, everything can calm down?"

#invader zim #professor membrane #enter the florpus #dib membrane #invaderzim #catching flies #invader zim zadf #professor membrane x reader #catching flies fic #invader zim fic

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whotaughtyougrammar · 2 years ago

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Ask game: Henry/Darryl to switch it up, but I know nothing about Mass Effect(?) so dead husband guy and his partner would also be interesting to hear too

Oakson: I ship it!

What made you ship it? What was the line? "I silence his dumb ass with a kiss?" Darryl feeling love for the first time in a long time? IDK if they didn't want us shipping Oakson they shouldn't have leaned so hard into it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What are your favorite things about the ship? Is it bad that I'm blanking on my favorite things? I do think a lot of it comes down to Will and Matt having a really good dynamic and really good chemistry with one another. I think if it wasn't for that I could have easily just been "Yeah I don't see it!" I do actually really like the argument they had with each other before everyone decided on going to the Pyramid, I think it's a good sign that even after what was frankly a pretty serious discussion they could both set it aside and still have the same rapport as they did, same as ever. Of course there were other, bigger things to worry about after that, so......

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? LMAO oh boy, now, it's been a long time since I did a relisten to the early episodes and I've only listened to the ending arcs once on account of me hating them so much so I'm going off half-remembered bits, but I don't appreciate is how they absolutely played into it the Oakson dynamic as the podcast went on, only to basically pull back completely and stick with a "just friends" sort of deal, which, IDK it leaves me feeling some type of way.

(OMG poor Thane, forever known to my non-Mass Effect mutuals as the 'dead husband' guy 💀💀)

Commander Shepard/Thane Krios: I ship it!

What made you ship it? I'm a sucker for a cold, hard badass who is soft with their loved ones and surprisingly gentle and reserved. It's just A Thing and OKAY LOOK, if you had asked me like 5 years ago what my type was, I definitely would not have said "neglectful single dad with a dead wife who also fucking gets killed in a very stupid way whoops" but like the facts don't lie and I am feeling some type of way about it.

What are your favorite things about the ship? I like that Thane finding a second chance at love even after having given up on it, of learning to live again even when (probably especially when) he's dying of a terminal illness. I love that he calls her Siha, a warrior-angel, and like the parallels between Shepard and Irikah both being warriors in their own way and that's what Thane is attracted to? Chef's kiss. I love that when he goes to Shepard on the eve of their suicide mission, he can cry and confess that he once again feels afraid of dying, and I love that when he does, Shepard takes his hand and asks him to "be alive with [her] tonight."

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? I will be completely honest when I say that I am not opposed to Thane dying, I just hate the way it happened (he JUMPED on a SWORD), and I especially hate the way everyone just sort of glosses over his death, even Shepard if you romance him and that is because the writers LITERALLY FORGOT he was written as one of your romance options!! I also think the Citadel DLC memorial was terrible, but hey at least we can say that Thane's last words to Shepard were the only thing that canonically makes (a Thanemancer) Shepard cry. So there's that.

#thanks for the ask!#mass effect #dead husband #thane krios #commander shepard #femshep #female shepard #shrios #dungeons and daddies #dndads #dungeons and daddies odyssey #dndads odyssey #oakson #henry oak #darryl wilson

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fireemblems24 · 2 years ago

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DLC Ch 2

Playing Ch 2 of the DLC now. I want to finish this before Three Hopes drops. Also, weird formatting again for the same reasons as the first chapter.

Oh, cool, a new place to wander around! Lol there's an Abysskeeper. I know Gatekeeper is controversial, but I think it's funny.

Wow, the church has alters to other gods in its basement and let's people worship there? I wish a single one of the current major religions was that open minded.

Hilda sounds so proud of Balthus being a nuisance lol.

Dimitri wants to join the Abyss lamo. I bet he's wishing for a place he could just hide. Does anyone headcannon he hid here during the timeskip?

Ok, I hope I can format normal now?

We're good, ok, now I need to just check everyone's weapons and then go back to the story.

STORY

Hapi or Balthus is my favorite so far, they're both funny. I'm still deciding if Constance is annoying or not and if I buy into Yuri's character or not yet. I can't help but remember how I felt about Dimitri at the start vs now though, lamo.

It's funny how Edelgard is saying almost nothing. I wonder if she's like - oh, god, what if it's TWSITD or Jeritza or Hubert?

God, Dimitri and Ashe are both like - someone in danger!!! must protect!!! Precious, both of them.

Byleth can say "we have no choice." It's really amusing to me how many "I don't wanna!!!!!s Byleth is getting. I'm picking them all.

So there's something up with Hapi's sighs? Oh - that's why the monster showed up. What a random power. I must sigh like every 10 minutes when I'm at work. That would SUCK.

Side note, it's so funny when there's a group of people standing around in this game and they just . . . don't really move.

GAMEPLAY

Oh, wow, I got all 4 of them way earlier than I thought.

Damn, Ashe is just . . . killing everything with criticals.

How many reinforcements keep showing up?? Like, good grief. Glad people warned me and I picked normal lol. There's nothing particularly hard at the moment, but it's like - again?!?!

They really just love pulling out the Death Knight, don't they? I wonder if these people are working with TWSITD then? Or does he just join any rando group of baddies that let him kill stuff.

Didn't manage to engage the Death Knight. He just sort of stayed on the second level, and I couldn't really get to him. Next time.

Byleth MVP. Honestly, everyone pulled their weight here, tbh.

New guy has a nice voice. Aelfric.

STORY

So Aelfric is like the church leader of the Abyss?

Aelfric mentioning Almyrans - Claude just chillin'

I'm betting Dimitri really wishes he could just disappear here, but his duty to vengeance, Duscur, and Faerghus says no.

I mean, if it's foreigners and the ill, that's pretty shitty they'd want it gone. But if it's tax evaders and gangs, then I'd want it gone too.

Oh, good grief, now another person is begging the experienceless teacher to be a teacher. But the Ashen Wolves don't want me lamo. I actually like that.

Aelfric calling them flock is weird.

Dimitri's shoulders are just . . . so big lol, and that tiny waist.

WAIT - I GET TO LEARN ABOUT A MOM!!!! In THIS game!!! 100% picking that. And she has a name. 😭

Balthus abs are just . . . a lot lamo. Not that I mind.

Linhardt talked! I swear he's gotten more lines than Edelgard.

So Rhea used that rite to try and bring back Sothis. So who are they going to try to bring back here, because there's no way they spend this much time on it if it has nothing to do with the story.

Oh, God, Dimitri 😭😭😭 I just realized, he's hearing about a rite that brings people back from the dead. He must be so tempted 😭😭😭 Saying he understands why so many people want it. 😭😭

Man it would be awesome if it was Dimitri who tried to do the rite at the end of this, but there's just no way - it'll be one of the new characters or some un-introduced yet villain.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #ashen wolves #cindered shadows

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skribbz · 4 years ago

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dina for the character thing 👀

This got kind of long so...

First impression

The first time I watched the dance trailer, I wasn’t sure what to think. I was fuckin HYPED that Ellie had a gf, and I figured if Ellie likes her then she has to be cool. But of course I saw that Ellie was wearing her bracelet and became PANIK. And also knowing the game was going to be a revenge story I was so afraid that Dina was going to die. I was like are they really going to kill off every girl Ellie kisses?

Kind of only semi related, but I remember a really early interview where Halley Gross mentioned that she “got someone pregnant”, and I was like “well they didn’t establish that Dina was with a dude before Ellie for nothing.” So I had a hunch Dina was going to be pregnant since the beginning. I was super excited at the idea of Ellie having a kid 👀

Impression now

QUEEN

GODDESS

DESERVES A DLC OR A WHOLE SPINOFF GAME TO HERSELF

But seriously, I think she’s an amazing character, even though she’s not in the majority of the game, they managed to give her so much backstory and history. I’m also really glad she stands on her own and isn’t just “the love interest”.

Favorite moment

God so hard to choose. If I have to though, the one where she shoots the guy through the roof. Because what a badass. She got blown up, fell off a bridge, fought through soldiers, and somehow climbed up to the roof.

Idea for a story

My first thought was to list of one my AU ideas, but I’ll use my idea for a Dina DLC (and then post my AUs).

My idea for a Dina DLC would be very similar to Left Behind, with switching back and forth between the past and present. It would start off when they get separated on Day 1.

You’d play as Dina and fight through the WLF to get to Ellie. You’d get a second of downtime and Dina would be reminded of a time when her, Talia, and their mother were running from/fighting some Ravens (that was the name of the gang in NM right???). It would be more of a stealth based thing, since you’d be just a lil 10 year old Dina. At the end, it would be the part where Dina had to kill the guy attacking her mom. She’d be super upset about her first time killing someone, and her mom and sister would have to comfort her. It would switch back to current time when she’d go back to mowing people down without a second thought.

Then the next part would maybe be set on Day 2, while Ellie is out looking for Tommy. Dina would be worried about Ellie of course, and upset over not being able to help her. Some WLFs would roll through, and see the lights on and investigate. Dina would have to fight them off alone. The flashback sequence to for this would be right after her mother dies. Her and Talia would have just buried her. That night they’re both still grieving, then get spotted by some Ravens. They can’t run, so they have to fight. During this Dina would be angry and be really savage in the way she fights and the things she says. It would be a way to show that she does understand how Ellie is feeling at that moment.

After that would be some Gentle Farm Time. It would be mostly like the farm section in the main game. Taking care of JJ, farming, and herding sheep. But we’d get to see a lot of Ellie’s flashbacks and outbursts. It would give us not only a deeper look into that, but a better understanding of Dina’s traumas and how she handles them, and puts Ellie and JJ before her own self.

The last part would show Dina adjusting to post-Ellie life. She’d be working toward a job doing something really important to Jackson, maybe an electrician. Maybe the final battle would be some Hunters attacking the dam. She can still fight, but prefers not to if possible. The very last scene would be her at home with JJ. There’s a knock at the door, then it cuts to black. We all know who it is, but it ends ambiguously just like the main games.

As for my ridiculous AU Dinas...

There’s the poor Dina with her very chronically ill son, the pro gamer AU where Ellie is her #1 rival, my TLoU3 concept Dina, the Apex Legends crossover (lmao) Dina who is techie/medic, the Flower Shop AU Dina...

The stripper AU

We really need to post our AU masterlist sometime.

Unpopular opinion

I don’t even know. I think most people generally think she’s a great character, and I agree. If anyone disagrees I’ll fight them myself.

Favorite relationship

Ellie of course.

They’re relationship is just so amazing. Like where do I even begin?? They compliment each other so well, but have so many similarities. They’re both so strong and capable.

Favorite headcanon

Her faith grows stronger after Seattle. I still don’t think she’d be SUPER religious, but I think that having that familiarity would be comforting for her to fall back on after everything she went through. It would also be a wonderful way to help JJ connect to his grandmother and aunt.

She tells Ellie she’s “not much of a believer”, yet her home is full of Jewish symbols and books. I even noticed they have mezuzah on most of their doors.

I also hc that once Ellie returns, she would see how much it helped Dina manage and take an interest and eventually convert herself.

#apocalypsebutch

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partnersatfazbear · 4 years ago

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Midnight Motorist - An Essay

I promised this awhile ago, but my thoughts on Midnight Motorist... This mini-game has literally kept me awake for hours on two separate occasions trying to figure it out, lol! So, reading the Updated Freddy Files *suggests, not confirms* that Toy Chica: The High School Years may be how William lured each child. I made notes on this, of course.

Although I listed who was used as a stand in for each, it has no bearing on the actual child killed.

The first, represented by Foxy, is already dead. I assumed this was a stand in for Norman/CC.

Second, represented by Freddy, was lured away with promises to help with homework.

Third, represented by Wolf. Run over their dog. We all know this is referring to Susie/Chica.

Fourth, represented by Toy Bonnie. It was suggested that their house be set on fire and then Chica uses her body to put out the flames. Best I could settle for this one was perhaps pulling a fire alarm at the restaraunt, or something similar.

Fifth, Funtime Foxy. Live hostages. Presumably luring a child away with promises that their friend / missing friend is in the back room.

Sixth, the Puppet. This one is the most interesting and why I'm including it here. Chica says "I'll come over to their house later, maybe break through a window, or set the house on fire and smoke them out [IIRC, I am paraphrasing a little]" The window, in my honest opinion, has to refer to Midnight Motorist. Scott has made a point of adding things in a following game to clarify the game before (starting at least since Sister Location). With the other one referencing Susie and Fruity Maze, I think this theory holds up, although it doesn't really help solve Midnight Motorist I think it's very important to note. (William has as much of an obsession with fire as Henry, huh?)

Lastly, there is Pigpatch. It's implied William would have knocked out a child and told them he rescued them after being "kidnapped". I really like this one.

The number of victims adds up to the number of children: BV, Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, Chica, Golden Freddy, and Puppet.

Now that that's out of the way, I feel this heavily implies the footprints outside the window in MM are William's. The feet match the Glitchtrap suit, which most of us assume is a prototype for Spring Bonnie. Not only that, but obviously the springlock suits wouldn't work in the rain. Second, if you take some logic to it and see Charlotte as the first victim (no suit, no hiding the body, developing MO) then this killing would be the start of his MO--kind of an "in-between" point where he's evolving. Now, as to who the people in the house are...

In my fic, I kept the general idea that it was William as mustard man (thank you MatPat, this is my fav name for our mysterious fellow). Mostly because despite the evidence listed there is still a ton of evidence supporting it:

Later That Night - this is the name of the game file for MM.

Rain - Due to the in-game rain and this title its heavily implied to be just after Charlotte's death.

Grey Text - Michael is the only one to have the grey text and has similarities to Chair Person. (Note: I think Matpat did point out the color is slightly different, but it's still grey.)

Purple Car - William is the only one seen with a Purple Car back in one of the mini-games (FNAF 2, IIRC). To further support this, the car is also seen as an easter egg in the Dreadbear DLC of Help Wanted (with purple headlights). This is probably the most damning evidence that Mustard Man is William, in my opinion... but then how do the footprints make sense?

In my fic, I explained it away as footprints from the evening before (it was the best I could muster at the time) but this is super weak :V So this kind of brings us to alternative theories. If it is William, the supporting evidence is... good evidence of that. So, the other options are:

A Child Victim's Family - This is my second favorite theory because I think it could possibly work for, say, TOYSNHK [The One You Should Not Have Killed, hereby pronounced Toy-Shnuck] (who I made Cassidy). The problem with this is the child's gender is referred to as male. And there's a huge debate on Cassidy being female in game lore and TOYSNHK/GF being male. It IS a gender neutral name and wouldn't be the first time Scott changed a gender (see: Puppet), BUT it's pretty weak since all the info we have on TOYSNHK is recent. It could be another child that isn't Susie, though, but why show some random child as opposed to an important one? PizzaSim's games all revolve around specifics like Puppet (the first to die overall) and Susie (the first to die of the main five).

Henry is Mustard Man - This is the theory my wife likes. I can sort of see it and I even considered it at one point, but there isn't much evidence to go on. Why is the car purple is the biggest wrench for me. I also have problems with Mustard Man's attitude ("This is MY house", "He'll be sorry") Even if Henry was torn up about Charlotte, I can't see him treating his kids this way. This would also heavily imply the missing window kid to be Sammy, which hasn't been referenced in the game lore at all. He was barely mentioned in the novel trilogy, even. This also makes Gray Text either Aunt Jen or Henry's wife. There's just not enough to support this, in my opinion.

UPDATE 5/28/21 - Please see this post analyzing Fazbear Fright’s story “What We Found” for a more detailed look at what I’m about to explain that supports the Henry theory: Also from the books, CC / Norman is now referred to as Evan.

For this to work, we must assume Henry is an alcoholic after Charlotte’s death. I think the “later that night” evidence becomes somewhat irrelevant, because if this was the night of Charlotte’s death it wouldn’t really make sense. Part of me wondered if it took place after FNAF 2′s Springtrap cutscene, but the footprints don’t match. It has to be Spring Bonnie or Glitchtrap. Also, Evan and Elizabeth have also died by this point because neither are seen in the mini-game in this theory. You also must assume, based on the story evidence, that Henry married / stayed with Mrs. Afton after William either “died” or they divorced--they had to have been together for an x amount of time as for Mrs. Afton to be living with Henry but also the fact that Mrs. Afton kept Michael and the purple car. Henry using William’s car wouldn’t be unheard of if Mrs. Afton kept the car and the house, I just don’t feel Henry would use it unless he had been using the vehicle awhile. This also explains the Bonnie-esque footprints outside since William would want to come get / visit his kid he’s [most likely] no longer allowed to see. He may even be taking Michael back to the FNAF 4 house (implying that the house we see in MM is Henry’s). Speaking of, if we assume William’s intentions are [likely] bad, he’s probably taking Michael back to experiment with the Funtime-Nightmares, if you believe this theory. I think this theory is probably true considering the random grave (which, in this context has no answer except a Twisted animatronic aka a Nightmare) AND because the blueprints in Sister Location SHOW the Nightmares on the display during Funtime Freddy’s repair, implying they are real and not imagined. This is also assumed to be punishment for Michael killing Evan. I think Michael goes WITH William because of his tumultuous relationship with a now mentally ill and drunkard Henry. Henry probably knows that William killed Charlotte and a common theme in some works is a parent seeing their child (or a murderer) in a child aka Michael reminds Henry of William, so he neglects him (which in itself wouldn’t be out of place for Henry, since he already wasn’t a very attentive parent).

The main issue with this theory is that it sort of assumes that CC was Michael and not Evan. I don’t think that’s the case, though.

While we're on this version, I also want to discuss evidence for the MM driver being drunk. Not only are you driving on the opposite side of traffic, the Files book explicitly states "crashing" into the secret road for the mini-game. Not that Henry couldn't be drunk, especially if he just found Charlotte dead, but... for me personally it seems a stretch. And I already mentioned the car.

William's Father - This is an interesting idea, but the foot prints kind of rule it out. At least there's an explanation for the car, though, right? Still, it doesn't explain the foot prints unless you assume maybe his father was more alike Afton than we thought. But then why bother showing us background on our killer so late with no pay off? I easily dismiss this theory.

A new theory, at least one I haven't seen posed yet:

Vanny - That's right. Vanny. What if she survived/lived? Some leaks even suggest she may be related to the Aftons. Mustard Man's color is similar to Princess Quest's heroine. It explains the footprints, but doesn't explain the car. This would make for a nice foreshadowing of Vanny, IMO, but it’s weak at best.

You know when Matpat discusses "that one puzzle peice that we're missing"? That's this entire mess of a mini-game. Don't get me wrong, the music is bawlin and it's fun to talk about, otherwise I wouldn't write about it, but it is undoubtedly FRUSTRATING.

What are your opinions?

I also wanted to point out some other interesting things from the Files book I haven't seen discussed: There is confirmation of two sets of gold suits. Not only is there the FNAF 2 phone call, but the text specifies between Spring Bonnie/Springtrap and Fredbear/Golden Freddy. IE: FNAF 4 suit is Springtrap but the one from Stage 01 is Spring Bonnie. This could be oversight, but... I don't think it is. I'm sure most of the fandom does ASSUME this anyway, but I felt it was worth noting. (In my fic, they are the same suit, but the second sets are upgraded after the original failures).

The poster behind Scraptrap. Nothing really interesting here, but there is an image of a building with two gargoyle (lion?) statues behind him. Presumably this would be a police station or Fazbear Fright. I just thought it was cool since I never noticed this in the image. My initial thought was this might be a reference to the hospital in Man in 1280, but that’s a stretch.

Jr's. This is the random building in Midnight Motorist in which Green Man says "gtfo" to our Mustard Man. I should mention I feel that is good evidence to it being William or Henry, depending what the building is. We can 100% say it is NOT a bar (in my fic, that's what I used, even though it doesn't make sense. I don't see a drunk person driving to a second bar so close to their home when they could have gone there initially, BUT then I am a home-drinker when I do drink, so I don't know the night life). The Files refer to it as simply "a restaraunt". Whether this IS a FNAF location (also referred to as restaraunts) or just some random eatery, it's something to contemplate. I am in the camp that it isn't FNAF 2, at least.

I have some other things from Fazbear Frights' Blackbird I wanna discuss, too, but I'll wait until the book is out to help you all avoid spoilers.

Now, this is all just my thoughts on it. Please don't take anything too seriously (as Scott says don't rack your brain on this, it's not worth it). I just think these are some points that haven't been discussed before.

Also, if you wanna read my theory on why Scraptrap is partly the Golden Freddy suit, I have that theory here.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk? <-- is that a dated reference? Probably.

#fnaf theory #fnaf theories #midnight motorist #updated freddy files #the freddy files #fan theory #fan theories #five nights at freddy's

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irregularjohnnywiggins · 4 years ago

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Okay, so I've been working a lot recently on my version of the DCU, particularly the Batman side of it, so quick recap on stuff I did to a variety of the villains:

I lengthened out Harvey Dent's fall from grace extensively, and filled in a lot of the gaps: in most versions I've read (which... isn't many, I'm not that well-versed in Two-Face lore) there's a gap between his introduction and him getting acided, but after said aciding he almost immediately goes to the robbing the Second National Bank on 2nd Street at 2nd Avenue thing, and honestly I think there's way more opportunities with a slowly corrupting man in the role of District Attorney.

Scarecrow doesn't have Fear Toxin at all. He keeps trying to get it, but the ingredients for it are really hard to get so it's only deployed in the extremely rare circumstances that Crane has both all the ingredients and time to make it. What that means is that most of Batman and Scarecrow's fights are elaborate games of theatricality and deception, to steal from Nolan, Scarecrow trying to hide which component of the toxin he's after from Batman and both of them trying to scare the other into giving something away.

There are two distinct versions of Poison Ivy - the first is a femme fatale who uses pheromones to seduce and then kill people and who is regarded as a mentally unstable ecoterrorist, with no-one believing her claims of being an Avatar of the Green. The second is literally Gaia's Vengeance, a supernatural being that is almost completely detached from humanity aside from a few morals and an attachment to Harleen Quinzel as the only doctor to not see her talk of the Green as the core of her problems. The two are sharply divided by that arc from Alan Moore's Swamp Thing when Alec goes to Gotham and beats the shit out of Batman, during which he dropped in on Arkham and taught Ivy everything about this connection to the Green that she couldn't even express because humanity doesn't have a word for it. Also the second version of Ivy works a lot like Batman's version of Mxyzptlk or Circe - an antagonist that Bruce has no chance against in a straight fight, and so he has to convince her that she should stop her plans without registering himself to her as a threat, because if he does he's screwed.

Speaking of Harley, like with Harvey I've lengthened out her backstory and added one key element: she's Batman's contact inside Arkham Asylum, largely because Arkham is still Arkham and she's one of the only people inside actually interested in helping the people locked up in there. Her fall is long, drawn out, and in no small part exacerbated by the institution of Arkham in general, with the guy who dresses as a giant bat being really the only person who doesn't think she's incompetent because she's got boobs and diagnosed schizophrenia.

Ra's al Ghul, on top of being influenced by my love of all things Assassin's Creed, has a constant problem of changing his nemeses. As he's introduced he's more of an Alfred villain than anything else - the reason he's equal parts obsessed with Bruce joining him and laughably bad at selling joining him to Bruce is because 'Get the Detective to join me' is Step 1 on his master plan of getting revenge on Alfred for killing him back in the 60s or 70s whichever is more Bond, and so he genuinely only sees Bruce as a pawn in his game against Alfred. Eventually he clues in and starts treating Bruce as a worthy adversary, but even then he spend more time bothering Tim because hey, corrupting the proxy son of the guy you're fighting worked brilliantly the last time, didn't it?

It should be noted that whilst Ra's elaborate game of pass the antagonist is going on, there's an shadow war between the League of Assassins, who follow Ra's and wear black robes and hoods, and the Order of Assassins led by Nyssa Raatko who wear white robes and hoods with red sashes and blades beneath their wrists have I spelled out what they're a ripoff of yet. Nyssa incidentally is a mishmash of a load of different versions of her - she's in a relationship with Sara Lance like in the Arrowverse, centuries older than Talia like in Death and the Maidens, violently opposed to Ra's cobtinued use of the Lazarus Pits like in the Arkham Knight DLC, and because she's mainly seen in The Hooded Man (i.e. the Green Arrow thing) there's a lot of Nasir from Robin of Sherwood there too.

You would not believe how hard I had to convince myself to not go with The Batman's version of the Riddler. Frankly it's still up in the air, it could go either way, it's either that or Eddie does a couple of brain-teaser crimes before giving up and going into PI work with Gordon. ...actually, fuck it, both of them, I would kill to have a story with Gordon trying to convince people he's completely trustworthy whilst his partner sounds like Freddy Krueger.

Because there's a lot of vampire villains in Batman stories, I just went 'fuck it' and replaced the Court of Owls with a secret community of vampires. They may still have the owl masks, I think they're kinda cool, but there less 'antagonists' and more one more social ill Batman needs to manage as both Batman and Bruce Wayne.

The Killing Joke is not a thing - whilst Babs does become Oracle, the Joker is not at all responsible for it. He may be responsible for Jason's death, I haven't figured that out yet, but he's by no means the multiple mass murderer DC likes to portray him as - he's a hedonist with a taste for puns, he only occasionally kills people and only when it's funny to do so, he's not a serial killer (ironically explaining it like that goes some way to convincing me why he isn't responsible for Jason's death).

He doesn't technically count as a Batman villain, but I honestly think Deathstroke may be my favourite character to write about in this entire thing, and honestly I love everything about him. The key idea behind this - and one I attribute completely to this post on @davidmann95 - is that Slade, convinced that he lives not in the DCU but rather in something like The Boys or a Youngblood comic, is completely oblivious to how the laws of this world work, and so no matter how physically strong he is he keeps getting dunked on by teenagers because that's his place in this world. But more than that - his conviction that he is the hero of this story leads him to miss that literally everyone in his supporting cast is better than him - his children are better fighters, his ex-wife is a better soldier, the person he thinks is his best friend is secretly manipulating him - because Wintergreen's the real supervillain here, in a twist that has a fascinating backstory both in and out of universe. Slade Wilson's life is one hilarious black comedy piece after another, a comedy he's incapable of seeing - and one that, because he acts like he's in a Mark Millar comic, he's completely deserving of.

And I think that's it? There are a few villains - Hush above all else - that I don't want to touch with a ten-foot pole, and a few that I feel don't really need changing - Freeze and Killer Croc spring to mind. And then there's the ones like Penguin or Bane, who I feel like I'd change but I have no real idea of how to change them yet. Expect a reblog with another block of text once I figure that out.

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radramblog · 4 years ago

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Ninty Direct Feb 2021 Thoughts

That was uh. Kind of disappointing, actually.

I suppose it was inevitable that we weren’t seeing Pokemon since they’re gonna do their own announcement. But like. Coulda done better here.

(oh no you’re now introduced to my awful awful handwriting, is this better or worse than my cursed interests? you decide)

Anyway I wrote down everything they announced so here we go

Pyra/Mythra in Smash: I don’t give a single shit about the Xenoblade series, but it’s one of like 2 IPs Nintendo has had in the last decade so sure whatever they can have second a character as a treat. I’m mostly just annoyed this wasn’t a third-party character.

Fall Guys Switch: This feels inevitable. It also feels about 5 months too late.

Outer Wilds Switch: I’ve heard some absolutely excellent things about this game, so fair enough. I’m not sure I’d buy it on the Switch, but I haven’t bought it at all yet, so.

Famicom Detective Club: This looks like a Ren’py game if it had an actual budget, but still used Ren’py for some reason. Prooobably not biting on this one chief.

Samurai Warriors 5: The only Warriors game I’ve played is the first hyrule warriors, and the only Nobunaga game I’ve played was Pokemon Conquest (it’s a trip), so. I don’t understand the obsession they have over there for this bloke, like imagine if Australia made like a tv series a year and a large handful of video games about Ned Kelly or something.

Legend of Mana: Shit I should go play Octopath Traveler huh

Monster Hunter Rise: Those monster designs looked pretty kickass, and those human designs made me crack up laughing. I’ve never played Monster Hunter, and I don’t think this is gonna change that.

Mario Golf: Hey look they confirmed Waluigi as playable ahead of time so people wouldn’t complain, good job guys. The multiplayer of this looked silly as hell, but I’m not spending 80 bucks on wii sports tennis for a multiplayer mode ill drag my mates to play all of once before we go back to playing Beetle Adventure Racing.

Tales from the Borderlands: Wait telltale is still around? Ok…? I haven’t played Borderlands and don’t really care for the Telltale style so nah

Capcom Arcade Stadium: They could have made a peripheral like the NES/SNES mini, but they didn’t, and it’s for the best. The fact that one of the games is free implies to me that the rest are going to be overcosted, though.

Stubbs the Zombie: What the fuck am I looking at. Apparently this is a remaster of an old Xbox game, but I’ve never heard of it. Weird as fuck, but sure.

No More Heroes III: No more Heroes is a franchise that I’ve never played, but always wanted to. It seems right up my alley aesthetic-wise, and the gameplay looks pretty solid too- probably gonna try one of the older ones first, though.

Neon White: Speaking of aesthetic. This looks anime as fuck and edgy in a good way, and the gameplay looks real fun. I actually really want to check this out, and no, it’s not just because of the skull masked goth gf on the cover. (Doesn’t hurt, though.)

DC Super Hero Girls Teen Power: Jesus, this looks like a bad tie-in game from the mid 2000s. Not like Battle for Bikini Bottom, more like a Jimmy Neutron. And while I really liked the Jimmy Neutron game as a kid (shame about the show), this doesn’t look like it’ll stand up to that…high bar. Listening to this trailer made me want to die a little bit inside.

Plants Vs Zombies: Battle for Neighbourville: I miss PopCap. Peggle 3, never.

Miitopia: This looks cute, and will probably lead to the same sort of 3am DMs that happened with Tomodachi Life. If it’s a full priced game, it probably won’t sell at all.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Mario items: uhhh sure. Don’t have that game, so.

Triangle Strategy: Aww fuck it’s a final fantasy tactics that looks like octopath and it might have an actually good story, shiiiiiiiiit. I’m gonna give the demo a try before I land on this, but I’m optimistic.

Star Wars Hunters: When was the last time we had an actually good Star Wars game? And don’t say Fallen Order. Yeah, didn’t think so.

KO City: Ah, the bottom of the barrel. Didn’t think it would take this long. At this point, the pseudo-cartoony style everything has because they’re trying to ape Fortnite is extremely grating on me. (I definitely thought this ad was for Fortnite stuff at first)

World’s End Club: OK this one has me actually hyped. I knew that Kodaka (director/writer of the Danganronpa series) and Uchikoshi (director/writer of the Zero Escape series) were working on a joint project, and we’re finally seeing the results. Both of them have multiple excellent games under their respective belts, and this new game looks like a fun spin on what I’m sure a lot of people were expecting from the pair. Literally both of them have made a game where (spoilers I guess, Keara stop reading here you haven’t played VLR yet) there’s a death game going on while the characters are unaware the world fucking ended, so to see the idea of the death game getting interrupted and the characters actually having to live in the dead world is really cool. I’m paying cloooose attention to this one.

Hades (Physical Release): Dang now if I buy hades I can choose to have some of my money go to EB games or JB hifi or something. Cooooooooooooool.

Ninja Gaiden Collection: This just made me wonder why Ryu Hayabusa isn’t in Smash yet. Is it because there’s already a Ryu?

Age of Calamity DLC: I don’t think I mentioned this in my post yesterday, but I would have put money on DLC for this game coming out. I still haven’t played it, but the first Hyrule Warriors had so much fucking DLC so this was inevitable in my eyes.

Bravely Default 2: Uhhh its another JRPG man idk what you want me to say. Didn’t play the first one, apparently its good.

Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection: Kinda funny having this next to the free original in the Capcom Arcade Stadium. Capcom is reviving old franchises, I guess? Where’s Mega Man Battle Network, cowards?

SaGa Frontier: I’ve heard good things about the SaGa series, but this looks awful. Not like gameplay wise, the style for the models and shit in game just disinterests me.

Apex Legends: Is anyone still playing this game?

BOTW 2 (no news): I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. Next Direct, I guess.

Skyward Sword HD: I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.

Seriously though, I was expecting 3 of the best Zeldas ever made to get ports, and we got the one that I wasn’t interested in. Fuck you too, I guess.

Splatoon 3: I actually was super interested in this, seeing as the trailer looked like it was gonna be for some like… side game, 3D RPG or something, exploring the origins of the Splatoon world? But then it’s just Splatoon 3. And like, I know people really like that series, but it never appealed to me. The world is neat! But I’m not interested in the series as it is.

And that’s the tea.

ADDENDUM:

shit that’s this weekend? huh ok -New Hearthstone expansions revealed, kinda like WOTC does with magic every so often, just like “here’s the next couple sets btw”. Since they do nothing but plagiarise off each other and MTG is having a set based on another WOTC property this year (D&D), there’s going to be a Starcraft set. -Diablo 4 release date that will not be stuck to since COVID is still a thing -people are hoping for starcraft 3. Blizzard to announce Starcraft 2 Episode 1. -New WoW expansion announced, determined objectively to be “worst ever” before trailer is even finished

#ramble #video games

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boundlesshart · 5 years ago

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how royal succession works in Almyra + Other Things about almyra that’s been rattling in my head since that nintendo dream interview laid waste on my crops

hi, so after reading M’s @ladamedepique drabble about a concubine war kid getting kmarted, i realized that what i actually want to write is the Everything i’ve been thinking about since this nintendo dream interview came out back in march. so i did. it’s 2am and im hungry.

i realize that it’s been a while, so the summary of that interview’s impact on my claude headcanons is “my handcrafted claude backstory that i had to write myself bc intsys decided fuck claude is now irreversibly fucked by the introduction of a bunch of half-siblings he had to be rivals with.” if you ever catch yourself wondering why this is such a mess, well because that’s exactly what this is! this is all subject to change, it’s same kind of “haphazard and bizarrely long half-baked headcanon report” that my dlc thought train was. i’ve changed my mind at least 20 times during this process i will change it again

i’d like to thank zotero for holding all of my journal articles and pdfs on the ottomans and their succession system, and also magnificent century og and kosem, while not being totally historically accurate, for being a fun soap opera to give me some visuals to work with in my head. i now have a positive understanding of what claude’s shitty little beard could realistically look like, which is a gift that i never thought i would have.

Almyran Succession

All of the king’s children, regardless of if they were born in or out of wedlock, is considered a legitimate prince or princess. This is pretty much the only title that they can expect to have, as they and their mothers cannot inherit any lands, titles or wealth that would have been passed to them from their own families. Almyran property law aims to avoid partitioning property between multiple heirs for the sake of maintaining the family’s financial stability. The throne of Almyra works under the same principle, which had led to the introduction, legalization, and practice of open succession.

Open succession, despite its potential to be cruel, is viewed as a necessary step to ensure that the throne would only be held by strong leaders chosen by the people (”people” ending up being the higher-ranking officials that would benefit from a specific child’s ascension). If they proved to be lacking, they would simply be deposed of and replaced.

What determines who becomes the next ruler of Almyra is not whether a child is the oldest of all the children, but if they and their allies have the political acumen to not only claim kingship but keep it, fighting off their rival brothers and sisters.

All sons and unmarried daughters are eligible to rule Almyra. By law is not only the next ruler’s right but duty to remove other potential heirs to secure their right to rule and the stability of their reign. Generally upon a ruler’s ascension to the throne, their brothers will be killed and their sisters married off or killed if they threaten their siblings’ rule. Exceptions have been made in the past, but they are few and far in between and have led to succession crises down the road.

The previous ruler’s choice for an heir is usually accepted after their death, and ideal for minimizing the interregnum period. Even so, it doesn’t guarantee that the heir will be able to keep the throne.

Ok, but where do the kids come from?

Rulers of Almyra are allowed to have multiple spouses, but they usually only marry for political purposes.

The vast majority of children are mothered or fathered by concubines with no background of political power, which is preferred. Princes and princesses are allowed to have children once they leave the palace (to prove that they can have them), but if they have too many they may be considered a threat to the king and dealt with appropriately.

I think the one mother-one child rule would have been in place here, not necessarily as a law but as a rule enforced by other spouses and concubines, as well as the ruler’s mother or father.

Princes and princesses aren’t dropping like flies, and murdering them without having the law on your side is considered treason of the highest order. They’re still aware of their competition and fear being murdered when one of their siblings takes the thrones, so few end up becoming friends.

Children are ultimately their mother’s or father’s responsibility. They are expected to guide them through their education and follow them to their provincial post when they are old enough, setting them up for success and paving their path to the throne. King and Queen Dowagers have been incredibly influential in Almyran history and support their children by representing them politically and managing their spouses and concubines.

Ok, whatever, just tell me what’s relevant to Claude:

Ibrahim, Claude’s father, became the king of Almyra only after 5 year civil war between himself and his two remaining brothers. He got to the throne first and is still feared for the ruthless execution of even his youngest brothers and sisters.

In all, Ibrahim has had 2 wives and 12 concubines, and he has fathered 10 sons and 6 daughters. A few died to childhood illnesses but most made it to at least 13 years old. He’s a doting father and cares for their well-being, though only when he happens to see them. Though he was a constant presence in Claude’s life, his half-siblings usually only saw him during holidays.

No one in Almyra knows that Tiana is the daughter of Duke Riegan, for all they know she’s a Fódlaner that King Ibrahim brought back with him after a short border strife with the Leicester Alliance. Obviously she goes by another name in Almyra, and here is where I think I’m going to bring back the first name I had for her, Desdemona. Suck it, intsys. She wasn’t liked when she first came due to being from Fódlan, and was accused of witchcraft when Ibrahim married her and devoted himself to her at the expense of his other wives as concubines. As the herd of children and concubines thinned, Tiana’s strong personality and battle prowess garnered her respect among the top officials of the Almyran court and even her enemies.

In Fódlan Year 1175, rebels infiltrate the palace walls and kill over a dozen people, from palace servants to princes and princesses. In the moment it was believed to be part of a revolt that was ongoing in the capital at the time and carried out by rebels storming the palace walls and stealing and killing whatever came in their way. After an investigation, it was discovered that that was just a cover up for.... a noble Almyran house trying to make a power grab through either an older son or with their own heir? I’ve been working out the details on this for months and I still don’t have them ironed out don’t look at me. It ends with a couple of older half-sibs dying but more importantly Claude’s older and younger brother dying and Claude nearly dying himself, only to survive with the Crest of Riegan. I imagine that there have been instances before hinted at him having the Crest of Riegan, but it was this incident that confirmed it for Tiana.

These are the notable royal family members, or the ones I’ve spent at least one second thinking of:

King Ibrahim II of Almyra: Claude’s dad, born Fódlan year 1131 so 19 when he ascends the throne. He is feared but respected, brutal to his enemies, firm with his allies... but you’d be surprised by how easygoing he actually is with friends and family. He’s young at heart and energetic, even laughing at jokes made at his expense, but only in very close company. He loves writing poetry, especially to Tiana, and he frequently sends her love letters so that one can be read out to her every morning and evening when her mail is given to her. Relishes the thrill of battle. Nader introduced him to kumis back when they were boys and to this day Ibrahim regularly drinks a glass each night, claiming it makes him stronger.

There’s a tradition in the royal family that all princes and princesses must learn a trade in case that they fall into misfortune. Ibrahim enjoys goldsmithing when he is alone, a good distraction from his thoughts. Claude’s earring is part of a set given to his mother, crafted by his father as a gift.

Tiana von Riegan/Desdemona: Claude’s mom, born Fódlan year 1135. Claude calls her a warrior goddess and a demon queen that would laugh at his expense, I imagine that she’s in that “dead serious but good humored about it” boat like Claudedad, but less sappy about it. A tough but loving mother, she was very involved in her children’s upbringing and did her best to secure their place in the royal family. She doesn’t teach any of her kids the Fódlanguage because she was distancing herself from That, but Claude is able to convince her to help him learn (though she was reluctant about it and limited their lessons greatly, forcing him to teach himself mostly). She has firmly decided to never return to Fódlan, but a cup of Leicester Cortania is her guilty pleasure. These days Tiana spends her time at her husband’s side in Maragheh, keeping up with her training.

Two older half-brothers: So Claude’s endings have him as heir to the throne without a mention of rivals, but part of me feels like that’s too simple for Claude considering he just up and walked out of there 7 years ago so here we are, two rivals. They’re probably early to mid 30s at this point and have one or two small children of their own. I don’t know their names yet, but my initial ideas are a “nice” brother cool calculated pushing up glasses kind of dude that is actually a huge dick and a chad dudebro who’s just trying to distance himself from these bad vibes.

If I had to give them trades, nice brother likes to fish and sails for pleasure (he governs a coastal province) and chad brother carves wooden thumbrings.

Orhan: Claude’s older brother, born Fódlan Year 1160. He was conceived months before Tiana went to Almyra (born 5 months after she arrived), so his parentage has been in doubt from day 1. I imagine him as having low self-esteem since he was believed to be a full-blooded Fódlaner, discriminated against in a similar way or worse than what the rest of his siblings went through. Historians would later debate whether or not he was actually Ibrahim’s son.... but we’re not historians, and Orhan was definitely his son. Died in the FY1175 uprising at the age of 15.

No idea what he looked like, he just happened to not look like his parents. His favorite food was salted cod, but he was rarely able to get it. Orhan enjoyed playing the violin.

Claude/Khalid: You know him, you love him, born Fódlan Year 1162 under another name. He’s the only kid that ended up getting the Crest of Riegan, and after one too many accidents where that crest ended up proccing, he’s been accused of practicing witchcraft like his mother. I think this would be a better like, concrete thing for the Almyrans to fixate on rather than a general “you’re half-Fódlan rahhh” and I think it would definitely go with Claude talking about how he was constantly fighting and explaining himself to get out of trouble.

If I’m going with the “kids can only inherit from the ruler of Almyra”, then I’m gonna have to figure out how Claude fits into this. His first move is to probably bullshit a loophole about how actually the Dukedom of Riegan doesn’t exist anymore and I may have destroyed Failnaught after the final battle so technically I didn’t really inherit anything that would give me an edge in Almyran politics. :). Ibrahim is pissed at Claude for going to Fódlan in the first place and getting caught up in a war and he definitely did not sign off on Nader bringing Almyran troops into a war that they have no business being involved in. The first thing Ibrahim does when Claude returns to Maragheh is shout at him and ground him to his apartment in the palace. And then proceed to assign Claude to a governmental post so that he’s out of his sight.

As an aside, I imagine that when Ibrahim dies and Claude rises to the throne, he deliberately delays his coronation so that it coincides with the Almyran New Year. It;s that kind of inconvenient dick move that he would delight in making bc symbolism.

You know what he looks like, in terms of food he strays away from sugary sweet stuff and towards meat and cheese. I’d like to think that he gains a genuine interest in gardening (like, beyond just cultivating poisonous plants as a cover for “gardening”) during his time in Fódlan and brings back different seedlings and scions for grafting back to Almyra.

Mehmet and Rahimah: Twins, born Fódlan Year 1164. Ok so basically I kind of wanted a dead sibling that was around Cyril and Lysithea’s age for the Drama of it (bc I thought of Claude looking at Cyril and thinking of his brother and immediately went “That hurts. Let’s do it”). But I ALSO thought what if Claude had a little sister, and then I ALSO thought what if Claude has a new full-blooded sibling that got conceived during the five year war, like the shittiest surprise. I’ve combined all those ideas into the twins.

First of all, they have more function than personality. Mehmet only exists to die during the uprising, but I’m starting to like Rahimah bc like... she literally loses most of her brothers including her twin, and then Claude up and leaves her for Fódlan (a place she has little connection to, regardless of her mother). Her only remaining sibling is gone for years, misses seven birthdays, her wedding with an Almyran general, the birth of her first child and the announcement of her second... like, by the time Claude comes back to Almyra she hates his guts and you know what? She’s right! I imagine Rahimah angry, but also grasping for literally any kind of deep and long-lasting relationship at this point. She loves her kids fiercely, she loves her husband, and even though they have their struggles she's still very close to her mom. Fuck her no-show brother Khalid, and fuck Fódlan for taking him away from her.

No idea what Mehmet looks like, like I said he only exists to die. Rahimah is shorter than Claude at maybe 5′4, round-faced and carrying herself gracefully. She’s lactose intolerant but she bears the pain for the sake of eating ice cream, and her husband goes to great lengths to get the ice for her. Likes to sing and dance with her son Ömer.

#headcanon #to sleep

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ladysmaragdina · 5 years ago

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I know I'm late as hell, but Dishonored 2... Which path should you choose (high/ low chaos) in order to stay the most true to Emily's and Corvo's character? I've always loved reading your Dishonored fics and analyzes, you always make the characters make such good sense =>

So this ask has been sitting in my inbox for over two weeks now. Which I feel terribly guilty about, because I want to give this question the thought and weight and few-thousand words it probably deserves, but… ugh, okay.

Dishonored 1 is my single favorite game, ever.

I’m utterly indifferent to Dishonored 2.

I’m not interested in Dishonored 2.

I have a hard time even saying that I like Dishonored 2.

I’m not going to be able to answer this question, anon. And I feel like I should explain why. (A lot of this is going to be a reatread of what I talked about in my big Dishonored 2 critique I wrote back when the game came out. Whoops)

I played through the game once, the instant it came out – as Emily in a Clean Hands run – and I really, really enjoyed it at first. I loved getting to play as Emily. I loved that the gameplay was objectively better than the first one. I loved how bright and different and rich the world looked. I was so fucking into Dishonored 2! I probably spent an extra couple of hours exploring every nook and cranny of the Royal Conservatory after knocking out the witches, and finding Corvo’s old apartment in the Dust District was a fucking treat. I love the Dishonored world. I wanted to know everything. I was gonna write so much fucking meta and fanfic.

But by the time I got to A Crack In The Slab, I was starting to realize that the story felt… off.

By the time I finished that mission and it was suddenly time to go get rid of the Duke… I mean, I was still having fun! The game was fucking cool! But I raced through the streets leadup to the Duke’s palace without really exploring. I raced through the Duke’s palace like I was speedrunning it. There are entire floors of that level I never saw, and wasn’t remotely interested in seeing. I didn’t care.

I was bored by the time I got back to Dunwall. I was frustrated by how long it took me to work through the many levels of the palace. I just wanted to get to the finale and find out how the story ended. (and then I found the ending profoundly unsatisfying)

I realized none of this mattered.

If this was ultimately a story about stopping Delilah from mantling the Outsider —- as the metaplot seemed to insist – what the fuck were we doing in Karnaca? Why did we care about Karnaca? Karnaca’s problems weren’t my problems, Emily’s problems, at least not in any clear direct way; Karnaca’s problems weren’t even bad. The bloodflies were endemic to the region instead of being a super-scary weird semi-supernatural plague; it might have been a particularly bad year for bloodflies, but it didn’t feel like anything the city couldn’t deal with. The streets were lively. There were nobles sitting in cafes playing guitar music. Shops were open and well-lit. I felt like I could go to the beach and sip mai-tais. Even the most run-down, awful section of Karnaca that we got to see – the Dust District – wasn’t much worse than anything we’d seen on a Tuesday in Dunwall.

And Karnaca wasn’t home. It didn’t feel like it mattered to Emily. Not really. It was in Emily’s empire, sure, but it was an ocean away and it wasn’t under her direct personal governance. And the Emily we met at the start of the game wasn’t interested in governing to begin with. I could never buy the sense that she cared – really, emotionally cared – about the well-being of Karnaca, because Karnaca was relatively fine, and because Emily seemed like she would rather fuck off and abdicate given half the chance. Being exiled from Gristol didn’t feel like exile – it felt like a sunny vacation, a chance for Emily to have cool swashbuckling adventures without the boredom and paperwork of sitting a throne.

I didn’t understand what I was really doing in Karnaca, and I didn’t understand why it was so urgent and important and needed that I get home to Dunwall. I was just told that I had to get home to Dunwall because Delilah was Bad. And that she was doing some Very Bad Things on the other side of the ocean, and that if she remained unchecked things would get Worse. YOU NEED TO STOP DELILAH, I was told.

But…. gosh, that was on the other side of the ocean. That didn’t seem to affect anything here. Again, Karnaca was fine! Karnaca’s had some issues, but they were were caused firstly by the Duke, not Delilah! What bad things was Delilah really doing? Can we see them? How are they worse than anything any other nobles and rulers are doing? How would installing Emily on the throne be meaningfully different?

What would Delilah’s plan to mantle the Outsider actually mean? The finale gives us a vision of The World As It Should Be, a supremely alien lotus-eater machine where Delilah is absolute monarch; it comes so late in the game, at the absolute eleventh hour, that it doesn’t feel meaningful. It also comes totally out of left field and is so bizarre and extreme that I had no fear that it could ever actually happen. Everything about Delilah’s ascension and ultimate goal is so bizarre and extreme that I had no fear it could ever actually happen. I didn’t understand how it was supposed to happen. The mechanics of magic had never mattered before; why did they matter now? Why did the half-baked explanation for Delilah’s endgame rely on lore from the previous game’s second DLC? (What the fuck, Arkane?)

What was my motivation? Why were my missions important – why did Emily want and need to do these things? What would happen, actually happen, if I failed? What was keeping me from just walking away?

I’m really not sure.

Maybe, just maybe, we could ignore the weird ascension to godhood plot. Maybe my real motivation had nothing to do with Delilah – maybe Emily just wanted to get back to the home that was taken from her. Maybe this was a “take back whats yours” story. But Emily didn’t seem to really want the throne back. The Emily we met at the beginning of the game was bored with governing and wanted out of Dunwall. If we’d had more time and attention paid to that shift in her character, I’d buy it, but you can’t do a complete and instant 180 on a character’s feelings and call it motivation.

Or maybe my real motivation was to get home to Dunwall to save Corvo. But the opening sequence made it seem like Corvo was dead. That’s not a valid motivation either.

Maybe my motivation was to avenge Corvo? I don’t buy that the way I bought Corvo avenging Jessamine in Dishonored 1; in Dishonored 2, Corvo is not the focus and meaning of Emily’s life, and I can’t see her structuring her entire life around fighting back from exile just to avenge him. Emily has hopes and dreams and a distant love interest and isn’t the same hollowed-out husk of vengeance that Corvo is. Sure, he’s her father figure, but I don’t buy that as her sole motivation.

This lack of motivation trickles down to the individual missions of the game.

If I don’t really know or care about what Delilah is doing, why is it so important to stop Breanna Ashworth?

Kirin Jindosh is supposedly making an army of Clockwork Soldiers, but what does that mean? How soon would they be ready, what are the logistics, how powerful are they, how are they worse than Tallboys or other existing technology, what was he going to use them for? Why is it so important to take him out? Couldn’t we just bribe him or write him a strongly-worded letter? I’m going to be the Empress – couldn’t I make his soldiers illegal or shut down his factories? Why do I have to go to such an immediate and awful extreme?

Sure, the Duke is a dick and should probably be replaced by a better ruler. Doing so doesn’t feel important. I’ve never met the Duke. He never did anything to me. Karnaca’s in decent shape, all things considered. Killing or replacing him feels like taking out the trash.

Where are the stakes?

Why do I care about any of this?

Tangent – I feel like I’ve got to talk about Corvo a bit here. Would Corvo have a different, stronger, more personal attachment to Karnaca? Sure, but I’ve never played Corvo’s route in Dishonored 2 and can’t speak to it. Personally, I always got the sense that Corvo felt like an outsider in Gristol and that he would have tried to distance himself from Serkonos in response to this, and that returning must have felt oddly alien, like an ill-fitting suit. Now, this is a cool thing to explore. It might make him more invested and interested in some aspects of the game – I’m thinking of the Duke and Stilton in the Dust District, specifically – but I don’t think it fixes the core issues about lack of motivation in the overarching plot.

So, let’s talk about that overarching plot. Would Corvo feel more strongly about getting back to Gristol and restoring Emily to the throne and/or bringing vengeance to her “killer”? Probably! Corvo’s arc in Dishonored 2 isn’t about toppling Delilah and seeking vengeance for his own sake, but rather for Emily’s sake (or at least the memory of Emily-who-we-think-is-dead). That’s less selfish and entitled, more emotional and tortured. That’s honestly more interesting to me. But that’s the exact same story we got in Dishonored 1. Corvo’s entire existence in Dishonored 2 feels like a rehash of Dishonored 1. The vengeance arc in Dishonored 2 feels much more muddled and unfocused and distant in comparison. It’s not as good.

I think Corvo’s story and motivation are more clear and pressing and straightforward than Emily’s; but I think Dishonored 1 did that exact same story and motivation much much better. Corvo’s story in Dishonored 2 honestly makes more sense to me than Emily’s story. Which feels utterly backwards! One protagonist has a storyline and motivation that has no real weight or drive or urgency behind it. The other protagonist has a slightly stronger storyline that is still a weaker, fuzzier retread of the first game.

I think Dishonored 2 is badly written.

I like it on the micro level – I like the characters and the levels – but on the macro, i think it’s a confused jumble that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Is it a vengeance story? Is it a story about stopping a supernatural threat? I don’t know, and I don’t think it does either. The game doesn’t manage to mesh those ideas at all, and neither idea holds water on its own. I am utterly confused and turned off by the game’s decision to make the vengeance so un-urgent and impersonal and the villain’s magic-driven plan so distant and obtuse and ill-defined. I think that in deciding to make the scope bigger, it bit off way more than it could chew and lost sight of what matters in storytelling.

Dishonored 1 was a tightly-focused straightforward revenge plot where I understood exactly what I had lost, how much it mattered, and what was at stake. Dishonored 2 is a fucking mess.

I can’t write about which choices Corvo and Emily would have taken because their choices don’t make sense to me; because their existence and participation in this story makes no sense to me; because the story hops from point to point without establishing thematic or plot coherence; because I don’t understand – emotionally, really buy and feel and understand – why I’m meant to give a shit about any of it.

I played the game once, started a High Chaos replay, wandered away from the game after the second mission, and uninstalled. I have no interest in replaying it. I have no interest in ever picking up Death of the Outsider. The fact that the writing seems to be moving away from the vengeance quest and doubling down on its focus on the supernatural (and the fact that they’re dragging back characters – Corvo in Dishonored 2, Daud in DotO – whose arcs had finished) has honestly killed my interest in the franchise at this point. I don’t feel anything about this other than a profound sense of disappointment.

I wanted to like Dishonored 2. The game is gorgeous and fun and an improvement on the original in many ways. I wanted to answer your question, anon. I truly wish I could, and I’m sorry for how salty this post has become. I’m sure someone else would have fantastic headcanons and insight.

But I just. don’t. care.

#Dishonored 2 #Dishonored 2 meta #Dishonored 2 critical #I HOPE YOU LIKE RATS #Anonymous #also thank you so much for sending this anon!#I'm really flattered #sorry that I'm apparently a salt mine when it comes to the second game

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eljackinton · 5 years ago

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Jack's 2019 Video Games in Review

Once again it's the time of year for me to do a quick, off-the-cuff run through of the games I played this year. As ever most, and nearly all, were not actually released in 2019 and some date a while back, but who cares, I play what I like.

Prey and Prey: Mooncrash

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time with Prey. It's a tight and very atmospheric world that's intriguing to be in and fun to mess around with, however, I just couldn't get the game to stick with me. I think it's because in the end it's far too reminiscent of System Shock 2, of which it is inspired by, and I can't help but feel that the loops, and the tone of the plot was too similar for it to really grow out on it's own.

It's a good thing, then, that it was followed up by Mooncrash. It's genuinely interesting premise, of a persistent world where you play several 'runs' as different characters with different abilities, was a fresh take on the familiar Deus Ex/Thief style emergent sim, and made the whole Prey experience worth it. Can't wait to see how Arkane evolves the concept with Deathloop.

Halo Wars

It's been over a decade but I finally got around to playing the first Halo Wars game. Not a lot to say really. It's attempt at a console-only RTS is interesting to experience and is not very well executed and it's plot is just identical to the first Halo game but not as surprising. Unmemorable.

Battletech: Flashpoint, Urban Warfare and Heavy Metal

The Battletech DLC released this year all contributed heavily to improving my opinion of a game I already loved. Each one added new ideas and concepts and I'm hoping we'll see them develop over a sequel. The mini-campagins were all well written and genuinely funny at times. If I have one criticism it's that they waited until the last DLC to add a tonne of new mechs and weapons and equipment and I never go to use most of them because I'd already experienced the vast majority of the missions. Good for new players, not so much for me, but if you haven't played it yet getting it with all the DLC is a hell of a recommendation.

Hyper Light Drifter

I loved the tone and the aesthetic of this abstract sci-fi tale, but gameplay wise, it just wasn't my jam. Unforgiving and more for players in it for the challenge. Give me a more chill game in this setting please.

Ladykiller in a Bind

One of the few games that have genuinely handled the push and pull of personal morals vs personal gain I've ever seen. Despite being billed as an erotic comedy, the game is much more about thrills and tension than all that. There are some valid criticism of how the game handles sexuality (look it up if you're concerned), but in terms of games telling stories of manipulation I don't think I've ever seen a game quite like it.

Hitman (Season One)

Hitman realising that it actually works better as an episodic black-dramady was one of best moments for the world of gaming. A pitch perfect representation of a bald asexual assassin jet setting around the world to sexy locals and giving terrible people ironic deaths. A classic and I'm only partway through Hitman 2, but they certainly didn't drop the ball with the sequel either.

The Witcher, The Witcher 2, The Witcher 3 with Hears of Stone and Blood and Wine

Playing all these games back to back game me whiplash. The Witcher is one of the worst games I have ever played. It's poorly designed, badly written and has a visual aesthetic that is washed out and grim. I felt my mental health getting worse just playing it.

Witcher 2 is a vast improvement. A vibrant colourful world, solid gameplay and a well written, multi-layered plot of politics and vengeance. Only brought down slightly by it's tendency to take the tone in the edgiest direction possible. I cringed a lot, at story moments in this game.

Witcher 3 is one of the greatest games ever written. Gone is the jank of the first game, gone is the try hard edge of the second. Witcher 3 cares about it's characters as much as it does about giving you a massive world to lose yourself 2. It's the perfect marriage of cinematic storytelling and a go anywhere, do anything open world. Things get even better with Hearts of Stone, and even even better with Blood and Wine.

Wolfenstien: Youngblood

Most people had nothing but bad things to say about Youngblood, but I had nothing but a great time with it. The gameplay was a blast, the world was fun to explore, the characters were a joy to hang around with and the story, while nothing special, was still interesting enough to see how it unfolds. I don't get why people reacted so negatively.

Baba is You

The block puzzler's ultimate form. I don't see how you make a game of this genre any better after this. Just play the dang thing.

Fugue in Void

A super short (20 minutes) environmental experience. Leaves you things to think about. Not for the kind of person who can't spend two minutes in a modern art gallery.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Varnhold’s Lot

It would take all day for me to talk about my complicated feelings for Kingmaker, so I'll put it this way. Great story, great characters, great gameplay all brought down by an ill-fitting mash up with an otherwise well designed kingdom management sim and some head-bashingly obnoxious moments where massive story elements are tied to seemingly unrelated decisions you made twenty hours ago.

Damn I wanted to like this game, but as the credits rolled I just felt I'd been cheated.

Minit

A quick once-and-done that's dedicated to one particular concept that it pushes as far as it can go. What can you get done with 60 seconds per life before you respawn and how does the world react around you. Really interesting.

The Signal from Tolva

Another game that's dedicated to it's singular concept. Explore a mysterious alien world in a post-human universe. Unusual, weird and inspiring. It's free DLC has an unreasonably large difficulty spike, however.

Potatoman Seeks the Troof

A funny visual design but too difficult for me to finish.

Hand of Fate

A really interesting concept, combining a deck building game with a dungeon crawler. Tightly designed, the vast majority of your early runs will be sharp and surprising. Long outstays it's welcome however as the clunky combat controls do the more difficult encounters no favours, and you find you're only still playing to try and grind out the last few tokens you need to unlock. I have high hopes for when I eventually get round to the sequel.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2: Winds of Magic

The arrival of the beastmen is another well executed addition to the overall Vermintide 2 experience, but I wish I could say the same thing about the new Winds of Magic campaign mode. Short, sharp 'challenge maps' that require you complete them before you unlock the next, can be almost impossibly difficult at times, made all the worse that you can't play with bots and managing to catch a party playing the specific map you're on is just as impossible. Fatshark's first failed experiment with the game.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: The Shivering Isles (sort of)

I've only been jumping back in to Oblivion on and off this year, so I still haven't finished it's final DLC. Maybe I haven't got into it far enough yet but I don't feel it distinguishes itself enough from vanilla Oblivion like a lot of people claim it does, and a lot of the 'people as concepts' ideas don't work for me. We'll see if I go on to finish it in 2020.

Normally I do a top 5 of games released in that year, but I don’t think I played more than three, so we’ll uhhh, say Baba is You is my game of the year.

#review #baba is you #pathfinder kingmaker #wolfenstien youngblood #vermintide

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rahimaldemir · 5 years ago

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Dying Light 2 - Q&A

In the official Dying Light discord one of the representatives, Uncy, from Techland held a q&a session during E3 2019 and I took the time to copy everything down. There were a lot of questions asked, but I only copied down the ones that were answered.

Uncy said they were going to post a FAQ with all of these questions and I’ll make sure to link it when they do. As of right now, I don’t think it has been released.

A lot of people were typing during the session and unfortunately a lot of questions got repeated. There is also a decent amount of typos in these questions, but it felt important to keep the Q&A session in an honest a form as possible, so I have not corrected any typos or omitted any duplicate questions.

I did add a “Q” and “A” to the beginning of every question and answer for clarity. Uncy used emojis sometimes in their answers, but I did not copy those over if they weren’t text emojis.

I have put my own notes in [italicized brackets].

WARNING: There are huge spoilers for The Following in these questions, they are marked to make them easier to avoid, but please be wary.

@tafferfield I know you got a pretty wicked master list of DL2 stuff, so if any of this helps you feel free to grab it and add it.

Putting under a read more because this is long:

Q: Are all current zombies considered volatiles? A: Not really, there are still regular zombies and volatiles

Q: Zombies only exit the night? A: now that's a hard one, zombies can stay outside for some time during the day but they get weak IN THE SUN

Q: How much diffrent endings are there? A: About endings - more than one, don't want to spoil it

Q: Battle royale mode? A: no BR mode

Q: Are you able to clear the city of zombies? A: Basically human learned how to deal with infection, so the more humans the less zombies

Q: how does Aiden stop from turning? does he use antizin or something else A: antizine is finished but human discovered that strong UV light weakens the infection, that's why you have the biomarker

Q: Is Aiden a foreigner to the land like Crane? A: Aiden doesn't even know Crane exists Q: I meant is Aiden from around there or did he come from somewhere else A: he's not from the city, he's an outsider

Q: What are future plans for multiplayer? A: multiplayer wise - we have some stuff coming apart from co-op, but I can't really share multiplayer details now

Q: Will there be a fallout kind of karma system? A: karma system? nope but your choices and actions will affect how people see you

Q: How long will one playthrough of the game be? A: hard to tell, but i know that dl2 will be a game for a long time

Q: Will dying light 2 feature the same great ragdoll physics as the first. A: upgraded ones

Q: Will the game be translated into Brazilian Portuguese as the first? A: more languages will come, cant really tell for now

Q: Can we expect to see actual time sensitive activities within the game? (IE: Do this now or forever lose the chance) A: Yes, but its more like choice wise, like do one thing and u will never be able to do another

Q: Will you play Dying Light 2 with me on release ;d? A: why not

Q: Will Aiden be customizable (e.g. hair, individual clothing pieces,etc) A: yup there will be customization

Q: Is there a weapon combo system? A: what do you mean by that? Q: Like a combo like last game you could spam attack and hold it for a more powerful attack, I'm asking if you can combo attacks like 2 quick attacks and then a charged attack or stuff like that [This question never actually got fully answered]

Q: Did anything replace the grappling hook. Did it change in anyway? A: there's a grappling hook - and some more options to travel cause the city is huge {you will be able to upgrade them}

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q:if the vial ending from the following is canon (if the following is canon) is crane a Volatile?

A: in some way - both are canon. It's up to the player to choose it Q: will Crane make an appearance or not. If you cant answer then atleast say which ending is canon A: not really

[END SPOILERS]

Q: Will the game launch with any DLC's? A: i dont think it will launch with dlc's but post release support is planned

Q: The last trailer showed working vehicles, will we be able to use some? A: Yes

Q: How many different kinds weapons are there (number) A: too many to mention, we're still adding more weapons

Q: is it sticking with the old crafting system or are y'all switching it up A: crafting system is upgraded a little

Q: are in dying light 2 developer tools having the chance to make custom movements and animations? A: I don't really have info about dev tools right now

Q: Are firearms coming back ? A: No guns, no firearms - but there will be distance weapons like crossbows

Q: do we gain strength or anything when nighs fall? since we are infected A: during the night you need to use UV lights to stop the infection, you wont get stronger

Q: is the choices you make permanant (one save only) or can you save and go back? A: you can save and go back on some difficulties

Q: Czy będzie drzewko umiejetnosci tak jak w 1 ? A: tak

Q: Is the max number in a party still going to be 4 or will more team members be able to join in co-op multiplayer, if there is any. A: 4 player coop

Q: is there a system where our beard can grow out and cut it same with hair like rdr2 asked a few times chat just to fast lol A: hmm, i don't think so

Q: Can you turn into a zombie if you dont pay enough attention to your wristband? A: that's still under discussion, i don't think you will be able to play as a zombier tho

Q: When the game releases, are you able to link your old account from DL1 to get rewards? A: we wont forget about dl1 owners

Q: will you be able to upgrade/modify tools like grappling hook and the UV flashlight? A: yes, tools will be upgradeables

Q: are we going to have trading cards to craft badges on steam with dying light 2? A: Yup

Q: Will the UI be changed completely, both in-game, etc? A: there will be some changes for sure, i dont know how hard tho

Q: How many skill trees are there, and are they any more complex? A: you can upgrade a lot of stuff now

Q: Are ranged weapons going to be as powerful as they were in DL1 or is it a bit more balanced A: there are no guns, so its balanced

Q: I wonder if we will see some more gameplay (apart from the trailer) from E3? A: something will come this month

Q: what are the main factions in dying light 2? A: Peacekeepers and scavengers - those are two main factions, but there are more

Q: Who is the girl in the trailer? A: that's actually one of our employees but for now all I can say that she's singing in one of the bars in the city

Q: Has the infection gone worldwide A: yup

[SPOILERS FOR THE FOLLOWING]

Q: What happened to kyle crane? Will he have anything to do with the game

A: he ded

[END SPOILERS]

Q: will there be an enhanced edition or any other editions or just the normal one? A:there will be different editions - more details coming soon

Q: Will some weapons from Dying Light 2 (before release) be added in Dying Light? A: watch the trailer closely

Q: Are you taking in any alpha testers any time soon? If so I would like to be the first volunteer. A: there are no tests planned for now

Q: Referencing the Trailer, will we have the ability to choose our siding, survivor or what seem to be the "law"? A: its all up to you and your decisions!

Q: during the first game the side quests were some of the most amazing in the whole game, my question is, will those little side quests be present in the second game as well and will they also impact the game A: Yeah! side quests will be there and there wont be just easy fetch quests, but rather a small stories on their own

Q:There's a post. On twitter(?) That mentions something like "as Aiden you can do things no one elese can" Does that mean there will be benefits in having your infected level reach a certain level? A: Aiden is simply well prepared to live in The City - that's all I can tell right now

Q: Will there be new skill trees or the same ones? A: would be weird to put in the same skill trees

Q: can you upgrade parts of the town? and is roger smith coming back for Voice acting A: depends what do you mean, if you help certain people by your actions or choices, they will start to build stuff like bridges, farms etc which will help you, they will also get rid of the zombies from buildings etc

Q: Is it possible, that BTZ will be in Dying Light 2? A: possible but not confirmed

Q: can we get the song from the trailer? its sick A: I think i got the name somewhere, ill add it to faq [Couldn’t find Uncy’s link, but I was able to find two of the three soundtracks featured in trailers on youtube: Help I’m Alive and Crimson Blaze & Battlefields]

Q: Please dont add lootboxes A: Cmon

Q: Why can't we pre-order A: cause we don't have all the editions ready yet

Q: got 2 questions: - Will we have a season pass for a limited time just like in Dying Light so we can get the DLCs for free? - can us console players please get a fov slider A: 1.There will be a season pass 2. I'll let the devs know about fov slider

Q: Will there be a new type of villain like Rais? A: nothing is white or black in The City

Q: Will it be the same loot system or a loot system at all? A: what do you mean by loot system? like those crates etc? Q: I'm referring to weapons and stuff like that. A: then I don't really know, afaik it got changed a little

Q: Can we expect to see a different climbing mechanic, same with the grapple? A: parkour system is upgraded a lot, grapple is coming back ofc

Q: 1. are there gonna be volatiles in dl2? and are the zombies in dl2 more faster, brutal and better in movement to chase u down? A: There are new and old zombies, can't tell more atm

Q:Will some of the old zombie mutations be returning? A: yup

Q: Distance weapons are mentioned, does that mean a weapon smith we can get distanve weapon blueprints from? A: you can created your own weapons

Q: Are there other zombie types than the ones mentioned in the interviews? If so can we know a bit about them? A: there will be more, no info now tho

Q: On the topic of Grapple, is it expected to behave the same as DL1, or will it have a different mechanic, such as a swing? A: grapple is different now and you can upgrade it

Q: an we drop kick zombies and humans from sky scrapers? A: Yup

Q: Will the grappling hook operate the same as in DL1? I think it was overpowered and needed bigger cool down, it took away from parkour element a lot for me. A: as I said later, it's reworked a little - not OP now

Q: Is Brecken alive in Dying Light 2? Or is he maybe related to protagonist? A: no one from DL1 comes back

Q: Does no ranged mean guns or are we also losing the bow/crossbow A: never said no ranged, i said no firearms, ranged weapons will be there

Q: Will the gore be overhauled or different in Dying Light 2? A: it will be upgraded, there are also new finishers coming in

Q: Will quarantine zones come back? A: dark zones will be in the buiuldiings

Q: what happen to the cure A: gone

Q: will there be more weapon upgrades than in the first DL? A: a lot more

Q: can we put miniguns on vehicles or weaponize them like the buggy from The Following? A: I don't think so - nothing for now at least

Q:What happend to the GRE? A: They were there when the infection started - they are the ones that gave away the biomarkers - no sight of them in the city now

Q: If there's a co-op mode, what is the max amount of players in 1 lobby? A: 4 players max

Q: Will there be more end game content then dl1? A: yup, first of all you will have to finish the game multiple times to experience the game fully, end game will also be improved

Q: What do you think will be there an epic crossover mission when we meet kyle but he's turned A: I don't think he will come back

Q: Infected animals? A: animals will be there, you can hunt them, dunno about infected ones tho

Q: Are there children in DL2? If so, can we kill them? A: Brutal

Q: Referencing the ease of combat in DL1, can we expect to see actual struggle when going against enemies? Will we have the feeling of should I fight or run? A: Ups [???] depends on the difficulty for sure, some of the fights will be hard, for example - you fight some guys near to the building and then zombies hear it and come out for few minutes, and you have XvXvX fight to go trough

Q: Kiedy pre order? A: Niedługo

Q: are the voliatile hive quests coming back? A: you will be cleaning some mess for sure, I don't know if those particular quests will go back

Q: Alright. I asked if we'll get skin to customize our weapons as in we keep them forever as blueprints and we can apply them to any weapon? A: customization will be upgraded, that's for sure, I believe we will actually share more details about it in the future

Q: Will there be brutal finishers after stun, like in old Dying Light version where Kyle pulls out smth from the chest? A: yup, we're still adding more and more finishers

Q: Are safezones upgradable in any way? A: you can't upgrade them as in "click a button and its happening" it changes when you do something for the city or you act in some way

Q: is there gonna be a volatile chase mission in the sewer like dl1? "extraction" with more running action? A: that's a really gameplay-detailed question, I don't think i have answer for it now

Q: Will there be weapons rarities? A: some weapons will be stronger than other - don't know about how will we deal with rarities

Q: can we do farming? A: i think that other people are meant for farming, not Aiden

Q: Is dl2 going to have the same docket system like dl1 if not please explain A: dockets are cool, would be good to have them back

Q: Will zombies give a fight for your life feel, or will it be light DL1 where they are primarily just nuisances? A: try going to dark zone during the day, you wont get out of there alive

Q: do we have a different type of vehicles or just one like dl the following we only had the buggy + we are going to have horses and motorbikes or no ? A: there will be some vehicles - more about that coming soon

Q: is there going to be any refrences from dl1??? A: yup, there will be differences [I’m assuming the question was misread]

Q: you said that there wont be any firearms in DL2, but can you maybe tell what's going on in here, as a game dev? It confuses me quite a lot [pic of peacekeeper with what looks like a gun] A: concept arts are not 1:1 gameplay

Q: Is there gonna be something that can make you even stronger if you maxed out all skill trees? (Like the Legend in DL1.) A: that's a really late-game stuff, i believe something like that will come

Q: will the hostile factions attack you if you go into certain areas (i.e if you take a safe zone for a scavenger will the peackeepers attack you in an office building A: yup

Q: how much is pre order and when will it go live A: we are still taking care of different editions and prices

Q: Are the weapons going to become more modern as you level up ? A: nope, weapons are really "hand made" but they all look cool

Q: Will there be any stational turrets, which you can craft/use in some safezones to clear hordes? A: people are dealing with the infected, turrets are too modern

Q: we can pre-order the game soon ? i mean like next month maybe or after a while ? A: yup, preorders will go live when we will figure out the versions etc

Q: Will multiplayer/coop loot be instance based, or client base? (DL1 uses a client base, as each player gets their own drops/items from chests/zombies) Instance based would be there's only 1 item for all players, first to grab gets. A: We still need to figure that out, I believe we will check which one is better

Q: any cool easter eggs coming? A: a lot of them

Q: Will there be any missions that require 4 players, and can more people join you for the final boss? A: 4 people is max

Q: will there be any more presentations or info about DL2 at e3? A: there will be more + new s this month

Q: Will there be boss fights and if there is at the last story mission do we have to be alone? A: don't ask about last mission when the game is not out

Q: we can play with animals like far cry ? i mean like u send animals to attack zombies or something like that, and will there be infected animals too or no ? A: you will be able to hunt animals for resources, i dont think you will be able to tame them

Q: what your prediction about the pc spec? A: i think you will be fine if you can run modern games, We go for FPS over resolution and we aim for 60 at ps4 and xone, its not confirmed tho

Q: so is there going to be some sick loot if we have dl1 and bad blood?? A: there will be something for DL owners

Q: Are there gonna be hunger and thirst bars, and food and drinks you can loot around the world or get from faction cities and safe zones? A: that's still under discussion, its not confirmed

Q: Will we see random wildlife throughout our explorations? (Not those of zombies.) A: yup and you can hunt them

Q: Will we be able to use the dying light companion app in Dying Light 2 A: probably yes

Q: so is there infected animals or no ? A: I dont think so, it's not really confirmed, so we will see

Q: Can we get a confirmation that the dev tools will be available eventually considering it massively increase the longevity of the game and wasnt a total fuckup of a decision like bad blood was? A: about dev tools - im still waiting for confirmation

Q: sorry for the torture but will there be a PVP gamemode or any special gamemode for DL2? A: we will have multiplayer based discussion, for now there are no details to tell about mp

Q: will DL2 get better mod support ? Something like Fallout 4 so we can add more stuff to the game A: i hope so

Q: asking again, will there be seasons? like winter and summer with weather changes? A: I don't think so

Q: Do i have to side with 1 faction completely? Do certain factions control certain safe zones or are safe zones neutral territory? A: nope, you don't have to side with 1 faction

Q: limitation (character inventory)? Like we can no longer have unlimited or 99x items in stacks - including crafting materials. A: I think there wont be limits to crafting materials, like 99x, i need to confirm that with devs tho

Q: Will there be walking zombie hordes, which will try to destroy safe zone's gates? And will it be like event? (is it really possible)? A: people's safe zones are protected with UV lights, zombies wont cross them

Q: Can I sleep in Dying Light 2 to skip night? A: the whole day-night cycle is changed in DL2, more details coming soon

Q1: will there be xray like in the old game A: what x ray Q2: Survivor sense, he meant I think Q3: the critical blue hit, when u hit a zombie, thats what he means A: oh, survivor sense is coming back

Q: Will duplications be patched frequently? As in DL1 there are still many that can occur. A: well i hope there wont be any dupe glitches

Q: Around how long would it take to playthrough the game once? A: quests etc are still coming so i cant really tell how long it will be right now

Q: Btw every pre-order got a bonus content so ofc dl2 got bonus content so when i buy the game after the release i can get this content even if i buy higher edition or its for pre-orders only ? A: i dont think we will have any preorder exclusives, time will tell tho

Q: How many quests Will there be? A: a lot

Q: how many or which of the zombie types from the first game will we see again in DL2? A: everyone from DL1 is coming back (zombie wise) wise some cool additions and upgrades

Q: How many factions are confirmed so far or at least under disussion? A: 2 main ones are confirmed, and there will be more side ones

Q: will there be any sort of vehicles we can drive in DL2? A: yup there will be vehicles

Q: Will there be shields and (fast?) counterattacks after blocking? A: ripostes will be there, im not sure about the shields but u can block without it

Q: The map takes place in a City, is this city based on a real life counterpart? A: it's a fictional city based on european cities

Q: what happened to the firearms i mean why they are removed from the game ? A: they are very rare commodity 15 years after diseaster

Q: can we drive vehicles? A: yes

Q: When does the Q&A end? A: in around 10 minutes

Q: I don't know if this was asked. But Will we be able to explore more then the city? A: the city alone is 4 times bigger than the first DL, there is a lot to explore, dunno about going outside tho

Q: Will there be some type of pvp in the game? A: more info about multiplayer modes will come very soon

Q: Who is the voice actor for aiden A: dunno to be honest xD not the kyle voice actors and that what matters [This has been released. Aiden’s voice actor is Jonah Scott.]

Q: So there is firearms in the game but they are very rare and hard to find ? i mean u can still find them but its hard right ? A: i mean that they are so rare that you wont find one, but as i said, there are still ranged weapons, and some you can craft on your own

Q: Will it be a new Be The Zomby ? Or Human player invading other world like DS3 ? A: as i said, no details for multiplayer this time, sorry! :x

Q: Will the implemented day/night cycle have any special amendments? (Can we expect to see random encounters/anomalies on random nights/days?) A: would be cool, ill ask devs

Q: In the trailer we saw bracelet and how "charges go down". What will happen if it goes down and will we have "antizin"? Can we buy or trade it? A: there is no antizine, strong UV lights weakens the infection, its still under discussion what will happen when it will go to 0, most possible outcome is simply dying and having to restart the game

Q: Hold up. "No guns" or "very rare guns"? I saw both those answers from Uncy A: its pretty much the same, like, they're all pretty much gone

Q: what about invasions? Be the zombie A: no multiplayer details now

Q: Is the game 4 times bigger then just the slums? Or the WHOLE game A: the whole game without the following

Q: Will there be more interactions within the game? (IE: Fishing, skinning the animals we hunt, cooking, etc) A: yup, there will be a lot to do in the city

Q: Will DL2 be on next gen xbox as it just got announced? A: right now we plan ps4 xone and pc release

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: as i said, multiplayer details will come in the future, those things are still under discussion

Q: Can we go and roam outside the city? A: Aiden wants to stay in the city

Q: my final question what is the virus called is it still called the harran virus A: well it's not in harran only anymore

Q: Is there some way to calculate just how many final outcomes you can get out of the game? Like in Detroit Become Human for example A: not really, not right now at least

Q: will screamers have more of a purpose then obstacle you have to get around A: they will be different this time

Q: Legend levels made the first game really easy so are they in dl2 or no ? and if they are there so is it balanced now or it will still make the game so easy ? A: legends levels are still under discussion as well

Q: Still another question about that charges... Will there be some visual and sensitive effects (like in Dying Light where the screens goes green and we dont have stamina)? A: yup, i think so at least

Q: Will there be more detailed animations for each thing we do? (If we activate our flashlight, Aiden would reach to his shoulder to turn it on) A: some things are speed up of course to not be annoying, but there will be more animations, like imagine having to reach the uv light for a 10000 time when volatile is at your face

Q: Will this channel remain so we can review all the previously stated questions? A: it will be closed but it will remain (i need to make QA out of it)

Q: Will it be possible to take (offline) single-player saved games online, and if so, what proactive measures will Techland take to prevent game-save mods from disrupting the online multiplayer experience? A: i responded to that with - no multiplayer details for now, I really don't have any info about it

Q: Can we ride horses ? A: nope

Q: Is korek in dl2? A: i dont think so

Q: anything to mention about Night hunters? A: night runners you mean? actually Aiden is the only man capable of reviving hte nightrunners caste

Q: wingsuit? A: maybe this will be one of the things we will be talking about - i mean, new traversal options

Q: Will we have the ability to pursue affections of NPC? Such as a friend meter, or even a lover? A: you will be able to interact with every single npc in the game - how? you will see

Q: Any building destruction in ds2? Like walls collapsing when you use explosives, would be cool A: just the last one - yes environment is destructible in some cases

#dying light 2 #dying light #the following spoilers #aiden caldwell #techland #long post #mod post #stills #dying light spoilers

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tesbloodline · 6 years ago

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Mantling the Madgod

So I thought I’d try something a little different. Have a little drabble of Tamrela, right after she finishes the events of the Shivering Isles DLC, and describes the process of becoming Sheogorath.

Words: 1,062

Tam’s hands are shaking. She doesn’t usually think of herself as Tam, but right now she makes a conscious effort to claim that name. Maybe adopting Ma’s nicknames will help her feel less alone. And she does - feel alone, that is. It’s funny in a way, because she’s never been so surrounded by people in her life, but it doesn’t stop that icy loneliness from creeping up on her.

As much as the people of the Isles love her, she is not who they think she is. At least, not yet. The power washes over her in waves, her sanity ebbs and flows with the tide. She is not yet Sheogorath, but she will be. She will be the Madgod. It is only a matter of time.

Her stomach turns, and she leans over the basin just in time. Bile burns her throat, and tears sting her eyes. When her stomach settles again, she leans back against her cushions and rests her hands on her belly.

That makes two weeks straight, now. No more denying it. She’s pregnant.

Lucien, love, we’re going to have a baby.

Her breath catches and her tears come faster. Her would-have-been husband will never see his child’s face. Her baby will never know its father. If Bellamont weren’t already dead, she would kill him without hesitation for this new heartbreak.

Haskill stands beside her throne, waspish irritation sprinkled across his face.

“You do know that your people will be glad to serve, do you not?”

She does not answer. She does not so much as twitch her head to suggest that she has heard him. She is not a ruler. She is servant-born, courtier-raised, but nowhere in her education was a module by the name ‘How to Rule a Kingdom of Madmen (And be a Daedric Prince)’. She does not know how to delegate. She does not know how to ask for help.

She swallows hard, closes her eyes, and inhales deeply through her nose. Her nausea settles some, but does not disappear. She will not be weak. She cannot be weak.

“Are you ill, my Lady?”

Her muscles seize. “Do not call me that.”

Haskill takes her sudden ire in stride. “Of course. What shall I call you, then?”

She takes a moment to turn the question over in her mind, mulling it over. She hums under her breath for a few seconds before the vibration begins to annoy her. There are many titles she might take, but most leave a sour taste in her mouth. She almost wants to take back her declaration, but all she can hear is-

My Lady, my love, my Tamriel. My precious one, my Mistress. My Dark Lady.

- all she can hear is Lucien’s voice.

Finally, she speaks. “I will be your Lord.”

“Of course, my Lord,” Haskill says.

Her name is Sheo. She doesn’t feel much like a Tam, or a Tamrela for that matter, but neither is she properly Sheogorath. She is... some in-between, some amalgamation of them both. The Isles pull her towards madness, but her secret babe tethers her to mortality. Before her child is born, she will be Sheogorath, but she is determined to hold onto enough of her mortal self to name her child a Keth.

Haskill is growing concerned by her slow progress towards her title. He thinks she is fighting the inevitable. He has no way of knowing that it is not her choice. She has no desire to enlighten him.

Her child is one-of-a-kind, and she will keep it safe. So long as it is secret, it cannot be hurt.

“My Lord?”

Haskill is calling her. Sheo lifts her head and looks at him; when he is silent, she hums an acknowledgement.

“My Lord, are you ill?”

A Daedric Prince should not be able to fall ill, but she is still some-part mortal, and she does not know if she is still susceptible. And yet -

“I am not,” she says. She will brook no argument.

She has been experiencing - morning sickness, perhaps? She thinks that is the term. She has been ill, in the morning when she wakes and in the noontime when she takes tea, nearly every day for what she thinks has been around a year.

She was concerned at first, when her pregnancy did not seem to be progressing as it should for a Dunmer. But in the back of her mind, some little whisper told her that it was to be expected - she had no proof to support her certainty, but she could do nothing for the babe regardless of the statement’s truth.

She gags again and takes a sip of tea to settle her stomach, resting a hand on her belly.

Haskill’s eyes widen as his observations settle into one solid conclusion, and her heart skips a beat. “You are with child.” He sounds as though he cannot believe his own declaration, as though he is waiting for her to laugh at his foolishness.

“You will tell no-one!” she thunders, grabbing his arms. “Not a word leaves this room!”

“My Lady, you cannot conceal this forever.”

“Watch me!” she snarls, and turns her back on him to curl up within her blankets. He tries to speak to her, but she has no ears for his voice at the moment.

Her head hurts and her memory is foggy. Her name is Sheogorath, but she thinks it used to be something else. She couldn’t say what, though. Bah, what does it matter? She is Sheogorath, and she is happy to be so. Haskill said her memories should come back once her magic settles, so why should she worry about it?

And better yet, she’s going to have a baby! She can’t remember who the father is, but that’s hardly important. It’s bound to be more her than him, anyway; babies are always more like their mothers.

There’s something picking at the back of her brain, insisting that there are important aspects to the child’s name, but like everything else, it is slippery and illusive. She should ask Haskill if she ever talked to him about names before everything went foggy.

Anyway, she has more important things to deal with right now. Sanguine is being a massive brat, and it’s ceased to be amusing. Time to boot him from the Isles again, she thinks.

#the elder scrolls #oblivion #bloodline!verse #dlc: shivering isles #sheogorath #oc-tamrela #fanfiction #drabble #oneshot

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electronicdelusionstarlight · 6 years ago

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Elder Scrolls Legends: Isle of Madness DLC: plot and lore summary for those who don't have the time or the will to play it

All Elder Scrolls legends stories have are framed as stories told by Kellen, a traveling moth priest, and Nagh, his furry boyfriend (?), who really like to hear the man talk, in their long and perilous journeys across Tamriel to better pass the time.

Kellen, who has always till now narrated stories he saw on the scrolls he carries around, stories about the shezarine Forgotten Hero, this time decides to tell a different kind of story, one he remembers from a old journal he found long ago.

As of now, we have no knowledge of when exactly any of this happening. However, since they treat the Return to Clockwork City DLC, which is happening right during the Skyrim Dragon War, as old history, we can assume this is happening way late in the 4th era, perhaps even the 5th.

Anyway, Kellen decides to tell us the story of a new "hero."

Talym Rend. He was a spy for the empire, stationed in Morrowind, and the journal was his. He narrates of how his son, Nevos, had been struck by a terrible madness, and how no healer, no temple priest, not even the ashlanders could heal the boy. He so decides to venture into the shivering isles, home of Sheogorath, corner of the house of troubles, and petition for him to heal his son.

We don't know when specifically this is also happening either. Morrowind isn't a smoking ruin, and the tribunal temple is still the local religion, so it's not the 4th era. The existence of a united empire deploying troops in both Morrowind and High Rock might make us assume this is happening during the 3rd era, before the events of Morrowind, but after the warp in the west? The details are confused.

Anyway, Talym finds a strange door in Morrowind, and by passing it he reaches the fringes of Sheogorath Realm.

There, we meet our first supporting character.

Cyriel is a sneaky little shit. She distracts Talym with the prospect of some sick weapon, and warns him about the incoming fight with the gate keeper, only to steal his gold purse one second later by going "Can't Help Being a Gemini Shadow."

Talym so ventures into the fringe, and finds a garden of swords, growing from the ground, and among them, a axe specifically grown to kill the gate keeper.

He uses it to kill the mountain of a flesh atronach, only for cyriel to come out of the bushes to thank him for all the work he's done for her, and walking onto the gates of madness.

Reached New Sheoth, however...

And so Talym is out to seek glory to amuse the mad god.

First, he meets once again Cyriel. The cheeky bugger has gotten herself trapped in a trap and is now trying to extort Talym's help via deception and false humility, all of this at the No-Rats Camp, a giant camp whose owner, the eponymous Nervous Giant, is terrified by Rats and Skeevers. Talym manages to make him run away and saves Cyriel, asking for his purse back, only for Cyriel to vanish in the shrubbery once again.

Second, he meets the second supporting cast member of his adventure.

The Orc Bard Luzrah gro-Shar, a gentle soul, who incidentally has the menu theme stuck in her head due to a magical cave filled with colored grumites. You help her finish her song, and she warmly salutes him.

And then, he meets the most peculiar of men (man?).

A man with a split personality, Tavyar (Rayvat?) who believes one is constantly following the other with ill intent. Talym makes them notice that they are apparently the same person, only for the 2 to get enraged and attack together... as one?

Killed the knight (or was it the mage?), Talym is approached by Haskill, who tells him that Lord Sheogorath is most pleased with him, and will receive him now.

Talym, reluctantly, accepts.

And so it begins. The mad god has also managed to conscript Cyriel and Luzrah in the mission, Sheogorath promising one riches, the other bodily harm if they don't comply, and the unfortunate Threesome is now forced to do the mad god bidding.

First, they must instill the fear of the dead to a Khajiit bandit lord, who lord Sheogorath calls a slur while he's at it, who has killed many a hero before like the Hero of Dawn and the Red Avenger, and is now afraid of no enemy, especially the dead ones.

Talym, who at first tries to spook the Khajiit with some smoke and mirrors, is in the end gifted by Haskill with a powerful amulet, that can capture weakened ghosts to later unleash on unsuspecting victims.

The bandit lord is left, fleeing into the night, haunted by the ghosts of those he had killed.

Second, a Dunmer Baron in Morrowind, owner of several Kwama Egg Mines, and sworn enemy of a rich Betty Netch Herder. The trio must convince the man, who has always had everything handled to him on a silver platter in life due to his noble and rich birth, that he is more than a simple mortal, is to boost his ego to comical proportions.

Talym so disguised himself as a prophet, and calls the baron "the Prince of the Prophecy, whose words always come true." He so asks the Baron to make three statement, three wishes, and see how they will hold true.

The first, is asking for his Kwama to lay golden eggs, a task easily fulfilled by Luzrah (" Didn't I tell you guys other than a hard I'm also a superb painter?").

The second, is for his rival's bull netches, the most gentlest of creatures, to rampage on his farm, another task easily fulfilled by simply harming the farm's betty netches in front of the bulls.

And third, for a snowstorm to start despite it being Morrowind in the middle of a particularly hot summer, which is another task fulfilled by hijacking a local telvanni mushroom tower and using it as a catalyst for a overpowered blizzard spell.

After the 3 portents are fulfilled, the baron, mad with power, decides to use his newfound "powers" to smite down his rival in a duel, and, once done so, he decides that he is capable of flight, launching himself from a Cliffside before anyone, let alone a horrified Luzrah, who unroll then was having a blast at the Baron looking silly and believing such obvious bull, can stop him.

The baron falls to his death, and Lurzah leaves the party, disgusted with watch she and the others have done.

Now, more somber, the zany adventures they seemed to have till now come to an end...

Starts the second part of this story.

Talym and Cyriel reach the border between High Rock and Skyrim. A rogue Reachmen Clan, the Doomfang Clan, is trying to breach the mountains and establish a small colony in northern high rock, so to keep trade between the 2 provinces on a choke hold.

The empire has sent one of their best generals and spies, General Porcia, Talym old friend and superior during his time as a imperial spy, and his next and last target in order to save his son.

The situation is dire, but Talym would do anything to save his son, even betray a old friend...

So, he intercepts and kills one of her spy couriers, so to tamper with its informations, so to Plant false ones and make her doubt her ability as a spy master...

Only to discover the unthinkable.

The reachmen had perfected a weapon, terrible in its design. A poisonous gas, with no antidote, deathly and pervasive, soon to be unleashed on the imperial garrison, the Breton contingent, stationed there and lead by Porcia.

Cyriel is horrified. She says they must warn the imperial at once, that no one is worth the life of an entire army...

Only For Talym to rebuke her with force. He would sacrifice anyone, even 100 armies to save his son.

Cyriel is disgusted. She leaves, stops, gets his unopened satchel filled with gold, and throws it on the ground at his feet. And then she's gone.

Talym can't stop now, he only has 24 hours left to complete his task, and he's getting desperate. He decides to plant false evidence that a sacred flower growing in a nearby grow, sacred to Lady Mara, can be extracted and used as a counter cloud to the poison, knowing full well that it will most likely do nothing of the sorts and will doom them all to a slow death by gassing.

But, due to the death of the courier, the Reachmen have gotten more alert, and manage to capture Porcia. Talym is so forced to save his old friend, only to later lead her to her doom.

They go together to the sacred grove, where Porcia, believing the flowers to be their only hope, and that the priestess were going to die anyway once the reachmen decided to attack them to prevent the flower from being harvested (something that was never going to happen), orders her men to kill them and take the flowers with force, committing a massacre of pacifist Mara priests trying to resist the imperials as they took their sacred flowers.

The trap is set, the weight of her actions already resting heavy on her mind, Porcia orders a attack against the reachmen stronghold, knowing full well such a enclosed space would be perfect for the deployment of the gas. So, she orders all her men to converge in a narrow passage, and, once the poison cloud is released, she orders to release the sacred flower counter cloud...

And then...

The two gasses have a terrible reaction with each other.

Fire is unleashed on Reahcman and Breton alike, the entirety of the Doomfang Clan, warrior, men, but also women and children living in the stronghold, and an entire imperial legion destroyed and eradicated in a single night, explosions disfiguring and killing and maiming soldiers for life, or kill those lucky enough to get killed. Porcia, miraculously unscathed, perhaps a punishment, or a mercy by lady Mara herself, witnessing her actions and her consequences, becoming more from that day onward, in fear her words might one day again cause such terrible fate, such senseless deaths, for nothing, and thinking it was her fault, hers and her faulty informations.

When it was all Talym's fault instead.

The war criminal, because we can't have a elder scrolls legends story mode without the main character being a bloody war criminal, returns home, the conquering hero, ecstatic to finally see his some again, whole and-

But his son is gone.

And only a tomb lays in his place. A tomb Talym himself built over a year ago.

He doesn't understand. How did that happen? Sheogorath must have tricked him somehow, so Talym returns to the isles, his mind getting more and more deranged as time passes and the weight of his actions start making itself clear, all with actions and horrors for nothing, the man slipping more and more into insanity as he forgets who he is, as he sees normal trees coming to life, and mudcrabs talking and trying to sell him their wares, and strange... colored grumites... singing... the menu theme song?

Lurzah is back, during Talym darkest hour, for the friend that helped her with her own song, despite everything he has done.

She wakes him from his delirium, and tells him that the only way for him to heal, is to face his past, maybe with the help of a ancient orc song, so powerful that it can send you in a trance and let you fight your darkest self.

But that's not enough. He must learn the truth, he must find Sheogorath and demand answers. So Lurzah tells him or a mighty warrior, someone Sheo himself was afraid of, trapped in a ancient cell in cavern at the fringes of insanity... or perhaps sanity?

So, they enter the cell, and free its prisoner, who was no other than...

Haskill's evil brother?

Dyus, keeper of the records of Jyggalag, the prince of order, the last thing of Jyggalag left in the isles, for not even Sheogorath could bring himself to kill his last link to his past.

Well, his second to last.

For the sword of Jyggalag is somewhere to be found, and, by using it against Sheogorath, he too will be faced with the memories of what he has done, of what he was, and, perhaps, will be compelled so to tell Talym the truth about what happen to his son.

Talym finds the sword, and returns to New Sheoth, bidding one last farewell to Lurzah, who tells him there are no ill feelings between them, and who probably decided to go search for where the hell Cyrial has gotten herself into to get her out of trouble, thus starting a epic Orsimer/Bosmer bard/thief lesbian love story to span the ages.

(Or maybe not, this one can dream).

Talym reaches Sheogorath, amazed that the man is still standing after his ordeal, and that he has managed to find the sword of order of all weapons. Talym directs his sword against Sheogorath, and demands an explanation.

Which Sheogorath, in all fairness, does give.

Via mind fucking flashbacks of course, but big still count as a explanation:

Back then, when Talym was still a imperial spy under porcia, the Black Worm Cult murdered his "partner" (Never mentioned if romantic or work partner. Since we see no spouse to speak of I'm assuming they killed the guy husband and spy partner and Nevos is adopted), so he decides to infiltrate the black worm cult himself to dismantle it from within, despite Porcia insists that he should take a break and spend more time with his son.

Alas, tragedy strikes. The cult discovers what his going on, and puts Talym in front of a terrible test.

Prove his worthiness to the cause...

Via the trial of ruthlessness.

This is by far the most chilling fucking scene and match in the history of this fucking game.

Whatever you do, you cannot save your son.

The spell in your hand, blood sacrament, is a damaging spell, and both creatures are ready to attack. There are 3 ways to kill your son.

Even if you pass, one of the two cultists will assume you failed the test, and comment on what a shame it was, only to then have the creature attack the boy by itself.

Memories come back like a flood. He had asked Sheogorath to forget the terrible action he had to commit, to kill his own beloved son, only for him to manipulate his memories so he could come back to him, years later, and do his dark bidding again.

Sheogorath and if he wants to do it all over again, and let him make him forget all of his pain and misery rather than have to face it for the rest of his miserable life.

But Talym has learned his lesson now. He must not run away from pain, but must healthily deal with his loss rather than strike bargains with mad gods. He has learned to live with the truth and his past, no matter the pain.

He then asks if Sheogorath if he can say the same for himself.

Talym strikes him with the sword of order one, two, three times, each strike making memories of his past as the prince of order flood in Sheogorath's mind, the mad god first disgusted by his last self, later scared, and in the end defeated, begging Talym to stop, to take away the memories with him and return home, something Talym agrees only after having the mad god swear to not harm or retaliate on neither him or on Cyrial and Luzrah again, who were probably having wild lesbian sex in Lurzah's colored music cave as all of this was happening and Sheogorath started making rain flaming cheese from the skies as he pleaded for Talym to go the fuck away from him.

And so the story end. Talym returns to his empty home to deal with his grief, alone, and leave us a warning: "no matter what devil might try to bargain with you, memories and grief are important to us, and we should never give them away, no matter how painful they might seem."

The story ends, and we return to out travelers from the start, with Nagh obligatory sarcastic closing statement: "Jeez, man, Naagh is beginning to think you only know angsty stories, it's the 3rd time you made this one cry with one," as a city appears on the horizon.

#sheogorath #elder scrolls #elder scrolls legends #shivering isles #tes lore #jyggalag #haskill #oblivion #morrowind

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the-skooma-den · 6 years ago

Photo

threw together a couple headshots of Syke cause i wanted to do a proper profile of her, so anyone curious about the character i spend so much time ranting about and drawing thats gonna be under the read more

Part 2 here

directory to all posts about her and her siblings are here

Real Name: Ava Aurelia Cassia Camoran Tharn Latona. she has an untold amount fake names and identities for a wide variety of purposes, Nowadays she mainly goes by Syke Ivywood, and thats what most of the Dominion knows her as (and is also her in game name)

Age: turned 28 right around when the main plot started. I assume years pass through the DLC’s, including one year where she does the mages and fighters guild quest as well as a bunch of quests.

Race: Imperial. Her father was a bosmer and she takes heavily after him. Her grandpas a Khajiit, which is only relevant here because her dad took heavily after his dad. Hence syke’s weirdly golden eyes and slightly to sharp teeth.

Class: Nightblade, focus on siphoning magic

Personality: One might look at her usual scowl and her serious demeanor and assume she's the typical lone wolf edgy assassin, and they’re only really half wrong. She’s not a loner by choice,she doesn’t hate people really, shes just not great at interacting with people. Anyone who knows who she actually is tend to be scared of her (even other members of the brotherhood) and that's not great for ones self confidence. In a few words, she’s just awkward and extremely introverted. That being said she is kinda grumpy, but if an evil god stole your soul you would be to.

As for the series Demeanor, that really just her face. She’s just not a smiley person ya know? She just as an incredibly flat affect and it either takes really strong emotions or a lot of effort on her part to break it. She’s actually pretty damn nice, even if she doesn’t really “get” a lot of social norms.Being raised in a assassin cult worshiping the void can do that to a girl.

What also does not help the usual perception of her, is her Bad temper and very very low bullshit tolerance. She’s not hard to piss off and it can be explosive. Usually not the yelling and screaming explosive but the getting right up in your face out of nowhere and quietly informing you that if you say one more word she’ll individually break every bone in your hand type way.

She’s what her mother would kindly call “strong willed” and what everyone else would call debilitatingly stubborn . Keeping in mind this is a woman who was wronged by what is essentially the demon god king of domination and then decided “I’m going to kick his ass” and then did. For good or ill she rarely if ever gives up.

Due to the fact she is technically a noblewoman, she tends to be extremely private as well. The other Cyrodilic nobles know of her and her family, but just know them as the family that for the most part gave up their titles and have no intention of trying to get them back, they have no idea that theyre a whole family of assassin in the Dark brotherhood. That does not mean that they ignore her or her family as even if her family doesn’t want the titles the fact they exist can mess up others claims to the throne.Especially Ava who suffice to say has a pretty decent claim to several very important titles. This has lead her to take on a variety of different fake names and wearing different masks to avoid being recognized both in her daily life and in jobs for the brotherhood...at least at first.

As it turned out she's a natural actor with one hell of a flair for the dramatic. She may have issues interacting with people as herself, but she finds it easier when pretending to be someone else. She got so into it that she has whole characters that she pretends to be for all kinds of purposes, like say if she needs access to mages or fighters guild resources or if a particular job for the brotherhood calls to act as a maid for a little bit.

as for how the Dominion crew know her, well they actually come closer to knowing her then most. When Raz dragged her out of the ocean at Khenarthis roost she was so out of it she was barely able to come up with a fake name let alone a whole character, so they all end up genuinely knowing her as she truly is. Turns out she doesn’t mind that as much as she thought she would.

Backstory (before the main plot): She’s a third generation member of the Dark brotherhood, and most of her direct family (siblings, parents, aunt and one set of grandparents) are apart of it. Her grandmother, A Bosmer noble named Cassa, married an Imperial nobleman when she was pretty young. Cassa wanted to get out of Valenwood and her husband was looking for a way to rebel against his family and found it in a hot bosmer lady. They ended up having one kid together, Lara

A few years later Cassa ends up falling in with and getting pregnant by a khajiiti baker her husband hired, and her husband is not to happy about that to say the least. He fires and sends the Khajiit away and Cassa is less then happy about that as well. She kills her husband and so convincingly makes it look like an accident that if the brotherhood hadn't already had a contract out on him no one would have ever known it was murder.

So Cassa ends up joining the brotherhood after her second kid by the khajiit man was born. She never really connected with the bosmeri pantheon or the Green pact, and she ends up taking to Sithis real well. She also as soon as she was able went to find her love and they were married as soon as possible. They all lived in Valenwood for a number of years and both her kids grew up in the brotherhood as well.

Eventually the younger one son, Tanis, marries an Imperial woman,Livillia. Also a runaway noblewoman,her mother was friends with Cassa and she was seeking sanctuary with her. Livillia is specifically one of Abnur Tharns kids, who no longer wanted to deal with the Tharn family drama.

They have a kid together (That is of course Ava). Tanis’s older sister and Cassa’s first child, Lara, has a one night stand with an Altmer and has her own kid who she names Ceryneian (or Nia for short). And they all live pretty happily for a while, as far as anyone knew the family was just a bunch of nobodies, rich nobodies who kept all hours but still just nobodies. They had for the most part completely abandoned all noble titles, even if the nobles weren’t done with them.

When Ava was about 10 years old her great aunt Cilvia tharn found out that Livillia was still alive. She was well aware that if she tried to do anything to Elsweyr Livillia would likely act against her. Livillia may be a member of the brotherhood, but she wasnt completely evil. Cilcvia sent assassins after Ava’s parents, they missed her but her parents were taken by surprise and sadly killed. None of her family felt right staying in valenwood anymore, So Lara took Ava in and moved to the Gold coast where she had spent her early childhood and had inherited some estate. Her grandparents Moved to Elsweyr and both Ava and Nia would spend summers there as kids.

So Ava ends up “officially” a member of the brotherhood ,after toddling around the sanctuaries her whole life, at about 15 years old, and was never prouder. Normally they wouldn’t have let someone so young in but once again, she had literally been toddling in sanctuaries, they figured it was fine.

On one of her first genuinely dangerous missions, to kill a necromancer in Northern Elsweyr (chaperoned by her grandma of course), she came across one of said necromancers future sacrifices. This sacrifice happened to be a 13 year old khajiit boy named Thera (later going by Jo’Thera) with some odd fur patterns, and fuck man he was just a kid (granted shes only a couple years older then him) and Ava couldn’t just leave him there alone. Ava saved him and took her back to Anvil with her after she killed the necromancer as according to the kid, he didn’t have a family or anywhere to go. Lara hears the kids story and is just like…. Welp… guess i got a 3rd kid now. (as Thera grows up if there's one thing he gets from his adopted family its a love for drama and dramatic irony. He takes to necromancy pretty quickly)

That peace continued for a few years until she was about 19. At 19 years old she got the offer to join the Psijic order, Not because she was particularly powerful or even all that good at magic (at the time of course, she gets much better later), but due to her lack of formal teaching she had her own odd way of casting and working with it that caught their attention. Basically imagine that she did a really complicated math problem wrong, but ended up with the right answer and somehow accidentally discovered a new much easier formula to that particular problem, she did the magic version of that and showed a lot of potential even outside of that.

Then she said no, she was happy in the brotherhood and her current life and she saw no reason to leave

When Ava was about 20 years old, Nia ran away because, well she wasn't as fond of the brotherhood as her mother or cousin, and its not exactly something you can just quit and walk away from. It broke the whole families heart of course but Ava took it particularly hard. She had considered her and had been referring to her as her sister even before her parents death

What really set it all off though was when Nia popped up again alive and well in Valenwood using the last name of their grandmothers family. She didn’t send them a message or anything, it just got to them by word of mouth because Nia had disowned them and been talking shit about them. After she ran away she went back down to Valenwood to claim the title that was rightfully hers, it turns out that she had found proof of her birthright and between that and her uncanny resemblance to her grandmother she barely had to be questioned.

So Nia is in Valenwood with her relatives and had completely disowned the entire rest of her family. Her grandmother, Her mother and her (now deceased) Aunt and Uncle, and Ava and their brother as well. she never made any concrete statement as to why per say outside of “Not wanting to go down the same path as the rest of her family” which most people assumed meant completely abandoning their noble heritage and titles, not to mention their bosmeri heritage as well (which was partially true, but it was mostly about the whole murder cult thing). So yeah, Lara was heartbroken and Ava was pissed off to oblivion and back and Jo’thera....he was just hurt, but all decided that if that was where Nia wanted to be they weren’t going to drag her back.

At about 23 Ava met her first real significant other, A Dunmeri noble. It didnt go well for either of them really, lots of drugs, lots of unhealthy coping mechanisms, lots of secrets. not a good time. 2 years later, The Dunmer actually proposes to Ava, and Ava not only says yes but Ava tells her everything about the brotherhood, her own noble status, all of it. The Dunmer seems okay with it at first, and admits she kinda suspected who Ava’s family was based on the little she spoke about it, The brotherhood was the real surprising part there. The knife in Ava’s stomach later that night Makes it clear what she thought about that. So it was a messier breakup then most.

Ava doesnt like to speak much of the relationship, but it hurt her more then she lets on and makes her more nervous then ever to be in a real romantic relationship

Well after that mess Ava threw herself back into the brotherhood hardcore and also into hardcore drugs and alcohol.for about 5 years. Over those 5 years between the Dunmer incident, a lot of self reflection, and all sorts of anxieties she’s an unstable mess. Like verge of a mental breakdown type of mess.

When she was kidnapped and later sacrificed by the wormcult many who knew her assumed that she had offed herself for good. She was gone for long enough that even her own family started to assume the worst

#my art #syke #eso #somehow she's ended up one of my favorite characters ive ever made #tes or no #i honestly just like her #playing through the game thinking about how'd she react to events and characters #its just a blast #is she a mary sue?#dont know and couldnt care less #i just love her

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