#any society fans out there........

[danneelswife]

allie and cassandra pressman | brutal

all i did was try my best this the kinda thanks i get?

(youtube)

[torgawl]

i am begging people who keep pushing the wriothesley is a father figure to the melusines/sigewinne agenda to read his lore. begging. he's not a father figure, in fact, he's like their borrowed grandkid. the melusines adopted him, not the other way around!!!

[figofswords]

saw some tags on one of your posts and u have a cat name midna?? 🥺 I love that 🥺 can we see a pic pretty please

oh boy do I EVER have a cat named midna. and she is Deranged

(bonus: rare photo of midna being NOT a maniac + tiny baby muppet midna)

[lord-squiggletits]

Part of why I hate this fandom's take on Autobots vs Decepticons is ppl (mainly 'con fans honestly) who can't have any nuance of the situation whatsoever and love to write plots like "oh the humans are racist and abusive towards Cybertronians so this is how Megatron is right" no actually I don't think colonialism/imperialism and racism are justified so long as you can point the finger and say "they were the aggressors first" or "their hands are no cleaner than ours bc their society sucks too" sorry. Please come up with better sociopolitical narratives in your war story.

[qedmirage]

Episode 14 clear!

And there we go. The climax to our Arc 2 plotline, finished. As usual, gameplay thoughts above the cut, story thoughts below. I feel like there isn't actually much to talk about with the gameplay in chapter 14. The new mechanic of Active Orignium storms is interesting at least; tiles will have Pollution, and a nasty storm that gets stronger and larger each time it touches them circles the map. Plus, some enemies benefit from being in or crossing the storm. The Beacons being used to steer the storm is neat, but the deployable beacon only shows up in 3 stages, so outside of puller/pusher strats there's not much interaction with it. There is a very cute moment in 14-1 where a large number of Originium Slugs look at the Originium Storm and just run away. An 'even speedwagon is afraid' moment. The second half of the mechanics, dealing with the Revenants on the airship and in the Assimilated Universe, doesn't stand out as much to me. You basically have swarms of lil' baby units you want to keep separate from the main units, or they'll eat the small guys to empower their attacks. Works well enough in the main stages but frustrates me in HI-2 because of the sheer quantities of mans they start out with; it ends up feeling like something that really WANTS you to have massive AOE DPS. Special mention to the new flying Chalice enemies, which absorb a portion of the damage suffered by all enemies in an aura around them, have giant HP pools, and 0 defence. And you know what that means:

On to the story. Spoilers abound!

Episode 14's story is long. It has to juggle the resolution for the Self-Salvation Corps, Siege, The Followers, the Taran rebellion, and also the RI gang going up to stop Theresa. It juggles all these plotlines...okay. I felt I came away from it all with more questions about 'Theresa' 's goals and motivations than answers. Okay, high points! First off, chapter 14-10 has an amazing cutscene in it, where the narration talks about the struggles of different members of the Exemplars to get Siege to the 'stone of the sword'. As it does so the image pans up, scrolling as Siege and the sword advance, the narration shifting to the different members of the Exemplars as it does so. The full piece is amazing:

my cinematography! A high point of the story.

Okay, since I know I get a ton of non-arknights players reading these, I'll warn you in advance that this isn't really a full summary of the story, of everything that happens in chapter 14. But I will drill down a bit on one bit, because people make a lot of memes about her and I think she's one of the more interesting parts, and that's Priestess.

Priestess was first mentioned in chapter 8, RI's ship has an AI called 'PRTS', and the map interface has 'Eyes of Priestess' written along the bottom. She (in as much as she has a gender) has been haunting the background of the game, and we don't really learn much about her until Babel and then again now. Back in chapter 8, she's someone who holds Doctor's hand as Doc goes into the Sarcophagus for the first time, and says this:

Well, we've given the writers a few more years to figure out what they want to do with her, and they've landed on some fun stuff! Priestess only appears in person after the airship contacts the originium crystal Ammannan, with everyone being almost instantly devoured by crystals. Like, doc sees this:

And then comes to rest in a dark room with Priestess. Storywise, Priestess is the only known surviving precursor other than Doctor. But she isn't out there 'in the flesh' ; she seems to exist as a digital consciousness inside Originium. And while Doc doesn't remember their past, she does - including their civilization's last struggle before its death, and the decisions they made as a result.

In Priestesses' telling (Which may not be accurate - other characters have disagreed), Originium is a record of their civilization to leave far beyond the disaster passes. The harm that it may cause to other civilizations along the way is irrelevant; it is THE solution, and all those other societies were going to die anyways.

She's very devoted to Doctor, having been with them for a long time; she describes her first introduction of herself as:

"My name is Priestess, a linguist. I am researching the final sound waves emitted by planets as they die. I like quietly spending my time alone, but I also wanted to find someone to explore the universe with."

and it's unclear just how long they were together, but their transhuman hyperspace adventures clearly spanned quite a while. Back in Babel there's a line where Doc references the 'billions of lives lost' in the search to an answer for that disaster, and we also get a firm answer for how long Doc was in stasis before Theresa awakened them: 13,021.9 years [BB-ST-2]. Priestess has been sleeping within Originium for at least that long, and this is where we get to the final neat leg of Priestess's character; her patience and supreme confidence that things will go her way. See, Priestess is an antagonist. From what we know so far, she wants to see Originium flood over the surface of Terra, converting all the life on its surface. She wants Doc to give up and retreat into despair. But Priestess is also loving and affection to Doctor, in the calm way of a long life, and she's confident she knows what Doctor will do. Her words before parting in 14-19 sum it up well.

It's calm, welcoming, caring. But there's a manipulative quality to it, right? Amiya and Kal'tsit are 'doubts'. The entirety of Doc's involvement in the surface world is 'grand rhythms and minute pulsations' destined to fall into silence. At the same time she's far from a standard anime yandere, as she doesn't actually do anything to stop Doc's involvement in the surface world, and wishes them well as they go. After all, why not? She's immortal, and so is Doctor. She can be patient. You will return to her side. ... Okay, some last notes. It's really funny that in the Assimilated Universe, the 'The Matrix' - like construct inside Originium, Logos the words and grammar wizard intuitively understands that the place 'has its own grammar' before Kal'tsit tells him to not study it too deeply. My man got put in a computer and almost instantly was thinking on how to hack it. The Follower's drama with Shining and her dad (sorry I am not copying those names over) is very abstract but I think I get it after a while. Poor Liz, I hope she can find a happy life. Also as Arknights is a game by otaku who definitely read Fate/Stay Night, if your dad is a Matou Zouken you are obligated to kick his ass with your girlfriends. It'll be really hard! But you gotta do it. Finally, I actually have this book on my back shelf, 'Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition'. A sort of study of scientists poking at ways to live in space and survive the heat death of the universe and all that, with a bit of a lens of 'aren't these guys kooky' if I remember correctly. It's been over a decade since I last cracked it open. BUT I do remember that the segment on how to survive Heat Death introduces, as one concept, creating a virtual world that would slow its clock rate down as the usable energy lowers, extending the last few perceived seconds of its inhabitants into infinity. Given the literal demons Arknights has in the form of Collapsals I think the disaster that befell Priestess and Doctor is somewhat more direct, but it was neat to see digital arks as a long term survival method again. "Until the stars fall", huh.

[spotsupstuff]

here's a neat vid, go watch it if you haven't yet

there's Some things that i don't completely agree with personally, like attributing the Third sin to Materialism rather than Connection (i'd argue that the Ancients had no big issue with being materialistic, considering their golden attires and such- and that going with Connection overall better addresses both the core of Materialism and relationships overall) and then attributing the word Dynasty specifically to asian cultures but that's more history/word definition beef more than anything djgklsjlcgjkd

oh how i'd love to have a debate with this guy about Ancients...

[the-busy-ghost]

"Oh it would have been more satisfying if the humans had invented a technology which defeated the Martians rather than have them killed off by accident just when humanity's impotence in the face of disaster seems to be confirmed". I

To me that's just a fancy way of saying "Yeah but humans could totally handle the Martians and the writer has a duty to reassure the audience of that!"

Sir we cannot even handle climate change and I'm sorry to tell you that it's not entirely due to a lack of technological expertise

[universalheart]

apocalypse

[flowermist7432]

lately when im talkin about a media i hate (usually due to the creator) I have to ask myself "Do I actually dislike (insert thing) in the media, or would I have felt differently and enjoyed it if it was present in a DIFFERENT media" and if that answer is yes I do think this would have been fire in another project- then I have to find out what I actually dislike and put it into words. Examine my feelings/biases, etc. It helps exercise my ability to be critical without being seen as unfair.

(warning, ramble in tags!)

[crowtobio]

i hate that all of my a//3 thoughts are so unbelievably niche bc i think there are maybe two (2) people who have a fucking clue what any of it means and its driving me insane

[nightly-ruse]

I think about animal fiction with ferrets so much. I just want to give them a society and culture and have them be slinky creatures of the swamps

I love them

[abimee]

i cpul;d go on forever about amaurot. the specific people. thinking about the descriptionds for the philos and aidos minion and having a moment ill brb

[anothermansjeans]

naur bc i have thoughts....

[lesbianbishounen]

i hate talking about genai bcus its fucking everywhere and even talking about that fact feels redundant but i cannot help but think about how people's arguments for why it could be good feel so indicative of how many americans think about the day to conveniences we have.

like people will say stuff like "oh wouldn't it be nice to have someone who can't draw be able to have art or voices or music for a game or other project they're working on when they're not an artist or voice actor and can't afford to pay one" and like yeah sure it would be nice. devoid of context its a fun little novelty that wouldn't hurt. it'd be a welcome convenience for them but the entire problem is what the cost comes at.

Setting aside the fact that we don't live in a world where that tech will just be used for small personal use, the stuff it comes at the cost of is the whole issue, massive water and energy consumption, people in other countries paid pennies to filter through all the horrific stuff that gets submitted to machine learning datasets. but the people touting this stuff as a great convenience that'll "democratize art" or whatever don't care about that, and it feels like the same mindset of people who refuse to boycott any company that's doing harmful shit.

Who cares if people in another country are dying, i get my convenient caffeine fix. Why should I care about the reason why I get to have out of season fruits year round, it makes things easier for me. Why would I want to take public transportation and change my behaviour, my car is easier. Why should i tolerate any level of inconvenience for the sake of another person or trying to cause less harm. Just complete and utter apathy towards what the negative effects of the things that help you are.

[oxyfem]

my nightmare is knowing that if i was a character in some sort of media people would hc me as butch bc i wear pants and combat boots constantly

[fuckyeahisawthat]

Controversial opinion among Dune book fans maybe, but I loved the changes they made to Chani's character. Making her a fedaykin who is already an experienced fighter before Paul arrives was a brilliant choice. Dune Part Two is a war movie, and this puts her at the center of the action, side by side with Paul, and gives her a much more active role than she has in the book.

We got a hint of where things were going in the beginning of Dune Part One. The first thing we ever know about movie Chani is that she's a fighter. She serves as a voice for the Fremen, telling us the story of their struggle from her point of view. I wrote here about the difference this change makes compared to other adaptations of Dune, what a perspective shift it is to have the world of Arrakis introduced not by an outsider, describing it as a dangerous but valuable colonial prize, but by one of its native inhabitants, who tells us before all else that it's beautiful, her home that she's fighting to liberate. I am so, so glad that the second movie followed up on this characterization.

I never found Chani and Paul's love story in the book particularly convincing, because why would this woman, who already has a prominent and respected place in Fremen society, even give the time of day to her deposed would-be colonizer, let alone fall in love and have children with him? Without a compelling reason for Chani to love Paul, she ends up feeling like a prize to be won, and "indigenous culture personified as a woman to be wooed (or conquered) by the colonizing man" is a trope we've seen and don't need to repeat.

But as soon as you tell me it's a barricade romance I get it. Cool cool cool, I know exactly what this relationship is now and it makes sense. Movie Chani doesn't respect or even particularly like Paul when she first meets him, and she doesn't think he's the fulfillment of any prophecy. She comes to respect him, and eventually love him, through his actions. He's brave--sometimes recklessly so. He fights well. He's willing to stick his neck out on the front lines with the other Fremen fighters. He can (after a little help) hack surviving in the harsh desert environment. He's not too proud to learn from others. He seems to genuinely want to be her equal in a common political struggle. All these qualities make sense as things she values.

Fighting side by side as equals is just about the only way I can see movie Chani falling for Paul. And it fits perfectly with the film's pattern of reversals that Paul's capacity for violence would initially be one of the things Chani likes about him, only for her to be repelled later when she sees what he becomes.

And as for Paul, well, he's had people deferring to him his entire life. Someone who doesn't take any shit from him is probably refreshing. He seems to like people (Duncan, Gurney) who challenge him and engage in a little friendly teasing--and aren't afraid to go a few rounds in the sparring ring.

It's easy to speedrun a romance when you're spending all your time together in mortal danger fighting for a shared political cause. Especially if you then start winning in a war your people have been fighting for decades. Are you kidding me? That is the perfect environment for intense battle camaraderie to turn into romantic love, and lust.

It makes sense that this version of Chani never believes Paul is any kind of messiah. Of course a character like movie Chani wouldn't believe in or trust some outside savior to liberate them. She's been working to liberate her own people for years. The more Paul invokes the messianic myth, the more he starts sounding once again like someone who plans to rule over them, and the more uncomfortable Chani becomes. In this way she becomes a foil to Jessica, the two of them representing the choices Paul is pulled between. It's a great way of externalizing the political and philosophical debates that often happen within characters' heads in the book.

And of course this version of Chani would leave Paul at the end of the film. It's not just the personal, emotional betrayal--although that stings. What common cause does she have with someone who just declared himself emperor and is sending her own people off in a war of conquest against others? Given the important role she plays in Dune Messiah, I am super curious to see how they get her back into the story, but girl was so valid for being willing to just gtfo. Given that she has the last shot of the whole movie, I'm sure she'll be back somehow, and I can't wait to see what they do with her character in any future installments.