#arknights amaia

[voidedjuice]

@kc5rings 's post wouldn't leave my brain so here's some fun little doodles :3

Specter takes some of Amaia's nethersea brand home with her as a souvenir and it grows into a smaller version of Amaia, which she now keeps in a fish tank. The other abyssal hunters aren't sure what to think of this

[amiya-shirou]

My Dorothy & Arturia brainrot has now evolved

(Spoilers for Dorothy's Vision, Stultifera Navis and Zwillingstürme im Herbst)

is this anything

[paranoillusion]

[000yul]

seaborn seem like the worst possible audience for a philosophy 101 lecture but what do i know

[brave-symphonia]

Really love this being the last we see of Amaia.

Her gently reaching out to and talking to the Seaborn before it devours her.

Telling it about the very reason she wants to be fed to its kind, because she hates how humanity tears itself apart for divisions that were never real in the first place.

The Seaborn are simple, they strive to survive, all for the sake of the greater collective, and that must be comforting for some people.

[sunder-the-gold]

What was Amaia's deal? ["Stultifera Navis", Arknights]

Some characters are harder to understand than others, either because they're good at lying to themselves, good at lying to others, or both.

Amaia is one of those characters, and [Stultifera Navis] did the readers no favors in getting to understand her when it waited until later into the event's story to reveal anything about her true motivations, at a time when too many other things are happening, and only in a flashback that we see after she’s dead.

Misanthropy

As a native Liberi rather than a descendant of Cultist Aegirians washed up on the shore, Amaia would not have grown up indoctrinated in the Church of the Deep's philosophies, and would have joined it later in life, as an outsider, with a deliberate purpose.

Amaia hated humanity, to the point of self-loathing. We never learn the reason why, though someone else speculated that her throw-away comment about "artificial borders" suggested she had a bad experience with international war. She definitely has strong and negative opinions about human sacrifice, which suggests to me that someone important to her laid down their life for a country or cause, while she thought they died in vain for people who didn't care about them at all.

However she became acquainted with the Church of the Deep, one can suppose her reasons for trying to become a Sea Monster came from a desire to shed her humanity and become part of something where sacrifice was not altruism, but reflex, and appreciated but not celebrated by the community. Creatures that had no capacity for hatred and no need for love, or that only knew love.

But by the time Amaia became a bishop, she knew all too well how even her fellow cultists were ultimately human, even after becoming Seaborn. No matter how much she transformed herself, Amaia found that the only way she could truly lose her humanity to the swarm was to die and feed herself to it.

She wanted to give the monsters the tools to better understand and destroy humanity while counseling the Endspeaker about what parts of her knowledge and understanding she didn't want the Endspeaker to learn.

Anthropology

For someone committed to destroying human civilization and shedding her own humanity, Amaia was curiously involved in cultural pursuits. One could suppose she had already learned how to dance, to write, and to read foreign languages before she lost her faith in humanity, but that doesn't explain why she continued to work as a translator after she had become a full-time bishop for the Church of the Deep.

Perhaps even that, you could dismiss by supposing the cult needed all the legitimate revenue its members could generate, and those were the only skills she could sell.

But that doesn't explain her interest in Aegirian culture.

After the protagonists defeat the jellyfish-bird, we see a memory of Amaia talking with Quintus about Laurentina, whom they’ve already captured and experimented upon. Amaia tries to dissuade Quintus from making "too many comparisons" (experiments) on Specter, lest Specter come to hate them and refuse to tell Amaia any more about Aegir.

Quintus doesn’t understand why she wants to ask Specter more about her life in Aegir, when she could talk to the First To Speak instead.

Amaia makes it clear that she hates Aegir and the Abyssal Hunters. “Self-destructive soldiers, self-righteous country. Falling into a self-inflicted trap.”

She says she wants to “deconstruct, witness, caress, break” human civilization. And even as Specter, Laurentina loved Aegir more than any Aegirian Amaia had ever spoken to, and thus her best source of knowledge about it. (Not entirely surprising, as none of the Aegir Amaia could have met before Laurentina would have ever seen Aegir.)

But I thought that seemed like a lot of effort that did nothing to advance her goals. It’s not like she was trying to learn more about Aegir to more effectively circumvent their defenses, which is probably what Quintus thought she wanted to learn and why he told her to ask The First To Speak instead.

Perhaps Amaia was desperately looking for anything in humanity she thought would be worth preserving. Anything she could love that would convince her to stop helping the Sea Monsters. And who better to give her that reason than someone who loved a native culture which Amaia had never really learned about?

Pleasant Lies

When Laurentina rues how she was found on the beach by rotten people, Amaia protests that she thought she had made a positive first impression on Laurentina.

The flashback shows Amaia arguing against too many experiments on Laurentina.

When Amaia and Specter met in Grand Faro, Amaia invited her to find her again after she had recovered her memories.

When they met again on the golden dreadnought, Amaia engaged in friendly conversation with Laurentina and invited her to dance.

Amaia's final request to the Endspeaker was for it to do whatever Laurentina asked of it, to “pay back the debt” for the data they got out of her.

Ugly Truth

Amaia's first question to Laurentina was not "How are you?" but "How did Aegir make you?"

Amaia was one of the cultists who found Laurentina, deceived her into trusting them, and then eagerly participated in interrogating her, brainwashing her, and experimenting upon her.

In the promotion record for Specter the Unchained, Laurentina says of Amaia, "She was in charge of recording down my mental state and providing feedback after the experiment. Given how knowledgeable and accomplished she was, it's a pity she was so well-suited for this job. She might've treated me the nicest among the experimenters, but you know what, Gladiia? She never actually liked me. In fact, she had a lot of things to say about the way we refused to follow nature's ordained trajectory."

Amaia personally worked to rob Laurentina of her freedom, her identity, her sanity, and her health, with the ultimate purpose of Amaia abandoning her humanity, and helping the Sea Monsters kill Laurentina, her people, all of humanity… all while trying to convince Laurentina that she was her friend.

Amaia argued against provoking Specter's hatred, not because she cared about Specter's hatred, but because she hadn't yet learned as much as she wanted from her captive.

Explicitly according to narration, Amaia started a cordial conversation and dance with Laurentina on the ship as a stalling tactic, to give the Endspeaker more time to eat, learn, and evolve.

Even asking the Endspeaker to grant Laurentina any request seems like a nasty joke, given that Laurentina had already made it clear that the only payment she wanted from Amaia for her "debt" was to personally murder Amaia.

After that conversation, and based on Amaia's intimate study of Laurentina's mind, Amaia could not imagine that Laurentina would wish for anything other than the Endspeaker's death, which the Endspeaker would not oblige. The only conclusion to the Endspeaker seeking out Laurentina to make such an offer would be a battle to the death that Amaia expected the Endspeaker would win.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

i will never make my memes look good you will get my slop and thank me for it

(or help me figure out how to make them look better that also helps)

Link to original tweet

[mlynar-nearl]

seaborn.jpg

[carrogath]

Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: 明日方舟 | Arknights (Video Game) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Amaia/Specter (Arknights) Characters: Amaia (Arknights), Quintus (Arknights), Cicero (Arknights), Specter (Arknights), Irene (Arknights) Additional Tags: One-Sided Relationship, Gore, Medical Experimentation, Abusive Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Torture, Brainwashing, Body Horror, rape mention, Suicide mention Summary: On the shores of Sal Viento, Amaia finds the corpse of the most beautiful woman she's ever seen.

The woman stares blankly at her.

“Amaia,” she says, “I know not who I am. Won’t you give me a name?”

Her mouth opens, and then closes.

This isn’t Laurentina.

“Specter, then,” she whispers. Then she drops her voice lower, leaving the syringe in the bag and opening her journal. “What do the voices tell you?”

Specter smiles at her. “How did you know about the voices?”

Amaia is quiet. “We’re the same, you and I,” she says. “Both striving for something out of our reach.”

[100en]

　８月のおでかけライブin高知に、アークナイツで参加することになりました！私からは缶バッチとポストカードを用意する予定です。イベント前後に通販を開始します。

　１０月には東京のALLSTARに、ゼル伝で参戦する予定…。まだ何を作るか全然決めてないけど…！

[voidedjuice]

Today's Whisperain, what if she or one of her past lives were a part of the church of the deep? Much to consider

[hopefulrefrain]

Fandom: Arknights Relationships: Skadi/Specter, Specter/Amaia or Specter/the Endspeaker if you squint Characters: Specter, Skadi, Amaia Warnings: Extreme violence, gore, eroguro, vore, strangulation Dreamwidth Mirror: here Description: Specter dreams of that creature that says it isn't Amaia.

[amiya-shirou]

incomplete list of Arknights characters who should absolutely be bosses in a Souls like game. contains spoilers.

Amiya of Rhodes Island (Phase 1) / Amiya, Lord of Fiends (Phase 2): Bad End Amiya where she does end up bringing ruin to the world as Patriot feared. you fight her in the ruins of the empty landship. phase 1 she still clings to the vestiges of her humanity and old life, phase 2 she ultimately gives it up to defeat us and achieve her ideal

Civilight Eterna: the Black Crown itself as the final boss using Theresa's body to fight. similar vibes to Soul of Cinder. a remix of Babel's lobby theme can be heard during phase 2.

Duq'arael, Sanguinarch of the Vampires: basically Mogh going full Bloodborne. spawns little bastards during the fight. everyone hates him for it.

The Witch King: IMAGINE the ways music could be integrated in this boss fight. in phase 2 he brings you to another dimension.

The Endspeaker: 3 phases boss. fights with the support of Amaia in one phase, but before the 3rd one there's a cutscene where it's dying and she lets it consume her.

Abyssal Hunter Skadi (Phase 1) / Ishar-mla, the Corrupting Heart (Phase 2): might be too similar of a concept to Amiya, but yeah phase 1 she fights you as regular Skadi and gives up to Ishar-mla in phase 2. final DLC boss levels of powerful.

Yeti Princess Frostnova: gut-wrenching fight where you visibly see her suffer more and more as she fights and the arena is covered in more and more ice and cold.

Patriot, Shield of the Infected: simple and kinda slow but extremely punishing boss due to his insane stats.

The Deathless Black Snake (Phase 1) / Talulah the Fighter (Phase 2): she takes back control of her body in phase 2. Bayle levels of epic and sheer devastation.

The Great Sui: gimmick boss like Rykard/Yhorm

Degenbrecher: yes she's just named that with no further title. like Patriot but she's fucking fast. Orphan of Kos levels of difficulty and fun

[ouroborosorder]

So, Deepcolor's oprec released, and upon reading a summary of it, I basically felt the entire world of Arknights click into place. Hear me out.

Deepcolor's Oprec details that Deepcolor was convinced by a messenger of the Cult of the Deep to become Seaborn. But she stopped her own assimilation when she realized that the Seaborn do not appreciate aesthetic beauty. She was disgusted, and literally left and stopped her own assimilation entirely due to her love of art, and has been holding it back with her painting.

And this made me realize. This is true of every character with seaborn blood who has resisted assimilation. Skadi sings. Specter sings. Laurentina sculpts. Gladiia dances. Mizuki cooks. Deepcolor is a painter. Amaia still translated books long after she had become Seaborn. Garcia played the piano. Lorenzo cared for the Stultifera.

Which also means...

... Anita was never assimilated. Not fully.

But this makes sense, even outside of a "art holds back the darkness" power of friendship-tier story beat. Assimilation is the surrendering of the individual self to unity, the acceptance that you do not matter, that all that matters is giving your life and your existence to the perpetuation of a greater Whole. They cultivate only to consume. They sing, but their song is a profound silence.

And what is more individualistic, more self-revealing than art? There is no artistic expression without the self, without the understanding that you are a distinct voice, that your perspective matters, that there is only one you.

Perhaps you may have noticed, but this is the same as the Yan-Sui. They hold back the collective with their individual passions. Painting, movies, poetry, games, war.

There's one other thing with a connection to artistic expression - but this time, positively. Originium Arts. Artistic ability has long been associated with Originium Arts capability - Amiya plays the violin, Frostnova sings as she enters the battlefield, Goldenglow's hairdressing, Astesia's divination powering her arts, Lucian the Blood Diamond. I mean they're called Arts for the love of god, it's not exactly subtle.

But the Rhine Lab manga tells us that when an Oripathy carrier dies, the Originium left behind contains their DNA sequence, left behind after death. They may die, but there is something that is always left behind, something that always remains behind. There is always the thing that let them do their Arts. There is always their artistic ability.

There is always their art.

You do your art until you are taken by death, but what remains behind is the traces of it, the artistic DNA you have left behind, your Arts itself. You're gone, but the remnants are still there. And someone else will find it, taking your Arts into themselves to do their own Arts themselves. Sometimes it becomes part of you, living with you and growing inside you, granting you your abilities. Sometimes you simply hold it and use it as fuel and inspiration to make your own Arts.

And this is always what Arknights has been about. Not just metaphorically, but literally.

They hired individual artists, asking them to make characters according to their own sensibilities and style, then putting them into a cohesive world. They got talented musicians and gave them carte blanche to contribute to the musical identity of this game. They got talented voice actors and let them just go ham on the mic. The game's story concept debatably originated because of Lowlight creating Kal'tsit for a make your own OC art game.

It has always been about individuals, putting everything they have, everything that makes them unique, every part of their histories and sensibilities and quirks and personalities and identity and selfish desires and allowing them to shine as a collaborative effort, working together towards a greater goal that means something to people.

An organization of people, Infected by the artistic DNA of those they carry close. People using their Arts to push back the darkness, as best as they can. Even if they stumble and fall, even if they make mistakes, they will always try. To enjoy their life and practice their art.

Because the two greatest threats to the world of Terra, the Seaborn and Sui, are held back by.. simple artistic passion.

The passion and love of the community, the individual given space to shine and collaborate, singing to drown out the terror of the song without sound, the art without beauty, and the collective without the individual.

[hakunot]

hello arknights fans i have a puzzle that needs solving. so whisperain’s new skin, it’s wonderful & we all bought it, correct?

looking in the background you can clearly see who the figures in the stained glass windows are supposed to be. they’re other iberians, specifically ones who have connections with the church of the deep, but aren’t themselves seaborne, abyssal hunters, or clothed members of the church (you can make arguments about amaia but that’s for another post).

we have irene, lumen, & amaia on the left side. then thorns & elysium on the right. my question is: can anyone tell who this third figure on the right is?

they have very distinctive bangs in their face, they’re holding a book (possibly supposed to be religious text?), what looks like a curved staff, and might have long hair to the side. WHO IS THIS??? i’ve done comparisons with every potentially relevant character i can think of (quintus, aulus, cicero, dario, carmen, literally every playable iberian) & i am stumped. no one fits as neatly as any of the other stained glass figures do. the closest i’ve gotten is maybe skalter? kal'tsit?? WEEDY??? HELP

[cerastes]

Was thinking about the hypothetical Arknights action game stuff from awhile back again, what enemies/story characters do you think would make for some sick boss fights?

Oh, I like this one. Just to name a few:

Patriot: The first that comes to mind is Patriot, as an enemy that would push the game systems of an action game to its limit. In concept, I like to imagine it in the way the true final boss of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon goes: You have your playable character, which I would like to say is Amiya for this case, and your big damage opportunities come from interference ran by Rosmontis clashing with Patriot and Rhodes Island Snipers and Casters barraging him by Elysium's instruction. Patriot is also perfect to load a ton of mix-ups onto by virtue of him being able to do both gigantic, slower attacks and barrages of quick lunges. He could be a setpiece boss and a straight up skill check boss in equal measures.

Bishop Quintus: Yeah, man's Yamcha as far as bosses go, BUT in the context of a character action game with tight movesets and mechanics, a gigantic tentacled boss that can spawn more and more tentacles from everywhere in the arena, has laser attacks, and was explicitly Devil May Cried for a while by Specter when she was literally air comboing it by leaping from falling rock to falling rock as she unleashed a Sexy Smokin' Style kinda beatdown on him? Yeah I would very much love to control an Abyssal Hunter in a fight against this thing.

Faust: Hear me out. In the context of a full on high impact high speed action game, Faust would be heaven to fight. Between the ability to shoot a hugely powerful bolt, the ability to turn invisible, the turrets, and imagining him hoping around for a stylish mix of melee and ranged combat, yeah, I'm a believer. I like to imagine a scripted part of the fight where he hides and starts charging a truly massive shot, with the Arts humming from the sheer power. In the arena, there's also a lot of his snipers to run diversion and make it harder to find him. Normal people will find him and hit him out of the charge. COOL people will find him, taunt to trigger a MUCH faster charge, and then use a counter to catch the supercharged shot and return it to him a la Nero Buster counters in DMC4.

Full Power Big Ugly Thing & Eunectes: Remember Full Power Big Ugly Thing? No, not the one running on emergency fumes and jury rigged power sources, the actual fully geared version, powered by the airplane engine? The one that sent Gavial flying into the sky Team Rocket style? That one, that one should be some sort of secret fight. An actual brickhouse of immense, unfair power, only for the gamerest of gamers to cut their teeth with, punctuated with a final, high impact duel with Eunectes herself as the burning wreck and the originium fires make for a makeshift ring.

FrostNova: Legitimately, I think FrostNova would make That Moment in an action game. That Moment, That Boss, the one everyone remembers. Her skill set and aesthetic is supreme, the way ice can be used for both style and gameplay, alongside the actual emotional beat of throwing down with FrostNova as her life literally evaporates. Creating ice weapons that break with each attack just to have another one ready for the next swing, diverse moveset, dangerous at all ranges, highly mobile due to sliding on ice, giving the player high mobility as well (I love when boss gimmicks also can be used by the player in some way), there's just SO much one could do with a FrostNova fight, it'd probably my dream fight if done with love.

Endspeaker/Amaia: The concept of an ever-evolving boss with multiple forms has so much potential, TOO much potential, it's hard to fill those shoes, but if you do, imagine. In my dream of dreams, each phase/form of Endspeaker would grow resilient and even develop specific counters to your habits, in the shape of better dodge maneuvering against specific, high usage moves, and even counterattacks if you use some too much. The best way to go about this boss is to actually use your whole moveset, and even then, you want to ration specific parts of it depending on the phase. Plus, the latter forms of Endspeaker/Amaia are legitimately wicked looking and I think would look eerie and breathtaking in motion, with all those flowing parts constrasting with its sharp, long claws.