#artifacts that fits characters perfectly

[originalwinnerfanfish]

Well, it was a big piece of work, hah

I took a break from RW and decided to draw something nostalgic

Actually I've been stuck with this idea for two years now and I'm glad I finally found the strength to do something about it. Thanks for inspiration from one good man)

Long story short

In this AU autobots and deceptions are two unions of different tribes: mudwings, seawings and sandwings for the firsts and icewings, nightwings, rainwings and Pantala tribes for seconds. Skywings doesn’t exist anymore (because we need someone who takes place of predacons).

People are just people or scavenger if you prefer. And instead of whole cosmos it’s just two mainlands.

- Optimus Prime - I kinda like tfp Optimus. So formidable, powerful and mysterious but really gentle at the same time. And mud/sea combo works here in the best way. As the representation of two main tribes union and strong father/brother figure for team members.

I also think he might be an animus (but don’t use his magic often, especially for killing someone)

- Ultra Magnus - Pure Icewing already will be great for him, but I gave him part of seawing so he could be more like an Optimus. But instead of being softer and warmer, Magnus is more cold and pragmatic version of him. A character who sees other dragons not as close allies and friends but as ordinary soldiers.

- Ratchet - Yeah, the seawing would fit him better, but i just don’t know how to make the colors work here sooo… he’s a weak-fire mudwing. Like a skywing, but mudwing. Why not. Make sense with his lack of guns in origin. I think he’s design can be better, and maybe I’ll remake it.

I love his arc of recognizing people as equals and especially his interactions with Raphael. I think Ratchet often read him scrolls about history and magical artifacts.

- Bulkhead - No surprises here - mudwing fit him perfectly. I think that the Wreckers could been a big and strong mudwing troops, and Bulkhead was a bigwings in such a one. He is lost a lot of his siblings during the war, and therefore tries with all his might to protect the new members of his family. I absolutely adore his relationship with Miko and Jackie, so for me he’s one of the cutest character, and I tried to make his forms round and soft.

- Bumblebee - I know that majority draw him as a hivewing, but in that case the most logical for him will be a night/sandwing. Literally, autobots get their own Sunny)

I think in this version with his lack of a voice he could communicate using sign language or some variation of aquatic.

- Arcee - Also nothing special - she is a seawing. I originally wanted to give her a helmet but it was too hard to draw. Just like Sunny she was born pretty small and now even younger dragons can be bigger than her. I’m pretty sure she is old enough to have seen Bumblebee when he was a dragonet, so she's literally like an older sister to him.

Actually she really gives me a Queen Glory vibes with her sarcasm and dangerous beauty, so rainwing might fit her as well.

- Smokescreen - I used to think he was just a cringe, but now I realize he's a pretty interesting and realistic character. Like Ultra Magnus, I wanted to make him look like Optimus, only this time Smoke is more of a younger and much more irresponsible version of him. I think in this version (being part rainwing) he's trying to mimic Optimus's coloring using same red, blue and pale-gray shades.

- Wheeljack - The scruffy boy! I think in this version he could be Bulkhead's "adopted sibling", so they are really close to each other. And, because he spent most of his life with Bulkhead, it's harder for him to get close to other tribes and dragons.

Painting scales to keep canonical colors is kinda cheating, but for this dude it totally works. He should have a pretty bright appearance with all those scars and bright spots.

Cliffjumper - Ohoh… this poor guy. I didn't even think of putting him here, but I like his smug face too much. Even making his scales darker than the original, it's still too brightly colored for mudwing. He probably jokes about it a lot, saying that his ancestors were skywings.

I really like his dynamic with Arcee, and it's a shame we haven't seen much of their relationship. I think I need to do something cute about that.

[tea-cat-arts]

People are doom posting about Deyha and as a veteran Genshin player (AR 60, been playing since version 1.2, so I guess I qualify as that) I’d like to take this opportunity to remind this fandom of a couple things.

Y’all remember when Kokomi was released? People were throwing a fit over the crit rate thing and she was considered the worst character in the game. One update later, the Ocean Hued Clam artifact set was released and suddenly she became one of the best characters in the game. Shinobu was also considered one of the worst in the game when she was released. Her scaling was awkward and she was hard to place in any team comps. Then Dendro was released and what do you know- turns out her skills time out perfectly with dendro and elemental mastery gets a buff. Heck, dendro buffed electro in general and made pretty much all of them a lot more viable. The meta changes all the time, don’t worry about it.

Speaking of the meta, it’s made up. Any character is viable if you put the work in. Sure, it’s going to be a lot harder to build a dps Gorou and he’ll still probably do less damage than Itto, but if you’re having fun and still clearing the spiral abyss, who really gives a shit? A lot of it also has to do with dumb luck and how much money you’re spending. Like, my C0 Ganyu does a lot more damage than my C0 Ayaka even though Ayaka has higher base stats just because I got better artifacts for Ganyu. There’s also plenty of characters who’s damage is locked behind constellations and weapons, and that’s just straight up not going to be an option for a lot of players. Sure, you’re C6 Wanderer may do a ton of damage, but I don’t have him at C6. I do however have Heizou at C6 and he’s doing a lot more damage than my Scara. (Shout out to the mad lads soloing with Amber)

Lastly, mind you’re own damn business about what characters other people are playing. It’s not your game, you don’t get to dictate how other people play it (and you especially aren’t allowed to harass people over who they play)

[theresattrpgforthat]

hi! my sister wants to be able to play with me and my brother, but she has trouble reading and writing, do you have any ttrpgs that dont require a lot of reading or writing?? (like, character sheets dont take ages or whtvr)

THEME: Little Reading or Writing Required.

Hello friend, so for folks who aren’t great with reading or writing, I think the best approach is to use systems that provide you with small amounts of information that you can keep in your head, or games that provide you with a lot of visual cues. I’m going to include some systems that seem pretty rules-lite (because they allow you to create a character pretty easily) but I’m also looking for games that give you visual or tactile aids to help you remember what’s going on in the story or with your character.

The Best Job on Earth, by Hilander.

Welcome New Employee! Please fill out your personal info!  Note that supevisors are not beholden to know your name, and may refer to you by the 4-digit hiring code helpfully displayed on the front and rear of your uniform!

Players will take on the role of unpaid interns working for SolTech Industries, a perfectly ethical research consortium funding a Better Tomorrow! Of course, when these experiments get out of hand, our fine interns are deployed to clean up.

The Best Job on Earth is not a very long read for the GM, and probably an even shorter read for players. Your character sheet can fit on 1/3 of a piece of paper, with three stats and a little bit of space for the items you get from a d20 roll table. This game isn’t necessarily a one-shot: your interns can spent earned XP in order to get a promotion, which involves increasing personal scores and getting an extra Luck point, which basically is a resource you can use for a free re-roll. This game is great for fans of horror, paranormal science, and the crushing weight of unpaid internships.

Mausritter, by Losing Games.

Take up the sword and don the whiskers of a brave mouse adventurer in Mausritter, a rules-light fantasy adventure roleplaying game. Mausritter is built on the chassis of Into the Odd, with new rules for setting, character generation, magical artifacts, and mouse-scale adventures.

Mausritter has very concise character sheets, with only 3 stats to keep track of and a card-based inventory system. If you buy the physical version, or if you decide to do some printing, you can use these cards to put in/on your inventory slots, as visual reminders of what you are currently carrying and how much room you have left. The book is 25 pages, but character creation is one, maybe 2 at the most - and most of your creation process just involves rolling on tables! Make your mouse in minutes and you’re ready to play.

Flyover Country, by Headstone Hills.

Fields of wheat and corn ripple in the wind, hungry eyes peering out between the stalks. Billboards along the road advertise strange and dangerous attractions. Smiles are too wide, manners too polite, secrets buried too deep. The neon light of a diner glows in the distance, but you may never reach its doors. An empty highway stretches out to the horizon before wrapping back in on and around itself, twisted on into the forever horizon. This is Flyover Country.

Flyover Country uses a tarot deck as a resource and oracle as you play the game. Character creation is simple and quick - although I recommend the GM do a bit of reading and prep beforehand. Each character gains a score (or pool) of points for three aspects: Body, Mind and Wyrd. Every time they use their ability, they draw a number of tarot cards equal to their score. The player can then choose which card they want to use to represent their outcome. Characters that are injured will reduce the score of a relevant trait by 1.

One way to make this game a bit simpler is giving each of the players a card with their character’s Ghost and Haunting already written on it. This is a combination of your character’s dark secret and the strange ability that will manifest inside them once they make that secret known. When I played this with my characters, we used poker chips as tokens to represent our ability Scores, and players would hand in tokens whenever they had to reduce their scores. I think the tarot cards make for an exciting mechanic, although the game’s success certainly depends on how well the game master can interpret the outcomes of cards being drawn.

This House Will Outlive Us, by pludmale.

Residents change, but the house remains. Everyone is changed by the house, and the house, in turn, is changed by its visitors.

In this game players take turns building the story of a house. The narrative is guided by flipping a coin onto different areas of the game board. The game is played in 3 stages: determining the type of house, picking out character roles and playing out the history and future of the house itself.

This House Will Outlive Us uses a map of the house, a number of cards with prompts, and a coin that you flip in order to tell its story. Each card has to be read to figure out what happens next, but the amount of information you’re expected to retain and communicate is very small, and because the game is so collaborative, you could potentially have one person do the bulk of the reading while the table shares the role of providing answers to the prompts.

This is a game that also doesn’t really require anyone to write anything down, as it’s meant to be played in a single session, and the changes from era to era should be pretty easy to remember - although you could also assign someone to be a note-taker if you like.

Horse Girl Infinity, by Jordanfish.

The majesty of someone's passionate vague horse fantasy. Inspired and empowered by the grace and might granted from the union of girl and horse, hero and pony, pilot and mecha.

The combination perfect for horse-lovers and mech aficionados, Horse Girl Infinity is high-action but relatively simple to play. You are presented with a grid of strengths, three of which your horse is specifically good at. The amount of dice you roll is dependant on how close the skill you are using is close to one of your strengths. Some especially difficult challenges may require a group roll, where everyone has to roll their dice and contribute Victory Points dependant on your success.

Your characters’ advancement is built around their goals, which takes a mechanical effect. Your Dream is something about yourself that you want; when you act in accordance with it, you gain Determination or XP. Determination can be spent to give you an extra dice on a roll, while XP can be spent on a separate grid that gives you a new narrative advantage. I think the spatial organization of information may make it easier to find and keep track of, and you can use tokens like poker chips or coins to help you keep track of your Determination and your XP.

If you want a slightly different genre, you can also check out Demon Blade Ultimate, which is more aligned with Shonen-style anime.

Crescent Moon, by Ema Acosta.

Go on a strange journey into the patchwork world of the daydream in Crescent Moon ☾, a feelings-delving role-playing game of brave children and bold adventures.

Rules for crafting your own whimsical tale full of breathtaking landscapes and unlikely friends await inside. Delve in to uncover stories of daring deeds and fantastical creatures—of calm afternoon naps and of promises whispered under starlight.

I don’t own Crescent Moon, so I can’t say for certain that this is super non-reader friendly, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it is, because the character sheets remind me very much of Mausritter character sheets.

The most obvious connection is the hand-drawn inventory: you draw the objects you carry, as well as items and conditions that may affect you. Because you use cards to represent what your character is currently carrying, I think this element has the potential to reduce the amount of reading and writing the player has to do. The GM on the other hand, likely has a little more work to do in terms of planning an adventure - although I don’t think the work a GM does in this game is as much as say, a D&D DM.

[quibbs126]

could you do a blackberry x adventurer fankid if you havent already pretty please :3

I can’t really say that I made this because of the aforementioned “I haven’t drawn anything in a while” post, it’s just because I was scrolling through my requests and remembered that I was in the middle of drawing her before and thought “might as well finish”

Anyways sorry, this is Blackberry Scone Cookie

So if I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t entirely know what her deal is. I know that, unlike her father, she is very willing to acknowledge that she’s rich and uphold that side of her family. She’s also at least outwardly, very similar to her mother in being generally reserved in her emotions. I think one idea I had for her is that she does cool things, she just does with a disinterested face, which kind of just heightens the coolness

Okay so I’m gonna be completely honest, I am now going to just make something up as I write. That top part was in part for me to figure something out

Outwardly, she seems disinterested, but she has plenty of emotions, you just either need to pay attention to her actual words instead of tone, or you just need to get close enough to her for the mask to fall. She also has quite an interest in stories of magic and in mystical artifacts, though she prefers simply reading about them over going out to find them. Also, despite her interest in the subject, she just doesn’t have that much of an ability for magic/the occult, and has difficulty seeing ghosts (best she has is that she can sometimes see Onion), which is one of the reasons she sticks to simply reading about them rather than going out herself

While she has respect for her father in how he goes out on his own to seek out treasure and artifacts, she just doesn’t understand why he hates his rich life. Her only real guess is that he sees it as clashing with his adventurer persona, which she thinks is kind of stupid. She’s also pretty much the one running the estate while he’s gone (she’s an adult by this point) and being the one to actually deal with things such as house guests. Not to say Adventurer was an absent parent, and he’d actually take her along when she was younger on some of his expeditions, but he can disappear sometimes now

She doesn’t hate her parents, and it’s not like they were horrible parents to her, but she feels distant from her mother due to her lack of ghost abilities, and some amount of resentment for her father for being so attached to this persona of his and his disdain for his actual heritage, especially since she’s fully accepting of it and it unintentionally makes her self conscious about it

She’s not super sure of her place in the world, but for now she’s just trying to do her job as a member of a rich family

Hm, so I ended up writing more on her than I thought I would. Ah well, not a bad thing. Well, design time

So her name’s Blackberry Scone due to me headcanoning Adventurer to be some sort of shortbread or biscuit (I know they’re the same thing in other countries, but I’m unsure as to what kind of biscuit he is now). Scones are kind of like biscuits, add some blackberry and there you go, blackberry scones

A potential name was Blackberry Cobbler, but I think I prefer scone, especially since I made her more rich-seeming

Blackberry scone:

So almost everything I made of her, outside of the small sketches and some of the colors, I made a couple weeks ago while waiting at the dentist’s office, and I mostly blocked her out of my mind after that as a result. So I don’t really remember a lot of the design process

I feel like I gave her that hairstyle to make her look “cool”, but then I kind of threw that aspect of her character away. But I still like it, so she keeps it

Also, her suit was originally a bit more reddish, but I changed it today to make it more purple so it’d fit with the color of the scones. They don’t really look that red, so I changed it. But I think now the colors may not all look the best together

I feel like I may have made her colors all a bit too similar to each other, and/or not given her enough, but I don’t really know what else to change

Also when I came back today, the thickness of the lines was bothering me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been dabbling with the Syrup brush now, but I think I need to play with line width more now, since some of the smaller things like the brooch feel like they have too thick of lines

I don’t think her design is necessarily bad though, it’s mostly color wise I have issues with

And yeah, that’s Blackberry Scone, I hope you enjoy her

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Take Shelter 5

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon, stalking, possessiveness and other elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You keep to yourself, until you can’t anymore. (another short reader because why not)

Character: Thor Odinson

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me <3

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!)

Love you all the way to Asgard. Take care. 💖

You wake in your bed.

It’s the singular reality you can perceive. The morning beams outside your window as the dampness of the evening due invades the space. You shiver as you turn your head side to side, taking in the room. Everything is just as it should be. It is only the window that’s open when it should be closed.

You shudder as the last memories of consciousness flood your mind. The crashing storm, the swirling winds, the darkness that consumed you and the room. Then it was all gone and you woke up as you are now.

What day is it? That’s harder to bring to mind. It’s like your brain is foggy. The world around you feels like a facsimile. You push yourself up with effort and the blanket falls away from your shoulders.

You nearly scream as you find yourself wearing the dress. The white fabric flutters around your shoulders and fits your figure perfectly. It’s soft and comfy but you don’t belong in it. It isn’t truly yours.

You scramble across the bed but as you stand, your vision turns patchy and you stumble. You land on your knees, cradling your head as you gulp in air. You stood too fast. Just a bit of head rush.

You catch your breath and rein in your tilting vision. You put one foot down then the other and rise again. You strain to unzip the dress and shimmy it off, uncertain what to do with it other than drap it over the foot of the bed.

You leave it there and go into the bathroom. You crank on the sink and bend to rinse your face, the cobwebs clinging in your mind. You peek at your reflection and nearly cry out.

You blink at the sight of your chest. The ripples of lightening emblazoned just below your collar bones in contrast to your skin tone. You gape at the inexplicable marking and grip the edge of the sink.

Are you still dreaming?

No, there's that heaviness that assures you that you are firmly implanted on reality.

You shakily raise your hand to touch the marking. It doesn't hurt. If anything, it's numb.

What happened to you? You push yourself away from the counter and groan, rubbing your temples as you try to understand. Nothing makes sense.

You drop your hands and warily return to the bedroom. You go to close the window and stop. The coin, that cursed piece of gold, sits on the sill. You shut the window, refusing to touch the mysterious artifact.

You hesitate before you emerge from the bedroom. You creep forward on the side of your feet, trying to muffle the noise of your advance. Empty. Nothing. Not a single trace of an intruder.

Are you going crazy? What is going on? Are you blacking out and dressing up and stealing the little trinkets that keep appearing?

You retrieve your phone from the living room and find a notification waiting for you. You assume it's Eli reminding you of a schedule change but instead find an unidentified number. You tap the notification, ready to delete another scammer.

Oh. It's Peter. You texted him just before you left work to make sure he had your number too.

‘Hey, just checking in. No pressure. Our first session is this weekend. Can email character sheets ahead if it's easier.’

You don't answer and black out the phone. You have to work. You need to focus on that. Anything to distract you from the strange things all around you.

Maybe then it might be good to escape into fantasy…

You check the time and fall into your usual routine. You clean yourself up and pull on your jeans and the branded store polo. As you try to forget the night you can't even remember, every second is wrought in its echoes.

⚡️

Work is dull. Just as ever. Eli calls to let you know he's sick. You're disappointed but ask him if he's okay. He says it's just a cough that came on with the rain.

You're the only defense. You greet each customer as they come in and do your best to help them. You stand behind the counter as if it's a shield. Your very own fortress.

There isn't any rush to deal with, just the ebb and flow or mostly curious shoppers, just browsing. You keep your vigil at the counter, elbows planted as you stare at Peter's message. You feel bad leaving him on read.

You need to make up your mind. You suppose you only have to commit to one session. If there's already a character created, he could easily replace you. Heck, you could get Eli to step in as a sub. He'd be perfect.

‘Hi Peter. Thank you for the invite. I'll do it. Srry for late response.’

You blow out a breath nervously. Commitment always feels suffocating. You're not very social and you find the dramatics of some players can be overwhelming. You appreciate their enthusiasm but it can be a bit much.

You peer around lazily, a few passerbys glancing in but nothing else. Your phone buzzes softly and Peter responds.

'Great. You're a life saver. I can send the links to the character sheet here or if you have an email I'll add you to the cloud.'

'Link is fine', you reply.

Right, this is going to be... you don't know. You're not quite sure why you said yes. Maybe it's that latent feeling that everything is just passing you by. Or maybe you're scared and it's easier to be around other people. You never thought you would think that.

A sudden zing flows through your chest and you drop your phone. You touch the top of your shirt and hiss. As you look down, you remember the stranger mark on your body. Wait... maybe you were struck by lightning? But why would there be no marks in your room or on the furniture? You don't think the window would still be intact if you that were the case.

Before you can sink too far into dread, a customer struts through the door. You blink as you recognise him. He was just there yesterday. Theo... no, Thor. You keep forgetting.

"Ah, lady, it is only you," he booms as he enters, quaking you with his timbre.

You nod with a sheepish smile. You search around him for Peter. He's alone. So are you. You gulp.

"I was only in the area and... well, I went to the coffee vendor and they made me the wrong drink," he holds up the cup in his hand, "are you interested in lavendar latte? Unfortunately, I've had some bad experiences with the plant."

"Oh," you eye the tall cup. "That's... I can't--"

"Are you allergic? I've heard you midgardians suffer those afflictions. I saw a man nearly die from eating a nut."

You furrow your brow as another sear ripples over your chest. The marks hadn't hurt at all before but now they are on fire. You clutch your hands together and swallow the tension.

"No, I'm not, but that's... too nice."

"Well, not really," he tilts his head as he comes closer, "you see, I can't enjoy it myself. It's hardly a gallant gesture, is it?"

"I suppose," you squeeze your hands tighter. Your vision clouds at the edges and you get the rolling sensation in your skull as if you might pass out. You haven't eaten, it's your own fault. You poke your tongue behind your lip and look him in the face. You don't want to be rude. "Thanks, I guess... I'll take it. Thank you."

"Not at all," he smiles wider and puts the cup before you. "So, lady, have you decided yet? Are you to join us for our quest?"

"Erm, uh," you look down at your phone, "yeah, actually, I just confirmed with Peter."

"That is wonderful!" He claps his hands and you flinch as the noise is like thunder.

"Yeah," you eke out, wobbling as you keep your folded hands against the counter.

"I hear it is a very fun game," he continues on as your head pulses. "Lady, will you not try the drink?"

"Oh?" You're jarred by his redirect and shake your head with a flutter of lashes, "sure."

You reach for the cup and drag it closer. You lean heavily on the counter as you move with frailty. You pop off the lid and find steamed foam marked with purple petals. You inhale the sent as you lift the cup weakly and take a slurp. It's sweet and fragrant.

"Mmm, it's good," you put the cup down a bit heavier than you intend and wipe the bow of your lip.

"Lady are you unwell?" Thor asks.

Your ears rings and your vision narrows on him. He doesn't look like he did before. He doesn't wear the faded denim jacket or grey tee shirt. He is adorn in scarlet and gold and his hair is loose and flowing around thick braid. You blink and he is as he was before. You don't think you're okay.

"I think..." your words slur and you feel yourself tipping backwards as your eyes roll back.

The world is black before you can feel the impact of the floor. You plunge into bleary depths, no sound, no sight. Nothing.

You come too with a start, eyes snapping open as you gasp. Your lashes stick together as you blink and look up at the strands of Thor's golden beard. He sits on the floor as he pillow you in his lap, both of you cramped in the space behind the counter.

"What..." you croak as you bend your arm awkwardly to brush your cheek.

"You are alright, little one," Thor assures you as he pets your head, "only a little affect, I think."

You grumble and try to sit up. He helps you with a hand on your back. You're entirely disoriented by the shift and nearly fall back against him.

"Please lady, you must be cautious," he turns you to lean against the wall. He raises himself on one knee and pulls off his denim jacket, draping it over you and tugging it down between your back and the wall. "Here," he reaches for the drink still on the counter, "drink this. You'll feel better."

"I... I'm sorry, I'm okay, you don't have to--"

"It is what a king does," he insists and rubs your shoulder.

"Excuse me," a nasally voice calls from the other side of the counter, "is there anyone here?"

Thor springs up to his feat easily, agile for a man his size. He spins to face the customer. "Ah, yes, hello, and what are we shopping for today, good sir?"

"I need Warhammer Ultramarines," the unseen man demands. You can assume what he looks like, you're certain you've seen him before.

"Hm, ah, yes, I'm not..."

"Hold up," the customer says, "are you-- are you-- the God of Thunder?"

"Some call me that," Thor chuckles.

"This is so awesome! Can I get a picture?"

"Yes, you may," Thor accepts and leans over the counter.

You sit dumbly on the floor. The very thought of standing makes your head pulse. You look down at the latte and cradle it close, taking a gentle sip. It warms you but only worsens the emptiness in your stomach. You can't help but shiver at the thought of what could have happened if Thor wasn't here…

[radioactivepeasant]

Snippets: Free Day Thursday

As per the poll results, we are giving Damas stress via Just Plain Silliness. It builds character. Not that I needed an excuse to Inconvenience Characters in the first place 😆 it's become my favorite way of writing anything. Not Angst or Adventure, but Aggravation of Character in ridiculous ways 😂

This falls into the Trespasser au (last "episode" of that found HERE) a bit before the second Arena fight in the game.

The king of Spargus, Jak decided, was a killjoy.

For a city where strength and survival were supposed to be the most important traits, he sure didn't like any of Jak's demonstrations of strength or survival.

"You can't race Leapers in the middle of the market."

"Don't swim over the reef."

"Stop antagonizing the monks."

"You can't race Leapers on neighborhood roofs, either."

"If I told you not to swim over the reef, why would you assume I'd be okay with you feeding the sea monster?!'

It was like he was vehemently opposed to the mere concept of fun.

Jak folded his arms and tried not to roll his eyes while Kleiver complained about the scuffed up suspension and undercarriage on the Dune Hopper. Sure, he'd cut it a little close on the broken bridge, but he'd gotten away with the artifacts and left the Marauders in a two car pile up, so who was the winner, here?

Not Jak, apparently.

Damas listened to Kleiver yell about how he'd have to redo the entire suspension -- a gross exaggeration -- and how there was half a metalhead stuck in the undercarriage. Now that, Jak hadn't known about. When had he run over a metalhead?

"Hey! We didn't do that!" Daxter protested, "How do we know you didn't put that there last time you drove?!"

"Because I don't take the Hopper if I plan to do a run down Turquoise Canyon!" Kleiver snapped.

Damas steepled his fingers in front of his mouth and examined the damaged vehicle.

"One of these days, kid, I swear to Volcan-"

"What?! I got the job done, didn't I?" Jak protested indignantly. "Did you want the Marauders to get their hands on a functioning power cell?"

Damas’s jaw tightened so much that his mouth appeared to be folding inward. He inhaled slowly, and let it out again, ears twitching while he was very obviously counting to ten.

"There are no jumps in the canyon," he said slowly, "So how did you manage this?"

Jak shrugged nonchalantly. "The 'rauders chased us out to the ruins," he explained, "Ran out of turbo, so I had to get creative with the jump."

Kleiver started swearing very creatively under his breath. Damas turned an interesting shade of red.

"That does it."

The king grabbed Jak by the channeling ring and near dragged him out of the garage before Kleiver could clobber someone with a wrench.

"One more stunt like that out of you," Damas threatened, "and I'm entering you into an apprenticeship. Let's see you foment chaos with an actual structure in your day."

"You're not gonna do that," Jak scoffed.

Damas’s eyes narrowed. "Try me."

Jak did not take this nearly as seriously as he ought to have. In fact, he seemed to regard the threat as more instances of Damas "worrying too much". Damas did not worry too much! If anything, he wasn't worried enough about the insanity this young unknown relative had brought into his city! More than one advisor or guildmaster had been privy to the king muttering darkly, "I'm either going to kill him, or start training him myself. I'll let you know when I've figured out which."

And of course, Jak kept being Jak. Climbing the Arena walls because he saw a Precursor orb someone had dropped. Messing around with some kind of evil alien satellite on the beach. Inciting other inhabitants of the youth barracks to join foot races in the barrack halls in the dead hours of night. And he seemed to regard all of this as perfectly normal behavior. It was like all the impulses he'd had to shove down in Haven, all the ways he'd had to be perfect to fit under the yoke of that terrible word, hero, everything came crashing down in Spargus. He had almost no limits here, and that kind of freedom seemed to awaken a wildness that was above the paygrade of the dorm supervisor.

It came to the point where Damas was actually allowing the kid to go out into a sandstorm, just to get some of that boundless energy out! It wouldn't have been his first choice. Or even his tenth. But the storm rolling in was much larger than anything else they'd seen that summer. And for all his recklessness, Jak was their fastest driver.

"Four scouts have not reported in," the king told Jak and Daxter. His face was grim. "Two just set off their emergency beacons. At the rate this storm is going-"

He shook his head, cutting off his sentence.

Daxter had worried that Spargus would be another Krew situation at first. But here was the king of the cranky lizard-riders, flipping out because a handful of scouts -- one of the lowest ranks in the city -- weren't accounted for before a deadly storm.

In Haven, their absence wouldn't have even been noticed until roll call.

The old timers in the market were right, weren't they? "King's eyes see all." This guy watched everyone like a hawk, didn't he? Daxter wasn't sure if that bothered him, or if it just reminded him of Jak.

He supposed that was fitting, considering the two were probably related, no matter how in denial Jak seemed to be about being an Heir of Mar.

"Where's the Crawler right now?" Jak asked.

The mobile sandstorm shelter wasn't invincible, but it could take a lot. That would be the scouts' best bet.

Damas looked out the windows, glaring at the dark clouds as though he could hold the storm back by sheer force of will. It took a moment to hear his voice over the water.

"The Crawler is in the steppes at the moment. She's not a fast vehicle, Jak. I need you to get those scouts to either the Crawler or the city."

"I will."

Damas turned a stern look on them both.

"No stunts. These are people's lives we're talking about."

"I know!" Jak sputtered, a little offended. "And I won't bust the car up this time, so Kleiver can give it a rest."

"No. I'm serious, boy," Damas warned, "If it comes down to abandoning the car for shelter or trying to drive in the storm, you leave the car. Do you understand?"

Jak huffed. Damas had seen him outrun sandstorms before! What was so bad about a slightly bigger one?

"I got it, I got it," he grumbled.

Damas glared.

"No. Stunts. You get back here in one piece."

"Okay, I got it already!" Jak groaned.

"Jak-!"

"I know, Dad!" Jak complained.

An instant later his eyes widened.

The water suddenly seemed much louder than usual.

Daxter wasn't even sure any of them were breathing.

Three pairs of dramatically widened eyes darted back and forth between them as silence built up like steam under pressure. It was going to erupt sooner or later, the question was how.

Damas made a very small, strangled noise in the back of his throat.

Jak snapped out of his moment of horrified realization.

"Uh. I'll let you know when everyone is accounted for!"

He pivoted and bolted for the elevator before Damas could see his entire face burn crimson.

A guard at the back of the chamber opened his mouth to comment and in one rushed tangle of syllables Jak hissed,

"Youdidn'thearanything!"

Damas didn't blink for a good two minutes after Jak had left.

He didn't move for a good two minutes.

He stood exactly where he'd been, staring blankly at the empty elevator shaft.

The captain of the tower guard, an older man named Cephus, left his place by the windows to lean into Damas’s peripheral vision. He waved slightly, and the king finally blinked.

"Are you alright, sire?" Cephus asked.

Damas made a curious wheeze before speaking through a groaning inhalation.

"Oh no."

"Hm!" Cephus stroked his long beard. "Guess the wild one imprinted on you! Do I offer congratulations or condolences?"

Damas nodded slowly and stiffly.

"....help."

There could not possibly have been a worse time for the monks to finally send him the results of the blood test.

[leaderwon]

GENSHIN IMPACT CHARACTERS I THINK ENHYPEN WOULD MAIN

warning : mild cursing, not proofread pls lmk if any mistakes!

word count : 671

notes : just a quick one because I haven't been posting alot lately

HEESEUNG : EULA LAWRENCE

Hmm, let's see

From his League of legends gameplay, he seems the type of guy to Main a character that easily does big damage.

He gives me eula vibes because who doesn't love eula??

Like i can imagine him just one shotting everything because she's a physical dps.

She's mommy material and if you disagree with me i.will.find.you

He probably hardcore invested in her imo, has a godly build and gets 36 stars in abyss.

rest of the members utc!

JAY : ZHONGLI

OKAY WE SAW THAT COMING.

I feel like he'd use his money and get him upto c6 and hardcore invest in him tbh.

Will shield you from any damage (his c2 cons) and will do big pp damage with his rock

i don't think he would invest into his weapon tho (even I wouldn't it's completely useless). Maybe he'd go for staff of homa for zhongli

i think he would just use his ult on other people for fun.

like imagine you're looking at your artifacts screen and out of nowhere you hear "I WILL HAVE ORDER!!"

like bestie did you just waste your ult like that...

JAKE : ARATAKI ITTO AND GOROU

TELL ME YOU DON'T SEE JAKE BEING AN ITTO MAIN LIKE MAN COME ON

Itto is just so goofy and cute and so is jakey and it's such a perfect match I CANNOT BELIEVE I THOUGHT OF THAT??? (In shock)

Itto is like so massively strong with his cow I swear

Need help? no worries a cow is here to help you!

No cuz i feel like he'll be so obsessed with itto's cow he's going to throw it on npcs and just laugh is ass off.

I also think he'll have alot of fun spamming itto's burst. i think we can all agree that his burst is very satisfying.

He wants to maximize it's damage, and the best character to help? gorou.

dog + a really good geo support = perfection for jake

he is def (pun intended) pulling for both their constellations for c6

SUNGHOON : KAEDEHARA KAZUHA

Have no idea how this thought popped up into my mind tbh it just did?

like kazuha is so calm and collected and peaceful i think it fits hoon really well in. way

and his dog gaeul's name means autumn in Korean. Ring a bell??

beside that i don't think he would seriously invest into him

kazuha is so broken at c0 itself, he won't bother as much but if he gets a constellation on accident he wouldn't mind.

SUNOO : NILOU

I was initially thinking nahida or diona even, but then i realised nilou would be so perfect??

no hear me out, she's cute she's gorgeous she dances she's so sskjejssjzjjsjzjehdwbhxdb AHHHH (sorry)

i feel like he would fall in love first sight of her no cap

he will be casual ab her me thinks, wouldn't try to get constellations really.

is afk most of the time staring at her beauty

JUNGWON : GANYU

HARD CARRYING LEADER!!!

tho he gives cat vibes (maybe diona or kirara) he also gives me "I will carry you but i will avoid you and the enemy like the plaque" if you get what I mean.

his build for her would be fucking crazy no cap.

like bro is hitting 100k every charged shot no buffs

wouldn't go for cons imo but will go mad crazy about building her

his aim would be so good tho, he never misses! (the same way he never misses to make my heart flutter)

NI-KI : HUTAO

we definitely saw this coming

the goofiness, the happiness, the crazyness and the urge to annoy zhongli (Jay) it all fits perfectly

he would definitely one tap everything that comes across his way

my boy is going all out with her c6 r5 (with Jay's money ofcourse)

i can also imagine him getting super mad when someone accidentally heals him like excuse tf me. did you just do that.

dw he'll get revenge by constantly burning the grass you're standing on 😘

disappeared from Tumblr for a while omg did someone miss me.

school has been hectic as hell as one of my most imp exams are coming up like kill me already

© leaderwon 2023. Do not copy translate or plagiarize in any platform.

Likes and reblogs are appreciated!!

[cellarspider]

7/30 germs.

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

We return to a movie that disrespects the archaeological importance of roads, Prometheus.

I am still not over that. I will never be over that.

This time, content warnings for continuing frat boy archaeology, cringeful application of racist terms to lily-white androids, me screeching about site contamination some more, and Apollo’s dodgeball striking this movie with a glancing blow about masking.

So, back in the theater in 2012, I had already lost sympathy for the cast. They were being set up as stock horror movie characters, they were doing their jobs in a way with a certain flair for the incompetent.

And one of them, I suspect, the movie intends to make into a “flawed but you feel for him” kind of guy. Or, I hope they intended to make him “the guy in the slasher movie who you hate and want to see die”. That’s Holloway, one of the two archaeologists. He’s robot racist.

Like, seriously robot racist. The whole crew is, David literally gets referred to as “boy” here, which isn’t so much a dogwhistle as a tornado siren. No wonder David is quietly starting to show his disdain for the human crew.

“They're making you guys pretty close [to human now], huh?”

“Not too close, I hope.”

One of the few themes the movie handles halfway competently is the parallel between the humans stumbling all over themselves as they rush to go meet their makers, while David is already experiencing the disappointment of actually meeting his, and finding out they’re a bunch of clueless assholes. Are we supposed to believe the same of the Engineers? I don’t know. They definitely think of humans as lesser, though. More to come on that later.

Because right now, an expedition is barrelling toward the alien structure–again, driving all over the FCKING ALIEN ROAD–and they’re doing it with only six hours of daylight left, because Holloway literally says “It's Christmas [...] and I want to open my presents.”

I cannot communicate how heinous this character felt. The actor did a perfectly fine job playing him, but if Charlie Holloway was real, his name would be said with the same venom as that of the man pictured below: Heinrich Schliemann, the man who found the real, actual city of Troy, and immediately dynamited a trench through the royal palace, destroying who knows how many artifacts from the period the Iliad was based off of. Yes, I picked out the most assholish-looking photo of him I could find on purpose.

Also, Holloway’s an anti-masker, apparently.

I’m going to step back for just one second and list the one practical, movie budget reason why characters might take their helmets off. The costume designers did an admirable job coming up with something that fits the general requirement of a helmet in major studio releases, prior to The Mandalorian: make the actor’s faces completely visible, because without actors with a strong sense of physical presence and voice acting, you’ll lose connection with the audience.

They did a great job with that. Unfortunately, shiny helmets are a bastard to digitally edit film crew out of. 

It’s not impossible to place lights and crew so that the audience won’t notice them. Alien certainly pulled it off. Clear plastic elements in helmets also mean other logistical challenges, though: fogging being the main one. This, and cooking your actors in a fishbowl under studio lights.

Both problems can be simultaneously combated by installing A/C fans within the helmets, but because these helmets are entirely clear, you’re limited to hiding them down near the neck, and anybody who’s done similar for a cosplay or suit will know that it’s potentially noisy and not always effective. You can actually see condensate on the helmets in the movie, though whether that’s from the actor’s breath or a deliberate choice, I don’t know.

All this adds up to increased time resetting actors (i.e. cleaning sweat off of them without disrupting their makeup), more exhaustion from said actors, and the worry that the highest-paid, plot-critical actors may decide they don’t want to do a sequel if the shooting experience is too physically unhealthy.

And then there’s also more time spent carefully arranging crew and lights to hide their reflections, or more time making some poor VFX artist erase a transparent, curved reflection from frame and replace it with something else, or make the actors more comfortable by adding the glass in later with CGI, at the potential loss of some realism. The average modern movie studio would choose one of these VFX-driven options and demand it done in a week, which is why VFX artists need to unionize.

So. I understand at least a few logistical reasons why you don’t tend to make actors wear helmets for too many shooting days. But it has to be balanced with the story. It has to feel believable. It has to fit the story. It has to not make your characters look like mud-witted morons.

As soon as they find liquid water and the oh-so-deadly CO2 levels start to drop, Holloway takes his helmet off.

“Don't be an idiot.”

“Don't be a skeptic.”

Flames on the side of my goddamn face.

Now, this is the moment a lot of people lost sympathy for the human characters, even back in 2012. It was a dumbass idea even then, in the pre-’rona years. Sadly, Millburn the biologist isn’t written smart enough to punch Holloway in the nuts over even thinking of doing this, because we have two problems with what Holloway’s doing here: Biology, and biology.

First, biology.

(https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/13-viruses-virus-3d-model/1071200)

Obviously, they don’t know if anything’s in the air. He could find out that humans are deathly allergic to alien dust mites. He could have just caught himself a case of space covid, which he and the lemmings that follow him can then transmit to the entire crew if he’s not kept in quarantine. They can sterilize the sealed suits, but they can’t sterilize the inside of his lungs. Yet.

Second, biology. 

Specifically, Earth biology. Do you know how carefully modern space agencies sterilize anything that’s headed for Mars, or anywhere else that might have a biosphere of its own? A lot! They sterilize everything a lot! Because microbes are hardy little bastards. We’ve never found extraterrestrial life, only precursor molecules that show the capacity for life to develop in other places. How are you going to verify you’ve found alien life, or even those precursors, if you can’t prove that your samples are uncontaminated? What happens if microbes from Earth manage to survive the trip and establish a foothold somewhere? What if they destroy native life?

This movie’s characters treat this with only a fraction of the gravitas that the cinematography does, which is part of why this remains so jarring throughout. The practical sets, the art direction, and the camerawork are all excellent. The editing continues to do its best, though it almost feels like things were cut very tight through this to speed things along and to give more time, unfortunately, to what the characters are doing. 

their crimes against my sanity are not done yet

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | ⛬

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As a side note, rounding up some discussion from a previous entry: The most excellent artist @noordzee pointed out that the clashing artistic style of the moon and stars slapped onto the carving of Kʼinich Janaab Pakal I. In the previous post, I focused on the link between that carving and its use in ancient aliens conspiracy theories. But let's dig a bit into actual Maya iconography around celestial bodies instead.

Now, I am not an expert on Classical Maya stuff. Not in the slightest. And there is a lot of information on their art that is linguistically inaccessible to me, as a non-Spanish speaker. But out of the Maya art and writing that survived the book-burning conquistadors, we have some iconography for the moon and stars, and they don’t look like what’s in the movie.

I wasn’t able to find any specific pieces of art that contained stars, but I did find the glyph for star, ek’. 

I was only able to find depictions of a crescent moon in the context of the moon goddess, where she tends to be sitting on the crescent like a chair, or one part of it is shown behind her, almost like a tail (though I can’t be certain whether that’s due to chipped paint).

The moon by itself was somewhat harder to find. I couldn’t find any Maya depictions of it with my limited poking around of the spanish internet, but I did find a (much later) Mixtec depiction of the moon, complete with a lunar rabbit! Much like East Asian cultures, the darker markings on the moon are culturally interpreted as a rabbit shape.

Thanks again to nordzee for pointing out the dissonant art style, because the real mesoamerican art on this subject is phenomenal.

Next time, the movie will hurt me more, so if anybody else has fun facts to share or details to point out. PLEASE. Ease my pain.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Alt text citations:

None this time. Many ramblings, though.

[fluffypotatey]

so what’s ur favorite thing abt mei that u feel like nobody else notices but it adds so much to her and you feel like everyone needs to be talking about it

everybody needs to realize that before MK was dubbed and knighted—i mean, before MK was titled the Monkey King's successor and wielded the trusty staff, Mei was the powerhouse of the group.

literally remember how our introduction to her character was her saving MK's ass while he was being chased by Red Son, and girlie only thought they were playing a game. my initial reaction to her was "oh, so she's the first hero of the city!" LIKE THAT WAS WHERE MY MIND WENT!

1x06 has a special place in my heart because it shows Mei in her element! she's the motorcycle gal, she's the OG mechanic (SHE LITERALLY BUILT AN HQ FOR MK IN S1), she's the descent of Ao Lie, she's the wielder of the DRAGON SWORD (you know, the sword nobody in her family was allowed to touch because it was a prized artifact and it chose HER)

it is honestly such a struggle (for me) to simply place Mei in the "warrior" category of the hero/warrior duo because yes, MK and Mei are a duo (a dynamic duo one might say), BUT it is so different to swk and macky's duo. they are both the hero and the warrior. their narrative pieces collide and parallel and align so well or clash and-- omg look, another topic to add to my "MK and the gang's ultimate goal is breaking the narrative structure/fate/destiny" folder! (BECAUSE NONE OF THEM PERFECTLY ALIGN WITH THE NARRATIVE EVERYONE IS PUSHING ON THEM. NONE OF THEM FIT COMPLETELY FOR FATE TO WIN DO YOU SEE WHAT I AM SEEING! DO YOU SEE- *gets dragged away*)

*comes back covered in blood* but yeah, everybody start pay closer attention to my gal because her main character energy is real and important and will be crucial for the upcoming seasons. listen, even if MK wasn't there when Red Son and the fam released DBK, Mei would still be there to screw with their plans (I mean, it would have been easier for DBK to wreak havoc because of the energy source, but also MK would still make the impulsive decision to dive into DBK's energy thingy later but this post isn't about him <3)

Mei's awesome and intelligent and intuitive but also impulsive and prone to emotions before anything but i love her

[vicaria-san]

Artifacts Set that fit certain Characters’ Aesthetics perfectly

(Not necessarily fit their kits because... wtf hoyo?!)

[actiniumwrites]

WORLDS APART

synopsis: the leaves kazuha once scattered at sea after fleeing Inazuma somehow ended up in your hands — the hands of his lover.

based on one of his teapot lines: “In the past, I collected maple leaves upon the autumnal winds and carried them on my person. When I was on the boat, I scattered them across the surface of the ocean and watched them float to distant shores. Perhaps another homesick soul will have picked up one of those leaves...”

characters: kazuha x gn!reader

wc: 587

warnings: none

notes: i came up with this idea back in september and completely forgot about it until i found it in my notes recently. i think i originally wanted it to be a full fic but i honestly think a drabble format fits better. enjoy :)

“This one is a picture of my parents,” you spoke softly. Kazuha leaned closer to you to get a better look. His shoulders were against yours and his head that was once leaned sideways on your shoulder was now propped upright.

“They look so in love,” he commented in a whisper. The fondness in his voice was not amiss to you. Something about the way he seemed so intrigued in your little scrapbook made way for a smile to pull at the side of your lips.

For hours, the two of you had been talking about anything and everything on the little couch in your house, cuddled up next to each other. There had been a storm over Liyue and it hadn’t appeared to be stopping anytime soon, and thus, the two of you settled down and began talking. Not that you minded, you actually loved moments like these with him.

The conversation got deep pretty quickly. Sometimes topics you had long forgotten about had come up. Others — those in which you cherished — seemed to bring laughter and make the storm seem a little less gloomy. And memories of Kazuha’s never seemed to fail at making you smile. Sad or not, he always had a beautiful way of speaking about them.

Soon enough, you had remembered your little scrapbook — one that held years of memories in photos, trinkets, and things you’ve collected over your lifetime. Some of them were stupid and funny, others seemed to be like ancient artifacts that were fragile enough to be broken and lost to time forever. You loved each and every one of them all the same.

Admittedly, you were unsure how it slipped your mind to show Kazuha it before. The two of you had been dating for almost a year and a half now and it was something you were certain he would love to look at.

Flipping the page, Kazuha’s eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight of a beautiful red maple leaf. It was neatly placed on the paper and sealed so it wouldn’t come up. Lustrous gold flakes seemed to adorn the space around it, complimenting it perfectly. In the bottom corner, a little date was etched into the paper — one that wrote nearly two years ago.

Kazuha hummed as his hand moved to gently angle the page toward him, “What’s this one from?”

“It’s a leaf I found at the docks one day. Not too sure how it got all the way to Liyue, but it meant a lot to me when I found it.”

“How so?”

You paused before answering, “I don’t really know? I guess I was just feeling a bit homesick with my parents being gone and all. I had been sitting down at the docks when I found a few of these, but I had only taken this one. It was strangely comforting, so, I kept it.”

Could it be?

“You know, when I was about to flee Inazuma, I remember bringing some of these leaves with me from Ritou. At some point on my journey, I had taken the leaves and scattered them off the boat while thinking of my own homesickness. Perhaps…this is one of them?,” Kazuha wondered aloud.

It was strangely coincidental or, perhaps, it wasn’t coincidence at all. Perhaps, it was that of fate’s dealing. Either way, the idea brought a fond smile to your face. To think the two of you may have been connected long before even meeting one another.

“Maybe.”

[motherstone]

WAVERIDER THOUGHTS

This will be long, and nasty. I may be yapping nonsense myself, and ngl this was all written in a fit of emotion, so it may be biased as all fuck. SPOILERS EVERYWHERE. Read further at your own choice.

Kazu, the neglectful, crappy father of his characters

Yeah, no, it’s been a long-time issue of his. Every new book has a new character. Not much of a problem if you're establishing the world - it’s a big one if you’re ending a story. See, the point of a finale isn’t to get us invested in new characters, it’s about giving a satisfying conclusion to your old. And not necessarily purely conclusive either! Some characters still have some journey to walk, but what matters is that you could read what happened to them, be at peace with how they went.

Kazu wrote the finale as if he’s writing 16 more books.

Let’s see the line-up shall we?

Trellis - has been hyped up being the true king, has been trying to get people stop believing in the false king, would not shut the fuck up about the well-being of the elves for several books.

Ending: Changed his mind last minute and gave up the throne.

Vigo - a flawed mentor. Kinda useless. Tries to be a guiding force and emotional support.

Ending: Dies in the most pointless and jarring way possible.

Aly - has exhibited great leadership qualities, is a good friend to Navin.

Ending: she wasn’t even there.

Etc etc. and that’s THREE of them so far, and it’s disastrous. Their conclusions were poor and nonsensical, the narrative portrays them as foolish and ignorant, and basically just treated their entire journey of 8 books as worthless and with little to no growth. Which is just yonkers. The main players don’t play in the final part, and the supporting casts are pretty much not supporting.

Then there’s the NEW cast.

No, sorry, I can’t stand them. They’re not appealing to me, we barely know anything about them except they’re apparently competent and we’re supposed to accept that they’re gonna be the better, newer generation of the Guardian Council? Because the story says so?

Why put new characters to play a part where your established characters can fill in perfectly? At least those established characters already have something ESTABLISHED, thus the payoff is more impactful ,especially if you fit them properly into the role. I never even gave a crap about Cielis and there needing to be a new Guardian Council, I always got the impression in book 4 that it was supposed to be the waning era of stonekeepers, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE MOTHERSTONE WAS STOLEN, THERE’S LITTLE OF IT LEFT, THERE ISN’T A NEW MOTHERSTONE IN CANON, APPARENTLY ENDED UP FORGOTTEN BY EVERYONE ELSE DESPITE BEING A POWERFUL ARTIFACT, AND STONEKEEPERS ARE TOO DANGEROUS FOR THE WORLD OF ALLEDIA. IN GENERAL.

All in all, the book feels like it’s trying to shove and rub these new guys all over my face, trying to get me to love them.

Gabilan, or just make Gulfen a democracy at this point

I'm gonna be for real though, I don't think Gabilan is the best guy for the job. Just because he was "kinda" right about stonekeepers doesn't mean he's a leader, and I don't think someone who kills people for a living, profits off of war, violates people's minds and steals their memories and ruin their lives, and arrogantly believes he has the judgment and say on who gets to keep which memories would be anyone's first choice to rule the country at its most desperate either. He’s sharp, yes, but moral? He has the moral backbone of a fucking chocolate eclair. A guy like that would not treat the people under him with the right to choose, when so many of his actions involve violating other people. If that’s THEIR next best choice after Trellis, Gulfen is fucked.

It's also kinda frustrating. Gabilan gets ONE reference to how he intends to be King, while Trellis gets references that he's the true king for several books, people desiring he make a better people out of the elves, had enemies trying to kill him to prevent him from taking the throne like the VOICE himself, only for the narrative to never even follow through it? 

The story can't seem to make up its mind either. "Stonekeepers in power are bad because they keep seeking to control others and are bad at maintaining control, so you shouldn't be King. That's why you should get an even higher, greater authority so now you're the leader of the Guardian Council!" 😩 make it make sense? 

Ronin, or how to make supervillains

Kazu has a bad understanding of how people work by how he wrote Ronin. Iffy enough that Ronin is retconned to be alive, her method on raising these stonekeepers is to be heavily scrutinized. I’ll be controversial here, but Ronin sucks as a person.

That’s NOT how you treat people, especially when they’re asking for help, even if they wronged you. That’s prioritizing your pride over what’s needed to be done.

Keeping kids in an isolated area, even with their consent, scaring off locals from their livelihood so you could have THEIR resources instead, and then scaring them into not bothering are all shitty things to do. If I didn’t have context, I’d genuinely think she’s trying to make a cult.

She didn’t create a better generation of youth, she created an ECHO CHAMBER. Their interaction with other people who isn’t them are limited and only under her monitoring, they don’t get to have the support and interaction of a wider community, they have fights, she induces them to lose control on purpose (even for training, that’s basically like having someone HAVE breakdowns so they’d “handle breakdowns better”), the young stonekeepers only interact with HER beliefs and HER teachings.

She’s arrogant as all fuck. 

The worst part is that the narrative doesn’t treat this as bad, just flawed, which is anything but 💀

To use @/gofancyninjaworld analysis, which is semi-realistic ngl, what Ronin did was plant seeds for these kids to be supervillains.

A sense of isolation

It’s bad enough that having overwhelming power alienates stonekeepers from most people, Ronin’s method of training has them explicitly stay in an area where the range of people they could interact with are greatly limited to Ronin and their fellow students. Sure, they interact with some civilians, but in an unbalanced way, purely in a savior and rescuee way, nothing else. This gives them sparse experience in the give-and-take interactions in a society, because for all they know, water only flows downwards.

A sense of superiority. It's not good to be considered 'gifted' and to be set aside from others. 

A sense of entitlement to rule.

Which Ronin further reinforced by planting into their heads that they’re the new Guardian   Council eventually, despite having little experience in leading. What happened to “rejecting a seat on the Council because she felt the responsibility at her age was too great”? And that was when she was an older teen. These guys are younger than she was offered.

Access to the means to do so.

The quarry, their stones, and their inevitable ascension to be the new Council.

So basically all she did was groom overly powerful kids with induced breakdowns, with heads too big for their bodies, with very little connection to the wider world to ground them in their thinking and humanity, basically four bombs that could and would inevitably go off. Cool. Any one of 'em could wind up becoming a totalitarian menace. Y'know how spoiled entitled billionaire bastards exists? It's almost virtually the same process.

Interacting with regular people AS regular people, not just as savior or leader is important. It grounds you. It teaches you there’s a variety of people, who won’t always be the perfect victim, who are not necessarily evil but are bad, who are not intentionally malicious but just incompetent, among other things. Application is the real teacher here - the more exposed you are to other people, the better you’d be able to handle them.

Emily, the monster, the savior, the next Buddha

Can’t make up its mind whether to condemn Emily or if she’s the next best thing since sliced fucking bread. Apparently, self-confidence is her issue, not her arrogance or survivor's guilt.

Not to mention her powers came outta nowhere. It’s like she discovers enlightenment, and that was what allowed her to properly control her powers.

Defeats the entire theme of needing other people and that not every outcome is reliant on ONE person’s actions, BY DOING EVERYTHING BY HERSELF, AGAIN!

God, I wish I could say more, but I skipped some of Emily’s parts because reading it was as tedious and agonizing as threading on cold mud. I can’t help but cringe at every dialogue.

The Voice, or how to NOT make a supervillain

…. I don’t even know what to say. Poor Ikol, a victim of the most indecisive and sloppy writing of  a villain I’ve seen, I actually feel genuinely fucking bad. I don’t even know where to begin with this dude, he’s just one whole confusing set of contradicting depictions and motivations.

Riva, or how to get a restraining order in 2 fucking seconds

If I were Trellis and told me the same words Riva said, I’d bolt as far as quickly as I possibly can away from her. That’s creepy, full stop.

I think this was kazu's way to prevent fans from shipping Emily and Trellis by a.) aging up Trellis because that’s the only explanation I could think of (even though he said a few times on twitter that he's the elf equivalent of 16) and b.) to get him together with Riva.

The way Kazu went about it is too insane for me. "Hey, I had a vision of you and me having babies and you became a great leader, let's get together" 💀 that's no basis for any healthy relationship, or any relationship at all that isn't transactional 😵. What is this?

On the other hand, he doesn't respect Riva as a character at all. A character becoming a love interest and a parent isn't a bad thing in of itself, but he wrote Riva so impactfully and charismatically in book 6 - she's one of the few rare elf characters, and a girl elf character to boot, is an established leader, was the daughter of an immigrant and knows all the hardship that comes with it, not to mention hails from a city that Cielis outcasted and abandoned because of their fear and prejudice but she compassionately takes care of the people there anyway.

There's so many interesting and compelling storylines with the foundations he made Riva with, and he focuses on getting Riva to get Trellis to get together with her 😵 she gets reduced from a character with plenty of potential to a character that exists purely to uplift another. That's just depressing. Riva and Trellis deserve better.

Who? Navin. We all forgot about fucking Navin

Actually, I’m pretty sure Kazu forgot about Navin up until the last second. The fact I forgot until he came up on the page speaks for itself on how bad the writing problem was. He plays almost no parts at all. He doesn’t even GET to be a leader properly. He was there to get punched, didn’t even GET to help Emily or anybody else.

The Ending

……………………………………………………………………………………

If Older Emily could time travel with the Void, why didn’t she just eliminate Ikol herself instead of leaving it to our current Emily? Oh, and Vigo jarringly dies and sacrifices himself in the most pointless way possible.

All in all, Kazu - world’s most terrible chef

BAN HIM FROM THE KITCHEN 🔥🔥💯💯🔊🔊🗣️😩😩 HE CAN'T COOK.

Bad? I knew it was gonna be bad at the cover alone, ut no way I could've predicted it was THIS atrocious. It’s not the medium’s fault either, you can’t claim that the medium limited what Kazu had to say - Kazu created comics for a living. He has more than a decade of experience, made dozens of pages, by now, he knows YOU CAN’T WASTE A PAGE. Every panel is important. It’s not the medium's fault for being short, it’s Kazu’s for being sloppy. 

He has an editor. He has a studio, he has a team, he has several copies of his series, he has claimed he has reread them over and over. He has no excuse to be this inconsistent and directionless. So what the fuck are they doing? Do they just sit there and draw? No quality or consistency check? 

Honestly, if he says it was executive meddling, if he was just tired of Amulet and just wanted it over, if it was because of medical reasons - I could accept all those reasons. I could forgive why the series wound up as it is, they’re all reasons I could understand. A decline in quality on purpose I’d understand because that can be fixed. A better employer, a better work schedule, better accommodations.

What I will not accept, if he genuinely believes this. Is. GOOD. WRITING. BECAUSE IT’S NOT. That’s either a lie, an in-denial belief, or just plain ol’ ignorance. That’s just pure arrogance to me. You drop this slop on my feet, 300 pages of yapped nonsense and try to convince me it’s gold? Fuck no. I deserve better, we deserve better, the kids who read your books deserve better. There’s no fixing that kind of thinking.

Am I too harsh? Yes. But I need to let all of these out. Am I kinda biased and a lil incomprehensible? Yes, but I don't care. If you enjoyed it, good for you! But it’s not for me. For closure, I’m nursing whatever shit I try to fix with a rewrite. Kazu already nuked the playground - might as well take a page from his book and do whatever I want like he did.

[sagau-my-beloved]

Imagine them just hearing a friend of yours roast your build. You're just all soft and a little mad. You love them and you're trying your best. Imagine them seeing your scrunched up face ad you try to finish your comissions while your friend just yells at you to use the burst and how you built them.

Me with a friend who religiously uses 2 supports, 1 healer, and 1 dps vs me just using whoever I feel like

Honestly up until after the Inazuma quest I was a firm believer that I only needed characters and teams to be just strong enough to get me through the challenges in the story quests

I spent absolutely zero time researching artifacts and which elements worked well together, I would just slap anything on anyone simply because the name of the set sounded like it fit for the character

I used the starter set of characters for all three archon quests while maybe switching one out if a puzzle called for another element

Even now I only really build characters I like, the only reason I started learning about the cursed world of artifact stats in the first place was because Venti deserves the world and this was the closest I could give him and honestly Venti hasn't left my team for a single second after getting him, doesn't matter what I'm fighting or doing he's gonna be there no matter how inconvenient

But yeah conclusion is meta sucks and it's perfectly fine to not wanna focus on that

Now if they happened to hear you getting made fun of by presumably another 'deity' for the way you handle their world and things going on in it, well of course they're throwing hands, that's just not something they'll take lying down

I imagine the characters you're fighting with would suddenly end up doing like a stupid amount of damage just to prove that the bond they share with you is stronger than any artifact set you (or your friend) could ever grace upon them

Then maybe if your friend tries to take over and complete the commission themselves, picking out what they consider to be the 'proper' character set, none of those characters are going to cooperate, you're the only one that's allowed to use them of course, they belong solely to you

And I honestly imagine the characters would be more flattered if you picked them based only on who you felt like using and not based on damage or anything like that, because that means you value them as more than just a tool or an extension of yourself, that you simply like and want to be around them, which is, of course, the highest form of honor

[torgawl]

there's so many connections tying the moon, seelies and the jinn, but more concretely between the goddess of flowers and guizhong!!! by connections i mean they always appear associated with the moon and one another. as i was reading through the lore attempting to gather some of the moments these ties could be drawn, i ended up noticing other patterns that seemed to fit a similar narrative with other entitites as well. it quickly transformed into a post about the sun and moon symbolism in genshin. although i'm probably missing a lot of things, this is what i found while reading in-game information.

"records of the gallant"

this book is a compilation of stories and legends of many knight-errants in liyue, the second volume specifically is very obviously about guizhong. the association starts with the title “dust”, as she was the god of dust, and goes on to her description as “a maiden in a long indigo robe”, which matches perfectly her appearance. she is very often connected with the night time and the moon, and in this specific instance with seelies as well. seelies are described specifically as having had “beautiful physical forms and (…) great wisdom” in the past in the book “records of jueyun”. this book also talks about the seelie ancestor who once met a traveller from afar with whom they swore an oath of union in the presence of the three moon sisters before disaster struck and they were punished. both seelies and the moon are, throughout the game, always hand-in-hand with each other when it comes to symbolism and references and moments with guizhong like this one are no exception. i think it’s relevant to mention that at the end of the tale when this maiden disappears, the only thing left is a pile of dust mirroring guizhong’s “death”. dust in genshin can easily be tied to life (specifically as the base of all life) through albedo and rhinedottir who, consequently, are connected to khaenri’ah and the art of khemia – one of the factors behind the fall of the nation.

memory of dust

memory of dust is a stone dumbbell gifted to zhongli by guizhong and its description is about one of their conversations. guizhong standed among a field of glaze lilies, flower associated with her, as she talks about humans and compares them to dust.

this scene also includes an allusion to her death with guizhong dissolving into dust and with her, the glaze lilies disappearing.

glaze lilies are said to transform the memories of the land into its fragrance during florescence and legend has it that the flower will open at the sound of pure, beautiful music. the interesting thing about this flower is that it only blossoms during the night time, being this way indirectly connected with the moon. this excerpt or circumstances are very reminiscent to another character in this game, nabu malikata, also known as the goddess of flowers.

the goddess of flowers

the goddess of flowers is very likely to have been a survivor of the seelie race, if not the seelie ancestor herself. this was revealed through us by an aranara, arama, who said “there was once a survivor of that race seelie deep within the golden desert who was friends with queen aranyani and the ruler of valuka”. queen aranyani and the ruler of valuka are titles given to greater lord rukkedhevatta and king deshret, respectively, and, as we know, they were both really close to nabu malikata. the goddess of flowers was also said to have horns by nilou, whose head piece is inspired in this detail, and when traveler sees her in liloupar’s memories they describe her appearance as being "ineffably beautiful”, comparable to "the totality of her jinn". all these characteristics are also associated with seelies.

the “flower of paradise lost” artifact set tells a lot of the story of the goddess of flower. the flower piece tells the story of how she was cast aside by the heavens and her kinship was punished by being stripped away of their minds just like what happened to the seelies and their ancestor, confirming her identity.  

she was said to wander for a long time, her wounds gushing streams that transformed into gardens of which blue water lilies sprouted. lilies those that originated jinn, a mystical race of elemental spirits considered, just like seelies, creatures of wisdom. the goddess of flowers was also said to make purple flowers bloom wherever she stopped, more specifically padisarahs. much like glaze lilies and guizhong, padisarahs also went extinct after the goddess of flowers’ death.

nilotpala lotus

the one other flower that resembles the glaze lilies is the nilotpala lotus. they also only bloom at night and in its description, we learn of their connection to the three moon sisters.

although the moon sisters perished after the same disaster that struck the seelie ancestor and the solar chariot (that created the chasm with its fall), the flowers turned to serve a new master yet the nilotpala lotus continues to remember those happy days of the past. something interesting regarding the name niloptala is that it refers to "blue lotus" or "blue lily" and represents one of the several "attributes" or "accessories" of a deity commonly seen depicted in hindu iconography, defined according to texts dealing with arts and crafts, known as shilpa shastras. i think it’s pretty logical to parallel these flowers, that grow in the forest wetlands in sumeru, to guizhong, someone very known for her mechanisms and who is deeply tied to blue lilies.

goddess of flowers and king deshret

a long time ago, the goddess of flowers, king deshret and greater lord rukkedhevata were all very close friends who looked over sumeru (any resemblance to the liyue consortium is pure coincidence, or not). “flower of paradise lost” continues to tell the story of the gof and contains the depiction of what happened that led to king deshret obtaining forbidden knowledge. through king deshret's aspirations, she saw the possibility to transcend the absurd shackles that governed this world (heavenly principles) and so she helped him in his goal, leading to her sacrifice and consequent death. she is said to have turned into dust in the “vourukasha's glow” artifact set, once again paralleling guizhong.

she once again refers the punishment casted upon the seelie race by the heavens, warning king deshret of the consequences his actions may have. the most interesting thing to me in this passage is the fact she is depicted as being “wreathed in darkness” when guiding deshret towards discovering “all there was to know about the skies and the abyss”; this and the fact she could foresee future events. it actually makes a lot of sense as nabu (who shares a name with her) is an ancient mesopotamian god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom (can you see the pattern?) whose name means "enlightened" or "prophet". she reminds me a lot of sibylla, who met king remus “below the abyssal depths”. knowledge beyond what the heavens allow seems to be connected multiple times to the abyss. this comparison with sibylla gains even more strength when, in the same artifact set, she tells deshret “you seek but to chain the winds. upon the tombstone of divinity shall humanity become the god of gods”. this was also remus’ goal, something he strived for so much that he was willing to ignore prophecies of disaster as long as he could attempt to break the chains of fate.

oasis garden's mourning

this ascencion material with the image of a flower in the center tells us the goddess of flowers and king deshret built ay-khanoum together, also known as “city of the moon maidens”, for the jinn. it’s this material that tells us padisarahs went extinct after the gof’s death and that these gem discs lost their original “glad purpose”, much like what happened to the padisarahs as depicted in the artifact set mentioned earlier. yet, there’s another version of this story told in “the shepherd and the magic bottle”. in this book (told by a jinn) it’s believed that king deshret learned about the jinn's story as well as the story of the “dismal moon and the driving morning star” (likely connected to the seelie ancestor, the three moon sisters and the solar chariot) after capturing them and, afterwards, built ay-khanoum as a gift to commemorate them; in return, the jinn built the entrance to the mausoleum of king deshret. according to liloupar, deshret had deceived the jinn to gain their servitude, telling them that the goddess of flowers had not perished but was instead locked in a deep slumber in the orchard of pairidaeza (created by deshret as a cemetery for the gof), and that he could awaken her with the jinn's aid. there’s an interesting detail in “the shepherd and the magic bottle” where the jinni says that at the end of the city of the moon maiden’s play “everything was reduced to dust”.

sun and moon dichotomy

guizhong’s color is, as referenced earlier, blue like the moon. whenever there’s a deity associated with the moon or the moon-sisters (gof and guizhong) there’s also one that symbolizes the sun (deshret and zhongli), usually coming to form a duo. this traces back all the way back to the solar and moon chariot, their gods and the disaster that led to their separation. it’s interesting to note the fall of the solar chariot, as i mentioned earlier, was what led to the creation of the chasm. although according to what we have access in game the text implies this entity to be different from zhongli, there’s actually a lot of things tying him or creating that parallel between him and the sun or the sun god (who might have been a shade of phanes). we can also consider traveler and paimon as another example of this constant duality within the story, as the traveler is almost literally the morning star and paimon is symbolically connected to the moon and seelies too.

“before sun and moon”, that tells the story of enkanomiya, includes an interesting parable.

this parable clearly references the sakura tree in inazuma’s story but it also intertwines with the heavens and the entities related to the primordial one. tokoyo ookami is istaroth and she’s referred to as the king’s priest. if the king is the primordial one then it makes sense the king’s gardener would be another of the shades. it’s hard to interpret some text when everything is told in metaphors and sometimes information isn’t actually that reliable but the concept of love here reminded me of the solar and moon chariot as well as the seelie ancestor and traveler from afar from the kingdom of light (descriptions in “records of jueyun” and “the pale princess and the six pygmies”). it’s also a bit impossible to read of a tree spirit heavily linked to time and planted by the heavens and not think about irminsul. this concept of gardener or protector of the tree is also somewhat recurrent and can be linked to sibylla as well, a prophetess.

the triquetra has a lot of different meanings but it’s usually connected with three goddesses, three sun positions or three moon phases. another item that has a triquetra on it is mora, that also can be used for alchemy and transmutations. we also know mora was, at least in the beginning, created from morax’s own body so it’s interesting this symbol appears in the coins. “earth is where the alchemy gets its name” and the art of khemia (alchemy from khaenri’ah) literally meaning “art of black earth” in chinese also seem to point to a connection between the terms.

khaenri’ah connections

guizhong had a particular interest in mechanics: the guizhong ballista was one of her handiworks, built with the aid of the adepti, and she apparently collected khaenri'ah technology such as ruin machines for research. as i mentioned before in regards to her (god of dust) “death”, dust can easily be connected with both the art of khemia and concepts such as birth and life. as albedo says: “soil and chalk, the universe and earth, pure dust and the birth of human life”.

in the hidden palace of guizang formula domain, the challenge called voyage to the sanguine sky has the description: "this is the realm of clouds. guizhong, its former ruler, acquired several ancient and evil artifacts during her research into mechanics. the adepti created this realm to contain them." curiously, the fight in this domain is against two ruin guards and a ruin hunter. guizhong was presumably researching khaenri'ahn technology before she died in the archon war. considering ruin guards didn't start wondering teyvat until after the cataclysm, we can propose a question of how exactly she got them. mentioning remus again, the golems he created with the souls of his people within the golden ichor are hinted to be what referenced khaenri’ah to create ruin machines. the link between having the want to defy the heavens and the fall of nations is something we’re already aware, but the way these nations or people connect with each other is also very consistent.

“perinheri”, a book very obviously about khaenri’ah during the crimson moon dynasty, was the talk of the town for multiple reasons but one of the surprises in it was the mention to deus auri (zhongli) by angelica. her nation was defeated by deus auri but she refused to submit to the new god. the orphanage in khaenri’ah – that ties itself with the house of the hearth – seems to have collected children that could classify as descenders, looking for some sort of potential. khaenri’ah anticipated the arrival of "beings who could transcend the gods" and this seems to relate to the concept presented to us during one of sumeru’s archon quests that the traveler’s twin isn’t a descender despite traveler being considered one. it also fits rene’s description of a descender being those with “wills that can rival an entire world”. i can’t make a connection between these concepts but zhongli’s mention is definitely intriguing.  

deshret was depicted in genshin animations as an 8-pointed star and the speculated door to khaenri’ah, below sumeru, also has the same star on it. there's two stars that could be in association to this symbol, the star of lakshmi and the star of ishtar. in both cases, the 8-pointed star is associated with the goddess venus, who was worshipped as a symbol of fertility and love. the star can be seen as a representation of the eight phases of venus, which includes her appearances as the morning and evening star.

lakshmi ('she who leads to one's goal') is one of the principal goddesses in hinduism. she’s associated with maya (illusion) and along with parvati and saraswati she forms the tridevi of hindu goddesses. the tridevi are considered consorts and auxiliary deities to the more eminent masculine trimurti gods (brahma, shiva and vishnu).  saraswati is the goddess of learning, arts, and music, and the consort of brahma, the creator; lakshmi is the goddess of fortune, fertility, light, and material and spiritual fulfillment, and consort of vishnu, the preserver; and parvati is the goddess of power, war, beauty, and love. she is the consort of shiva, the destroyer of evil.

lakshmi, as his consort and divine energy, accompanied vishnu whenever he descended on earth as an avatar; she's the supreme goddess in the sect and assists vishnu to create, protect, and transform the universe. lakshami is associated with the lotus flowers, in reference to spirit liberation, and her iconography also depicts her with four hands, representing the four aspects of human life important to hindu culture: dharma (moral values), kama (pleasure), artha (prosperity), and moksha (final liberation, humanity’s ultimate goal).

the tridevi are the manifestations of mahadevi, the supreme goddess and the primordial power behind the creation of the universe (creator and destroyer). all hindu gods and goddesses are considered to be manifestations of mahadevi and she’s known by many names, some translating to ‘she who is primordial matter’, ‘the great illusion’, ‘the life force in all beings’, ‘she who is supreme knowledge’, ‘she who transcends the universe’, and ‘she who destroys’. mahadevi's is also called ‘night of death’ and ‘she who is death’, reinforcing her destructive nature.

the star of ishtar or or star of inanna is usually used in association with the heavens and is specifically connected to the planet venus. the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of sin (god of the moon) and the rayed solar disk, which was a symbol of shamash (god of the sun). the morning star may have been conceived as a male deity who presided over the arts of war and the evening star may have been conceived as a female deity who presided over the arts of love.

inanna (or ishtar) is an ancient goddess of love, war, and fertility and her primary title was "the queen of heaven". many of her myths involve her taking over the domains of other deities. she was believed to have been given the mes, which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, by enki, the god of wisdom. she apparently took over the eanna temple from the god of the sky, an. alongside her twin brother utu, inanna was the enforcer of divine justice. in the standard version of the epic of gilgamesh, ishtar asks gilgamesh to become her consort. when he disdainfully refuses, she unleashes the bull of heaven, resulting in the death of gilgamesh’s friend, who has a subsequent grapple with his own mortality. inanna's most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from the ancient mesopotamian underworld, ruled by her older sister ereshkigal. after she reaches the throne room, the seven judges of the underworld (whose function was to decree the fates of humanity) deem her guilty and strike her dead. three days later, someone pleads with all the gods to bring inanna back. all of them refuse, except enki, who sends two beings to rescue inanna. they escort inanna out of the underworld but the guardians of the underworld drag her husband down there as replacement. he is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year, while his sister remains in the underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.

as genshin is a bit of a cocktail when it comes to mythology and any historical references, it’s hard to say if the stories of ishtar or lakshami can even be a straightforward parallel to the higher beings in genshin. but i think if there’s one thing to take from everything so far is that there’s a very meaningful recurrence of trios or the number three (e.g. triquetra, three moon sisters, evil trinity), as well as the constant appearance of sun and moon elements together and dependent of one another (either in regards to their roles or their personal connections), the sun always being the masculine and the moon always being the feminine. we know there was a time in which these elements co-existed together in heaven, although they seem to be fated/doomed to separate from one another (the tragedies referenced in this post being an example of that).

enkanomiya

there are three very interesting achievements with interesting names you get in enkanomiya. one is kairos' constancy, and is the one you get from completing time trial challenges. kairos, as we already know, is one of istaroth’s (god of time) names. this name is based on the greek god kairos, the god of moments. the other two achievements, which also have greek names, are hesperus' boons, for opening chests, and phosphoros' guidance, for following seelies. if these are names of deities with close relations to phanes or at least celestia, as it would make sense because it would follow the pattern for istaroth, then would it be that out-of-pocket to think these might be the names of the other shades or of the moon sisters? phosphorus (bearer of light, often translated as lucifer) is the god of the planet venus in its appearance as the morning star. hesperus (son of dawn), on another hand, is the evening star. (planet venus in the evening). venus, as mentioned before, relates to the eight-pointed star and we know this shape is also used as the symbol of istaroth in enkanomiya (light realm sygil).

which, by the way, are used in hilichurl camps. the hilichurl camp in front of the thousand wind temple in mondstadt was already a hint that they worshiped istaroth but i think it’s safe to say that with certainty. it’s just curious that they don’t really recognize the archons, thinking of the elements as that which is deserving of worshiping, yet recognize (at least one of) a shade of phanes. the name istaroth is derived from astaroth, one of the three demons in the "evil trinity" alongside beelzebub and lucifer, connecting istaroth and the morning star once again.

i don't plan to drag this any longer as this is already way too long but to finish it off, and summarising these ideas: i'd say the one of the biggest patterns present in the game is the constant mention of entities in heaven seemingly converging into the duality of sun and moon, the moon sisters and the sun god. i haven't properly dwelled on this to come to a any sort of definite idea but there’s too many details creating a consistent pattern for my brain to disregard these ties as non-intentional. obviously, all these characters i have mentioned throughout the post aren’t going to all be the same handful of beings, and that’s not what i’m trying to say, but i do believe the repetition of the same themes has meaning. maybe the same way mahadevi manifested herself as three other feminine gods who worked together with male deities, the heavenly principles or phanes also created the shades as a manifestation of the sun and the moon. or maybe ishtar, alongside utu as enforcers of divine justice, taking over the god of the sky's (ishtar's father) temple could mirror the twins and their journey. maybe kairos, phosphorus and hesperus are indeed the moon sisters or even shades of the primordial one. maybe guizhong isn't meant to be more than a parallel to other entities, but maybe she was truly more than what was originally presented. i don't think it's impossible that even if she isn't one of the big figures - goddess of flowers or a moon sister - that she could have originated from one or be related to one (nabu malikata having seelies as her people and jinni or khvarena as her daughters). similarly to how venti is hinted to have originated from istaroth (as he was originally "a single thread of the thousand winds", istaroth's title). or perhaps not. regardless, it’s fun to notice that many theories in the fandom sort of intertwine together to make a fuller picture based on scattered information across the game. i'm not sure if i'll go more in-depth regarding some of these "theories" as there's still a lot to expand but i hope all of this made at least a little bit of sense. thank you for reading this far!

[sorrinslays]

Lowkey just realized this, but Simon is perfect for literally every vision from Genshin

Like, think about it:

Anemo vision is given to those who, in some way, desire or chase some form of freedom

Starting off strong, Simon fits that description really well for a number of reasons. He wants to feel free from the guilt and pain of losing Betty and the world he lived in so many centuries ago. He wishes to escape from the labyrinth that is his mind (more Ice King but yk). He desires freedom from his past as Ice King and the mistakes and atrocities he did. And lastly, he wishes to find the true freedom that is death (implied)

Geo vision is given to those who work hard to achieve their ambitions

You cannot tell me that does not describe Simon. He worked hard to be where he was in life (pre-Betty), going on expeditions, researching and not stopping even if literally nobody believes or respects him. And even now, he is working hard to be a better person (going to therapy and expanding his social circle)

Electro vision is given to those who see the world differently from others and are genetically considered different or odd

Now let's be honest with ourselves, that's, like, Simon 101. Even before the Mushroom war Simon was considered weird. Nobody was interested in his lectures or saw his research as valuable (except Betty). It's even more true now that he feels isolated and different from everyone around him due to his circumstances. He's supposed to be dead, yet he's still here, surrounded by people so similar yet different from him in a world that feels like as if someone looked at earth through a funky mirror

Dendro vision is given to those who either seek or posses knowledge or skills that are considered either hidden or forbidden or simply value knowledge highly

Again, it describes the poor sad little man perfectly. As a researcher he valued knowledge very highly as he always studied or researched whenever we see his "past" life. Now he also possesses 'forbidden' knowledge, that of the crown and Golb

Hydro vision is given to those who either have a strong dedication towards something, or have a desire to help or protect others

Marceline, Fiona and Cake. Need I say more?

He wishes to protect people he deeply cares for, especially if he sees them as child-figures. He sacrificed his sanity because it was the only way to protect Marceline during the apocalypse and left before things went bad and he was willing to do the same for Fiona and Cake to protect them even if it mean going through the heartache all over again

Pyro vision is given to those who are strongly passionate about something and dedicated their life to it

You could make the case for both his research and love for artifacts and Betty but I think that Betty is the better option for this. At the start of the series, we see that he has dedicated a lot of his time to Betty even she isn't with him anymore. He still wants to see her again, to save her. She was his everything and he loves her more than anything, unable to move on until the finale and even then he still has trouble with it

Cryo vision is given to those who are at a "crossroad" in their life, are torn between responsibilities and desires or hiding something

The irony of the cryo fitting him aside, the vision is literally him in the series. He's torn between wanting to hang on on that thread of sanity that Betty literally sacrificed her life for and helping Fiona and Cake and having a purpose in life once again. He wants to help but by helping he's basically spitting in Betty's face and showing that her final sacrifice means nothing. How can he decide? When he feels like every day is not only meaningless but also taxing and a waste of Betty's gift. He doesn't deserve it but at least he can help someone, fix their world and do something good with his life. After all, no one really needs him, right?

(This is a very random post and it's a habit I developed of thinking "what vision fits the character I'm hyperfixating on the most?" and, honestly, I recommended it to everyone cause it makes you look deeper and understand them better as a character)

(Don't take this too seriously tho, it's just crazy ramblings that plague my mind at night)

[aioledreams]

FFXIVWrite 2024 Day 3: Tempest

Ciel is assigned her first task for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. 

In-game story very slightly altered to accommodate multiple player characters.

It was difficult to tell if he was looking at her. His red lensed glasses hid his gaze, and he seemed to be the sort that enjoyed clinging to the shadows besides. The dark skinned, white haired elezen had been eyeing her when it didn’t seem like she was looking since they had both arrived; she a bit later than he. The feel of his gaze was a distraction that kept pulling her away from what the antecedent was explaining. 

Ciel had chosen to stand nearby the heavy wooden desk at the back of the Solar. Tucked into the end of the Waking Sands, the windowless room smells of old books and lamp oil. And the Waking Sands, like all of Vesper Bay, has the unique scent of sea air touching desert aridity. For the most part the antecedent, Minfilia, seems to prefer spartan decor. The room is furnished with only a few pieces of furniture, the desk and its dark blue blotter, some plants, books, lamps, and a wide Ul’dahn tapestry carpet. The only thing of great ornamentation is the gold and crystal case set against the back wall. It holds the remnants of a wood and stone staff, placed there with the reverence of an artifact that has great value of more than just the monetary kind. 

Minfilia has a voice that is soft in timbre but strong in resolve. She speaks with the practiced tone of someone who is accustomed to sitting at political negotiation tables, and has the knowledge to match. 

Ciel glances once or twice at Y’Shtola. The white haired mi’qote is the only face among their number that is remotely familiar, and even then she is but an acquaintance. The woman had first mentioned the name Scions of the Seventh Dawn, claiming that they would know more of her strange visions.

The Scions are small in number, but Ciel thinks they all appear capable. Yda, a woman in a mask and a turban, and Papalymo, a lalafell in the telltale garb of a thaumaturge, hold themselves with a familiarity that speaks to long years of friendship. Y’Shtola is perfectly polite and forthright, though Ciel gets the distinct impression there is much going on behind her green eyes she keeps to herself. Y’Shtola does seem pleased that Ciel has taken her up on her offer to join their number. Thancred, the white haired hyur, exudes an aura of ease and a smile seems to come to his lips easily. Urianger, mysterious insofar as he hides behind goggles and a hood, has an excessively formal way of speaking but is nonetheless pleasant and welcoming. They all seem willing to allow Ciel into their confidence. Ciel wonders if it is due to Y’Shtola’s recommendation or because Minfilia believes the visions that plague her are a blessing, or both. For her part, Ciel feels the weight of their trust on her shoulders and wonders if she’s fit to carry it. 

“This is Tempest. He arrived just prior to your coming. Much like you, he is a prospective member of our order.” The dark skinned elezen inclines his head while Minfilia smiles. Her smile is more warm and familiar than Ciel expects for a diplomat. It is possessed of the hope that their newcomers find ‘family’ in the Scions as offered, and that they might join hands toward a greater good. “I would assign you both your first task…”  

Minfilia explains the request that has come to the Scions for aid, and their suspicions about the matter, with ease. Thancred details what they know so far and where the leads are most likely to take them. Both newly recruited Scions, and Thancred, are to make for camp Drybone to investigate a series of thefts and missing persons. 

Tempest is the first to leave the Solar, hearing the briefing and then disappearing out the heavy wooden door with surprisingly light feet. Ciel doesn’t notice he has left until they hear the door close behind them. She remains to ask for directions and then takes her leave as well. 

When she exits the solar to explore the short hallways and side rooms in the Waking Sands it appears as though her fellow new recruit has already left the building. There are several people to meet and converse with in the halls and its adjoining half common area, half storage area. It seems as though the Scions use its worn wooden tables and chairs when not otherwise occupied on order business. The rest of the room is stacked high with barrels, crates, scrolls, and other materiel. The dark skinned elf is not there, even in the shadowed corners behind the crates. 

Given what little she knows about both her new colleagues, she feels relieved that Thancred seems personable. Ciel can only think that working with Tempest on the task ahead will be awkward at best.