#arvis made a lot of mistakes

[nymphea0]

Then can I request a continuation of that oneshot with Matthias? I was wondering what their marriage life and parenthood is like. Thank you in advance!! 🥰

The Duke And His Secret

Yan! Matthias x Reader

Oneshot Story (Special Chapter).

(Warnings : Balcony mature scene at the end.)

*Minors are prohibited from reading this story🚫*

Manhwa : 울어 봐, 빌어도 좋고.Cry, Even Better if You Beg. Cry, Even if You Pray.

Author & Ilustration : Solche & Van Ji

Word Count ; 1.395 word.

Hello this is Neva🦋, hope you have a nice and happy day, it's been a long time since I updated any story whether it's manhwa or Oc. sorry about that, I'm currently very focused on making a "supernatural" expecially Vampire character series project investigating and deepening it so that the character I make doesn't seem stiff and my darlings enjoy reading it. So heres some matthias cup of tea story (^3^), hope you like it Anon🦋, Lots of love - Neva🦋🦋

Might have some bad grammars, correct me if there are any mistakes in the words in the story I wrote. Anyways i hope you all enjoys my story, much love.- Neva🦋

- Main story : The Duke and His Secret

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The residence of the Duke of Arvis, the kingdom of Berg.

The atmosphere of the residence was very cheerful, full of laughter from the 2 children of the opposite sex.

One had jet black hair like the color of a crow's feathers, with bright blue eyes like the sky. The other had snow-white hair with amethyst purple eyes.

The servants in the residence could only blush in excitement seeing the two children who were only 8 years old.

2 children, siblings, with different genders. The older brother was a man with black hair like a crow, while the younger sister, a woman with snow-colored hair.

Both of them played and ran with each other in the garden

While on the other side of the garden under the tree, there was a table with a complete set of tea and also a light side dish for the mouth that went well with tea, Pastry.

There were two women sitting there, one was no longer young, estimated to be 80 years old, while the other, still looked young but not so young, estimated to be 50 years old.

The two women were, Elysee von herhardt, and Norma Catharina Von herhardt, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, who were both watching their grandchildren.

Felix Von Herhard and Airedith Von Herhard. Felix and Aire. Siblings who were only 1 year apart. The servants said they were Irish twins. Because they were only 1 year apart.

Norma stared at the two little children playing with each other, the woman was no longer young, she felt very sad if she couldn't play with them.

While Elysee occasionally smiled and drank tea elegantly, her eyes staring towards the balcony of their manor house. There Elysee could see her affectionate son and daughter-in-law.

In fact, as Elysee remembered when Matthias brought you to the Herhardt residence for the first time, a forced marriage that made your parents agree, you really didn't like being close to Matthias, but as the saying goes, struggle will never give disappointing results. The fact that Matthias desperately shows that he does love you, sincerely even though his way at the beginning was wrong.

Slowly you accepted Matthias, he never forced you to make love or do things he wanted but you didn't like, he listened to your wishes, all your anger, even though at the beginning you were afraid Matthias would hurt you, but he didn't do that.

Matthias even went to a psychiatrist to help overcome how to eliminate apathy and grow an attitude of sympathy and become caring and willing to accept differences of opinion, rejection and so on.

There Elysee could see how Matthias kissed your cheek affectionately, if Elysee remembered again the woman wanted to laugh at how Matthias' expression said love but with a flat expression.

Like father, like child. The fruit does not fall far from the tree, that's Matthias, just like his father.

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You are relaxing on the balcony, enjoying the hot spring, so warm but shady.

Down there, in the garden, you see your mother-in-law, Elysee and Matthias' grandmother, Norma, busy staring at Felix and Aire who are playing with each other, your and Matthias' children.

While your husband? Matthias, the man is busy cooing affectionately behind you, kissing your bare shoulder affectionately because you are wearing an Off-shoulder dress. Damn, this man knows the opportunity in adversity.

Many things have happened during the 9 years you have been with Matthias, you have faced the ups and downs together, but you know that Matthias wants to learn and tries to prove himself. As a result, the man becomes like a cat in heat, always wanting to be close and not wanting to be far away.

"Matty! Don't bite! Later mom and grandma will see, I'll be embarrassed"

You complain because this time Matthias bites and sips lovingly leaving a mark on your bare shoulder.

While Matthias, the man is only busy kissing, sucking your shoulder and neck, his hands also don't stay still on your thigh, stroking affectionately. Never mind that it was currently in public, but fortunately the balcony railing was 100% covered with carved marble, so the people below only saw that Matthias and you were just hugging.

"Don't refuse like that my love, it's your own fault for wearing such revealing clothes, this is called an invitation for me"

Matthias continued kissing and nuzzling your shoulder and neck.

"Felix and Aire are already 8 years old, isn't it time for them to have a new sibling?"

"No! Wait until they are 10 years old, then a new sibling"

Too bad, your husband didn't accept the rejection, instead Matthias stared with a mischievous grin.

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Elysee chuckled softly at what she had just seen, causing amazement at Norma and the 2 little kids who were currently sitting in front of them, resting because they were tired of running and playing.

Norma snorted and drank her tea slowly, softly asking.

"What made you chuckle so cutely Elysee?"

Elysee just smiled shaking her head, and poked Felix's cheek which was a copy of Matthias and also rubbed Aire who was busy eating pastry.

"Nothing mom, I think we need to build another house"

Blinking one eye mischievously at her mother-in-law Norma, while Norma who was given that just laughed happily.

Wiping away tears slowly because she was tired of laughing. Norma knew exactly what Elysee meant, a new presence, a new member, Felix and Aire's future sibling.

"Well, at least our Matthias is full of energy to want to have lots of children"

The two middle-aged women laughed together, making the two little children in front of them look at each other, shake their heads slowly and just continue eating the pastry served in front of them.

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On the balcony, Matthias was still busy kissing your shoulder and neck affectionately which was so tempting to his desire.

His hands were so adept at entering your lower dress, rubbing your soft thighs gently with full squeezes passion.

"Matt! Not here!"

You tried to protest Matthias, but like talking to a wall, Matthias ignored your protest.

Until his ladder slipped into your underwear, rubbing your sensitive intimate area slowly.

"Matthias!?". The more firmly you refused, the wilder Matthias became.

"What love? I know you enjoy it"

Matthias naughtily sucked your neck slowly, while his 2 fingers were busy moving back and forth in your sensitive area, so deep and expert.

You were only able to hold back your moans, afraid that a servant would pass through the balcony door or Grandma and mother would see you both suspiciously from down there, as much as possible you acted normal.

"Come on love, don't be so shy, I know you enjoy it"

Your ass was slapped lightly by Matthias deliberately full of temptation.

His hands got faster when he felt your walls squeezing his fingers.

"Want to come out love? Yes? Come to me love, came to my hands"

Until, you came hard! Both of your hands covered your mouth to muffle your moans, your eyes closed while your legs shook unable to bear the weight.

While Matthias' fingers were still busy moving slowly, down there, Matthias could feel and see the puddles of water falling. You squirted, it turned out.

Matthias chuckled softly and kissed your cheek tenderly.

Matthias passionately devours your lips, forcing his tongue into your mouth, tracing every inch of your mouth. Claiming it to be his.

You who are out of breath try to pat Matthias' chest, but Matthias this man is full of passion, so you bite his lips and scratch his neck, causing blood spots on his lips and neck.

Matthias just winces softly before pulling your hair back, not too roughly but not too slowly, enough to make you look at him.

Matthias' passionate eyes stare directly at you, whispering sensually right in front of your lips, while licking the corner of your lips affectionately.

"Feels so good love? Do you want to continue here or in the room hmm?"

Damn, your fate is so unlucky to marry this shameless nobleman but god, you cant hold your heart, you love this man, as same as matthias love you.

His secret, his little heaven secret.

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Tag list; @snowflakes666 @nerdygoateepeanut @blurryperrtymoonlight @luminethebest @scenicelixir @n4muqr @cannyyyyy @athena-roy @sirenetheblogger @rai-xxx @thehopingfairy @ryusooze @yaoduriaa @merveeeeesworld

Please dont steal my work, or use without my permissions, Always be good people Dear. Much love, Neva🦋🦋.

©️Nymphea0 2024 , OG story, Project Dark Manhwa Character Story.

[iturbide]

y’know, if edelgard's going to be going around askr workshopping ideas for ruling an empire we should be glad she ran into arvis first who could POSSIBLY steer her off course instead of like... michalis or walhart, who's uncompromising ambition/"humans > dragons" rhetoric would probably just reinforce the echo chamber she's already in. (or like, zephiel, who’d reinforce it for the exact opposite reason). it takes one flame emperor to temper another into someone more manageable, i guess.

You’re exactly right about this because Arvis really is a best-case scenario for a mentor.  Most of the other major Emperors (Hardin, Walhart, Garon, Ashnard) would have a significantly different advice, given that they all hail pretty much from their period of conquest before it was brought to a halt by interference by various Lords.  Unification through strength, emphasis on might to overpower weaker nations and bring them to heel...Edelgard already has a rather alarming bias toward anything with potential military applications, she would just double down on it talking with them -- meanwhile Zephiel would 100% reinforce all her anti-dragon rhetoric in the worst way.

But then you have Arvis.  Arvis, who is fresh off his conquest, who actually achieved his ambition...but who knows exactly how it ends up.  Because his kids are here: one look at Julius paints a sobering picture, not to mention what happened when Legendary Julia showed up (and promptly burst into tears as soon as she saw her father because she’s fully aware he died).  His fate was not a kind one, and because of the choices he made his family suffered.  So he would have all manner of advisements and warnings for Edelgard...but most of all, he would warn her that there’s a debt to be paid.  Sometimes the price seems small, inconsequential in the pursuit of a noble ambition, of bringing stability to warring nations and ushering in an age of peace -- sullying your hands with blood to seize that final victory, perhaps, or making a pact with less than scrupulous allies...but it is never simple.  Those things forfeit and taken, knowingly or not, can undermine even the grandest design, for they will come back to settle the debt and time will have changed them as much as it has changed you.  Take care what price you’re willing to pay.

If nothing else, it might be enough to give Edelgard some pause.

[bisluthq]

YOU GUESSED IT... SWIFTIESLEUTH IS REBRANDING

Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, I started a Tumblr called Swiftiesleuth to talk about my long-standing belief that mega famous pop star Taylor Swift could be a teensy liiiil bit of a fruitcake (/affectionate) and that the 2017 album Reputation is likely inspired by more than one muse.

It was a pretty simple concept for a fandom Tumblr tbh born out of a deep rooted boredom in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But because I am canonically fucked in the head, instead of it being a normal ass Tumblr blog, this project soon became this:

Which is to say this very straightforward concept for a fandom Tumblr blog evolved to also to talk about a whole lot of other things like: celebrity culture in general and the messy shit famous people get up to and politics and the concept of fame and the weirdness of fandom and conspiracy theories and the fluidity and complexities of human sexuality and life advice and lyrical analyses and Riverdale and funny anecdotes from my life and just... the random stuff that pops into my head that I - and as it turned out others - appeared to find interesting. 

I began by shouting into the void, but then the void shouted right back. 

And so here we are. 

...

We’re rebranding. 

Swiftiesleuth is no more. 

We’re Bislut HQ now. 

How did I get to the name? Here’s the most simple origin story. Here are more thoughts on it.

Basically some people on a forum known as The L Chat were r00d about me and it kinda did the opposite of what they were aiming for because it made me feel inspired and empowered and actually made me want to make other people feel the way I was feeling in that moment. So that’s what’s happening. We’re making bisluts a thing now.

And to be clear: being a bislut is very much a state of mind rather than a sexual orientation. It’s like being a Derry Girl. It means you’re embracing the culture. You’re challenging heteronormativity and monosexualities as defaults, even if you know you yourself are fitting into those molds. You’re challenging societal norms and slut shaming and a golden number. You’re challenging the binaries of gender. You’re even challenging allosexuality. Ace folk are 100% valid and 100% bisluts if they feel so inclined. Like I say… It’s a state of mind.

And so you’re all invited.

Is it just a name change? Why the big fuss?

NAH. It isn’t just a name change. It’s also part of a rollout of fun new projects and brand new types of content to keep you engaged and entertained and interested and - on occasion - even educated. 

Firstly, we’re launching a website! 

Secondly, we’re using that website to launch a SUBSCRIPTION BASED WEEKLY NEWSLETTER called Dispatches from Bislut Culture. 

What’s Dispatches from Bislut Culture?

Dispatches is a weekly newsletter that will include:

Original content that’s either too wild or too speculative for this Tumblr.

Longform op eds that we feel won’t receive much engagement here and will wind up buried by asks, and should rather be read on a leisurely Sunday arvie. 

A highlights reel of the activity on the Tumblr - I know lots of you have lowkey complained about how insanely active this page is and how it’s hard to keep up so guess what? I’m gonna do it for you. 

AND BECAUSE WHY TF NOT: 

Agony AuNAT UNCHAINED AND UNCESORED EDITION - if you have stuff to ask that’s… ya know… WILD�� email us at bislutculture@gmail.com with the subject as AGONY AUNAT UNCHAINED and I’ll answer subscribers, either formally in the newsletter or if it’s like… THAT WILD I’ll reply to the email (but only if you’ve subscribed).

How much is this gonna cost? For now, it’ll be $5 per month for 4 comprehensive weekly newsletters and sundry content I throw in.

My dudes [/slur] that’s less than ordering lunch.

That’s $1.25 a week. 

And you’re gonna get all of the above + SURPRISES! 

Why are you moving to a paid content model?

I am a professional writer. I spend a huge amount of time that I could spend pitching and crafting work for other avenues working on this... every single day, no weekends. And while it obviously brings me joy, it’s also… something I’m good at because it is my real world job and I work really hard at it. So at a certain point it’s just about being practical.

I would honestly much rather do this than write stuff I don’t care about. I would much rather work on this than write B2B advertorials. But I also need to eat tbh. It’s kind of that simple.

While I will always provide free content for you - on both the Tumblr and tbh the new website - I’m going to start charging for things that I HOPE YOU WANT. 

If you have suggestions, complaints or general issues feel free to reach out to the email I’ve mentioned: bislutculture@gmail.com and I’ll try to get to them.

In the meanwhile, I hope you check out the new website and sign up for the newsletter and additional members only content by subscribing!

The first newsletter will be in your inbox on Sunday morning (or afternoon depending on timezone… or Saturday… idk timezones are weird man, you’ll get it dw).

And there’ll be some sneaky, fun ass members-only content up on the website ALREADY UP TODAY for those who do sign up. 

xxx

Nat & Sim

[randomnameless]

Do you have any non Three Houses Fire Emblem thoughts right now, like what did you think of the first Fire Emblem Warriors?

MMH -

Let's say FE Warriors was released at a time I wasn't expecting much of the franchise (but then FE15 appeared) because it was advertised as a "Fire Emblem" fighting game, and bar FE1, FE13 and FE14 we had no other rep. Then Lyn was added to fill the FE7 rep, and while it sounds like this was just a rehearsal of the usual SSB wank, some people (I) really expected to see more characters (I think Celica was added in a DLC?)

Now, with Three nopes, there's no mistaking, and people won't be expecting, idk, Ephraim because the game is explicitely about Three Houses.

Non FE16 related, TS made me think about old plot bunnies I had about

Julia ruining Seliph's post-Jugdral world, and trying to become the ruler of Granvalle

basically, Jugdral AU : Julia remembers she's a Velthomer, and mistakingly believes Arvis was not mistaken when he tried to unify the continent "for true peace" uses the power of Naga to wreck things up - forcing her to "apologise for her father's and brother's actions" when she's slowly remembering them again as people she loved and who loved her makes her snap.

Of course, she would be helped by a nobody who pretends he used to be a member of Velthomer's Church, who will never reveal he is her oldest half-brother - Saias doesn't want to ruin things because ruining things is fun, but he already failed his Lord (Julius) so he will follow his only remaining family to hell if she wants to go there.

Or, Jugdral AU : Julia, major Naga heir, gives a Major Naga son to either Verdane or a Duchy in Granvalle, who's shat upon after the War (Dozel?) and hell breaks loose when Julia gives her son the Book of Naga, and proclaims independance from Granvalle (if its Dozel) or leaves and proclaims Naga carriers will live from now on in Verdane - starting a lot of tensions with Seliph's Granvalle.

[avemaera]

after his first meeting with deirdre in years, after seeing for himself that deirdre does not remember him, that deirdre had married another man, sigurd feels as if he needs time to himself. he feels fit to burst with the out of emotions playing out in his head. grief, anger, joy at being able to see her again, self-pity, among many many others.

he figures that the church is somewhere quiet enough. he is not someone of fodlan's faith, but he knows that people will not bother him in there. that he will get some time to himself to think about everything that happened in the last day or two. he may get a nun or two asking him if he's alright, but that's a lot different than having to have a full conversation with even a friend.

truthfully, he is still not able to process that deirdre had married arvis. it baffles him, doesn't feel like something that could happen. even if deirdre truly had lost her memories on accident, wouldn't arvis have known? known that she was actually sigurd's wife? none of it makes sense and it all gives him a headache.

he lets out a frustrated sigh, pushing open the grandiose church doors. it was relatively quiet in the place like he thought it would be, a few students were clearly praying to the gods, and there were some nuns around, but he knew he would be left alone to explore his feelings by himself.

that's what he thinks; until he spots him in what he assumes is the alter of fodlan's god(s). that familiar burning red hair. arvis.

an ugly anger bubbles up inside him, an anger that he can't find it in himself to control. he clenches his fist, standing there for a moment to try and calm down, but it doesn't work. all he sees is red, all he feels are the flames from his nightmares.

before he knows it, he is already grabbing arvis by his collar, lifting him off the ground just ever so slightly thanks to his strength. sigurd's movement is stiff and his aura clearly radiates off a genuine anger at even seeing the man.

"arvis, you dastard!" he shouts, not even thinking about the people in the church. the only people in the room to him right now are himself and arvis. nothing else matters in that moment. "what the hell have you done with my wife!?" his tone is seething with a pure and burning hatred. he's not sure what kind of answer he'll get, but he'll get it out of arvis' mouth no matter what.

His work finally settled in Jugdral, Arvis was not far behind Deirdre in their political excursion to Fodlan. Azmur was not much longer for this world, and the groundwork for his own empire had precious little time. The continent was weak and fractured, its country's powers collapsing to him now. But he would build them up again, and he would start with a strong foundation.

He would ensure he had foreign allies to call upon, and if they only asked he teach his magic? He was all the more flattered to.

He had not had a chance to explore this monastery when he had come for his interview weeks ago, and he needed a moment to breathe in this fresh air and unroll his spine before he tried to meet back up with Deirdre in their rooms. Arvis wandered a while, eventually coming upon a grand cathedral at the ground's heart. The vaulted ceilings kissing the heavens and letting in her light. Fodlan seemed to love her Goddess oh so much, and he would have to remember this in his pleasantries. He admired the craftsmanship of their own Saint's statues and holy finery, before he feels himself being grabbed-

Grabbed and lifted above the ground. Arvis is ready to demand an explanation before-

Before his eyes shoot open wide at what he sees. No, this must be a joke. A vision, an illusion, a trick! He was staring at a dead man! Killed by his very own hands! He was sure of it, there was no mistaking it, he made sure Sigurd was dead.

Yet here he was, and by whatever trickery didn't matter right now. By some divine twist, Sigurd had now gotten the jump on Arvis. He was raving and mad, and Arvis wouldn't answer for anything until he was put down.

"Sigurd." He seethed "Unhand me now if you know what's good for you."

[dmclemblems]

@randomnameless

randomnameless replied to your post “Edelgard is basically Alvis.” Okay, I beg to absolutely differ. At...”

They'd be more similar if Arvis knew Manfroy was hunting babies and yet he's still working with him to unify the continent. Allying with people getting rid of foreign rulers to unify the continent isn't a good thing. Allying with people you know they experiment on humans to create your beast squad is, imo, way beyond that, like cartoonly evil.

Hard agree. Alvis was willing to allow the Sect to continue living in peace under his rule if they didn’t do what they did. He outright told Manfloy he wouldn’t be helping him with those things in gen 1. When Manfloy still took action in gen 2, he proved his point and went against him. Even at the cost of going against his “son”, he still did it, and it’s very clear Alvis loves his family so much.

Alvis wanted to unify the continent, but he didn’t do it at the expense of allying with horrible people that were going to end up being a threat to the continent and his ambitions if they achieved their goal. Both the Lopt Sect and TWSITD, if achieving their own goals, would have threatened Alvis and Edelgard’s goals respectively. Alvis, understandably, sees a conflict in that and realizes there’s no point in achieving his goals and possibly dying for them if these people get what they want in the end. It would make everything he did meaningless and make him unifying the continent pointless if they just destroyed it in the end or enslaved it to Loptous. Edelgard wouldn’t have needed TWSITD’s help if she had Dimitri and Claude’s assistance, and she’d be even luckier with Claude because then she’d get the help of two continents.

Killing other rulers to “unify” the continent isn’t even unifying it. It’s conquering it and forcing it under your rule, which is a total power move. It has nothing to do with truly unifying anything. Alvis didn’t kill Cuan, either - that was Thracia and the Lopt Sect’s doing, latter being based off FE5. Calf wan’t in the best shape and Thracia went after the country after Cuan died. When that battle was over, Alvis immediately stepped in and had the empire take control of it because not only did it make it so the Empire had the final say on Manster, but he knew the people would suffer under Thracia’s rule because Manster and Thracia were longtime enemies. He basically tried to save Manster a lot of grief by sending someone to take over there, and that was probably his intention. Obviously that isn’t how it worked out, but that was a combination of nasty politicians from an icky family (and for fuck’s sake they had Blume and Hilda there eventually. yikes) and again, the Sect. Verdane had no ruler and basically became bandit ground. TL;DR Alvis didn’t run around killing other rulers. He took advantage of being able to unify the continent as much as possible, yes, but not by killing people. He still did his best to make things peaceful, and Thracia ruling Manster would not have been peaceful for Manster.

It’s a huge difference, yet again. Alvis will do whatever it takes to unify the continent with common sense and not doing something that could jeopardize everything he’s doing. Edelgard knew the risks of her alliance and they warned her via javelins of light that they had the real power, ultimately. She put herself right in their trap. She knew the risks if she personally had been experimented on, so imo, she has no excuse for what happened. She’s lucky she didn’t kill Claude in Verdant Wind because if she had and then she was killed, TWSITD would’ve won. Claude is the reason they were stopped. Similarly with Silver Snow and Seteth & Rhea, Edelgard nearly risked everyone’s lives and the entire continent by allying with them.

Yeah, Alvis made some mistakes, but nobody is perfect in a position of power when they have to make those kind of decisions and he was in a tight spot. Edelgard put herself in that tight spot. The difference is, again, that Edelgard won’t take responsibility for it (which is something even Rhea does in VW and SS). Alvis will, and yet he’s the one doing the lesser amount of damage in the long run and had the better intentions.

[crystalelemental]

While I’m busy annoying fans of Genealogy with my general disinterest in its cast, here are some other characters I have strong opinions about:

Sigurd’s not nearly as interesting as people make him out to be.  The main action leading to him being branded a traitor was super avoidable and his squire even points out that he’s making a mistake.  His “romance” with Deirdre is one of the most shallow things the series has produced, and literally none of the awful events of Act 2 would’ve happened if he had just kept it in his pants.  His actions during the war are made with good intentions that often lead to further conflict, but most of the critical actions that cause disaster were super avoidable and complete his fault.  Good job, moron.

Arvis is also a putz.  Look, I get it.  His entire point is that he’s trying to build the world for the better, but is highly questionable in his means.  Cool concept!  Problem is we spend like no time with him, and the only indications of this are his discussions with Manfroy, where he talks about how he’s not going to persecute them like in ages past, but he’s also definitely not going to let them revive the baby eating god they worship.  Okay, solid.  The issue is, he knows full well he carries Loptyr blood, and that’s why Manfroy is sticking around.  And suddenly, Manfroy appears with some lady with amnesia, and is oddly insistent on you fucking this woman and having kids.  Did...did you never think about who this woman was, or why Manfroy’s so invested in her sex life?  This is not a difficult conclusion to reach, buddy.

I mentioned Eldigan, but it bears repeating: I hate the Camus archetype, and he’s one of the most annoying.  ��I am honor-bound to follow my lord’s every command, I cannot join you and must instead try to get them to see reason.”  Yeah, and you know who else had this exact dilemma like two chapters ago?  Jamke.  Guess who’s on our side now, after realizing how fucked up his king was?  Jamke.  There’s no reason you couldn’t do this too.  Honestly, every time the Camus archetype shows up for a leader who is a complete buffoon, I always think of Wallace’s supports with Kent in FE7.  How his king ordered him to capture his daughter and bring her back from the plains, no matter what.  But when Wallace saw the love she shared with the man from the plains, he let her go, because he knew his king would never forgive himself if he tore Lyn’s parents apart.  Wallace put what was best for his king ahead of the order, and the entire moral is that, even if you’re punished for it, your duty is not to the title, but to the person, and you must act in the best interests of the people you serve, not blindly follow a command that would cause everyone harm.  So yeah, I don’t care to hear about the honor-bound idiots who are given plenty of chances to do the right thing but insist on staying with a sinking ship that’s also on fire.

Deirdre is a non-entity, so there’s really no point in talking about her.  Seriously, she exists almost entirely to produce the children that will be plot-critical in Act 2, but otherwise has effectively zero agency.  She shows up and immediately wants to fuck Sigurd, spends one chapter helping, and is immediately kidnapped afterward to be brainwashed and become Arvis’ wife.  Then she dies off-screen before the events of Act 2.  But she and Sigurd just loved each other so much!  They just saw each other and had such an overwhelming desire to fuck, it must have been love!  At least Deirdre’s excuse is being secluded away from men all her life and not knowing how to handle these feelings; what’s Sigurd’s excuse?

Quan and Ethlyn are actually wonderful.  No complaints.  But I do have another for Sigurd.  Hey, remember when they died?  Remember when Sigurd is told that people were ambushed in the desert and everyone’s dead, and he pieces together that it was his sister and his best friend?  Remember how that comment is all we get for his reaction to their loss, how it’s never brought up a single time ever again, and how Sigurd shows absolutely nothing about the devastation of this loss?  Yeah, but hey, it’s fine, you don’t need more dialogue to make a compelling story.  It just would’ve been nice for Genealogy to be a compelling story by having characters actually matter more than they apparently do.

Ayra’s cool, but her brother’s an idiot.  In her conversation with Quan, she mentioned that Quan’s suspicion is correct, and that the king was not responsible for the deaths of those from Grannvale.  A random lord took action without consent, so the king had that lord executed, and went to make peace with Grannvale, only to be assassinated along the way.  So what does her brother do?  “We gotta go to war.”  Uh...you know you’ll be slaughtered, right?  “Yeah, but my honor, though.”  Gen 1 was mostly a bunch of morons given political power and asked to play intelligently.  They all fucked up.

Lewyn...okay, I don’t like Lewyn.  I get his whole thing is running from responsibility, and being tired of the in-fighting over the crown, but his solution of just leaving is petty and childish.  It’s not that there isn’t some level of understanding there.  He’s just not doing it for me.  I do, however, appreciate how self-loathing he is in Gen 2.

No one else in Gen 1 really matters at all to anything substantial, so boy, it’d have been nice to have support conversations to flesh out everyone else a bit more.  But hey, maybe the sequel, right?

Seliph is pretty cool.  I don’t have a ton to say, but his story kinda allows him to take an easier route to power, with a more clear antagonist and the world at large being more united in his cause of overthrowing the empire.  Not particularly compelling, but not doing anything stupid or uninteresting.

Leif inherits being awesome from both of his parents, who were also awesome.  His sister, Altena, is also really cool.  Altena in particular actually gets a lot.  Having been taken in by the man who killed her parents, she’s grown up thinking that he is her true father.  Her character is in a position to act more as a bridge between two smaller nations that have constantly been at war, having the bloodline connection to Leif and to Leonster, while having her upbringing in Thracia and feeling a family connection to Arion, the true son of Travant.  She’s one of the better characters in this game, I think.

Ares is actually one of my favorites in this entire game.  He and Lene have great supports, but more importantly, you know what sets Ares apart?  Having a brain cell.  As soon as he realizes the corrupt lord he works for sent him out to the front lines and has likely taken Lene captive, he immediately turns coat, intent on killing everyone in his way to save her.  Thank you, Ares.  Thank you for being better than your father, who would’ve meekly decided he can’t disobey orders because he’s totally too honorable and not a fucking coward for letting his sister almost get killed.

Julia...oh my god, I have so much to say on Julia.  Has anyone following me noticed I kinda like the Eirika archetypes?  The female characters that are mostly really collected and quiet, occasionally have a showing of fire, and are ultimately either heavily under-utilized and ignored by the plot or given a story that’s really not very good despite how strong their character could’ve been if the story weren’t...the way that it is?  That’s Julia.  I adore Julia.  She spends most of the game not doing much, mostly being silent and also an amnesiac.  She gets like two conversations with Seliph, and they’re...they’re okay.  Nothing exceptional, just...okay.  But hysterically, once she’s kidnapped, she starts to show the makings of a really great character.  She’s compassionate and understanding to her father, who’s realized what a dingus he was, but pushes back against Julius/Loptyr and is pretty up-front about how willing she is now to kill her brother if it means stopping evil from being unleashed in the world.  She refuses to go quietly, and claims she’ll fight them to the end.  And, you know...is promptly brainwashed and spends the entire chapter as an enemy until Seliph kills Manfroy and lets her snap out of it.  Not even just talks to her, that won’t work unless Manfroy’s dead.  She doesn’t even get enough agency to break free of control under her own will.  This is the issue with Julia.  She should be fantastic.  She’s a character who carries the blood of both Naga and Loptyr, the greatest good and the greatest evil of this world.  Within her is a very concrete expression of the good/evil dichotomy that all humans face, and through her actions she chooses to do good for the world, yet acknowledges the potential for evil within her and struggles against it.  That’s super compelling!  Hell, that’s the most compelling character narrative in this entire game!  And what does it amount to?  Jack fucking shit, because her declaration of intent is immediately sidelined for her to be controlled by another for the entire chapter and made to do evil, until the male hero breaks the spell for her.  Only then is she allowed to confront her brother and actually show agency.  Her character arc should’ve been the diamond in the rough, and all the agency and development she brings to the table is immediately undermined.  Julia, sweetie, you deserved so much better than this.

Ugh, that one hurt to complain about.  But since we’re on the topic, Julius.  We’re supposed to be sad about how he’s completely taken over by Loptyr and needs to be stopped.  But...we never really know anything about Julius.  At all.  Julia talks a bit about how he used to be kind, but that’s...that’s it.  There’s no effort to have her and Arvis share stories about what the family used to be like, or give any indication of how close they were aside from saying it was the case once or twice.  So the plight of Julius, the boy who’s possessed, is completely lost on us, and as a result, Julia’s decision to fight against and kill her brother if that’s what it takes, feels a little less impactful, because you just...don’t have any emotional attachment to what’s being lost.

Ishtar is another Camus archetype, but a rare one where I kinda like her?  Kinda.  She’s come far enough to recognize that Julius is killing people and it’s a problem, and does her utmost to circumvent his violent tendencies and save people.  So why doesn’t she just leave?  Well even that’s pretty taken care of.  She was the betrothed of Julius.  She loved him.  Which means she’s another character who could’ve had meaningful dialogue about who he used to be to build up tension, but we’re not talking about that now.  She stays in part because of that love, but also because he’s violent, and seems to have his eye on her at all times.  She’s effectively stuck in an abusive relationship, unable to make a move for fear of what retaliation he might exact on her or the people she’s trying to keep safe.  That’s a way more compelling reason for a character to stick with an awful ruler.  It sucks, but at least it’s ultimately understandable, unlike Eldigan over here.

Oifey and Shanan I feel like should be more interesting characters, but they don’t really get enough time to be much else.  And if those two, who are meant to be prominent, got very little, you can kinda guess that the rest of the cast has basically nothing going for them.

Honestly, a lot of the events of Genealogy at large feel super avoidable, and largely created by idiots being allowed to make decisions.  But on the smaller level, and especially within Gen 2, I feel like all the game needs is support conversations and maybe more dialogue that didn’t focus so heavily on bloodlines.  The history is interesting, but it comes at the expense of most character development, and that’s really not a good trade.  I know people hate when I bring it up, but maybe if the maps were actually chunked and made into several smaller chapters, we could use wind-up and conclusion to castles being taken as a means to fill in more character moments, instead of just having quick exposition dumps and moving on.

[harusha]

So finally finished my run for Blue Lions and clocked in at like 70 hours (I was messing around w/ skill grinding and professor level grinding hence why it took so long).

My final endings were Cyril/Ashe, Flayn/Dedue, Felix/Dimitri, Hanneman/Lysithea, Sylvain/Ingrid, Manuela/Seteth, Alois’ solo ending, Mercedes’s solo, Shamir’s solo, Annette and Gilbert’s paired, Lorenz/Catherine, and M!Byleth/Linhardt.

Overall, Blue Lions is pretty fun; it’s more character focused than the other routes imo (Ashe’s father being a chapter boss alongside Miklain with Sylvain), and it’s a fairly “classic” Fire Emblem story but w/ a Final Fantasy boss instead of a dragon. The Church and Claude’s route are more “lore heavy” and Edel’s is just...Edel’s idk how to explain it w/o spoilers. It’s not bad; it’s just a bit different. The closest akin is if Arvis got to be the protagonist.

I thought the maps weren’t as good as Conquest or New Mystery though by a long shot, and tbh it even fails to edge out Awakening and its numerous rout objectives. There was more variety ofc w/ defending maps and fog of war, but it’s like...they reuse so many maps for paralogues and even main chapters.

Honestly it reminds me of Jugdral as well w/ the favoritism towards mounted units. Some of these maps were straight up horrible to traverse w/ on foot, especially during early chapters. And Bow Knights are still really good even w/o Hunter’s Volley b/c of their range and stuff like Longbow and the +2 bow range ability. Same w/ Dark Knights since you can run through Dark Bishop for Lifetaker beforehand. Deadeye combined w/ Parthia/Killer Bow+/Magic Bow and an accuracy/crit ring nukes a lot of mages (especially Myson). Ofc I had Ashe in that role and he usually hit 50%-60% crit rate.

And on Dark Knights, I had Linhardt w/ Poison Strike, Lifetaker, Fiendish Blow, Black Magic Range+1, and Reason lv. 5. His stats aren’t really geared towards heavy offensive like Lysithea or Hubert, and he still did fairly well w/ it. I’d replace Poison Strike w/ Vantage/Desperation if Skills acquirements weren’t godawful in this game.

To continue in gameplay, I honestly feel like the Calendar system was wasted. It’s fun for the first 30 or so hours but then becomes a drag b/c of how barren of events it is. There should have been more required cutscenes w/ the students so you’d actually feel bad for killing them in the 2nd part of the story. Like... I feel like they depended too much on players collecting supports themselves like the older games, and it detracts from the experience. As a result, I didn’t care when I killed Petra (or anyone of the other students really). I only care about the Blue Lions and Lorenz and Linhardt and that’s b/c I got access to their supports through recruitment. I had Lysithea but tbh I don’t care about her outside of Dark Spikes and that being one of Grima’s signatures.

Furthermore, it is absolutely detrimental to caring for the characters when some supports are locked to post-time skip, and some characters won’t join w/o the appropriate stats. Like...you can’t grab Ferdinand at all unless you pick up Dex and Hvy Amr. The problem isn’t that they’re locked, but it means I can’t grow to care for him (and characters in similar situations) unless I waste my time in stats I don’t need, and recruit which kinda defeats the emotional impact that killing him should bring (b/c he’s your unit and won’t kill you now). Again, b/c there’s really no outside interaction outside of one new conversation per month and supports. This could be alleviated through having more calendar events where you get to see the students interact and talk to you.

On the story itself, it really shines w/ how Dimitri and Byleth interact w/ each other, and Dimitri’s time skip issues. I definitely think its a lot better than Fates’s 3 routes, but that’s also not a high bar. However, it’s not as “self-contained” as those routes unfortunately. The stories are better ofc, but it’s like...in the BL route, you get to hear about Thales and almost nothing comes of it. I get they want to make each route special, but it detracts from the story for me when it’s like “nothing happened go play Claude’s route now.” It doesn’t intrigue me. It just makes me go “why weren’t they a bigger presence? Even just slightly.” Or how Rhea’s true nature is heavily hidden unless you take the Church route. There’s no real way to question her even just slightly.

It’s like...I think Birthright, Conquest, and Revelations were better in that aspect. You could play any single one and still feel satisfied for the most part b/c it doesn’t leave so many loose threads hanging just for the sake of a unique route. They still felt rather unique as well b/c of how different the gameplay is (Birthright plays more like Awakening while Conqust has some of the best maps in the series imo) and how each version exclusive map is approached (ex. Wolfskins mistake you for an enemy and the Kitsune just want to kill you).

I get this isn’t Dragon Age Origins w/ a near decade long production time, but the route splits honestly kinda hurt the story for me b/c of how “scattered” it can be.

It’s stil a good game imo, and the story’s up there alongside Geneology but I wouldn’t say it surpasses Geneology as a whole. I do think Dimitri’s a fantastic lord though. Really one of my favorites even if I think hsi development should of had more chapters (all routes have 22 chapters which is for fairness but also makes it a bit “rushed” at times).

Idk if I can leave Blue Lions though for Golden Deer yet. I might just play it again, but with F!Byleth for a Dimitri S-support.

Like...it’s been beaten to death, but Dimitri’s interactions w/ M!Byleth really take a lot of subtext, and he could have honestly been made a romance option w/ little change to script. That’s how easily they’ve written it. Like...I think Dimitri’s arc would have been slightly better w/ the romantic aspect that Byleth’s S-support adds.

[fire-em-heroes]

Arvis Relationship Hcs

—♪—

Yeah, this is the only ask like this we’ve gotten. Tumblr probably ate it. But of course!

I admittedly haven’t written for Arvis before this, so please tell me if I write him incorrectly!

—♪—

Arvis

Arvis... has definitely made his mistakes in the past. Of course he did bad stuff, but now that he had been summoned by you and forced to make amends with the man he barbecued Sigurd, ‘losing’ Deidre to him in the process... He had to be the good guy now. Fighting for Askr and all.

When you two first interacted, he was relatively standoffish, though your conversations could get relatively deep or even frightening.

“My hellfire will consume everything.” “Look, buddy, we’re trying to stop the fire. Not spread it.”

Basically the two of you had tension between you for a while.

After a long time, like maybe a month or so, he eventually started to warm up to you and acted nicer around you. You were the one who kind of realized your feelings for the man first. 

After confessing, it admittedly took a while for Arvis to admit he returned his feelings, actually rather perplexed.

He ultimately accepts and realizes that he returns your feelings, and the two of you slowly and surely become a couple.

After the two of you become a ‘thing’, Arvis starts to be a bit more affectionate with you, smiling and chatting lightly with you, unlike your conversations during the first month you two had known each other.

He likes kissing the back of your hand, your forehead, and sometimes he will actually kiss your lips. Mainly in private, though.

Eventually, Arvis decides to actually introduce you to his kids (though you had already met them before) 

Saias and Julia like you. Julius, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about you.

A lot of the time when you’re in private, Arvis will hold you tight while the two of you talk.

He also unintentionally makes fire puns whenever he’s talking about how much he loves you or how he feels at the moment. You find it very amusing, to say the least.

Basically, Arvis will be a super romantic sap while in a relationship with you!

Xander

I actually just wrote some relationship headcanons for Xander! You can find them here!

[axelthewonderer]

Chapters: 12/? Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series Main Pair: Summoner/Lyon

Summary:

When Lyon is summoned into Askr, he wonders if he's made a mistake in arriving in a place so incredibly bright. In his heart, shriveled and blackened by the influence of the Demon King and of the many, tragic ordeals he caused, it was like he was consistently drowning in warmth, warmth he hadn't felt in what might as well have been eons. He didn't deserve this, and he especially didn't deserve this second chance at living.

His Summoner, Zephyr, says otherwise.

[moczothe1st]

Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 15: The Kids are All Right

Part 14

Welcome back to Fire Emblem IV.  When we last met, you may recall the entire world went to shit.  Before we get into too much of anything, let’s see the aftermath play out. 

SPOILERS AHEAD, SERIOUSLY READ PART 14 FIRST.

Just as he had planned, this left Arvis as the sole ruling power of the kingdom.

and so Arvis unified all Jugdral under Grannvale’s rule. With overwhelming support from his subjects, Arvis thus became the first Emperor of the Grannvale Empire.

Seventeen years have passed since the battle of Belhalla.

Now struggle under his oppressive, dictatorial rule. Across Jugdral, in the other realms now dominated by Grannvale, their people have been reduced to living as little more than slaves to the Empire’s whims.

(Oh hey look, the evil alliance with the priests of the Dark Lord didn’t produce that utopia after all.  How weird.)  

Just like his late father, Duke Langbalt.  While he lives an indulgent life at the Rivough palace, the people are treated as little more than slave labor.

(And they’re handsome, so they aren’t pure evil. They are, however, pretty awful as we’ll be seeing. Also a pair of total morons, but that’s nothing new.)  

Under their rule, Isaach knows no freedom. However, one last hope remains for Isaach.  Tirnanog, an isolated village in the kingdom’s far north…

(Damn, Shanan grew up to be a black-haired Sephiroth!)

whose strength grows with each passing day. Among these proud, young warriors is a young man, dubbed “The Scion of Light” by the people of Isaach and revered as the rightful prince of the Grannvale Empire.  

Danaan: Shanan and his rebel ilk are growing stronger by the day, and now they hamper us at every turn! And as if that weren’t enough, they harbor the spawn of Sigurd the Traitor! The very existence of this scum utterly defiles my authority over the Isaachian throne! How do you expect me to explain this sorry state to His Imperial Majesty?!

Harold: A thousand apologies, your highness, but everything is already under control.  The rebel hideout has been found, and even as we speak an army is on its way to crush them. Those vile rats have nowhere else to run! By sundown, not a single rebel will still be breathing.

Danaan: Hm. Very well. But be warned, Harold. Don’t even think of underestimating them. Most of the rebels are too young to pose a threat, but they still have Oifey and Shanan.  Those two alone are extremely dangerous. Dismissing them would be a fatal mistake .

(And I bet that is a sentence you never expected to hear during the first generation.)

Harold: Yes, sir, I’m aware. But I’ve already had Tirnanog, the rebel hideout, surveyed in secret, and neither are anywhere in sight. It’s safe to assume them currently absent, sir.

Danaan: WHAT?! Then why are we still talking about this?! Send the order to move in immediately! The people of Isaach are treating these rebels like some kind of heroes of freedom… but it’s time they learned the error of their ways! Kill them! All of them! I’ll be returning to Rivough. I expect nothing but good news!

Beautiful Man #452: A brigade’s set out from Geneishire and they seem to be headed our way.

(Gee, I wonder whose daughter she is.)

Ayra 2.0: Let them come, I say! It only makes the battle easier for us! It’ll be simple to just walk right over to Ganeishire and pick them off as we go!

Ulster: You’ve gotta be kidding! Prince Shanan’s still off trying to find the Yied Shrine, and Oifey and the others aren’t back yet. It’s just us two against an entire army! Surely, even you can’t think this’ll end well!

Ayra 2, The Astra Continues: I don’t care! You can sit here and be scared witless if you want, but I’m not letting a chance like this pass! The prince still treats us like helpless children, but come one! We’ve had more than enough training! We’re ready for real action!

Ulster: But…

The Aympire Strikes Back: I’m… I’m NOT gonna run away anymore! I’m sick to death of sitting here while those monsters butcher our friends! Or worse… the empire’s thugs are still out there, snagging every girl they see… If Prince Shanan hadn’t come for me that day, I’d be just another one of them. Dead, or wishing I was… I won’t forgive or forget their pain!

Ulster: No, that’s not it, Larcei… You’re right, it’s horrible, but…

Seliph: Most likely, I assume Shanan would have given you strict orders to keep me safe. After all, if he hadn’t, you’d already be out there in the fray! To not be thirsting for a good fight just isn’t the Ulster I know.

Larcei: Oh… that’s… that’s right. Sorry, sir. I was hoping we didn’t have to involve you…

Seliph: I’m no child anymore either, Larcei. If you two plan to fight, I plan to fight by your side. There’s more at stake today than only the resistance. What of Tirnanog? We owe so much to its people. I refuse to abandon them at such a critical hour!

Ulster: But…

Seliph: We’ve no time to waste debating this! Lana, stay behind and help the citizens. We’ll engage the foe in the western gully.

Lana: This is my fight too! You won’t convince me anymore than you could convince Larcei! Every day I think the Empire can’t get any more cruel, and every day I’m proven wrong. They prey on the weak and vulnerable as if snuffing out their lives is a game to them… I can’t sit quietly and accept it! I may not be able to fight, but I’ve my own way of defending everyone!

Seliph: Hm… my apologies, Lana.  You are absolutely right: the battle for Isaach’s freedom rests upon all of us. Very well, we shall all go together! How this will turn out, I cannot say…

(Well, it can’t go worse than when your father tried it with his three buddies. … Not a challenge, game.)

Seliph: But we owe it to all of Isaach to give this battle no less than our best.

Lana: Yes, Milord! And, er…. Sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken so brashly.  

Seliph: Ha!  You’ve nothing to apologize for. Now Ulster, Larcei, Lana… the time has come. Move out!

And here we go.

The game tries to trick you into thinking it’s called ‘Genealogy’ because of the importance of the Crusader’s bloodlines, but that’s only half the story.  This is also the first Fire Emblem game to feature a second generation, determined by the Lover bonds you made between the units in your first generation. It’s a revolutionary mechanic that would later be picked up on by modern ultra-popular games Awakening and Fates, and…

God, it’s so badly done. It really is.  

The thing is, the game never tells you the second-generation inheritance mechanics exist, or how they work. It never even tells you how to get two first-generation units to hook up, though that’s easy enough to work out (‘Have them stand next to each other a lot’). The only hints you get are from villages in the battle of Belhalla map, by which point it’s already far too late to really fine-tune anything.  Basically it’s a situation where you either already know what you want to do going into the game (like me) or you get screwed (like me during my first playthrough when I was playing blind).  

And the thing is, this is important.  It’s not a minor detail, it affects your entire army for the whole second half of the game.  Marry off the wrong people, or god forbid don’t marry anyone at all, and you can end up hamstringing yourself pretty severely.  The general mechanics are as follows:

1)     Every female character in the army will have two children if they have been paired up with a male character.  The only automatic pairings are Sigurd/Deirdre and Quan/Ethlyn.  They will have one male child and one female child. The characters are determined by mother only; Ayra will always have Larcei and Ulster no matter who she marries, for example. The father will affect their stats and abilities as listed below.  

2)     Children will inherit a small boost to their starting stats, based on their parents’ final stats at the end of chapter five.  

3)     The children will have the same growth rates as their same-gendered parent, boosted by +50% of their opposite gendered parents growth rates.  They also inherit Holy Blood; if one of the parents has Major Blood, then the child of their gender will get that while the opposite-gendered child gets Minor.  For example, Seliph has Sigurd’s Major Baldur Blood, but also inherits Minor Naga Blood from Deirdre.   Unfortunately, most of Deirdre’s growths are hot garbage so his physical growths aren’t much better than Sigurd’s, but he does get a fairly impressive 30% Resistance growth thanks to her, so he’ll end up a much better mage-killer than his dad, and thanks to his combination of Holy Bloods he gets a 140% HP growth rate. This means he’s guaranteed to gain health every level, and has a 40% chance to gain two HP instead of one.    

4)     Children will inherit any items they can use from the inventory of their same-gendered parents. For example: Larcei and Ulster are Ayra and Jamke’s kids.  Larcei inherits Ayra’s gear, and since she can use anything Ayra can, she gets it all. Ulster, by contrast, doesn’t inherit any weapons because he can’t use Jamke’s bows, but he does inherit the two rings that Jamke was wearing, the Renewal Band and the Leg Ring. Items that could not be inherited will show up later, either in the shops or as droppable items off enemy soldiers. (Seliph does not inherit Tyrfing, because of story reasons, but he does inherit all of Sigurd’s other gear. Somehow).  They also inherit a portion of their parents’ combined gold supplies.

5)     Children will inherit the combined skills of both parents.  This is where it starts to get ridiculous, because some of those abilities you probably remember as absurd gamebreakers: Both of Ayra’s kids here inherit her already bonkers skillset of Pursuit, Nihil, and Astra, but they also pick up Adept and Accost from Jamke.  This means they have three different ways to double-attack and any one of them can also proc Astra, turning them into basically living chainsaws. The one caveat to remember is that for some reason, Astra, Sol, and Luna can only be inherited by non-mounted characters who use swords.  No, the game won’t tell you ahead of time which characters have such children. Why do you ask?  

Fun, right? And of course, if a female character doesn’t get married or dies before Chapter 5, then instead of her children you get a pair of substitute characters who will be the same (or very similar) class, but have much different skills, abilities, and stats… most typically ones that are markedly inferior. Though admittedly not always (In particular, a lot of veteran players will tell you the replacement children for Sylvia are better than her actual kids, no matter who their dad is. But I swore I would get them all and I keep my goddamn promises). The much bigger problem with them is that they don’t inherit the items. This is just an inconvenience in most cases, since as mentioned above those items will reappear… but in the case of the Holy Weapons, they’re gone forever since the bloodline that could use them has died out.  If Bridget doesn’t get married? Yewfelle is really no-take-backsies lost forever.  Same with Lewyn’s Forseti and Claude’s Valkyrie.  And to make matters worse, those two idiots have to marry someone who has a son that uses the right weapon type, and the game never tells you who that might be.  Lewyn gets off easy: The game pushes him at both Erin and Sylvia, each of whom will have a kid that can use Forseti (though Sylvia… makes it very complicated on you). But Claude… the game pushes him at Taillte when he first joins, and while her son will inherit Claude’s Holy Blood he cannot. Use. Staves.  

FUN, RIGHT?!  

*sigh*

Well.  Now that that’s done, let’s take a look at what we’ve actually got to work with for this map.  

Meet Seliph, our new Lord. He’s not bad, though he won’t be his dad’s equal for awhile; the Silver Sword is only a few kills away from being upgraded to gain the Critical skill, which will help him out a lot.  I also… discretely ensured Sigurd had the Paragon Band, so he’ll level up quickly to make up for the fact he’s generally our weakest fighter right now.  Unfortunately, he gets hurt a little in his base stats because Deirdre’s aren’t typically great except for Magic and Resistance, and Sigurd’s are so awful that Seliph will always start out low on them regardless.  For Holy Blood he has Major Baldur and Minor Naga, giving him an impressive total of +50% to HP growth, and +20% each to Strength, Magic, Skill, Luck, and Resistance. So he may start slow, but unless we get really unlucky he’ll pick up fast.

Larcei and Ulster get combined into one entry since barring the fact Larcei has more Skill and Ulster has more luck, they’re identical at the moment. Which is to say amazing. Five very good skills, solid physical stats across the board, and Minor Odo Blood (+20%HP, +30% Skill). The only real reason Larcei is better at the moment is that she inherited her mom’s swords.  These two could clear the map by themselves.

And finally, Lana, Aideen and Midir’s daughter. She’s one of the kids who is almost impossible to screw up; Aideen by herself has perfectly good stats and growths for a Priest, so anyone she marries will just be icing on Lana’s perfectly good healer cake.  In her case, Aideen’s phenomenal growth in Part 1 means she starts off with unusually good base stats for a level one healer, and she already has access to several great staves (though that Physic staff will need repaired soon, dammit I should have done that last chapter).  She inherited Pursuit and Accost as skills from Midir, but she won’t be able to use them until she promotes and can fight; when she does, she’ll be even better in combat than her mom was. And of course, she’s still got Mom’s Minor Ullur Blood for +20% HP and +30% luck growths… and for skill in the bows that she still will never be able to use.

Now then… TO WAR!

….

Oh, there’s no enemy units in range.  

Now then… TO MOVE INTO THE MOVEMENT RANGE OF WAR!

End turn.

Not to give you an inferiority complex, bro, but your dad would have killed that guy in his first map.  Though, in point of fact, this isn’t so bad; he has the Paragon band, he doesn’t really need kills to get experience yet. It’s better to use him as a decoy for now and let Ulster and Larcei mop up after him.

Like so. This strategy in mind, I move Seliph forward as far as he can manage, into the range of a few other units, and leave the others hanging slightly back.  Nobody has been damaged yet, so Lana sits there looking cute. End turn!

Dammit, one was close enough to go for Larcei. I should have checked before I moved her. Ah well, plenty to go around, we’re outnumbered like twenty-five to four.  

Ooooh, make that twenty-five to seven. Three new dudes pop in when our turn starts, and they have horses!

Blue Hair #76: I hope everyone’s doing all right…

Blondie: What if Lana’s gone and gotten herself mixed up in the fighting? She can’t defend herself at all if she’s out in the open like this?

(“GEE, THANKS FOR ASSUAGING MY FEARS, YOU ARE SUCH A GOOD FRIEND.”)

Blondie: Sir, we should hurry back. The sooner we get back to Lord Seliph’s side, the better.  

Porn Stache: Indeed. Come, Dermott! Lester! The battlefield awaits us!

Well then. Let’s take a look at our new arrivals.  First we have…

That’s right, it’s Oifey! Our little tactician dude from part one has grown up into a pre-promote with a fantastic moustache for part two. And he is, in fact, not terrible. His stats are perfectly fine and he comes with two good skills, Critical and Pursuit. He comes in at level 15 while the rest of the army is at level 1, however, which is the game’s subtle way of telling you to only use him for emergencies; he will get virtually no experience for killing anything in the first few chapters.  Oifey is what FE vets call the ‘Jeigan Archetype’, a promoted overlevelled unit the game hands you as a method of ensuring your newbies don’t get wiped out, but if you rely on them too much those newbies will never get to grow up and be killing machines of their own someday. Unlike many of those, Oifey has fine starting stats and passable growths, and can be useful the whole game if you get lucky (though most of the kids will outclass him eventually), but you should still try not to let him kill anything for at least three more chapters, when enemies his level start showing up.

And yes, he has Minor Baldur Blood. It’s easy to forget, but waaaaaaaay back it was mentioned that he’s actually Sigurd’s distant cousin.  

Dermott is a little harder to work out than others, but by looking at his items, skills (Notably, he has Charm, which only one parent can pass down) and Holy Blood (Minor Hezul) we can spot quickly enough he’s the son of Lachesis and Beowulf.  He takes after his mother in one way, in that HIS NAME IS SUPPOSED TO BE DIARMUID, a reference to a hero from Celtic mythology, and it’s been mistranslated. But you know what fuck it I’m too tired, so he can stay Dermott. He’s a solid unit, much like his father… erm… eventually turned out to be, with Pursuit and Accost for offense and Charm to make units near him stronger just by being in his shining golden presence.  The combination of his class and Holy Blood allow him to use any non-Holy sword right off the bat as well, so his offensive options are considerable; even if you choose to do something like marry Lachesis to a mage, he can end up a great choice to use magic swords. But given that Minor Hezul blood is a +20% to HP and +30% to Strength growths, it’s really best to stick with a good honest ass-kicker for his dad.  

And finally, Aideen and Midir’s other child, Lester. Now, remember when I said Lana was almost impossible to screw up? Lester is almost impossible to not screw up.  Aideen’s physical growths are non-existent and he can only use bows as weapons, so if you want him to be inheriting anything of value and have half-decent stats, he needs to be fathered by either Jamke or Midir.  Jamke is the better choice in terms of stats, but the rub lies in the fact that for no obvious reason, Jamke won’t pass down Pursuit to his children despite having it himself.  I assume this to be a bug, but who knows.  Of course, if you don’t care about bows there’s always people like Lex or Holyn who can give him better combat stats… but you saw Midir in the Arena. Archers need a good bow to live. Half the reason Jamke rocks so hard is that he comes with arguably the best non-Holy bow in the game.  So enjoy that Brave Bow, Lester, if we get unlucky leveling you up then it will be your salvation.  

All right. None of our newbies can join in the combat this turn, but they’re all mounted so that will change soon enough. For now, let’s focus on continuing our strategy.  Seliph sets them up…

The twins knock them down.

And to finish things up, Lester goes to have a chat with his sister.

Lester: Why am I not surprised… look, I know I can’t get you to leave, but be careful, okay? It’d break Mother’s heart if something happened to you out here?

(Yes, Aideen is alive, and no, she won’t be helping us out. It’s more common than you’d expect; a solid number of the first generation survived Belhalla only to be too wounded to fight again or to just die later anyway. Mostly the ladies. All these children had to come from somewhere, after all.)

Lana: I know, but actually there was something Mother told me… she said we owe the greatest of debts to the people of Isaach, and if we can help them in any way, we owe it to them to do all we can.

Lester: Yeah, I guess she’s right. I mean, we wouldn’t even be here now if not for the help of the locals… so, er, where is Mother anyway?

Lana: She’s back in Tirnanog’s abbey, working like always.

Lester: Right… Listen, Lana. We’ve got to give this battle our all, both in Mother’s name and in the name of our lost father. Someday, I know, we’ll finally be able to help Mother return to her home, Jungby…

Lana: You’re right, Lester.  

And that’s the slightly anticlimactic end of that conversation; Lana gets a free point of Luck from it for… some… reason.  End turn; no enemies are close enough to hit us, so after they move it goes right back to our gang of misfits.  First, Oifey has words for young Seliph…

(“The… entire world, sire? I was only gone for like an hour.”)

Oifey: The Empire’s grip is tightening still further, as if trying to choke life from the people.  It’s inciting doomed revolts all across Jugdral.  

Seliph: So it’s as I thought… it isn’t as if the Empire’s tyranny would ever be limited to only Isaach… Oifey, is it feasible to assist them?

Oifey: Not as we presently stand, sire. We still lack the strength to properly challenge the Empire.

(“Among other issues, we somehow managed to get you all of your father’s belongings except his invincible super-sword. My apologies, sire.”)

Seliph: Then what of our present battle?  The war for Isaach’s freedom has already begun. Turning back now would be impossible.

Oifey: Hm. There’s certainly no chance of returning you to hiding now that your whereabouts have been leaked, sire.  Starting the fight now was reckless, but we’ve no choice but to continue.

Seliph: Oifey, I’m sorry I let all of this happen behind your back, but we had no choice. Even so, I don’t think I could have stood letting Isaach suffer under Dannan’s thumb any longer. I trust you understand, Oifey.

Oifey: I do, sire. Now, our priority is to lay siege to Dannan’s capital, Rivough, with all haste. Dannan must fall before the Empire can send him reinforcements. We cannot afford to wait!

Seliph doesn’t get a stat boost, because I guess he’s not as cool as Lana.  It’s okay, though, he can still do another cool thing:

Softening up enemies! And our first awesome level of the second generation goes to Lord Seliph. Most marvelously done, sire.  Peons! Attend Lord Seliph!

Marvelously done, peons!  I am so pleased I shall not even force you to lay down on the floor and be a carpet for Lord Seliph to walk upon, that he may not dirty his boots.  

The turn ends here, because we have nobody else to move. I’m a bit worried that one of the enemies can reach Lana, but I’m not sure so…. Let’s hope?  

Oh goodie, the second wave is approaching. But seriously, about Lana…

… Huh. I mean, hey, Lester, if you wanna be like your dad and suck in the arena while being unreasonably lucky everywhere else, more power to ya.

And after that, the enemy is apparently just super uncool with Larcei. Unfortunately for them, Larcei is pretty cool with dodging and very cool with murder.  Our turn…

After taking out the trash, our two errant horsemen start moving east, toward Ganeishire, while Seliph goes to stand enticingly in the range of the last enemy. Ulster also finally gets to take a break from stabbing stuff to chat with his sister, since for once there’s nothing nearby for him.  

Ulster: Just be careful out here, okay? Your usual brazen antics’ll only get you in trouble now.  

Larcei: I know, I know, I know! What, do you think I��m still a child?!

Ulster: Heh, man that iron will of yours! I guess you’re just like Mom was, if what Prince Shanan’s told us is true.

Larcei: Yeah… Ayra… I can’t remember a thing about her. You?

Ulster: No, of course not.  We’re twins, remember? If you were too young to remember, then so was I. We weren’t even two years old back then… it was Oifey who took us with him when he fled to Isaach with Seliph. We waited and waited, but Mom never followed… I guess she didn’t make it out of the Battle of Belhalla alive.  

Larcei: Ulster! You swore you’d never say things like that! Mom is alive! ALIVE! I’m sure of it! Don’t you dare say otherwise ever again!

(*cough* I’m actually pretty sure she isn’t. Which really just makes this sad, so… sorry.)

Ulster: Er… sorry, Larcei. You’re right… I’m sorry…

Larcei gets +1 to Luck from this conversation too, because anger makes you stronger? End turn.

Man, nobody wants to fight Seliph.  Do these peasants believe themselves too good to take blades to milord?!  HOW DARE THEY.  

Not much to do from here but move east; two turns of that puts us into combat range of the enemy’s second wave of troops. Ulster, if you’d do the honors of waiting just within their range? End turn.  

Good man.

… Oops, misjudged the distance. Well, Lana will be happy, she finally gets to do some real healing instead of just kissing boo-boos. Now for our turn….

And our first crappy level of the second generation goes to Lester! Good job, Lester. You’re really honoring that lack of confidence I had in you. End turn.

…. Did he… did he just kill himself out of spite?

Leave Larcei alone, jeez. I know she’s awesome, but come on, there have to be better ways to die.  

And our turn begins with the sight of a bandit suddenly appearing out of nowhere moving up to a village behind the enemy’s castle, because didn’t we all miss that. Ulster’s got the leg ring and Dermott has a horse, so I send them out ahead to try and get there before too much gets burn. Seliph kills an archer, and gets his second level.

As a western gamer I’m told I’m supposed to love Big Awesome Superman Sigurd more than Beautiful Man-boy Seliph, but if he keeps getting levels like these I may have to reconsider that.

Lana also gets her first level from healing, which while not quite as absurd, does give her Defense. That’s her weakest point, so I can’t be too angry.  A few turns of movement follows, until Ulster finally reaches the village and clears it.

Way to get hit on a 25% chance, dumbass. But at least you killed the enemy, so… ‘good job’.  The rest of the team, having nothing better to do, starts attacking the castle defenders.

We’re making pretty good time! Gaineshire should fall quickly from here.  I move Dermott over to stand next to another defender, hoping it will be softened up from here.  And since Oifey has the least money, he takes the first village.

Info Master: The younger two serve him here in Isaach. Johan controls Isaach Castle, while Johalvier controls Sophara Castle. They’re both kind of odd, and they’ve both got this obsession with someone in your army called Larcei.  Always squabbling, they are… I dunno, though. Neither of them are all that bad, really. Heck, I bet they’d want to join forces with you!

FORESHADOWING.  

End turn.

That’s what I like to see. Hard workers. Our turn clears out the final defenders…

And hell, let’s take a risk and let our up and coming young rock star of a lord take first crack at the boss.

(“I mean, yes, they have killed all of my men, and it’s only been like an hour, but…”)                

Ah, yes. Did you miss Pavise? I did.  And on his own turn, he actually connects, taking Seliph’s health down to the danger zone. But also gaining him a new level!

I will never say no to more defense. Lana burns a charge of her Physic staff to heal him up, and I send Lester to swing up and take a shot from the side.

Seriously, fuck Pavise. Ulster, can you wrap this shit up?

Because they proc Astra, bitch.

… And they torment me with shit levels right after triumphing.  God, you people are turning out just like your parents. Dermott took a nasty hit fighting the defenders, so I send him down south to a cathedral to pay for healing since he’s not cool enough to earn Lana’s attentions.  And with that, time to seize our first castle of Gen 2.

(He said, a perfectly nice town and some lovely trees in the background.)

(… Yes, hello, Your Majesty. You weren’t helping us out becaaaaaaaaaaaaaause?)

Lewyn: Just Lewyn, Seliph… like I’ve always been. Silesse is just another Imperial conquest now…. That’s all it’s been since the mess in Belhalla. And meanwhile here I am, still living a pathetic, shameful life for all to see.

(Yeah that’s great. Look, pack up your magic books and get back in line, soldier, we have an Empire to sort out.)

Lewyn: At least my mother faced Silesse’s demise, and her own, with pride and dignity! But me? Nope! Still just an idiot bard… don’t listen to what Oifey says of me, Seliph. Please, don’t call me a king ever again.  

(Okay yeah but do you still have Forseti. I would really like some Forseti, please.)

Seliph: I… my apologies, Lewyn…

Lewyn: Heh, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. More importantly, looks like you’ve finally got this revolution thing started! There’s no place more fitting than Isaach to begin fighting back against the Empire.

Seliph: Indeed! The courage of Isaach’s people is matched only by the pain and anger they feel because of the Empire. All we’re missing now is for Prince Shanan to return and join the fray himself.

Lewyn: He ran off to follow some rumor, didn’t he?

Seliph: Mm. Rumor has it his birthright as heir to the Isaach throne, the holy sword Balmung, is being kept in a shrine in the Yied Desert.

(Oh god not that place again. So much sand…)

Seliph: As I understand it, the entire desert region is home to an evil priest. I trust Shanan’s might, but I cannot help but worry for his safety…

Lewyn: If anyone can do it, it’ll be Shanan. Actually, Seliph, I’ve a favor to ask of you.

(Bitch you can ask me for favors when you’re blasting my enemies with wind magic. JOIN THE ARMY.)

Seliph: Oh? If it is within my power, I’ll gladly help. What is it?

(Dammit Seliph you suck at negotiation. We have to play hardball with this guy!)

Lewyn: Since then I’ve been looking after her in a hidden little corner of Silesse, until we had to get out a while back as the Empire set about tightening its grip. The thing is, I’ve got things that need doing over in Leonster, and at this point she’s just slowing me down. I hate to impose, but I don’t have much of a choice. Could I leave her with your group for a while? I still don’t know what happened to her, but it must have been pretty awful. Poor thing. Back when I first found her, she couldn’t remember a thing about what happened.

(…. Yeah, dude, I don’t know if you remember it, but his father took in a mysterious waif once and it ended really bad.)

Lewyn: I still don’t know what happened to her, but it must have been pretty awful. Poor thing. Back when I first found her, she couldn’t remember a thing about what happened. It looks like she still can’t…

(Oh jeez, she has amnesia too. I’m getting some déjà vu here, and not in a good way. Yeah, gonna have to give this one a super hard no, so…)

Seliph: I see. Very well, you can trust me with her, Lewyn.

(God dammit, Seliph.)

Seliph: However, I must ask you return for her as soon as possible She won’t feel too comfortable in an army of strangers.

Lewyn: Deal. Heh, I’ll probably be back here by the time you’re finished freeing Isaach. Good luck, Seliph.

Seliph: May the gods be with you as well, Lewyn.

(Fuck off, Lewyn.)

Seliph: Until Lewyn returns, I swear I’ll let no harm come to you… I know I’ve much to learn, and I’m not yet all that strong. But one day… someday, I know I’ll be strong enough to protect us all! Someday, I’ll have the strength to defend all the world’s people from the Empire’s wrath! Someday I’ll be strong, just as my father once was…

(“Someday, I’ll be Hokage!”)

Julia: Seliph…

Well. She’s a sparkling conversationalist.  Now, normally I would cut things off here. But coming up next turn is one of the few choices the game has to offer, and I would actually like to let you guys vote on it, so we need to do one more scene.

Dannan: What in the blazes are my sons doing?! Someone, tell them to take the rebels down, right now!

Johan: But I could never lay a finger on Larcei, even if she is among my foes… ahh, what a dilemma standing before me…

So that’s Johan and Johalvier.  They’re a pair of fucking idiots, but we can recruit one.  Yes, one. Whichever one Larcei talks to first will join your army; the other will have to die because they are, again, fucking idiots.  But hey, since I’m a kindly sort, I’ll allow you the choice of which one we recruit. The gist of them:

Johalvier:

Growths: HP – 110%, Str – 40%, Mag – 0%, Skl – 50%, Spd – 10%, Luck – 10%, Def – 60% Res – 5%

 Johan:

Growths: HP – 110%, Str – 40%, Mag – 0%, Skl – 20%, Spd – 50%, Luck – 10%, Def – 60% Res – 5%

(P.S. Both have Minor Neir Blood; the bonuses from it are included in their listed growth rates.)  

 As you can see, it’s not a huge difference. Both uses axes as weapons; Johan will always use only axes, while Johalvier can learn to use bows after he promotes.  Each only has one (at least pretty good) ability, and their growths are mostly identical; about the only thing worth noting is that Johan’s speed growth is significantly better, probably to make up for the fact his starting speed is four points lower. Johalvier in general starts off with better base stats, in fact, but that’s made up for somewhat by the fact that Johan has a horse and he doesn’t.  

Really, tl;dr, neither of them is appreciably better than the other in gameplay terms, unless you’re doing a speed run.  So, let me know if you have an opinion on which one to grab, and if there’s a clear winner I’ll pick him up next week.  See ya then!  

Part 16

[fuckyaaprivacy]

In between

Friday, 10th of February. We went to Jhanna’s house at Angat, I’m wearing a bright yellow shirt with GUAM word with it, pale dark blue shorts and Adidas’ Stan Smith shoes with high white socks. Nothin I just want to describe my looks that day lol. So basically they cooked and we had a lunch there, movie marathon, card games and few shots of alcohol 🍺 her place is good actually, rooftops view is awesome. By 6pm we headed back to Baliuag but stop at perya in Bustos, had a good time there until 08:30p then we went Cueras, me, Ezel, Ed, Johnsen, Ian and two young ladies I didn’t know. Night is getting late, Johnsen’s partner’s cousin kept coming back to our spot offering him a shot until she decided to invite them in their spot, Johnsen and his partner went there, after an hour they go back to ours and this bitch kept coming back to our spot giving Johnsen a shot and thats when Ed and Ezel are getting pissed, long story short both side went to an argument, telling each others connections to frighten each other, tension arise but good thing nagkaayos din sila. So etong putanginang babae nato hinihila ung isang babae na kasama namin so pinuntahan ko sa labas ng Cueras, kinausap ko then nakabalik na sa kubo namin ung babae pero etong putang to inaya ako hatid lang daw namin ung kasama nya, long story short, dinala ko sa Glorietta pinakilala ko sa mga pokpok dun. Holy shit! Di ako makaalis kasi baka habulin ako ng mga kasama nilang lalaki then napilit ko din syang bumalik kami ng Cueras, she asked Ed if okay lang kung sumama ko sa kanya sa beer house. Oh gawd, I declined lahat ng offer!!!! Beer house, sex with her, sex with fuckin Maricel FUCK.. basically pokpok ang putangina. Ps. The whole time na magkasama kami I only speaks English so she thought I can’t speak Tagalog 😂 I told her to speak in Tagalog but she insist to speak in English which is I’m quite sure that she is having a hard time lmfao she can’t even construct a proper sentence.. i know I made a lot of mistakes speaking English but it doesn’t matter cuz she can’t understand what I’m saying 😂😂 (i heard her a lot cursing under her breath, she’s having hard time I swear 😂)

(Past 1am) So when the bitch left, we all headed to Ian’s house and sleep there, kwentuhan lang, kantahan while nag gigitara si Ian.. Sleep at 4am, woke up at 7:30am the following day, Saturday, 11th of February, me and Ed decided to go home right away, leaving all of them sleeping. I waited for like 15 minutes for tryc to leave, wala palang masyadong pasahero pag Saturday morning.. ☀️

By evening, Jick told me that they’re going here. I waited but they didn’t go here instead they went to Arvie’s house and ask me to go there. I declined, told them that I’m going to sleep. Dun ko naramdaman ang ginagawa ko sa kanila, telling I’m going but I won’t show up, telling I’m going then telling them right away that I can’t go, telling them I’m going but I’ll to cancel it later 😂😂😂😂 spell KARMA 🤣

Tonight, Sunday, 12th of February. Guess what? Who’s celebrating his birthday today? lol it Byron’s birthday. I’m wishing my big boy a happy birthday and hoping him to have a great life ahead 🎉🎈 H.

About the title of this entry, I realized the other day, if I really wants to change my school again or what? I want cuz I want new friends, I don’t want to cos I want to graduate as soon as possible, changing my university will makes my units to fuck up again. Ugh fuck. Bahala na si Batman. Batman will decide next school year. In between of I want & I don’t want to.

[crystalelemental]

Alright, Chapter 5 cleared, and I got up to the map part of Chapter 6.  Some thoughts.

I’m confused.  Which I guess is to be expected.  The family tree confounds me.  A lot of names I can’t remember.  I guess Deirdre has the blood of both someone associated with Naga and someone associated with Loptous in her?  So that explains why Julia’s got Naga’s tome and Julius has Loptous’ tome.

I think my biggest point of confusion is...why Arvis killed Sigurd in the first place?  Like, they only really meet the once, in the prologue, where Arvis gives Sigurd the Silver Sword and seems to be at least friendly.  And his aid...Aida...good lood.  She mentions that Arvis is aware of the dukes’ bullshit, and that’s why he set them up to fall.  Manfroy also seems to be in line with that idea, although aside from getting Loptous back in charge, who knows what he’s after.  Chapter 6′s opening seems to imply it was just a scenario of getting all the world under his control, but I guess I would’ve really liked more information about Arvis as a character.  We get a little bit throughout Chapter 5, but that’s it.  It would’ve been nice to see a bit more of how he came to know Manfroy and how that relationship started, or when he first met Deirdre and how all that came together.  Mostly, does he know that Deirdre’s Sigurd’s wife?  He seems to?  Like, bringing her out to meet Sigurd before having them all killed seemed like an act of intent, like he knows exactly what their relationship is and wants to rub Sigurd’s face in it.  Kind of a dick move, Arvis.

It’s just...with what we’re given, it’s hard to feel like Arvis makes a lot of sense.  A lot of NPC dialogue seems to imply that Arvis is generally a decent guy.  He’s trying to do what he believes is right, same as Sigurd, so there’s the potential to be really good foil characters there.  But then, when we actually meet with him face to face, it’s for a big reveal that he’s betraying Sigurd, in which he lets him see Deirdre one last time to rub it in.  He never really does much that’s kind.  Sure, he has some speech with Manfroy about how he wants to build a world free from the ills that have befallen the world prior, and how he knows was Manfroy’s clan is about but doesn’t want to let them bring their dark god back, so there’s some good in him.  But much like Sigurd, he’s just an absolute buffoon.  “Yeah Manfroy, strange wizard man, I will work together with you to get control of the continent, but I don’t want bad things to happen with the revival of a dark god!  I’m all about peace!  Unrelated, but...why are you so interested in me having a child?”  “No reason.”  “Okay, cool.  Anyway, no dark gods, deal?”  Like...are you serious?

And then at the start of Chapter 6, we immediately go from “Arvis was pretty well supported to take the throne, and then immediately it all goes to shit under his dictatorial rule.”  ...why?  If Arvis was serious about this whole ruling with kindness thing, where’d he fuck up so badly that literally the entire continent went to shit?  Is he even properly in charge?  Because stuff in Isaach, even within the little bit of plot I’ve experienced, suggests that either he’s not paying attention, or did an immediate 180 on his own ideals and philosophy by letting this shit happen under his watch.

I dunno.  Oddly enough, I think the thing that the game is missing most is actually more time with its story.  But most of its story is exposition.  We see almost nothing of what happens with Arvis or anyone else beyond Sigurd.  We get a lot of explanations about bloodlines, but little about what that actually means, what any of those crusaders did, or how all of that relates to the characters we see.  Interactions are really minimal, so I don’t have a good feel for almost any of the characters, and some of them that do get enough development I outright dislike (Lewyn).  To make matters worse, even characters I recognize as being decently done are just...so stupid.  I knew they were setting it up in Chapter 1, but Sigurd’s refusal to just send word to the king about Shanan was kinda the catalyst for all this bad shit that happened, and seriously, his insistence on chasing after Deirdre after meeting her for a total of 30 seconds, in spite of the warnings about all the bad shit that would happen if someone from that forest haven were to breed, is insane.  All the major players just seem so hotheaded and stupid.  Sigurd makes moves based on caring a lot about things, but not a single one feels well-reasoned.  Arvis says a lot of words, but is a huge hypocrite and willing to follow the most transparently evil fucker in the world, who he knows is part of a cult to an ancient evil god.  Eldigan flip-flops constantly, going from “I have to serve this idiot king because otherwise the royal family’s gone,” to “Okay, but Sigurd’s my friend so I probably shouldn’t fight him when he’s willing to peacefully stop invading if we just stop attacking him...” and keeps doing this until going back to the king who’s transparently evil gets him executed.  The only smart one is Quan.  Recognizes the importance of his alliance with Sigurd, follows through, and when they realize how bad things are getting, goes back to his home nation to get reinforcements and return to back Sigurd’s claims to innocence.  He made one mistake on who the dracoknights would follow, which in fairness he planned for them to make a move, he just didn’t predict which one and got caught.  But that’s an honest mistake, unlike the others who had all the goddamn warning signs in the world.

So yeah, I think Quan’s my favorite of Gen 1.  Ethlyn’s also pretty great.  Ayra and Finn are at least okay.  But I don’t have a lot of attachment to many of the Gen 1 units, which is really weird, because Heroes led me to believe I’d actually love the Gen 1 units based on having a tragic ending and a supposed level of moral complexity.  But there isn’t really a lot of moral complexity to them.  They’re just a bunch of buffoons.

[randomnameless]

I read your modern AU post about what the Velthomer siblings and Seliph wanted to do after graduation and I was wondering if you have any specific modern AU headcanons for some of the Jugdral characters? For example I tend to picture Saias as being a medical student. Sorry if this ask is kinda long.

naga bless this ask

To be honest I haven’t thought a lot about it, it’s kind of a fuzzy AU but at the same time it’s funny! 

edit : it ended up long so sorry for the delay and i haven’t done everyone so if you want someone ask

so in this modern!AU the duchies are kind of companies because i have no imagination (because thinking about modern states gets complicated if people have to become senators/MPs)

Briggid first - she said “fig it” to her dad’s company and ran away as a teenage and rebel youth from home. She did some odd jobs, not fit for her “social status” but couldn’t care less - there she met her husband, a good for nothing per her bro’s words but she never cared about André and married the guy and got her kids. She was very involved in several NGOs (that was how she kept in touch with her twin sister) and adopted a war orphan from Thracia. She lived there with her family for several years before realising that the living of the poor Thracian people was actually a consequence of stupid Mansterian firms who overprice their food exports and it’s better to fight against them by talking from equals. So she returned to Jungby, Ring welcomed her - and her three kids - Aidean too but André didn’t. Briggid and her family often return to their old place in Thracia for the holidays - to see how everyone is doing - and the kids play with the son of Manster’s leading company, she hopes he won’t end up like his dad if he plays with Thracian children.

Febail wanted to become “just like mom” when he’d grow up, but seeing how mom has duties now to Jungby he reconsiders. He just wants to help the people around but also hang out with his friends and watch over his sisters. Patty says he could do just like mom and go in person in war-desolated places, she will create an NGO from scratch. Everyone tells her it’s impossible, but she doesn’t give up (fund raising by selling cakes can only lead you this far) and tries to coax/harass rich/important people into participating in their humanitarian adventures. She managed to “force” Shanan into signing a cheque for her association - by following him in each meeting he was invited to and asking him publicly if he wanted to help the children of Thracia. He couldn’t say no!

André is sour’n’salty because he wanted the company - he was sure he was going to get it once his stupid sister ran away doing stupid jobs and Aidean was just, here. She wasn’t cut out to be lead a company! He went to the uni and always found a way to be invited in the wildest parties, he was a frat boy too (but everyone hated him and yet he had a lot of money so they couldn’t say a thing) and often made fun of people who weren’t as well off as him. When Briggid returns, he says that he studied a lot in the appropriate fields, he didn’t waste his time feeding stray dogs (Briggid’s youngest daughter). Stray dog punches him in the face, everyone laughs and Ring returns to politely ignoring him.

Scipio wasn’t that much of a loser like his dad - he always did his best and studied a lot to get good grades in high school but no matter what he did Febail always beat him by sheer luck because he never studies - and quite frankly has all the required qualities, on paper, to get that company running. But everyone mistakes him for the second coming of his father, so they treat him with disdain or just, ignore him. It’s not fair, why Burian can get a pass by being a honor student even with the imbecile he has for a dad but Scipio is only André 2.0? Due to Jungby’s proximity with Verdane Scipio studied a bit about fair trade, and it starts to work their company is one of the firsts in the market to label their products with a fair trade symbol marking how they are not exploiting ther Verdanese, but again, no one realises it’s Scipio’s work and everyone attributes it to Lester or worse, Febail.

Aidean never thought much about the company when she was younger, it was just, there and she was perfectly happy being a normal person playing with her sister and sometimes with her bro. But when Briggid started to go all “don’t you realise that we are taking part in the capitalist empire that is ruining countless lives??” she thought it was just a phase - spurred by that handsome Verdanite who led (or tried to) a revolution in his country against his corrupt uncles - but when Briggid packed her things up she realised it wasn’t. Distraught, she thought it was her fault, maybe if she talked more with her sister she wouldn’t have left and to make sure it was never going to happen again (as in people leaving their families behind for the “revolution”) she decided to become a teacher - people won’t make rash decision if they know more about the concept, the pros and the cons, right? She however decided to teach in an impoverished (it exists!) area of Grannvalle, because rich kids get on her nerves, see her bro?

Lester really wanted the company - Scipio was an idiot and Febail was Ulir knows where in Thracia, grandpa started to dote on him. But when Febail returned, he became ignored (less than Scipio of course). So he dropped his aspirations and followed his cousin everywhere - at school he wanted to take the same classes - at least he would live normally with his friends, Ulster and Diarmuid (and Seliph too even if Seliph is a nerd lel). He is the most easygoing out of the bunch. When Febail tells him of his project to run away in Thracia with Patty’s NGO he’s torn between telling him not to do it, his mom did the same and she returned home twenty years later, and telling him to do it, he will take care of the company instead. Lester graduated in Economy - he got a passing grade without any distinction (Scipio got a first!) but hey, Uni is not about having a diploma but merely about hanging out with friends! Lana is Seliph’s sister’s friend and she wants to become a nurse because Julia once said that Seliph thinks that nurses and doctors do the most wonderful job that exist (especially since a doctor healed Sigurd after Arvis threw boiling water at him, but it was an accident). She doesn’t want anything to do with her grandpa’s business - at first that’s what she thought but if Seliph will inherit his grandpa’s business, shouldn’t his wife be from a big firm too? Will her name be enough? She doesn’t know, but she takes her studies very seriously, and not only because of Seliph, but because for once, people don’t take note of her being “Lester’s sister” but “Lana the nurse”. Cousin Febail tries to ask her to come with him in Thracia, but she doesn’t really want to.

Mareeta tries her best not to disappoint her mom and dad - because she’s painfully aware that if she makes any mistake it will be reflected badly on her mom’s image, uncle André will make sure of it - but she was tricked by a Mansterian dastard into doing drugs (it’ll help you get better grades!) and scammed by the same dastard who wanted to stop her mom’s actions in Thracia. After receiving help from a certain red head doctor (and once Briggid got rid of the Mansterian dastard) she feels sad because she doesn’t think she’s a good enough for Briggid (what kind of daughter is a drug addict? But each time Scipio mentions it, Febail beats him black and blue, same for Lester who makes passing jokes about it, Patty kicks him) so to make sure no one will be tricked by dastards she wants to be a cop.

on the losing velthomer side

Azel was happy living in his brother’s shadow but in high school he noticed that the main reason why he wasn’t picked on (save for his BFF Lex who scared everyone away) was the fact that people were afraid of Arvis. He started to want independance, but it truly took the uni - his freshmen years - to notice how Arvis basically was here all the time, heck Azel isn’t even sure Arvis didn’t pay the uni to make him graduate. How much of his success can be attributed to Azel and not to Arvis’ influence? But if there is at least one thing he did right, without Arvis’ looming influence, it’s his marriage. So, listening to his wife’s suggestion “why don’t you make your own company!” he decides to pour all of his ressources in a new technology that will surely become the next norm, HD DVD. Sadly, it bombed, in only 2 years Azel lost all of his savings and his company went bankrupt. Now Arvis got him an administrative job in his own firm, sometimes Azel thinks about his past failure and feels like trash but at least he tried, something that not anyone can brag about - Tiltyu said.

Arthur isn’t a rebellious kid but his parents give him a lot of autonomy. He loves his family’s holiday place in Silesse and would like to work in said country. However, Azel keeps on telling him that he can’t, what would you do there? Unemployment rate is high in Silesse, you want to become a ranger or something? That’s not serious - but, if it is really what you want, then do it and i will support you. Not to make his parents (rather his dad because his mom doesn’t really care about the future as long as she can live off grandpa Reptor’s company’s benefits) sad, he pursues higher studies in the legal field, wanting to become a judge. It feels it’s right to punish people when they go wrong, and they always deserve the maximum sentence, no leniency allowed. Tinni at first was very lost about her future, what should she do? Living with the company’s funds didn’t seem to be a bad thing, until Uncle Blume became the CEO and Auntie Hilda said not to give a cent to Tiltyu - of course Uncle obeyed. Tinni often asked Ishtar what she should do later with her life, Ishtar said not to worry, as soon as she gets the company from her dad, she will find her a place in it and they will forever be together, isn’t it cool? (They’re super close!) But she wants to become her own person too and talking with her cousin about her marriage (well it’s an arranged one but for some reason Ishtar loves her bratty fiancé) made her realise that she’d like to organise special events, idk, working in special events managment or something. Since she’s a perfectionist it’s supposed to work well, right?

In Agustria

Eldie has troubles with his son who doesn’t want to keep runing the familial firm - they aren’t even the executives, another dastard is but dad will never take his place even if the dastard wants to fire everyone! - but keeps his head straight and acts as if everything is alright, until CEO Chagall fires him too. Eldie is unemployed. Social revolts are brewing, how could Eldie - a well known and loved human resources employee - be fired? This is nonsense, he should take the company instead. Eldie doesn’t really want, but faced with his employees’ pleas - Yves’ daughter has been hospitalised, how will he pay the bills if he is unemployed? - he accepts. With the help of Siggy and Quan, his best friends, he buys all of Chagall’s company’s shares and places himself as the CEO. Still, he is plagued by guilt because he betrayed Chagall and that doesn’t sit right with him. But he had to do it, right?

Ares doesn’t care. He isn’t a broody teenager with a temper, it’s just that no one understands him. His true passion is theater, but of course his father won’t understand, to him duty to the company is everything. Seliph also says so and even Leif - who’s jealous that no one thinks he will amount to a thing since he isn’t the eldest. But he listens to his best friend Lene, she says he has to understand that while you can make a living being a performer, it isn’t what’s best in his situation. Ares can help and protect so many people if he enters his dad’s company, isn’t it what he wants, to make people happy? It’s at least the reason why she wants to be a performer. And hey, they could still perform together when he’d be free or want to get away from business for a short time.

[randomnameless]

Chapter 7 - Darna to Alster!

Seliph finally finishes this Naga forsaken map and says good bye to the Desert.

RETCONS RETCONS WHO WANTS RETCONS?

(joking, FE4 happened before FE5 so FE5 is the retcon game but)

Ares wants to talk to his friend - the reason why he turned blue to begin with 

but an idiot is here, blocking the doors.

so the only thing he can do in this situation, since he’s grey and can’t move, is talk to the guy.

don’t ask that

no “it is I, Ares the Black Knight”? Vengeance leaves no place to theatrics.

uh... yeah? Siggy couldn’t kill Eldie even if he wanted, he didn’t have the stats for that!

Poor Graine. Here you see miscommunication at its finest, granted, given how Eldie ignored his wife/son to run to his sister’s side and Siggy’s help, I understand why Grainne never got the true side of the story. Her version, and I believe the version of most Agustrians is “Siggy led an invasion in Agustria, Eldie died while defending his homeland and his King” which isn’t that far from reality actually! I love how Ares calls his mother “noble” and not just, my mother. Seliph is of course completely clueless, no one bothered him to keep him in touch with the Augstrian campaign - Aidean what were you doing?

uh... well, i’m sure they hold no hard feelings against each other because they were knights and knights simply do what they’re told, if they hate someone it’s the king who orders them to fight, but Eldie wasn’t totally happy at Siggy’s invasion/occupation. Hopefully Siggy went all “i’m just listening to orders i’m trying to write a letter to Azmur don’t worry” and Eldie believed him. If Chagall wasn’t such a douche the blame could be shared, but hey, we have the most perfect scapegoat so let us all blame Chagall, it makes the Augustrian campaign less catastrophic.

haha Seliph doesn’t understand a thing, Ares is the son of dad’s friend so we can be friends, right? It’s still kind of insensitive to call Ares’ lifelong grudge a “misunderstanding”, OTOH it’s clever because Seliph isn’t calling Ares’ “noble” mother a liar to his face!

Genealogy of the Holy War : sons must pay for the grudges of their fathers? S

Subverted here, Ares drops his grudge. If only we could have asked Brian or even Scipio to do the same :) But their dads had ugly sprites, so they couldn’t be Siggy’s friends so we don’t give figs about them :)

Not totally subverted though, Ares still has doubts and will murder Seliph if he lied.

i cringe a little at this line from Seliph tbh, the fate of the world resides on your shoulders (lel) because you’re the only Naga alive (lelel) F!Lewyn said so, and you’re willing to die just to please Ares? Seliph no :’(

hey you know what you could have met him when you were 3 weeks old if Eldie wasn’t such a douche and didn’t ignore his son and wife. During the occupation he could have sent them to say “hello” to Siggy and his family (or invited them at his place) before Chagall became a douche, but no, Eldie never gave a crap about his family - save for Raquie.

Once he is finished with Seliph Ares pushes him and runs to find his true friend

Here she is! He worries about her, how cute.

:’(

Ares apologises and calls himself a fool, poor Ares. And Lene confesses that she isn’t alright but she still trusted him even after he made himself a fool with that “killing Seliph” nonsense.

Daw! Why IS didn’t give them any lover convo?

Of course he won’t! He will take you home to Agustry! and then you’ll be eaten alive by the agustrian court

“are you the guy Ares wanted to kill?”

“Ares told me about you, he said “move imbecile i have to rescue Lene” when i tried to talk to him earlier”

No dancers in Isaach? 

i don’t know if that would be the word i’d use. Seliph is flustered seeing scantily clad women. Granted, any scantily clad woman would have been captured in Dozel!Isaach so...

and now for the retcon: Raquie’s children!

“who are you random knight?”

what are you talking about? Wait you didn’t knew you had a bro? But in FE5...

that’s understandable - save the part where Lewyn only tells you now that you have a sibling but fig that guy.

off screen, crawling after Shanan and Oifey because they said they could only carry one child and that one child was Seliph

hoho, so Nanna’s Leonster born, it fits with the timeline. The thing that doesn’t is Nanna still ignoring she has a bro :’(

is it me or FE4!Nanna seems to miss Raquie more than FE5!Nanna?

??? I thought you said you didn’t know you had a bro and now Raquie told you she left to meet him in Isaach??

Poor Nanna, she waited to see her, she had no mother figure during all those years

only kaga knows

she took her horse and fled with her horse in the desert with figging sand and it’s not like Quan did the same mistake but no 

meanwhile, two cousins chat

at least - well yeah at least because he had to backtrack to Darna and it took around 15 turns or something (thanks Naga for Lana’s warp staff)

prelude indeed, since Arvis hired Travant and co to assist in his coup

bad Leif, you forget how Travant first set your home in flames and only afterwards Blume arrived. You were sleeping during Finn’s history time or what?!

“my knight Finn” sounds... not strange, but I can’t see FE5!Leif calling Finn “his knight”. Finn is his father figure, he is Finn, not a knight. Heck I doubt FE5!Leif would even call Carrion and co “his knights”. August/Dorias would.

this is so... well, not strange because in FE5 Leif says retaking Leonster was his dream (Finn’s dream) but before chapter 6 he was happy living as a peasant in Fiana with his sisters (and Jugdral’s best mom) killing pirates. Maybe that’s not something you can tell to your kingly cousin, so it’s better to say that he wanted to fight since the beginning...

pff would you have helped against Raydrick when he stoned Eyvel - i mean when Dorias and co tried their multiple attempts at murdering Blume in his sleep? I don’t think so but it’s something Seliph has to say. He doesn’t have to apologise per se but... Well, the way Leif told his story we could think we should be berating Seliph/Siggy for the BBQ’s aftermath that impacted Leonster - in that regard Seliph HAS to apologise.

but this vision, of course, throws Travant in the “ignored” trashcan.

But Leif quickly apologises, it wasn’t his intention to put the blame on Seliph. It’s squarely his fault. RIP Dorias :’( (well Miranda has to share the blame too)

?? Of course he was worthy of being dubbed a knight of Nova he was a crusader. But Leif bragging about being the son of Quan? Heck, that’s something Finn/Dorias would say “don’t lose hope prince you’re the son of quan”, the words of support Ced shared with him when he was down! FE4!Leif is so... confident and assertive, it’s super... weird considering my only Leif experience was FE5!Leif.

It’s so weird that I don’t recall FE5!Leif saying something like that, or reclaiming himself of Quan’s legacy even once. 

“Marty, Othin, pack your things we’re going with Seliph now. Lifis too.”

“But Lord Leif, we’re returning to Fiana now” “don’t you dare i said we’re leaving.” Haha, restoring honor to Granvalle? It’s not about stopping the child hunts and stopping Loptyr’s resurrection? this is so un - FE5!Leif - like! remember the guy who screamed about honor and glory? he would have said those lines!

uh... sure, Quan helped Siggy a lot. And given how Quan died for/because/ during his quest to help Siggy, their deaths are linked.

OMG OMG OMG SOMEONE REMEMBERS

Indeed, but i can’t totally ignore the fact that maybe Ethlyn, even if she wasn’t a Chalpy anymore, wanted to restore her “birth” house’s name clean too, and was also worried about her dad - who didn’t even mention her but that’s how we roll in Jugdral daughters are worthless.

Again, Seliph apologises. Not for Leonster’s fate, but for Quan and Ethlyn on the behalf of his dad.

yes, the stories August told me said that Siggy manage to pierce Arvis’ plans before everyone else! He was a wise man!

As do I? What about “don’t hate the people, only the evil in their hearts?” “oh fig it”. 

pff hahaha if only you knew what were your dads’ last wishes! it was only about restoring chalphy’s good name!

he already said he was going to lend you his scrubs!

“damn that new blade shoots beams of light it’s so cool!”

“I GAVE YOU THOSE RIBBONS!” “hilda did and told me to hang myself with them it’s not a kindness”

hey look, it’s the imperial princess!

“Fear me else I’ll tell everything to daddy and he will Valflame you to oblivion”

because...

“THE MYSTELTAINN CRAVES THE BLOOD OF MEN”

but i thought Julius wanted to throw his party there? You can’t just rewarp in it, it’d be lame!

Wow no mercy for Blume? But yeah, per Aidean’s history lesson, when a baron escapes he will return to piss you off again until you kill him.

it could have been helped if we put men to block the exits, re you really a strategist? or maybe Blume just rewarped when Ares was busy screaming his finishing line for the finishing blow...

??? They’re happier than the Isaachians you fred from Danan’s rule? I honestly can’t believe it.

a real hope, not a joke like Leif’s failed attempts^^

yeah, they’re all stronger than you. Even your wife Larcei!

“have you seen that kid with Leif’s group? She can steal stuff with a magical staff!”

“just as planned and if you don’t i have a backup plan involving a minor character with naga blood”

lol Julia isn’t part of any plan.