#chimera prologue

[alltheyoungmoons]

La Chimera by starlingsilver

Chapters: 1/? - PROLOGUE Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Summary:

It’s 1983. Remus Lupin, unlike most of his best friends, isn’t a dead man. Though, might as well. He has no job prospects in the wizarding world, and very little to show for himself in the muggle world, so for the last couple of years, after managing to put himself back together just enough to function, he’s decided to do what he’s always done best: run away. Hide, if you will. Pour himself into research as to occupy his every waking thought. Fate, or what have you, brings him to rural central Italy, to the lands that thousands of years ago were home to the Etruscans and the Latins. It’s a land ripe with magic, where ancient currents of energy flow underground like massive undiscovered rivers. Here, Remus gets tangled in more than one prohibited affair...

--- Inspired by Alice Rohwacher's gorgeous 2023 film "La Chimera" which I highly recommend!

[bobcat-pie]

Huh. I just realized grim and malleus have the same tail shape

like, there's differences, but both are definitely trident-y

i've always wondered what the evolutionary advantages of three-pronged tails are for mythical beasts... what could possibly be a good enough reason to make you grow 3 more spinal columns (beyond pure mistake, like what some irl regenerating lizards fall prey to)... unless it's a thagomizer situation?

[makedamnsvre]

what's going on with Moonpaw the warrior cat. its an incest kitty thats a calico but its not (according to the makers) cuz has black head?? i dont go there at all but im so curious

the erins (the writing team behind the author name erin hunter) are coming out with the 9th warriors series, (each series has 6 books)

at first the teaser only said this about the newest protagonist:

In the midst of the chaos, Moonpaw, an apprentice struggling to understand the mysterious voice in her head, thinks that she might be having visions. But the voice becomes increasingly sinister, and Moonpaw wonders if it’s a sign of darkness on the horizon.

and im not sure where or how but just from this and the other 2 paragraphs of teaser, people came up with turning the moonpool (small pool of water used as a sacred site to contact starclan (cat heaven)) into a . sentient? being. of sorts. that they are shipping with moonpaw. and mind you at the moment we only had those 2 sentences about moonpaw so it was mostly just people coming up with their own ideas based off of the limited info from the teaser and building off of other peoples ideas, like a community oc. people were also talking abt what they hope the next series does/doesnt do with moonpaw. like hoping that she isnt yet another boring gray cat, wondering what she would look like, making their own designs for what they think would be cool/what they would hope she looks like, hoping that the writers dont make her lame, brainstorming who her parents will be, etcetcetc

and then the warriors team released some stuff about moonpaw including this character sheet

and a few paragraphs introducing her a little bit, explaining her name, and teasing a bit of the upcoming plot to do with her.

but they also say that "Moonpaw is a chimera cat: a cat who, due to a rare genetic quirk, has different colored fur on each side of her face, divided by a nearly straight line." which irritated a bunch of people because in cat genetics, a split half black/half orange face is common in normal non-chimera tortoiseshell and calico cats, but its just because its widely believed misinformation and the authors fell for the misinfo on that because they dont really know a lot abt cats or cat genetics or dont care (even though they write books about cats??) so people are disappointed that they introduced their first canon chimera character but then gave her a very typical design that isnt limited to chimera cats since normal non-chimeras can have those exact markings

and the incest part is just that there are So Many warrior cat characters and the books have gone on for many many many MANY generations in the clans of only so many cats that rarely ever add new cats to the gene pool, and they barely keep track of family trees, so this is a mistake that they make literally constantly. most of the characters are related at this point, but people are especially upset about moonpaw because shes a POV character and not just some background nobody who dies offscreen, and there were many different characters that arent related that they could have used to be her parents instead

[biollyante]

#Yu; We warned you about eating strange rocks... tbh, if you look at his teeth, Grim should NOT be eating anything other than meat. he might have molars faaaar back we can't see, but this guy's 100% an obligate carnivore. no WONDER he always vies for tuna!

he frew up

[hanafubukki]

MC/Yuu “Blessed/Cursed” by a Fae Theory

So you know how Lilia said that MC vision state is kind of similar to when Silver falls asleep/sleepy?

And we know, in part, the cause of Silver’s sleepiness is due to the blessing he got from the three fairies.

So that makes me wonder, did someone “bless” MC to have these visions?? Was it some fae?

And since we know the carriage brought MC to NRC and they were in a coffin, the closest fae that could have done it is Dire Crowley.

I don’t remember who pointed it out (@prince-kallisto?? @moonlightequin1?? <— the two Dire Crowley experts) but didn’t someone say that ravens/crows are symbols of prophecy?? And also symbols of death and rebirth?

MC is getting visions of OBs so in a sense prophecy, though it’s not far in advance or detailed enough for them to stop it from happening.

But book 5 we see them connect the dots with Vil and they go to check on him secretly and then! At the end of book 5, we see the chimera, which this time it a vision way more ahead in the future but a future to come.

So this symbolizes not only the ability of prophecy but of death if the prologue says anything. And if some time theories are true, we are trying to stop this death event from happening so in a sense, we get rebirth.

I don’t remember book 6 visions or maybe they didn’t stand out as much given the chaos that happened, though of note, we saw more MC development and their insecurities which we haven’t seen before.

But for sure, book 5 visions were different.

With book 7 visions in the beginning, we saw for the first time one of the Great Seven being mentioned by name.

The over arching plot and small details show that something is being cooked in the background, and we’ll probably see how it all comes together, especially with three dia members who have dream/memory related UM. We’ll probably see it come to fruition in book 8.

But I wanted to point out key points:

- book 5: MC being suspicious and connecting their dreams with Vil’s OB, something they just did for the first time. Then, they get a “future” vision of the chimera and what we know happens in the prologue.

-book 6: MC insecurities and helplessness is shown for the first time. You can see them try to include MC more in the interactions but you can also see the way they feel helpless.

-book 7: first time one of great seven is named in a vision. MC dreams/vision state are compared to Silver’s dream/sleepy state, which we know was due to a blessing given by fairies.

So either, Dire Crowley gave them this “blessing” or whoever that brought MC did (Levan? (If the two aren’t the same), another fae? Could it be Queen Maleficia? Someone who hasn’t shown up yet despite her grandson is in trouble).

Another thing to note, that yes while they are in a dream, MC hasn’t had any visions yet. Which is strange given their track record and how these visions tend to warn them of danger. MC has constantly been in danger, have they not?

Could it be so this magic doesn’t get recognized? But wouldn’t Lilia have recognized a blessing on them? Unless someone was able to hide said blessing.

All of this is rather fascinating 🫶🤔

(This is especially interesting when you take into consideration that they “randomly” chucked the fact about Silver and MC being similar in the beginning of book 7 at us and then never brought it up again 🧐)

[inamindfarfaraway]

Hnnng dehumanisation in Spies are Forever. Curt's “not a man, [he's] property of the United States government". Tatiana wasn't a child, she was an “instrument of war”, a “killing machine". It’s particularly poignant that Barb calls Curt property of their government, a cog in the machine, because she knows that she’s in the same boat, and in fact socially inferior to him as both a woman and a support worker to his more prestigious career. She herself has always seen and valued him as a person and is constantly trying to make him reciprocate. But he initially views her as just a cool gadget dispenser. Technology appears to be her only means of asserting her worth and earning people’s attention, which might be why she’s working on a global information network, essentially the internet - the ultimate technological platform for human connection and collaboration. Cynthia is so committed to overcoming her human vulnerability in order to be the best tool her country could possibly ask for that she poisons herself every day to build up an immunity. One of the villains is a literal Nazi who uses a literal puppet. And the other is Owen.

Owen's evil vision is "turning everyone into a spy", aka property. Instruments for him to conduct. Creating a global surveillance network, because the internet has as much power to distance and isolate people as to unite them. The machine failed him when he was a cog in it, so he aims to replace it with a more efficient one and control it this time; he cannot comprehend of any ethical improvement to or dismantling of the machine itself. His problem with spies is that they contaminate the ruthless political mechanisms with messy, fallible humanity... and vice versa. Agent Mega messed up the mission because he was human; Curt left his boyfriend for dead because he was a spy. You can’t be both. Person or tool. So Owen chooses the one that can’t be hurt. He willingly becomes a tool of CHIMERA, a living weapon. He kills and tortures hundreds of people, considers himself an actor in a story and others expendable characters, does everything he can to detach himself from ideas of personhood. “Who needs spies when a box in a room can do your job in seconds?" Humanity is worthless. Obsolete.

Except no, it isn't. Curt and his allies proves it. After the prologue, Curt simultaneously makes Owen’s mistake of binary thinking. First he wants to be purely a man, and an absolute wreck of one; then he wants to be purely the greatest spy ever, with no sentimental weaknesses. But he can’t maintain that divide. He has to be both. The team win with their skills, training and expertise and by being human - social, irrational animals, working together, loving each for the sake of it, acting spontaneously. They aren’t tools that Owen can perfectly predict and manipulate. Curt surprises him. And Owen, for all his icy calculations and grand talk, cannot escape his humanity any more than he can destroy Curt’s, as his last scene makes painfully clear. He lowers his gun like a person. His voice breaks like one. He bleeds like one. Meanwhile, Barb is a genius engineer and Tatiana is a master assassin. You’d think that their climactic moment of triumph would demonstrate Barb’s amazing technology or Tatiana’s combat skills, but instead the focus is on them simply talking to each other and even Mrs Mega. Human connection and collaboration. Human error that doesn’t negate their victory. “You can break a computer box, but you can’t break the will of a man.” That’s what Curt is. Not property. A man. He is a gay, unemployed man; Barb is a woman in STEM; Tatiana is a female ex-KGB Russian immigrant; all in the United States of America in the 1960s, a very bad time and place to be all of those things. Yet they will survive. They are not alone and they will endure. Spies are forever because they are people.

And the narrative consistently emphasises that everybody is a person! It mocks the Nazis, obviously, but even then Baron von Nazi isn’t a one-dimensional monster, he has emotions and cognitive biases and a backstory and fondness for cheeseburgers. Sergio isn’t just an interchangeable criminal, he’s a devoted family man awkwardly trying to lighten his work atmosphere. Richard Big isn’t just a crass parody, he has moral principles. We hear all kinds of characters’ thoughts and feelings: the Informant, Barb’s fellow scientists, the waiter at the casino, the guests at the gala. This affirmation that everyone has a inner life means that yes, anyone can be a spy.

[yuurei20]

(This was originally an ask received through Twitter)

"Hello! Can you please elaborate on the time loop theory in book 2 that you mentioned in the tweet where you talked about your favourite theories?"

I am wary about discussing this theory as there are many others who have put much more thought into it than I have, but I can certainly try with what I was able to find :>

(The information in this thread was combined from here, here, here, and here)

The basic theory is that everything we know is repeating in a loop in an attempt to either stop something from happening or to make something happen.

The game’s tagline of “I will show you a true happy ending” (EN: “Let us show you the real happily-ever-after”) could be insinuating that there have already been less than happy endings, and we may have already seen one: while some theorize that the events of the prologue are showing us what is going to happen in the future, others say that it is both that and something that has already happened.

The theory goes that the battle with the chimera (who may or may not be an overblotted Grim) was lost and everyone (or just the prefect) is sent back to try again, thus the opening lines of the game narrated in Crowley’s voice.

(Note: I would have translated this as “I—they—you—only have a little time left. Whatever you do, don’t let go”, but the situation is so vague that anything is possible.)

(Here is a short comic insinuating that this time loop is Crowley’s unique magic (warning: blood, death, a Yuu design))

This theory seems to be largely inspired by Mickey’s comment that he has seen the same dream three times but he also says “your voice gets clearer and clearer every time.”

Since Mickey also shows up in Books 2 and 3 but we were not able to speak with him, it is possible that this is not actually hinting at two earlier loops, just earlier events within the same timeline. This does not dismiss the time loop theory and might mean that this is Mickey’s first time interacting with the loop, but there have been far more than just two or three timelines.

(This account pretends that Book 7 does not exist yet, so that is about as specific as I can get.)

The theory gets kind of wild with references to STYX’s simulation system, supposed inconsistencies with Ace and Epel, Crowley’s potential connection to STYX, etc, but one thing that everyone seems to agree on is: Leona knows.

Leona is extremely powerful and extremely private.

He has had a number of contracts with Azul who is also a powerful mage, and according to Idia he seems like “the kind of guy who always knows he’s dreaming.”

Yana has confirmed that Idia has a part in Book 7 and, with both him and Leona halfway out of their coffins in promotional art, people are wondering if Leona will be stepping up as well.

We know that Riddle’s current personality is a 180 degree change from original plans and that this change was made pretty far into development, after everything had already been approved.

There are also rumors that Leona’s Book 2 was the original Book 6, looking at older promotional information (Book 2 was originally listed between Ignihyde and Diasomnia on the official website).

It is possible that—much like Riddle’s situation—Yana came up with a better idea than what had originally been decided, and it required shoehorning Leona’s drama into an earlier Book in order to make it work.

This would mean that Book 7 used to have significant space for Leona (there is a pattern of the previous Overblotter having a role in the next Book).

That space may have been rewritten for Idia, but it is also possible that Idia’s role was added separately and a role for Leona remains to some extent, which is why they went out of their way to say that Leona knows when he is in a dream.

Theories vary from “Leona is 100% aware of what is going on, broke free from the loop and he is the only one getting older as he tries to save the world” to “Leona knows something isn’t right but not exactly what.”

The proof that people usually point to is his comment where he is unsurprised by Grim “always” eating black stones (which he shouldn’t know anything about), but the phrasing is so vague that he could just be making the connection between the stones and a potential blot-risk.

Another scene that is often referenced in the “Leona knows” conversation is an interaction with Jamil where he accurately predicts Jamil’s attack on Kalim despite how rarely they interact before Book 6.

There are also the three white chess pieces on the chessboard in Leona’s bedroom that seem to correspond to the only three characters in the game with light cosmic magic: a white rook for Rook, a white knight for Silver and a white pawn for Kalim, whom Leona literally refers to as a pawn piece in chess during Tamashima-Mina (these three chess pieces are also displayed prominently in Leona's first Birthday groovy).

Leona also seems suspicious of Crowley, suspects what really happened in Book 5 and is able to literally sniff out magic, which we have seen no other character capable of doing.

Leona is very perceptive in general: he is suspicious of Lilia in Spectral Soiree, calls him an old man when no other character outside of Diasomnia knows his true age, is the first to figure out that Malleus is pretending to be possessed and is able to tell when someone becomes injured and is trying to hide it in both Book 6 and an event.

This is not proof that Leona knows what is happening, but it may be an argument for why it is likely that he knows more than he is willing to let on.

Some versions of the time loop theory say that the same prefect is being sent back over and over again to try and save everyone (which ties into the game’s opening), while other versions say that this is the prefect’s first time being summoned into a loop that has been going on for a long time without them, in an effort by someone (Crowley?) to change the ending of the story.

While not technically part of the game, the Twst novelization supports the first pattern while the manga series supports the second, with new prefects showing up after the previous prefect presumably fails.

Knowing Yana it is possible that the game is actually a third, entirely different pattern with the novel and manga exploring alternatives that were considered for the game but not used.

[oddberryshortcake]

SSR Grim - Platinum Jacket Voice Lines

When Summoned: Happy 100th Anniversary～! ...So, uh, what's a 100th Anniversary!?

Summon Line: Hey, they're doing some kinda 100th Anniversary celebration thingie at the art museum! But they can't get started without the star of the show there! Let's hurry～!

Groooovy!!: I'll still be going wild 100 years down the road! And you'd still be with me too, obviously! Nyahaha!

Home: Howzzat? Lookin' sharp, ain't I?

Home Idle 1: A painting of the Queen of Hearts... Oh yeah, the first statue we came across when we first started class was hers. Brings back memories, yanno.

Home Idle 2: The King of Beasts' mane is so cool! Actually, I'm workin' on growing my fur out so I can have a mane just as awesome!

Home Idle 3: If you could ask the Sea Witch to grant any wish, what'd it be? Me, I'd... I'd ask her to make me taller than you!

Home Idle - Login: Look at my getup! Me 'n Mickey match! We're gonna celebrate this 100th Anniversary with him!

Home Idle - Groovy: Hehen, what now, huh? Even Ace didn't have a sarcastic thing to say. He even complemented me, sayin' that I look good in this outfit!

Home Tap 1: Maan～ I'm so jealous of the Sorcerer of the Sands... His staff and hat are way too cool! I want something like 'em too～!

Home Tap 2: Don'tcha think my fur could give even the Fairest Queen a run for her money today? I made sure to give it a good brushin' in front of a mirror!

Home Tap 3: Woah, it's a painting of the Lord of the Underworld! I couldn't tell from the statue, but the flames on his head was blue, huh! We're two peas in a pod, nyahaha!

Home Tap 4: The Thorn Fairy when she transforms into a dragon is crazy awesome～! I wanna get as big as her someday...!

Home Tap 5: Malleus was sayin' that even to him, 100 years feels much longer than a year. He's really some guy!

Home Tap - Groovy: Me 'n Deuce were talking 'bout what we'd be doing 100 years down the road, but... Yeah, guess you wouldn't have any idea either, huh!

Duo: [GRIM]: Malleus! Follow me! [MALLEUS]: I shall allow you to take the lead here, Grim.

Requested by @butterflyremix.

[chimerakingdom]

Chimera Kingdom Prologue, page 1

the story begins!

✧ next ->

[oddberryshortcake]

Remembering Lampwick/Candlewick's fate in the original Pinocchio story itself, makes me really REALLY worried about Grim in this event and future chapters.

Twst is often very upfront about foreshadowing. Something can be staring you right in the face and you don't even realize it until after that information finally comes out.

Lab gear Ortho foreshadows both 6 and 7 at the same time (at least I feel in my gut Ortho talking about irreversible damage is alluding to what happened to Silver in 7)

But there has been a consistent theme of 'something terrible is going to happen to Grim and there's nothing MC can do about it' almost everywhere in the game.

With him constantly eating overblot rocks, him talking about how he's going to become big multiple times-

and him dressed as Lampwick- not Pinocchio, Lampwick, the character most famously remembered for meeting a terrible fate through a horrifying transformation just really seals it in that Grim is an inherently tragic character

We see him as a monster in the prologue before we even properly meet him. Our first trial battle is impossible to win, we're against a chimera Grim inside of a destroyed hall of mirrors.

And the game doesn't let you forget thAT THIS IS THE FATE OF THE LITTLE CAT YOU BOND WITH OVER THE COURSE OF ALL THE CHAPTERS

Grim as Lampwick is yet another reminder that your cat is going to try to kill you and you might have to kill him and I'm losing my mind lol

That being said, I LOVE storytelling like this

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Chaos Creator's Chapter 278 and 6th Anniversary

Brief summary: Epley confirms she attacked CJG. CH and CJS are very angry. Cale also gets angry after seeing Maren's wings attached to elderly mage's back. Eru beats up Ryan.

==========

Today marks the 6th anniversary of LCF/TCF! 🎉 On April 9, 2018, the Prologue and 1st chapter of TCF part 1 were published on Munpia. To commemorate this day, the author released Chapter 278 early even though this was outside her chapter release schedule of MWF. She added her greetings at the end of the chapter.

Author's Note Greetings, this is Yoo Ryeo Han. Today marks the 6th anniversary of the serialization of "I Became the Trash of the Count's Family". So I would like to send you this greeting along with some words. It's already been 6 years…! There's still a long way to go…! Even though I feel like that, As always, I once again feel grateful and am resolved to write diligently. Every spring, I sometimes think of the moment I first began writing this series. I really don't think I'll ever forget that excitement and thrill. Thank you always for being with us. In the future, we will do our best to serve you with our best writing. -Yoo Ryeo Han P.S. Today again, I plan to eat meat to celebrate. Hahahaha!

Congratulations to the author for reaching 6 years! Here's hoping that there won't be a 7th year... but with all the recent reveals, I kinda doubt that. 🥲

But wow... it's been that long? I started reading this series around summer of 2019 and began buying chapter raws on RIDI around October of 2019. So I've been suffering from reading MTL for 5 years, hahaha 🤣🤣🤣

==========

Today could be summarized with one word: Angry. Cale's group were all angry. CJS confirmed Epley's a God of Chaos believer because of the pattern on her neck. And then she also confirmed that she fought CJG... which infuriated both CH and CJS who expressed their anger through "gentle" smiles and laughter.

God of Chaos liked chaotic things like mutations, variations, and hybrids, so his followers valued chimeras. The elderly mage that Cale's group had been searching was a chimera. He was a human, but on his back were... small dragon wings. Yes, it was Maren's wings.😡

Thus, Cale was really furious at the hunters. Fire AP too because of all the black liquid in the place, which he described to be 5x worse than Black Despair.

Ending Remarks So much anger today. Fortunately, Eru beat up Ryan that his face was swollen. Ryan falling down to the black liquid meant that this was not the end though. Next chapter would be Cale's response to finally getting the corrupted divine item.

[venture-through-the-mist]

The amount of people I’ve seen who are shocked/upset/annoyed about the Lotus Eaters being a short quest is, quite frankly, a little astonishing. We were told from the moment it was announced that it would be short, it has been compared to Apostasy Prologue and the Prelude to War (the Chimera Prologue specifically, I believe) multiple times. If you went into the quest thinking it was going to be longer than 5-ish minutes, that’s kinda on you at this point.

[hanafubukki]

What if every time a Yuu has failed, the timeline resets and another Yuu is summoned?

Additional points to this theory

Okay okay hear me out

As we noticed, each rendition of twst media has a different Yuu. They all are vastly different in terms of form, background, experiences, etc.

We have yuuken, yuuya, yuuka, and, of course, yuu/mc/reader.

A lot of people have been mentioning a Yuuverse and the time loop theory again because of the addition of Yuuka.

But what if? All these yuus are connected? We already have a theory of time being reset or reversed. We see how the prologue goes with Grim.

We know that game!Yuu can somewhat get visions that lead to or give a hint of an overblot. We saw how Yuu used that knowledge to spy on Vil before he OB and went to grim when flashes of the chimera came to them.

So what if, each time a Yuu fails, another one is summoned? With different traits, backgrounds, etc. to try again, to have a better chance, so history doesn’t repeat itself. So they can be saved?

Isn’t it Crowley who says “for me, for them, for you, we are all running out of time. Never let go of my hand”

We all knew that there’s something going on with the twst characters, but what if that also includes you? And all the other yuus?

What if, every time a Yuu failed and time reversed, those memories were sent to the new Yuu that arrived?

As a way to warn them? A way to help them?

And that is why we see game!Yuu have those visions. It’s a Yuu who has failed before and passed on their memories or hints to the new Yuu.

If we went a bit darker, we can say that the manga Yuus we see are the ones that have failed as well. We can say in a way, with the new yuus, each of them failed and their knowledge has passed on.

And that is why we get a new Yuu in every rendition

[sofasoap]

Nikolai

Lastochka series:

Lastochka - little Swallow Nikolai taking an interest in a little swallow in Taskforce 141. To the dismay of the boys.

Lastochka - Part II This is the chance,for Nikolai, Captain of Chimera, to show his quality. 

Lastochka - interlude Realising your feeling for the flirtatious Russian man.

Lastochka - Part III Keeping it under the radar has its benefit. until it isn’t.

Lastochka - Night Two can play the game. Lastochka - wedding night You want to please your newly wedded husband, just as he has pleased you.

Lastochka - Part IV Will they be too late?

Lastochka - Part V Denial and healling.

Lastochka - Epilogue  Family.

A quiet moment - Lastochka Little Anya getting all the love from the family

Lastochka -Espionage A mission you can not refuse Lastochka - in the hanger You miss the intimate sessions with your husband after all the hectic missions and life. you decided to seek him out in the hanger.

Drabble - Por Una Cabeza Distractions and tango.

Lastochka - Raging waves

Lastochka - Raging Waves - prologue Just as everyone think life is peaceful and calm, the past comes crashing back into both your life. Malen`kaya printsessa After the chaos. the family. Nikolai's little precious princess.

Lastochka AU:

Lastochka AU : Strange taxi driver  New city, new life, new job. What else can go wrong on the first day? Lastochka AU : Strange blind date The one and only time you want to twist Gaz Garrick's head off. Lastochka AU - Strange Encounter You just can't get a break, can you?

Lastochka AU - Strange marriage He wants you, and maybe you want him too?

Lastochka Au - Strange battlefield Nikolai is focusing his energy too much on protecting something that is very precious to him. His wife's backside.

Lastochka AU - Strange confession Some sickness, some realisation, some confession, some sadness.

Lastochka AU - Strange tribulation The shock, the anger, the banishment,the begging, and the finale. -- Alternative ending - what if they didn't........

Lastochka AU - Seven Seas - 1 Going against the odds of society's expectation and prejudice, you made a name for yourself as Lady Fortuna of the sea. but one day ....

[yuurei20]

Hello! I wanted to ask, but do we have any visual descriptions of the blot monster that killed Ortho? Like even just if it was big or if it had claws anything like that lol

Also this is a bit of a darker question do feel free to not answer this part but is the it ever implied or said how exactly Ortho was killed? Like did the blot monster like.. bite or maybe squash him? (Ngl I'd normally ask it in a more graphic way but I don't wanna make you uncomfortable)

Anyways I hope you have a good night/day whenever you read this <3

Hello hello! ^^ Thank you for this question!

I do not believe we have any detailed description of exactly what it is that happened to human-Ortho and, interestingly, we do not really know what happened to Idia, either!

There is a loud sound of something striking against something else and Idia says, "Everything after that is a blank for me. By the time I woke up, Ortho was gone."

What was that sound we hear after the monster lunges for Ortho? Metal against metal? Someone or something hitting a wall, or floor? How did Idia fall unconscious, and what happened in between Ortho being attacked and Idia being knocked out?

"Everything after that is a blank" may be insinuating that something happened during that "everything after," but he either can't or does not want to remember what it was. Very curious!

And there may be more to this scene than meets the eye 👀

When Ortho reacts to the creature coming down the hall, he doesn't call it a phantom: he calls it a monster.

"Monster" is one of the various ways that the cast refer to Grim (re: Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt1) / Animal vs. Monster vs. Cat vs. Dire Beast vs. Tanuki (pt2) ).

STYX labels him a dire beast in Book 6, but at the same time we learn that Grim is under a powerful spell that STYX's supercomputer can't actually analyze!

Grim might not be a direbeast at all, and we have already heard of creatures that will blend in with direbeasts in order to hide: phantoms 👀

I first came across this theory via Vtuber Toro-san (shared with permission) who points out some interesting things we know about the creature:

1. It was subject ROS-3367A, which possibly means that the phantom originally came from the Queendom of Roses, and Grim is theorized to have been at least partially based on Dinah from Alice in Wonderland.

(In Book 6 we also hear about a SUS-332OB, theorized to be from Sunset Savanna.)

2. While the weaker phantoms frozen on the higher levels of Tartarus in Book 6 mostly growl, the stronger phantoms frozen deeper inside would sometimes speak, saying, "I'm hungry, feed me flesh," "Don't go, stay with me" and "I want to be friends, too."

This is not impossible to tie back to Grim, who recalls waking up "hungry and alone," saying "it was real cold."

He follows with, "What happened after that again? It's all so foggy..."

Grim is mysterious enough on his own, not knowing where NRC is located (which begs the question: how did he get there?) and having significant gaps in his memory, in addition to being so unfamiliar with basic information of what is (presumably?) his own world that other characters often express surprise. (re: Grim's Memory / Grim's Experiences)

3. The chimera in the prologue has long been theorized to be some form of overblotted Grim. Is that his true form as a potentially flesh-eating, unfrozen phantom under a curse and/or blessing that no one understands?

We do not know! :> To the original question: it is difficult to pinpoint how exactly it was that Ortho died, as we do not know exactly what it was that killed him. (If it was the chimera in the opening, though, we have an idea of what it is he may have looked like at the time!)

We know Ortho was killed by a monster who had just escaped from a place built expressly for the purpose of housing lonely, violent, and hungry creatures--but that is all!

Perhaps a mystery to be solved as the plot thickens 👀

[meatball-headache]

I dont have a non-spoilery screenshot for The Sacrifice, so, please enjoy this survey!

Chiclet's not allowed to read this yet, so shhhh

Howling... full moon... heh. He's a Wereframe.

So, once again I'm captivated by Warframe's approach to storytelling. It's unique, in my experience—and I'll be glad to admit my experience is pretty limited. MMOs tend to dominate all your time, y'know?

I've heard how with The Second Dream they started to take the story in a different direction, that is, they introduced a lot more cinematic scenes—and, man, they pack a punch. Honestly, I think introducing this style later in the game, years down the road for some players and still many months for myself—it's very effective. I keep using analogies like playing Tetris to level 100 and then suddenly you get a scene that introduces the pieces' names. If Warframe had been this from the beginning, it still would have been good, but the impact of the surprise wouldn't have been there, and that moment still shines so brightly for me. The game would just be a fun grind to kill some time without it, but with that "This is what you are" scene, the whole game just took on a profound, sacred aspect that can't be topped.

...and yet...

No, no, The Sacrifice isn't better than The Second Dream, but, I am surprised. See, I've long known two things: one, you can look at the Codex and see all the quests in the game. Angels of the Zariman is there right from the beginning, except it says "Prerequisite: The New War." Whispers in the Walls is there right from the beginning, except it says "Prerequisite: The New War." Jade Shadows is there from the beginning, except it says "Prerequisite: The New War."

The New War does not appear in my Codex.

The second thing I've long known? The New War is going to be a big deal.

There's something else that's been stuck in my craw for a long time. What's the Ropalolyst? There's a mission on Jupiter that can't be done because it requires the quest The Chimera: Prologue. That quest... also doesn't appear in my Codex? So, there are some quests that aren't in the Codex...

Compared to FFXIV, there's no comparison. A classic MMORPG is quest-dense with wall-to-wall dialogue and almost nonstop cutscenes. On the other end of the coin, the other type of game I'm most familiar with is Soulsbornes, where there's almost no story in-game; it's more similar to the NES classics where you turn on the game, press Start, and fight stuff until you see credits. Warframe, of course, doesn't need to be FFXIV, but what's exciting is the hint that there's something behind it all, and there's still some secrets I don't know about.

I did Apostasy: Prologue and was really surprised to find out that it's a one-mission quest that sets up the next story quest. I wonder if it released at the same time as The Sacrifice? I was thinking I'd do Apostasy tonight, The Sacrifice tomorrow... well, since Apostasy was basically just one cutscene, I had to do The Sacrifice. I'll get into the details later, but...

What the...

Well. We found the Chimera Prologue. Hell, we found the Chimera, didn't we?

This is what I mean. Once again, I'm astounded by the game's turns. So, Prelude to War has... chapters?! That's never been a thing before. That explains why Chimera Prologue wasn't in my Codex. Maybe The New War is one of these chapters? No, no, for what a big deal The New War is, it must be its whole own system. It must be something as big as Duviri. It's got to be something.

None of the quests in this game have been big enough to warrant chapters. I'm guessing it's not that each "chapter" is just its own mission, no. Each chapter must be the size of a normal quest, right? Around 3-5 missions, cutscenes between a couple...

Just want to throw this in, I really like how Warframe just doesn't give a shit about throwing something weird at you without explanation. You get an objective "Search the lab." Search for what? Is it glowing? Am I supposed to use my scanner on it? Turn into the kid and blast it with my void beam? Walk up to it and press the button? Am I looking for a console to use, an item to pick up, damage to get curious about? I appreciate that Warframe seems to trust the player to figure it out. They trust the player to figure out that there's something to figure out. ...which might be a little optimistic on their part, because I did have to look up what to do on those Kuva siphon missions...

FFXIV's narrative is massive and non-stop. I have to wait four months for the next patch, but every patch always ends with a big fight, and then Y'shtola puzzling over some magical mystery, saying, "I'll let you know when I've figured something out." When the patch comes out, you talk to her in the same place, "Perfect timing! I just wanted to let you know I've figured something out." A new player would get uninterrupted flow and never know when one patch ends and another begins, unless they clue in on the little narrative trick. But, like I said, me, I've always played patches day one, and then I have months between patches.

If I played Warframe the same way... well, the way I'm playing Warframe now, is that I'm going at an absolute snail's pace, tiptoeing my way through the quests and spending a lot of time leveling things and grinding all the time.

I'm not explaining myself properly. Let me try again.

Warframe's quests released months or more apart, as did FFXIV's. But FFXIV's are meant to be continuous. Warframe's feel like they need to have space between them, because it's not a continuous narrative from one to the next. I'm not saying the story is disjointed or makes no sense; but imagine if it were FFXIV, and you do the quest where you fight Ifrit and all that, and then the next quest is to do the banquet and fight Titan, and then the next quest is to fight Garuda. Played back to back, it'd feel like there's vast gaps between them, both narratively and level-wise.

Maybe I just have a shit memory for lore? Warframe's quests always feel like they're talking about characters I should be extremely familiar with. Or, maybe I'm just used to less-well-written games that explicitly hand you reminders of these characters that haven't been mentioned in several minutes.

So, The Sacrifice is all about Ballas. I don't really know who Ballas is, but this quest has the feeling of "Finally, we're going to take on Ballas." But, I have heard about him. In The Second Dream, we see that Margulis was talking to Ballas. He might've been mentioned in Chains of Harrow? Or, no... I think it was The Silver Grove, where we had dialogue from I don't remember who, someone who was building Warframes for Ballas, I think, and regretted it because they were doing horrible things, so her last Warframe was Titania, to protect the forest. But where I know Ballas from the most is the song, "For Narmer." I don't know the context in-game, but you can't listen to "We All Lift Together" on Youtube without getting recommended the rest. There's a lyric that says "Praise the wise and mighty Ballas" in it. I thought they were saying "balance" at first, but then I thought, are they saying someone's name?

Ballas is a little like Ludwig from Bloodborne. If you've been paying attention, you have hints and snippets of this guy's role in the story. If you're like me, you take one little hint, dwell on it, obsess over it, and when the grand reveal finally comes, oh how grand it is! Ludwig, Ballas, Ketenramm... okay, maybe not Ketenramm.

Warframe has this unshakable feeling that there was some plot between quest beats that I missed. Same thing with just... the game. Ghoul Purge! Thermia Fractures! ...do I know what that's about? Was there some quest to introduce those, and now they're just in the game? It's like fighting Yojimbo or Typhon at the Gold Saucer when you've been playing FFXIV for three weeks and you're level 37. Am I supposed to know who this is? Oh well, gotta do my dailies! Or the... Rathuum? Where you fight... I had to look up her name... Kela De Thaym, on Sedna. The thing has this feeling like we're old rivals, her dialogue suggests she's finally going to get us for all the times we've foiled her before! But, lady, we just met you. Actually, we haven't even met you! We just showed up at this new node and you're going, "Finally we settle things!"

Don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining, it's just a very unique feeling about the game's whole quest style.

There's something else, too. There always is, you know me.

You ever get into a new series, books, movies, games, whatever? There's already three seasons but you're just finding out about it now, so you eat it all up and you're excited to learn there's going to be a new season next year. It comes and you watch it and... it just feels different? They got new writers, or the pacing is weird, something's just not clicking. And then next year another new season and, yeah it's just not as good. Or, music, people do this with music all the time, right?

When I first got into Warframe, Angels of the Zariman was the new patch. I didn't play it, obviously, don't know anything about it, but, I wonder if, when I get to that point, then everything from then on is going to feel like "new" Warframe, and just not have the same impact as the "original" stuff? I know me; I'm certain I'm going to be overly aware of the dividing line, and look for changes.

Also? In The Sacrifice, we learn that Margulis was sentenced to the Jade light. There's a new Warframe named Jade, and in fact a whole new quest called Jade Shadows. Clearly, this "Jade" thing has been long foreshadowed (lol) and must tie into the story deeply. I just thought it was a cool new Warframe they made because they didn't have one starting with J already. My playing these old quests with hints of knowledge of the future is an interseting perspective; anyone playing these things back when they were new wouldn't have this "Ah, so this is where Jade comes from!" moment... but at the same time, they get what I won't, they get a "Holy shit they're finally making a Jade Warframe?!" (Now that I think about it, that does kind of explain why this warranted a whole new Eximus type...)

Now, the actual quest.

What the FUCK just happened?

After dealing with Rell's psyche and releasing or destroying Harrow in the Void, or whatever we did, there's something odd in our personal quarters. When we go in, we suddenly find ourselves on Lua, where we find... the pod containing the actual Lotus? And then Ballas just... shows up, and takes her away? But, Ballas is one of the Orokin, the people that were annihilated by the Warframes in the Old War (I think) ... how long ago? A couple years? A couple thousand years? I think there were some lore snippets along the lines of, after the Orokin fell, the Grineer and Corpus took over the system. The Grineer used to be strong and competent, but cloning errors began to creep in generation after generation, so some time must have transpore since the Old War. We have extremely overgrown Orokin ruins on Deimos. And, Ballas's dialogue suggests he's been around for a bazillion years.

What happened? Why did Ballas wait for us to arrive to take the Lotus away? Did we have to lead him to her? We found magic voices from the Lotus asking to be freed... is this what she's always wanted? Or was that a memory from when she was like, imprisoned before her execution? The other lines do seem to be the latter, so. Who was it that Ballas turned into Umbra? Does it matter? Is it supposed to be someone we know? Why does Ballas have a long Bloodborne arm? Why is Ballas a blue Orokin and Isaah is just like a dude?

All rhetorical questions, as always, but this is what I'm asking for real. Am I forgetting something? Or am I meant to wonder what's going on, try to figure out the missing pieces? These cutscenes are as cinematic as anything in Final Fantasy, but the story is as Swiss-cheesed as any Soulsborne. Pieces are missing and I don't know what's going on, but it's being presented as if I already have the setup, as if I already know the context.

And, again. I love this style. It's completely fascinating and captivating. I'm not being critical, I know it sounds like I'm just complaining about being confused, but, that's not the case. I like being confused, because it's just the right level. There's plenty of story and characters, and enough lore and just... this vibe to suggest there's more. Ordis chirps every now and then, "Do you remember the Old War? Ordis seems to have... misplaced those memories." That's enough to make you go, whoa whoa whoa, what? ...and now whenever you play, you're looking for any tangential reference to this mysterious "Old War." Nora on the radio talks about Alad V's experiments, and now you know this mad scientist is out there something, up to something strange... It's not always a throughline narrative like FF, but you get these pieces to sort of color a vibe, so to speak. The world gradually fills in, and every now and then the dam breaks and it all spills forth, and you get all the water you could ever want, but... gosh, it's pretty messy sometimes.

Somehow, I've lucked into the ideal way to play this game, I think. At least, I'm having a lot of fun. I look up builds on websites, and they'll have powerful mods like Umbral Intensify. Umbral! I know about Primed, but Umbral!? Where do I get that! ...and then, suddenly, I have it, and it's like the stars have aligned and I've achieved enlightenment. At long last, this mythical relic has entered my hand! And, not gonna lie, it's kind of a profound moment. Now I know. Now I know where this important and mysterious item comes from!

There's so much to this game. Eidolon hunts, Kuva liches, sorties—these I've just recently unlocked, in terms of progression, and I could spend ages grinding them for the latest paths to strength. And there's more out there that I know very little or nothing about. I have "Arbitration" on my menu, but I can't select it until I clear the star chart, which includes a few things I can't do, like the Ropalolyst, and things I'm not up to yet, like Zariman, and things I can't even fathom a guess at, like the half-dozen remaining nodes on Deimos. I've vaguely heard about Icarnons? Something about a special mode for weapons? And recently I was watching a video explaining damage types, and he mentioned Archon shards? I have no idea what that is! But this man is shooting a bow that explodes ten times for 1,000,000 damage each hit... I can sometimes do a million damage with Baruuk's exalted weapon's charged heavy attack... And, there's probably more cool mods out there that are just super rare from an extremely specific source... I've heard of Adaptation and Growing Power, a couple other types of "Power," I think, so those must be from... who knows? C rotation in a rescue mission on Sedna? I know Vor shows up after round 1 survival on Mot in the Void, and he drops some unique mods, so maybe other places have some weird gimmick like that? I just don't know, and I probably won't without looking it up.

There is SO. MUCH. To this game. It's absurd. I've never played anything that comes close, even FFXIV, with as huge a game as it is, its content is much more samey—consistent tomestone systems, raid loot designs, dungeon length, whatnot. Nothing compares to Warframe, it's absolutely ridiculous.

And?

All this is free. Completely free. The only things you can only get with real cash money are cosmetic skins and syandanas and color palettes, I think. You can play the entire story and campaign for free, you can get every Warframe for free—getting enough storage to keep them all is a different story, though... Nora has some slots you can grind for sometimes but mostly you gotta pay—you can get all the Prime Warframes and weapons for free, there's no paid version of the season pass, no subscribers-only zones or Warframes or quests...

If I had found Warframe before FFXIV... I probably wouldn't have liked it. Original Warframe seemed... really different. I mean, current Warframe didn't even grab me until the third or fourth time around. But, I mean, what'm I playing now? I played Dawntrail, I logged in as soon as the servers went live and I sank deep into the story for a couple months. I took my time, exploring, grinding all my jobs first, and then as soon as the story was done—I went and did the post-game dungeons and raids :p But as soon as that was done, I just kinda... stopped playing. I haven't capped tomes once in Dawntrail; I used to do it religiously. I haven't even been getting all my Arcadion NM loot. I love FFXIV, it's my absolute baby, thinking about it, reminiscing about it, listening to it—my god, Soken's a genius—pondering the story, looking at fanart... but when it comes to pure gameplay? It's... dry. Combat is great—for an MMO. I find action RPGs like Warframe, Bloodborne, these kind of things a lot more fun, in terms of pure gameplay. And, look, every dungeon is formulaic, so many of the jobs play so similarly to others... Then you go to Warframe where, yes, missions are extremely formulaic, but you also have randomized maps, Stalker attacks, Eximus waves; and every Warframe plays so different from every other. Every weapon is different! Most games seem to just be a sliding scale of "This shoots fast but does less damage," "This shoots slow and does lots of damage," "This does lots of damage but is not accurate." Warframe has "This is an assault rifle," "This is an assault rifle. If you empty the magazine then it drains life from enemies nearby." "This is an assault rifle. It shoots missiles that explode," "This shoots grenades. You have to press this button to detonate them manually."

All right, folks. I'm tired of writing. To summarize: I love Warframe, this quest was great. Thanks for reading. Good night.