#dr damus lore

[sablegear0]

So I finished Axiom Verge 2

A little while ago, actually. I didn't post about it at the time because I didn't (and still kind of don't tbh) have any hugely profound thoughts about it, but I recently played through and beat Axiom Verge 2.

I'm not sure what it's missing but it feels as if it's lacking something of the original. Still a decent game; interesting exploration, gorgeous pixel art, unique abilities, and if nothing else the soundtrack still freaking hits. More thoughts under the cut including spoilers for both AV1 and 2.

Tl;dr Overall, I liked it. Not a bad game, but I feel some story stuff was a bit fumbled. Not to any critical degree but it's the sort of thing that's noticeable if you're looking for it.

If you liked the first one, give it a look. It has some interesting implications for the overall lore of the Axiom Verge universe. I found the overall gameplay enjoyable, upgrade-hunting and getting to pick your progression is neat, the changes to the hacking mechanic are implemented well and create a sort of secondary resource management loop that's pretty clever. And of course the soundtrack is excellent, I'd say overall more listenable casually than AV1's.

To get into the story stuff, I feel like some of the major story beats were a bit fumbled in AV2 compared to the original. AV1 plays to the strengths of the game whose skin it's wearing - mimicking Super Metroid's vibe of (near-)total isolation by presenting Trace's presence on Sudra as a mystery in itself to be solved by exploring. With the help of some cryptic supercomputers, of course; the iconic Rusalki feature prominently in AV1's promotional art, and are introduced early on in the game's story as a constant background presence.

By contrast in AV2, while Indra ends up in Kiengir by accident, she goes to the location of the portal very much on purpose. I feel like Indra's motivation to find her estranged daughter is kind of... weak? In the very brief intro and in a few of the notes scattered around, she's presented as a driven, rather cold, corporate powerhouse type. I think the lengths she goes to during her adventure would be more interesting if her motivation was solely to figure out what Hammond and the other scientists had been up to in Antarctica and Kiengir. Especially given how AV2 ends, it's clear her motivations are still mostly self-interested (Though I did like that she seemed to soften a bit dealing with Damu and learning the plight of the other Arms, I feel like that arc leading to some reconciliation with her daughter Samara maybe got abbreviated for time.) I wasn't overly bothered by the lack of "isolation"/the presence of other humans, I thought it was interesting to see what the other trapped researchers got up to and how the various factions interacted. Talking to the other people also lets the player see a bit more of Indra's character, which isn't a bad thing. (Also, the way a lot of these interactions are written supports my point that her motivation could have been left as solely selfish and still been compelling. It felt like the team didn't want to fully commit to Indra just being kind of an unpleasant person...)

My other story gripe is the freaking Lamassu. I feel like the Lamassu's presence was predetermined by how the team wanted to market AV2. Like it was the first thing they came up with, visually. Its presence and presentation are engineered to stand in contrast to AV1's promo material. Trace, a tiny male figure, standing in a darkened space before the looming, Giegeresque feminine figure of a Rusalka is the striking imagery that was AV1's visual hook. In all the AV2 promo imagery, the small feminine Indra stands among the clouds face-to-face with the Babylonian-bearded masculine Lamassu. (Both compositions even have their figures facing opposite directions!) It feels like all the visuals of that beat were predetermined, while its actual story significance was secondary to that.

You meet the Lamassu basically halfway through the game and the first thing it does is tell you to off yourself because you're infected with nanotech, then basically refuses to help you. It pops up a few more times to guide you around, but doesn't have the kind of distinct personality the various Rusalki did. It's supposed to be a being of pure logic, and that quirk comes up a little bit in that it runs into some internal conflict over the course of the story, but I feel like that, too, was underutilized. (Though admittedly there is some unintentional comedy to the lost, grumpy Indra finally happening upon this fabled, supposedly benevolent AI overmind and the first thing it says to her is basically 'kys'.) In AV1 the Rusalki are introduced fairly early by comparison, so the player can get it into their head that they're around. They keep in pretty frequent contact with Trace, they have their own interpersonal conflicts, and even figure directly into some late-game events so their presence is constantly being felt. The Lamassu by comparison is a very hands-off guide who shows up too late to feel as significant as its presence in the marketing material would suggest it is.

Now that I'm done complaining - and truly these are fairly minor complaints, this is just me being nit-picky because I'm a writer and I feel like a few shifts in presentation could really have made this game a gem - I can talk about all the other stuff!

The optional "bosses" thing was an interesting choice. They're required for 100% items but otherwise are totally avoidable, with the exception of two, maybe three "bosses" that are sort of in the way and would require very careful play to avoid. One of them however is not directly aggressive, and is more of an environmental hazard that slowly follows you around. (This one is also a very cool puzzle and is one of my favourite challenges in the game, on reflection.) The game's hacking mechanic does foster the option for pseudo-pacifist play, with the ability to slow or disable, or even flip the allegiance of most common enemies.

There's also a sort of secondary resource management thing that encourages hacking. Some enemies drop these little canisters of nanite stuff that can be used to do a few different things. The canisters themselves can be hacked to become volatile on-hit, to explode when hacked, or to drop a bit of health. A bit later after encountering these types of enemies, the player gets the ability to pick up and carry these canisters and consume them to restore health on-demand. This creates a choice between hacking enemies to get them to drop their cargo and stealing that for later, or hacking the cargo itself to explode those enemies (many of which are a bit difficult to kill for one reason or another, so the choice isn't always obvious!)

I liked the changes to the Breach as well. Rather than being an extra-hard corner of an area you could loot for goodies, the Breach is now a Link to the Past/Between Worlds-esque mirror-realm with its own internal progression, enemies, and playstyle (as you can now only access the Breach via your remote drone). Flipping between the Breach and Kiengir and manipulating your position via portals becomes a major component of mid-late gameplay, especially if you're going for 100% items. It's also... I don't know how else to say this but, cute? that the whole breach dimension is at a lower resolution than the main area. Everything feels small and cute, and a lot of the enemies are re-used from AV1 so it's a fun little homage-dimension in addition to being an actually challenging part of the game. (Also training the Player how to maneuver and fight in drone mode before the mid-game thing-that-happens by doing a lot of Breach stuff was a clever choice. Good job devs, I see what you did there.)

And of course I have to gush about the soundtrack real quick because this is getting to be a long post. It's good. It's real good. I like that Happ leaned into the Mesopotamian aesthetic by also choosing some Middle Eastern-sounding instruments to go along with the main chiptune-y compositions. It works really well, imo. Each area has an overworld and a Breach version of its music, which can be quite different! (ie. Not just "covers" of one another but separate melodies and progressions in some areas.) The Breach tracks are much chirpier and exclusively chiptune, while the overworld tracks have (midi) instruments and actual vocals (there's a vocalist credited in-game and in the OST, which is cool bc all the vocals in AV1's OST were just samples!) I also really like the two bonus tracks included in the OST. "Ancient Axiom" is a cover of AV1's main theme with the traditional instruments plus chip drums (which if I'm being honest I may have to choreograph something to, it's so good), while "Afterworld Axiom" is a catchy medley of the two games' main themes.

Anyway, until next time!

[sir-subpar]

Dr Damus Info/Lore Post

Below the cut!

I'll start with random facts about our dear doctor!

Dr Damus usually has his right arm behind his back, which you all have already noticed. Though maybe you're wondering why. Well you see, he does a lot of work that requires arm/wrist strength, and unfortunately he has strained his right arm quite a bit. It has caused him to develop a really bad case of carpal tunnel.

For those who don't know, carpal tunnel is a condition that causes numbness, tingling, and/or pain in the hand and forearm (if it's really bad it can reach the shoulder too). It happens when one of the major nerves to the hand (the median nerve is what it's called, I think) is compressed/pinched as it travels through the wrist.

(It can get real bad if not dealt with, even causing permanent nerve damage!)

Dr Damus sometimes puts rose petals in his mask, that way he doesn't have to smell any... Unwanted scents 

He is friendly! He actually likes people, but other people tend to find him unsettling and... legally dubious.

He has a history of grave-robbing. 

Dr Damus is Demisexual (Demi Dr Damus, say that 5x fast lol)

He and Samwell have met before. He's fascinated by the scarecrow man. In this world, it's actually not common for scarecrows to be alive (though not completely unheard of, it's still rare). He really wants to know how Samwell works. How he's alive, his anatomy, why he has bones, does he eat, etc. 

Samwell finds him unsettling.

Ever wondered why Dr Damus has a tinted monocle? Well, fun fact! It's actually loosely based on old lore. Plague doctors wore goggles/tinted lenses because they believed it would reflect curses back to the caster. (So so apparently if you want to be curse-proof just put on some sunglasses)

Though I draw him with a saw often, you'd be surprised how little he actually uses it on patients. He more often than not uses it for more personal projects. He does some commission work on the side

Sinthia and Damis know each other as well. They get along decently, they're not really close enough to be friends, more like friendly acquaintances. But Sinthia sometimes provides the materials that he can use, most specifically Enchanted threads.

As you guys might have noticed, Sinthia does a lot of seamwork/sewing. She has made a specific type of thread that can be used to repair whatever it's stitched into. Dr Damus sometimes buys some of these things from her so that when he gives patients stitches they heal faster! (Kind of like those dissolvable stitches that you get from the dentist/oral surgeon, but faster and more magical)

Few people know his first name. He doesn't really like to share what his first name is unless it's someone he's particularly close to. It's something sort of intimate to him. Is his first name weird? Maybe, maybe not 

If I ever make this into a real dating Sim, I'd want there to be a scene for this. If someone goes the Dr Damus route, they'd eventually get to know his first name

 Damus has a "doctor stick". It's basically a cane that he uses to inspect things without having to actually touch people. He doesn't like to touch sick/injured people with his bare hands (like most doctors, that's why he wears gloves and whatnot)

I'm going to make a height chart at some point for these characters, but just so you know, even though he looks tall in the drawings so far, he's actually the second shortest character in the group (not counting his hat of course, that'd be cheating).

Riahna is one of his patients.

He's somewhere in his early to mid 30's, age-wise (all the love interests are older than 20. The youngest is Samwell, who's 28/29)

He has a bit of an interest in taxidermy as well (are you surprised?)

Gender is kind of a weird thing to him. Though yes, he does go by he/him, (they/them/it/it's  fine too, he doesn't really care). There's a little Easter egg in the picture that kind of indicates more for this :)

Overall he's a fairly patient guy, but he has his limits. 

He tries to have good bedside manner with patients, but sometimes you forget that things that aren't scary to him could be terrifying to other people. 

He treats all sorts of patients, human and otherwise. 

He once had a patient that was a centaur. They didn't tell him that they were extremely afraid of needles, so when he tried to give them a rabies shot, they kicked him. Broke 2 ribs.

He sometimes has "unconventional" practices, but people can actually afford his help (he charges little to none for medical things) so people don't really mind.

When he has children patients, he understands that he can be intimidating, his solution? He actually has multiple masks! Whenever he has a kid come in for an appointment, he puts on one of his spare masks, and lets the kid draw on it.

He sometimes keeps Tools in his hat

His building/office has little to no stairs. He used to work at a medical Center that had only stairs… for the building that provided wheelchairs. It's a major pet peeve for him. He saved up to have his building remodeled with ramps/elevators. Sure, he can use the stairs just fine, but at his old center, he had numerous patients who ended up missing appointments because they couldn't get inside. He vowed not to let that happen again. He feels like it's the bare minimum for a hospital/medical Center to have.

How about we do some Dr Damus x Y/N stuff? He's supposed to be a dating sim character after all!

He's so used to wearing his mask sometimes he forgets it's there. There's a good chance that he'd try to give y/n a kiss, but forget to take the mask off and end up just kind of bonking y/n in the face lol

He can be a bit nosey, but he does mean well. (When I say he's nosey, I mean it in the way that he asks a lot of questions. He doesn't go through people's belongings or anything like that). 

He, as a doctor, has the instinct to treat injuries when he sees them. So if y/n has an illness or wound, he kinda just snaps into doctor mode and feels the need to act accordingly (even if it's just a scrape, he's got disinfectant, hydrogen peroxide, and bandages in a second)

Some of his favorite flowers are Roses and Chrysanthemums.

He's not really flirty until he's in a relationship. So yeah, he's not usually the type to make the first move. 

He encourages body positivity, but in a different way. He doesn't just say that "you're beautiful just the way you are", to him, that's too vague. He'd more likely say that "your body is good because it works. It does its job." 

Let's say he's talking to someone who's self conscious about… I dunno, their legs or something. Maybe they've got thick thighs, maybe their legs have a lot of scars, whatever. He'd probably say something along the lines of "Your legs carry your body, they allow you to move place to place, what else could you ask them to do?" 

But what if the person's legs don't work? They're unable to walk for whatever reason. "You are adaptive. You have taken what life has given you, for better or for worse. You are alive. You deserve to keep and live that life. You know I am here to help if you need."

Sorry if that was long, but that's the basic gist

He often shows affection through words, but he also likes to give gifts to his s/o. Sharing interests with someone is a big thing for him. 

Imagine him giving someone a skull he found and just being like "Look at how intricate it is! Look at how it works, isn't that amazing? The teeth!" (He's very passionate about what he does, but he has a particular interest in Bones)

Pet names! He does call people "my dear" but he says that to most people, so it's not really romantic to him. But here are some pet names he might use for his s/o:

Cauliflower

Rosebud

Little bird

Raven

Love/lovely

Feather

Might come up with more at some point but that's all I got right now

I think that's pretty much it for now. If y'all have any questions, let me know!

[sir-subpar]

Riahna Lore Post!

Below the cut

Riahna’s pronouns are she/they (demigirl), and they’re a demiromantic bisexual

Riahna’s favorite color is green.

Their mask is actually fused to her skin. She can’t take it off, at least, not without pulling off her face as well. It gives them the ability to transform into an actual raven as well as their other bird attributes, like how her arms are similar to bird legs, their feathery tail, etc. (a blessing and a curse)

Riahna actually grows feathers all over her body, but they have grown to dislike her bird features/powers, and so they’ll pull the feathers out whenever they appear. 

She owns a bar called “Nevermore” (as you saw in the redesign post for them)

Their voice is kinda low and scratchy thanks to the constant alcohol she’s drinking (“whiskey voice”)

They can only fly in bird form.

Like the sign at her bar says, their main coping mechanism is to “drink their problems away”. As you can imagine, it’s not healthy.

Riahna may not like to admit it, but they’re lonely. They want someone to love her, but they’re afraid as well. She does better with people who start as friends and then go into romantic territory, they won’t just jump into a romantic relationship right away.

They are one of Dr. Damus’ patients, he helped her with their prosthetic legs. He tried to help with the mask too, but nothing could be done about that, it’s basically her skin.

Thanks to the beak on the mask, any shirts that aren’t button-ups or something similar are difficult to put on.

They like dancing 

If I end up making this dating sim, a mechanic that will appear will be a gift mechanic. As the name implies, you could give presents to the characters, but the thing is, certain gifts will work better with certain characters. For example: a farmer’s hat would be a good gift for Samwell, but Riahna would not like it at all.

 It would also be possible to mention other characters you've met and ask about those characters. If you were to ask Sinthia if she knew Riahna, she’d say no. Riahna knows Dr. Damus and Samwell, but not Sinthia. Be careful, certain characters have beef with each other, and that could cause some tension. You can (accidentally or not) bring up a touchy subject

Riahna does NOT like Samwell. At all. Why is that? Well, to summarize: Samwell is the reason Riahna lost their legs. Being disabled is of course not the worst thing in the world, and Riahna is living fine with prosthetic legs, a traumatic injury is still a traumatic injury. The thing is, Samwell doesn’t even know that he’s met Riahna before. He was doing what a scarecrow does, guarding his farm, when he saw a bird eating at the crops. So, he fired at it, not knowing that it was a person in bird form. He still doesn’t know that he shot Riahna. If he did, he would feel guilty about it.

Riahna just wants to forget it happened, But she can’t. No matter how much she drinks the pain away it always comes back later. They don’t want to confront it, or him. 

Samwell's lore post is next!

[sir-subpar]

Sinthia Lore post!

Below the cut!

Don't worry about the pic, I was just doing some facial expression practice lol

Here it is! Sinthia lore stuff/info! I'll start with physical details:

Though it may be hard to tell, her whole body is actually fuzzy. She does her best to smooth most of it down.

Out of the main cast, she is the tallest by far. Sadly most buildings around her don't account for her height, so she oftentimes has to lean down to get into places.

Since I had to redesign her legs (and she no longer has four of them) I decided to give her spider feet.

She does have venom, but it's pretty benign and not that dangerous. So her main self-defense mechanism is actually kicking. Considering her height, it's very effective.

She will have many different outfits, most of them will have some sort of spider theme.

She's based on a Simaetha Jumping spider. So, as the name implies, she's quite good at jumping and climbing.

She has gold patterns on her body, but she hides most of them under her clothes. It's part of why she always wears gloves.

Okay, time for more in depth stuff now.

Sinthia is both a witch and a seamstress. She makes mostly clothing, and likes to enchant what she makes. Sometimes she just does little spells, like clothes that change color. Sometimes she makes more substantial things like clothes that shift to fit better or change size.

She does her best to seem confident and collected, but she has her own insecurities and issues like anyone else. She feels a need for validation. She likes it when people find her impressive or beautiful, so she worries about people getting "too close". She thinks if people know her too well, they'll lose interest or think less of her.

She doesn’t really care about labels when it comes to her sexuality. She’s not straight, but she doesn’t really know/care what to call herself, she just likes who she likes.

She loves boots. Wearing them, making them, doesn't matter. She really likes thigh-high boots.

She has a lot of siblings. Nine of them, in fact. She's the 10th sibling. She wasn't given a lot of attention and love like her other siblings, which is part of why she wants so many people to pay attention to her. 

She doesn’t have a good relationship with her parents.

She sometimes helps Dr Damus by making materials for him (she makes clothes on commission) like new masks, gloves, etc.

Side note:

She and Samwell know each other, they're kind of friends(?) They aren’t super close. She pulls pranks on him and he still hasn't caught on to one of them. A few years ago, Sinthia enchanted part of his farm to grow zucchini no matter what. Sounds great right? Well.. Now he can't grow anything else in that part of his farm. Only zucchini. I'll explain how he handles it in his lore post later on, this post is about Sinthia.

How about some Sinthia x Y/N stuff?

Sinthia's spider abdomen (aka: "spider butt") shakes when she really likes someone, similar to when a dog wags their tail. 

If Y/N is shorter than her, (which is common) there's a high chance that she'll hold them/lift them off the ground often. Carry them around and whatnot :)

She finds couples dancing really romantic. 

She will make her s/o clothes. She's a designer, she makes clothes, so yeah, she'll dress up her significant other. If she gets married, she'll make the wedding attire.

Y/N is not safe from small, mischievous pranks. Prank her back.

She'll only trust someone she's really close with to see her hidden patterns, since she's self-conscious about them. ( fun fact: her "fingerless gloves" aren't actually fingerless. She just designed them to look like fingerless gloves).

She’s practically nocturnal, not an early bird at all, so don’t try to wake her up in the morning, it’s a good way to get spider-kicked.

She doesn’t really care for flowers, she does like gems though! She can use them in her work, enchant them, or just keep them.

I’m still working out her character, like all the others, lol.