#i get that there isnt much pertinent to the actual story so far

[book-thing]

Basic Plot Line

oooh today has been a spammy day people! however i know i wont get this done unless i write it down now so lets have some fun.

Essentially i’m going for a trope of hero becomes villain. thats what i know for definite.  

This is gonna be a long post so buckle up buckaroo

The main character is Keres (Keh-res, it means death spirits! hehe): they are a hybrid of an elf and what i will be calling dragon-kind. I will get more into the species and logistics of everything at a later date but for now, its about what the title of this post is saying. OBVIOUSLY they’re going to have trauma, because thats what you’ve got to do when you’re in this position.

So when Keres was just a mere babe, a war of some sort broke out between the different species (haven’t figured out the specifics to why thats happened but i’ve kinda got an idea for it). One of their parents died when trying to run away form the battle in order to protect their family, they unfortunately left Keres in an area that was going to have more people around fighting; because of this one of the powerful families felt some need to take them home when they were found. And its only one because hybrid, the other parent is gonna be on a different side. different species. which is what a hybrid is (i’m pretty sure)

Years pass yada, yada, yada, and it’s found out that despite how the family originally felt for Keres, they eventually started neglecting them because they couldn’t live up to how their other kids were (academically, physically and athletically).

A point comes where its evident that they’re absolutely shite at anything and everything thats to do with fighting... apart from archery. because, y’know. Elf. duh. So they focus on that.

A bunch of things happen thats leads to a decision to run away. Yaaay! Thats fun, isn’t it? Now, they steal a bow and some arrows and just goes for it. Though, because of magic stuff and what-not that i’ll explain at a later date (the species thing, i’ll title that post accordingly) they do not get murdered or even attempted, so thats a good thing.

From this point, they eventually run into Calder (Kahl-der, means an array of things from ‘hard’ ‘violent’ ‘water’ and ‘stream’) and it comes to the point where they’re brought back to his village where we then also run into Zorya (zor-yah, means ‘dawn’ as its the slavic goddess of dawn which i just love despite them being gender-fluid).

Now from here i don’t really know what i’m doing or where its going, i have bit and bobs of what i want to happen but i don’t know HOW i’m going to get it there.

BUT

What i also do know is that this story is not going to be a case of these teens save their world or what not. I know for a fact that this is going to have some big cyclical link to the past; where there was previously a group of teens that were meant to save the world yet they failed which led to the outbreak of the war which i mentioned in the beginning. Now, these people have obviously grown up, possibly not all of them are still alive for any type of reason but i know that by the end they’re going to be called upon and they’re going to eventually save the day in the end. Like the protagonists are going to have helped, obviously, but they’re not the sole reason to why they won. Because i’m quite frankly sick and tried of seeing a group of adolescence saving the day all the time.

I’m sorry this is such a long post, i’m sure theres probably a way of explaining this which is quicker but i kinda wanted to get as much info in this as possible. Sure its mainly just the introduction of the characters but THATS ALL I HAVE THAT I KNOW IS SET IN STONE

I’ll probably do more posts like this just giving more info about whatever i think about that day soon, but i’m also trying to get practice with my expressions when drawing so hopefully we can see some more of that in the near future as well!! Hope this was a decent read for any and all who have actually read this :))

Any tips about anything: drawing, shading, colouring, writing or just the basics of actually making a comic are welcome and actually encouraged

[dash-n-step]

sorry to invade your dash like this but i have to get this out of my system- so much interesting dialogue comes from Seam which seems to be overlooked sometimes. besides the jevil lore, we also get possible chapter 3 lore after giving him two shadow crystals, the reason the king hates Lightners, not wanting to be caught in the dark world at sun down after at least getting 9 recruits, not getting 9 or more recruits still mentioning that its getting late, knowing where shadow crystals come from, and a lot more which can be found on the wiki or playing the game!! an interesting detail though is Seam seemingly warning you to not stay there for too long. Ralsei is also like this, sort of. He makes you and Susie a both a room, complete with beds and everything he thinks you might want/need. at the same time though, he both banishes you to finish your school project (which isnt too suspicious on its own) and at the end of chapter 2 stops the gang from creating a fountain to live there forever because of the roaring, which wasnt mentioned at the beginning at all (which is fair) but also doesnt even get a real cutscene in the weird route. even with the cutscene its short. and we know that Lightners and Darkners used to live together, but the Lightners trapped the Darkners "in this prison" and never came back, according to Seam. the roaring is probably real all things considered- there isnt any evidence to disprove it to my knowledge. but i gotta know, what happened to the Lightners and Darkners to seperate them? light and dark seems to revolve around it a lot. theres also another thing- in the Prophecy Ralsei mentions that Light and Dark have been living in peace for a millenia, and we're shown Lightners and Darkners together but seperated by a colored background. what does he mean by light an dark? like the literal light and dark we see in the world, daytime or nighttime, or is it Lightners and Darkners? if it was Lightners and Darkners that'd contradict what Seam said, right? or at least, itd make no sense for the Lightners to lock up the Darkners if they were at peace (im assuming this "prison" is being an object in the real world. speaking of the real world this probably isnt significant but i just want to mention how Ralsei says the Earth would split if the balance is upset, and considering Ralsei knows about school even though there doesnt seem to be any in the dark worlds so far, you gotta wonder what Ralsei knows). so uh, yeah!!

TLDR: what in the stars is the Dark World lore and how did the Lightners and Darkners become separate.

No worries, I love being able to just ramble like this: Seam is definitely an interesting character, for all they know, they only give us the information that's currently pertinent.

For instance, the PureCrystal, used to created the TwistedSwd and obtainable through save editing, has an interesting description:

The shadow purified by the cat

What does purifying a shadow mean? What's that got to do with anything when at the moment the best they've told us with these crystals is that we now suddenly need a shadow mantle to get the next one.

No way to know until it's actually time to know.

I don't think it makes them suspicious though, just mysterious. Gotta keep a story interesting after all and Seam was the one to lock up Jevil, who it takes a whole party just to tire him out, not even actually defeat him. They're knowledgeable and benign if not a tad nihilistic, so what do they mean by not staying too late? Considering the second part of the prophecy, we know that the darkness, when given the chance, is trying to take over the light. We see this as the smallest of rooms becoming impossible landscapes; creatures born from the random items in that space; confined by locked doors, seemingly overnight. And the thing is, we know this same darkness affects Lightners: given magic, fancy new clothes, and even weapons.

But eventually, there comes too much of a good thing, Noelle for instance, keeps getting stronger the more you push her against herself. She's eventually able to use Snowgrave but afterwards she's incredibly weakened and needs to take a rest "into a deeper, darker dream" as said by the queen. Despite her strength, she doesn't have enough to do the one thing Lightners seem to invariably have power to do, assert their own will.

So basically, I don't think there was a sudden separation ("The prison" for chapter one is largely about the classroom being locked up and the toys not being played with, though Jevil mentions everyone else being trapped, I personally think that has less to do with Lightner/Darkner stuff).

I think the different colors are simply symbolizing a metaphysical membrane between the worlds, like a cell. Both concepts co-exist intermixed, with certain aspects crossing over: a lightner's emotions feed into the darkness and defining the vibe of the area, and in turn, the darkness is either kept at bay (maybe with only specific fountains meant to stay maintained) or affects little things like dreams or other abstract notions.

What keeps them separate is an equilibrium, one the darkness doesn't forget while the knowledge of which for lightners may have just been lost through time, as things are. This balance would then only be exasperated at night time in an unnatural dark world, when hopes and dreams are more rampant, and the light literally wanes.

TL;DR: It's kind of like Yokai Watch meets Kingdom Hearts, I think.

[ajapablog]

Corona Chronicles VI

I think I missed three days of this series. On Friday, I heard from the program in Delhi about how everything was cancelled. I felt such a strong longing for the North Indian summer— the musty smell of archival files, the chlorinated swimming pool, the lightness of cotton clothes and the cool touch of silver jewelry on my body. I went down into an emotional spiral but I am fine now. I promise, no more sappy poems. If I write them, I will keep them to myself. I think I am going to lay low on the alcohol. We are all slowly starting to break, but I will not give into the psychological and emotional upheavals of this pandemic and I hope you don’t either. The first few news items that I’m sharing today were part of the reason why I felt so scared the past two days.  In the News (disclaimer: because of the corporatization of information, I no longer have access to a lot of news stories on different news sites anymore —I basically finished my free quota):  Yuvah Noah Harari Paints a Dark Picture of the Post-Corona World Yes, we are now referring to it as the post-Corona world. I feel mixed feelings about whether I want to be alive to see it or whether I would prefer the world for me to end by then. Harari basically reminds us that what this pandemic does is to create a surveillance state system across the world. It destroys political society. Baba and I were talking about what politics even looks like in a world where bodies after a long period of confinement will be scared to take the streets. What is the new polis? Can social media ever create political society? How do we make political claims without making our bodies visible in public? These are pertinent questions. See: https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75

The Horrors of the Cytokine Storm The idea of catching this virus didn’t become so existential until I read this piece. It is frightening to imagine that a non/living speck of matter with dna matter can wreak so much havoc in the world of the body and the universe at large. A cytokine storm is when the body realizing that a million viral particles are lodged as foreign creatures in the lungs fights so hard it kills everything that is good in the body, leading to respiratory damage and multiple organ failure. Before death, they say everything feels calm and possible. I think of the multiple kinds of death: creative death, emotional and psychic death and social death and the way that it seems everything is possible before these catastrophic damages. The last bit of this piece which talks precisely about this is so haunting. See: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/the-story-of-a-coronavirus-infection.html?fbclid=IwAR0bYFFi6rdohox8SQmV_7iuuA9MxlN0CmKp16ZhHv9t2qPtB8ROJcsYRb0

The Virus isn’t Alive to Kill Until about 10 days ago, I knew practically nothing about viruses. I have a vague recollection of drawing the figure of a virus in high school a squiggly dna encased in a protein structure but I had very little idea about how it transmits and what it does to the body. The more I know about it, the more I wish I didn’t. The virus frightens me at a fundamental level because it has the kind of reproductive power that a live being and mammals in particular cannot even dream of. With my one and half ovary and fears of not becoming a mother lodged in my brain from the age of 17, I feel particularly existentially threatened by this old an ancient foe for my desire to reproduce is working overdrive as I realize that death is impending and my biological clock ticking. I have to stop myself from playing the image of a child running bare feet on the green grass or from conjuring the sound of its voice or the smell of talcum powder on its soft skin. The virus doesn’t dream in technicolor. The virus doesn’t grapple with capitalist economies or castetist societies that shape endogamy and mating. The virus simply finds a host, replicates and moves on. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/23/coronavirus-isnt-alive-thats-why-its-so-hard-kill/

The US Senate Fights Over the Beneficiaries of the State  The US senate is locked this morning in a battle characteristic of the larger Corona world. These kind of conversations about whether big businesses should be bailed out or whether the vulnerable and the working class should be bailed out should become more pertinent in a month when we realize that we depend so much on each other and yet differences of wealth shape our possibilities in life. I don’t know whether the senate will eventually decide on bailing businesses or bailing society but it is battle that will continue to shape the discourse. We must keep an eye out for it. See: https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/03/23/trump-coronavirus-senate-economic-stimulus/

Chicago Intends to Turn Hotel Rooms into Isolation Chambers Is this 1984? But this might be a good move to keep the hospitals unclogged. They say that they are thinking of trying this model out in other cities. This might actually be good for New York.  See: https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-chicago-renting-hotel-rooms-20200323-6ciawps5uvdlfm755jqvak5mhm-story.html

New York is the Epicenter of this Infection The places with the most dire circumstances move like pins on a map. I think last week might have been London and now it’s New York with roughly 5% of the world’s cases. It might have to do with increased testing or just the scalar dynamics of how this virus is spreading but projections of where and how the rates of infection will expand have been quite accurate. I am told Chicago is about a week and half behind New York. The best strategy right now is to stay at my desk and do all my pending work. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/nyregion/Coronavirus-new-York-epicenter.html The Tokyo Olympics is Postponed I don’t care so much about the Olympics but the fact that a major global event is upended by a global catastrophe comes as a reminder of the scale of this infection. I also wonder what 2021 will be like if we survive this. Everything we couldn’t do this year will be moved to that year. Spring will finally come in 2021. See: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/23/coronavirus-live-updates-congress-stimulus-us-deaths-donald-trump/2895096001/

WHO Expert Weighs in on the Future WHO expert Aylward says that the virus will probably continue to spread in a low-grade situation but life might get normal in about 6 months. Read this interview with Time. https://time.com/5805368/will-coronavirus-go-away-world-health-organization/?iid=obnetwork Drugs that are Potentially Effective Against This:  There are several drugs that the SOLIDARITY group of scientists at WHO have listed as so far a potentially effective against this. I think the Indian doctors that I talked about in the last post were on to something. I think at this point, the thing for scientists to do is to understand the mechanics of each drug on the virus and to develop something with the attributes that seem to work. The drugs that are listed are: 1. remdesivir: It is something that didn’t work  against Ebola, but worked against SARS and MERS. It is emerging as a major drug under consideration because of its ability to shut down viral replication by “inhibiting a key viral enzyme, the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.���Science Magazine says it can do more good than harm so it is a forerunner among the drugs that the  scientists at WHO are looking at. 2.  chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine: These seem tricky. Touted by Trump as something he had a good feeling with, claimed to have been used by the Chinese and the French to treat cases, Science Magazine says that the data from the Chinese on their use is inconclusive. Similarly,  hydroxychloroquine is said to have side effects that are more harmful than good. But the old malarial that is used to cure viral diseases like Dengue and Chikanguniya seems to have emerged in these dire times as a contender because of its ability to decrease the acidity in endosomes, compartments inside cells that they use to ingest outside material and that some viruses can co-opt to enter a cell. However, the SARS-COV-virus as the first news piece tells us attaches to a human cell through its spike protein receptor instead of co-opting outside material through endosomes.  3. ritonavir/lopinavir: These retroviral drugs used to cure HIV were used by the Chinese in over a hundred patients but against a control population that wasn’t given these drugs, these didn’t seem too effective. The contention is that perhaps these drugs were administered to the Chinese patients too late into their infection for them to be effective.  These drugs are given together as protease inhibitors: they prevent the replicated dna strand of the virus from cleaving together. One drug allows the other to live a little longer in the human body reminding me of a happy couple.   4. Ritonavir/lopinavir and interferon-beta: This combination is like ritonavir and lopinavir going into couple’s therapy where the interferon-beta will help fight inflammmation while the two other drugs do their job.  See: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/who-launches-global-megatrial-four-most-promising-coronavirus-treatments

With the happy news that our long knowledge of viruses might help us live, I leave you my dear friends till next time. Keep safe, wash your hands.