#i really thought the wizard was going to be more involved in the story also

[itstimeforstarwars]

I watched the wicked musical for the first time today and somehow even tho I knew the basic storyline I was still surprised about what happened because there are some bits that you don't get just by listening to the soundtrack.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

“The VVitch” (2015) and “Nosferatu” (2024) Are More Similar Than You Think

Robert Eggers made “The VVitch” and then thought: what if Thomasin and Black Phillip/The Devil had an demonic sexual love story going on? Time to make my own version of “Nosferatu” (the first script is from 2016).

This man is really out there making historical horror movies about ostracized women making pacts with the Devil.

“Wouldst thou like the taste of butter? A pretty dress? Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? […] Wouldst Thou Like to See the World?”

“You are not for the living. You are not for human kind. And shall you be one with me ever-eternally. Do you swear it? […] As our spirits are one, so too shall be our flesh. You are mine.”

How these films are similar:

Both Thomasin and Ellen pray for something at the beginning of the film, and the Devil answers: Thomasin asks for forgiveness and guidance, Ellen prays for companionship and tenderness;

Both Thomasin and Ellen are ostracized in connection with their womanhood and sexuality: Thomasin is growing into a woman, and Ellen has “hysteric fits” with strong sexual undertones;

The Devil (Black Phillip and Orlok) essentially kills everyone around them, until they are the only left, to force their hand into accepting him (a bit different in “Nosferatu” because it’s a remake);

Both films have a pair of children which are “foreshadowing bombs” in the narrative (Mercy and Jonas in “The VVitch” and Clara and Louise in “Nosferatu”);

In both films, the Devil offers something tempting to both these characters, which they accept: Black Philip promises freedom and knowledge, and Orlok promises eternal passion and sex;

Both pacts involve blood sacrifice and death to seal them: in “The VVitch” Thomasin kills her mother, in “Nosferatu” Ellen kills herself alongside Orlok.

Thomasin was accused of being a "witch", a “whore” and having a pact with the Devil by everyone around her, until she actually did at the end. Ellen is also seen as “deranged”, “diseased” and often compared to supernatural beings ("changeling girl", "sylph", "fairy", etc.) until she becomes just that at the end, too. They are both the Devil’s concubines.

“I’m that very witch. When I sleep my spirit slips away from my body and dances naked with the Devil. That’s how I signed his book.”

Thomasin taunts her sister, Mercy (“The VVitch”, 2015)

In another post, I already explored which demonic figures Ellen and Orlok are meant to be in this adaptation: Babalon and the Beast.

There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple [lilacs] and scarlet [blood], and was glittering with gold sunlight precious stones and pearls [sunlight]. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth.

“Scarlet beast” = Orlok, a vampire

“blasphemous names” = names of the Devil

“Seven heads” = heptagram, the seven-pointed star (Orlok and Babalon’s sigils)

“Ten horns” = ten lilac flowers

“Golden cup” = it’s the Holy grail = womb

“Filled with abominations” = sex with Orlok, necrophilia

“Filth of her adulteries” = she’s married to Thomas before God, and she’s defiling that vow on their marriage bed

“She [Babalon] rides astride the Beast; in her left hand she holds the reins, representing the passion which unites them. In her right she holds aloft the cup, the Holy Grail aflame with love and death.”

Aleister Crowley, “The Book of Thoth”

In some occult circles, this “Beast” is the Devil himself, which makes me ask: is Orlok the Devil?

Not only he’s referred as such several times in the actual film, but also the fact he was one of the Solomonari, a dark wizard, in life, a servant and a student of the Devil. We are told “the Devil preserved his soul that his corpse may walk again in blaspheme.” So… who’s actually walking in that corpse? Orlok’s soul or the Devil? Being a servant to the Devil is being a puppet to the Devil, essentially. This is pretty much what the abbess says to Thomas: it’s the Devil that makes Orlok’s corpse walk.

In another post I already talked about how Orlok prepared his own physical death, because the book containing the “maiden’s sacrifice” was found by Von Franz in Knock’s office, his fanatical servant, which is shady to say the least. The Devil is a deceiver after all (as Ellen herself accuses him of being), so making the heroes believe they are beating him while doing exactly what he wants them to do, it’s not far fetched, and even rooted in religious belief.

Why would Orlok want to die in the physical world? Because he wants his spirit to be set free, he doesn’t want to be trapped in a freaking rotten corpse, which explains why he tells Ellen she’s “his affliction”; she’s the one who trapped in that physical form when she awoke him, probably. He wants to return to spiritual form, and wants to take Ellen with him; which explains their covenant, and their blood sacrifice at the end to seal it. And Ellen was also fully aware of what she was signing for, she knew what her physical death would mean (being forever joined with him in hell, or the Underworld or whatever “celestial sphere”), and that Orlok would die too (obviously).

[callmesel]

Imagine that the Weasleys switch ages or smt

Like: Ginny, Bill, Ron, Charlie, Percy and the twins

And they keep the same age gap so Ginny and Bill have already graduated by the time Harry entered Hogwarts so Ron's the prefect in his fifth year, Charlie in thrid and Percy on his first

Would be fun that his two best friends (if Percy replaces Ro'n as his best friends) are two know-it-all's that are like constantly teaching stuff. I think that Hermione and Percy will also clash a bit like the og Ron did but in a different way. Like they are academic rivals and that be so much fun. They're both seeking validation from their academic success. Also if idk, want a rivals to lovers you have this two better than make Hermione date her bully imo

And during summer Harry stops responding so Percy is like "I think Harry is in trouble, he doesn't responds to my letters anymore" and Charlie goes "Oh, shoot. Do you want to go see how he is?" "Can we do that?" "For sure!" "What does Ron say?" "He doesn't care as long as we don't get arrested" "Okay!" And they fly to get Harry and now he is in the burrow having the time of his life.

And then the twins are like "I can't believe my loser brother's bestfriends is the mf Harry Potter!"

If you ship any of the twins with Harry you can just make them want to steal Harry's attention from Percy and that would be okay. The twins pranking Percy like double hard because they want Harry to think they're cool and then backfire (or no because young Harry wouldn't be really confrontational tbh)

I imagine that Ginny is a profesional quidditch player (or training to be one) so she is around but really busy and travelling with her team and stuff. Visited that summer and Harr is like "wow". So you got a bit of one side hinny also going on like in the og story.

But I have thought about also swaping other characters age, like Oliver Wood and Hermione Granger.

I think it kind of makes more sense that Oliver is Harry's first friend and then Percy. So imagine Oliver Profesional Quidditch lover Wood seen his friend be like a natural gifted quidditch player so he is the one teaching him all about quidditch and stuff.

Harry would have two quidditch obsessed people in his life: Charlie inside the team and Oliver outside it. And then you got Percy info dumping every once in a while. I think it would be fun. He would also learn a lot about the wizarding world during his first year. Maybe Percy explaining stuff to him and he asking questions back.

There would be so many new dynamics and would be so much fun.

I'd like to think that Mcgonagall would be more involved. Idk. I think she's really fond of Percy and Oliver. So maybe she keeps an eye on them a lot. AND ALSO CHARLIE.

Like, he is always going to be a big brother for Percy imo. And him being more involved would change a lot of things so more fun. He isn't as involved but it's like occasionally telling Percy to relax and stuff. Also Ton having the opportunity to be an older brother and scooding the twins for their constant pranks. He's def more lay back compared to Hermione that as a prefect would scold them more often.

Idk

I think about them a lot

This au can go in so many ways and I love every single one of them, except if you make any of the Weasleys a complete a-hole for no reason. Specially if is Percy because that's my boy right there and I don't want any hate to him🫵

[metalomagnetic]

Hii how would you describe Sirius's and V's relationship in 'It runs in the blood?' Is it based mostly on manipulations? And how could V ever love Sirius? 

I started reading your fic and so far I really enjoy your writing and your ways of characterization especially regarding the Black family and their dynamics. What I'm interested in however is why did you decide to pair the two together and why would someone like V ever became interested in someone like Sirius? No criticism just curious about your thoughts.

Even if there was manipulation involved in the relationship, that doesn't mean the feelings aren't genuine.

I decided to pair them together because I was curious how they'd work, in what way, what circumstances. I like to challenge my writing with rare pairs.

Why would someone like V become interested in Sirius? Well, Sirius is incredibly charismatic, he's handsome, he's intelligent, he comes from a powerful family with an ancient name, he's ruthless but he also has this shred of goodness in him that interests Voldemort, yet Sirius' morals are so lax that he wouldn't care too much about Voldemort's horrible crimes. Sirius is loyal to the bone, willing to fight for those he loves, everything else can go to hell. He's passionate, brave, filled with energy, he has a great sense of humour, he's not bigoted enough to look down on Voldemort for not being a pureblood, yet he is bigoted enough to think muggles are inferior to wizards, so he and Voldemort together can complain about how crazy purebloods can be, while also bitch about how 'backwards' the muggles are. And, of course, he has the unique astral magic that no one else in the world has, and he's willing to confide in Voldemort about it. Also, did I mention how incredibly handsome he is? Voldemort is a dark lord, but man isn't blind. When Sirius walks by, anyone with eyes notices him haha.

At the beginning of the story, Voldemort finds some type of kinship with him, in the way that they both rejected their family, yet they both crave family, even if they don't admit it. Of course, Voldemort is an extreme version of rejecting family for rejecting him (he killed daddy and sent uncle to prison), but he recognises the struggle in Sirius, who wants his family to love him, who sometimes deeply dislikes his family, but he'll forever be tied to them, bonds that can't be broken. For all of Voldemort's rants that he became his own man, we can see that Voldemort is deeply obsessed with is own heritage- with Slytherin side (a source of pride) and with the muggle side (a source of constant self-loathing).

Voldemort was born in poverty, hated and pushed aside from birth, he had to work for everything; Sirius is the opposite of this, and yet they are both defining themselves by their blood, and both are obsessed with names, names that haunt them, put burden on their shoulders. Voldemort will never get rid of 'Riddle' no matter how he pretends he had, no matter how he terrifies people into not saying it, and Sirius will never get rid of Black, no matter if he left home and he's trying so hard to 'be different'.

Also, the most scary villain from all the Harry Potter books was Sirius, for me. Sirius in POA (before we learn he's innocent) managed to scare me more than Voldemort did in all the books lol. So I figured, why not pair them up, see where this goes.

[sammy-deserves-better]

Hey people who definitely didn’t follow me for my AUs here’s another AU I thought up on the spot!!!

Fantasy/Royalty AU bam lets get into it

Julia and Bowie are the princess and prince of the kingdom, as you do, it’s gay and lesbian hostility in that castle every day

Axel, Wayne, Raj and Emma are knights with Axel being the head of the knights, Emma is also secretly a florist because why not

Priya is the head of the guards while Caleb is the personal guard/advisor to the king

Chase is a travelling bard who loves to talk about his ‘amazing’ adventures of ‘helping’ people

Nichelle is still a famous actress but instead of movies she’s like, famous from plays and all that jazz

Ripper’s a barbarian that’s pretty good at his job, unfortunately he is not taken very seriously

Millie is a famous writer but she’s so damn difficult to find at times and only a few people know where she actually lives

Damien is a wizard’s apprentice, he’s still learning but he’s got some real talent within him

Zee is the court jester, he didn’t even like try out for the role he just started talking one time and the king thought he was hilarious

Scary Girl is a famous necromancer because she is, funnily enough, scarily good at her job

And MK, silly ol’ MK, is a master thief who is wanted all over the world, but can never be located, always managing to escape at the last moment

Alright here’s some more details yippee

Raj and Bowie are like, in love, obviously, knight x prince romance! Forbidden love that isn’t really forbidden but like it’s super cute and Raj is so smitten and Bowie just loves this handsome knight that would do anything for him

Wayne and Emma are friends here because I also think they’re silly, Wayne’s the only one who knows Emma’s secret florist job because she trusts him enough and also he accidentally found out but it’s fine!! But he also nearly gives away Emma’s secret so many damn times because he’s just a little bit stupid

‘Man I wish I could get Bowie a nice bouquet…’

‘Oh well Emma is actually a fl-‘

And then Wayne gets elbowed so hard he can’t breath for 2 minutes

Emma also definitely has a thing for the cute court jester but she has no idea on how to actually approach Zee so she just sends him flowers anonymously and sighs while looking at him lovingly

Julia and MK meet because MK climbs up the damn castle walls at 2am and sneaks into Julia’s room just to rob her, gets absolutely slammed by the princess, wakes up and is tied to a damn chair with Julia right up in her face about to rip her to shreds and all MK can say is ‘you are REALLY attractive oh my gods’

This throws Julia off, they start talking, Julia realises that despite the fact she is holding one of the most wanted criminals hostage in her room, she wants to keep seeing MK because she’s entertaining and mean and just slightly pathetic, so she lets MK go on the promise that the thief will come back every night and so she does and yadda yadda lesbians toxic yuri wins

Millie’s stories actually come to life because shocker she’s actually a wizard in disguise and she needs to be really careful about what she writes so that’s why she hides herself away and is so hard to track down because if the wrong people knew about her magic capabilities oh no that’s a lot of blood and injury and angst and 10k words every chapter

Millie’s parents also had this ability to create anything from mere writing, they shared this ability with the kingdom, and so if an important figure asked them to say…make a protector of the kingdom, they would do so, and they did, and that’s where our villain/antagonist comes in but that’s a story for another day

The older gens are also involved in this one way or another as well, most are just backgrounders but some hold important to the story

Damien is the wizard apprentice to Leonard and Tammy, two great and powerful sages who spend their time helping the world

DJ is the one who taught Emma how to be a florist, he’s kind and understanding and always helps Emma choose the right flowers to give to Zee

Eva trains Ripper under her watchful eye, she’s proud of how far he’s come, but feels he can do just a bit more

Aleheather are the king and queen of the kingdom, Bowie and Julia are their adopted children

And that’s all I got for now uhhhh add whatever you want to this it’s just a silly time

[vaultwrites]

lavender's blue lore-dump

This pertains to this fic here: IT IS A LOT but I'm having so much fun with it, I can't even lie. I'll need to draw and dump all my sketches on my other blog someday, but for now, here's the ramblings of a man who has thought too much about this fantasy movie!sonadow AU.

KINGDOMS / MAP

In my mind, this world exists vaguely as a single continent named the Lands Below, split into four sections; the Robotnik Empire, Green Hills, the Commonwealth, and the Mushroom Kingdom (ha-ha, Mario reference, ik). Here I have speed-drawn what might be my worst map of all time but it does the job, so here we go.

The Robotnik Empire is ruled by the Robotnik Royal Family; a greedy, dying empire with imperialistic ventures & arcane-technology. Powerful and large, it is slowly being stretched too thin. Currently, its Lord Ruler IVO ROBOTNIK is attempting to conquer the kingdom of Green Hills.

The Commonwealth is a collection of free-kingdoms banded together against the Robotnik Empire. Chaotic and cluttered with disagreements, their main political body is GUN -- Guardians of the United Nation, ruled by Abraham Towers & Sir Walters. GUN and the Robotnik Empire have been locked in a war since the Robotniks pushed the Towers Royal Family & Walters Royal Family from their homelands. 

The Kingdom of Green Hills is a small kingdom wedged between the Robotnik Empire & the Commonwealth, in the mountains separating the two warring kingdoms. Rich and peaceful, it claims no ruler or political body -- but with Robotnik's interest in conquering it, the kingdom has reluctantly joined forces with GUN to save its own sovereignty. This is the home of the Wachowski’s. 

The Mushroom Kingdom is just the mushroom planet, but a continent near Green Hills. Unoccupied and rotted, it really just resembles a nicer Caelid without the evil birds and smell.

Far above these four Kingdoms lives the Lands Above -- a forgotten world where the owls and echidnas lived. This is also where the Master Emerald came from. Sonic fell from this world into Green Hills after Longclaw was killed. More on that later.

---

MAGIC SYSTEM

I’m being particularly vague about the magic system of this AU for a reason -- I really don’t want to develop a super intricate system when the main gist is, oh, ‘true love’s kiss!!!’ However, I will elaborate on my thoughts about the relationship between Chaos and magic.

First off: I am treating the magic here along the lines of how it’s used in DND and Elden Ring. In other words, wizards, sorcerers, warlocks -- these exist. Chaos is the primary source of arcane-magic in this universe. Inherently in the air, magicians can pull from Chaos to cast incantations, spells, rituals, etc.

There are two factions of magic-users: the learned magicians/mages, and the inherent magicians/mages. 

What’s the difference?

Learned = self-taught, book-taught, studied magic. This involves typically an external primer to start any incantation, like a wand, book tome, enchanted object, etc. In the case of this story, using Chaos-enthused objects also works as a powerful primer to make powerful spells. AKA -- spells cast by using the Master Emerald, Chaos Emeralds, or even quills are very powerful. Tails is a studied magician -- he has to use external Chaos (not in his body) to be able to cast magic.

Inherent = bloodline, passed down, inherently in the body magic. This involves just having a history of human blood being tied to magic (which relates to elves, etc etc we’re not too worried about that), or simply being a Chaos-connected creature. Example: Sonic. He’s inherently tied to Chaos via his mobian body/That Guy(™), so he can do magic without having to draw up rituals or carry around objects already connected to the Chaos. Shadow & Knuckles are the same.

Inherent magicians/mages have a special trait called the SOUL-BONDED. Incredibly rare, these are usually paired magicians whose Chaos inside their blood matches to another’s. Examples would be Sonic and Shadow, whose Chaos is so similar it causes the other to amplify and become dangerously powerful. Usually soul-bonded individuals have all sorts of mythos and legends around them -- like TRUE LOVE’S KISS, which pretty much goes if you kiss your soulmate, you’re bonded for life. However, not all Soul-Bonded are romantic. You can have a soul-bond and absolutely HATE or despise the person who has the same type of Chaos as you.

---

HISTORY

I’ll give a brief summary of everything before Lavender’s Blue. Feel free to skip if you want to experience it blindly in the fic, but I thought it might be helpful if you’re looking at me like huh author wdym (which may happen & I apologise).

IN THE BEGINNING, there was the Lands Above and the Lands Below. The Lands Below belonged to collections of human families. The Lands Above belonged to the owls and echidnas, and the mobians. 

Many years passed. Gradually, the mobians moved to the Lands Below. One human family rose to power; the Robotniks, for their discovery of steampunk / Chaos-powered technology. They quickly became an empire and started conquering other families. Two Royal Families, the Towers and Walters, fled their homeland with many others, and formed the Commonwealth & GUN.

GUN & the Robotnik Empire have been in an on-off war for decades.

Meanwhile, the owls and echidnas discovered a powerful Chaos gem; the Master Emerald, capable of causing a single mage to have the power of a God. Scared of the echidna’s greed & sudden power-hungry nature, the owls stole the Emerald from the echidnas and hid it in Green Hills. Longclaw was among those in that thievery.

Longclaw eventually discovered a lost & powerful Chaos user, Sonic, and adopted him as her own. Like the movies, the two lived in harmony for a while before Sonic accidentally revealed their location to the echidnas. In revenge for stealing the Emerald, they attacked. Sacrificing herself, Longclaw flung Sonic into the Lands Below.

Ten years passed. Sonic lived in the Marshes of Green Hills -- a lonely, smelly life that was joined by Caliburn, a forgotten sapient sword stuck in a stone within the Marsh. In an attempt to free him from said stone, Sonic accidentally snapped Caliburn’s blade in half -- but found out his Chaos energy was able to be channeled through the sword as a powerful Chaos blade. The two have been stuck together as knave and mentor ever since.

Later, Sonic accidentally attracted the attention of His Grace Ivo Robotnik, the current lord ruler of the Robotnik Empire. Seeking shelter from being used as a Chaos battery, Sonic fled into the residence of local sellsword Thomas Wachowski (a banished knight of the Robotnik Empire who was cursed by Inquisitor Stone for insults against Prince Ivo Robotnik & freed from eternal sleep by his wife, Madison). From here follows a similar plot to the 1st movie: Tom panicked, sleep-potted Sonic, then got dragged into a conflict with the Robotnik Empire as the two eluded Ivo’s grip. The conflict was stopped when the Commonwealth drew interest in Sonic & decided to settle four outposts on the border between the Robotnik Empire and the Commonwealth. The two Kingdoms have been playing a game of political chicken ever since.

Sonic was then adopted by Thomas and Madison. 

Two years passed; Sonic became a squire under Madison & the Commonwealth, although a fairly lazy one. Eventually, though, his reputation as a powerful Chaos user preceded him into the Robotnik Empire to a young wizard apprentice, Tails -- & the Lands Above, where lone survivor Knuckles recognized Sonic as Longclaw’s apprentice. Knuckles jumped to the Lands Below, & was then commissioned by His Grace Ivo Robotnik to join forces with Inquisitor Stone to cleave into Green Hills and capture the hedgehog. Tails, in turn, fled his life in the orphanage to help Sonic. This then follows the plot of the 2nd movie: in a hunt for the Master Emerald, Sonic & Tails pitted against His Grace Ivo Robotnik & Knuckles. Eventually, Knuckles was betrayed by Ivo and joined Team Sonic to defeat the Egg-Emperor again. Sonic, using the Emerald for the first time, went Super and defeated Ivo.

Sonic still hasn’t unlocked his Excalibur form.

The Master Emerald now resides in Green Hills as the start of steampunk-industrial urbanization, led by Tails & Crazy Carl.

Knuckles and Tails now live with Tom and Maddie as Sonic’s adopted brothers. The three have taken it upon themselves to become Green Hill’s guardians, annoyed by GUN’s sudden & developed interest in their Chaos abilities. Sonic is close to becoming a knight.

This is where the story begins. 

---

IMPORTANT NOTES 

In this au, Eggman is the last surviving Royal of the Robotnik Empire. He was shoved into this position quite young after the war between GUN and the Robotnik Empire reached a critical standpoint; after Maria Robotnik, the prior heir, was killed during a GUN raid on the Ark Stronghold hidden in Green Hills, & Gerald Robotnik vanished from the public.

Agent Stone is INQUISITOR STONE, his loyal knight.

Godspeed if you read this far! Hope you enjoy the fic and my absolute crazy au.

[utilitycaster]

did you have any more thoughts about the "going down equals a level of exhaustion" house rule for 5e? a group I'm involved in is considering adding it, and though I've strenuously argued against it, the retort seems to be that a good healer would be spending those spells anyway, so the healbot concern is irrelevant. As the person playing the healer in the group I'd be leaving if they choose to implement it, but I'd like to give it one more good argument before I pull that card.

So my arguments here are somewhat subjective and I think gain efficacy if you are willing to gently but firmly say "I would leave this group over this choice," at this time.

My first one is a pretty basic one. For all the complaints people have about it, I actually find D&D 5e is pretty balanced, rules as written. Sure, there are rules I ignore, but most of those are like...very finicky little things (eg: small creatures not being able to use heavy weapons; it's not like halflings have such great racial abilities that you must nerf them by not letting them use a warhammer) and not core elements of gameplay. It was pretty thoroughly playtested as is. I think DMs who try to play with this kind of thing tend to be either be people who are struggling with a way to make encounters more dangerous but haven't used the (RAW) tools at their disposal; or are the sort of people I've described before who are incapable of enjoying something unless they can figuratively pee on it to mark their territory. The former is fixable; the latter type can change but it tends to have to come from within. Though I will say: Rusty Quill Gaming's Unconscious Rule was that you get a scar (no mechanical penalties unless you want) whenever you're knocked unconscious. It was purely a story thing, but if your DM is just itching to homebrew something in order to carve their initials onto the tree of D&D instead of leaving well enough alone, that might be a way to let them feel like they've homebrewed something relating to unconsciousness.

The second one is that there's multiple approaches to healing! I do tend to be a fairly proactive healer when I play one, but letting people go down is a valid strategy. Plus, shit happens! People roll really badly or the DM rolls really well or you roll all 1s on your healing dice and bam, they're unexpectedly out. It puts an undue burden on the healer not just in terms of pushing them towards a very specific playstyle, but at high levels pushes them to burn extra 5th levels (and diamond dust) on Greater Restoration). It also simultaneously makes it perhaps advantageous to not heal someone who's gone down. If they go unconscious and you're not able to heal them up beyond what they're likely to lose in another round, maybe it's better to leave them making death saves (or do Spare the Dying) so that they don't have two levels of exhaustion...but then they might die. It's a really screwy thing because the game isn't fucking balanced for this because it's stupid. It also can push the party into the One Combat Per Day behavior that has been rightfully criticized.

And finally, tying back to both of the above, there's a reason why going unconscious doesn't kill people in D&D and that's because it makes for a good story! It adds drama and tension, but you don't lose the character. This both penalizes you for allowing that drama to happen and ratchets the tension to a level that isn't really fun.

Another thing I'd add is to ask why specifically they want to add it because if someone says "it's more realistic," for example, you have my permission to say "in the pretend to be an elf wizard game?" and make a jerk-off motion. You may want to tone that down if you wish to part on good terms but like, for real, if they want a more realistic game, perhaps they should find one. I'm not a Pathfinder person myself but I would never begrudge other people from playing it in their own homes and I think PF1e (or an older version of D&D) and its less generous overnight healing might be worth your while. Perhaps exploring another system would be the better option. I think people who wander around the internet whining about how other people play D&D are sad losers, but they do have a point that if you're tinkering with core rules (as opposed to like, homebrewing a race, class/subclass, item, spell, feat, or monster) that's a sign you should probably look for another game.

So with all that said: I think it's fair to point out a (more tactful) version of all of the above but also say "I feel, as the healer, this would make my role a lot less fun, and I would leave this group over this choice." If you say it politely and calmly it may make your DM realize how much you dislike it. That doesn't mean they won't barrel ahead anyway, because people have free will and whatnot, but in a social situation, sometimes logical arguments aren't helpful! Sometimes it's better to just say "I've said why I don't like this, and I hope we can find a compromise, but ultimately you can do what you want; I can also do what I want, and I don't want to be here if you disregard my input on something that affects my enjoyment."

[atlasdoe]

THE HOGWARTS CLASS OF 1978 - pt 20

JAMES POTTER

Name - James Potter

Blood status - Purebloood

Date of birth - 27th March 1960

House - Gryffindor

Academic achievements - Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Quidditch captain, Headboy

He was killed by Voldemort trying to protect his wife and son after they were betrayed by their secret keeper

Cannon

Both of his parents were elderly even by wizarding standards

Having been conceived so late in his parents lives, he was raised in a doting household with little material limits and pampered a great deal. Hence, it was no surprise that he's grew to be proud. arrogant and boastful but deep down still a good person

At some point during his school years, James took a photo of Hogwarts Castle at sunset and gave it to Remus

At the age of sixteen James' parents allowed Sirius to move in with them so he could escape his family

Both of James' parents attended his and Lilys wedding

In around 1977 he and Sirius were involved in a motorbike chase with two Muggle policemen. Although the chase started off as a bit of fun, it turned more serious when the pair were attacked by three men on broomsticks

He and Lily defied Voldemort three time

At some point between 1979 and 1980 James' parents died of Dragon Pox and he inherited the cast Potter family fortune from them which enabled him to comfortably support his family without the need for a paying job

James also used his wealth to support a Remus who was en employed due to his status as a werewolf

Headcanons

Pansexual

Growing up, whenever his parents had to go to work or out with their friends they would drop them off at the ice cream shop where Florean Fortescue would watch him for the day as he also took care of Alice. Barty Crouch Jrs parents also did the same

Usually, when they were really young theyd only just sit in a booth together and colour and play hide and seek in the shop (which theyd always get in trouble for) and as they got older theyd be allowed to go around Diagon Alley but only if they stuck together and would stick to the village only. (And theyd have like everyone there keeping an eye on them because Alices father is well known and liked so nobody would let anything bad happen to them anyways.)

* Alice goes to Hogwarts first and when she comes back she is telling stories upon stories about school to the point where James and Barty would tease her about always talking about Hogwarts and nothing else.

* James goes next and gets sorted into Gryffindor along with Alice. While at Hogwarts Alice watched James like a hawk for his first few weeks, she really was the older sister he never had and she was so excited to share Hogwarts with him. She gave him a tour and told him everything about everyone and wanted to know all of his thoughts

* When Barty joined he was sorted into Slytherin and made it his mission to get James and Alice to leave him alone. He wanted to fit in and he had no trouble in doing so. He made sure that he acted his worse around James and Alice and no matter how hard they tried they weren't getting him to change

* Alice gave up on Barty before James did

* James became friends with Dorcas Meadows when they were in their fourth year during a game of seven minuets in heaven

* James had wanted to befriend Dorcas for a while, mostly because she was Remus’ step sister and James thought they would get on most

* Dorcas was hesitant to be his friend at first because of not only the history and common knowledge f James hating all Slytherins but just because she didnt think they would be good friends, but she did accepted his hand of friendship

* That night they came up with three ruled for their friendship also 1) No house slander off of the Quidditch pitch 2) No telling on each other to Remus and 3) Only say "I love you" if its for a dramatic goodbye

* Since that day James and Dorcas began to build a bond. One that went further than house colours and rivalry. From the friendly nods that they gave each other in the corridor to the countless times that Slughorn now had to call them out for talking too much. Something had sparked between the two that only grew into a friendship that neither of them could ever deny

While Lily and James were in hiding James got a letter from Dorcas which she sighed off with "I love you" James knew what it meant but couldn't do anything since he was in hiding

He was a little bit pissed off that he didn't make Prefect in his year since he thought he had it in the bag. He started working more in his academics after that and improved so much that he became Head Boy

While Quidditch captain he chose who was on the team based on his friends. He told everyone that every position was up for grabs but there was no universe where he wasn't having Sirius, Alice, Frank and Mary on the team

Everyone was his friend but he was not everyone's friend. There was only a few people who James truly cared about

Those people were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, Mary MacDonald, Alice Fortescue, and Frank Longbottom

His first crush was Patricia Rakepick who was in her fifth year when his was in his first

He secretly dated Regulus Black during his fifth year and Regulus' fourth. The only people who knew was Sirius, Alice and Pandora Ollivander. James and Regulus had an agreement that James could tell Sirius if Regulus could tell Pandora. Alice found out about them after walking in on them kissing

Regulus started ignoring James after Sirius ran away because he was mad at James for letting Sirius stay with him. James attempted to get Regulus to talk to him but gave up completely when rumors that Regulus had joined the Death Eaters started going around the school

He and Lily got together during the summer before their seventh year

When James and Lily got married they went all out. They had a wedding weekend in the country side and has a massive reception that everyone they knew was invited to

[anthurak]

So this is almost certainly going to be an unpopular opinion for some, but for a long time now I’ve been feeling that the RWBY fandom puts just a bit TOO much stock in the various fairytale/mythology/literary allusions of the characters when it comes to theory-crafting. It feels like people find out that a certain character A is an allusion to another character B from an already completed story and go ‘Well that must mean that Character A is going to turn out just like Character B!’

Which of course completely ignores that these are allusions and references. Ruby Rose might have strong parallels and similarities to Little Red Riding Hood, but that does not mean she IS literally Little Red Riding Hood. Just as Weiss Schnee is NOT literally Snow White, Penny Polendina is NOT literally Pinocchio and Oscar Pine is NOT literally the Little Prince. Ultimately, whatever allusion a character might have comes SECOND to who they are as an actual character, NOT the other way around.

Whatever allusions a character has might inform what could happen to them, but that should still be treated as secondary to what we actually see them do in the show.

For example, I see a LOT of ships in the RWBY fandom that people seem to largely use interpretations of the characters’ allusions as ‘evidence’, rather than what the characters actually DO in the actual SHOW. Like has anyone noticed that discussions of ships like Bumbleby, Renora, Nuts and Dolts or White Rose have historically not involved much interpretation (relatively speaking anyway) of the potential ‘complimentary allusions’ of these characters? Because there is no NEED to, because all the evidence for these ships is right fucking there on the screen. Meanwhile we’ve got ships (and I am NOT naming names) that people will swear up and down are TOTALLY going to be canon for really-realsies where most or even all of the ‘evidence’ consists of people effectively playing some kind of matching game with their allusions. Or saying nothing more than ‘Character A kinda-sorta resembles the love-interest of Character B’s allusion’.

And ALL of this doesn’t even take into account the biggest factor which I keep getting the impression that WAY too many RWBY fans still having gotten the memo on:

The fact that RWBY literally NEVER plays its allusions STRAIGHT.

All the way from minute one when we saw an allusion to Little Red Riding Hood cutting down a horde of Big Bad Wolves, RWBY has ALWAYS been subverting, inverting, flipping, twisting and otherwise playing it’s allusions, references and archetypes literally ANY way but actually STRAIGHT.

Little Red Riding Hood hunts the Big Bad Wolf. Snow White is equal parts Princess AND Knight in Shining Armor. Cinderella is a tragic villain origin story. Pinocchio was always a real girl. The Great and Powerful Wizard Oz is far more powerful than anyone thought, but is ALSO far more of a fraud than anyone thought.

So when people use these characters’ allusions as some kind of rigid road-map to theorize what might happen to them, it’s not just that this detracts from their identity as their own characters; the story itself isn’t even using that map!

I mean speaking personally, that’s what has always made RWBY theory-crafting FUN. Trying to guess how the writers might twist and flip the allusions they’re using. But that also means that the allusions of the various characters simply DON’T actually provide ANY kind of accurate ‘road-map’ for where they might be going. Instead, the best we can do is use what the actual show has actually shown us to get any kind of idea where the characters are headed.

Ultimately, I feel like too often I see that when people are making theories about RWBY characters, they are treating them more like the characters they are based on, instead of the characters they actually ARE.

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Miscellaneous Monster Tales 11

Green Dragon

Green dragons breathe fire as well. Looks like they might also have an inverse scale.

I was about to say that the green dragon seems to be the most common dragon species, but really it's more like they're the most interacted with species.

Laios doesn't like the idea of being turned into a dragonslaying legend, but his story might be worth writing since a great amount of it involves his vast monster knowledge. Can you call it a cheap trick when you succeeded because of your vast knowledge?

Maybe instead of the usual dragonslayer story, the bards could pizazz it up a bit. Add some of the things Laios likes such as discussions about the physiology of and how to cook monsters. And Laios isn't trying to save some noble or princess but someone he actually cares about, like Falin.

And the story can be about this journey where he saves Falin but an evil wizard who was controlling the dragon kidnaps Falin and turns her into a dragon. So Laios goes on another journey where he has to eat his way through hordes of monsters and when he fights the wizard, he uses his vast knowledge of dragons to turn the tides of battle when the wizard summons dozens of dragons to fight him.

...Actually, nah. That sounds like a horrible story. Shouldn't even have bothered to suggest it.

Since Nightmares are a species of dragon, it's technically possible to earn a dragonslayer title pretty easily. You just have to stomp on the Nightmares really hard.

Huge Spiders

Ariadne seems to be an in-universe species of spider. Ariadne is a character from Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Minos of Crete and was in charge of the labyrinth the Minotaur was kept in. When Theseus was brought to Crete as a sacrifice, Ariadne gave him a sword to slay the Minotaur and a ball of thread to help him find his way through the labyrinth.

The ariadne species name comes from the maze-like pattern on the spiders' abdomen.

The Winged Lion can definitely pull off feats beyond summoning monsters but it seems to prefer summoning monsters as its go-to solution for everything.

Laios was originally just cheerfully info-dumping to Kabru, then he started looking at Mithrun's clothes because he heard the elves use giant spider silk. Then at some point, Laios noticed the spider goo on Mithrun and started having thoughts.

Honestly, I'm surprised Laios tried to be subtle. He thought Kabru was interested in eating monsters. I'd expect Laios to casually ask if he can scoop a bit of the spider goo off Mithrun to taste it.

Wolf-Man

I said Laios would be into werewolf stories and I was right.

So Lycion willingly got turned into a beast-man, or whatever is the closest equivalent. It's probably what got him arrested.

As Laios points out, he doesn't have any beast mannerisms. He just looks like one. Whatever Lycion got is completely different from Izutsumi. She's actually fused to another creature in body and soul. Lycion can just swap between two forms.

Kabru zoned out when Laios and Lycion started talking about becoming a wolf-man.

I somehow never considered Laios and Lycion might get along because of their shared interest in being beast-men. That kind of made this funnier cause they don't like what the other means when they talk about wanting to be a beast-man.

Looks like I was wrong about Lycion fitting in with the party.

Izutsumi is not happy Laios wants to be the very thing she's trying to undo.

This is one of the few bonus comics that can't be easily grafted into the main story. Kabru is holding Kensuke so there is a span of SEVEN panels - not even a full page - where this could fit.

If we ignore that little detail, the best place to graft this would be right between these two rows of panels.

And I don't mean best as in "best fit"; I mean best as in "best comedic timing". It would mean this dramatic moment got interrupted by Laios being Laios, and he accidentally created a diplomatic chance and instantly ruined it. Then Lycion would try to kill Laios because Laios insulted his beast form rather than because Laios intends to help Marcille.

back

[markantonys]

Someone on Twitter: Rand was such an asshole in s1. They handled his character's stubbornness much better in s2. You're calling him an asshole? Based off one episode? I am a s1 Rand defender

this is the worst take!!!! the only difference in rand's stubbornness in the two seasons is that in s1 all the trauma and upheavals are extremely fresh and also he still has some hope that he can get his life back, and so he's more argumentative and hot-tempered, whereas in s2 he's hopeless and downtrodden and so he's too tired to argue as much. in s1 his entire world was turned on its head, but by s2 he's had 6 months to settle into the new status quo, which is a shitty status quo even before he finds out he didn't actually defeat the dark one, so when moiraine does come to tell him that, he's more like "[deep sigh] you know those days where you're like, this might as well happen". the reason he doesn't try and fight her in s2 is because he's long accepted he can't go back home again, not because he was an asshole in s1 but is written differently/better in s2. (also, it's almost like coming-of-age stories involve the heroes becoming more mature and better at managing their emotions as the story progresses. imagine that!)

it really is insane how harshly s1 rand is judged for having normal human emotions re: getting dumped and being led away on a life-threatening quest by an extremely shady wizard. i'm sure many of the haters would handle all that way worse than rand did if they were in his shoes! (plus when you look at the other kids: mat and perrin have painful memories in the two rivers (childhood trauma & laila) and so are not that opposed to leaving, while egwene is interested in becoming an aes sedai and so not that opposed, so naturally rand has the most reason to dig his heels in and resist being taken away.)

i think it kinda stems from our human tendency to see all conflicts as A Bad Guy vs. A Good Guy. rand & moiraine both have valid and understandable reasons for clashing (rand is scared and doesn't want to leave home; moiraine is acting for the good of the world) as do rand & egwene (rand is hurting over the breakup and upset that egwene's trying to act like nothing happened and get back with him now that her first choice of being a wisdom fell through; egwene is scared and wants to cling to the comfort and familiarity of their relationship after her whole life was overturned). but people's instinct is to make someone the bad guy in every argument, and so they give that title to rand. we see that time and again in the books too - WOT is really quite good about having the heroes disagree and have conflicts with each other even though they share the same broad goals, but fandom always simplifies it down to "X character is Right and A Good Guy, Y character is Wrong and A Bad Guy". (rand & egwene with the seals: egwene is the bad guy. rand & elayne with the dragon banners: elayne is the bad guy. egwene & gawyn with their TOM relationship negotiations: gawyn is the bad guy. mat & the wondergirls constantly: the girls are the bad guys on reddit, but mat might be the bad guy if you ask some people on tumblr.)

in conclusion, i will leave you with some of my earliest thoughts on rand as a show-only. he immediately came off to me as a walking green flag, and that opinion only strengthened as the season went on! him getting angry and having emotions never soured my opinion of him, it just made him feel real and human! so the haters can suck it, their experiences are not universal.

(i think this was from only about halfway through the season, because he did become my #1 favorite by the end of the season!)

[scarlet--wiccan]

How did you feel about the Pietro and Tommy interaction in Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver? A lot of people seemed to think it was Pietro being a jerk to Tommy but I didn't see it that way necessarily, Pietro seems to respect his nephew and care in his own way (it's implied he stops over from time to time).

While not a father figure or close to them by any means (that's Jeff Kaplan) Thematically ofc Pietro is often more associated with Billy and Tommy than Vision. He shows up with Wanda in that love unlimited comic and Wanda casually mentions Pietro when she visits Billy in #6.

On a side note. We have Wanda teaming up with both her boys coming up in the new solo. Are you excited? Anything your hoping to see?

I enjoyed it! I certainly didn't think Pietro was being a jerk-- he's on edge about the fight with Wanda, and he and Tommy have always had a slightly competitive dynamic, but it's not like he says anything rude or mean. If anything, I thought he was being encouraging. Tommy comes across as very protective, and it seems like he really cares about his family, which a very sweet full-circle moment for him. I think Pietro was also being protective, in his own prickly way, by trying to prevent Tommy from getting further involved in the fight against the Wizard.

My only real problem is that I wish they'd gotten more page time together. This is Pietro's first truly significant interaction with either of the twins since Children's Crusade, which means that Orlando had the opportunity to set the tone of their relationship and fill in any family bonding that might have happened off-page. There have been hints and indications that they do spend time together, so I think he could have gotten away with giving them a closer dynamic, and I'm a little disappointed that he didn't. Having a solid relationship with Wanda's kids, on top of being more active in Luna's life, as we've seen, would support the growth and maturity that we're supposed to be seeing from Pietro.

I'm super happy that Billy and Tommy are both going to be in Scarlet Witch. I was really sad that Tommy and Wanda didn't get any time together in SW&Q, so I'm glad he's coming back-- I just always want to see more of him, in general. Similarly to what I said about Pietro, I want Orlando to establish that Wanda and her sons do a have a close relationship off-page-- that they stay in touch and see each other regularly, even outside of these team-ups. Billy sometimes implies that he's learned more about magic from Wanda, but we've never seen that aspect of their relationship. I don't necessarily expect this comic to get into it, but being Billy's magical mentor would create more opportunities for Wanda to talk about her family history. I really want to get more insight on how Billy and Tommy-- and Luna-- relate to this part of their heritage, and this would be a good way to bring it up in conjunction with other story beats.

We also haven't seen much of Billy and Tommy together in the last, like, decade. Even when they are on-page together, they don't have always speak. I'd like to get a better feel for what their relationship is like as adults. It was stated, once, that Tommy had joined Billy and Teddy on some kind of diplomatic mission in space-- I have to imagine, then, that they're much closer and more trusting than they used to be.

[mythalism]

I'm actually really curious about your thoughts on the bg3 main story. I have often felt like it lacks a personal touch (probably due to the nature of tav as a non-character and all the companions being possible pcs)

to give the short (for me) version, yes i totally agree with that. i think there are a lot of issues with it, like the one you mentioned, that are a byproduct of bg3 being about RPG freedom first, and story second. and because of that, even though i do think they weaken the story, i dont think they necessarily need to be changed. it is impersonal because you have SO much freedom, so it had to be. my main complaint which is something i think could have actually been different while maintaining the rpg freedom that is the main goal of the game is the scope of the story. it is too fucking huge. and not in terms of time or size of the game. the plot is like... incomprehensibly large in scope. you have THREE LITERAL GODS + each of their champions + fucking balduran being a little freak freak + lost githyanki prince + rafael and mephistopheles + elder brain LIKE HOLY SHIT!!!!!! RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!! there are so many antagonists and so much going on that none of it gets its own time to breathe, no antagonist can truly stand out among the 15 others waiting for their turn in the spotlight, and the story as a whole lacks direction, instead feeling scattered and hectic because we have to do SO MUCH. and thats not even getting to the companion antagonists like cazador and generic brand mythal. it feels like they went crazy with the wealth of possibilities available to them with the world of the forgotten realms and instead of going "hey, what story do we want to tell?" they were like "WOW WE GOT WIZARDS OF THE COAST IP LETS GO CRAZY!!!!" which, i get. it was probably very exciting. i just think they DO have the writing chops, the companions questlines are really well done, the dialogue is great, like all of the smaller writing is so well done. but it makes the overarching plot stand out as especially messy in comparison.

i would have literally gotten rid of the elder brain completely and had the emperor be the mastermind behind everything rather than the absolute. it wouldve felt far more personal and intimate and added a second layer to his betrayal of lying to you over and over. it would be an easy change to fudge the lore a tiny bit so that having orpheus's power allows him to extend his psionics further, and he uses that increase range and power to manipulate gortash, orin and ketheric into doing his bidding. they can still be devoted to their respective gods, but the emperor would be using that devotion to manipulate them into thinking they are acting for the gods but in reality it is the emperor. it ties their involvement in the plot to the emperor's manipulation, giving them a shared experience with the player, rather than to a very impersonal elder brain with which we have 0 relationship or attachment to. also there should have been more toxic yaoi between him and that dragon. anyway i once wrote all this out on twitter in more detail but it was so long ago i dont remember it and i havent played the game in over a year. hopefully you will trust me that i figured out any plot holes and made it all make sense.

[sixpillarsofgenesis]

A Thought on Lies of P

So, I have recently - kicking and screaming, mind - gotten into Lies of P, and there's some things that bother me about the primary driver of conflict. I'm going to put this under a spoiler, so... sorry anyone who isn't expecting what's underneath.

Spoilers under the cut for the reading material, gameplay, and mini cutscenes in Lies of P.

How did Carlo die?

This entire plot point is the driving force behind how the plot in Lies of P starts, narratively, and it's also the core reason for the Real Boy ending. The reason I ask this is because common fandom concensus is that Carlo died during the Rose Estate Incident, where an outbreak of Petrification Disease killed a good chunk of the staff, including Carlo, Romeo, (allegedly) and Sophia's father.

But when you explicitly come across the memory of Carlo's death near the end of the game, it looks like he was cut in half given the Famed Stalker was apologising to him - which is further supported by the Nameless Puppet's body being entirely puppet material from about hips down.

But it also begs the question - what killed him? We never really get an answer on what, who, or even why he was killed. Carlo's death wouldn't have been a boon for anyone involved - Geppetto cut ties with the Alchemists to some degree about this in particular, and Geppetto's assistance would have been well worth keeping Carlo alive.

Given that the famous Stalker apparently rejected Carlo from training, we could infer that perhaps he wasn't up to the regular skill level she was famous for. But Romeo's message - and all of the remaining details in the game - paint Carlo as a much more competent potential Stalker than what would have been anticipated. While our Player Character is also apparently very much his own person, the fight with the Black Rabbit Brotherhood implies that Carlo learned enough of the Famed Stalker's combat by observation alone to have had it affect his combat style and capability significantly. Romeo also specifically makes note that Carlo was relentlessly stubborn and that him demolishing the puppets he sent out as an envoy to try and tell the Player Character the truth was pretty much what Romeo expected of him.

All of that marks him as very competent and capable indeed, to say nothing of the Nameless Puppet, if the puppet itself had anything of Carlo left in it, or whatever pressures Carlo might have faced as the famous Union Workshop President's son.

It's also implied that there was at least a year or two since Carlo's death. If we assume Carlo was old enough to read the original La Storia di un Burattino (The Story of a Marionette) in 1881 aka what would be the published novel of Pinnochio in 1883, then Carlo could be enrolled in the French Education as young as three years old and likely old enough to read La Storia di un Burattino as an actual book around five.

(Yes, I am aware Carlo Geppetto is Italian. For the best accuracy to match both the Belle Epoque and the Italian history, I have placed Krat near the seaside a few kilometres from the Italian Border to account for the culture blending we see in Lies of P. So sue me don't.)

Given Pinnochio is canonically Carlo's favourite childhood story, we need to look at the next landmark in the games - The Wizard of Oz. (Did you know that The Wizard of Oz was officially released in 1900?) Carlo could then have been born in 1878, placing him at 22 (or would have been) at the time of Lies of P. Around this time, it was more common to have apprenticeships around age 14-18, which would have likely been when Carlo approached the Famous Stalker to apprentice under her. As we don't know when the Rose Estate Incident took place, Carlo could have been there to complete his lycée (French secondary Education akin to high school) or baccalauréat, colloquially known as le bac.

(The reason I place Krat in France is for this reason, as Italy had a much more difficult time encouraging parents and children to attend formal education - elementary, middle, and high school, more specifically - than France, and the baccalauréat is actually pretty similar to the Stalkers, Alchemists, and Workshop Union as it is presented in canon. The entire premise of the original Pinnochio was quite literally C.Collodi's attempt to convince children to learn their basic education.)

Now, the game does not say how long either the Petrification Disease or the Puppet Frenzy lasted - but I'm still playing the game, though I did watch a walkthrough to try and get all the juicy bits - but given how fresh the bodies are, I would think that the Frenzy was definitely more recent. I would think that - for the purpose of this attempt to make sense of the Lies of P canon - in this case, the Puppet Frenzy was the most recent part, with Simon Manus causing the Rose Estate Incident when Carlo was somewhere between 16-17. Old enough that he could have graduated to become an Apprentice Stalker, but still young enough to not have anywhere to go (as he certainly didn't want to spend any time with his Father, and it was unlikely that Geppetto would have allowed Carlo to live with him anyways.)

All of these things allow for a few specific, unanswered plot points to be addressed - the apparent transformation of Gemini from Stalker to Sophia's Monad Lamp, The time Geppetto would have needed to create at least three P-Organ Prototypes and do whatever tf he did to his hand if that wasn't there already, and for him to additionally steal the Arm of God - as the only transport the Alchemists had would not have accepted Geppetto.

(This would also allow Geppetto to hold Carlo's funeral, attempt Nameless Puppet one, fail, and attempt making the Player Character/Pinocchio/P however you call him, fail again, and then kick the Puppet Frenzy into high gear.)

Outside of how Gemini was put into the Player Character's care, this timeline accounts for everything up until the reveal of Dorothy, who, if she is the person based on the 1900 novel, could have travelled to Krat to escape the fame the novel The Wizard of Oz and the subsequent sequels would have cast on her, as the original novel was so popular as to spawn around 13+ sequels.

Of course, since I am posting this here, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. If there's a better, more comprehensive timeline, I'd love to get a chance to look at it.

Some additional thoughts:

Why three P-Organs? Three because the one Romeo uses in the play is pretty close to what we see on the menu screen - I could see it being perhaps his conceptual design or prototype copy that, once the first real P-Organ was made, was left for future reference.

Why make a big deal out of Dorothy? Because Dorothy and subsequently, The Wizard of Oz would be released during the Belle Epoque (1890-1914) timeframe which this setting takes place. Given the Endgame Credits Scene, this makes considering Dorothy's appearance in Krat at the very least somewhat relevant.

A fun thought I had was the idea of Dorothy being the Famed Stalker, but that person in particular is implied to have been so much beyond the Stalkers that she superseded their hierarchy and had her own place at the top without belonging to any particular faction.

Another interesting thought was the idea of Carlo having been a Listener - as Listeners were often hunted down and experimented on, it seemed like a fun idea to play around with, but in this case, it's not certain one way or another.

[caitchercatlady]

Ranking Anime I Watched in 2024

The Apothecary Diaries (Fall 2023, Winter)

Where’s the Replay button?; Jinshi is boy wife material; I love him! Maomao is also beast FL I’ve ever seen. Her sarcasm and sudden happy moments make me laugh every episode. I think we finally found a mainstream anime that is actually worth the name of anime of the year. Characters are actual characters instead of tropes or stereotypes. The stories are unique to themselves. The animation is beautiful. What more could you ask for? I also watched this anime under the English dub, and it’s actually pretty damn good. Whoever voices Maomao was destined to be that character. Furthermore, the animation itself is straight up gorgeous! Studios OLM and TOHO animation really did a number on this one, especially in the last episode. They announced a season 2 and I’m stoked for it.

Dungeon Meshi (Winter)

Where's the Replay Button?; I originally had no interested in watching this show at the time, but then the English dub came out and I found out that Damien Haas voiced one of the main characters, so I changed my mind super quickly. Hell, when I found this out, I even surprised my boyfriend with the revelation. As far as the show itself is concerned, I think this is the best anime of the year, and I can’t believe it was released so early. While we’ve been returning to the traditional fantasy settings without the help of reincarnation or isekai, we’ve also been blessed with a hilarious and dramatic show involving cooking monster meat. I never thought I would be interested in a show like t his, but all of the characters and the plot are so intriguing.

A Sign of Affection (Winter)

They Got the Bag; I’ve seen a lot of comments about Yuki being infantilized for her disability, and when I see those comments from both the anime and manga pages, I thought people meant Itsuomi was the one doing that, but that turned out not to be true at all. In fact, Itsuomi is the dreamiest ML in any shojo romance I’ve ever seen. He does everything to make sure that Yuki was both seen and heard throughout the entire show. You know, like normal human beings? The only person who seems to infantilize Yuki is that son of a bitch childhood friend of hers, Oushi. He wasn’t written great in the manga either, and the anime seems to continue the tradition. I think what the series is trying to do is show the audience that Oushi is a tsundere who secretly has a crush on Yuki, but all it does is show the audience that Oushi feels that Yuki being deaf is a burden to everyone rather than just a condition she has, which Itsuomi does the complete opposite of. So for people who still think that this series is disability bait, actually look into this and think again.

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (Winter)

Good For What it Was; I watched the drama before jumping into the anime adaptation. Perhaps it has to do with the timing and how many episodes because this anime is way more funny and better paced than the drama was. The only thing going against it is how not great the animation is. I mean, it was a BL, so I wasn’t expecting much, but in more recent years, BL anime have been better animated as if they were mainstream series. After doing quick research, I found out this series was animated by Satelight. You might be familiar with their previous works: Shuga Chara, Macross, partially worked on Fairy Tail, Log Horizon, Nanbaka, and the AKB48 anime series. The majority of the series this studio worked on are unknown or they didn’t do so well in gainly public praise, so maybe I should’ve seen that coming. However, if you look past the animation, the show is actually very heartwarming. Adachi and Kurosawa are adorable together. So were the side couple Wataya and Tsuge. If I had to compare this anime to the live drama, the side couple were a lot more appealing in the anime because they had more chemistry expressed, and I highly appreciated that. THAT ENDING THOUGH! I ACTUALLY CRIED!

Nijiyon Animation Season 2 (Spring)

Good for What it Was; Still just your typical mini series to the main Nijigasaki girls. Nothing special, but the fluff was fun.

I’m Home, Welcome Home (Spring)

Where’s the Replay Button?; This is the first time that anime has tackled an Omegaverse manga story. If you don’t know what Omegaverse is, it’s way too much to explain it here, but I will tell you that this is the most wholesome of the Omegaverse stories you’ll ever find in the entirety of Japanese manga. I���ve been wondering when I’m gonna find the cutest anime of the year, and Tadaima, Okaeri is it. For some reason, I was surprised that this anime was made by Studio Deen, but at the same time, I should not have been because this is the same studio responsible for Sasaki and Miyano, one of my favorite BL series of all time.

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History (Fall)

Wanted to like but it has eh?; This is my very first villainess isekai series, so perhaps I should treat this as a villainess isekai for beginners type of series. It doesn’t specify much about the main character’s life before becoming Alicia, but it pretty much describes the world of the game the MC played prior to being isekaied into the world. While the setup is how you expect the game’s story to go and how Alicia will change up some things, we also start realizing that the game is not following the script not only due to Alicia’s decisions, but because everything is not exactly what it seems in the game. This story had a lot of good elements that could’ve worked in the story, but I think Alicia’s two plots in taking Liz down and helping out this poverty-stricken village don’t seem to mix much at all. Perhaps I’m missing something because this show is based off of a series of ongoing light novels, and this is supposed to be the season one of the whole thing, but even with that being the case, I feel that some characters, especially those who are supposed to be the meat of the plot, are not crafted well, and it’s very hard to tell what Alicia actually wants to do and who she wants to be. I know in game logic, the character of Alicia is supposed to be stubborn, passive aggressive, and confident beyond belief, and there’s only a few moments in which we see the MC actually falter at times. We don’t really see what MC’s end game is supposed to be. Like why is she doing this after being isekaied into the game? Yeah, she wants to be the best villainess in the world, but what exactly does that mean? Again, maybe that’s the point as the source material is still going, but I would like to know more than just that. As a first season, it definitely solidified that I wouldn’t watch the next one if it ever comes around.

Acro Trip (Fall)

Good For What It Was; This series had all the amount of cornball that I needed out of a magical girl parody. I don’t think it’s the perfect parody of the genre, but it was enough its own story to keep me invested in Chizuku, Chroma, and Berry’s character arcs. Chroma is MegaMind levels of hilarious, and I love him so much. I feel that with more episodes that this show could’ve been expanded more, but considering how long it took for even the show to get made in the first place (I think this thing was announced back in 2022!), this was probably the best we were going to get. I found out before posting that this was Studio Voil’s very first series, so it kinda makes sense why it took so long to make. Animation quality is pretty good for a first show though. The first episode did indeed get me invested, and the show kept me invested.

Love Live Superstar Season 3 (Fall)

Where's the Reply Button?; I don’t know what the producers took but the music for this season is a vast improvement compared to season 2. It makes me feel like I’m reliving season 1 all over again. The member plot points feel more fleshed out now than they did last season. The biggest improvement was Natsumi, who we finally get her reasons for why she acts the way she does now that her sister, Tomari, is in the picture. Also, thank you show for writing Keke less like a dick. All of us at the Love Live fandom appreciate that. Shiki is still best girl. The songs are at their peak this season, which is a massive improvement from Season 2, thank the lord.

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking "Hogwarts Mystery" (Years 1-7)

This is my first time doing a rewrite for a mobile game, but I thought I'd try my hand at it, particularly since I feel like the game didn't live up to it's potential. To clarify, this isn't going chapter by chapter, but an overview of the school years. That said, SPOILERS GALORE. Now that that's out of the way, let's start off with general stuff:

Friendship matters. A big issue I had was that starting around year 5 or 6, it no longer mattered how close you were with your friends; unlike previous years, you no longer had the choice to include them on adventures. I'd fix that so you have choices on who goes on adventures with you rather than it just being a default number of people. Along with this, you'd maintain consistent friends; Rowan mentioned in Year 6 that you've been distant lately, and that's true, especially with them; Rowan was kind of always a background character on your adventures despite being your best friend. And possibly I'd reduce characters for a more intimate friend group: ie Rowan having Liz's traits (intelligent and rule-following), Penny with Chiara's traits, Barnaby with Diego's traits, Merula with Ismelda's traits, and Alanza with Corey's traits. This would leave Ben, Andre, Jae, Badea, Talbott, Tulip, and Victor unaffected (plus adding your quidditch friends, but more on that later). And possibly controversial option, but I'd make Merula and Barnaby twin siblings; I came up with the idea after removing Ismelda, and I think it'd explain why they stick together as a duo, and their similar background make for more synergy as twins. I'd probably also remove Beatrice as a friend due to her storyline being similar to Victor's and her not really being a big factor after Y6.

Further customization--I'm removing the familial elements of the storyline. While Jacob is still your brother, he's much closer in age to you (being about one or two years older, so you can go through school together), and you get to see your parents, go home, and establish what kind of background you come from, concerning your blood heritage. I feel like half-blood would be the most likely default in-universe (though muggle-born is also very possible), with pureblood being very unlikely here. I'd also show visual signs of aging; some characters such as Jae and Barnaby already look like adults when they're supposed to be 11, and everyone keeps the same appearance throughout the school years, making it easy to forget that 17 year-olds aren't 11. It'd also be cool if you could get an attribute boost based on your heritage, ie being part veela or merperson (though this may not be likely for a mobile game, since an aspect like this would probably not be changeable once set). Your dad wouldn't be leading "R"; that'd be Verucca instead, and their goal would essentially be Voldemort's goal of wizard dominance, but it's more global-scale now, recruiting purebloods from all over the world to help. If you're a pureblood yourself, dialogue with their members will be considerably nicer.

The story takes place AFTER Harry Potter's adventures, not before. Maybe even the year after his 7th year. I feel like it was very obvious that the OG HM game was riding off the coattails of the original, especially since "Beyond Hogwarts" coincides with Harry's school years. As such, this removes the Weasley brothers, Cedric, and Tonks from your friendship list, allowing more time for the other characters to shine and get attention. I do like the idea of some characters being in different school years, but it works out better if everyone is in the same year.

Side adventure characters have more involvement. Originally, Talbott and Chiara are people you just interact with in a couple side quests and become more involved in the main story in later years. In retrospect, they should've been included in the main story earlier on. I'd probably introduce Talbott in Year 3, based on when his Special Adventures pop up (Chiara isn't a factor here since I'm putting her characteristics into Penny). I'd also introduce Quidditch in Year 1 and allow for the Quidditich adventures to be weaved into the main story rather than seen as a side thing that all seems to happen in your 2nd year (according to the Special Adventures). While Murphy, Skye, and Orion wouldn't be involved in your fight against evil, they would serve a similar function of Alanza/Corey of taking your mind off of your adventures and reminding you of other parts of the magical world you can enjoy. Since Rowan and your quidditich team (plus Murphy) are in whatever house you're in, I like to think there's in a more intimate friend group, since you all hang out and study together, with whatever other allies that share your house weave in and out. Perhaps include the Wellnelly brothers as well, along with Rath.

Less Special adventures. I feel like some of them are unnecessary, like helping your friends prepare for the N.E.W.T.S. (the reward is that based on the subject, you can still miss a question and make a perfect score--but this means nothing if you follow an online guide), or repetitive like some romantic adventures, or something that could've been included in the main story rather than a separate thing, like helping Talbott find his special item. Then there's just some events like the Sorcerer's Olympiad that didn't seem to add anything to the story, nor was it interesting when compared to something like the Triwizard Tournament. And it SUCKS that some events are holiday-exclusives. Plus a lot of these wouldn't exist since they're focused on characters from Harry's time. And regular adventures don't exist since they don't offer rewards and most of them are related to your magical creature.

More involvement with other schools. There's a large appeal to that, I think; there are 8 known schools, but we've only had an event relating to Beauxbatons and Alanza not being a big enough character for us to learn more about Castelobruxo. Having more insight into Ilvermorny, Uagadou, Mahoutokoro, Durmstrang, Koldovstoretz, and any other wizarding schools would be cool.

NO VAULTS. It was pretty repetitive, especially since the better half of each school year was occupied with researching and finding it, with only two or three chapters having you actually there, and once there, it was pretty straightforward. I feel like this wasn't a very interesting storyline in contrast to the goblin uprising of "Hogwarts Legacy" (though THAT story could've also been better) and the Second Wizarding War during Harry's time. Another wizarding war/dangerous wizard is always an idea.

Attributes have a lower cap and most classes are optional--In my version of the game, you don't have to complete lessons, but it's recommended so that you learn spells that can help you on your adventures, as well as special interactions you could encounter from going to class. Since classes are optional, the attribute cap isn't ANYWHERE NEAR 120; I'd cap them at around 50 or 60, but the required points for them are lower since most people probably wouldn't grind if they didn't have to. (I know this is more suited for a video game though, since reducing the cap and making classes optional greatly reduces the need for and desire to have diamonds). And since your overall player level only seems to determine what accessories you can buy, I'd remove that altogether.

Glad to have that stuff out of the way! Now I'd like to get to how I'd change the story for each year at Hogwarts. I may tweak some of this later.

Year 1--I'd probably make it longer (not TOO long since it's the first year; maybe 20-30 chapters), and introduce Barnaby here since he's Merula's brother and thus probably more involved and attached at her hip, given how big he is on loyalty, though he wouldn't become an ally this year. Collaboration with Merula also doesn't happen here since she starts off as antagonistic; instead more focus is on Jacob, Rowan, Penny, and Ben, and Ben and Rowan become close friends over the school year (though not as close as you and Rowan). The year is mainly introducing you to magic and magic culture, and the vaults don't exist in this story. I'd also make DADA classes available this year, with the DADA instructor being a half-elf, and he ends up being murdered at the end of the school year. Your first Quidditch championship happens this year as well. There isn't a major "break the rules" situation where you're given a stern talking to this year, so you just get the 100 house points.

New Classes: DADA, Potions, Charms

New friends: Rowan, Ben, and Penny

Side quests (Some would need tweaking to adjust for current Hogwarts staff): Party Planner, Christmas at Hogwarts, Dueling Deathday Parties

Year 2--Again, more chapters here. Merula is more antagonistic to you this year, but Barnaby ends up becoming an ally towards you in the end due to your loyalty to your friends and personal discourse between him and Merula, and he will help you track down your previous DADA instructor's murderer. The current instructor is a by the book woman, who's more into visual instruction and textbooks rather than kinetic learning styles, which both Rowan and Ben enjoy. She's a temporary teacher who was homeschooled in her youth due to travel, but she is talented, and while she comes off as strict, she has a soft side for pretty much anyone but Gryffindors, who she sees as reckless based on what she's researched (Hufflepuffs are loyal, Slytherins are misunderstood, and Ravenclaws are studious). At this point, the discussion of forming a team (similar to the Circle of Khana and Order of the Phoenix/Dumbledore's Army) is brought up to train and track down the killer, bur nothing is seriously considered due to everyone being in their second year. Given that Bill isn't present, Andre is available for recruitment this year, and he makes disguises for you and your trio (which will automatically include Barnaby, but you can pick between Ben, Rowan, and Penny to join you guys). Merula taunts MC about her learning wandless magic here and there, with your adventures and Barnaby being a skilled dueler, singer, and magical creature expert (all of which are canon in the game, anyway) making her very insecure and feel a need to be stronger. Rowan is still injured during the confrontation with the murderer, though this results in the murderer being killed himself by the organization he worked for because Rowan is a pureblood witch/wizard. It's revealed the previous DADA instructor was killed because he was considered impure, being a half-breed. The stress leads to you bonding with Skye (who feels like a "nice" version of Merula), who becomes an ally here and a reminder of the good parts of being at Hogwarts. Given Andre also is involved with quidditch, you interact with him more often there than during classes. And the reason Barnaby and Merula are having conflict is revealed: they sent word to her that they're planning to escape Azkaban and come for them. At the end of the year, it's revealed they (and several others) have escaped.

New Classes: Tranfigurations, Flying

New Friends: Andre, Barnaby, and Skye

Special Adventures (Some requiring tweaking based on Hogwarts Staff): Become an Honorary Rocker, Comet, The Quidditch Cup, A Special Celebration of Hogwarts Teachers

Year 3--Again, we need more chapters. Starting off, the DADA instructor has changed again, due to the previous instructor having been injured battling against "R," but the new instructor is of little help, being a part-time worker from the ministry and a last-minute substitute. On your first visit to Hogsmeade, you're offered the opportunity to work for Zonko's, Madame Puddingfoot, or the Three Broomsticks, which you accept to explore the magical world beyond Hogwarts, which you accept because several Hogwarts students years 4-7 have started to disappear. Talbott becomes an ally this year, with his "Birds of a Feather" quest being part of the main storyline around chapter 7 or 8 ("Become an Animagus" is still a special adventure), and he shows you more isolated parts of the wizarding world, as well as Tulip helping you come up with ways to plot against "R" thanks to her creative pranks. The focus on extracurriculars is continued in Quidditch, with Murphy becoming an ally and helping you plan strategies against "R." Rowan is still reeling from the events of last year, but they're also important for brainstorming plans, and Penny, Barnaby, and Ben mainly work on their proficiencies in dueling, potions, and charms to protect themselves and their friends, however Penny, Rowan, and Barnaby end up being kidnapped as well. Jacob and your prefect encourage your intuition, but essentially acts as your protector from doing anything too stupid--and vice versa. It's revealed upon a failed attempt to kidnap Jacob that R is inducting wizards and witches whose ancestry is the purest--a Slytherin mentality, so half-bloods are permitted (if Jacob and MC are muggleborn, it'll be stated that they just wanted him because it's revealed that he's a seer, explaining his silver lime wand), explaining why many of your friends were kidnapped. Talbott managed to escape thanks to being an animagus, Skye managed to get to a brown and take to the sky to outmaneuver them, and Murphy was thought to be an "unattractive" option to join their ranks. Those who joined "R" willingly didn't return to Hogwarts, and while some of the kidnapped victims escaped, most of them were revealed to be trapped in the Forbidden Forest, some being subject to the cruciatus curse or imperius in order to be made to join. While Rowan and Penny are rescued, Barnaby and Ben are sadly not. Strangely, Merula is not one of the missing students, but she doesn't seem to be bothered by this.

New Classes: Herbology

New Friends: Tulip and Talbott

Special Adventures (Some will need tweaking based on Hogwarts staff): The Second Quidditch Cup, New Arrivals, Become an Anigamus, The Frog Choir, Wandering Sea Serpent, Slytherin Celebration, The Wisdom of Ravenclaw, Family Feast, Gryffindor Celebration, House Points, Hufflepuff Celebration, Pumpkin Johnny Rises, The Tale of Pumpkin Johnny, Secrets of Godric's Hollow

Year 4--Once again, more chapters. This year's DADA professor is Peregrine, who in this universe is a renowned wizard who loves to relive his glory days and wants to live vicariously through his talented students. He's not a bad guy, but very misguided; it's implied he's lost people he cares about against dark wizards and witches, and hasn't allowed himself to grieve and instead embraces toxic positivity. I like the idea that if you choose to be raised by a single father or by both your parents, Peregrine IS your dad in this game, resulting in more dialogue, including the fact that he took up the job to keep an eye on you and Jacob. Otherwise, he's just an unrelated teacher who's heavily dad-coded since he takes an interest in you. It's later revealed that the reason he takes interest in you (if you're not his child) isn't just because of a talent at regular school subjects, but your adventurous exploits and the fact that you're a Legimens (which you only just realized and are classified as of this year). Meanwhile, Jacob takes to the forest with his friends Olivia and Duncan in order to speak to the centaurs about divination after discovering he's a seer. You try to help him by speaking to the Divination professor, but she's less than helpful, and you instead focus on training your legilimency with the headmaster when you have time, though you tell no one about your skill except Jacob. You befriend Orion during your quest to understand destiny and the universe, as well as Badeea for her unique and artistic perspective. The Headmaster manages to rescue some of the missing students, and while Barnaby seems more or less the same, Ben is traumatized over being tortured by "R" due to being a muggle-born.

New Classes: Care of Magical Creatures and Divination

New Friends: Badeea and Orion

Special Adventures: Become a Prefect, First Date, The Third Quidditch Cup, Become a Prefect, Celestial Ball, Torvus and the Troubled Forest, The Valentine's Day Masquerade, A Dragon's Quest, A Bad Omen, Magical Creatures Everywhere, Making Mischief, Hosting the Beauxbatons

Year 5--After speaking with Peregrine, he decides to retire from the position in order to relax and work through his past trauma (if he's your dad, additional dialogue will say that you guys have been vacationing in various spots and he's more attentive to you, not just for your skills, but as a person). However, after taking Peregrine's advice about sacrificing yourself for your friends, you are given detention for your recklessness, even though Peregrine profusely assures the Headmaster that it is his fault. As such, you befriend Jae in the kitchens. The new DADA professor is a mute, bringing a unique perspective on spellcasting and manifesting your power through your wands via your feelings rather than your words. This causes a stir at the Ministry, as some officials think this is the gateway to practicing wandless magic. Whispers begin to circle that the Ministry is interfering with Hogwarts, putting all your friends on edge. Penny's identity as a werewolf is revealed, and your friends begin to become suspicious of each other, with Barnaby begging everyone not to fight, but to no avail, creating factions among the friends (such as a suspicious Rowan and a cynical Ben, your quidditch friends, etc.) Barnaby sticks to you in order to solve the situation, and Merula is surprisingly sympathetic to you, expressing vulnerability to you, and introducing you to a friend of hers, Kuzuhiro, who acts somewhat as a therapist to you. Rath notices your increased aggression in quidditch, and unofficially takes you under her wing since she harmed Skye back in the earlier years by accident and don't want you to do the same (though her attitude towards helping you depends on whether or not you believed her or not). To focus on the root of the "problem," you join Penny for the Wizarding Schools Potions Championship in order to bond with her and remind her of your friendship, and in a rare moment of vulnerability, she asks you not to tell, since they're all she has left (despite MANY consequences of harboring dangerous fugitives). You can promise not to tell or tell her that you've got to report them; regardless, they're found out, but how Merula interacts with you later is reflected in whether or not you promised to keep the secret. It is eventually revealed that a member of "R" had infiltrated the school, and your DADA professor is arrested as a result of a student reporting her practicing the dark arts. You attempt to use your legimens ability, but you find nothing to ensure her guilt. Before graduating, Duncan reveals (against Jacob's wishes) that Jacob had a prophecy of someone close to you betraying you, further stressing you out at the end of the year. You notice Talbott acting oddly at the end of the year, and decide whether or not he's a part of "R."

New Friends: Rath and Jae

New Classes: History of Magic

Special Adventures: OWL, CDAH, Ticket to Love, Valentine's Day Ball, An Enchanted Kiss, The Legendary Snitch of Hogsmeade, Out of Sorts

Year 6--This year, there is a great emphasis on exchange programs after the success of the Beauxbatons' visit, leading to Alanza to come to Hogwarts, and Kuzuhiro is the new professor, having been personally appointed by the Ministry. You don't share Jacob's prophecy with anyone but Rowan (against your better judgement), and as you suspect, they are weary of your friends, but vow to stick by you better than last year. This year, you become friends with Alanza, who is unperturbed by the revelation and dark circumstances at Hogwarts, becomes stronger as the two of you interact more so you can "get away" from everyone, and Merula is pushed in your direction by Kazuhiro, who wants more "unity" between his students and less conflict. Dementors begin to appear on the school grounds, despite no longer being used by the Ministry, leading many students and even some staff members to become suspicious of the Ministry and fearing that it's been corrupted once more, perhaps by "R." As such, you see even the teachers become more secretive as rumors swirl that the Ministry has planted spies at the school, and you wonder if Alanza is one of them. Your friendship with Merula comes to a head when she invites you to visit her and Barnaby's parents, and you agree to it, and you're joined by Alanza, Rowan, Barnaby, and your new friend Victor, a transfer from Beauxbatons (he was originally a Hogwarts student, but after being attacked by a vampire in his 3rd year, he had to regularly visit the a local magical hospital to help him overcome his bloodlust, only letting him go to Beauxbatons when he presses to continue his education). It's revealed Ben, Tulip, and Jae also followed you, and that Kazuhiro reveals he is the teacher working for "R." In the middle of the year, they kidnapped Talbott, who had discovered at the end of last year who Kazuhiro was, as he was the one who killed his parents. Kazuhiro reveals R's true goal; to reveal magic to the muggle world and establish supremacy (similar to Lord Voldemort's goals), and that they have achieved an international scale at this point, with several schools already having fallen--and the Ministry was covering the whole thing up. This sheds a negative light on Talbott, who had become a spy for the Ministry upon realizing who Kazuhiro was, as well as making the Ministry look bad for putting his life in danger and hiding sensitive information from most of the wizarding world. You are considered a significant member of the group, since you are a direct descendant of one of the four Hogwarts founders (which one it is is dependent on your house; it'll be the opposite of whoever you choose), which is used to dismiss your "inferior" blood heritage if you're not a pureblood--though other members of "R" will contest this. When Ben engages in a fight, Tulip and Jae sneak away to get your friends, which sends a chain reaction of students and staff discovering what's going on. With Ben defeated, you beg the present members of "R" not to hurt him, and they say he's damaged enough, and they will stop hurting him if you join them. Before you can answer, the staff members appear and chase off Merula and Barnaby's parents and arrest Kazuhiro. While things seem to be getting back to normal, Barnaby is revealed to be controlled by a legitimens, and kidnaps you while you're on the train leaving Hogwarts.

New Classes: Astronomy

New friends: Victor and Alanza

Special Adventures: Love Story, Hogsmeade Festival, Valentine's Day, Rivalry Respect and Rath, Head Boys and Girls, The Dragon's Treasure, Career Days at Hogwarts

Year 7--You wake up unsure of where you are. You're no longer in Hogwarts, and you're unsure if you're even in the UK. You discover that it is the first day of your seventh year, but you cannot recall the events of the summer, only that you have to keep ahead of individuals chasing you, those who brazenly wear clothing "R" on their clothes. You make friends with a red-haired adult, a Weasley, who says they are the new DADA instructor following Kazuhiro's arrest. They explain that the professor from Year 5 is helping to hunt "R" down after being released of false charges, and while they bring you back to Hogwarts, you're horrified to find out that this year is the Triwizards championship, resulting in your headmaster and most of your friends gone, having gone to France (as Rowan suspected "R" may try to pull something during the championship and bring you there). Slowly, your memories resurface as you recall being imprisoned for months until escaping one day somehow, though how you did, you have no idea. Only Merula remains among your "friend" group at Hogwarts, who makes your blood run cold at the thought of having less defenses than before, especially as several students give you strange glances. She's always following you, and you insist on focusing on your studies despite the frequent nightmares, and you eventually find yourself in the mind of Jacob, seeing your friends die in France. Eventually you convince your eccentric Muggle Studies professor (who is also new this year) to bring you to France during your Christmas break, and you reunite with your friends, several of whom have stuck close to Victor, one of the few students who is educated in French thanks to his stay there. Throughout your stay in France, you do battle with several members of "R," including Kazuhiro, who somehow escaped imprisonment. You recall Barnaby kidnapping you due to being controlled by a legitimens, and you fight the urge to become suspicious of the friends you had fought to reunite with. Jacob is also present as he took time off of work (having become an Auror last year) to come and see you, and is happy to find you okay when he didn't originally see you with your classmates. However, his actions make his friends worried. In a battle, Duncan is killed, as is Rowan (though your actions beforehand can prevent one or both of these deaths), and the trauma undoes the false memory spell, revealing that you were tortured by "R" in many ways until you managed to come around to their ideals, and you even helped them with certain criminal acts, including rescuing Kazuhiro from Azkaban. You defeat your friends while they're distracted in battle, and you must decide who's side you're on: "R" or Hogwarts.

New Classes: Muggle Studies

New friends: Merula

Special Adventures: NEWT, Summer Nights, The Curse of Love, The Fourth Quidditch Cup

Hope you enjoyed my idea! To note: I kinda fell off of this game series not too long ago, so I didn't have all the special adventures that are currently available.