#i'm vague posting the lore

[justtrashperson]

"How many times do I have to hold your dead body in my arms until it's all over?"

[moonchild-in-blue]

If you choose to look at Sleep as an allegory for depression/mental illness, the romantic and co-dependent nature of Vessel's lyrics hurt that much more.

"I hate you and you're bad for me" "I don't know who I am without you" "Please set me free" "Please don't leave me" "You're an intrinsic part of me" "I must become someone new".

Ya feel me?

[protagonist-art]

"Uh- I'm Arnold. Bennett. It's profoundly difficult to get your lifes works and studies accepted if your name isn't... yes, oh! Are you a fan of moths, sir?"

NEW RDR2 OC!! a reclusive, clumsy entomologist and bug collector; cooped up in his study of uniformed clutter

[paintsplash1712]

I kinda wish Sephiroth would appear more randomly in Rebirth. I'm not talking about cutscenes though.

Like what if you just let Cloud be still for too long Sephiroth starts glitching and teleporting near Cloud? Kinda like The Reaper in persona games if you stop moving in the shadow world (Tartarus, Mementos, whatever).

What if in random scenes you can hear Sephiroth's voice whispering in Cloud/the player's ear?

It would also make Cloud look more insane, like is Sephiroth actually there or is Cloud hallucinating?

[flickering-nightfall]

just asking, what if an iterator possibly gets too hot or cold? What happens if they can’t get to safer temps with out outside forces? What if they can’t get to safer temps at all?

Do you mean superstructures or puppet-bound iterators? I'm sure superstructures have a lot of failsafes to deal with temperature fluctuations, mostly via processing water intake. They're living saunas! They probably have an incredible resistance to both hot and cold, as evidence shows.

I'll talk about puppets here, but if you meant superstructures, well... a lot of what I'll say here could apply to superstructures too.

(For puppet-bound iterators, I am referring to my AU CDSS)

For heat: Puppet-bound iterators, like their former superstructure bodies, run hot and need to stay hydrated. They rely on liquid coolant that runs throughout their bodies. Ruptures in the coolant system are one of their many common problems, but with medical aid, they're not too serious. Many cases are self-healing, or the rupture will seal itself off and reroute around the blockage - like with collateral circulation. Leaks into essential systems are more of a concern than the actual loss of coolant. As long as they stay cool and drink water while waiting to get fixed, they tend to be fine.

If they are stuck in a hot region and can't escape, they'll suffer from dehydration, heat stroke, fried components, damage to organic tissue, seizures... pretty much what you'd expect. As a superstructure, Moon probably suffered from all this leading up to her collapse.

For cold: They're fairly resistant for a few reasons. One is the antifreeze in coolant. Another is the heat that they naturally produce. I'm thinking they have silicone-based skin, which is very cold resistant. They have hemocyanin, which tends to function better in extreme cold than hemoglobin. (Hemocyanin can also work at hotter temperatures. I have like a whole essay about this that I still intend to post lol.) However, the puppets have been modified to have more flexible and sensitive skin - dexterity in exchange for some durability. They're more susceptible to the perception of cold than they would be if they were a still a superstructure. Many of them also dislike snowscapes on principle, because they've been freezing their decaying metal butts off for centuries by the time CDSS happens.

Iterators in both forms are very moist, so if it's cold past their limits, their mechanical components will freeze. And like with hypothermia in fully organic beings, prolonged time in extreme cold will lead to tissue death and organ failure. Superstructures with fractured exteriors (direct exposure of internal parts to the cold air) are especially susceptible to this.

Misc theory about superstructures: Moon's superstructure was able to stay intact into Saint's era because she collapsed straight down into the water, preserving most of her shape. The canyon water could have provided the pressure and circulation she needed in the absence of gravity cores, as well as protection against land pests and insulation against the cold. Remnant slag could have her generate excess heat as well, which would keep the water surrounding her unfrozen. In a way, dying like that could have helped her live longer?!

Thanks for the question anon, this was very fun :P

[landfilloftrash]

May I ask for more of your ShinKaru headcanons please? 😀🙏 or even about Manfred, do you have any HC about his wife?

Not gonna lie with you Chief, it took me longer than it probably should’ve to realize that you were using “Karuma” for the second half of the ship name lmaooo (very jovial)

But headcanons for Gregory and Manfred!!! I have those in spades! I won't go into tooooo much detail because we'll be here all day but I can give you some I sent to my partner! But as always I must preface; this is mostly based on vibes, certain lines I cannot quote off the top of my head, and fanfic-- because both characters and their backstories have not been TOUCHED let me see how they GOT HERE

Anyways /lh

In actual canon, my guess is that they met for the first time during the IS-7 incident. More specifically, the first time they’ve actually TALKED.

However, this alone is boring; So I imagine they’ve seen glances of one another in the courtroom. On Gregory’s end, he has seen von Karma in passing, fresh from the courtroom, going into battle, or going over something in the lobby and scowling, given a polite nod to the man or a nice tip of his hat if he was wearing it and mostly classified MvK as “older gentleman with nice taste in clothing.” if he ever sees him again.

MvK on the other hand might have heard of Gregory in passing? Extremely good defense attorney who regularly beats prosecutors; that’s not saying he’s perfect, that would catch the older man’s attention after all, but MvK has probably heard of him and his Justice filled ways and gone “bah. these fools don’t know how to prosecute that’s all, and he’s a naive fool.” If SEEING him without first noticing his badge, might politely nod back or huff a breath in lieu of greeting. If seeing his badge, 100% a nearly uncontrolled sneer. A mere defense attorney. A bug to crush.

And if later down the line Gregory wants to be that cool bug that Manfred studies closer and finds interesting, that’s his own damn business, thank you very much /lh

The only way I see them happening would be if Manfred's wife was either divorced or dead; He brags about his wife's cooking in a contest about baking that man is a wifeguy fo sho

Anyways

They are court rivals!

They match each other blow for blow, which means whatever Manfred’s brand of insane is that trial, Gregory is ready to go with it and turn the tide, and even if he doesn’t win (perfect win streak), the crowd goes away with a sense of “wow. Von Karma was really on the ropes a couple of times.” and Manfred HATES IT. Not the crowd’s whispers— but now people know there’s someone who can actually MATCH his damn insanity and that riles him up to the point of bloodthirsting lust

Gregory ALSO hates it but for a different reason; he's fighting for his gawddamn life with these cases, doing his best as a defense and usually coming so so close but missing just that little something, and von Karma wins.

But he’s stubborn. He will get people their Justice, and he WILL literally die trying so help him gods. That stubbornness extends to von Karma; he WILL win against this man one day, and he’s tenacious and firm, so one day, it WILL happen.

On other hand.. he’s also interested in the amused expressions and sometimes even delighted smile that pops up on extremely brief and rare one second occasions when Gregory pulls a trap of his own or turns von Karma’s trap around; It’s a predator amused that his prey thinks it can win, but playing along and once again trapping the poor creature, but he can’t deny that the expressions make him pause for a moment. Von Karma is very intrigued as he is incredulous about Edgeworth; the fact he only smiles when cornered, so deadly serious and matching fire with fire, a little bit of a nerd! What is this man and why is he so amused by him? He's gonna have an aneurysm

Outside of the courtroom, there’s not much interaction. But… on occasion, they will cross paths while investigating, and almost make a game of it.

They’ll bicker, snip at each other, get close to violence on a couple cases, occasionally even laugh at a stupid/funny comment the other made, quip and quote back and forth like their lives depend on it and should they fail they’ll disintegrate.

Most detectives, especially Badd, the one they most regularly have to deal with, have caught onto this and stay the FUCK out of their way; no matter if von Karma demands they don’t let Gregory onto the scene, they find out later he snuck past them and is up to his thighs in a mystery he’s two thirds of the way figured out

Meanwhile von Karma is already ‘hiding’ witness testimonies and figuring out what he might need to smudge to keep the 'innocents' safe and the 'culprits' put away. While this is a tried and true tactic, and a very welcome one, if he can get away with not doing those things, he prefers it.

Gregory on the other hand, has a notebook for every case he’s been on with MvK as the prosecutor because every time they go against each other he needs to write down every thought that comes to mind in regards to the case. In other cases not against Manfred, he’s decimated the prosecutions arguments before they get off the ground thanks to having to deal with the god of prosecution. But he goes over these notebooks and regularly writes new theories and ideas on what might’ve actually happened, or if he came across the truth and was unable to prove it, circles it, and when they're all actually solved, he closes that notebook permanently.

On the extremely rare occasion that they have NO culprit, but there’s a crime they’ve been assigned to, they have tossed theories at one another, simple to try and one up each other of course. But it’s a different kind of race and game. It’s slower, much more careful.

Manfred once couldn't get to a crime scene up on a hill because it was a terrible pain day and Gregory said nothing about it as he supported Manfred’s almost full weight and let him recover before they actually approached the police and the scene. They never bring it up again and Manfred hates the fact that it even happened, but Gregory soon after finds a small gift basket and a note that says “tell no one. they will never believe you.” and Edgeworth keeps the note.

Gregory is a very calm and chill man, but he has on multiple occasions yelled in true anger at Manfred for certain topics, and Manfred purposefully doesn’t bring those topics up again unless truly relevant, which is almost never.

Manfred absolutely hates Gregory the way you hate a dog. Gregory hates Manfred the way you hate a season.

That's where I'll leave those for now lmao-- but now. Ouuuh. Headcanons about Manfred's wife, huh? She's not so closely my department in headcanons/personal canons like my buddy @.nwdolphin is! But if I were pressed...

May perhaps not be a perfectionist like her husband, but probably strives for it in a way that Manfred saw, appreciated, and partially married her for

I'm not quite sure on ethnicity or name-- depends on if they met in Germany or Japanifornia, and even then it's a mixed bag either way-- but definitely not "noble birth" or whatever if going on with MvK's edwardian outfits /aff Just a normal person from a normal Ace Attorney universe family, so of course her name is a pun/irony.

That being said-- Business woman though. Possibly a CEO of some kind? Possibly just a simple worker. Either way, she commands attention

Softer face for Franziska? She's who it came from!

Like I said earlier in the post; Manfred brags about her cooking! Wifeguy for sure. Her cooking may not be "perfect" but it's made with a genuine effort and a love of the task/people it's made for, so it's perfect to him, goddamnit all, and he will stand by this until he dies

This is all not to say that she's perfectly fine with her husband's bullshit; she calls him out when he gets too Into It

Definitely challenges her husband in more than one way-- whether it be verbally, mentally, or maybe even physically in a sparring match when they were younger and Manfred's leg didn't act out as much!

Manfred fr wouldn't have it any other way; he strikes me as the kind of guy who would decay rapidly without a proper challenge in some way or another (enrichment for the caged tiger in his enclosure please)

I could definitely see her being the one that completely and utterly endorse her youngest daughter wielding a riding crop as little more than two so even she could defend herself

Both of them were definitely so proud of her

Of course her eldest also got a weapon (<- the one who gave them their weapons) who do you think she is

Their granddaughter is named after her, methinks; the eldest keeps in contact enough for Manfred to know her dog's name is Phoenix (whether or not he was simply bluffing on this is irrelevant, I'm taking it and running with it /lh) and even if it isn't, he still knows his granddaughter has a dog who she very much adores.

I think around the time she left his life (death, divorced, missing, etc.) is around the time he truly started to lose the way of how he wants Perfect Justice and instead started to perfectly embody everything wrong with the Law

[carlottastudios]

So I think I'm making some decent progress on my unhinged Kaeya lore thoughts post

The WIP of the mindmap is below the cut

I'm really scared that I'm still missing a lot of stuff, but it's past midnight now so I'll be stopping for now and actually get some sleep

[doodlingwren]

Ok, back to girlblogging eheh (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

[bleaksqueak]

The pure amount of self control required to not give a novels-worth lecture on magic system and exacting details is immeasurable. It's fine, I'm being good. Behaving.

[raylin-creates]

Me when I see a post about how First is useless to the lore: I. respect. your opinion. (internally raging) (fists shaking) (teeth gritted) (body trembling) (breathing ragged) (mind shook) (eyes wild) (mentally holding myself back from replying with the force of a blue whale being dropped to the ground at terminal velocity)

[officially-other]

*vague emotional screeching in the distance* /pos

[spritehouse]

someone reblogged one of my headcanons relating to the hc, then saying "i don't like this hc" and it's been confusing me for like 12 hours

listen. i don't care if they dont like my headcanon, or even if they want to publicly announce it, but the circumstance is so confusing and i need to know what they meant.

[chaosintheavenue]

A few differences between original non-Scorched Trin as of when she first arrived in West Virginia, and Trin as she is today:

Original Trin was less physically aggressive, and fled from combat in all but the most essential of quest scenarios. Trin now isn't exactly bloodthirsty (...most of the time), but doesn't shy from combat unless she's badly outmatched, and won't hesitate to kill anything that tries attacking her

Both iterations of Trin are simultaneously fascinated by and wary of radiation and all it entails, but original Trin leaned much more heavily into the wary side of things. Current Trin has had to give up on caring about avoiding rads, since... well, she can't

Original Trin changed weapons regularly (still all in the melee category, but she'd vary between fast and slow, bladed and blunt, methods of attack etc), mostly because she was still trying to find her own preference and combat style. Current Trin finds a Special Favourite and uses that one weapon exclusively until a better Special Favourite comes along to replace it

Original Trin didn't have a camp in lore. She was living fully on the road/sometimes out of 76ers' camps, which is what ultimately inspired her to build her own in that style

Despite the above, original Trin also tended to avoid 76ers themselves and places where they would congregate (e.g. events) for the most part. She was specifically spending nights here and there in empty camps

I'm not all that great at envisioning voices for my OCs, but I like to think that Trin has slowly started to take on elements of a WV accent over time

Original Trin was definitely somewhat less Cipher-ish, both in game choices and in my own lore. Not sure if that was an actual shift in behaviour on her part, or I simply never really touched on her Cipher-y elements back then thanks to my inexplicable VB embarrassment. Potential in-lore explanation for the latter would be her becoming more aware of that kind of thinking/behaviour in herself since she's no longer really exposed to it externally

[maladaptivedaydreamsx]

kicho route got me feeling some kinda way......... oh no.... im still waiting for the other foot to drop. he's been so sweet I'm here already expecting the worst to inevitably happen.....?

so turns out I'm easier to sway than I thought, fuck his actions in the other routes but in his?? I'm deaf, dumb and blind, what flags? all this red? the blood of my enemies I'm covered in?? don't worry about it, you didn't see anything

side note am i the only one who finds his toothless grin sprite just a tad... uncanny?

[loregoddess]

Okay, I wanted type up some Octo2 theories before TotK drops and I have to juggle thinking about that as well as thinking about all the other games I'm thinking about. Everything is below the cut bc major endgame spoilers, and also this is literally an essay in length alone.

Specifically, the theories are about Temenos, but there's lots of spoilers for Throne's entire route, parts of Osvald's route, Hikari's final chapter specifically, some details from the Crossed Paths, and details from the actual endgame Extra Story chapters.

Just as a note I'm not really trying to argue for or against any particular theory--this is really more of a mental exercise for me to try and organize my own thoughts. While I might have personal preferences for one theory or another, I don't actually like, care or mind which theories other people enjoy or want to headcanon or stuff. Also, like all theorycraft, what I've written is drawn from my own interpretation of the text and isn't like, canon or word of god or anything. I'm basically writing a lit. analysis essay for funsies. Without further ado then...

So, like many, I've been wondering about Temenos and whether he's secretly Throne's half-brother bc Claude was...Claude. And, as I turned the theory over in my head, I eventually came up with more theories, and lots of evidence for and against nearly...all of them.

Before I get to the theories proper, some things of note.

It's interesting that both Temenos and Ophilia, as the "clerics" of their respective games, were children brought up by the church rather than their biological families. But unlike Ophilia, where we know she lost her family in a war before the game's story, we're just barely given the information that Temenos is a foundling (from his Travel Banter "Memories of Roi" with Agnea in Crackridge, which also reveals that Roi was a foundling as well). From this Banter we get the impression that Roi and the Pontiff Jorg were essentially Temenos's family, as Jorg raised them both, but aside from this Temenos doesn't talk much about the concept of "family" or show any interest in his biological parents, which makes sense, given that he was probably raised from birth by the church. Also, Temenos is very closed-off about his emotions, so even though he's on a journey to solve the murder of the person who was almost like a parental-figure to him, he never speaks of Jorg in a familial manner outside of the smallest bit of grief he shows in his Banter with Castti in Canalbrine.

As an aside, foundling isn't a term or narrative element I often see used in media (surprisingly), but the definition is...intriguing given the game's story. In short, a foundling is a child "abandoned by their parents" and often refers to a "baby left at a convent or other safe space" (quotes paraphrased from Wiktionary's page for "foundling"; Merriam-Webster just defines foundling as "an infant found after its parents abandoned it"; links to both pages provided at the end).

So, Temenos's parents are entirely a mystery, and all we know is he was likely left at the church when he was a baby.

The other thing of note before I dive into the theories is that Throne and Temenos are the only characters with a Talent that activates at night, with Throne having "Blessing of Darkness" and Temenos having "Moonlight Judgment". Throne's Talent offers buffs for the party, while Temenos's offers the blindness debuff on enemies, so the Talents are opposite in a way. But while Temenos's Talent can be attributed to aiding his "Coerce" nighttime Path Action, none of Throne's Path Actions actually benefit from her having a night-activated Talent, which is...interesting. Given that she's a very close descendant of D'arqest, and the daughter of Claude (who is conditionally immortal bc of Vide's blood), it makes sense that her Talent activates at night, due to the connection to Vide. But Temenos isn't directly shown or stated to have that connection, making his Talent either "it's not that deep, the game dev's just wanted to make it easier for players using his Path Actions" OR possibly "this doubles as a useful game mechanic and narrative hint".

So! with that segue, let's get to the theories. They can be divided into two categories:

Temenos and Throne are biologically related to each other, likely as half-siblings.

There is no relation between the two, and Temenos has something else going on with his biological family (this set of theories is highly speculative on my part).

So, exploring the "Temenos and Throne are half-siblings" we have at least two different ways this could happen:

Temenos is one of Claude's children and his mother managed to escape and leave him w/ the church before the Blacksnakes could get to him. This is the simplest, most straightforward possibility for how Throne and Claude could be half-siblings. Aside from the similar Talents, and maybe Temenos's hair color, there's not much to support this. Granted, Throne makes several remarks about how much the kid from her Oresrush chapter, Pirro, and Claude all look alike, but never makes any comment of Temenos reminding her of Pirro. However, considering that all the Blacksnakes are implied to be her half-siblings, and plenty don't seem to remind her at all of Pirro or Claude, this isn't much of an argument for or against this explanation of the half-siblings theory. The fact that Temenos's mom is MIA isn't much of an issue either, since if she fled the Blacksnakes to escape Claude, it's entirely possible she was killed by them or died of some other related causes shortly after leaving him at the church.

Marietta is actually the mother of both Throne and Temenos. This one's a bit of a stretch on my part, but the fact is, we don't actually learn much of who Marietta is as a person. All we learn about her are through flashbacks or reminiscences from Father/Sebastian and Claude, neither of whom are reliable sources of information, as both are very subjective about how they feel about and remember Marietta. But we do know that, according to Marietta, a baby was the only thing she believed couldn't be stolen which is...a really odd statement given everything that happens to her. Most likely this was the writers' attempt at having her marriage to Sebastian be romantic in its own way, if Marietta believed her child with Sebastian was something no one could take from them (which possibly means that Marietta wasn't directly responsible for killing her first child, as Claude may have killed the child and manipulated or blackmailed Marietta to leave Sebastian, and she then told Sebastian that she killed the child as a way of trying to protect him from Claude by pushing him away from her). OR, Marietta's belief that a baby is the only thing that can't be stolen reflects a deeply protective maternal drive on her part, and if she was threatened by Claude in some way, then she might have secreted the child off, told both Claude and Sebastian that she had killed the child, and this child was in fact Temenos. Sebastian/Father doesn't specify a gender for the child (in the English localization at least), but he also notes that "some time later" Marietta bore Claude's child, Throne. The thing is...there's a seven year age gap between Throne and Temenos, and while Temenos is the older of the two, seven years is just...a lot of time. Probably more than the "some time later" that Father references. So while some of the details for this explanation of the half-sibling theory fit, it honestly feels like there's more evidence against this explanation than the former, but it was fun to explore and so I figured I'd share it anyhow.

Now, next we have "Temenos and Throne are not related, and Temenos has something else going on." The quickest, simplest explanation for this is that Temenos is the child of just some random, unnamed, not important in any way, characters who don't even exist in the game data, and that he was left at the church as as baby and raised by Jorg alongside Roi.

However, I think Temenos might be related to the same "clan who bears the blood of Aelfric" that Alpates is related to, and to which Rita and Elena are implied to be related to via the Lumina family line, and Kura and Hikari are implied to be related to through their "lineage/bloodline of light" from a clan said to have once fought "the Shadow".

As a quick recap of the info we learn at the end of Throne and Temenos's Crossed Paths 2: the original Alpates was "left" by Aelfric to consort with humans, and she had more than one child (based on the use of "children" in the legend Temenos recounts). Aelfric turned her body into the mirror to ease the sadness of her children, and Temenos mentions that the clan of Alpates "posseses the blood of the Flamebringer" which makes them the direct antithesis to Vide, and specifically D'arquest and Claude (as Claude's immortality allegedly comes from Vide's blood according to Ori's Journals, though how D'arqest got a hold of it is never explained; however, considering D'arqest could apparently wield enough of the "power of the Shadow" to leave behind the Pit of D'arqest, and given how his bloodline affects Hikari in relation to Hikari's shadow, it's safe to assume that D'arquest was somehow related to Vide via a blood connection as well).

Given that Alpates left descendants, it makes sense that her bloodline may have spread out across Solistia, possibly with the "main" bloodline guarding the relic mirror and passing it down along with the name "Alpates". This would explain how Rita and the Lumina bloodline could exist as well as Kura and her bloodline of light, if they both shared the same ancestor, but neither possessed the mirror nor bore the name "Alpates" because they were not part of the "main" bloodline.

Likewise, I don't think Temenos is directly related to whatever the "main" bloodline of Alpates is, since that seems to be the in-game character Alpates herself who's the heir of that bloodline, as she possesses the mirror and bears the sacred name. Alpates also doesn't indicate that she knows of Temenos in any way despite living in the church for some time, and it seems more like she trusts him and Throne bc she can sense the "flame" within each of them.

So, it's entirely possible that one of Temenos's parents was distantly related to the Alpates bloodline of light, and this may have also influenced the decision to leave him at the church, though what became of his parents remains a mystery (though possibly, given that the Moonshade Order is aware of the bloodlines of light, they may have killed some of the bloodline's descendants to remove them as potential future threats, which might explain why Temenos was left in the safety of the church, if one of his parents was being hunted because of their bloodline, but this is speculation with basically no supporting evidence).

Despite the lack of in-game evidence, I'm partial to this theory because it would set up some interesting narrative parallels really well. It would have Throne, a very close descendant of D'arquest/Vide mirror Temenos, a (potential) descendant of Alpates/Aelfric, whilst Hikari is a bit of both.. The fact that Throne isn't Vide's vessel is...another post, but it could be because she was chosen by Aeber, or some other reason related to Marietta in some way, but again, different essay.

Anyhow, there is some potential evidence to support the theory that Temenos is related to the bloodline of light, depending on how the text is interpreted. First, when you choose to play through his Ch1, you begin not as Temenos, but as Aelfric, who is a fully playable character which is...entirely unique to Temenos. I know this ties in with his paper play, but the fact remains that the game makes you play as Aelfric when you select to play as Temenos. It would make sense, in a weird way, to have the two conflated if Temenos was in some way related to Aelfric outside of just "being a cleric of the church and also Aelfric's chosen".

Second, when Temenos is trying to piece together evidence (the thing where he says, "The truth lies in the Flame"). It's very likely this was implemented as a game mechanic to more fully immerse the players in Temenos's mental logic (a step up from the multiple choice question game that Cyrus got in Octo1), as according to other characters, it looks like Temenos just spaces out entirely for a few minutes before coming back with some answer. But at the same time, when Temenos is in this "mental logic" state, he's able to walk around a scene and interact with various things, almost as if he's in a state of astral projection to investigate. The color effects of this ability match both his personal color for his Latent Power, and the actual Sacred Flame itself, which he invokes before using this ability. So rather than being just a game mechanic, it's possible this is a power of some sort, unique to Temenos because of his bloodline, that makes it appear to other characters that he's simply spacing out. This is...a stretch, admittedly, but it is interesting that Temenos is essentially the only character to get a unique game mechanic for his story route.

Finally, there is his Talent, the one that share's similarities to Throne's. While it does activate only at night, it notably also references the moon with its name "Moonlight Judgment". The moon is essentially a mirror, reflecting the light of the sun, not unlike how the mirror of Alpates is able to reflect the light of the Sacred Flame (from the hearts' of the travelers possibly?) to relight the various Flames after they've been snuffed out (which are only relit during the eternal night). To be fair, I haven't see "moon as a mirror" used as a narrative element...basically ever, but it would be an interesting narrative theme if Temenos was distantly related the the Alpates bloodline and his Talent being connected to the moon doubled to reference the relic mirror.

Of course, the ideas that "there's possibly something weird going on with Temenos's parentage" and "Temenos and Throne are half-siblings" aren't technically in competition, since it's entirely possible Temenos is Throne's half-sibling via Claude, and his mother just happened to be of the bloodline of light. It's also possible there is simply no relation or significance whatsoever, that the writers never intended it to be that deep, and that I'm reading waaay to far into things. After all, "family and blood" are huge themes in Throne's narrative, but not in Temenos's narrative (which focuses on "truth and trust"), so it could be that "Temenos is a foundling raised by the church" was just the writers way of giving him a quick backstory without needing to think too hard (which would make some sense, given that most of the characters have some sort of general backstory set up, although Osvald or Castti never talk about their parents at all which is...interesting).

And that...is that, I suppose. As I said, this was more a mental exercise to organize and record my thoughts on some of the theories bouncing around my head. I'm not trying to prove any theory right or wrong. For the most part, the narrative of Octo2 is extremely well-woven, with nearly all the loose ends tied up when all is said and done, but I'm still hoping we get some sort of extra material for Octo2--like how the timeline from the guidebook for Octo1 revealed weird tidbits of information about the worldbuilding lore--to clear up some of the mysteries that were left unresolved.

If you've read all this, thanks!

Citations:

Wiktionary's page on "foundling": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/foundling

Merriam-Webster's page on "foundling": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foundling

[degrees-of-lili]

So, I was being generous apparent on what's considered mid-thirties. It's 35-36. (Who knows what Vrelnir considers "mid" thirties.) So, that'd make the youngest Sirris can have Sydney be 17. Also, Eden is older then Darryl who is Mid-thirties which means that Eden can only be 36 years old and still be counted as "mid thirties". So, congrats Eden for being the first character with an "official" "age" lmao.