#i've ordered them by creation not by how actively i write them

[avelera]

(Arcane Meta) "Why do you persist?" And the Character Flaw of Viktor's Tendency Towards Non-Confrontation

After writing this post I had something of a brainwave about a character flaw of Viktor's that had previously never occurred to me before. Namely, that of his habit of simply removing himself from moments of disagreement or confrontations, rather than sticking around to fight harder for his causes or negotiating to reach a compromise.

I've spoken elsewhere about how Viktor comes across as fairly flaw-free after Season 1, so one thing I found really interesting about getting his full arc in S2 is that we can begin to see his character flaws brought into focus.

And I should clarify, a literary character flaw is not the same thing as a real life character flaw. A literary character flaw is when there is something about the character that stands in the way of them achieving their goal in the story. For example, being clumsy is not a "character flaw" in a real person, it's simply a trait of neutral moral value, but it could be a character flaw in a story about a person who wants to become a ballerina, something they need to work to overcome.

So, I would and have argued that these are a few of Viktor's character flaws, personality traits of his that get in the way of him achieving his character's goals in Arcane:

Political disinterest: despite the fact that Viktor has a stated goal of helping the undercity, he never looks to other methods for improving life down there outside his personal skillset of science. Even when his close partner, Jayce, becomes a Councilor, able to enact political change with a wave of his hand, Viktor is dismissive of this avenue as a waste of time even though he is proven wrong in this assessment by the Zaun independence vote (at least, until outside forces like Jinx's rocket interfere).

Self-isolation: Viktor is plagued by loneliness that appears to be so painful to him that it eventually sets him on his villain path. However, he is also surrounded by people who care for him, especially Jayce and Sky who are literally willing to risk their lives for him. But Viktor seems either unaware of their affection in Sky's case or actively pushing it away in Jayce's case. He's not actually alone, he just thinks he's alone because of his habit of self-isolation when he is focused on his work or (very reasonably) stressed about things like his imminent mortality. This is also a flaw when it comes to his goals as a scientist, because Viktor pushes away potential collaborators. He's not aware of Sky's research towards his goal of improving lives in the undercity until after she dies. He's so skittish about Jayce potentially shutting down his research into the Hexcore and by extension saving his own life that he doesn't bring in his best scientific partner in on the work when Jayce could probably accelerate or even solve the problems Viktor is facing if he knew about them. Heck, he doesn't even tell Jayce he's dying but still shows resentment towards Jayce not spending time with him or helping him in the lab!

Single-mindedness/Intractability: It's Viktor's way or the highway. He doesn't compromise, or negotiate, in order to advance his own goals. This is in some ways a virtue, he refuses to bow in the face of pressure to turn his creation into a weapon, which is laudable. However, as stated above, he also has blinders on when it comes to other methods for achieving his stated goals, like improving lives in the undercity. Viktor sets his mind on a course of action and cannot be swayed by any argument. If he sees a confrontation he can't win, that brings us to the final flaw I wanted to address in this essay:

Non-confrontation: Viktor does not fight for his beliefs or persist in searching for a solution in partnership with others, even Jayce. This isn't to say he never engages in argument. He states his position, but like many intellectuals, he seems to believe that simply stating his position is enough and then he refuses to budge. If he doesn't get his way after a certain amount of time, he shows his displeasure by removing himself from the situation entirely rather than looking for common ground or alternate paths.

I want to reiterate, these are character flaws for a fictional character. In a real life person, I wouldn't think of this as necessarily a flaw at all. Viktor's stance could even be a virtue in a real person, an unwillingness to bend the pressures of the world, and the maturity to not get involved in ugly fights but instead simply step away from a situation he no longer wishes to be a part of.

It is a mature and intellectual response but, when it comes to the problems Viktor faces in Arcane, it is a symptom of his pacifism that actively gets in the way of him achieving his stated goals.

Viktor doesn't fight again Hextech weapons. He simply states his disapproval and then removes himself from the debate, leaving the decision entirely in Jayce's hands.

Viktor doesn't fight Heimerdinger for the removal of safeguards or defend his research into the Hexcore. Once again, he makes his argument and then seems to wilt in the face of doing anything more than that. Jayce ends up fighting that fight in his place but even worse, Viktor doesn't seem to know about or acknowledge that Jayce fights this battle on his behalf, which in turn contributes to Viktor's sense of isolation and not having anyone in his corner, even though Jayce just overthrew the government for him.

Viktor is noted to frequently disappear for long stretches of time, without letting Jayce know where he went. Which is entirely his right as a real person, but given his character's patterns of behavior, it does heavily imply that he's hiding something, perhaps his failing health, from his partner. We know he actively avoids telling Jayce about the full extent of his health issues, given his own lack of surprise at his own prognosis when he collapses and Jayce's utter shock.

Viktor also avoids the spotlight and doesn't partake in the public aspects of promoting Hextech or even seem all that eager to put his name on things he created however, he also notes with despair that no one will remember him after he is gone. This one has always puzzled me a bit, I suppose he wants his inventions to be so groundbreaking they speak for themselves, but he not only makes no effort to attach his name to their work in Hextech, he actively refuses to go on stage even as a silent partner to Jayce to present himself as the co-creator of Hextech. This to me is another symptom of his habit of avoidance: he simply wants people to find their own way to his view, in this case acknowledging his work, without making any effort to persuade or even present himself to them.

But finally, and most salient to the point I'd like to make: Viktor after emerging from the Hex-goop making his greatest avoidance of all by removing himself from his partnership with Jayce, having decided that they have passed the breaking point of their partnership and have no choice but to go their separate ways.

The thing is, from a Doylist angle, this moment is necessary for furthering the plot. I actually think it's a rather clumsy beat in retrospect for how visible the hand of the author is in making it happen, because Jayce doesn't, for example, stop a naked Viktor from departing, which would be a reasonable thing to do under the circumstances when Viktor is clearly in shock, nor does Jayce offer to go with him, which feels particularly out of character given how unhinged Jayce is and his own wedding-vow like promises of devotion only moments before, offering to give up everything he's been working on to be by Viktor's side.

I suppose shock could explain it on both sides, or that Jayce just wanted to go back to how things were, not forge a new path, but regardless, the outcome is that Viktor once again removes himself from a situation he's decided is untenable, rather than asking for, say, some guarantees from Jayce that he is sincere, or negotiating for some concessions from Jayce, or even delivering an ultimatum for what Jayce needs to do to stay by his side.

I suppose you could argue that Hextech weapons was the line, and Viktor is so uncompromising that once it's crossed, that line cannot be uncrossed in his mind, even in the face of Jayce's regrets and desire to make it right by whatever path Viktor sets for him, perhaps reasonable given Jayce has ignored other requests by Viktor up to this point, like not destroying the Hexcore. But this all gets thrown aside when later, Viktor invites Jayce to the commune (if we even believe that's Viktor and not the Hexcore, as I've argued elsewhere, it's all a bit muddy and we can guess at many reasons Viktor left that day, one of which might have been to protect Jayce from the Hexcore and himself).

I bring up the question of how much the Hexcore is controlling Viktor being an active question, because I'm going to undermine my own point here for a moment. I'm arguing that Viktor tends to state his position and then retreat from any sort of compromise or negotiation with other parties, removing himself rather than yielding if he doesn't get his way, but he does persist in trying to make contact with Jayce during his villain arc. I'd argue that insofar as it is Viktor at all, the Hexcore's modifications have given him the confidence for the first time to fight for Jayce, and despite Jayce killing Salo, shooting Viktor, and destroying his robot self, Viktor as the Machine Herald is still pleased to see Jayce (what a simp) and does still seem to want Jayce to come to his way of viewing things. Arguably for the first time, Viktor is persistent in an argument or debate, but he still refuses to budge in what the outcome will be. He wants to persuade Jayce, but he doesn't want to change his position or consider Jayce's side of things at all, maybe because the Hexcore is in control, or maybe because Viktor has always approached academic debates in this way: by refusing to listen to the other side or change his position.

Ok, so this brings me, F I N A L L Y to the point I've been wanting to make:

"Why do you persist, after everything I've done?"

^^ Viktor's genuine confusion about Jayce's persistence.

I think his confusion is, as we've seen if you made it this far, very much in line with his character and this is what I just realized. Viktor doesn't understand why Jayce keeps trying to confront Viktor even though apparently they have opposing views. If Jayce isn't going to come around to Viktor's way of doing things, why are they still even engaging in a confrontation? Why doesn't Jayce just remove himself, the way Viktor would?

In his villain arc, Viktor is more persistent, but he's not more willing to negotiate. If anything, being a villain just gives Viktor the power to not need to avoid people who don't come around to his way of thinking, but to actively, forcefully change their minds against their will. Not by persuasion, or diplomacy, or sophistry. Not by making an argument. But simply like many engineers he thinks that his solution is best and the data will miraculously speak for itself and there's something inherently wrong with people who don't agree with his view.

Machine Herald Viktor firmly believes he's in the right, his mind cannot be changed, it's never been changed in the past (except by Jayce, by the way, when he made the argument for Hextech that seduced Viktor into being his partner in the first place. Once again, Jayce is the exception) so why does Jayce keep fighting?

And I think I'm correct in identifying Viktor's intractability, his unwillingness to accept any view but his own as correct or to hear opposing arguments, as a character flaw because it does get addressed by the end of the story and we see him recognize this and change. He sees Jayce was right, the path he was on was evil, it was going to lead to widespread destruction, not salvation. Viktor sets out to make it right. And once again, he tries to go it alone, without inviting his partner in on the process, and here too we see a flaw addressed: Viktor finally lets Jayce in. He lets Jayce help him and he doesn't run from the difference of positions, or self-isolate in the face of someone who cares for him, or try to solve the problem alone, secure in his incorrect belief that he must do everything alone.

It's a brief scene, but finally at the end, we address these deep character flaws Viktor has been carrying throughout the story of Arcane, and only then can he at least achieve his goal of destroying the Hexcore, with Jayce.

[grayskiesandink]

You know, i've always really liked Ink's concept of forgiveness/way to deal with conflicts and now with your jewish interpretation, i like it even more!

So, according to Ink's FAQ, Ink never tries to attack a enemy first and always tries to reconcile and understand where the problem is coming from, which includes him talking with the enemy in order to be able understand the issue and try to brush them in the right direction.

You may already now this but i realllyyy want to explain for anyone who doesn't, there's a concept in judaism called "teshuvah" (meaning "repentance" or "return"), it's a concept of forgiveness where the perpetratir undergoes a rigorous self-examination that requires engagement with the victim, by confessing, expressing regret and making an active effort to right thr wrong of what they commited.

I've always thought that his formula of dealing with fights to be very Teshuvah all around! In my opinion ofc

But anyways, i think the previous anon expressed their thoughts incorrectly because his need to "follow the script" is not a part of this headcanon at all. (it's actually a result of his abandonment issues, dissociative outlook on pretty much everything and always thinking what's best for the creators rather than what's better for him but i digress)

What i could however consider a part of this interpretation is his importance on life and the creations. It was said by comyet that Ink thinks all creations/life should exist because "it's fair", and that's actually one of the main reasons to why he decided to protect such creations in the first place! He loves them with all if his nonexistent heart and wants them to exist (this does imply that he protects AU's with bad endings but i'm trying to focus more on his want for living you know?)

yes !!! finally someone talks about Ink's fighting style...... It is so important to me that he's not this aggressor- in reality he'll do anything to not have to fight/aim to kill. He's a talker!! Fighting uses up his ink and that can always be dangerous (in how I write Ink- he does fight a bit more often but there's reasons for that. I still like to keep in mind his usual fighting style. and also my Ink is Not canon). It's really interesting to connect teshuvah with his fighting style... turning it around in my brain. honestly I always find thinking about forgiveness and how characters would deal with it super super interesting. I am always thinking about how Ink would deal with forgiveness. does he acknowledge his own mistakes... I think he'd more openly engage with his mistakes towards the Creators than he would for other people. is he haunted by his actions towards other characters. is he??? does he understand that's what he's feeling??? I NEED TO KNOW !! WAHGAG. Ink you're so cool and interesting I love youuuuu. I love thinking about Ink's worldview <3 I agree with everything you said about his attitude towards the scripts- I haven't seen it put into words often but there is something super intriguing about how at the same time he's both self sacrificial and selfish. I say selfish in the most non judgmental way to be clear, textbook definition of the word. How I see his desire to keep the scripts running is both out of deep respect for the creators and out of a desire to keep them happy so they keep creating (giving him access to the life force he needs). But, at the same time, this means everyone he cares about is put at risk (his dads!!!!!!). He's sacrificing his own personal attachments so he can focus on his own survival (at least, in part. I do think it's clear he just loves the creators). I do agree that his love for all creations is very Jewish of him <3. slaps the top of Ink. you can store so much love in this lad. soul or not. I think there might also be something to how he views everything as fiction- you can argue that he's fighting for the life of the creative work. the characters in it aren't like. real deaths. technically. idk. there's a lot to think about !!! I love answering these asks btw I hope that's clear. everybody feel free to come into my askbox and talk about Ink and also Judaism to me

[vacantgodling]

character driven worldbuilding -- how becoming obsessed with ONE guy can make you build an entire world

PT 1: THE GUY WHO MADE ME REVAMP THE MAGIC SYSTEM

cheesy title but that's the most straightforward explanation i can give for what i'm talking about for the next few Structured Posts lmao.

yesterday, i made a poll asking for y'all to vote on which one of the story-defying characters in my huge fantasy wip THE CHRONICLES OF LATHSBURY (tcol) that you all wanted to hear about. and when i say story-defying, what i mean is the exploration of these characters influenced me to make huge changes to the worldbuilding i had already established for this wip.

but let me provide a bit of background: i've had tcol as a wip since i was 12 years old, which, at the time of writing this, makes it 15 years old! it's actually the oldest of all my still active wips (alongside vampires don't take road trips). those who know me and/or have seen me rant about this wip in the past know that this game started evolving from a jrpg that i had as a child, and what i call the main five from the fourth age, were/are at the epicenter of this wip's development--and this is important to mention to explain how this guy made me revamp the magic system.

back when tcol was first in its baby years, it actually didn't have a concrete magic system like some of you are familiar with. for those that aren't: tcol has a magic system consisting of 8 usable magics and 1 that is unusable by normal folk and is only usable by the central creation goddess--but i'll be talking about her in a different part of this mini series. but anyway, i eventually started the baby steps of creating a magic system when i first decided the aspects of the terranean soul--which was somewhere around 2020 actually.

have an excerpt from my 2025 revamped crash course doc that explains it further:

All Terranean souls are made up of 3 parts: Sana which is akin to health and vitality and tends to relate to your constitution; Cava which is considered a lukewarm manifestation of the everpresent chaos of the universe; and Ars which is the key component of being able to do magic. These parts are imperfect percentages, meaning that they do not have to equal 100%, and for the most part, these percentages cannot change, only your access to them does (except for in exceptional circumstances). In order to use magic, your soul must contain at least 30% Ars (for the most part—there are a few who are exceptions to this rule). Without this, you will be unable to use magic.

with this information in hand, i decided that i would take the main five (which consists of the characters piper, deux, san, clear, and forte) and i would figure out their percentages--which, while may not make an appearance in the wip proper, would help me better gauge their magic capabilities. for this rant, it's not really important to know the percentages of everyone (and truth be told i've misplaced the doc i wrote it on anyway); what does matters is that when i got around to clear, the conversation kinda went like this (and be warned, we're skating into spoiler territorry so quit while you're ahead if you want but i Like spoilers and there's no way to explain this without spoilers so be forewarned):

me: okay, your turn buddy: what's your ars percentage? clear: 30% me: oh, great so you can use magic then! that's great because you're a medic- clear: i can't use healing magic. me: what clear: i can't use healing magic me: yeah--i heard you the first time but what do you MEAN by that?? you can't use healing magic?? i mean, you have sana, don't you?

(to explain, have another excerpt from my 2025 crash course doc that explains healing magic, aka, sana inanem:

SANA INANEM is essentially healing magic—however, it is gatekept by the composition of your soul: only those who have an excess of Sana (which would be over 55%) are able to use it to heal wounds. Excess is determined essentially, by how much Sana you can give away without outright killing yourself

okay back to the drama)

clear: i don't me: YOU DON'T???????????

and yeah, he doesn't.

now what clear said isn't technically true--there is (1) kind of healing magic that you can use without needing sana OR ars yourself, and that's just the potion/salve making magic subortus. but that's neither here nor there because what matters is the simple fact: to be a guild medic, you need to be able to heal with sana. it's nonnegotiable. and since this entire plot is centered on guilds and guild culture in terrae, it had me going ????????

this relates a lot to the secret of clear's backstory that he's desperately trying to hide, which some close friends do know but for the purposes of this doc and to cut back on the amount of spoilers i'm dumping in here i won't detail. however, that's something i've known about clear even since before making strides in trying to figure out hwo magic works--and that could be an entire rant for another day how my obsession with (1) clear brightendale lead me down the path of completely revamping this Entire wip, but that's a song and dance for another post lol.

ANYWAY, i took this information, and started processing it when clear dropped the bombshell on me that made me start really cultivating what the fuck magic even is in this universe:

clear: i can use a different kind of magic though me: vis? i mean, that makes sense since you have the ars- clear: no, its different than that. another kind of magic. me: .... there's more than just vis, sana inanem, and subortus?? clear: yah :)

and there is.

that revelation sent me scrambling to worldbuild--and i wouldn't actually come up with something concrete in this realm until nearly 3-4 years after the fact. but have the final little explanation i will drop in here from my crash course doc, relating to the different kinds of magic:

Like every good fantasy world, Terrae has magic. I would consider Terrae’s magic to have a range of hard magic to soft magic and types that are inbetween. On the scale of hard to soft magic the flow chart would be as follows: MURAM -> CANTATIO -> SANA INANEM -> DIRUAM -> SUBORTUS -> LUMINE -> TENOM -> VIS With Muram (or alchemical magic) being the hardest as it has the most in depth rules and regulations to precede its usage, and Vis being the softest as it is literally the magic of the force of will; anything goes. The only magic that I have not included on this flow chart is Cantillo (or deep magic), which is only able to be used by the goddess of the universe, IISIDIA. Those who are able to use magic are called Artisans.

so i guess, to make this entire rant semi-helpful to those who read it and actually want some advice on how to do some character-driven worldbuilding:

the fun thing about fantasy is you can do whatever you want as long as it makes sense within the constraints of the universe you've made. i find that a lot of people tend to build the world first and then fit their characters into that world, but i prefer to have the two interact with one another: because like nature and nurture, your world should have an impact on who your character is, why they do the things that they do, and how they see things overall. beyond just backstory even, like in this instance. to explain why clear was a medic without having access to sana inanem, it made me think about well what exactly does it entail to be able to do magic at all. and even though the answer is the same: clear cannot do healing magic; it now makes more sense as a plot thread as to why that's a big deal, and how many secrets he's carrying and why he's carrying them. even though, only One of the magics i listed is the one he can use creating the other 8 made me think about the relationship that other characters i didn't even mention-such as karenza who clear really looks up to-have with magic and how that influences them, their lives, and their actions.

hopefully in the next ramble (whenever i get around to it) i'll be breaking down even further into how wanting a specific backstory for your character can lead you to shape the world around them so seamlessly that it seems like the world influenced your character and not the other way around :)

if you stuck around for all this, thanks for reading and i hope this made sense lol :)

[frownyalfred]

tl;dr: what's your opinion on posting roleplay replies on ao3?

i know they are frowned upon on ao3, at least that's what i've seen so far, which i can understand... to some extend. they are allowed in the archive, yes, but they also clock tags and it's annoying to read something you don't understand without the other replies and further context. they are tolerated, but i get the sentiment.

here's the thing... i rarely write for myself. i enjoy writing with others and building something together, and sometimes i create pieces i'd love to share. like, recently i have written a reply for someone that explores two different bruce's; one that has helena wayne/the huntress as his biological daughter, one that doesn't, how she got cursed into another universe, and how one deals with losing his child, while the other tries to re-order his life in order to make her fit. it's something beautiful that works on it's own, something i am very fond and proud of, but i'm torn on wether i should post it or not.

i could've kept the fact it's from roleplay a secret, but that also feels shit, lmao. i could keep it to tumblr, but no one would read what i put out -- let's be real, tumblr works very different compared to ao3. so i thought i'd give reaching out to one of my favorite authors a chance.

sorry for the lenght, feel no need to answer.

Hmm. I guess I haven't given it a ton of thought before now. I don't usually engage in roleplay myself, but I absolutely view it as a legitimate version of creation. Just because it's created a certain way doesn't mean it doesn't belong on ao3 -- it's an archive for transformative works, not just cookie-cutter fic formats.

I would say, err on the side of caution and tag as much as you're comfortable (tagging things after the required ao3 warnings is always optional, I want to reiterate, but sometimes additional tags help readers a lot). Make sure it's clear what the structure of the work is, if possible, but don't do yourself a disservice by making roleplay a dirty word, if you use it.

I don't think you're "clogging" up the tag, any more than the person writing 139/250 50 word individual fics haha. There will always be floods of content in various tags, and people who throw shitfits about that need to grow up. Unless someone is breaking the ao3 TOS, everything else is "etiquette" and that truly is nebulous and subjective, even if people will insist it isn't.

As for the missing context and replies -- I think that's something you can get creative with, if you want. But also, if you never fill in those blanks or provide that context, that's okay too. It's an archive, not a site where you have to actively promote your fic and make it the most appealing it can be to the largest group of people.

A final note on context though: I've found that the roleplay chunks I do come across in the wild look a lot like dialogue planning I do for some fics! If you ever want to turn them into a traditional fic structure, I don't think you're very far off at all. But only if you wanted! As I said above, I think what you have is 100% legitimate and should stand on its own on ao3.

[aerodaltonimperial]

If you do any form of writing, you've probably seen the advice everywhere to outline, outline, outline, but in case you are like me and won't or can't outline (9 times out of 10, I won't ever write the story once I've outlined because it feels done), I wanted to give a little boost of encouragement. You don't have to outline. Trust your process!! If it works for you, keep using it, even if it goes against popular writing "wisdom." (General caveat that you probably should never take advice from me given that I am the biggest failure of a writer you have ever met, but whatever, we'll ignore my compounding failure right now.)

I'm a discovery writer. (In writing circles, this was usually called "pantsing", as in flying by the seat of). I always start stories with a solid beginning, one scene about 2/3 of the way through I am writing towards, and a vague notion of how it ends. That's it. The middle? Idk bro I'll know when I get there. (I once gave my agent a pitch that was a beginning, an end, and a note that said "something happens in the midde for 40k or so but I don't know what yet.") As I start writing, I start getting the ideas for the next scenes. I couldn't have predicted them when I started, so I never could have outlined, and I have to BE writing in order for them to come together. Sometimes, I get an idea that requires me to go back and tweak or add some specific details in the earlier chapters, but that's fine! My process for story creation requires me to be actively inside it, and usually a decent way along before the plot solidifies.

Anyway, the best part of this is when I'm about 50-60% done with writing and I GET IT. I suddenly know exactly how it's going to end. And when I look at what I've written so far, I have usually been working towards it without knowing that I was. I've been dropping foreshadowing, or details that will end up being important later. I trusted myself and my process, and it worked. The serotonin rush from this moment cannot be understated. If a writing process isn't working for you, or you feel like every time you try to use someone's advice on how to write it feels difficult and bad and stifles the joy of it, maybe it's not the right process for you, and maybe you might find more success trying something different. 💚

[bellaaldamas]

Back when I was active on my old accounts here (before deleting them all and vowing to never come back but the joke's on me) I knew Tumblr was a heinously ableist site (as was it's girlboss idea of "feminism", only accessible for women and girls with physical, mental, learning and neurological ability privilege). I accepted it because we do not live in a perfect world, people will be misguided and uninformed, some of said people are not incurable, devil incarnate bigots but simply ignorant; and it is your responsibility to curate your social media experience and surround yourself with intelligent individuals. If you depend on social media OR mainstream media for representation you're in for stress and disappointment and that's exactly why one has to always maintain a healthy distance from it.

However, it is almost fascinating to see how pseudo-progressive culture on here has not changed one bit. It is still the modern Disney-esque "feminism" about how it is woman's job to not be a "hormonal moron" who dares to exercise her romantic and sexual agency by expressing her feelings and acting on them (according to said Disney/Frozen-esque feminism, she is making a "perfect victim" out of herself and allows more intellectual and creative men than her shallow and airheaded self to easily take advantage of her "desperation for love"). Tumblr is also still disgustingly ableist, with new disability erasing trends becoming prevalent here.

One of the newer "feminist" trends is the "get a hobby" one, delivered in a condescending, holier than thou manner and completely removing disabled and/or neurodivergent women from the equation.

It is the good old "not like other girls" misogyny but in a "progressive" form. To be worthy of being acknowledged as a human being deserving of basic respect a woman HAS to be writing a novel, painting daily, studying programming and coding, making sculptures that could rival the immortal classics - and that's called a "feminist" alternative to "bimbos who do nothing all day, binge shows and only care about make up".

Needless to say, the people who subscribe to this trend know they are excluding disabled women entirely. They know that for women with physical, mental and learning disabilities most of the "popular/acceptable" hobbies like novel writing and content creation are simply either inaccessible or not rewarding enough to produce the necessary dopamine and energy to keep on with them. But progressives still find brand new "feminist" ways to dehumanize us because "progressive culture" enables it.

Speaking as someone who used to write novels and poems and draw in the past: I, as a disabled woman, have exactly zero hobbies right now. All the writing and drawing are yesterday's news for me and will remain there until the day I die. I've gotten older, my disabilities became worse and more energy consuming and I have neither time nor emotional/mental resource to practice activities that, no matter how much effort I dedicate to them, I will never excel at.

The harsh truth is that if you have limitations or lack a natural talent you will end up with a burn out and with modest or even outright terrible results.

The "progressives" will use a classic bigoted rhetoric of "if X famous disabled person could do it and become a worldwide sensation there is no excuse for you to not try" in order to shame you. But, young ones, don't fall for that. It's just a "progressive" version of "marginalized people only have themselves to blame for not being successful".

Because the fact is that the overwhelming majority of us will never excel or succeed at writing, drawing or learning graphic and other programs to a degree that would allow us to compete with able minded and able bodied people. Some, as mentioned above, do have a natural talent (and a high functioning form of disability) which would make them an exception that only proves the rule. But most of us will invest ten or even thousand times more time and energy into learning than able people would, only to get little to no pay off. And it is perfectly fine if you say "to hell with it, I'm just going to watch movies all day instead".

It does not make one less valid (regardless of gender) to give up on a hobby or activity because it no longer brings them the satisfaction of achievement (especially when there has been no achievement to beging with). Go ahead and do that make up because you'll look in the mirror and smile when you see your face. Go ahead and flirt with that person you think is hot because you only live once. Go ahead and binge watch Sailor Moon and love Usagi for her love of sweets and refusal to conform to the idea she has to sacrifice herself for the Greater Good TM in order to "grow up" and hate the narrative for constantly shaming her for that because media hates women and will always hate women.

Go and do what makes you feel good and if you ever consider coming back to your hobby/hobbies, do it not at the expense of your mental or physical health but because you want it.

[daily-miko-love]

Hiii this is the same anon who went over Miko's appearance in Lotus Eaters! sobs I've been meaning to send another message for a while but work (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

Regarding Miko's ability and earmuffs: When she's in the gambling house, she's in a bit of a disguise so she doesn't have her signature earmuffs but she is indeed still wearing hearing protection! As for her ability, she's actually using them (in combination with Futo's ability) in order to pull off the cheating.

Overall I liked Miko's portrayal in Lotus Eaters. I loved how much Miko can't help but meddle. She won't go so far as to try and lead the humans because she knows it'll throw off the balance of Gensokyo but she'll continue to offer assistance here and there...likely her human roots refusing to leave her yet (to be fair, she hasn't been in Gensokyo very long).

But where it differs from my headcanons + interpretation of her is that she's just a liiittle too "all according to plan," a little too mastermind-y. She's more...spontaneous? Opportunistic? To me? The type who believes there is absolutely a such thing as too much planning. I'm fully onboard with the gambling stunt but after luring the youkai out, I'd personally have her confront them herself.

And I guess where the two of us differ is that I don't portray Miko as especially kind heehee. I like imagining her as a "greater good" type of person. Her compassion mainly applies to populations and the world at large rather than to individual people. As for individuals...well, she has a sort of "ends justifies the means" mentality. Though she's generally civil and has many lines she won't cross, she can certainly be quite the dismissive asshole if it suits her goals, especially if you're not human. But she isn't so much as cold as she is simply distanced from others. I also like exploring Daoism with her character but just in a different way!

Look who's ranting for hours now... I love writing long walls about my favorites and I tend to go on tangents a lot so you're not alone in that!

But regardless, I encourage you to keep portraying her the way you like the most!! I'm so sorry you had bad experiences in your previous fandom...many fandoms are like that sadly (╥ ω ╥)

I'm so glad the Touhou fandom has been good to you! I think a major reason for its acceptance of different portrayals of characters is because the fandom has always thrived off of fan creations. Plus the creator himself, ZUN, has actively encouraged people to enjoy their own versions of the characters. It's quite nice...

I portray Miko as kindhearted and a bit lazy since it’s sorta implied from her lore (Aloof hermit). But I can agree Miko probably thinks there’s “too much planning”, and then she probably just does stuff randomly sometime. I also portray her as a sorta greater good person (in the sense of, wishing to be everyone’s friend to make a truly happy world, and then everything does not go according to her “plan”, which that plan was step one: “befriend them”, step two: “cry when they hate you”) but more sensitive cause she’s a past-ruler and definitely probably cares how others view her from it.

And it’s interesting seeing how others view her, though some people make her out to be villainous and she never really acted that way in Touhou canon. Sure she laughs when she wins sometimes but she’s just proud of herself! (Possibly a teeny bit arrogant/selfish, but she’s a prince she deserves it sometimes!)

Oh? She was wearing protection? That’s nice, at least they didn’t forget about her sensitive hearing with it!

This one’s nitpicky but, how was Miko even in ANY disguise? I mean, her hair’s so unique I doubt she was that hidden, unless Gensokyo’s general population is dumb, or something.

and the fact Futo was, as she does, acting as Miko’s greatest assistant is amazing. Too bad Futo’s often just portrayed as “Miko’s assistant”, she deserves the spotlight herself sometimes. She’s not JUST Miko’s assistant though their dynamic is cute. Servant and Master but the servants a little too willing to do anything for their master, I feel it’s borderline sisterly but that’s just me. I see their banter like siblings, too cute~

Miko is Gensokyo’s opportunist Taoist who’s probably only been in the world for about 6 years in theory. With the most ambiguous gender known to man. And did that one thing where it wrote about characters (I am blank on the name sorry) say that Miko’s elusive and rarely seen in Gensokyo? I know I saw that somewhere. So, she’s also shy-ish or something, or she hates the public, or maybe she’s scared people would judge her for her actions from the past! (Since, according to history, the actions of Prince Shoutoku weren’t all “good”)

And Touhou’s so amazing how it’s encouraged to have fan content and fans making their own portrayals. It’s incredible. I love it so much, I’m more happy in this fandom than my old one. People like you, kind and willing to explain something to a new fan, are much better than those who argue over lore the second someone states a headcanon idea.

Touhou is the best, and I’ll never stop loving it! Miko and Futo are my everything, no one can make me hate them.

also, you are now my Lotus Eaters anon. :D

[celaenaeiln]

Hi, I’ve been following this account for a while now and I really enjoy your posts. I was very sad about the mischaracterisation of Dick in fanfiction a lot, so finding your posts was very exciting to me. They’re huge writing inspirations for me, especially after a long burnout and writer’s block I’ve been going through this past months. Just wanted to say it real quick.

Also not about Dick Grayson but I’ve discovered this new song called The Kid I Used to Know by Arrested Youth, and it’s been giving me Jason Todd vibes. Just wanted to get your opinion on it, if you’ve ever heard it.

I hope you have a wonderful day today :D

Thank you!

I just went and listened to it - The Kid I Used to Know - and OH MY GOD

IF THERE WAS EVER ONE SONG AND ONLY ONE SONG THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT JASON - THIS IS IT!!!

MIND BLOWN ABOUT HOW ITS PRACTICALLY WRITTEN ABOUT HIM

This. This is the creation and meaning behind Red Hood.

You told me this should be fun, thank for the talk, are we done? This is my masterpiece, a tragedy, I wrote it myself I can practically see this playing as a backtrack to Jason as he's planning his Red Hood activities, right when he makes his debut.

It's full of irony and blasphemy, it's practically hell But the perfect part about it is it's all that I've got Jason's actions and character is everything Bruce worked his life against, his story his blasphemy in the eyes of his former mentor. It's also his anger and resentment about dying and coming back to life only to find that Bruce has seemingly moved on while he's stuck reliving his worst memories. but that's not going to stop him. No, those memories are only fuel. This is who he is.

I'm over wasting time in life trying to be something I'm not His hatred over how Bruce kept trying to make him a Dick Grayson 2.0 during his robin years until he storms out.

'Cause fuck that shit Yeah I don't wanna be that kid No, I'm not gonna hang my head And be another accident And Jason will be damned if he's just going bend over and let his death be swept under the rug. Let Bruce who he really is now. He's going to tear part Gotham and he's going to raise his head and do it proud.

So long to the kid that I used to know So long to the place that I used to go I'm not an R.I.P I'm not another sick, sad tragedy He's better now, he's better than he's ever been. He's got the skills, the fire, and power to become something new. He's not going to be something they cry over in the books or mutter "what a pity." He can never go back to the manor where he and bruce ate sandwiches and how they analyzed crime but it doesn't matter anymore because Jason's not going to take orders anymore from a man dressed like a bat, he's on his own - and he will prove it. Him and Bruce? They're done.

Do you ever feel like you're underwater? Drowning inside like there's no tomorrow? It's the feeling of the lazarus flooding his lungs and the blood choking his throat as he realizes with his dying breath that he won't make out to see tomorrow.

Life gets tough but you should know That I don't plan on letting go Come hell or high water, Jason's going to make bruce pay. He's not going to a footnote in an encyclopedia. He's going to haunt Bruce, he's going to haunt Dick, he's going to haunt Tim, he's never going to let them forget.

I'm not an R.I.P I'm not another sick, sad tragedy He's back - better and badder than ever. Watch out Gotham because Jason Todd is here to prove there's no "The End" to this story.

[strawberryybird]

Thoughts on Edeleth?

in the era of bot messages, a hero rises from the navy blue darkness... thank u profusely for the untold joy that human interaction brings ;0;

anyway: edeleth. LOVE THEM. LOVE THEM A LOT.

and also here's a 3 paragraph response as to why i love them but not in the fandom content creation sense.

Truth be told, they're not actually my fire emblem 3H ship of choice! But this is because I consider their story to be, in large part, resolved. I really enjoyed the edelgard/byleth relationship that ran through CF when I played; especially poignant as the relationship the route lord has with Byleth is the thematic hinge of each storyline. I liked all the accompanying discussion of free will/autonomy and inheritance and mothers and dark/light and rebirth, and every like theme you could throw at the game like spaghetti on a stovetop splashback. As 'shallow' (scare quotes intentional) an exploration that the game/CF route gives us... it hit the mark for me. It showed the foundation of a complex, tense, and a relationship altogether necessary for Edelgard & Byleth, in order for them to make it through the story. I loved that. I legitimately burst into tears when colour of sunshine played out the TV at 1am.

Having said all that - I got my depth and resolution from the game at the same time. It showered me with thoughts about what a relationship between E&B would look like after the story ended. I then started thinking about it and came to my own personal conclusion that I had already seen the very apex of their relationship (word choice intentional). There was very little fanfic I could write that would provide a story more compelling than the cutscene I just played towards (with the dragon and the burning city and the heartbeats and the crest stone, all that good shit). All this culminates in a story that is, ultimately, already told.

They are, put simply, my canon couple. The relationship that is Edeleth is my loadbearing pillar for a lot of my generosity towards the story the viddy game tells. I absolutely love them for it. I adored getting to be a part of that story!!

So, when I turn to fandom, by and large, I'm not actively seeking out Edeleth content. That's not to say i don't like it, not by any stretch of the imagination, it just means I'm incredibly nonsensically subjective about my Edeleth tastes. Just for fun, here are some fics i haven't stopped thinking about since pre-pandemic.

It's also very much worth saying that I have grown up really rather a lot since playing 3H for the first time, so my thoughts are much more.. collected, shall we say, than they would have been. I've also been tempered by the passage of time, reading Jane Eyre for 4 years against my will (long uni anecdote) and also falling directly into the combination of the locked tomb and the raven cycle brainrot. (IE: my hobby reading has actually satiated a lot of the media thematic cravings instigated by the Edeleth in my head. I think about Edie & Byleth very fondly for this. Also because I still love them very much).

I strongly suspect this was wayyyyy more than you bargained for by sending an ask, so I hope it was at least mildly entertaining hahaha. thank u for coming on this rant with me, it was longer than the wait time for those damn cathedral gates to lift in garreg mach. let me in. seiros let me into ur cathedral i need to teach ferdinand how to heal people through the power of song.

[erstwhilesparrow]

i've been sort of on-and-off poking at scott and pearl in double life for months and months now, and it keeps itching at me that i... can't totally make them work. like, there IS a pretty clear narrative right there: pearl goes off with martyn to the nether, scott is irritated / hurt by her not being around while he's taking all this inexplicable damage, there are attempts both at reconciliation and at further alienation, and all of those attempts fail. they die. such is the death game.

and this is fine? but i think... i haven't seen last life, and despite my best efforts to take double life as Its Own Thing Separate From Everything Else, it feels like there is Something Missing. grian says in his first last life episode something to the effect of "this is all new, what happened last season doesn't count or matter anymore, each of these seasons is standalone" and it just isn't. like, i appreciate the effort, really, but it so is not!

let's talk about martyn? the thing i am particularly thinking about: i watched double life first, limited life next, and then most recently third life. there was a good number of months before i saw third life where i was sitting with the limited life finale going, "??????" about it. it all... kind of almost made sense in exactly the same way that scott + pearl kind of almost made sense. it felt like trying to grab handfuls of sand. there's stuff on the screen martyn is responding to that i get and tracks, but there's also a bunch of stuff that's never on screen in that season that nevertheless is really important to making sense of him and his actions. ren's absence was deeply important! knowing that martyn was Like That in third life was deeply important! martyn was! actively bewildering to me! until i watched third life!

granted, martyn specifically is also kind of dead-set on making the seasons connect, but there are smaller examples. desertduo in double life doesn't work without desertduo in third life. bigb and ren's falling out immediately becomes a richer thing when you know about Blue Sword Boys and Renchanting. i don't think i would have been nearly as compelled by pearl and bigb in limited life if i didn't know about pearl's isolation and bigb's Whatever The Fuck That Couples' Counselling Bit Was in double life, and i'm sure that alliance will become more compelling when i watch last life!!

and so i am arriving at the realization that i have stumbled into a reading of scott + pearl that has this. bizarre gaping hole in the middle of their relationship that i don't know anything about. i am constantly writing and thinking around this gap, and it resists being filled in because The Thing That Happened Is Right There. there is a thing that happened and they know about it but i don't. it is for sure A Flavour of relationship, to have The Thing We Cannot Talk About pulling things into its gravitational well at all times, but it's super interesting to me that it only exists because [i watched the series weird, the series and its medium is Like That enough that i could watch it weird and have it feel like a fine and valid choice that opened up interesting considerations other people didn't get to have, the push and pull between creator and audience where 'makes sense on its own' and 'calls back to previous significant events' need to be balanced For The Content]? that's just. really neat to me.

other people have said this with both fewer and more interesting words, but it's SUCH one of my favourite things about this medium and in particular about the traffic series that even though everyone has kind of have the same touchpoints (i knew about the beheading and the cactus ring WELL before actually watching third life! we all know how limited life ended! "that time the ranchers' house got burned down" and "that time there was a warden on the surface" are phrases that have meaning!) there is also Participation In The Creation Of Story in the sense that who you watch and in what order creates a different story for you than it does for someone else who watches different people in a different order!

i think. i have thought / talked a lot about how audience in mcyt spaces are Really Significantly Part Of The Storytelling before, but it's been about, like, stream chat interactions, or theories on social media being seen by the creators and made true, or the awareness on the creators' end of Having An Audience They Must Tell Stories For. but it's fun to me that it's this, also?

the traffic series is... a closed box, in the sense that you know when you watch it that (1) there were three hours worth of recording that happened for that session, during which time Things Occurred, and (2) that whatever you see uploaded on youtube is in fact The Whole Thing This Particular Creator Deemed Worth Sharing. there's nothing outside those three hours. if all you care about is one person's pov, there's nothing outside those uploaded videos you need to worry about.

but there IS a box and there ARE other things in it, and you can put together such fascinating pictures of What's Going On but you're never going to have the entirety of it, the Everything In The Box, only Many Things In The Box Held At A Certain Angle. and that's a story! one of many! and you can just do that! you did that by watching it the way you did! isn't that so fucking cool?

[melishade]

After finishing the story and watching the visuals of aot, did it gave more ideas to work on?

Honestly, not really.

So for some context, I was a manga reader for AoT, and I specifically was in order to get more ideas for Attack on Prime. When the manga chapter for Assassin's Bullet came out, and Eren started laughing like a maniac over Sasha's death, I knew how I wanted to end the story, and I knew that the Rumbling was going to be activated. That is what spawned the creation of cm186: one of the first of many documents I had for AOP. (There was another that I had on a flash drive but the flash drive got busted and it costed too much to repair it and it devastates me to this day. Back up your files on different formats writers). cm186 was a lot of the brainstorming and rough drafts of that final battle and the aftermath of that battle.

Now I had an idea for an ending, it was just a matter of filling in the in between. How to get to that point. I continued reading AoT and continued writing for that 4 year gap that Isayama ignored. The Paths chapters dropped; that became some free ass real estate. And then AoT dropped the final chapter, and the final chapter wasn't something that I was particularly happy with. And I've stated in my author's notes of other chapters as to why that was the case.

Before and after the AoT manga ended, I was still writing, brainstorming, outline, analyzing, all that stuff for Attack on Prime. Even as I was writing chapters, I had written concept idea and scenes for future chapters that were either scrapped or changed via dialogue and action. Even now, as I've reached the climax: Guren No Yumiya, I still have to go back to previous chapters and fix certain things because I either don't like the direction I've taken, or the big scenes that happen in certain battles don't feel as impactful, so I have to add stuff.

Aot's anime ending remained mostly the same. I like the fact that they fixed Armin and Eren's conversation, which was one of the major problems that I had with the manga; however, there are still a lot of problems that I have with AoT's ending which would have benefited from an extra few chapters. Such as:

-Ymir's relationship with King Fritz, -Mikasa's role in the story, and the fact that she still holds onto Eren and thinks of him fondly when he killed 80% of all humanity (Also she kissed his decapitated head. That's still pretty gross.) -Also the whole Eren causing his mom's death because it's been shown in the show that abnormal titan can ignore a few individual people if they see a large host of people (i.e. Rod Reiss' titan) -We don't really see the fruits of the Alliance's labor post Rumbling. -Everyone looking at Eren rather fondly. This is kinda fixed in the anime, but it rubs me the wrong way in the manga. -The lack of time we really spend with the warriors and warrior cadets which causes their character development to be a little lackluster. I guess I'm thinking in the context of "I've known them for so little time compared to the main cast of three season"

There's a lot I could talk about, but I'm certain there are others who can explain it far better than I can. But AOP is essentially me addressing what I didn't like with AoT. Aot's anime ending did nothing to change that.

[thrythlind]

TORG

Torg is probably one of the earliest seeds of my interest in genre blender settings though it was eventually cemented by Fred Perry's Gold Digger and my own fanfictions. I was able to play a few games of this back in the 90s, short run games and one-shots that didn't go very far.

The basic premise of this game was that there were two cosmic forces, one of creation and one of destruction. And the force of destruction created Darkness Devices in order to tempt people to serve its cause by using them to slowly limit and destroy possibilities until things got to a point where the cosmic force could crush it all at once.

Part of how this would work is that the Dark Lords would anchor the axioms of their realities (called "Cosms") to the level of magic, tech, social, and spiritual development that they most desired with a handful of corollary side rules unique to each reality. And once they've succeeded in shaping their reality to their desire, they would begin to go out and conquer other realities and forcing it that image as well.

If a critical mass of residents from one region came into another one with the aid of the appropriate dark powers, then the invading realm would over-write the native one. Magic or tech native to the target Cosm would fail and residents would find their minds and memories rewritten to accept their position within the new Cosm.

The ultimate goal of these villains is to achieve enough power to claim the title of "TORG" (which I've heard is an acronym based on the working title of the game system)... but of course they're a pawn for destruction seeking to break everything, them included.

The original game focused on a version of Earth that was being invaded by several other Cosms:

Aysle - A fantasy realm of D&D style magic.

Cyberpapcy - A realm of advanced cybernetics and religious oppression.

Living Land - A realm of sentient dinosaur people and prehistoric or stone age action.

New Nile - A pulpy story of 1920s superheroes, gadgeteers, occultists, and a madman who believes himself to be a pharoah.

Nippon Tech - A near future (honestly, RL 2020s) realm of corporate greed and financial oppression. And because it was the 90s, cyberninja.

Orrosh - A realm of Victorian horror and colonialist invaders. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, white supremacists.

There were later one or two other Cosms involved, including a sort of "good guy" Cosm that still came across pretty pretentious.

The world of the original game eventually fought off their invaders and the world of the more recent version, Torg Eternity, explicitly features an Earth where things didn't go near as well.

The But...

I liked the basic idea here but there were things that bothered me at the time and bother me more now.

First of all, the fact that Social development was quantified.

Cosms had 4 axioms rated from 0 to 30 that rated the development of native magic, tech, spiritual involvement, and....social development.

On the one hand, they talk about the potential of these axioms fluctuating in different places and with enough people changing entirely. But it describes changing a rating by 1 point over 10 years to be very fast, with 1 point over 500 years being more likely.

(looks pointedly at real history)

Okay.

The very idea that there is a hard cosmic law that limits society from advancing is horrific to me and I hate it. And from a game play perspective, it is actively saying "you don't get to make real substantial changes to the world" to the players.

And yes, you can ignore that for your own game, but it does represent a rather horrific impression that that is the default.

To be clear.

I'm completely onboard with horrific invaders enforcing alien thought patterns, behaviors, and even natural or supernatural laws onto people. That sort of identity theft is a thing I dip into quite a bit.

Where I find it distasteful is that this hard limit of imposition is the default nature of the setting.

You can't share cultural points across Cosms. Unless you're one of those special Storm Knights who keep their own identity when traveling to other Cosms, then you hold tight to your own native-concepts and reject other concepts on a basic, cosmic level.

Which brings me to another problem.

You can't have healthy interaction between Cosms by default beyond a handful of Storm Knight envoys.

The most healthy way for different Cosms to exist is to stay separate and never interact with each other. And yeah... separate but equal is not a thing I like to deal with.

You can't have a character go around and acquire trainings and techniques from alternate Cosms... because their most base nature will reject that other Cosm.

Say you have a bunch of heroes from different Cosms finish the campaign by kicking out the invaders and even freeing the other Cosms from their tyrants...

Well the next thing is they all get separated not to mix again.

[daandov]

[ ... ] ─── i do it so it FEELS LIKE HELL - i do it so i feel real.

i am only thirty and like the cat i have nine times to die. ─── [ ... ]

O MY ENEMY DO I TERRIFY ??

#DAANDOV. ──────── a writing blog for an ORIGINAL CHARACTER for the LAST DRAGONBORN in 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚'𝐬 𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐕 𝐬𝐤𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐦. [ ... ] focusing on motifs of :: the tragic hero , being nothing but a vessel for prophecy , gods leaving husks behind of their champions , coming out the other side of the hero's journey worse off , dogged loyalty , getting chewed up and spit out , feminine rage , how much more of myself do i have to give? , being doomed by the narrative [ ... ]

crossovers are preferred & no knowledge of elder scrolls is needed to interact ── blog established october 2023 , character est in 2018 , blog triggers include ;; substance abuse & suicidal ideation , loved by ouija , 21+ , she/her , rules below the cut

affiliated with @recitedemise , @bendwill , @tidesfate / @eldritchborn

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⸻⸻

( ₁. )  character timeline .   ( ₂. )   pre-est connections .   ( ₃. )   spotify .   ( ₄. )   meta sideblog .   ( ₅. )   pinterest .   ( ₆. )   carrd .

001. general  ⸻ this blog is a writing blog for my oc VALVARI ALANTAR who i've built over the past five years. intrinsically tied to the legacy of the dragonborn mod, she is a canon divergent last dragonborn. i use caps from baldurs gate just because of it's character creation.

SPARK NOTES :: valvari's adoptive fathers own museums across the world. she's grown up first learning deep history, and being more book focused, but as she began showing a bit of a temper and anger streak, she was sent with one of her father's to start adventuring to begin finding artifacts and curios that are gathered to store in the museums. just recently, they've opened a new museum and val is going to start adventuring on her own in order to help fill it.

002. following ⸻  this is a highly selective blog , i am keeping my circle very small right now and will only interact with those who make concerted efforts to plot with me. i practice mains, i'm not interested in exclusives. i do not follow writers under the age of 21. if you're ever softblocked and you still want to interact, please feel free to follow again, it's never that serious i promise.

i softblock liberally if we have not interacted, i'm not interested in being a number to people. i don't expect to be responding to our threads every day, i don't expect constant ooc talk, we all have lives and other muse interests. what i expect is interaction with other posts that show you're interested in my muse. a like or a reply to a post goes a long way. when time goes on and you're radio silent but still active on dash, i'll likely just softblock just so i'm not feeling unwanted. i promise it's not a big deal, it's just about curating my dash to active mutuals.

003. formatting  ⸻ i don’t care about formatting or icon usage on your end , you do what makes you most comfortable. i personally use normal text with some formatting, and icons only show up in writing if i feel like it. i'll use them if i'm feeling it, otherwise there may be threads or posts where they're absent because i couldn't be bothered to add them. if there's something about my formatting that doesn't work for you let me know and i can adjust.

004. shipping ⸻  i love shipping and am always open to discussing it. val requires chemistry to ship with and i require being comfortable together ooc. it's not going to be a focus on this blog and i'll never be the first to ask in order to keep people from feeling uncomfortable. if you are interested, let me know, i won't consider it forceshipping, but be aware i may say no.

please note :: val is sex positive and a bit blunt, so she may flirt if she thinks your muse is attractive but i'm ALWAYS okay with her being shut down. i promise it's never that serious, and i'm not trying to beg for a ship. she will also drop the topic the moment someone isn't interested.

005. plotting ⸻  i rely heavily on plotting and interacting ooc and my attention will be focused around those of my followers who i have a plot for and rapport with. it isn’t necessary to have one off the bat , but if interactions are going to go anywhere , plotting is required. i typically prioritize these threads/muses and if we go a period of time without interacting or you showing interest in my muse/blog at all, i'll softblock so i can keep my dash to the people i'm actively writing/chatting with.

006. interacting ⸻ i will like starter call , but do not wait to see one on my blog because it won’t happen often. instead , please send memes. they can always become threads. and they are great ways to explore our muses while we aren't working on our active threads. send them and send them often, i'm never agitated if you're sending multiple. i'll delete any i don't have muse for but i'll always answer some.

007. triggers ⸻ there will be adult content present on this blog including , but not limited to :: sexual content , potential mention of self harm , violence , adult language. if you are uncomfortable with any of these please tell me and i will avoid them in our threads. i don't have any specific triggers, however i will always tag potentially triggering things as : trigger tw

008. ooc ⸻ hey i’m ouija , 30+ i’m just a nerd. I have a full time job and a home to maintain so my activity will vary. icon border by ariapsds and icon psd by jaynedits

i've grown comfortable existing on the edges of fandoms and just fitting val within them, thus i'm very crossover friendly.rape, incest, pedophilia, hate / bigotry (ie: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc) is not accepted on this blog. i may keep myself distant from callouts or personal drama that appears (mainly just because i don't like calling attention to myself), however i'm not against them when it comes to keeping the dash safe and letting people know about problematic people.

[dear-mi]

This is the creation blog, and this technically counts as creation, but let me explain why this post is gonna be this way.

So I made a new class called story walker for D&D, and for it I have too many subclasses all based around abstract concepts. Each subclass correlates to an NPC, and to fully flesh out these NPCs I've decided to fully flesh out a philosophy for each of these abstract concepts.

The first one is Nihility for the story walker Lyth Centri, and oh boy. Now, easy way out was to just make the character a nihilist, but nihilists are annoying and suck so no. Now, thanks a to a certain game, I've been prompted to reflect on the actual nature of Nihility and nothingness, and have lead to the creation of a new form of nihilism, and it's not even founded in abstractism. I'll try to keep that last bit consistent for all of them but no promises.

Either way, this form of nihilism, that I'm just going to call Nihility for obvious reasons, is centered around the actual metaphysical meaning of nothingness, what its nature is, and what its existence implies.

Baseline, there's already a paradox. That is the idea that nothingness exists, and can thereby be classified as something. Empty space and empty time are fundamentally nothing, but the weave of existence being space and time still exist. This paradox is actually very important, as this all relates to the matter of space.

Therefore, the easiest and most comprehensible way to see nihility is to think of it like negative space. When you're drawing or painting, or even writing, there's always the space of what you create and the space that is left empty, this is negative space. It's a common practice for artists to try drawing negative space, in an oxymoronic fashion they're literally drawing nothing and it's just a perspective/mind set game.

So how does negative space and Nihility correlate? Well, they share the same nature. Their existence is the definition of everything else. As the negative space defines the picture, nothingness defines somethingness.

The main technicality here is that aforementioned paradox, in which nothingness counts as something, and is thereby a part of nothingness, unlike how negative space can become filled space but it can never be both nothing and something.

So, then how does nothing, being something, retain the nature of nothingness? Sounds redundant, I know, but it's an important question to ask.

The answer I came to this is as simple as giving. It's a circular motion in which Nihility gives up everything it's not, and consequently everything it is, and that's how it's able to define existence in the first place. So another paradox.

Think of it this way. There are things that we deem possible, and there are things that we deem impossible. When a previous impossibility suddenly becomes possible, then the impossibility loses that concept.

It is the exact same situation here. We have everything and we have nothing. When something comes into existence, it is given up by the Nihility, because it is the definer of existence. The Nihility gives up a form of nothingness so that something can come into existence.

This is not a testament as to whether total existence is finite or infinite, as both could be argued under this principle.

Either way, this classifies Nihility as not a passive quality or a final end point, but rather an active origin that is constantly creating because it is constantly defining the current and new existences. And in order to do this, it has to give up 'everything.'

This makes the metaphysical concept of Nihility the ultimate benefactor and the ultimate sacrifice. In the acceptance of nothingness and the giving up of somethingness, Nihility becomes the defined by which existence is possible. It becomes the origin, the propagator, and the permeance of everything that exists.

So then what does nihilism, in relation to the revealed nature of nihility, entail? First, there's a complete flip. Instead of seeing nihility as the end, it affirms nihility as the beginning. This means that the whole nihilistic ideology falls apart, as the idea of meaninglessness motivated by an end in obscurity is completely revoked.

Our existence has implications when it comes to the greater definition. As we can't actually attest to everything ending in nothingness anymore, we can't say that the actions we take are meaningless. So then, what do we work towards? If Nihility affirms meaning in our actions, what is the meaning? What should we actually be striving for?

I think this question is best suited for personal interpretation, but for me it falls into a mimicry of Nihility. Nihility gives up everything so that existence can grow and be more. Why shouldn't we do the same? If there's any sort of direction in life, it should be towards the betterment of total existence, transcendence of all to be something more and to be something better. This code is founded on integrity and honor and respect. If the Nihility is the ultimate sacrifice, then what right do we have to spit on it?

Additionally, let's take it this way. When does existence end? When does the Nihility stop creating? And I believe that's at a moment of perfection. When existence has reached perfection, when the definition has become totally refined, the Nihility's sacrifice will finally end. And therefore, we should strive for that perfect equilibrium.

As an abstractist, I then relate this to the teleological end of forming an abstract. In forming an abstract, we then add to existence and make it more whole. For a follower of Nihility, this then attributes to the end of the great sacrifice, so from a 'philosophy on meaning' standpoint these two really complement each other.

And morally, a nihilist then is in no way someone who acts in only self interest, rather the complete opposite. To mimic the Nihility to strive for that most perfect definition, then a nihilist would be called to act with total altruism in the best interest of everything besides themselves. Taken to extreme lengths this could be toxic, as it might lead people to total self disregard and self destruction, but that can also be reasoned out. As a part of existence, you do then technically do have a duty to yourself, just first the greater whole, so moderation and proper priority is key.

So boom, perfect metaphysical philosophy. I've made two of these now, so that's crazy. Either way this one's just going to be called Nihility, and those who subscribe to it can still be called nihilists, but like change the first 'i' so it sounds different. Instead of n-I-hill-ist, make it n-i-hill-ist, like how you say 'stick.' That way, it sounds stupid lol.

[so2collection]

Star Ocean: Blue Sphere ~ A Review

Disclaimer: This is a subjective review. I think if you're good at skill based things like fighting games, party games, ect. you will enjoy this title more on a technical level.

Initial Thoughts I have always wanted to play Blue Sphere, as I'm sure many english speakers have always wanted to. I owned an original copy for years.

We waited two decades for a translation, and although this one was hastily made and even stolen, I think we were all happy to finally play it.

The game did get a remake for mobile phones in Japan, but it's considered lost media, so that wasn't an option, either. It's never been ported (as of writing this, it remains the only title to not have a modern port).

I even purchased two copies when FishyFaceGames printed them. Sadly, my open copy doesn't save (which seems to be a common problem). If you want to play this physical, get a different repro as I haven't heard them having any problems. Otherwise, the ROM is widely availible and I used GBA Emulator for my playthrough. I highly recommend using an emulator, do due to how much save scumming you'll want to do, especially for Item Creation and distributing SP. Having said all that, my biggest concerns going in were if this game could be completed by someone who did not have the skills to learn new battle skills through combos, as this seems necessary (it isn't, although it makes the game more difficult). My largest goal when making my guide was to provide a little more clarification on SP distribution, learning things like Lost Magic, Item Creation tips, and how to get the fabeled Blue Sphere… I think I accomplished that, so please enjoy the tips in the guide here. So, now that I've completed the game, what do I think of it, as a fan who has put 1000+ hours into SO2 on PS1 and 40 hours into my playthrough of Blue Sphere (not counting resets)?

Gameplay / Dungeons I'm going to start here. This game has so many issues. According to interviews, this game was meant to be a holdover for Star Ocean 3, therefore it was made for the Gameboy Color. The devs found making the systems simple = boring, so they did everything they could to make this a challenging (and frustrating) experience.

Firstly, learning new skills in battle. Everyone shares the fact that you must level the tree "correctly" to get the best skills. In some cases, like Celine, you must choose between high magic or her best spell; you cannot learn both. Learning skills has to be done in a secret order based on the character you're training; the only way to do this is to experiment, replay, or save scum. Even with saving, though, you can't know until you max out two entire trees, which takes the entire game. This takes away control away from the player right off the bat and can lead to paralyzing anxiety of making mistakes. You will. Dungeons are typical old school fair, but even Japanese players said they had trouble with the ones in this game. Particularly, Gravis Forest, Leviabor Ruins, and Grand Knott are troublesome and almost impossible without maps.

This can be exacerbated if you're playing on a Gameboy Pocket or a Super Gameboy, because of the limited to no color palette. A lot of dungeons also require specific Field Actions to explore, which are mostly limited to specific characters (especially Precis, the HM Slave, early on). It is nice that every character can be leveled whenever as long as you grind SP, which isn't hard to do, just time consuming. You can also go back to your ship to switch characters very often. However, late game, if you've not been leveling a side character at all, this can be time-consuming. One saving grace is the character does not have to be in the active party. I think, if they had the power at the time, being able to switch characters on the fly [in a dungeon] would have made this game's dungeon crawling SO much more fun and enjoyable. I found that treasure often was NOT worth going out of the way for. Usually towns provide enough updated equipment to keep you going and the dungeons tend to provide useless or redundant rewards. There are a few exceptions late game, though, which made exploring a bit more worth it (and you're more likely to have a character in your team to use).

Enemies are on the screen, however, they often can't be avoided, even with Dias' dash. Only a few characters can gain an initiative / surprise with their FAs, like Celine's Magic Shot. This isn't necessary but it does help and you can hit an enemy first with anyone, but it's trickier without the long range FA.

I found that running from battle did work more like 70% of the time. Running also removes the enemy from the field, which is nice. The balancing is not great, if you can't combo with a fighter. Some enemies will absolutely trash your mages at the start, making battles insufferable. Again, the only reason the mages die is because you can't freely raise their HP without messing up their skill tree. Armor only helps so much. The dungeon designs themselves aren't bad and are beautiful to look at, but there are a few times I almost dropped the game entirely if I hadn't had the Japanese guides I was referencing.

Item Creation (IC) / Misc. Mechanics So, remember I said the devs love taking control away from the players? I'm sure there are some that do not enjoy Star Ocean's random IC, but it was better implemented in SO2. Here, you must score a specific amount of points or some other specific action by completing mini-games that only use the D-Pad, which is clunky by today's standards. I can partially forgive this, but some of the games really are almost impossible, even with the support item and max level that "makes it easier". I never enjoyed this mechanic, except on the Art game. Even then, that one has a random element of which color you get to play. Limiting the Ultimate Battle Skills to the Blue Sphere item, I understand, but making it impossible to obtain sucks. I know they intended the Connect feature to be used, but this is ultimately a single player experience and the Alchemy game is too difficult to get them even somewhat consistently! I'm talking 1/50 attempts would be fine for something so rare, but I never got one. You get one free one in the entire game, but you have to be playing on a specific model Gameboy to obtain it! There are other treasure that use this mechanic, rewarding those that play on the black and white screen with better stuff, but for something designed for the GB Color, you think we'd have an option as well. Luckily, on an emulator, you can change your model, but if you're playing physical you may be out of luck. I could ramble about all the IC mini-games, as they are skill based and so your opinion may be very different, even positive, if you're good at these kind of games, but I didn't enjoy it and the lack of control to the player once again makes this an awful experience. From what I gather also, gaining a fighter's ultimate battle skill is linked to possibly sacrificing their ultimate main-game weapon. Who would decide something like that?! Sparking magic is something I haven't discussed. Honestly, it was one of the better mechanics in the game… if you knew what you needed. Often spells require: you control the character, you use the right spell (random chance to unlock), and the required stat is high enough. This is a lot of variables with no indicator. I can see this being frustrating for players.

NPCs are there and some PAs do fill out the world a bit more, but for the most part you will be screaming at them to move or ignoring them entirely. Weapons/Equiptment/Acessories are something run of the mill for the most part. You can buy them (enemies don't drop money) or make them (IC) or find them in treasure chests. The Ultimate Weapons are either obtained through Private Actions or using the Blue Sphere item I discussed previously. Making money is a problem early on. Fine. Learn Cooking and play an okay mini-game and make some. Sell stuff you don't use. This isn't the worst problem in the game, but nothing tells you how to make any money and if you mess up a skill tree teaching one of your main three Cooking, then you're out of fucking luck. Inherently, you would have 3 main party members for battle and the rest saved for IC, but I would have to bring up the problem of switching characters on the fly remotely again. Sometimes going back to the ship when you're halfway through a dungeon is just not feasible. There really aren't any sidequests to speak of outside Private Actions and Ruddle. Standard Star Ocean fair which I'll go into more below. There is a lengthy post-game that was a given for this era of Tri-Ace, including the infamous Cave of Trials (I didn't confirm this, but I bet you can save anywhere which is a relief). You have to collect the God Rings all over the game and then tackle the dungeon. I didn't do this personally as there isn't any story to be gained, but completionists and diehards will love to see it return.

Graphics / Music

I can safely say there are not many complaints here. The graphics are gorgeous, as expected from this era of Enix and Tri-Ace. Motoi Sakuraba did the best he could given the hardware and a lot of tracks sound redundant, but I never found it particularly irritating. If anything the music fades into the background. The battle theme is a banger, though!

Story / Private Actions The story isn't too in-depth. That's okay, given the space they had for the catridge. I don't think it means to take itself too seriously. Tri-Ace has never had master level writing chops, so don't go in expecting a grand adventure for the story. There's just enough to get you from point A to point B and the last 5 hours of the game contain most of the plot, explaining the world and the final boss' motivations. There's nothing bad or great about it.

Private Actions are great as always. They really kept the spirit of the cast from 2 here. In fact, they wanted to add more, but there just wasn't enough space to do so. We only get a measly 25ish PAs in this game, compared to the 100 or so in 2, but that's okay. Some of them are really fun! Most of them aren't missable, although they can't all be seen in one playthrough (there's a few you must pick between). PAs really are a highlight in this game, especially if you're a fan of 2. I recommend doing as many as you can. Some have good rewards, too.

Conclusion

I would give this game a 6/10

As a fan of the series. The frustrating elements make me score it lower. The game shines with its graphics, music, and Private Actions, but ultimately leaves a somewhat lackluster experience.

Do I regret my time spent with Blue Sphere? Not really. I think it was alright. I think if you love SO2, you should give it a shot. The game is only 35-45 hours for the main story and technical skill isn't required to complete, but it does make it easier. The frustrating elements can be weathered through (I took a one week break and a weekend break at seperate points of frustration…) I think if you love the characters, seek out the PAs. If you love the story, you may consider watching on YT instead as there really isn't a lot of meat there and the ending is very "we saved the world, let's go on another adventure!" and not the most satisfying. There aren't multiple endings here, either. Replayability is very dependent on how you play personally. I think you could get all you need from this game if you played very carefully and planned everything in advance. A replay might be worth it if you want to challenge yourself with other characters in your main team; I would find this unbearable. All in all, I would recommend it to someone who loves skill-based titles, dungeon crawlers, or Star Ocean 2. I think the game has too many issues to make it enjoyable to play or replay, but this is a very decisive title running on dated hardware with a shoddy translation. I hope this review provided some insight and if it wasn't enough, you can view my walkthrough here to see if it is something more suited to you.

[majestyrising]

FACTION ROUNDUP

I have only been nominally active for a while and whilst being fully active again is a lot of fun, I have a lot of factions with a lot of characters so I figured I’d give a brief summary of each. I hope it’s readable and if you do read it, I hope you enjoy it!

The Thanatos Syndicate.

Founded by Koschei Urusov and currently led by his eldest son, Rho Urusov, the Thanatos Syndicate is a private military company situated in the eastern Wasteland, primarily located inside a massive cathedral. It was originally located in the Icefields, but after a chain of events beginning with a coup and ending with their old base, a hollowed out glacier, sinking into the ocean, they moved over to Plague. 

Their primary objective is, of course, to take mercenary contracts. Rho holds a very tight leash on what the Syndicate will and will not do, and as such, they are seen as a very elite and expensive force for the most part. That being said, the expertise and therefore, expense, of their mercenaries varies from person to person. They are not simply a band of sellswords, however, and operate more akin to an autonomous community, having their own medics, ambassadors, and information network.

The Syndicate’s primary alliance is with the Sawyer Gang, an unlikely friendship born out of a truce made once the two groups stopped warring with one another. They can often be found working in tandem, with the Gang riling people up and the Syndicate squeezing protection money out of them in turn. 

(TLDR: An Ice Private Military Company living in the Wasteland. Genre is fantasy and sort-of adherent to site lore.)

The Great Noble House of Damask Rose.

On the northern shore of the Isles lies an island just barely cut off from the mainland, connected by the ebb and flow of pink salt flats. This is the City of Lys. Long ago, the Great Noble House of Damask Rose was driven from their grandiose palaces and chased all the way to Lys, where their enemies hoped to sever their influence and power. It did not work as intended.

The City of Lys is small, but densely packed, a tourist destination for it’s beautiful landscape and quaint, rococo architecture. At the top of it’s spiralling cliffs, buoyed by magic which lifts parts of the massive building into the air, is the Damask Chateau. From here, the relatively small family and their army of servants, chevaliers, and indebted nobility rule over their island. Primarily, this falls to Grand Duchess Seraphina de Damascena, as her husband, the ‘true’ head of the family, the Duke, mostly keeps to himself, engrossed with his studies and experiments.

Many years ago now, the chevaliers of Damask identified and abducted a man with great magical potential- Mortimur Sawyer, the preacher for the cult village of Haven. Over time, he became completely invaluable to them, with Seraphina falling in love with the man. It seems that history might repeat, recently Quincy Damascena, the spare to the family, brought Malachai Sawyer home with him.

(TLDR: A noble house inspired by the French nobles of the Ancien Regime. Genre is political drama, fantasy, and eldritch themes.)

The Provinces of Kasaiwari.

Hidden from the outside world, embraced by a mountain range on one side and the sea on the other, lies the Provinces of Kasaiwari. Situated in the north border of the Waste, it has a long and complex history, having land saturated with magic which has always been the home to yokai of all kind. The ancient leaders of this land, the Tenkubashi, have kept the peace throughout the provinces for many years. It is a hub of unique and beautiful art and culture, in touch with the world around them. At least, until their whole world exploded.

After all, it has only been peaceful for the dragons- for they have been pushing the yokai out ever since they first came down from their god. The last of the Qirin, the King of Yokai, Shikitsuhikotamatemi, finally reached the end of his rope and attacked a congregation of all the province’s leaders. In one fell swoop, he destroyed every single leader, and the yokai swept out across the entire land, intent on getting rid of the dragons.

It has been a lifetime since then, but the scars are still healing. Under the leadership of their new Empress, the Divine Avatar Kuroharuhime Tenkubashi, she has proclaimed an edict- the yokai’s transgressions will be tolerated no longer, and she will not rest until they are completely eradicated.

(TLDR: A Japanese-inspired secret land fighting with Yokai. Genre is high fantasy with shades of historical fiction.)

Sancti Sepulchre.

When the world was new, before the Icewarden was the Icewarden, he shaped two children from himself and gave them life. They were Panteleimon, the God of Compassion, and Zima, the God of Justice. Together they would form the Urusov Dynasty, which would rule the northern Icefields for these early years, pushing back incursions from Arcane and Fire. Eventually, though, these outside pressures would overwhelm the Dynasty, and they would succumb, driven out or killed.

The survivors, and their leader, Vsevolod Urusov, ran to the southern most point of the Icefields, a truly inhospitable land where the blizzards never stop raging. There they would lick their wounds; but as the years continued, the family grudges would rise again, keeping the family stuck in their exile, arguing among themselves for perceived injustices. 

It was here that Koschei Urusov was raised, and where he ran from as a young adult. He had no way of knowing that his departure would be presumed as murder, and that it would kick-start events which threaten to reveal the Urusovs to the world once again. Their leader, for the moment, remains Tsar Didier Urusov, a towering, beastly man with a vendetta and a temper to match it- but how much longer everyone will suffer his wrath remains to be seen.

(TLDR: An ancient Ice lineage struggling to survive in harsh conditions. Genre is high fantasy with a grimdark edge.)

LUCKY ST4R.

Just a blip on the map of Neo Necropolis, a high tech mega-city located in the paradoxically desert-swamped and futuristic Expanse, is an innocuous repair shop. It was a blimp, once, which fell from the sky and has since been decorated and secured into something of a bunker. This is the LUCKY ST4R, the hideout of a once notorious businessman named Seven. He and his friends (or coworkers, depending on who you ask) run several different not strictly legal businesses out of the little shop.

From prototype modifications to ultra powerful guns to scripts that’ll double your cryptocurrency, you can have all sorts of itches scratched by the LUCKY ST4R. But it’ll cost you, and if you don’t keep your mouth shut, they’ll find some other way to make sure no one powerful enough to stop them gets keyed in to what’s happening. Pay what’s owed and you’ll get what you want, and maybe you’ll also get a box of noodles for your trouble. 

(TLDR: A cyberpunk-vaporwave city and the tales of it’s inhabitants. Genres include, well, cyberpunk, as well as some crime/thriller elements.)

Pulpa Artifex.

An old wives' tale in the Scarred Wasteland talks of a band of terrifying beings, barely mortal, who can twist and warp the flesh of others like wet clay. Unfortunately for those who cross into their path, it is not just a story told in the dead of night around a flickering campfires, but a terrifying reality.

The small band of criminals known as Pulpa Artifex are based around an ancient manifestation of death and decay known as Bragi who inducts other unfortunate people into his cursed work. The fleshweavers find and capture wayward souls to fuel their own powers and prolong their lives. What could be written off as a sick cycle of life and death is destroyed by the simple fact that Pulpa Artifex sees themselves as artists of the highest calibre, exploring an artform denied and derided by all others.

(TLDR: A gross group of nasty mages in the Wasteland. Genres include horror, especially body horror, and some contemplative thoughts on death.)