#idk whose been keeping up with my lore

[violettierre]

The last few days of Ramadan are often the most difficult of the whole month for me, but hey! in the bright side i managed to convince my new boss to give me an entire week off for Eid (my former boss usually give me 3-4 days maximum), at least i can enjoy my holiday and the rest of the week quietly :D

[lafaiette]

Gods I feel you I'm only 10 hours in after having received the game as a gift and I REALLY try to like it but it just ... doesn't feel like Dragon Age. Characters know stuff they shouldn't know about, the game keeps talking down to me, nothing I did in the previous games mattered, the tone is completely different, the mature storytelling of the previous games seems to be missing so far & what I heard so far of how the lore and the characters from previous games have been handled is honestly the worst part and breaks my heart. idk even if i wanna finish the game at this point anymore, I'm just kinda ... sad.

I'm so sad and disappointed, too, I remember our conversations, fics, and headcanons about DA! We were so excited and happy, because Inquisition, DA2, and DAO were genuinely well-made and aimed at pleasing the fans, despite their faults.

DATV is a good action game, no doubt about that. The combat is fun, there is a lot to explore and discover, and many locations are beautiful, even though some are terrible to navigate (Dock Town's structure makes no sense). But that's it - it's a good action game with the name "Dragon Age" pasted on it. It doesn't feel like it's part of the series, it constantly treats the player like an idiot, some references to past games and characters are literally hidden in the brief descriptions of the mementos, and there is even a Glossary to make sure the new players don't get frustrated.

Everything is safe and aseptic, cleaned of every deep piece of lore that could have scared new fans into buying or continuing the game. Even the banters lack the depth of the previous games.

A good game company should lure new players in not by rejecting their past entries, but by making them look even more interesting with their sequels.

Bioware wasn't afraid of offering piece of lore after piece of lore in Inquisition - it was a game set in a precise moment, whose prologue was directly tied to the events of the previous game, and new players had to accept this if they decided to buy it and play it. If they liked that premise, all that information and those details, then they were more than welcome - they were encouraged! - to go back, try the older games, and see how it had all started. It was a game made for the fans the company had already managed to win over, not for possible fans who may or may not bring new money in.

In DATV the new players can jump right in after quickly learning who Solas is and what he's trying to do, and old fans are left with an empty shell, with minor references that are supposed to make us feel happy and accomplished peppered here and there, while all our past choices and our favorite characters are forgotten or brought back with a terrible case of amnesia. It's lazy, infuriating, and very sad, and it smells of reboot, because the new devs probably realized they couldn't keep up with the amount of lore and choices the series contain, and they needed to start anew.

[blu3-ja3]

Monsters Au O'Connor specifically THIS au by @bluegiragi ! It's so tasty yummy! Idk what Roach's monster would be... I'm thinking maybe a witch that has the Black Hellhound (Ripley) as a familiar or shifter whose form is very similar to the black hound...I could make him a ghost of sorts... idk

ANYWAYS!

Banshee O'Connor! She just kinda popped into my head and has been simmering quietly in the background.

So a bit of folk lore on banshees before we get into O'Connor's origins and such. So in Irish and some Scottish folklore banshees are an omen of death, hearing a banshee's kneeing or wailing means a family member has died. But they're also omens of misfortune and strife, often being spotted in the country sides or on roads. They ARE fae creatures and they're always depicted as crying women. They can on occasion be spirits or ghosts as well.

So! O'Connor's origins as a banshee. She's a human, still a doctor and combat medic. She's specialized in monster medical (dragons beings her personal favorites) so shes been paired with Price for a very long time, she's a part of his hoard. After Williams death O'Connor went back out onto the field and was redeployed with Price again. On a mission O'Connor is burned to death... She is dead. Price attended her funeral and in O'Conner's will he received Will's 4 leaf clover necklace as well as a small container with her ashes. Price grants her final wish and has her ashes incorporated into a pendant similar to Will's. O'Connor's ashes are made into a pink clover flower. Price keeps both Will's and O'Connor's pendants on a small chain.

The first time Price hears the wailing he's confused, he's out in the field and once it stops Price is informed a soldier was shot and killed. It happens multiple times after that and every time a soldier dies. Price is concerned because the wailing sounds more and more like O'Connor until Price is certain it's her. The first time Price spots her, he convinces himself it's his imagination. The next few times Price sees the figure, she gets closer and Price can make out more details.

It definitely looks like O'Connor but she's a twisted version of herself. Her eyes are black with little embers in it and tears falling softly from them. Her skin is pale and there are long cracks throughout, Price can see what looks like smoldering wood under the skin. O'Connor's hair floats like she's in water, it looks like fire with the wisps of smoke rising from it. Her fingers are blackened and her body is a little translucent.

Price is almost entirely convinced he's gone insane but he hears Soap talking about the wailing and how he's almost certain someone is haunted by a banshee but he doesn't know who. Price tells the team about O'Connor and the thing he's been seeing. Ghost is the one to suggest trying to talk to her the next time she appears.

It's not for a long time but when she appears again she's standing next to Price. He heard the soft cries and hollow wails before he saw her. But before Price could say anything O'Connor began moving towards Gaz. She reaches out for him and moves him towards Price as another soldier dashes towards them. As soon as the man gets to where Gaz was the soldier is killed in a volley of bullets that would have absolutely caught Gaz if he was still there. By the time Price turned to talk to O'Connor after the fighting she was gone again.

Price finally gets his chance when he's on base, they'd just return from a particularly rough mission and several soldiers were injured. Price was in his office when he heard soft mournful singing through the halls. Price followed it finding Soap and Ghost already up. Gaz and Roach were following behind Price. They all stood outside the medical bay as the singing spilled through.

Price walked in alone and saw O'Connor, she was slightly different then before. She wasn't smoking, her eyes weren't just embers; they were her usual green no black anywhere. Her skin was still cracked but there wasn't any smoldering underneath. She was still crying but it wasn't as constant, only a few tears every so often.

O'Connor's figure was hovering next to a sleeping soldier, the boy was severely burned and started to cry in pain. She reached down gently caressing his cheek and that seemed to calm him down. She was singing a lullaby Price recognize, she'd often sing it to William when he was a baby.

"Maevis?" Price watched as the figure drifted over to another soldier who started crying in pain, again she lightly caressed him. Price stood and watched quietly as O'Connor continued to drift around the room, singing and comforting the injured. He shivers as she moves closer, as he exhales he can see his breath. As soon as the cold is there it passes, moving with O'Connor as she drifts.

She continued to hum before drifting towards the exit, gesturing for Price to follow her. She phased through and Price opened it and followed. The rest of his team was still standing around waiting for Price. He looked around and spotted O'Connor's figure down the hall.

"That's creepy..." Price heard Gaz mumble as they followed behind him.

She guides them towards Price's office, stopping and waiting for them before continuing on. Once inside the office they looked around for the woman. She appeared in the corner furthest from everyone, her figure still the same.

"John..."

"Maevis what are you doing... How are you here?"

"I don't know how I'm here... I think I'm here to warn or protect you... I don't entirely understand what is happening..."

" Protect me from what?" A kind and gentle smile appears on her face.

" Loss... Maybe not death itself but death coming too soon. The first few times I could only stray so far, I wasn't able to protect your men, your horde... I didn't even know what I was doing..."

"We saw you save Gaz, why not save the other soldier?"

"Because some deaths are inescapable... That was one such death... I'm sorry, I did try."

"How are you here now? What's changed?"

"Something is coming, a wave of deaths that should be avoided... I don't know when or where they'll happen but I know they're coming... I'm here to help you John."

They all watch as O'Connor's eyes begin to cloud over black encompassing everything, a single blue ember igniting in each eye. Tears begin streaming down her cheeks as the cinders and smoke begin to ignite and plume. She lets out a quiet baleful wail.

"Maevis? What's wrong? What happened?"

"That young man didn't make it... Poor child... I must go, I must help the lad crossover..." She drifts past them before disappearing through the walls.

After sometime O'Connor became part of their little team, regaining her rank as Captain. It took a bit of time but eventually O'Connor learned how to properly interact with physical items and objects, allowing her to be placed back into the fields with the team.

She's mostly for infiltration and recon, occasionally using her abilities to see other spirits to gain information. O'Connor is a bit of an uncommon monster because she's an undead/ghost. She's rare because she's fully conscious and not vengeful. O'Connor's ability to be aware and cooperative is rare amongst Spirit Classed entities. She's not just a shell of memories nor hell bent on revenge against the living.

Powers

Can go incorporeal/corporeal with ease

Slight emotional manipulation (Calming effect but also Fear effects)

Invisibility

Slight Premonitions (Can kinda see people's deaths if they're in the right scenario ie Gaz)

Control over flames (is very slight but could easily be trained to be more powerful)

Slight Flight (More hovering)

General ghost shit

Can see other spirits and occasionally helps them cross over.

Weaknesses

Salt

Holy water/crucifix

Exorcism type shit... She's a ghost lol

Silver (fae)

COD Master List

[alacants]

the juanki/rafa lore is fascinating omg

ISN'T IT WILD. today felt like. scripted. backstory episode dropped just in time for the narrative climax.

but their relationship is really SO fascinating. there's all these little tidbits the round-up didn't have space for, stuff like--juanki's asked about their relationship at a cincy presser and is like haha it's fine we're meeting for golf today. and then the next day he's back on message like, stop talking about rafa. rafa is speaking up in juanki's defense when he's left out of the madrid main draw, and then they're barely talking next time they're both at davis cup. even nowadays they are so clearly on the same page cheering for carlitos! …as long AS they are cheering for carlitos. i want a timer to know how long they can hold a conversation before one of them says something that breaks the get-along spell.

idk i just keep thinking that--i mean what IF that hideous run of bad luck (chicken pox, broken rib, maybe some poor decision-making) hadn't destroyed juanki at his peak. i would be so curious to know if rafa's approach would have been different if juanki had been more of a threat on the court in those first formative years on tour--more like he felt about moya or roger. instead he just leapfrogged right over him and i think that's what got under juanki's skin so bad, not just that this kid usurped his place but that he didn't even like. notice him there.

(i was just talking with my friend whose take on rafa's side of this is that the obvious bad feeling probably bothered him a lot more coming from a spaniard than it would have otherwise. like if it was… i can't think of a good example. marat safin? a former world no. 1 who was never much of a threat to him on court. --if it was marat safin who got snippy in the media and cold-shouldered him in person then lol whatever. but at home he wanted to be loved. and juan carlos did not love him.)

[wolf-feathers12]

An idea

Angron as sanguinius's bodyguard/protector!au

( I have very limited knowledge of the books/am still slowing making my way though the warhammer lore and most of my understanding comes from fandom interactions and this is very crackish indulgent idea that probs doesn't make too much sense if you apply some logic to it but hush ಥ_ಥ)

Angron but they find a way to get rid of his nails but he's still very angry ect >:O

Him and sanguinius interact and sang suggests therapy ala blood angel style. Cue a montage of him slowing being shown how to paint, draw and appreciate the fine arts ect. Plus he starts to really bond with sang. (Aparently depending on who u ask sanguinius might have started out as a slave?? So even more sorta bonding over trama type thing? Also i love sanguinius whump/hurt/comfort so yeah boi)

Angron starts spending more and more time with the angel and consequently finds himself near sanguinius when he wakes up screaming and sang comforts him. Maybe sanguinius expirenceing his own nightmares becaue of his visions and angron becoming less and less awkward when he pets his hair and tells him its ok that it was just a dream.

Regardless they both become really close (maybe even ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) close if that's what Ur into hehehe). sanguinius is one of the first people to show him any sort of kindness or understanding appart from his brothers and sisters. He still hates the emperor but he'll endure it if it means he gets to be with his brother.

Cue the horus heresy.

Everything is more or less the sameish with angron hesitating a little to join horus but his hatred for the emperor wins.

(I know that sanguinius and angron fight but er maybe they don't in this au?? Idk just skip to the fight on the vengeful spirit)

Sanguinius is completely exhausted and can barely keep himself upright when he confronts horus but confront him he does .

This is it. This is where he dies.

But just before horus deals the killing blow angron bursts into the room.

Seeing the person who has helped him become something more then a monster, more then his nails, who showed him how to correctly load paint onto a brush, how to read music, who's been there for him in the middle of the night, whose held him when the cries of his fellow slaves grew too loud being literally tortured to death, body broken (flashback to one of his gladiator friends being beaten to death maybe?) Angron realises where his true loyalties lie.

Horus is confused.

"You would protect him even though he is loyal to the same man who let your people die? You serve him even now by keeping the angel alive."

"The only emperor I serve is at my feet now."

"You would defend and obey a broken shell of a man?"

With determination in his eyes, clutching his weapon he looks horus straight in the eyes.

"To my last breath."

Shout out to @heuldoch7b for their post

https://www.tumblr.com/heuldoch7b/762780929429323776/would-your-no-nails-au-angron-look-any-different?source=share

That inspired this au :O

[loztotk-fourfutures]

LEGEND OF ZELDA TEARS OF THE KINGDOM: FOUR FUTURES AU

OVERVIEW

An oc-centric TLoZ TotK AU of my own creation featuring my character Judias Skylark and the four primary/potential outcomes of his entanglement with Ganondorf and how his presence effects Link’s adventures and the fate of Hyrule (although perhaps not by much). If you care about spoilers, maybe don’t linger around this blog too much because there will likely be some sorta major ones.

My special little tag for this au is

#totk four futures au !

welcome to Four Futures!! i hope you find my silly mind stories interesting :)

MORE INFO BELOW

MINOR GENERAL LORE CHANGES

- The monsters around Hyrule that were summoned when Ganondorf turned into the Demon King in the original lore already existed beforehand here — just not as prominently as after the Demon King’s rise to power.

- Rauru appointed the Sages before Ganondorf’s betrayal, just shortly after his pledge of fealty. They were appointed to assist in watching over Hyrule, helping it grow, and fending off the occasional monster attacks.

- I’m not sure how long it actually was between Ganon’s pledge of fealty to Rauru and the night he killed Queen Sonia, but I’m gonna say in this AU probably was a bit longer than it was in the game. I don’t know if we even get how long the time frame between those two events was in the game but… idk in this AU I’m gonna say it was probably at least a few months or so. i dont have EEEVERYTHING figured out leave me alone

JUDIAS’ BACKSTORY

The story more or less begins back during Hyrule’s founding era! Judias was a Hylian born into the Shiekah tribe, and for a long time, he was a traveller and spice trader as well as a monster researcher before meeting and soon after getting romantically involved with Ganondorf, whose plans for Hyrule’s Downfall were either still just barely brewing or more or less completely secret at that point in time. Eventually, Judias started working with Rauru and the Sages for his monster research, because he believed that there was potential for good in all beings and wanted to find a way to tame the monsters, or at least get them to become less hostile.

For as long as they’d been together, Judias loved Ganondorf genuinely and believed (hoped) that he felt the same way (whether he truly did or not is sort of on the fence, but at the very least he seemed to. My current thought is that he at least had a soft spot and felt a certain sense of protectiveness and loyalty for him and liked his company, even if nothing else.)

After making significant progress in monster taming and even learning how to communicate with some of the monsters of Hyrule, Judias was appointed by Rauru as the Sage of Change, and he got his own secret stone!! (which on his design I placed in the small headpiece on his forehead, notably in the same spot that Ganon’s ends up being when he steals Sonia’s stone except in the opposite orientation. theyre matching. they fit together like the yin yang. marvel at my genius.)

And of course, as the name of the AU suggests, there are four different possible futures in store for Judias. i love timeline stuff sm teehee

THE FOUR FUTURES

FUTURE 1: In the very first face-off while Judias is torn between helping the other Sages fight the Demon King or staying with his partner, Ganon takes the initiative and steals him away, and in the process he falls ill because of the Gloom. Ganon ends up, against his own better judgement, carrying Judias around in a fabric bundle on his back (trying to convince himself it’s just to keep him from helping the other Sages and to keep him weakened and totally not bc he looves him and wants to protect him) while wreaking havoc across Hyrule — and a majority of this time Judias is just sort of struggling af and periodically drifting in and out of consciousness — until he gets sealed away by Rauru, and Judias ends up getting sealed with him. Until the Upheaval, of course, where Judias wakes up, crawls out of a chasm or whatever, and befriends Link, intent on trying to give Ganon some sort of redemption, and, if that ends up not being possible, reluctantly agreeing to help Link seal Ganon back away for the sake of the rest of Hyrule.

FUTURE 2: Judias was torn briefly between helping Ganon or the Sages, but ended up joining the Sages in trying to seal him away — had to look away while Rauru was sealing Ganon away in the imprisoning chamber (☹️), and in the far future he assists Link a little bit as a spirit (maybe somewhat similarly to Mineru since he was also a sage?), not quite having the heart to pass on to the other side completely yet, and maybe gives everyone’s favorite blond swordsman a cool new power or something…… ✨

FUTURE 3: Judias was torn again but ran away instead of making himself pick a side, and after he’d heard of Ganon’s sealing/imprisonment, he was blinded by heartbreak and got a little upset (just a little bit) and went on to become the founder and first leader of the Yiga Clan (k maybe he was a bit more than a “little” upset)

FUTURE 4: Another result of his heartbreak due to Ganon’s imprisonment, but also not wanting to outright harm the innocent people of Hyrule, Judias consumes his secret stone and becomes an immortal dragon in the hopes of someday seeing his partner again in the distant future, even if he won’t be himself anymore. (crying and sobbing loudly)

I HOPE THIS INTERESTS SOME PEOPLE <3

Have fun watching me post art, maybe some comic pieces, and perhaps developing this AU some more! and let it be known i love answering questions and comments <333

[browneyedartist01]

My thoughts during the final hour of acomaf:

(Bare in mind that I notched up the speed to 1.5 then 1.75, and these thoughts are not in order)

-"You don't need proof that it works, I'm proof that it works-"

Weren't you made by high lords?

-"I will destroy your court."

And I will hate you. More so than I already do

-"He held out his hand like I was some pet."

"Come home."

My thoughts:

"Come home with me."

"Who are you?"

"The man whose gonna marry you, I'm Orpheus."

"Who am I?"

"Eurydice, *laughs* the girl who makes me wanna sing, the women I'm marrying."

-Why dose the evil man sounds like a radio announcer?

-Lucian really setting the bar higher already in how to care for your mate, as expected. (Go little Rock star)

-He broke through the bounds that a high lord couldn't break through just to go to her?!?!

-And he gave her his coat to cover her??

-"There were different kinds of torture I realized, there was ones I went through, what Rhys went through and then this."

Yeah, now you know how Tamlin felt utm.

- Did Nesta just give the evil king the middle finger? Ew, sarah cringe stop it.

-Cassian just keep dying sweetie, don't touch Nesta.

-Nesta be nice to your future brother in law.

- Freye unlocked a new power, somehow.

-Cheesy, this is all so cheesy.

- "his green eyes met mine, the sorrow and tenderness in them was the most hideous thing I've ever seen."

Wow, ok...

-Tamlin acting like Ryhsand though with Tamlin it's justified/understandable

- *me counting down the final 22 minutes while freye is dying*

-"I nerely gagged on his scent."

Freye darling, I get your upset about his deal with evil king. But he literally tried to save your sisters, stop being so dramatic.

- "my family."

It's been 3 months girly.

- "Tamlin ignored Lucian, so I did too."

Sums up Freye and Lucain's friendship

-Of course all the queens' want is eternal youth,

- Lucian naturally being the smartest one in the room.

-Noooo, not Ryhsand pov. 😭 this better not be the last 17 minutes.

-Holy crap, I just realized how similar this ending is to season 2 of lore olympus ending.

-Don't worry, the bat boys plot armor is thick. Sarah loves you monsters too much.

-Mor don't rip out the arrow it will only make it worse.

-Ryhsand please think, do you really think Tamlin would actually partner with evil king? He didn't even trust evil fae women when she first appeared, what makes you think he would actually help him beyond getting freye back?

-"she is my mate, my wife, the high lady of the night court."

BANG, CRASH A LIGHTING BLAST! (no joke there was thunder after he said this in the dramatized version)

I have 2 thoughts on this one:

1. There was a fan theory during the court trial in lore olympus (persephone was on trail for mass murder, long story) where hades and persephone got married before the trail started because at one point he called her his wife. This wasn't the case because she was 20 and he was in his 2000 (aka 40's) Idk if Rachel was a fan of acotar and wanted to steal from it (since acomaf was released in 2016 and the trial was released in 2020) but because people guessed it she dropped it. Idk that's just a my own theory.

2. How can she be the high lady when the mother is the one to give out titles? Do you realize what you just start Ryhsand? This could lead to more war against the more religious courts, this could lead to the end of the night court if the mother finds out... oh wait, this is acotar. Not real high fantasy, there's no real religious world building.

-"I've forgotten how quiet it was here, how small, how empty"

You do this every time freye, anytime your some where "better" you always just stick your noise up at your old home.

-Freye acting high and mighty towards Tamlin as if she wouldn't had praised Ryhsand for doing the same thing.

- Lucian, you are truly the best character.

-"My sister mate, the mother did indeed seem to have a sense of humor."

What do you mean? He would be a great mate. But then again you're suffering because of it...which makes it so much better.

- "as if he could do that to anyone."

But- but he did freye. And tbh I think he would have done worse to you if he deemed it necessary.

-Freye is really giving evil queen vibes. I wish I could enjoy it, but I know sarah is going to make her the "hero"

And that's it, Thank Saints.

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

hii i recently started reading your work, cyanide narwhal, and am honestly really hooked! i love your characterization so much and find the story you built around the lore really, really interesting!

i’m not deeply familiar with the intricacies of the lore in genshin impact, but i’ve been fascinated by it for a while—and reading your story made me realize how much depth i was missing out on…is there any sources or ways you can reccomend as a primer/introductory to genshin lore? i really want to learn more and understand the theories better! thank youuu

aaa thank you! and this is actually a really interesting question

obviously my first thought was just play the world quests and pay attention, but not only is the info in the world quests sometimes incomplete, but i understand perfectly that some people just skimmed the dialogue at best and now cannot replay them but the fact of the matter is that the best way to get into some parts of the lore is via the world quests

still, there's plenty of people on youtube who do timeline and lore recaps without theories - as in, just telling you the lore that one can learn from the quests in a more streamlined manner. they're always a great choice!

there's also the artifact and material lore, which does usually contain a lot of info, but is usually kinda cryptic. the good thing about those is that you're not locked out of reading them, so as long as you have the necesary pieces, you can just go into the in-game archives and read up there. as with the world quests, though, there's also plenty of people on youtube doing full analyses on the lore of those

i think once you have a rough idea of some of the relevant names and lorebits, that while daunting at first, the wiki's timeline page is rather helpful when it comes to trying to get the bigger picture of when exactly everything happened in relation to other things. reading the little annotations and notes they put on where they got their info and when they've had to make extra calculations for some things' placements also goes a long way.

once you've started to understand more of the out-of-the-way lore, going to theorists is also a great way to catch the more interesting ways this game is built. as in- real-world references and inspirations.

because telling you 'oh you can find it on youtube' still sort of leaves you having to figure out how to even look for it, here's a little list of the youtubers whose videos i've watched at least once for these things. not a comprehensive list of course, but from there some of them shout each other out and you can navigate the recommended section for more videos, so!

as with all things lore-related in this game, keep in mind when the videos were made in relation to the game's patch version. the ones that are more just strict lore read-throughs are less vulnerable to later patches sort of- changing some of the context? (looking at you remuria) but still. and obviously theory videos are even more dependant on that. so:

for lore analysis (most of these are strictly just the lore with little speculation, but there's probably some extrapolation here anyway): - Ashikai has a great beginner's guide series on region lore, but it only covers up to sumeru so far. still, might be a great place to start! there's also some quest recaps and lore details here and here - Francis Lee Arthur has a great series of very concise videos of world quest recaps, though they sadly don't have mondstadt and liyue quests, and only a handful of inazuma quests. still, they're great videos, and there's a ton of sumeru and fontaine quests (and one chenyu vale quest i think) - SiliconOneFour has a bunch of videos on artifact and weapon lore, and some recent ones on stuff like the remuria timeline, mondstadt's aristocracy, the history of the temple of silence, etc - KlemenTime has a bunch of videos on pieces of lore that aren't really laid out explicitly on world quests, but that you sort of learn through exploration? idk how to describe it. they also have artifact lore, and while not in the playlist, if you go to their profile they also have some more borad sumeru and natlan timeline videos - Minsleif has archon quest and world quest recaps, along with other lorebits. there's also their massive 1-min reel lorebit video collection on much shorter things

for theories (some of these have a mix of lore+theory videos so i'm putting them here bc i wanted ot keep the 'just the facts' videos to the section above): - Ashikai is my favorite theory nerd in the community so forgive the bias, but there's the incredible project:teyvat series and the world structure series, which are two massive theories about the way teyvat as a world functions. i think you might want to save these ones for after you've familiarized yourself with the lore. other than that, there's plenty of other theories to sift through (though bear in mind these are ALL the theories, so there's project:teyvat and world structure stuff here? but the titles will help you know which they are if you want to save them for later) - The Laughing Man has a ton of videos on lore and theory/speculation on like- a ton of stuff, along with character analyses - roozevelt has a bunch of videos on lore and theories, mostly revolving around the traveler and khaenri'ah, but there's plenty of other stuff there also - My Name For Now has a very interesting massive khaenri'ah theory, theories on the descenders, on the elemental system, and a bunch of other lore theory videos - Minsleif does have theories also (but i personally can't remeber if i've ever watched one. still, they're there if you want to check them out!) - Wei has theory videos that look like shitposts and sometimes feel like shitposts, but god, there's some interesting stuff there. i wouldn't know how to even describe it though, most of it is traveler related but still (also this is a general theories playlist, but like all their theories are from genshin with the exception of one jjk theory so like- i mean yeah, just letting you know why that's there lmao)

And here's the wiki's timeline page

so uhhhh yeah! hope you have fun if you decide to watch any of the videos from anyone there. of course there's probably a lot of other theorists and recap channels, but these are the ones i've watched at least once, so, pick and choose which ones you like best. have fun!

TL;DR: you can still access a bunch of lore in-game via the artifacts, weapons, and weapon materials, and any world quests you might not have played yet. but since i recognize that's a daunting task and the info is scattered and incomplete and confusing, watching video recaps might be the way to go. Ashikai's beginners guides are great introductions and refreshers, and there's plenty of videos to catch up on world quests or to have someone explain artifact and weapon lore to you

[bernardellinewsagency]

back with even more trigun x honkai star rail crossover thoughts, this time inspired by @jiinglespurs's veritas the punisher fanart :D though i'm not sure if i can call this just "thoughts" when it's turned into uh... several paragraphs of rambling and then a 2k word ratiorine fanfic about it. it's mostly unedited because i think i wrote most of it in some sort of possessed/fugue state where i was solely consumed by the need to have aventurine as vash, veritas as wolfwood, and for them to hurt my own feelings, but yeah in total this is around three thousand words in one post. i'm gonna hide it under a cut for everyone's sake :)

to start, no man's land is now penacony, of course. instead of seven cities, it's twelve, based on the twelve dreamscapes. now, most of these cities are just there to exist in the background and/or be destroyed. the lore important ones are midnight, sol, and morning dew (idk if the names should be changed to sound more like locations but trigun has cities named after months, names like morning dew aren't entirely out of the question).

midnight is where ships first crashed onto the planet, dooming humanity to a lonesome existence in this new world. however, despite being the vash and nai representative characters, this wasn't because of kakavasha and sunday. no, it was mikhail and gopher wood, the watchmaker and the dreammaster whose actions helped shape the penacony storyline in canon. these days, it's mostly a ghost town, the remnants of the first human civilizations on the planet. and morning dew is the july of this world, the location where shit will be going down, since it's where the dewlight pavilion is in canon so it'd be wherever sunday hosts his currently unnamed religious fanaticism organization.

in canon, sol is the dreamscape known for museums, libraries, and academies. thus, this becomes where veritas is from. to take more from wolfwood's backstory, he would've been an orphan there, brought up in an orphanage and not really able to get a proper education. luckily for him, i feel like he'd be a pretty self sufficient learner- he could've stolen books and snuck into buildings to help teach himself math, science, philosophy, etc. seeing his potential, the orphanage probably would've wanted to help send him to school, but he would insist that if they sent anyone, it would be the other kids who'd need it more than him, or that they save their money for food and supplies. a pity, perhaps if he did go away to school then he wouldn't have been taken and made into a killer rather than a scholar.

remember how i said that things would've been caused by gopher wood and mikhail? well, both of them are dead now. mikhail would've died first, which is rather unfortunate because then gopher wood would've been able to make a power grab and form the currently unnamed organization (though it'll probably be named after smth to do with the harmony or the order) incredibly powerful and influential within penacony. he would've had grand plans, and i think sunday should coup him before he could do much with them. kill his father, take his power, be more ambitious that he ever could.

speaking of this unnamed organization, its members are this au's versions of the gung-ho guns and can really be any character who shows up in the penacony quests. there's veritas the punisher, of course, and it's now led by dominicus, the name sunday goes just like how nai goes by millions knives. very transgender of both of them. then there's gallagher the hound, sparkle the fool, and while i don't have any ideas for robin, those three would be in the upper echelons of this group; both because sunday wants to keep his friends close and his enemies (of which gallagher and sparkle are certainly both possibilities) closer, and because the four remind me of the four harmonic strings, and sunday would definitely love the symbolism of that. i've also got two other ideas for its members: acheron the blade, an accomplished swordswoman known for never unsheathing her sword in a fight, and samuel the cavalry, an unknown young woman cloaked in both brutality and a fearsome armor made from lost tech.

why is kakavasha on the run from sunday and his organization? he's the vash adjacent character in this au, but he's not actually related to sunday, the two don't have any original closeness to utilize. but the glory of an au is that you can put canon into a paper shredder and say things like "maybe the avgins were there before anyone crash landed onto the planet. maybe kakavasha is still the last of his kind. and because i can, maybe he's got some fun powers that i can use to make him get homoerotic with veritas but can also serve as a reason why sunday is hunting him down." really i just need to be able to make him suffer more than jesus for my own entertainment.

and finally, i love the thought of eve being jade's real name, so it's jelena and eve who end up traveling with kakavasha across the world. they're meant to be like the insurance girls, financial sector employees who have ended up sticking with him because of the monetary disasters he keeps causing everywhere he goes.

ONTO THE GOOD STUFF. IT'S FANFIC TIME.

"what the hell were you thinking, blondie?" veritas yells, crouching beneath a half destroyed wall as the top of it gets riddled with bullets, spinning the punisher around and firing backwards without looking. he doesn't have to; they drilled him on trajectories and distances and angles so much he doesn't even need to run the numbers, his hearing helping to pick up on where the bandits are and his hands naturally guiding his aim. it's not a guarantee that he hit where he wanted every time, but he hears the first three bodies drop like apples from a tree, while the fourth cries out in terror and moves in time to flee.

"i had a plan, veritas! no one was going to get hurt!" he's a damn good liar, that kakavasha, because veritas can smell the blood coming from his arm, enhanced senses tuned in to everything around him more than he would ever like to be. now is not the time to be overwhelmed by all that. covering his ears, veritas remains crouched as another explosion sounds off behind the two of them, and then he takes off. keeping the punisher close to his chest, he counts the footsteps he can hear as he runs, the way kakavasha's catch up to him.

he's taller, but kakavasha is faster. veritas has shorter strides despite having longer legs, it's just because of the way he runs while burdened with such a heavy weight. kakavasha barely touches the ground as he sprints though, especially when they aren't yet back to the sand that surrounds the sprawling metropolitan city of blue hour. an ever-growing town situated with a monopoly of the largest body of water in penacony means the people here certainly wouldn't struggle with shitty roads, and it also means it's a shitty place for them to have run into the fool.

ten more steps. five more. two- kakavasha overtakes him, and veritas finishes counting down the beats in his head. keeping perfect time with the fool's rhythm, he spins, firing a single shot at the explosive doll that's launched towards them. it hits perfectly, and even though whatever charge sparkle put in this one is stronger than the rest, it's still within the parameters veritas had set. kakavasha is out of the blast radius, and the punisher absorbs most of the force of the shockwave and the shrapnel from it, leaving veritas to deal with just a piece that nicks his side and the searing heat.

no time to waste after that; he turns right back around and keeps running, easily falling into step with kakavasha as they both time their steps with each others’. "you think you could have a plan to deal with this? you've heard about the fool before, right? you can't predict what's going to happen next, there isn't any game theory about the best course of action you can apply to this!"

"you predicted that bomb!" kakavasha points out, both yelling to be heard.

"yes, as a one time thing, not a broad overview of this entire scenario! there's no strategy to minimize harm!" he tugs kakavasha into a tight left turn, hearing footsteps from the direction they had been headed. "sparkle doesn't play by any games' rules, only her own. the only way we might be able to deal with her is to get rid of her stage and her audience, and that's this whole damn town!"

he'd have to be more of a fool than dominicus' latest assassin to miss the way that kakavasha looks at him, unnatural eyes wide and staring through those obnoxious pink glasses of him. "you sure know a lot about her," he says once they manage to stop for a moment to catch their breath.

veritas very nearly doesn't resist the urge to go and snap those glasses in half. "well, you heard what miss eve has said before. i'm quite well learned, for someone like me. i'm more worried that you don't seem to know anything at all about the people hunting you down!"

laughing nervously, the way kakavasha checks the ammo of his revolver is one of the most obvious tells veritas has ever seen, second only to the way his fist is always held behind his back as he talks monsters out of mayhem to spare others' lives. it's a tell that reminds him entirely too much of this martyr's opposite, and he forces the thought from his mind. "i'd really prefer it if they didn't have to do so, you know, it'd make this whole journey much more pleasant. after all, i've already got you here with me, right? no need for anyone else."

for all that veritas is well versed in practical manners, his body and mind honed to perfection, the heart and feelings continue to elude his grasp. he has no idea what emotion it is that overtakes him- rage? confusion? fear? something else entirely? all he knows is that he looks over at kakavasha, and that idiot is just grinning at him, just smiling as if he isn't hinting at everything that's been threatening to tear down veritas' entire world.

moving without thinking, dust fills the air as he slams kakavasha against the nearest wall, a hand gripped around his neck and not letting go. "what the fuck do you think you know about?" he yells, tightening his hold. "you- you fucking bastard, how long have you known?"

in the split second attack, kakavasha's glasses must have fallen to the ground, because he's met with the full force of that multicolored gaze that always cuts quick to his very core. "since we met," he wheezes, "i've known all along."

veritas drops him, watching kakavasha fall to sit on the ground as something unfamiliar writhes within his gut. "you knew? and you- you didn't do anything about it? how in the world could anyone, even you, make a gamble with such high stakes? just because you think you know me? were you just going to let me get close to you- no, not even you, were you going to play with jelena and eve's lives like that? just bet that i won't kill them, that they won't end up as more innocent casualties because of you, stampede?"

"hear what you're saying?" kakavasha sounds too smug, too fucking sure of himself, like he's already won this argument, and veritas turns around so he won't have to see the same expression on the bastard's face. "you care about them. you wouldn't let them get harmed in a fight, you're not about to go and hurt them yourself. you're a good person, veritas, and i trust you-"

"no," he spits, seething with vitriol bubbling up to the surface. "you're naive, stampede, you're a gambler and a fool-"

"funny," comes another voice, lilting and feminine, "i thought that i was the fool here."

the argument seems to be unanimously paused as both whip their heads around to stare at the newcomer, guns drawn and at the ready. she just laughs at that, raising her hands to show that she's not carrying any of the dolls she's been using to wreak havoc across blue hour. "easy, boys, no need for such hostility!"

veritas makes sure he's aiming right between her eyes. "what the fuck do you want?"

more giggles. "entertainment, of course! and this little lover's spat is more entertaining than what the rest of the town has become. those girls you mentioned spoiled most of the fun for me, taking away my grand audience and actors, so i had to look for something else!"

jelena and eve got the citizens away. veritas sighs with relief at the realization. there will still be piles of bodies and rubble to clean up, but the girls must've come up with some type of evacuation plan after the four got separated. his grip on the punisher loosens slightly, but not enough to not aim to kill. "so, did you get the entertainment you wanted?"

"of course! and even though you're entertaining, i know that you won't kill me, punisher, and your little blond puppy over there definitely won't, no matter how thrilling that would be to see! so, i'll see myself out, as i'm getting rather bored here. toodle-oo!"

even he can't see where she got the last doll from, considering he hadn't seen any with her, but maybe there is something to how lucky kakavasha seems to be when it only explodes into a cloud of colorful dust and bright lights. by the time he turns back, sparkle the fool is long gone. "damn it," he curses, lowering the punisher as reality sinks in. "damn it, damn it!"

kakavasha's touch is what snaps him out of it, a palm placed right over where he got hit earlier. he hisses at the sting, already reaching for one of the vials he keeps within the punisher. no more need to hide it if blondie's known all this time. "wait," he hears, and he pauses despite himself, unable to stop himself from indulging kakavasha's gentle request.

a warm sensation spreads from where kakavasha touches him, soothing his aches as it spreads through his nerves and veins, through to where blood has already started to clot now that he's no longer prolonging the healing by moving around. the pain was already negligible and nothing compared to what he's faced in the past, yet suddenly it's gone entirely. if he were to look, veritas is sure that he would be faced with the familiar sight of his flesh stitching itself back together until there's not even a single hint that he had been injured remaining. he doesn't look though, keeps his eyes trained away from the man next to him. "i- you-"

"we should meet back up with the girls," kakavasha says. he draws back after a few more seconds, his work apparently done. he picks something up from the ground; his sunglasses, veritas realizes, and it's only once he's got those back on that veritas can face him again.

grabbing onto his wrist as soon as he can get an opportunity to, veritas takes a few seconds to wait for words to start working for him again before speaking. "what the fuck did you just do?"

"oh, that? that's nothing! think of it as just a token of my appreciation, mkay?"

however fast kakavasha can run is not going to help him run away from this. "that's- you know that's not what i wanted to hear, blondie. you just healed me with nothing but a single touch. the only thing i know of that can do anything like that is the healing serum that asshole has been able to cook up for people like me. even someone like you could understand how suspicious that is, and i know i've got no leg to stand on for this, but you-"

"veritas." kakavasha doesn't want to leave him any room to disagree with him on this. "i said, we should meet up with the girls."

"they're safe, they can wait- wait." pieces click into place within his thoughts. they're still hasty and disorganized, but they show him the steps to take through the right method. "heal yourself first, you damn gambler."

"who, me? i'm not hurt, veritas!" he snatches his arm away the moment that veritas makes a move to yank his sleeve up, as if the two of them can't see the blood staining the outside of his jacket anyways.

it's a reaction he had been expecting. "you infuriate me, do you know that? i was going to ask you what you are, considering your little special ability, but i already know the most important answer to that. you're a martyr, and you won't heal yourself even though you can."

"it's just not effective on myself?" kakavasha tries to counter.

"you and i both know that isn't true, but if that's the way you want to play this, fine. let's go back to the girls, and i'll make sure that jelena guilts you into letting me bandage you up properly."

a faux gasp. he's brought them back to more familiar territory. playful sounding bickering that still holds its edge, conceding to his wants while using them against him. half casual conversation, half the strategy of a hostage negotiation. "you wouldn't dare!" kakavasha exaggerates. "i'm her favorite, you know."

he grabs ahold of the unsaid conversation. "no, you're eve's favorite. jelena likes me more than you, she says that i'm more reasonable." in bickering about the two of them, it's what goes unsaid that means the most. they can talk like this because nothing is going to change between the four of them. kakavasha isn't going to tell them anything, for better or for worse. "listen, gambler-"

"no need to say anything, veritas." his eyes don't look as odd when they're accompanied by a genuine smile. "we've all got our secrets, right?"

he looks away first, hauling the punisher back over his shoulder and letting the weight dig in uncomfortably against his back. "yes" he whispers, knowing kakavasha would still hear him, "yes we do."

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

idk if this is the type of question u wanted but how do u see the individual relationships between zan and flamberge vs zan and francisca? what is the sister lore according to u

YIPPEE TYSM FOR ASKING I WAS THINKING ABT THEM EARLIER

from canon we have that implication theyve drifted apart from what they used to be, theyre supposed to be a glued together trio but in game we hear all abt francisca n flamberge being close but no dialogue or screens regarding them n zan, meanwhile zan herself does show a lot of affection w the diabetes inducing "my darling franny and berge"

so going off of that, in general, i think zans enthusiasm for hyness no matter what hes doing started causing a drift between them, francisca does still hold some care for him n their faith but knows smth has been wrong for a long while n flamberge is getting spiteful abt it bc she has what r called standards, but zan is.a lot.its v hard to keep a positive opinion off someone whose standards r "he can hurt me if he wants i just dont want to be forgotten by him" n defends someone hurting you like its breathing no matter what hes doing, i dont think they dislike her tbh? but started just leaving her to her thing bc shed easily become upsetting to talk to, be it abt how hes treating them or how hes treating her, zan on the other hand is mostly unaware of this drift bc she spends sm time on work n thinks theyll accept his right to do anything to them since he saved them someday+shes the kinda person who after a fight just.acts like it didnt happen.she picked this up from hyness n again they just need to learn to accept it ! she believes theyre fine n clings into pretending nothing is changing they just need little reminders from her

but you didnt ask for general info so lets go into more detail !

zan n flamberge naturally butt heads even in a good day, zans the loyal devoted worker while flamberge can n will slack on the job bc its boring, zan follows rules while flamberge breaks them, lots of petty fights the jammerjabs cover their ears while walking nearby, but already prior for a long while n during KSA its.bad.very verrry bad.nearly all of the time they talk they start fighting abt smth regarding hyness, hes overworking them, hes being violent, hes clearly unsafe to be around, flamberge doesnt think any of his sad excuses work for hurting them (frankly her biggest concern is how its affecting francisca) n that drives zan absolutely insane.they WILL start screaming at each other over it n then solve nothing bc zan wont take anything for an answer.and part of their fights start bc berge is actually.v concerned abt her.like yeah shes RLY pissing her off w her apologism specially when frans safety is involved but they grew up together n zans just sad to watch.she cant help but bring up hes hurting her bc god why does she just accept it? so ultimately.zan thinks shes kind of stupid and is being stubborn, but still thinks of her as being close to shes just in denial, while berge ultimately focus her hatred on hyness instead of zan, who she just pities.bc zan says all that hes allowed to hurt them if he wants to yet when hes mad she pushes her sisters behind her to protect them.so odd.

francisca on the other hand, again, seems to have some passive acceptance of the situation, she wont defend hyness like zan, but she stays devoted n attached to their past together, so zans.fine w her.i think shes actually quite soft, reminding her the Dark Lord Will Reward Them With Paradise For Their Efforts ! while patting her on the head, fran on the other hand.is also uncomfortable around her, like yeah hyness used to be kind but god the stuff she excuses and justifies is just.a lot.but she hates seeing her and berge fight as well someone just give this girl the version of her family she has in her head back

tl dr fucked up in here ! youd assume theyre latina or smth from all the abuse apologism n issues caused by irresponsible parenting

(also its late if this doesnt make sense sorry </3)

[somecallmejohn]

would you prefer a wish 2 or a wish series?

Honestly, I’d love a Wish series that focuses on Asha helping the people of Rosas make their wishes come true. Like… just a simple episodic show where Asha has to figure out how to help with an overly complicated and specific wish or she grants a wish and it goes wrong or sumn and she and the teens have to solve the issue somehow. A pretty basic show about the wacky adventures of Rosa’s very own fairy godmother.

Idk if anyone remembers or has even seen it, but there was this show on Disney XD called 7D, that focused on the 7 dwarves before or after the Snow White story (it’s never clarified when I think) and each episode was about the 7D helping the Queen with some wacky situation she’s in, usually because of the show’s villainous couple (a witch and a wizard whose names I don’t remember cuz it’s been like 5+ years since I last watched it). So my ideal Wish series would be pretty much like 7D, but maybe with a little more.

Other stuff I’d add would be more focus on the Seven teens, like maybe each one could have one or two episodes focused on them, definitely some world building, some more info on Asha’s backstory(Rosas is relatively new so maybe she and her family moved there when her father first got sick in hopes of the sickness getting cured at the kingdom where wishes come true), some Amaya lore as well, I’d also personally add a romance subplot focused on Asha and Simon and maybe a subplot on Simon making his wish, becoming a noble knight, come true the right way and maybe him dealing with the guilt and trauma that he might have from betraying his friends and also being possessed/brainwashed, but honestly that’s just me being biased.

Despite the show being episodic for the most part, I wouldn’t mind if it evolved the characters more and even had like a continuous storyline in the background about Magnifico trying to escape the mirror which could either end up in his complete demise or even redemption, maybe they could flesh him out more and show more of his backstory. In the novelization it’s implied that he’s bitter towards Star because it showed up for Asha when she needed it about Saba’s wish, but not for him probably when he lost his family, I think it’d be interesting if they explored that too.

For the animation style I would have liked either something similar to the classic 2D Disney style or something like the Tangled the Series style(although not as stylized). Actually I would want this style for the show (Art by Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay)

And if they are to keep the movie’s musical aspect they better ditch whoever did the movie’s soundtrack(even if I liked it) and bring those who worked on the Tangled the Series soundtrack.

[new-tella-us]

We got outfits! I call these the “Kiss outfits” as they would appear the day of the kiss scene.

Now I could look you in the PFP and tell you that there was a super important, lore reason why each run has a different outfit. And I would be LYING to you. The main reason I did this was that I realized that my drawings of the Matthew and James kiss scenes had different outfits and I just went “Fuck it, why not?”

But this wouldn’t be a Tella drawing without some form of logic so here we go!

James- Now I made this outfit before I came up with a reason however the plaid skirt was kinda giving academic so I threw in some stockings for a semi-mature but still stylish vibe and now she looks like she could be going to the library to study then going out with some friends. I also put strategy into the placement of her iconic blue bow. For James (and Sam cause I ran out of ideas) the idea was that it’s on the neck because he would take the bow off to get to the neck. Also I made the top half of the outfit easy to just slide (or in the case of the shirt, zip) off to keep in line with the canon of James being so horny that he takes off your entire shirt. Idk, the idea of keeping that bit of canon sounds funny to me.

Erik- The outfit I gave Mika in the Erik is a cute, flowy but also kinda short and sexy outfit. Again, they are playing a vicious flirting game but Mika’s actual flirting is piss poor in comparison to a literal sex demon whose mother has been training him in the art of seduction. The only ammunition this woman has are the clothes she has in her closet so she is going all out. The top is easily removable by simply undoing the rope around her neck from the back and pulling the top down once again to keep in line with the canon that Erik is the second brother so horny as to take off your entire top. The blue bow was placed in her hair (Same with Damien but serving a slightly different style purpose) so when he’s trying to run his fingers through Mika’s hair, he takes the bow, keeping it in line with canon.

Sam- I went with the custom character trait that I gave Sam, that he appreciates when someone can pull off a simple look rather than having to rely on heavier makeup or fancy clothes to look pretty. As for why Mika chose to wear this; after she made food for the boys, instead of directly looking for one, she decided to go work out and took a plate of food since she saw Sam going in a similar direction. Unlike the other two, the top is not easily removable, I didn’t have to make it that way because Sam really only sticks to the neck and chest. For the bow placement, it is exactly like James’s Route once again because I ran out of ideas.

Matthew- This is outfit number two that I technically made before thinking of this stuff. And it’s extra old because that outfit was an alt outfit I made for Mika back when I first designed her. Matthew just happened to be the person who got it as I drew his kiss scene first and used the alt outfit. But it still fits when you think about it. Matthew likes cute things but his whole arc is being cute and optimistic but not childish. That outfit is similar, it’s a cute outfit but a child wouldn’t wear it. As for the bow placement, it’s a two in one! Cause that bow is keeping the top together. Untie it and b o o m, the top gets a little undone, making to true to canon.

Damien- Now my boy Damien probably got the sweetest looking dress. I imagine that Damien would be a fan of the “simple but cute” style so long, flowy dresses and light makeup. It also is giving “cinnamon roll” dress so very fitting for the cinnamon roll route. The other reason is that, as I’ve said before, my version of Damien likes to copy his brothers and this outfit got a little bit of everyone, it’s simple like how Sam likes outfits, it’s cute like how Matthew likes outfits, the bow is in the hair like the Erik Route and the color is yellow which is James’ color. So it just seemed like the perfect outfit.

[storyofmychoices]

Blades 2 Inside Choices Blog: Blades of Light and Shadow 2

We’re so happy to be back in action with the gang we know and love! Where does Blades of Light and Shadow 2 pick up after the first book’s ending?

Emi: I will say that we don't pick up where you're expecting. 

Kathleen: Unless you were expecting to get hucked out the back of the plot truck and onto the action highway at 80mph. (Fury Road theme plays)

Lil: (is overtaken by the Two Towers theme)

Emi: But rest assured, our original four love interests are back and dealing with their own challenges. 

Lil: And they’re definitely going to need help with those challenges whether you’re romancing them or not. Though we support all variations of ‘mancers here. Mono-, multi-, and necro- . 

Emi: Also they get some new looks that can best be described as "sleeves are B.S."

Jay: Don’t forget “badass pirate coat important”.

What kind of new main characters will we meet in the sequel? Or perhaps, any new love interests?

Jay: There is a strange but familiar hooded figure…whose hotness level was of great discussion.

Lil: He’s very constructive with his feedback. And a monster from Book 1 returns, but not in a way you expect. 

Emi: I think we all know I'm obsessed with Valax. I mean, she's a badass purple lady who only has one sleeve. Obviously that makes her my wife.

Tom: EMI YOU HAVE TOO MANY WIVES!!!

Kathleen: Idk I'm still mad that hot scorpion lady didn't win the monster contest.

Lil: Sky whale supremacy how dare. 

Kathleen: Okay I am excited about the dwarves and goblins though. New dwarf friend is just A+ chaos babe and I love her.

Emi: Honestly though, my fave character is the one who's "head empty, no thoughts, falls over a lot."

Making this sequel has been a labor of love. Does the book team have any must-tell stories/bloopers during production?

Jay: There was an accidental floating dwarf? And too many battles with code. Writers, please don’t do it to me again. I cannot take it. The while loop will win.

Kathleen: During one of my editorial passes I had to give Emi a note like "Okay when we first meet the Big Bad maybe we should use that moment to establish that she's really imposing/scary instead of just going off about how hot she is."

Emi: I may have made too many Aerin memes that are now weekly traditions for our team.

Danielle: I was instructed to design a character with “Vision as a hotness bar” as a guide, I ignored them and used Jeff Bridges instead 😏. 

Jay: Danielle also came up with some incredible filenames, my favorite being “tentacle_monster_buff”.

Danielle: It’s accurate, is it not?

Are there any elements that you are particularly proud of?

Tom: The Shadow Realm was fun to make! Think the Upside Down, but more purple. And to make all the awesome new weapons and armor work with the outfits took 150 unique assets! You’re welcome.

Danielle: My first full book!

Lil: The lore guide for Blades was 60 single-spaced pages before we started adding things that came up during active production. I’m really pleased with how much actually ended up being discoverable in the book itself, so be sure to explore every nook and cranny of Morella and beyond! Because they are filled with beauty and chaos. 

Emi: I cannot tell you how many spreadsheets we made to keep track of things. I mean, the outline alone was 100 pages!

Jay: My code built 😭. And that my production planning got it to you a little earlier than y’all had anticipated hehe.

At the end of the first book, we seemed to have wiped out the forces of evil for at least a day or so. What kind of dangers will we face in the second edition?

Lil: Evil never sleeps y’all. It gets its coffee from Aerin. 

Kathleen: (Aerin, walking up to the counter): "I have a large non-fat birthday cake latte with caramel drizzle and four shots of espresso for (squints at label) ...Emile?"

Lil: In all seriousness, you’re really getting it from all sides in this book. There’s rival factions, shifting leadership, societal upheaval, and monsters. So. Many. Monsters. (Thank you for giving us the Shadestalker, by the way. Can’t wait for you to meet the beefy boy.) 

Kathleen: One cool scary thing about book 2 is that THIS TIME, IT'S PERSONAL (like instead of you and your buds racing against bad guys to collect the magic things, you've now got a villain single-mindedly hunting you down so she can steal your <REDACTED> for use in her evil plans).

Emi: Kathleen may have called me out for it but our Big Bad is hot! Both literally and figuratively!

How much do you love QA?

Lil: SO MUCH.

Emi: Pour one out for our poor QA folks who have had to test what is the most complex book we have ever done! You are the real heroes!

Jay: QA peeps are my saviors!! Their work alone cures my anxiety.

Kathleen: Gawd I would be lost without QA my grammar is a disaster

Erin: Everyone on the Blades team is so wonderful to work with. I also tested Book 1, and to be able to contribute to Book 2 means everything to me. It’s absolutely a labor of love.

We know that years of hard work and passion went into this book. What would the Blades team like the readers to take away from this sequel?

Emi: So Kathleen and I actually helped to brainstorm the entire Blades world back when it first came into being, so it felt like coming full circle to be back and expanding it in new and fun ways. I was already in love with all of these characters and they're even closer to my heart now. I can't wait for you all to see what we've come up with!

Jay: Y’all better like it! This book has taken years off my life. *lies down on floor* (But seriously, we’re as excited about Blades 2 as all of you and hope that it brings as much joy to you as it did for us to make. I think the best word to describe the team as we wait for September 1st is giddy.)

Danielle: I hope you like our art :).

Tom: If you don’t, please keep it to yourself, artists are fragile :’} 

Lil: I was one of the few people who was new at Choices when I began working on this book, and it was truly an honor to see this thing come together. These are the minds that brought you The Crown & the Flame, The Cursed Heart, Wake the Dead, and the first Blades. It was amazing to go from watching them work as a fan to taking this epic journey together. 

Kathleen: THE REAL VILLAIN WAS THE IMPERIALISM WE MADE ALONG THE WAY

Lastly, how much does the team love Aerin?

Kathleen: I DON'T love Aerin he KIDNAPPED my WIFE.

Danielle: Which one…

Emi: Aerin is my sweet baby boi with a little dose of evil. He should be protected at all costs but also really needs to go to therapy. I live for the angst of him and Raine though. It's so juicy.

Danielle: Aerin has caused me, personally, a lot of pain.

Lil: Really, one of the fun things about the book is you can decide how much pain Aerin causes you. Unlike us.

Jay: He haunts my dreams and my Wednesdays.

Danielle: Livid and sad and livid and sad

Thank you team for taking us through the fantastical production journey of the Blades of Light and Shadow 2! We can’t wait to dive in and meet up with the gang. Launch day is so close!! 

Thank you, readers, for supporting us and our book teams!

<3 The Choices Community Team

[brionysea]

soooo vale of shadows on mike's playlist

Type 6 and insane

this line made me wonder if they were talking about the enneagram personality types and if that one specifically applied to mike, so i looked it up and...

yes. i'm gonna take that as an immediate yes

like. these could literally be from the personality section of a mike wheeler wiki page

i'm lowkey convinced that the duffers must have looked at enneagram types when making these characters just like i do

and then there's this bit...

which, if the manifestation theory is true (which the rest of the song heavily supports but that's a different post), explains everything

They are often filled with a nameless anxiety and then try to find or create reasons why.

do you ever notice how much better mike is in situations where he has something to fight against? he's not drifting. he's solid. he has purpose, he has the necessary intelligence and strategic capabilities and leadership skills, he has constant opportunities to prove his own bravery and importance to the people whose opinions he values (and therefore himself)

in normal life, he flounders. he can't convince his parents to let them play their game for 20 more minutes. he doesn't have anything productive to channel his grief into. he avoids his friends. he caves in on himself

that's just an interesting contrast, isn't it?

the annual tragedy coming to hawkins every year also serves to make him feel more like the person he wants to be - a brave knight, fearlessly fighting against the forces of evil - and he can carry that reassurance with him back to the mundane, suburban life that never makes him feel anything but trapped and worthless

but it never sticks, because his insecurities keep getting ripped right back open again, so the monsters keep coming back

this exchange from "the source" (👀) is also particularly interesting in this new context

Mike: They're conspiring against me.

Will: That's what you're concerned about right now?

Mike: It's not my main concern. It's just a sub-concern.

the implication is that mike's being ridiculous for worrying about the made-up idea of max "corrupting" el, but wouldn't it be fucked up if the main problem that he's supposed to be worrying about was made up too? if he's been the titular source the whole time?

idk, i think about the character consequences of a reveal like this all the time. and how obvious it would be in hindsight

but back to enneagrams:

once they establish a trustworthy belief, they do not easily question it, nor do they want others to do so

and this just. makes me a little bit crazy. intelligent late-comer characters like robin and erica aren't allowed to work with mike when he's making those bizarre leaps in logic that match up perfectly with how the UD works and what its weaknesses are, because their tendency to ask smart person questions -> "hey, how the fuck does he know that?" -> the whole game falls apart (and crushes mike with guilt in the process)

seriously, imagine a research scene like the one robin had in the library with nancy, but with mike instead. there wouldn't be an "i don't know" response to what they're looking for, there would be a dead-on response that turns out to correlate exactly with the magic answer they find half an hour later - if they even need to do research in the first place, because mike tends to just make shit up on the spot that's immediately accepted as the show's lore. robin would find that so weird and she would not keep it to herself, especially if it's backed up by a million other instances of mike knowing things he shouldn't like he does every season

the lack of familiarity with mike and how he operates is exactly what would lead to those weird patterns being questioned, because there's no instinctive "well, that's just mike" response to fall back on like there is with the core cast

this paragraph pretty much single-handedly convinced me that the show will end when mike's internal world comes into balance (that or when he dies, which i do and don't like thinking about in equal measure)

think about it: if this whole thing has just been one teenager's insecurities unknowingly being brought to life so that he can beat them back with a stick, when will it stop? when will it end? when he gains the type of self confidence that naturally comes with growing up and growing into himself, or when they die with him

mike might be okay with his death in those circumstances, because he thinks everyone else will be better off without him on an objective level of "the horrors will leave my friends alone forever", but characters like dustin and will and lucas wouldn't let that happen in a million years, no matter what their reactions to mike creating the horrors otherwise are

this makes me even more convinced that the season 4 threat - the one that's the perfect opportunity to tell the internal voices that don't think you have what it takes to make it in the real world to go to hell, if you have the kind of danger-induced determination and self-belief that he does - came from, and was meant for, mike

it would be interesting to determine what level he's at each season, with 1 being the healthiest and 9 being the unhealthiest, but i can't wrap my head around it. if anyone else wants to, please go ahead!

[another-clive-blog]

uhh okay I just have to get this out before i explode because it has been bouncing around my head so uh um what if Professor Layton was French and took place in France? Please please please dump everything on us I want to hear the lore and nuance of French Layton; whose names change, what are they like now, how does the story change because it’s Paris and not London (assuming because capital cities), that kind of stuff.

Maybe change Luke’s name to Luc or something. Not sure about Hershel Layton, though. Speaking of which I know Layton always says things remind him of a puzzle so I’d imagine he instead says ce me rappelle un puzzle and then when Luc solves a puzzle he says je l‘ai résolu, professeur!!!

Then there’s Clive “je préfère y penser comme la justice” Colombe (changed his surname there) because Guilluame Faucons blew up his parents or whatever

Rereading this I asked for the nuances of French Layton and then thought too much into it myself. whoops.

this started because i was thinking about slavic professor layton and somehow moved from prague to paris lol

!!! Alright I'll try to calm it with the maj and the exclamation points lol, but I want you to know I am very very happy and excited about this !! Professeur Layton woohoo !! And I am repeating myself but your French is amazing, Luke DOES say that kfjbhefhkb (Also you found such great names so fast how did you do that ??) I am going to focus on the French Adaptation idea (hence the screenshot) ! =) I think I will talk about actual French Unwound Future eventually, but it'll be its own separate post. I simply MUST focus on this first, like the potential and sheer fun of it ? I have IDEAS.

Names and setting (Oh yes we are going there) under the cut !!

Starting with the names !!

Hershel Layton : Definitely changing Layton, I guess Léton could work ? (Little reference to French BD Les Légendaires lol) Landon is very cool tho, it reminds me of London too ! For the first name you and a friend of mine suggested Herbert, which is a great idea but I'm not too sure about losing the Yiddish etymology :( Hershel could stay I guess. I did play with Léon Léton for a moment (Léon is French equivalent for Yiddish name Lejb + we keep the animal etymology) but it sounds really terrible lol, so up to you !!

Luke Triton : You're absolutely right he would be Luc Triton !! Middle name is most definitely something like Richard lol

Flora Reinhold : Definitely agree with Flore ! Reinhold is hard because it's Renaud in French but like,,, Renaud has CONNOTATIONS. (There is a French singer called that way and people often make fun of him). Soooo same friend came up with Flore de Raynald. Looking back, I'm not sure about the "ay" ? Anyway, I added the "de" because French people used to have one in their names if they were rich/noble !!

Clive Dove : Okay. Bear with me. Bear with me please. But Nicolas Colombe. Like you said, Dove = Colombe. But Clive doesn't have any equivalent in French : you suggested Clovis and I think it really is the best, most logical option (it does make him look like a 5th century king but also Clive is like that lol) !! However I did remember that Clive's Japanese name is Klaus, and Klaus is strictly equal to Nicolas in French. So yeah idk, Nicolas Colombe sounds like a Miraculous Ladybug name lol

Bill Hawks : You're 100% right, this is our premier ministre Guillaume Faucon. =)

Dimitri Allen : We had also come up with Dimitri Alain (it's either that or pronouncing it Allant, which is just ugly lol) so perfect !!

Claire Foley : I'll be honest I don't even know how Foley is supposed to be pronounced…? But it has something to do with sound in filmmaking apparently, so you know. Claire Echo or something

That's it for the names !! Now I simply NEED to talk about something really really cool- the setting. Why that you may ask ? Because there actually are caves underneath Paris, and they're not just any caves. (They're magic caves- alright sorry ijfginknf)

So yeah the caves under Paris are not huge oval caves like the one in Unwound Future, it's more like a series of corridors that go deep under the whole city. Also it is HUGE, like only 0,5% is open to visitors and this is already 1,7km/1,1 mile !! The best part ?? This 0,5%. It's actually an ossuary (Known as Les Catacombes de Paris). This place is very popular, people love to go there, and it's already been the setting of many many books- so why not you know ? Even though I know you couldn't/shouldn't build a mecha there (no room for it and you'd be destroying a real 18th century monument) + this doesn't really look like the future lol

But you could TOTALLY adapt the story so that Layton and Luc have to go to the Catacombs and then you have a sick setting and you could have booby traps, a not-so-subtle-but-very-cool life or death mood, and above all. You can have Clive being a madman spending all of his time six feet under in the catacombs. Gloomy. Upsetting ? Fun !!

Also the mecha should totally be on that stupid island in the middle of Paris. That or you replace the lighthouse by the Eiffel Tower.

[pennyroks77]

just gonna ramble about Penelope, feel free to ignore

I just think that this has been my best OC idea ever because she's just so cuteeee

how she came to be was, I wanted to flip the story on its head and have someone simp for Tobey for a change. it seemed perfect.

I also wanted a Scoops-like character who would keep up on all the villains and just generally be nosy. that would make for some funny situations.

how she got her name is actually a funny story. see, idk if it's an adhd thing or if I'm just crazy, but sometimes I forget that my own name is Penelope. the name 'Penelope' was fresh in my mind while I was designing her, so I named her that. as soon as I wrote it down it dawned on me why I had been thinking of that name, but I kept it because it sounded nice. (also I was writing in pen and I'm lazy.)

I try to write Penelope as sweet as I can, while also making her very dangerous and insane. like, she could stalk him for hours on end just so that she could know everything about him in order to understand him better and get him lots of gifts that he would like. she would do anything to get his attention. it's sort of funny and cute because she may not be mentally okay, but she just wants to be with her favorite person and spoil him and hear him say nice things about her. (I should put 2econd 2ight 2eer on her playlist, now that I think about it)

she's very creepy, but she doesn't know she's being creepy. she thinks it's normal to think about him every second of every day.

I also thought it'd be interesting to see how a non-villain might interact with villains her age, and whether she'd help them, snitch on them, or just hang out and be friends.

unrelated: I have a hc that the kid villains have a "bar" with like soda and juice and energy drinks. Silver (@your-pal-nebula 's oc) is probably the bartender. (can I just say how much I love Silver's design? like, a ten-year-old crackhead? whose dad is Dr. Two-Brains? that's hilarious. I love her.) I can just imagine a bunch of sugar-high fifth graders bouncing off the walls in a little makeshift bar.

robo Penelope was just a thought I had one afternoon and I wasn't planning on elaborating on that, but I fell in love with this knock-off WordBot. I might actually add her to the Penelope x Tobey lore, but I'm not sure yet. either way she's just an awesome little robit 💖

anyway I just love Penelope. she really would do anything for Tobey, she just loves him so much. it's adorable and it makes me happy to write <3 I like seeing Tobey get attention.

that's all my rambling for now