#if that is what environmental storytelling is

[issytwosims]

I decorated the Specter-Curious household! Here's a little tour of it since I'm really proud of it :]

First is the kitchen! I wanna headcanon that Pascal arranged and labelled all of the spices for Nyon hehe

Second is the living room! As you can see, I had it be a green color vibe

Next is the bedroom! I wanted to add some decorations for environmental storytelling :] I have a wedding-related photo with their relatives (mostly Pascal's) to sign on it. I also have Pascal's lil PHD just to show his doctorate cuz scientist ofc Then the rose bouquet was from Pascal on their first date ;w;

Then there's the rest of their bedroom! Since Nyon's a sports fan in my save, he got this signed helmet off the internet. Best splurging that he did from the family funds LMAO

Next is the bathroom. Nothing too fancy tbh, but they have a medicine cabinet! (Pascal insisted cuz good lordie knows what happened to Nyon's body thanks to the Beakers)

Lastly is Tycho's room! Girlie got the science hobby same as her dad's, so ofc the baby will have a lotta science stuff :]

And that's all for it! Really glad with how the house turned out tbh ;0;

[brontidepng]

"and email me three times a day!"

[kooldewd123]

clipping this specific question from the scott cawthon interview because wow does this explain a lot about security breach

[silverjirachi]

So many adaptations of things like the backrooms and the poolrooms get it wrong. it’s not that there’s a monster in there. it’s that the monster is the rooms themselves.

To me the horror of things like the poolrooms is because something should be there, and isn’t. This is actually what liminality is at its core. From a theoretical perspective, it is a space between two places. It is not a place where people go and remain. Motels. Train stations. Rest stops. Stairwells. Office buildings. Community pools. All places people are, but don’t stay.

Putting a monster in the poolrooms always feels so cheap because there are a million other horror experiences where a thing is chasing you or lurking somewhere. Avoiding a monster in the poolrooms is the same as avoiding a monster in a forest or a pizza restaurant or a house or a hospital or or or or etc. it’s a coat of paint at that point. It undermines the very unique liminal aspects of these locations by not engaging with its core components of time, space, solitude, and even identity that do not exist elsewhere. It just makes it Avoid The Monster Game number fourteen thousand and three.

When really, there is a horror of a place that is ever-expansive. A horror of a beast that is a location, a place that you cannot escape from, where you cannot die, and the only living thing is you.

[a2zillustration]

Lenore's story made me big sad :')

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[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[so-i-did-this-thing]

One of my cosplay traits - which extends to home decor - is to insert little details for whom I am the primary (if not only) audience, but nonetheless (I hope) inject a sense of authenticity into my projects, if not necessarily that of screen-accuracy.

And that is why an envelope of genuine business receipts from the 1940s recently arrived (Crow was very perplexed by the customs declaration), just so I could stuff one or two (which you can barely see in the back) into Siegfried's accounting system. 😅

Please take a look at the ones I did not use, some stellar ephemera here:

[glitter-covered-bodybag]

I don't think we talk about how awful the Dubai penthouse really is. I mean look at the dining room.

HUGE table that encourages distance (especially as there's only 2 of them living here). When it's only Louis with his little bowls of blood he's gonna sit there alone with the heaps of space available at this table and no one else sat at it and be reminded that he really is alone. The bland walls with only a painting or two. The crisp and cleaners of everything. No warmth.

Then there's Louis's (supposedly) relaxation room with Armand's magnolia tree and Armand's library. A library that book-obsessed Louis cannot access. He's wholly dependent on Armand to retrieve things from it. "Please daddy Armand, may I have a book?" 😒 We literally see this when Louis asks to see the removed pages. Those belonged to Claudia, Louis's companion/sister/daughter. Why should that be something he has to ask for? Bare, grey walls like concrete. Like a prison. White stones in the zen garden the same as those Louis was buried in.

Then the bedroom. LOOK AT THIS BED. ITS MADE OF ROCKS. You CANNOT convince me this is comfortable to sleep in. The width of it meaning Louis and Armand can sleep entirely separately. The coffins, padded as they were look so much more comfortable and we know Louis likes laying in his coffin more than a bed from when he was recovering from the full body burns and asked to be put in his coffin even though the room was sun-proof and he would have been safe on the bed. Then the bars surrounding the bedroom. He's sleeping in a cell. (I've seen other people point out the similarity between the bars over the arches and the turning of Louis which is a detail I LOVE for reasons unrelated to this post. Here's a visual)

Everything is controlled through Armand's iPad. Armand controls the lighting. Armand controls the window shades. It just shows this unequal dynamic between Louis and Armand. "Armand protects my happiness"?? No, Armand is the one with the power here. You're his pet. You're his ward. Armand is an owner, a parent, almost a jailer (I'm not saying Louis can't leave or Armand is Evil, at all, just that the power dynamic is heavily tipped towards Armand as he tries to prevent a repeat of San Francisco. I wholeheartedly think he's just so overprotective that it tips into unhealthy territory). Louis doesn't do anything for himself. This is not how romantic relationships work. This is the first clue that their relationship is not what it seems, the first sign that Armand is trying to keep control of the narrative.

There is not one thing that shows me that Louis enjoys his space. Nothing to show it's lived in. It's cold and plain and boring. Compare to Daniel's apartment, a man who has had a long successful career and also lives alone.

Warm. A little messy. Lived in. An apartment of Daniel's size is hardly cheap either. But you can feel that Daniel's space is Daniel's space. The Dubai penthouse has no identity. I know this is just a modern, high-value aesthetic but there are so many other 'rich person' aesthetics that could be adopted that would be comfortable. Even keeping the clean lines. Look at these...

Still clean, still modern but warm. Everything about the penthouse is depressing to me.

[tabithatwo]

do you think shauna learned that cells turn over completely in seven years thing in high school biology and latched onto it and had an existential crisis meltdown of nuclear proportions when it was coming up on seven years since she’d consumed jackie because none of the cells in her body were born out of the energy she got from jackie’s flesh anymore?

[uhohproblems]

white knight summer is IMMINENT

[melchinafan]

Massive kudos to the South of Midnight team for the attention to detail in environmental storytelling and character design! I know there's still a ton of stuff I can't even begin to guess at, but I've been able to glean a good amount just from the trailers, and it's all got me itching for more.

Some things I've been able to spot, just from these two screenshots:

I'd already kinda gotten the impression from Hazel's tattoo choker necklace and Lisa Frank-esque dolphin-rainbow tank top...but after seeing Lacey's half of a "best friends" heart necklace and jean jacket? I'd be shocked if this doesn't take place in or around the 90s. (Which is a solid choice, since it's a good way to limit having to worry about the question of cell phones.) Plus, if you take a look at their fridge, you can see magnets of the primary mythical creatures we'll run across! I listed most of them in the alt text if you can't tell what they are, but if I had to guess at the mystery cut-off one in the second screenshot...I'd say it's the Altamaha-ha from the announcement trailer. (Which I think is also maybe the purple-pink aquatic creature you can see for a split second near the end of the story trailer.) And...well, it's not visible in these screenshots, but in this scene Hazel also accidentally knocks a handmade mug off the counter. That mug has a bottle tree design on it, as featured in the game's logo and as important in-game magical elements!

Also fun is some of the detailing for Shakin' Bones:

His guitar has a Prospero license plate near the bottom (also seen on a half-sunk taxi that Catfish swims past in the gameplay trailer), which says CROS RDS (or "crossroads"). Below his arm you can see his name "Bones" carved into the face of the guitar, flanked by a couple Fleur-de-lis, and in a couple spots there's decorative blue paint (haint blue, I'd bet). Plus some short bits of bone (femur, at a guess), for both the bottom strap button and the tuning knobs. There's also a broken, rusted sawblade for a pickguard...which curiously has an elegant leafy design carved onto it. There's a similar leafy design carved along the top side of the guitar, too. Bones himself has a lot of different flora growing on him...at least two different kinds of leafy plants (small round leaves on his shoes, larger pointy leaves on his arms and neck), and some small brown mushrooms. And while I don't know enough about plants to recognize what those three might be, I'm pretty sure the flowers on his neck and side are swamp lilies. (The flower on his side is visible near the start of the announcement trailer, when you see him from behind. I'm also pretty sure I spotted some swamp lilies growing around Rhubarb's house in the story trailer, in their standard cluster form vs. Bones' unique singular flowers. Fun fact: for folks who play Secret World and remember a particular painting of some import in the Franklin Mansion, you may be amused to note that one of that flower's colloquial names is "seven sisters.")

There's also...well...these are a bit more spoiler-y, so I'll put them under a cut and try to keep it vague. But there's visual clues hinting at some secrets a few folks seem to have...

Less overtly secret, but still some story spoilers:

The most obvious thing at first glance in the first screenshot is the presence of Huggin' Molly's red yarn inside the broken wall. At second glance, and double-checking the start of the trailer to confirm the yellow paint and window style matches, this appears to be Hazel's house. But looking more carefully, one might notice that the exposed inner boards of the wall seem to have a little faded blue paint...suggesting that the house was protected with a hidden layer of haint blue (possibly in addition to the indoor wall paint that also appears to be blue), which wards off nasty critters. And with that ward literally broken, and Huggin' Molly being known in her real-world mythology to go after folks late at night, well... (Bonus fun fact: Secret Worlders may also be amused that the time on the clock in the first screenshot of this post is 10:10, as with Kingsmouth's clocks. Probably specifically 10:10 pm, not a storm-dark morning.)

And finally, a particular someone who seems to have deeper secrets:

(I linked the story trailer earlier, but the second screenshot is from the half-hour-long documentary.) The subtitles tell us this man is Laurent, and I'm curious about how significant his ear and nose piercings might be, given that he otherwise seems to be giving off airs of "responsible adult" (which typically does not permit such things). I have no idea who he is, exactly...yet his clothing choice and sense of decor are reminiscent of another design, which has shown up in the trailers and some promo/concept art that's been shared by the devs... But I'll let you dig up that connection on your own, if you're inclined to hunt down a bigger story spoiler.

[miirshroom]

Shadow of the Erdtree - Belurat Courtyard

Became interested in this prominent tree.

The first view that I had when approaching the tree was sometime in the night, and I noticed these 3 sided lion beast vessels at the entry. At the tree itself there are 8 pedestals around it although only the two facing this direction have intact lion statues on them.

From the entryway it appears that the towertop to the left of the tree is a planter pot and the split scadutree is growing out of it. Approaching the tree closer and one of the shadowy hornsent starts walking towards the stairs from the right side (the south quadrant of the courtyard), trampling over 5 grave markers. The start of this pathing begins at 3xdewgem placed on one of the markers. It's an atypical marker which has a branch tied only to one side instead of both sides.

There are snowdrops in the courtyard among the grave markers.

The side of the tree with the seated corpse is illuminated in full sunlight from the very beginning of the morning. In fact, at Late Night a shadow rapidly crosses across the tree just before it is fully illuminated in Morning.

As shown in that first image, I obtained some drops from Queelign here. However, the items have nothing to do with this particular location, as Queelign will drop them after his second location regardless of whether it is here or at the Church of the Crusade. I do find it interesting that this courtyard specifically had importance to the Crusade of Messmer.

In the light of morning this bas relief carving is in the best possible lighting condition over the entry to the courtyard:

The corpse is holding the Ash of War: Shriek of Sorrow and from its vantage point the crown of the more vertical part of the Scadutree is again growing from the centre of a pot-shaped tower top. The columns in this courtyard spiral around 5 twists and one of them is also positioned such that it is aligned with the tower from this vantage point. The courtyard itself is right on top of the site of grace at the Belurat Gaol.

Shriek of Sorrow: Skill utilized by the downtrodden. Scream, causing nearby enemies to flinch, while also recalling deep-seated resentment, boosting attack power based on the amount of HP remaining. The lower the HP, the greater the effect.

There are three benches in the courtyard looking at the tree, and due to the asymmetrical twisting these give unique views. Viewed from the east quadrant there is the illusion that the two trees have a single trunk and also the soul item for Shriek of Sorrow appears behind an empty pedestal.

The bench at the north quadrant of the courtyard has a corpse sitting on it and holding 3xBlack Pyreflies. From this vantage point the structure of the tree appears to be a kind of spiral. And from the west quadrant of the courtyard the tree again has the illusion of a single trunk, but also this pillar with spiral motif at the top is emerging from the split centre of the trees

There is a corpse above the stairway entry looking towards the courtyard in such a way that the Scadutree is behind this pillar, and also from this vantage point 1/2 of the tree is obscured.

There other trees like this across the DLC. At Moorth Ruins there are a few instances where half of the tree is long dead, as conveyed by lack of foliage on one side. They seem to be concentrated at tower locations.

Willow Lore

The trees appear to be weeping willow trees with its leaves bleached white-grey with age. In general willows tend to be associated with tragic events because of their droopy appearance. Some specific examples:

Psalm 137 "By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion. Upon the willows in the midst thereof We hanged up our harps."

Enir-Ilim has been compared to the Tower of Babylon, so that tracks. Considering that "Alexander" is a major character of the base game (and has connections to the ancient past via Farum Azula), it should be noted that Babylon was one of the cities that Alexander the Great conquered in 331 BCE.

There is a Japanese folk tale called "Curse of the Willow (Yanagi to tatari)" where some people cut down a willow tree and have their tongues pulled out - dying a horrible death. Another Japanese folk tale called "The Green Willow" was the highlight story for a collection of tales published in English in 1910, and in this story a samurai marries a woman who was a willow spirit, and the woman's life is suddenly ended when the tree that she was connected to is chopped down.

In looking up info on the willow tree, I have discovered that New Age Celtic practices have invented a "tree calendar" that assigns various trees according to birth month. Given the nature of the Shadowlands as a place that sometimes just makes stuff up with no connection to the real history of the Lands Between I figured I'd give this a look:

The month of the Willow is from April 15th to May 12. "Some concepts to keep in mind during the month of Saille include ancestors, flow, time, and inspiration."

In another case, a UK version of the Greek myth of Phaethon appears to substitute Weeping Willow trees for the more credibly attested Black Poplar Tree.

"According to most authors, Phaethon is the son of Helios, and out of a desire to have his parentage confirmed, travels to the sun god's palace in the east. He is recognized by his father and asks for the privilege of driving his chariot for a single day. Despite Helios' fervent warnings and attempts to talk him out of it, counting the numerous dangers he would face in his celestial journey and reminding Phaethon that only he can control the horses, the boy is not dissuaded and does not change his mind. He is then allowed to take the chariot's reins; his ride is disastrous, as he cannot keep a firm grip on the horses. As a result, he drives the chariot too close to the Earth, burning it, and too far from it, freezing it. In the end, after many complaints, from the stars in the sky to the Earth itself, Zeus strikes Phaethon with one of his lightning bolts, killing him instantly. His dead body falls into the river Eridanus, and his sisters the Heliades are turned to black poplar as they mourn him....his sisters' amber tears accounted for the river's rich deposits of amber" - Wikipedia

Conclusion

This courtyard develops the theme that this species tree in particular is strongly associated with sadness and loss in the hornsent culture. This association should carry over when the same or similar tree is seen in other locations throughout the DLC.

[riacte]

how it started:

one ren peeing twaddle conversation later:

[arx-aru]

War-Dead Catacombs

This is honestly an incredible dungeon, in terms of all the subtext.

For reference! It's the one hidden in the corner of Radahn's arena where spectral Cleanrot Knights make battle with equally bodiless Radahn soldiers--

There's a number of fascinating details in here:

Like all catacombs, the halls are littered with human remains. However, these are presumably older than those of the Battle of Aeonia (because the corpses in Radahn's arena, exposed to the elements (and his cannibalistic frenzy) still have tattered surcoats, waistcloths, et cetera. These bodies, however, are mere skeletons, bereft of any clothing). So far as I can find, there's not actually any of the Radahn and Malenian battle debris assets that litter Caelid inside here. Given how ubiquitous they are, this must have been intentional. None of the bodies entombed here belong to these soldiers.

Naturally, Radahn himself is simply too large to get inside, so this place isn't actually so much a tomb as the singular point of refuge in the Wailing Dunes.

So. They've lost their flesh by the time they entered, evidently--meaning their bodies are still outside, being gorged upon by Radahn.

These are spirits of, presumably, the same variety as the Headless Knights or Latenna; that is, they are the essence of their dying will--their continued animation(as opposed to the crestfallen one-sentence spirits elsewhere) is reflective of a degree of resolve and intention at their time of death.

The final moments of the Radahn and Malenian armies, then, was to make it to this location. There are no spirits roaming outside, after all. They tried to escape Radahn and preserve, if nothing else, their dignity in death... but failed, one and all. Tricky to outrun a man who would hold up the very stars, after all.

And, of course, this is one of the very few instances of AI factions actively fighting each other... and they were near-certainly concerned, primarily, with escaping Radahn when they died. Yet they fight on. So deep is the loathing between the Radahn and Malenian hosts that they'd forgive each-other not even in death, not even having their bodily dignity violated by both their lords. Whether this is borne of unshakeable faith or hatred is difficult to say, of course, but the item descriptions of their respective armor sets might shed light(the Cleanrot Knights knew full well what would happen to them but accepted it, whereas the Radahn knights struck their lord's crest from their hearts when everything fell apart, even though Radahn's frenzy wasn't necessarily his fault. Importantly, the reliability of lordsworn armor descriptions in general seems shaky at best, so I don't put huge coin to that exact conclusion).

The movesets all these guys use is, as far as I can tell, the same as their surviving counterparts. That is to say, the cited sources of their battle arts, skills, and abilities in item descriptions hold true to their spiritual essence. In other words: so intrinsic is the rot and disability to the Cleanrot Knights that they yet retain their limp, their wings, and the rotten acid they cough and heave upon their foes. So fundamental was the martial prowess of Radahn's men that they keep Artorias spinning and spamming combo attacks--they are not in the least phased by their own death. So unshakeable is the faith of Malenia's vassals in their two gods that they still cast Miquellan magics and proc the Malenian sword insignia effects.

They actually respawn, when they finally manage to "kill" one another. Indeed, none of these people were equipped to kill the bodiless. So they'll keep fighting, again and again and forevermore, until true death do them part--if ever, even, it finds its way to their forgotten Tartarus.

Basically! After the player finally defeats Radahn and offers a small measure of closure to the Shattering, they're allowed to see what war does to the everyman's very soul.

These gods were family, once.

These soldiers, beholden to the private affairs of strangers, were comrades. Many were probably friends.

It all begs the question--was Ranni's scheme to begin the Age of Stars worth it? Is the era she'll usher in, should she even succeed, of greater meaning than how the people of the Lands Between were molested, body and soul?

Well, maybe. It's hard to say. Impossible, really.

But we might imagine what the dead would answer, if they'd not been robbed their chance to speak.

[wreckedhoney]

a while ago on the discord i brought up the "which desk at the station is forrest's desk" question when the answer should probably have been obvious. he's been at the job for approx. one week, so it's the desk with all the unpacked boxes. it just didnt occur to me because thats Frankly A Lot Of Boxes and my first thought was this is where all the storage and junk are piled on, but no. it's all stuff forrest brought (/hc). he's a heavy packer. he spite packed all the stuff he didn't want his old job to keep even if he doesnt need or even like them all that much but now that he's blacklisted then no one in the entirety of chicago can have them

[gotyouanyway]

i loved boom as it was but "the doctor is stuck on a landmine while an automated war closes in on all sides and they have to figure out what's going on to save themselves" would've KILLED as a two hander

[unironicallytes]

ESO's housing system is extremely fun because you can do such unhinged things as "visualize your fic version of a place from a 2006 entry of the same game franchise"

anyways here's a remodel of The Fort Farragut Lucien Nook(tm) - Dear Brother Edition as interpreted with ESO items

"there's a lot of Dunmer stuff in there for an Imperial fort" YES SO Cheydinhal, the Valus region, all that, I imagine as having a lot more Morrowind influence than we got to see in Oblivion. ADDITIONALLY I'm going with the idea that this is the same exact Farragut as Farragut Keep in the 2nd Era, aka an important stronghold for the Ebonheart Pact. So a lot of stuff in here is either scavenged and fixed up from the ruins, or sourced from Cheydinhal or Stonefalls.

That Bosmer corner is all Zath's doing though, that's his private floor nap zone

yes those are poisoned apples on his alchemy desk. let him *cook.

*do not under any circumstances let either of these men cook, one of them will put people in the damn sauce and the other one smells like deadly nightshade for a reason