#im reading babel for the first time

[againwiththeturtles]

hi hello omg im gonna lose my mind WHERE did you find out victoire was 16 when she was first introduced

yes!! so first of all, i think rf kuang, lovely writer that she is, counted the years wrong a few times in her book (could elaborate on this l8r, but this post is kinda long as is), so this may have been an accident. because also why would she not elaborate on victoire being SIXTEEN when she starts at oxford.

that being said, i like the idea that it was on purpose, so i've accepted it into my heart. in the epilogue, it says victoire was born in 1820. and then, if we return to chapter 3, it says that robin et al start at oxford in 1836. [actually the quote is "oxford in 1836 was in an era of becoming, an insatiable creature feeding on the wealth which is bred" (pg 59 in the paperback) which makes it *slightly* less explicit that the year is currently 1836.] so actually, she could even be 15, depending on when her birthday is. but that's maybe even too crazy for me.

but it would be extremely sick if victoire had to lie to escape the desjardins & get to oxford quicker. love to imagine her writing a letter to admissions like "and why yes i will be 18 when i would matriculate" but it isn't even true. resourceful, this one. my heart is breaking though, that she never told her cohort. or at least, she never told robin. she never fully let her guard down.

[and idk, kuang alluded to that conceptual/probably-not-gonna-happen victoire & griffin prequel/sequel in an interview so maybe she wanted to tell us a little later. ask her a little later and maybe she'll tell you, or whatever]

[kindlespark]

this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here

MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //

i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.

and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee

[atticsandwich]

SPOILERS FOR THE NEWER LESSONS IN NIGHTBRINGER - careful fellow followers of this blog <3

i love the current lessons so much actually because there is honestly so much underlying angst / potential for it! i doubt the devs will go that deeply into that direction and i don’t think it would translate well within the game anyway but just imagine mc getting more and more concerned about their own powers that also shape their relationship with everyone else… sure everyone loves mc but dia/barb and solomon have entire realms to protect and therefore wish to have mc on their side if push comes to shove (which has been a recurring topic in nb)… mc getting increasingly insecure / afraid that they’ll be seen as a tool / weapon first instead of a friend… i mean especially after being used as bait??? solomon showing his shady side again??? AAAH!!! THINK OF ALL THE POSSIBILITIES!!!

Yes yes YESSSS

also i love that we're given the option to be mad that the people mc loves are being used as "bait" to draw out their power. obey me has been very passive about how mc responds to situations sometimes that them being mad is a great thing!!

re: angst, yeah, i get you, they haven't really hit the mark on really leaning into angst yet, and although i doubt they'll hit this one, i still have high hopes about how it's going to conclude or how they'll handle the situation (the fact that they got teleported to babel + michael's texts to simeon makes me think raphael is FINALLY going to burst and let out all the emotions he's been bottling for literal millenia)

SPEAKING OF RAPHAEL. again, i love that tlhe's the side character focus on a season with the underlying fact of simeon's transformation to a demon - his reactions and avoidance of the situation, even though he's already made aware of it by michael, coupled with the fact that he still has hidden guilt over what happened during the celestial war....... MANNNNN IM SOO EXCITED FOR RAPHAEL DEVELOPMENT AND EXPOSITION..... hopefully this means mephisto and thirteen will also have their own time in the spotlight soon regarding glimpses of their backstories and developing realtionship with the cast (and mc in particular)

ON A SIDE NOTE. anyone else catch how barb reacts after solomon and mc chooses to keep the reason for mc's growing power a secret??? yeahhhhh he defo knows. dude raised solomon and is the demon of time, of course he'd know. knowing him, he probably just wants to see how it plays out, considering he's powerful enough to mitigate any real catastrophe from actually happening (hellooo he was literally contingency plan number 1 from the sf final) love the thought of him just going. heh. this'll be fun to watch :>

ANYWAYSSSSSS im gonna stop yapping now thank u for asking anon and for anyone reading my thoughts. granted i know a lot of these are very tip of the iceberg but i would rather not do a full dissertation on tumblr. knock knock tumblr staff can u add voice notes. no relation to me wanting to yap whatsoever................) (<- says the guy who made and posted an essay about celestial realm parallels to irl catholicism and power structure. WHATEVER!!!!!)

[exoticalmonde]

The Evealia Guide Through Babel (event) - Part IV

Man, why do all of you have the most terrible names to remember? This is what actual witchcraft sounds like. Aefanyl. I'm going to scramble him like I'm scrambling these letters trying to make the name Logos out of this Scrabble.

Even more interesting is the aspect that she used magic to preserve the way she looks, so she can be eternal in his memory. It's kind of sweet, kind of... sad. Very sad if you think about how it seems like she doesn't have a long time left. I wonder if I can find anything else about her--

O, lady,

THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW, LOOK AT THIS

SHE IS ONE OF THE SIX HEROES????

That makes... Her, Theresis, Theresa, Kal'tsit....? Two more are missing. It might be obvious but I genuinely forgot right now. I'm sure when Dr. Pinkie sees this she's going to beat me over the head since we spoke about this.

Anyways,

Ascalon is fighting with Theresis this time. It's a bittersweet goodbye too.

Theresis is still respected by Ascalon, so it's a struggle for her to face him truly. He's also giving her some fair pointers as a last goodbye.

[You still don't know what you seek, do you? To protect? That's just empty self-deceptive sentimentality. When you're unsure of your path, you merely project your motivations onto vague ideals.] <I really like this quote. Can you tell?

[I-I've thought about it carefully.]

[Perhaps. Then follow Theresa and protect her, but don't blindly adopt her ways. Think for yourself. Manfred found his answer long before you did.]

Then, Ascalon falls to one knee and turns to a mist that closes around Theresis. When it disperses, he's left with a stone knife in his hand.

As terrifying as that conversation was, nothing could prepare me for the one Theresa and Theresis had - basically agreeing that if any of them comes in the way of the other, they will have to be killed.

The Babel procession stretches far as the eye could see, past the disdainful crowd. Theresis walks towards the crowd and stand with them. He has left Theresa's side for the first time in two centuries.

They say their goodbyes.

Then something occurs, enough the silence the restless onlookers and momentarily halt the procession.

[A mercenary steps out of the line to embrace his best friend in the procession. No one can hear the whispers exchanged between the two friends by the ruins of Babel, but all are willing to wait and give them their moment of farewell.]

[A farewell between the people and their city, and between two peoples of the same blood.]

With them, Odda also part ways. With his family. His home.

For Theresa's eyes only, there's a letter. A functional ship has been excavated from Rim Billington. On it, she found something that could change the tide of history.

Given its importance, Kal'tsit has a lot of faith in its utility for their plan.

---

BB-ST-2

Awakening in Exhaustion

[Things have not gone according to plan.]

PRIESTESS???

Can I be honest? I'm going to be honest.

I don't really like Priestess. I think yesterday Dr. Kryo asked what we all think about her and my immediate response is 'I hope she died'. Which, I think if somebody (not me) has read Vigilo they might confirm what happened with her.

If anything, I think I'm going to go and have a little dip in Vigilo since it's one of those episodic stories and I checked out the Wiki long enough to figure out which episodes will be important to understand.

But overall, yeah, I don't like her and I've been struggling to understand the Doctor for long enough to know that I probably never will agree with their ideas. As Priestess says, us lower-intelligence lifeforms can't even hope to understand their greater plans.

And speaking of plans, we should move on with the Babel story.

Four Years Ago...

Summer, 1090

We're opening with Closure and Scout, how wonderful. Hm... Interesting, why do I have this nagging feeling that there's something inherently sad about the situation?

Ah.

Well, they are on a mission. Closure imparts with us the detail that she and Kal'tsit have secured the ship and have been working on dealing with the defence system for a specific package that is on board.

Snapping to Kal and Theresa, they're talking about a specialist in Originium, the only person who can help with their task. They stand before a set of doors that have not been opened for a long time, reminiscing in the fact that Kal'tsit, no matter how careful she is, still cannot predict all the contingencies.

But they open it anyway.

And this light, we're familiar with. There was once an event, where we witnessed this same feeling, the same occurrence and that same red light shining down on Kal'tsit. Though, this is a couple of years prior.

In Lone Trail.

[Search: Preserver... No signal.] [Search: Caerula Arbor... No signal.] [Search: Celestial Fulcrum... No signal.] [Search: (Unknown static noise)... No signal.] [.......] [Search complete. No signal detected on any channel.] All these spots we are familiar with and for me it was bone-chilling to see them. Preserver is a reference to the Preserver Project, which was created by the "First Civilization" at some point after the "disaster from above" that resulted in the Civilization's near-total annihilation. They are meant to act as overseers of the Sarcophagi where the Civilization's survivors are kept in stasis until they can be awakened when the situation stabilizes in the distant future so they can restore their civilization. [Image above]

Caerula Arbor is our current IS4. Known also as the "Creeping Branch" is a dying tree-like Leviathan representing the power of "Growth" who had lost His struggle in controlling the kin, causing Him to fall from grace from the Many. His roots grow towards the core of Terra and feed on the energy of the magma beneath the surface, and is said to have the potential to consume the entire planet if allowed to grow unchecked, but currently, the Arbor is acting as a mere food source that nourishes microscopic Seaborn cells in the ocean.

Celestial Fulcrum is uh...

:)

And actually, we know a little bit more about the unrecognisable static, because we have already seen it part of a concept trailer. We were actually JUST shown this, so I did such a good job strategically stalling just so I can put this in the script.

Voila, if you have not seen it yet.

This is very kindly provided by the Wiki.

[Last update: Four million, seven hundred fifty-five thousand, nine hundred and fifty-four days ago.]

Me thinks it's around 13K years and that's quite a bit since the last update.

So the Doctor was woken up rather early, with Originium still abound. Interesting part is, they're surprised about the way it has managed to survive/has evolved - through the Sarkaz and Oripathy.

Oh no this is so endearing....

It's so endearing and sad at the same time. Doctor learning about Theresa, holding her warm hands. She was so excited to learn the language of the past from Kal'tsit, but instead Doctor hits her with 'my world is lost'.

For those like me who missed it entirely SOMEHOW, Civilight Eterna is the Crown of the Sarkaz, although I'm not sure how Doctor recognises it when he was not present during it's... release(?) and whether he understands the significance of it differently to what I know.

She's showing the Doctor different parts of their... life, I suppose.

This quote stuck out to me a lot:

Before I'm immediately on my knees because of the mentioning of a pioneer chasing the stars is pushing forward with his fallen ally on his back.

This is UNFAIR,

THEY'RE BEING MENTIONED AGAIN.

After witnessing the way Terra is right now, the Doctor seems to take it in rather well. In their view, it's all moving in the right direction, a mix of ignorance and progress that feels nostalgic and beautiful. Within Theresa, the Doctor spots somebody who loves Terra, not just a single nation. Her ideals are pure, but ultimately, way too different. She might be loathed for that, because her people aren't ready for this kind of step.

Thus the Doctor is willing to cooperate and help by first exploring the land itself to learn about the way Originium has influenced life, culture and the environment.

Ascalon is being sent after them both for protection and with a secret little task from Theresa - to explore the things other nations have, because the Sarkaz don't have the luxury to choose.

[on-leatheredwings]

i've found your account only a few days ago but ever since then I've been STUCK here rereading your fanfics, especially ones with damian. i wasn't even a dc fan (heard about some stuf, watched some films and cartoons, but that's it) but now im reading comics since im Obsessed and need more batboys in my life (rip my productivity😔)

Anyway, after Sleepover i'm curious what will Bruce (and maybe even Thalia) think of batboys strange behaviour towards reader. He's smart, so he definitely notices it early on, but how he'll react....

I can see him being weirded out (like he was by Jason's anger issues, before his death), but he also can be an enabler, since Robin (literaly any of them) had a hard life, so if those relationships can help him why not pretend that everything is normal? you'll be safer in a Wayne's Manor anyway

All in all, thanks for a new hyperfixation 💞💞

P.s. About games:

1. Boyfriend to death 1&2 - since you're into yanderes you might want to check this game out. I prefer the second game, but the first is also fun. But beware the trigger warnings!!

2. Long live the Queen - more of a raising sim than dating sim but you still can romance some guys and girls.

,3. Hatoful Boyfriend - mostly a comedy, but there is a yandere.

4. The Royal Trap - it's been a long time since i played it, but it used to be one of my favorites so i'll just mention it.

5. Higurashi - once again not really a romance sim, but its an interesting horror mixed with a slice of life

;A; AWWWW THANK YOU IM SO HAPPY YOU LIKE MY STUFF.... THAT MAKES ONE OF US GIJSDOFAFGHFOJDSD

and yes yes get into DC!!! (girl who hasnt even read a full run since like. injustice)

damn now you got me thinking and excited. incoming spiel

i agree entirely about bruce just knowing how Bad things can get, so to make things simpler, he's like "yes, your darling(s) can stay in the manor, boys. 🙄"

mmm yes..... when it comes to bruce noticing the batboys are yandere, i think it's always sinfully delightful to just have him be reluctantly okay with it. 😈 it's also easier narratively ngl but i also like the idea that the batfam is all just corrupted.

bruce's thoughts are that they (his sons) fight for vengeance and justice but this is where they could use some leeway.... we all need our vice... they fight so hard for gotham, they deserve a little treat (getting rid of your human rights)... it's very "Dad who wants his sons to have happiness even if its not healthy" of him. in fics where bruce is a yandere, well, he's the exact same way so he can't judge. although if that's the case, i like the idea of bruce just being like "yes what we do isn't right. let's not talk about it. just don't kill <3"

still wondering what i like more. a yan!bruce who's self aware what he's doing is wrong but he just refuses to think about it. or a yan!bruce that justifies it all because of his paranoia, Tower of Babel style (if you don't know, that's when it's revealed batman has plans to subdue/kill the justice league just in case they go rogue.)

for the batboys depends on their personality... for damian, he's so resolute in things that i prefer when he just believes 100% what he's doing is okay, if not actually righteous. ^_^

hmmm talia.... I'M STILL UNSURE HOW I PREFER THAT AS WELL... i think talia being a you-arent-good-enough-for-my-son mom is a little cliche but also. she kinda would say that. you'd have to prove your worth somehow but idk how tf darling would do that LOL. in the end, i think talia is just relieved/comforted that her son indeed feels desire and wants love and will continue the family legacy (regardless if youre afab/can biologically have children.)

no THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!!! AND THANKS FOR RECS!!!! heheh yeah ive checked out btd and im not averse to the warnings its more like im not that most of into the designs ngl. fox guy seems cute? AND LMAO FUNNY BC IM ON A HIGURASHI REWATCH (never played it tho)

[bobbile-blog]

Arknights Lore Recap - August 2024

Sorry I'm late on this one - it ended up being way longer than I expected, and rounded out at over six thousand words. PLEASE do skip around and just read what's important to you, I know I certainly couldn't stomach reading all this in one sitting. Also, this isn't gonna include a lot of IS4 stuff, not even because it isn't important but because I haven't actually gotten most of the endings yet :(

Anyway, regardless of all that, here's your biannual Arknights lore recap! The usual disclaimers apply - while this will technically be spoilers for everything up to the current state of the Global server (Post-Here a People Sows, Pre-Lucent Arrowhead and Babel), I've done my best to avoid individual spoilers whenever possible. The idea is to summarize the game's current plotlines in a way that can get new players up to speed and refresh the memory for folks who've just lost track of all the nonsense going on at the moment. All this and more, under the cut!

Side Plots:

Okay first of all, I'm changing the way I organize things. I've realized it's somewhat silly to have the big spoilers right at the top, so the main story is now at the bottom.

In addition, to just quickly define what I consider an "active plotline", I'm including plots that have had more than one continuous event and haven't had a major resolution to its story.

Sui Siblings

Ancient Forge(?) / Who is Real / Invitation to Wine / Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow / A Death in Chunfen(?) / Here a People Sows

Nian / Dusk / Ling / Chongyue / Shu / Ji / Wang / Lava / Zou Le / Lee / Lin Yusha / Waai Fu / Basically every major Yanese government figure

Long ago, in the pre-history of Yan, the land was ruled by ancient gods called Feranmuts. In the founding myth of of the country, a leader named Yan united the disparate tribes of humans and then waged war on them. Despite the god-like powers of these Feranmuts, Yan was able to subdue them with the aid of a traitor - a young and haughty Feranmut named Sui who sought to be the only one with the powers of a god. In the "Great Hunt", all of the old Yanese Feranmuts were killed or subjugated, and then Yan turned on Sui, binding and sealing It forever. With the Feranmuts gone, the nation of Yan lived in peace and prosperity, free from their shadow forevermore.

At least, that's what was supposed to happen, but Feranmuts aren't quite so easy to contain. Over time, Sui's consciousness began to slip out of its bonds piece by piece. These fragments each wandered the world without real form until they were able to answer the question "Who am I", at which point they gained personality and ego distinct from Sui. The Yanese government isn't exactly happy about these fragments wandering around, but there isn't really a whole lot they can do about it - the Sui fragments have godlike powers, after all. They've established a secret branch of the government called the "Sui Regulator" to keep an eye on them, and have mostly left them alone.

The events featuring the Sui Siblings actually take place a few years after where we are in the main story - Zwillingstürme im Herbst takes place around the fall of 1100, while Who is Real takes place in the fall of 1101 and Here a People Sows is in the early Summer of 1102. These events follow a series of plots surrounding the revival of Sui - that is, if all of the Sui siblings gather together in one place, they will re-combine into Sui again and It will be freed from its prison. This is promoted by some factions of the government, who presumably want to take advantage of the Feranmut's power once more, as well as some of the Sui siblings - to our current knowledge, these are Wang and Ji. Most of the Yanese government opposes this for obvious reasons, and has instead taken a stance hostile to the Sui siblings. We've even run into other Feranmuts who have gotten involved with the conflict - Ya, an ancient peer of Sui, is roaming Yan seeking retribution from Sui, and wants to reform It so It may finally answer for its betrayal. Finally, a growing portion of the Sui siblings are gathering to try to figure out a way to escape their fate. The exact details of this plan aren't totally clear yet, but it seems to involve using some sort of magical proxy of Sui to grant them independence.

A last note should be given to the subject of Jie, the Sui Sibling with the domain of writing. She's been alluded to in previous events, but we only really got details in Here a People Sows, and it's implied she'll be important going forwards. Jie was a kind and benevolent figure who wanted to spread literacy and writing among the people of Yan. She was successful - she appears to have birthed the modern Yanese education system - but in doing so, she gave up herself. Around 60 years ago, she either disappeared or was murdered. Whatever the case, she appears to have disappeared from the memories of everyone but her siblings (without spoiling Here a People Sows, that's an important clue). Her disappearance seems to have affected all the siblings, but Wang most of all, and he cites her as a major reason behind his actions to reform Sui.

Seaborn Struggles

Grani and the Knight's Treasure / Under Tides / Stultifera Navis / Mizuki and Caerula Arbor

Skadi / Specter / Gladiia / Kal'tsit / Irene / Lumen / Ulpanius / Mizuki / The Last Knight / I guess we can count Ishar'mla as a character here too.

Of the many dangers facing modern Terra, none are quite as terrifying as the Seaborn. Armies can be reasoned with, superweapons can be commanded, Originium can be cleaned, but the Seaborn alone present a constantly growing and evolving threat to all life on Terra. The Seaborn are probably best described as an organized group of convergently evolved sea creatures working together under a single will, with an animalistic drive to absorb and assimilate all life into itself. It spreads and consumes across the ocean floor, becoming more powerful with each new creature it eats.

The nations of Terra are no strangers to the seaborn. Iberia used to be one of the most prosperous nations on Terra. During the nation's golden age, they quite literally spanned the continent and established colonies across Terra. Their navies spread their power across the world and made them almost unarguably the most powerful nation on Terra - but all that fell apart when the seaborn finally set their sights on Iberia in a period known as the First Great Silence. Iberia's international empire collapsed, their grand ships fell into ruin, and the people became insular and distrustful of outsiders, guided by an inquisition tasked with burning out the alien with the little fire they had left.

Besides Iberia, the Seaborn are also an enemy of the isolated underwater nation of Aegir. Aegir is much more technologically advanced than the rest of Terra, but they've also been alone against the Seaborn for decades if not centuries. While we haven't been there yet, they're apparently not doing very well. They've struggled to match the Seaborn's strength, adaptability, or unending numbers - which led them to some desperate places. In a last bid for survival, they created a small group of super-soldiers by putting Seaborn blood into a select group of Aegir people who would be able to resist its call. This elite force of soldiers struck back against the Seaborn and, in a desperate final battle, slew the "god" of the Seaborn, Ishar'mla, a single entity that commanded the collective Seaborn will.

However, as is often the case in Arknights, gods don't die all in one go. The will of Ishar'mla was preserved in the mind of one of the Abyssal hunters that killed it, a young woman named Skadi. She and the scattered remnants of the Hunters were cast ashore and eventually gathered in Rhodes Island. Now, the Abyssal hunters fight a twofold battle against the Seaborn and themselves. They must use the strength in their blood to push back the Seaborn and protect the land, but they must also keep an understanding of who they are, or else Ishar'mla will awaken and all will be lost once more.

A special addendum should be added here to explain Integrated Strategies 3, which is (kind of) canon. Ending 1, in which Mizuki meets Highmore and brings her to Rhodes Island, did actually happen. On that mission, though, they find the Stele featured in the "Wander into Wonderland" node and the furniture rewards. Through a mixture of ancient technology and Seaborn-ness, this object allows Mizuki to read the memories of the Seaborn in alternate timelines, and play those potential futures out for the Doctor. We as the Doctor have seen pieces of these futures, but they do not exist as of yet.

Angels and Apostates

Guide Ahead / Hortus de Escapismo / Zwillingstürme im Herbst

Mostima / Fiametta / Executor / Enforcer / Cecelia / Andoain / Pope Yvangelista XI / Oren / Arturia / lots more people but I think those are the important ones

The city of Laterano is something that should not exist on the face of Terra - a paradise. The city of the angelic Sankta people is peaceful, calm, and harmonious - a rare oasis set apart from the suffering of the rest of Terra. The Sankta share an innate ability called "empathy" which allows them to share their emotions with each other, allowing for a uniquely peaceful society almost alien to Terra. Laterano is a city without conflict and without pain, and yet it is still wrong.

As much as I would love to get deep into the philosophy of the Laterano plotline, the first draft of this section ended up being like a thousand words on its own and I'm not going to put you through that. To be extremely brief, the plotline centers around the exceptions that are made to the supposedly absolute Law of Laterano. The first event follows a mixed-race Sankta and Sarkaz child, who shouldn't be able to exist according to the scriptures. Sankta and Sarkaz are ancient enemies and considered to be anathema to each other, and Sarkaz are not allowed into Laterano. Her very existence raises questions about the nature of the Sankta and the faith's rules, and not everyone is eager to have these questions answered.

This is followed up by Hortus de Escapismo, which is one of the most dense and critically complex events in the game. In short, Federico Giallo, known to Rhodes Island as Operator Executor, is canonized as a Saint of Laterano and given all the authority that comes along with it. He is then sent out on a mission to a lost monastery that was stranded for the last ten years, in order to return it to Laterano. Over this time the Sankta in the monastery have built a settlement with other people of Terra in order to survive, and that includes Sarkaz - who cannot be allowed in the city of Laterano. Bringing the monastery back and helping the people there will require breaking the community and leaving the Sarkaz behind. As a Saint, it is now thrust on Federico to navigate this conflict between the doctrines of the Lateran faith and the real, practical world before him.

Moving forward, though, it looks like this storyline will become part of the next big act of the main story, particularly in its role in fighting the coming calamity. Pulling back the curtain a bit, Laterano is secretly ruled by a god-like supercomputer called The Law. This computer gives the Sankta their abilities and writes the laws that they must follow. In observing all of the disasters occurring across Terra, notably the Collapsals and the Seaborn, It predicts an even greater calamity on the horizon that It is now acting to stop. Because of this, It is canonizing a group of new Saints of Laterano, something that hasn't happened since the founding of the holy city itself. Supposedly, it's calculated that this is best chance Terra has at success - but judging by the people it's choosing, things look desperate indeed.

Colonial Kjerag

Break the Ice / The Ride to Lake Silberneherze

Silverash / Pramanix / Kjera / Cliffheart / Gnosis / Degenbrecher / Ratatos / Sicurius / Monch / Arctosz / Harold

Nestled in a valley surrounding Mount Karlan is a rare sanctuary. Kjerag, though harsh and cold, is a land that has never known Catastrophes. For all of Kjerag's history it has been protected by the hand of the goddess Kjeragandr and has thus developed in relative safety compared to the rest of Terra. However, in part because of this, Kjerag is an insular nation which comes across as more of a pre-industrial nation than the rest of Terra. They're still very much an agrarian society, and despite recent modernization projects like railroads and mining operations the country remains small and isolated.

These modernization projects are the brainchild of Enciodes Silverash, CEO of Kjerag's largest international corporation and patriarch of the Silverash clan. Enciodes grew up in Kjerag but left to pursue higher education in Victoria, and had a front-row seat to not only their modern industrial world but also to their aggressive colonial ambitions. He came to the understanding that for Kjerag to survive, it would need to become a modern nation like its neighbors, and he resolved to see this happen by any means necessary.

Not everyone agrees with him, though. Kjerag's government has traditionally been formed of the leaders of the three largest clans - the Silverashes, the Browntails, and the Paleroches. Unfortunately for Enciodes, the leaders of both the Browntails and the Paleroches are just short of hostile. Ratatos Browntail is interested in the economic benefits but trusts Enciodes about as far as she could throw him, and Arctosz Paleroche is a staunch traditionalist and trusts Enciodes significantly less than he could throw him - both totally fair opinions considering his sizeable private army and the attempted coup he did a few years back. However, after said coup, all three of these figures ceded most of their authority to the Saintess Enya Silverash, Enciodes' estranged sister and the voice of the goddess Kjeragandr. While she acknowledges that Enciodes has a point, she seeks to modernize Kjerag in unity with its people rather than in opposition to them - rather than making a modern nation, she wants to make a modern Kjerag. It's a small distinction, but an important one, and her popular support and religious authority is one of the few things that can actually keep Enciodes in check.

At the moment, Kjerag is in the process of exiting their centuries of international isolation. It's a slow process but they've made significant steps forward - the country has entered scientific collaborations with Rhine Lab and signed important trade agreements with their neighbors that will ensure the country can keep developing. They've even fought off some intimidation from the Victorian army, stating firmly that they are an equal nation and not a subordinate. Despite this, though, there's a great deal of work still to be done if Kjerag wants to step onto the world stage with its identity intact.

Contemporary Columbia

Mansfield Break / Dorothy's Vision / Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures

Mountain / Robin / Domma / Astigenne / Dorothy / Jessica / Coldshot / Woodrow / Clip Cliff / Liskarm / Franka / Tila

This one isn't really a cohesive plotline per se, but we can be reasonably sure that the game is going to keep going down this road, so it's worth a mention. In the background of the Rhine Lab plotline, we've gotten lots of backstory on what life is like in Columbia. Now that that story is finished, Arknights seems interested in exploring more lower-class Columbian experiences and stories, and putting the people we've seen in the B-plots of the Rhine Lab events in the spotlight.

Life in Columbia might seem glamorous and high-tech from the top, but for most people in the country it isn't nearly as pleasant. Arknights is heavily inspired by the world of the early 20th century, and if you know anything about American history in that period, you'll know that it was kind of a terrible time. Columbia takes a lot of the worst of it, everything from loan sharks to company stores to price gouging on vital goods like medicine. Life in Columbia tends to mean being trapped in a cycle of debts, keeping you just afloat enough to keep working while maximizing the boss' bottom line. But despite all that, Columbia doggedly looks forward instead of inward, spurred onward by a myth of the frontier that promises a brighter future ahead, no matter how you get there.

This plotline has been in the shadow of the Rhine Lab storyline for a while, but has since developed into its own storyline. The roots of this story were laid in Mansfield Break, our first event in Columbia proper. The background world-building told us a fair bit about life in Columbia and especially the outsize impact corporations have on Columbian society. We wouldn't see the full picture, though, until Dorothy's Vision. The DV B-plot showed us the vicious downward spiral of infection in Columbia - Oripathy medication is both prohibitively expensive and practically ineffective, and the debt they take on usually puts them out of house and home. Without the money to keep themselves from going under or the means to change the system beating them down, most infected are forced into brutal frontier work as pioneers, treated little better than beasts of burden. Finally, Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vultures showed a similar process happening to the people of Davistown even without any infection - the exploitative cycle works no matter who it's working on. Anything is permissible as long as it serves a larger bottom line, no matter how many people it crushes underfoot. In the future, we're likely to follow the mercenary organization Blacksteel as Columbia contracts them to support its growth, but it's hard to say more than that. We really don't know much about where this story is going, just inferences from the rest of the game's stories.

In addition to these plots, we have a few honorable mentions which don't really have enough plot to be included in the main list but I want to throw in anyway:

Slumbering Sami

The Black Forest Wills a Dream / Expeditioner's Joklumarkar / I would argue Fire within the Sand and Zwillingstürme im Herbst belong here too.

Typhon / Magellan / Santalla / Muelsyse?

Life on Terra doesn't suck enough, so you know what we need? Eldritch horrors! The Collapsals are extraterrestrial entities that we're barely able to understand, let alone fight. They appear to exert some sort of corrupting power on reality around them, and are heavily implied to come from outside our reality somehow. We don't know what they are, what they want, or what to do about them. We barely even know where they come from or how to fight them.

The good news is that for the moment the Collapsals are mostly contained. They've only shown up in very remote regions of Terra - namely in the Sami Icefields in the far north and the Foehn Hotlands in the far south - I think? I know the portal was supposedly closed during the Khaganquest but I remember seeing somewhere that they've started to show up again and I can't put a source to it. Someone back me up in the notes if you remember where that's from. Anyway, a lot of very hard work is put in by the Sami people and the Empire of Ursus to make sure that the average person on Terra doesn't even know what a Collapsal is. If you've gotten far enough to know what the Emperor's Blades are, know that we've only seen two or three throughout the main story because all the rest are up North fighting off the Collapsals. Let's kindly thank them for their service, and the fact that we're not going to have to worry about them at all. Definitely. Don't watch PV-4 just trust me.

Fangs of the Feraerus

Main Story excerpts / Il Siracusano

Texas / Lapland / Don Bernardo / Vigil / Crownslayer / Projekt Red / Lunacub I guess

The Feraerus, also known as the Beast Lords, have been hinted at with a couple of characters for a while now. They are powerful creatures similar to but distinct from the Feranmuts who look like animals from our world, instead of the new creatures Terra has in their stead. Some examples are Emperor, the High Priest from Acahualla, or Siege's lions. They are powerful creatures with inherent magic and some apparent responsibility to protect their associated creatures, though the relationship between the beast lords and the races of Terra, human or otherwise, is still unclear.

Regardless, a particular group of Beast Lords is notable for their threat - the Signori Dei Lupi. These are a pack of wolves that live in what is now Siracusa. Because they're wolves in a fictional work, they go by debunked wolf science rules, and are in a power struggle to determine the pack's alpha. Unfortunately, fighting amongst themselves isn't very effective when every member of the pack is an immortal being, so they've instead chosen to settle things by a competition. Every wolf in the pack has picked a human to serve as their champion, teaching them to hunt the others and letting them loose in a sort of battle-royale-style death game. As far as we're aware, Don Bernardo was a fang but has been replaced by Lappland, Projekt Red and Lunacub are both fangs of different wolves, and Crownslayer's mentor, killed by Red in between Chapter 6 and Il Siracusano, was not just a fang but "the first true wolf". We don't know much else about this competition, but we're definitely going back to Siracusa in the future, so this competition is only just getting started.

I don't have an alliteration for Team Rainbow :(

Originium Dust

Ash / Blitz / Frost / Tachanka

Team Rainbow isn't remotely plot-relevant, but with a sequel event coming up I thought I'd quickly recap the original event for those who couldn't read it. Team Rainbow is a special forces from our Earth, or if not something very close to it. A segment of Team Rainbow is sent on an operation to capture the rogue Russian scientist Levi Klitschko. Klitschko has, unbeknownst to everyone, been experimenting with Originium, and right before he's captured he activates a device that sends the entire bunker to Terra.

The team arrives in Sargon and is quickly drawn into a local power struggle. The local lord made a deal with Klitschko, giving him protection and resources in exchange for the scientist creating him an army of Originium-infused mutants. Team Rainbow, on the other hand, ends up helping the local infected when the lord's men come to push them around. Things go south pretty quickly, but Team Rainbow runs into a Rhodes Island squad and they're able to mount a unified assault on the Lord. They break through his mercenaries and reach Klitschko just in time to watch him sacrifice himself to unleash a massive mutant creature, which they eventually bury in the rubble of the bunker.

In the aftermath, Team Rainbow is rescued by Rhodes Island reinforcements and brought to the landship. They don't have a way to return home, but Terra can always find room for another squad of mercenaries, so they decide to make the most of things and set off to explore this new world.

Finished Plotlines:

These are mostly copy/pasted from my last post, because they haven't really changed much. Same deal as before - these plots have basically wrapped up, so I'll give as spoiler-free a review as possible. They're good plots, go back and read them, but until you can this is just a quick summary of where the world stands now that they're completed.

Fear Neither Hardship Nor Darkness

Maria Nearl / Pinus Sylvesteis / Near Light / An Obscure Wanderer

Maria Nearl / Zofia Nearl / Margret Nearl / Młynar Nearl / Dikaiopolis / All of Pinus Sylvestris / Platinum / Roy and Monica / The Doctor / Gravel / basically all the major political figures of Kazimierz

Kazimierz, and the infected living within it, lived without hope. They lived in a dark world, where an oppressive hyper-capitalist system suffocated them, leaving them not just without the means to survive but without any chance of changing the system or fighting the world around them. Pinus Sylvestris knew how to fight the Chamber of Commerce, Dikaiopolis knew how to open up paths for the infected, and Rhodes Island knew how to get medicine to people in need - but none of that could save Kazimierz, because Kazimierz lived in a world without the hope that the system could be changed. Kazimierz needed a Knight - a Knight of honor and virtue, a Knight taken directly from the pages of the storybooks, a Knight that could be the noble light that illuminates the land. They needed brilliant, blinding hope, hope that could not be hidden and could not be denied, to descend from the heavens in their hour of need. The only person who could have saved Kazimierz was Margaret Nearl.

Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Finally, Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

A New Age is Upon Us

Rhine Lab Manhua / Mansfield Break / Dorothy's Vision / Lonetrail

Silence / Saria / Ifrit / Muelsyse / Ptilopsis / Ahrens Parvis / Kristen Wright / Dorothy / Ferdinand Clooney / Ho'olheyak / Tin Man / Trevor Friston / Mark Max

6,152 meters above sea level, there exists a mysterious barrier called the Starpod. It disrupts arts, tears apart solid matter, and even warps the light that travels through it, rendering space travel or even any sort of medium-altitude flight impossible. It has not always existed, but has covered Terra for almost all recorded memory, and was a simple fact of the world - until Kristen Wright tore it open and flung a spacecraft through.

On November 21, 1099, the world of Terra fundamentally changed. It didn't change in a particularly perceptible way - everyone still got up and went about their day the same day afterwards, and you'll be hard-pressed to actually link anything that will follow to the actions of Kristen Wright. But despite that seeming insignificance, Kristen Wright has left her mark on every living being in Terra, from the magistrates of Yan to the farmers of Sargon to the seaborn crawling amidst the oceans. There is a little something that never existed before - a little fragment of possibility that comes from seeing the world behind the curtain, even if for just a moment. It's impossible to tell where that spark will go. But one thing is for sure - "if, in a century or a millennium, our descendants walk among the stars, the masses will sing her praises."

In more concrete effects, Saria is now the Control of Rhine Lab. She heads the company, and Silence now serves as a senior ethical consultant and head of a burgeoning movement for scientific ethics in Columbia - using the sudden momentum generated by the Trimounts project to push for greater oversight and consideration in the scientific world. Both her and Saria now split their time between Trimounts and Rhodes Island, and Ifrit once again has two moms to spend her time with :)

Finally, Ho'olheyak has joined Rhodes Island with the piece(?) of Trevor Friston that she captured with her arts. The Tin Man and the Maylander Society now have their eyes on Rhodes Island, but more importantly, The Doctor is coming to understand more and more about their past. They're starting to understand their identity, and like Kal'tsit has said, they may not be able to stop.

A Tune, Lingering in my Head

Lingering Echoes / Zwillingstürme im Herbst

Ebonholz / Kreide / The Witch-King / Czerny / Hibiscus / Lessing / Fremont / Hildegarde and Grimmacht

The Witch-King of Leithanien was one of the most powerful casters in Terran History, and even after his death, ripples of his presence still echo through Leithanien and beyond. The events of the Stimmverlust had two main consequences - the Güldensgesatz being weakened, and the Sarkaz Liches departing from Leithanien, as well as the longer-term effect of making Leithanien aware of the presence of the oncoming collapsal crisis.

All of these are significant in their own way - these events were extraordinary important for world-building and writing magic lore and setting up later plots, but none of that really lends itself particularly well to a brief summary, about the closest I can get is "powerful magic leaves ripples, and fundamentally changes the world around it in a way that can be difficult or impossible to undo". It's the sort of plot which can either be explained in bare bones or in extreme detail, but it's too tightly wound around other plots and world-building that there's nothing in between the two. This storyline is likely going to get wound into the Laterano plotlines in the future, so where necessary I'll include explanations with them.

The Main Story:

Main story chapters / Vigilo / What the Firelight Casts

Not a whole lot has changed since our last plot recap, which feels a little weird because of how big chapter 13 was. It's hard to list everything that happened, so I think I'll keep to a shorthand list of all the factions at play in Victoria and what each of them wants, as of the end of Chapter 13.

Rhodes Island

Amiya / Kal'tsit / Doctor / Logos / Ascalon / Closure / Dazmati / etc.

Rhodes Island's goals aren't really set in stone, but they are generally interested in pushing the Sarkaz out of Victoria and ending the suffering caused by the occupation. Amiya has embraced her role as the lord of fiends - she understands that to bring peace to the Sarkaz, she must first shoulder all of the pain they feel, and she pushes on regardless. Towards that goal, Kal'tsit has started to reveal more of the history of the Sarkaz, and Logos and Ascalon are becoming more important. As Amiya becomes more powerful and more sure of herself, the Sarkaz courts are finding her harder and harder to deny.

Darknights+

W / Innes / Hoderer / Paprika / Ulšulah / Ermengarde? I guess?

The Darknights trio has finally made friends! I'm so proud of them. You could make the argument that these folks belong in the Rhodes Island section, but their aims are different enough that I think they ought to get their own brief. This group, but mostly Hoderer and W, are exploring the idea of a new Kazdel - that is, what does Kazdel without the constant cycle of hatred even look like? This has mostly taken the form of rebellion from inside Kazdel's military forces, and actually communicating with people on the other side to ask questions like "Hey do we have a plan beyond constant occupation" and "This kinda sucks, are we sure this is how we want to live". They're the other half of Rhodes Island's philosophical strategy - Amiya can free the Sarkaz of the cycle of hatred, and W and Hoderer can find a way for them to live afterwards.

The Exemplars

Siege / Glasgow Gang / Delphine / Self-Salvation Corps / Horn / Misery

The Exemplars were, originally, an elite unit within the Victorian Military. They were considered heroes, renowned for legendary deeds in service of Victoria. But, in one of their many wars with Gaul, the Exemplars were sacrificed in a political move by the Dukes - the unit was wiped out, the name wasn't revived, and what was left of the unit eventually became the Tempest Platoon we met in chapter 9.

It wasn't Siege's intention to fight a war. Her intent was always to protect its people - the real people, like her gang and the people of Norport. As they've travelled through a war-torn Victoria, though, she's realized that she will not be able to bring peace to her people without the power to end the war. And so, she brings together the people she has saved under the banner of the Exemplars, revived once more - an army free from the Dukes and the Sarkaz, who can bring peace to the people, if Siege can live up to the symbol she represents.

Reunion

Nine / Talulah / Guard / Redblade / Percival / Norwell

I nearly forgot Reunion was here too. Reunion has been going through an identity crisis ever since capturing Talulah. Not only have they lost faith in their strong figurehead, but that figurehead has lost a lot of her own spark, leaving the identity and direction of the movement in question.

That's not quite a bad thing, though - Nine is a much more thoughtful leader than Kashchey/Talulah ever was, Red has always been more of a good guy than a villain, and Guard brought a lot of the philosophy of Rhodes Island with him when he joined up. They now have a chance to not just rebuild Reunion, but to remake it into something better. The trick will be getting it right, because in war-torn Victoria, they'll find plenty of lost infected with nothing to lose.

The Dukes

Caster / Windmere / Wellington / Gododdin / Probably more that I'm forgetting / Eblana and Dublinn

The Dukes of Victoria have been the ruling power in the country for the last few decades or so, and they aren't interested in leaving the country to the Sarkaz. While they've been too busy with their power plays and politicking to oust the Sarkaz before now, they've finally come together enough to begin a united offensive against the Sarkaz, putting the whole of Victoria's might on the field against the invaders.

However, it hasn't been going great for them. The Sarkaz fight differently from the formal armies that Victoria is used to fighting. They field massive revenant constructs, use strange witchcraft, and wield oripathy as a weapon like any other against the Victorian army, and the Dukes have been slow to adapt. The exact state of the war is unknown, but it doesn't seem likely the Dukes will be able to win the war on their own, especially while the Sarkaz control Londinum's catastrophe-causing superweapon.

Even if the Dukes don't win the war, though, they'll still be a threat to everyone else in Victoria. No matter how the Sarkaz are removed, the moment they're gone the Dukes will hold a near-monopoly on military force in the country and will probably try to seize power again, to say nothing of potential retaliation against Kazdel or the Sarkaz diaspora. The Dukes aren't an immediate problem, but they also aren't going away any time soon.

The Confessarius

Shining / Nightingale / Amiya arguably / Qui'sartuštaj / Salus

To be totally honest, I barely understand the Confessarius plotline. As far as I understand it, they want the power of the Lord of Fiends. This is possible because the first Confessarius, thousands of years ago, was a Lord of Fiends and they've kept his soul alive through magic eugenics? I think? Qui'sartuštaj currently holds that soul, but when he dies, it'll go to Shining and she'll be taken over by it. Nightingale was also artificially designed as a vessel for that soul, and because of that, Qui'sartuštaj wants to recover her and use her to reincarnate(?) the original Confessarius Lord of Fiends. I think. If someone else knows this plot better than I do, please correct me and I'll update this because I haven't been paying enough attention and I'm kinda lost.

The Sarkaz Court/ Kazdel Military Commission

Theresis / Theresa / Sanguinarch / Qui'sartuštaj / Dazmati / Manfred / Lettou

The Kazdel Military Comission, acting under the supervision of King Theresis, is the current ruling power of the Sarkaz and the acting government in control of Londinum. A few years ago, a group of nobles called for the help of the KMC in restoring order in Londinum, and once they occupied it they chose not to leave and instead took over both the city and the catastrophe-causing superweapon, The Shard, located within it. Ever since, they've been carefully trying to preserve their control over both Kazdel and Victoria.

With the introduction of Rhodes Island and the Dukes closing in, this has gotten a lot harder. Theresis now needs to pacify and manage every individual subgroup of Sarkaz, keeping them satisfied enough to stay under the banner. While doing this, he needs to fight both a war outside the walls, against the Dukes, and inside, against Rhodes Island and various rebellious Sarkaz elements like the Darknights trio and whatever is going on with the Dazmati.

The one reason he's been able to hold on this long is the authority of his sister, Theresa. I'm not gonna go over the entire Theresis/Theresa plotline, because it's difficult to summarize and tied into nearly every other plot in the game, but the really short version is that Theresis represents the traditional Sarkaz rule by fear and Theresa represents a new future, a hope for a future without conflict. When taking Londinum, Theresis ceded to the strong suggestions of the Confessarius and used some unknown ritual to return the late Theresa to life, and presumably render her somehow compliant to him. She now serves as a figurehead of the KMC, and the hope she sparks in the Sarkaz is a big reason why Theresis' ambitions haven't collapsed around him.

And, I think that's most everything! Sweet sassy molassey, that took a while. I may skip the next anniversary's recap, since it'll only be main story stuff anyway. Anyway, as usual, if there's something relevant I've missed, let me know, and if not, I hope this helped! Enjoy your life and practice your art, Doctors!

[valeovalairs]

crashes into the wall of ur ask box VAL HI HRUUUU do you mayhaps have any author and or book recommendations :3 /silly (ive litereally just looked up julia armfield and ohmygod her prose is amazing ur so right)

HII THABKS FOR ASKING I CAN TALK ABOHT AUTHORS AND BOOKS FOR LONG

SOO julia armfield first of all she wrote our wives under the sea (woman goes on deep sea exploration and comes back wrong and her wife has to tackle this new version of the woman she once knew), salt slow (short stories!! they’re all so so good) and private rites (currently reading this one and it’s about a flooded and drowned world and three estranged sisters navigating their famous fathers death). literally her prose is some of the best ever it’s just. casually horrifying is the best way i can put it. it’s so beautifully done and she tackles these topics so well. also. she really likes water. she’s literally my favorite author ever i aspire to write like her. i was in the book store the day private rites came out and i got the single copy the store had and nearly fell to my knees once i managed to find it after like thirty minutes of frantic searching

some books we’ve got This Is How You Lose the Time War (RAGHH it’s a novella short and sweet it is lyrical and brutal and soft and it reads like a poem it’s about two rival agents who write letters to each other and it’s gay. so. one of my favorite reads ever i’ve read it like three times plus already), I Who Have Never Known Men (translated text also short but the writing still holds super well and it’s so fascinating it’s like kind of dystopian kind of post apocalyptic just look this one up idk how to pitch it) Piranesi (so so so so good go into this blind i’m begging you)

okay and then we have rf kuang. her writing is also fantastic. she’s written babel (MY FAVORITE BOOK magical historical realism speculative fiction, language a criticism on imperialism dark academia this book has it all), yellowface, and the poppy war trilogy (which i haven’t read yet but im getting too soon and have heard EXCELLENT things about and im very excited to have my heart torn out and stomped on repeatedly) and she’s got a new book coming out later this year called katabasis about two grad students going to the underworld and i am VERY excited about that one

and yeah :) i like reading i have quite a long tbr. once i finish private rites im starting chain gang all stars and then probably inferno after that followed by the poppy war

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2025 #21

this may be the latest in the evening i've drafted one of these instead of just deciding to push it to tomorrow

Finished:

Lesbian Decadence: Representations in art and literature of fin-de-siècle France by Nicole G. Albert, translated by Nancy Erber and William Peniston lots of interesting bits of literary history in here and info that me (transmasc lesbian) rub my hands together excitedly about but i have a few hangups about it which are: a) even if in my identity i am chill with the overlap in histories i do still wish the book went a bit into distinguishing lesbian representation and stuff that slides more toward trans male and b) i think maybe if this book took the time to acknowledge or think about transfems we could maybe do some more interesting analysis on one of the "male" authors of decadent lesbian literature who was very clear about thinking women were the most perfect creatures in the world, men were shit, and lesbian love was the best and purest love because it involved only women. just saying.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, narrated by Stefan Rudnicki yyyep bad linguistics in here in the way you think is wholly structured by the language you speak (i think later some linguistics nerds called Delany on this eventually and he went 'yeah i renounce the bad linguistics' which is funny) but the rest is quintessentially Delany. dude loves a big guy who is capable of great intelligence but Something Is Wrong that is currently preventing him from reaching that potential

Blue Box, Vol. 10 by Kouji Miura, translated by Christine Dashiell with the way admiration of someone's sports ability and dedication is functionally synonymous with romantic feelings in this manga, learning about Yumeka feels like learning about Chinatsu's first love and first messy break up, and nothing in the story really contradicts that reading. Yumeka's flashback haircut has big mean lesbian vibes. demi-bi-romantic asexual Chinatsu is canon in my heart

Skip and Loafer, Vol. 5-6 by Misaki Takamatsu, translated by Nicole Frasik I am going to fucking cry about Nao-chan. trans women as mentors and caretakers for children and teenagers gets me right in the fucking heart, she and Mitsumi mean so much to me! and the fact that she is given the narrative room to feel messy grief filled jealousy about Mitsumi getting to live the happy teenage girl high school experience that she was denied while still getting up every morning and being a loving auntie who loves her life and her niece and is working through her grief and trauma is so so good. i am shooting Yuzu and Makoto with my lesbian beam they are girl-best-friending so hard. I continue to be immensely entertained by headcanoning Mika as a gay trans boy egg-i think he thinks he's a straight girl and chalks up how fake and performative his everything about gender and attraction feels to his body image issues and bullied-fat-child trauma

The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 4 by Mokumokuren, translated by Ajani Oloye we move from a vibesy zone into the lore section and im not mad about it! the villages laid out like body parts on the map is chilling as is the sudden encroachment of odd monsters into the daylight and in public

Loveless by Alice Oseman, narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown, with additional bonuc short story narrated by Elizabeyh Schenk and Imogen Church a significantly better YA/new adult experience than i usually have, it does its job, but i remain a YA disliker so it can only do so much for me. read for a book club!

The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, narrated by John Skelley this may be up there among my favorite Le Guins. very economically written sf story about colonization and indigenous resistance and how even after successfully repelling the settlers the indigenous people are left marked by the violence they were subjected to. really pitch perfect shitty chauvinist settler that is one of the POV characters

Started/Ongoing:

The Oak and Ash by Annick Trent eternal shame, the libby loan expired before i could finish this so im just sitting halfway thru it waiting for the hold line to get back around to me

Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown this book comes with masturbation homework! (and also journaling homework)

[thefalsetounge]

Introduction

Fan of historical fantasies and a dark fantasy fanatic. I write most of the time and read when im not. Fanfiction is my favorite way of ranting, and coping on stories that haunt me. I am also working on several projects original of my own, and I hope at least one of them might carve out a little interest to someone.

I strongly believe that anyone can write anything, provided they can face the scrutiny that comes with it. Art is expression, after all, and expression doesn’t ask for permission.

Fanfics:

A Journal's Closure (Call of Duty, Oneshot)

After the unexpected turn of events, MacTavish finds himself in a foreign storm of thoughts as roach's journal unveils its message. In the blood of a loved one (Babel, or the necessity of violence, WIP)

After escaping from gaol, witnessed a duel between Griffin and Sterling Jones. A hail of gunshots leaves Robin spiraling into grief and violence.

But what if no one had survived that night? When the world fractures around him, and every anchor is gone, how far will Robin fall — and what might he become?

Original Works:

Project Talesmith (WIP)

A dark fantasy I'm still working on and its on the early stages. The world is half-finished and I'm currently writing the first draft.

[nyara]

Im reading Frankenstein for the first time and...... Is it considered dark academia??? Ive read the Secret History, Babel and The Atlas Six and so far Ive never heard anyone refer to Frankenstein as dark academia but it kinda absolutely feels like the OG dark academia book?

[nejjcollectsbooks]

reading nook & current reads 1/mar/24

day two of getting into a consistent reading habit ft the first snowy day in this part of Dublin in like forever??!!

im gonna post this then cosy up in my reading nook for the next four hours (i work my schedule around meal times bc i am ruled by my baser instincts). im still not doing mentally well but what better way to cope than escapism??

for a mix of easy to read, fun books ive got:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. An Unsuitable Job For A Woman by P. D. James (a detective novel). Sailing To Byzantium by W. B. Yeats (a short poetry anthology).

all three books were thrifted across the second-hand stores of Dublin.

thank you to all who responded and gave me book recs with an element of fantasy schools/ magical schools. still looking for more recs tho! here's what i have so far (i've combined what i knew alongside recs i was given):

Harry Potter series Scholomancer trilogy book one of the Poppy Wars series Babel Aurian Fourth Wing A Study in Drowning Earthsea

[kazucee]

cecee top five fave books go❕

well shoot me in the foot why don't you 😭

Not in order because I cannot for the life of me rank these literary masterpieces.

Mist [unlimited] by 微风几许 - life changing novel. Every now and then I get ptsd flashbacks on it.

Babel by R.F Kuang - earth shattering book. I can never look at translation the same ever again and I'll never trust a person named Richard ever again either.

OUABH trilogy by Stephanie Garber - as a person who loves a beautifully written love story. Yes. Cannot stress enough how this series got me out of my reading slump.

AFTG trilogy by Nora Sakavic - crashed out over this book so many times. Pretty sure you can find these crashouts littered around my Tumblr

Clear and muddy loss of love by 请君莫笑 - LET ME TELL YOU GUYS. CHINESE NOVELS. OH MY LORD. This novel broke me down, built me up, broke me down again, built me up (rinse and repeat)

Special mentions (because everyone needs to read them) : The land of stories (first actual book I ever read as a child, 10/10 I love the Bailey twins so much + this walked so that my love for OUABH could run), Little mushroom I read the novel first and now I'm binging the manhua (it's so good guys PLSPLSPLS), the seven husband's of Evelyn Hugo at first I didn't know how to feel about it BUT IT HOOKED ME (no joke, finished it in 2 days), Literally the entire grishaverse but putting hard emphasis on the six of crows duology (they were the og found family for me. God I love all of them so much), THE ENTIRE HOO SERIES. HEROES OF OLYMPUS WAS EVERYTHING TO ME. IS EVERYTHING TO ME. PLS. IT IS ME AND MY FOUND FAMILY BOOKS AGAINST THE WORLD. I HAVE MUCH MORE NOVEL RECOMMENDATIONS NOOOOOOOO. PLS GUYS IM A STAR. PLSSSS

[stingraystudiess]

Good Morning

⬆️ From the Botanical Gardens (went there for breakfast yesterday) POLL AT THE END

IM FREE!!! I finished all my exams, all my essays, and I have a few days off. Yesterday was my first, it was more of a digital media consumption day, so today I’m hoping to read more.

As always. A little To Do

- make breakfast (make coffee🫶🏽)

- plan 8 ish slides for the talk im giving

- read a book, I have decided to give myself the liberty of not having to continue with my current ones and start a short and good one today (hopefully I finish it today too)

- look through the news (the lord knows what UK politics has been up to)

- make lunch

- check my resin art ( I encased a flower and two leaves, I’m really excited to see how they turn out)

- do Spanish tuition homework (try to atleast do 1/3)

- make dinner (if you can’t tell I’ve been left alone to my own devices today, like yesterday)

Ok now what should I read? It has to grasp my affection, I should not be able to peel myself away from the page’s, you get the gist.

Ok thank you for your input :)

Signing off~

StingrayStudies

Ps- Follow me on

Good Reads- StingrayReads

Letterboxd- StingSighs

Fable- SitngrayReads

[northseas]

books read in 2024

dont know if anyone will find this interesting... but here is a list of the books i read this year, with a short short description, and my final thoughts! a lot of good books this year, let me know if you see any you like/have read yourself, of if any spark an interest!

hamnet, maggie o'farrell (2020)

start/finish 05.01.24 - 05.02.24, 372 pages historical fiction final score: 5/6, highly recommend, a truly beautiful book, a great start to the year, the last line crushed me

the city and the city, china miéville (2009)

start/finish 08.02.24 - 20.02.24, 373 pages crime, urban fantasy, speculative fiction final score: 6/6, i knew from the moment i picked it up that this was a new favorite book, pls read this, i think i'll recommend this book to everyone forever and always from now on

left hand of darkness, urusla k. le guin, (1969)

start/finish 23.03.24 - 13.03.24, 336 pages science fiction, speculative fiction final score: 4/6, very good, glad to have read, i understand why it's a classic! gonna read some more essays of her now:)

the prisoner of heaven, carlos ruiz zafón (2011)

start/finish 26.03.24 - 02.04.24, 336 pages magical realism, books about books, mystery final score: 3/6, 3rd book in a series and this one felt rushed:/ will elaborate further down

the vampire lestat, anne rice (1985)

start/finish 03.04.24 - 04.05.24, 576 pages horror, vampires, fantasy final score: 5/6, turly vampire of all time..

annihilation, jeff vandermeer, (2014)

star/finish 06.05.24 - 12.05.24, 224 pages science fiction, horror, mystery final score: 4/6, i liked it! will continue with the series!

the bullet sallower, elizabeth gonzalez james (2024)

start/finish 14.05.25 - 1306.24, 272 pages historical fiction, magical realism, western final score: 3/6, wanted to like this book so much more than i did...

salughterhouse-five, kurt vonnegut (1969)

start/finish 14.06.24 - 21.06.24, 177 pages science fiction, time travel, war final score: 6/6, second reading, first time 10 years ago, reread to confirm i still liked it, and by golly it truly is still up there as a favorite

sea of tranquility, emiliy st john mandel (2022)

start/finish 27.06.024 - 08.07.24, 259 pages science fiction, time travel final score: 6/6, i love books about time travel... haunting and beautiful, deserves a second read through, highly recommend

babel, r. f. kuang (2022)

start/finish 09.07.24 - 27.07.24, 546 pages fantasy, historical fiction final score: 4/6, i liked it fine, felt a bit predictable at times, made me want to reread jsamr...

apostels of mercy, lindsay ellis (2024)

start/finish 28.07.24 - 06.09.24, 520 pages science fiction, aliens final score: 4/6, book 3 of ? in a series i like, but for whatever reason this book was a struggle to get through. i did enjoy it however

prophet song, paul lynch (2023)

start/finish 06.09.24 -11.09.24, 309 dystopia, literary fiction, irish final score: 5/6, felt very topical and i wanted more. struggled with the formatting style in the start, but once gotten it was a cool choice

the labyrinth of the spirits, carlos ruiz zafon, (2016)

start/finish 17.09.24 - 07.10.24, 805 pages magical realism, books about books, mystery final score: 5/6, the final fourth book in a wonderful series. ended well and i recommend this series, the cemetery of forgotten books, where the first book (shadow of the wind) is by far the strongest

the amber spyglass, philip pullman (2000)

start/finish 09.10.24 - 26.10.24, 548 pages young adult, adventure, fantasy final score: 5/6, literally at a loss of words. read book 1 and 2 as a kid and stopped at the start with this one for some reason. listened through the first 2 audiobooks as i was driving a lot this autumn and decided to read the final book. why 9 year old me stopped is truly a question for the ages. philip pullman im indebted to you

the fisherman, john langang (2016)

start/finish 28.10.24 - 05.11.24, 226 pages horror, lovecraftian, mystery final score: 3/6, didnt really pull through, felt unedited

i who have never known men (1995)

start/finish 06.11.24 - 13.11.24, 188 pages dystopia, feminism, science fiction final score: 5/6, if i was still in academia this is a book id love to read more about, as it's really saying "things" at times. recommend

the other valley, scott alexander howard (2024)

start/finish 13.11.24 - 05.12.24 , 290 pages time travel, science fiction, magical realism final score: 6/6, i was so looking forward to this one, and it did not disappoint. beginning of the second part was a bit slow, but in the end that didnt matter!! highly recommend.

finishing off the year and going into the next is the familiar by leigh barduco. enjoying it so far, but it's a bit more romance than what i normally enjoy/would choose

now, that was long lol. certainly my best reading year so far, after taking a thorough overhaul with my reading process last year. it's been good! one instant favorite, some stellar, many good, and a few duds. if you have any recommendations id love to hear! onto 2025, some books im planning to read are: the marriage portait (maggie o'farrell), queen of the damned (anne rice) the master and mararita (mikahail bulgakov) rest of the southern reach/area x books (jeff vandermeer) and many more!!

xoxo frøy

[bonesandthebees]

hey hey im just rocking by to ask for book recommendations i have been plowing through so many books recently and i have a need for more and to which i come here because i trust your judgement!

- 🪿

oh yeah I can definitely give some more recs :)

first and highest rec that I've read recently:

Babel by RF Kuang - this isn't exactly an obscure one, I'm sure a ton of you have heard this recommended but I'm not kidding when I say it genuinely blew me away. I'd read Poppy War from RF Kuang before and didn't love it, so I was shocked when I fell so deeply in love with the world and characters of Babel. the characters and their relationships are all so complex and interesting, the worldbuilding is fascinating, and it has so many interesting things to say about the art of translation and how complex it really is. it also is a very powerful book that has a lot of important things to say about western imperialism and racism. just know ahead of time it's not a happy story, but it's a really really great one.

okay other recs

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin - I think I recced this once on here before but I'm still thinking about it. It's such a fascinating fantasy world told in a very unique way that jumps from time period to time period without telling you directly. The worldbuilding is genuinely incredible I have never seen a fantasy world done quite like this before and I adore it. There's also just such an interesting magic system in place. If you like the earthbenders in atla, you'll love what's going on here. I'm planning on reading the sequel to this one very soon

Hild by Nicola Griffith - okay this is kind of a doozy to get through because the text is very dense. It takes place in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England and uses a lot of unfamiliar terms. There's a glossary at the back of the book but it doesn't cover everything. it took me ages to get through this one and I walked away unsure if I wanted to read the sequel just because of how much brain power it took to read, but after a few months I can't stop thinking about the story so I know I'm going to read the sequel at some point. it's a historical fiction novel about the childhood and adolescence of the real figure St Hilda of Whitby, or as she's known in the book, Hild. It talks a lot about Anglo Saxon era politics along with societal structure and the role women filled in this society. Hild is such a complicated and interesting character and I loved watching her grow up throughout the course of the novel. it's also really interesting to see her role as a 'Seer' with the King thinking she can see the future, and how that intersects with the rising spread of Christianity in England at this time. Definitely look into this one before you dig into it, but I really enjoyed it

Hope you enjoy these! Lmk if you ever want more!

[dyslexic-asexual]

Saw a post about MCR mention foundations of decay and I wanna ramble!

I will be honest when I first heard the song on the radio, I definitely didnt think it was bad, but I wasnt immediately hooked. Its a little slow to pick up and without being able to hear the lyrics it didnt do much for me... But hey its new MCR! so I vowed to give it another go, and Oh Those Lyrics

I didnt immediately look them up, but the song slowly grew on me to the point where I had listened to it a bunch and still couldnt understand some of them, and Im so glad I did look them up, a lot of the ones I couldnt/couldnt quite hear are really important.

My favorite one is "take his body as a relic to be canonized // and so he gets to die a saint but she will always be the whore" which Genius claims is a reference to the whore of Babylon, which I didnt know about (raised in a "progressive" church that didnt deal much with that un-PC stuff). It gets at a big reason Ive always disliked The Church and *part* of why I eventually left (misogyny), and it evokes relics (pieces of the bodies of saints) which, though historically significant, as a big proponent of bodily autonomy even in death, are really weird to me.

My second favorite are the references to the tower of Babel, I like that myth bc I think its funny when the bible "borrows" from other belief systems and I can see a lot of Greek-Myths-about-Human-Hubris in it. Its a pretty human story to tell, you can see it all over, and early christianity loves it bc it was still on that old testament "You Must Fear God and Never Aspire to Be Like Him" shit, BUT this one in particular just strikes me as so similar to Icarus. Trying to reach the sky but your efforts fall? Yeah

I really heavily associate this song with specifically season 4 of stranger things (to the point where I wonder if its intentional, they both came out around the same time) with the swarm/decay aesthetics, and the metal (tho obv not the same subgenre dont come at me), so I think if you like that and/or Faith by ghost youll like this song. If youve listened to both songs Im really curious: did you catch the similarity between the "faith is mine" and "against faith" lines bc when I heard it and realized I was like WAIT :O

Thanks for reading heres a meme I edited for ghost reasons! (Pls dont steal I can upload it by itself if you really want it on your blog):

ID: photo of a pet rat clenching its fists and appearing to be yelling with the words "I will not let the rot consume me" in basic font. Not has been blacked out by me. Original watermark reads "TeaThatTast" /end ID.