#isat isekai

[sifs-right-eye]

More people than I expected ended up liking this post so I figured I might as well design someone for it. A vehicle for projection if you will. Some random bitch.

[meamiki]

some random reverse entry au [office + reverse isekai loop] drawings :thumbsup:

[mildly interested in this silly au? here is a link to scroll through for all the stuff i've made for it! i'll make a proper master post... someday.....]

[starly-amazing]

Cover art by @khorrorshow as a donation commission for Palestine. Commission him or his team here!

A Star From the Multiverse - Ch 4 is OUT!

Fic summary: Siffrin wakes up in the field South of Dormont... after beating the King. After WINNING. He should be celebrating their victory with his friends atop the house! They won! So WHY!? They drag themself through the day and to the Favor Tree in the dead of night. He calls out—wishes—for help and the Universe listens... by dropping an entirely alien creature with fangs and feathers and talons right at his feet.

Chapter summary: Wuh oh! Turns out Loop isn't quite as helpful as Siffrin had dared to hope. It's fine though! It's fine!!!

Rating: Mature (eventually) Graphic depictions of violence & all the canon-typical warnings.

[Read on Ao3]

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

You

forgot

the rock trap!

YOU FORGOT THE ROCK TRAP!

IDIOT!

STUPID! STUPID!!!

THAT'S THE FIRST TRAP! HOW DID YOU FORGET THAT?

'THIS IS THE LAST LOOP' HUH?

THE LAST LOOP!

NOT GONNA DIE AGAIN, RIGHT?

HAHAHAHA

HAHAH AHHAHAHA HAHA HAHHAHHA HAHAH

OH THIS IS SO FUNNY! I HOPE THE AUDIENCE IS LAUGHING!

...

Because I'm not.

Siffrin wants to shrivel up and die right there. Just die die die and die again. Die and not come back.

If they can't even get past the first trap, how are they supposed to even beat the King again, let alone figure out what's really causing the loops?

They hear light footsteps and swishing grass and, as if being pulled up by puppet strings, they rise and stretch their smile back on.

Okay, well. The curtains open once more; they won't wait for you! Put your smile back on ‘stardust’ and don't make anyone suspicious this time!

Right on time, Mirabelle arrives to chastise them for napping. They smile and nod, smile and nod, and soon enough, she's on her way. Their eye was too unfocused to even tell if she was fooled by their act.

Not like it matters, anyway, he'll be dead in a day anyway.

But they'll have to put on the act once more, and then again and again and again until the end of time!

Stars.

They start to head to town, but a tug at the back of their mind has them turning back around and staring into the trees.

Oh right. Loop.

They push their way into the thicket and scan for any signs of the rukemi.

"Loop?" they call out to the boulder next to the suspiciously quivering foliage. "I'm going to the Favor Tree. I'll talk to you there, I guess."

Why there, anyway? There's no reason you have to go there.

...

Big tree nice.

They shrug, shake the leaden feeling from their limbs--or at least try--and trudge through the meadow.

Happy face. Happy face! Let's go Siffrin!

They pat their cheeks and shake their head to knock some of the despair away. Or, rather, to hide it better.

Mirabelle's second conversation went well, for the most part. She looked at them with a raised eyebrow and a quirk of the head a few times, but if she suspected anything, she said nothing.

Success! Just fit right back into that role!

...

Isabeau time.

" Tree-mendous tree! " they smirk and watch as he barks out his normal (normal!) laugh. He raises his hand toward Siffrin, stops, then lets it fall to his side.

Siffrin blinks. Did that happen before?

They can't take their mind off that gesture as they script their way through the rest of the conversation. It has been a while, after all, besides the complete fumble of the last loop.

He gives a small wave as Isabeau walks off, stopping at the treeline to give him a questioning look before leaving.

Weird. Well whatever, you probably still look like shit.

Shit?

Loop's swear popped into their mind so naturally. They don't even know what it means yet; maybe it isn't even a swear!

Sure sounds like one though. It has that zest only the good swears have.

He shrugs and moves on.

The Favor Tree looms over them, guarding a little patch of night under its million leaves. He inches forward and calls out.

"Loop?"

They look up into the branches to see the rukemi flattened against the same branch from last loop. They peer at him, tilting their head with their ears and long feathers fanned up and out. Like they're studying him, like they're deciding if he's a friend or a meal.

They don't respond. Just stare.

With a deep breath, Siffrin hauls themself up to their branch and plops down. They don't make eye contact for a moment, already suspecting some sort of quip for looping back so soon.

"So...Stardust?"

They groan. "I know, I know, I said that was the last loop and then messed it up."

"Hahah, yeah I uh..." They scratch the back of their head right under their long, fluffy feathers. "I suppose I should know what you're talking about?"

Siffrin's blood runs cold. "What? What!? What do you mean? You don't remember last ni--loop? ANYTHING?"

"I--" their gaze follows a dry leaf as it flutters down through the air, hitting and nearly sticking on branches on the way. "I think? Some things? You def--"

"Like what!?" He leans dangerously close to the edge of the branch.

Loop flinches. "Well, um. You're trying to kill a King?" they say with a huff and a flick of their tail.

A twisting feeling in their chest falls. "...Is that all?"

"No. Something about...hmm..." They bring their claw, no longer cracked, to their mouth and bite down once again. They speak in a low rumble. "No, that's impossible, but..."

"Yes!?"

"Time...loops? That's what you meant, right?"

Siffrin nods so aggressively their hat nearly falls off. "Yes! I told you about it and everything! And you don't remember?"

Loop lowers their head against their shoulders, as if trying to hide in their feathers. "Time loops, tyrannical king--now isn't that redundant?--he/they, stuck for a while, forgotten a lot since you've been trapped, I think, something about mangoes...oh right you told me quite a lot of personal details I don't think were relevant to anything, didn't you?"

Siffrin bites their lip. "Was relevant to me," they mumble.

Loop tilts their head. "Erm, well, we can unpack that another time." They put their claws together in the shape of a diamond.

"...Is that all?"

They make a swirling gesture in the air. "Bits and pieces of things. But, yes." Their feathers settle. "That's about it."

Siffrin sighs. They close their eye and press their face into their hands. Gravity pulls at them harder and harder, making them sink into themself. If the branch he's sitting on shatters and he crashes to the ground in a pile of meat, he wouldn't even be surprised.

Heh.

Ground meat.

But the branch holds firm, and he's faced with the fact that it's only his mind pulling him down.

"Stardust?"

Siffrin grunts. At least they remember that .

Okay. Okay, no this is fine. They're only mostly unhelpful! They remember more than your friends, at least! We can still figure things out!

Digging his palms into his face, he takes a deep breath and faces the rukemi. "We're here to kill the King who's been freezing everyone in time and--" they inhale again and push on. They repeat much of what they said the night before, slowly, painfully, already writing the script in their mind, they plan on telling Loop every single time from then on...

A flash of a buried memory flits across their mind, and they perk up slightly.

Oh right, at least there's that.

They divert the topic and dig through the mire for more and more, picking up speed until there's an edge of desperation to their voice.

More campfire meals. Finding an orb (which one, which one!?). Isabeau's strong hand stopping him from walking straight into a trap he so stupidly missed. Tending to Mirabelle's hair after the river mishap. Losing a drunken arm wrestling match to Odile. Losing a sober arm wrestling match to Bonnie.

Loop listens, just like the night before, head tilting side to side, occasionally having their attention stolen by a fluttering leaf or the gentle piou piou of a songbird.

After Siffrin's words peter off once again, they massage their throat and press their face into the cool, rough bark of the tree.

"Well." Loop stretches out, careful not to tumble out of the tree or snap the branch. "You certainly gave me a lot of information... Again."

"Please remember it this time," they murmur, dejected, hollow.

"Ehh. No promises."

Siffrin can only groan.

"But I certainly can try!" They give him a soft smile with their eye.

"Why can't you remember it all? Why is it only me?"

Why me why only me why why why?

"How would I know?" They give an exaggerated shrug. "Maybe you're infecting me with your memory problems."

"How would I even do that?"

They snort. "Well, we've already established time loops are a thing, so infectious amnesia doesn't seem quite so far-fetched anymore." They flick a leaf off their haunch with their tail. "Also, that was a joke."

Siffrin grumbles and knocks their head against the trunk. "Ugh, some help this is. The Universe is just toying with me at this point."

"I'm sorry ?" They raised their brow.

"I found you because the branch broke and you fell out of the tree."

Loop sinks their head into their shoulders. "Eghh, stars, that's unfortunately one of the things I do remember. What of it?"

"If the Universe did that--if it sent you to help , then this is just some sort of sick cosmic joke."

Just like me.

"Okay, first of all, rude. Secondly, the Universe doesn't work like that. It doesn't care about us. It just is. "

Siffrin presses his forehead to the bark. “Ugh, it’s not like any of that is real anyway." He lets out another long-suffering sigh.

"Are you even listening to me?" Loop's ears twitch. “Ehh, we’re getting off-topic anyway.”

Siffrin sniffs and shifts their head to look at them again. The bark scratches at their face and pulls at their hair.

“You still in there, stardust?”

They grunt.

"Okay, good enough," they shrug. "Anyway, I'm assuming you have not defeated the King again.”

"No." He knocks his cheek against the tree.

"Okay, well, did you try the thing I suggested? The er...poison?"

They grimace. "...No."

"And why not?"

Siffrin grits their teeth. "Didn't make it that far."

"Oo, that would mean you died, correct?"

They scrunch their nose and nod.

"Well, try not doing that again!"

He scowls and is only met with a twitch of Loop's ear.

"Well, anyway, now that you're not quite so...er...last night... Maybe we can put our heads together again and think of something else. What did your party do when you talked to them about it, again?"

"I haven't told them. I can 't tell them."

"Right. And you haven't told them once...why?"

“I told you why."

Loop squeezes their eye shut and exhales. "Something about not wanting to hurt them. A ridiculous reason in my humble opinion, but it seems like you're not budging on that." They clap their hands together and turn their eye upward in a smile. "Well! We'll just have to do this in a more roundabout way, then! Maybe there's somewhere you can do more research? You all have libraries here, right?"

They raise an eyebrow at Loop. Duh .

"Mhm. There's one in town and in the House."

"There you go! A new goal to strive for."

"Ehh, I'll check it, I guess."

How many more loops will it take to even find something useful? There's so many books in the House, and you can't even go into most of them.

"Great! Let's make a list of what we need to figure out. First order of business is to find an easier way to kill the King."

Siffrin presses themself even harder into the bark. "Don't even know if I can , I've tried thousands of times and only managed that one time. What if it was a fluke? What if Mira's not able to deal the final blow next time? What if there's never a 'next time'? What if I can't replicate what I did last time and have to fight him another thousand times?"

...

They scream into their hands.

"I can't do that. I can't keep doing this."

Loop's wings droop. "Well, that's what the research and experimenting is for, stardust. Finding another way." Their voice is gentle, soft like their feathers seem to be.

Siffrin's eye focuses on Loop's talons and how they so easily carve through the bark on the tree. An image flashes in their mind of them carving them into the King's throat--of their fangs slicing through all the weak points in his armor as he thrashes around and paints the room in his blood.

He thinks about Loop's jaws around his own throat--

"Can you help us?" The words tumble out of their lips on their own.

Stupid. Why are you asking this?

"Huh? I mean, I already am?" They flick their tail. "Well, trying, at least."

How are you going to explain to your friends? Are you that desperate?

"I mean help us fight the King."

'Oh, hey everyone, do you mind if I bring a blinding dragon thing with us to the fight? No, they won't eat you! Probably!'

"Er, no. I do distinctly remember telling you I'm not supposed to interact with humans. That includes killing them--even if it is regicide." They add that last bit with a huff and a gaze into the distance.

Siffrin sighs.

Well, at least you don't have to think about explaining anything.

"Plus, I won't be much help, I'm no fighter and couldn't kill a human even if I wanted to." There's a tinge of bitterness to that statement.

"But how? You're covered in sharp parts. It should be easy!"

" I am not a weapon !" they hiss, jaws slamming shut and glaring straight at him with an intense, wide-eyed look. Their feathers stand on end and almost vibrate with emotion.

It was enough to make Siffrin jump and straighten himself out.

" I. Don't. Fight . I didn't sign up for any of this." Loop grimaces and slaps their hand to their head, digging their talons into their scalp. "I didn't ask for this blinding migraine or to be dropped at your feet in the dead of night. I'm helping because I'm stuck in this fucking mess too, but I will not fight your battles for you."

A shiver runs down their spine as their blood chills. "Right, okay, sorry."

Loop studies them for a moment longer, making them shrink into their collar and under their hat until they look like a stray pile of clothes.

Loop sighs and scratches the bridge of their snout. "It's fine." A bit of dried skin falls off their scar and spirals down. The exposed flesh underneath makes the space behind Siffrin's good eye ache a bit. The shade of it is...slightly strange, but they can't really put their finger on what is so wrong about it.

Now that it isn’t quite so dark as before, Siffrin can take a closer look at Loop.

They look… not great.

He can't see much of their left eye; there's hardly any left of it besides scar tissue. It doesn't seem like they can open or close it any more than it already is.

The scar on their face is thick and leathery and extends partway down their neck. It's mottled with different shades and patterns, suggesting that it hadn’t been properly healed. It seems to pull their head slightly to the left as the skin has tightened from whatever injury caused it. A burn? There's really nothing else that could have done it...unless it was caused by whatever chemical warfare Loop was talking about.

Siffrin suppresses a shudder.

They seem to be missing feathers here and there, and many of the existing ones are damaged or dirty. And their front legs--the skin on them looks rough and mottled, though not quite as extreme as their facial scar.

It's hard for Siffrin to really guess much about Loop's condition outside of the obvious--it's not like he knows any other rukemis to compare them to. But... thinking about the fluffy round birds hopping around town, and the many, many chickens and ducks they've seen in their lifetime (oh, a memory! He's seen chickens and ducks before, now isn't that useful!) Loop looks... thin.

"Loop, are you hungry?"

They jump slightly; it seems like they were distracted by studying Siffrin themself.

"I could be, perhaps. Maybe a little." They puff out the feathers on their body just a bit.

"I can get you something to eat." They grab their silver coin and squeeze it in their hand until it hurts. "Well, I don't have any money, but I can catch some fish."

Loop's ears turn back, and they sigh. "It's fine, stardust. It's not like it matters if we're going to go back in time anyway."

"...Right."

The sun is close to the horizon. Dinner will be ready soon. Maybe he can leave a plate out for them; it's not like food does him any good anymore.

"Anyway, I'm sure you have places to be soon. So hurry on over to the library to find some other way of killing the King and more about the loops or whatever." They scratch at their throat. "I still vote poison, or dropping the ceiling on him, but I'm sure there's other magic spells you can use to turn him inside out or something."

Ew. But again, too kind an end for him.

"Okay. Thank you, Loop."

"Don't mention it. And please find something soon."

"I'll try."

Siffrin shifts themself and clambers down the massive tree, making each step with care to fight off the pins and needles that have returned. He takes one more glance at Loop as they watch him silently, head resting on their hands.

With a nod, he heads to the library and feels his smile plaster itself back on the moment he reenters Dormont. He wastes no time with pleasantries and heads straight for the nearest bookshelf.

The librarian approaches him anyway. "You're one of the saviors, right?" They ask with a tilt of their head, the beads on their glasses make a funny little clinking sound. "Do you need my help with something?"

He flinches. They stare at the librarian, giving them a questioning gaze. 

Oh right the boulangier isn’t the only villager who talks to you. Oh. When was the last time you even went there? 

A pain au chocolat doesn’t sound terrible in that moment. Maybe they should go grab one. Anything chocolate. Maybe something for Loop, too.

Wait… 

Can Loop eat chocolate? Or will it kill them because they’re part dog or something?

“Hello?” The librarian waves a hand in front of their face. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, right? No chocolate for me, please—I mean I’m fine, thank you!”

They blink a few times. “Well, okay then. I’ll be over here if you need anything.”

Siffrin pulls their smile wider and waves a ‘thank you’ before turning back to the bookshelves.

Okay, that was blinding awkward of you, but whatever, not like any of this matters in the loops anyway! 

He shakes his head clear. Sliding his finger across the spine of every book, he reads each title carefully, once, sometimes twice, blinking away the fog in his mind.

Useless.

Useless.

Useless.

Weird headache book again.

Oh? No, just basic craft spells.

Nothing. Of course not. They probably checked it a hundred times before and just forgot.

What were they looking for again?

Oh, right, ways to hit the King harder and a book on time loops, as if that's something that exists outside of fiction. Maybe one of Mira’s horror books has something on time loops. Maybe it’s based on a true story too! You just gotta casually ask her—

No, that’s stupid, of course it’s stupid! 

Defeated, they lightly hit their head on the shelf and trudge out. 

Whatever. Whatever! It's something to look forward to. Enrichment!

They blink.

They're at dinner, eating ash once again. He smiles through the banter and is happy to notice that their friends aren't as suspicious as the previous loop. Or at least they don't seem to be.

Something to look forward to. Don't run headlong into your death this time!

He blinks.

They're in bed and Isabeau is once again trying to tell him what he's tried to say a thousand times before.

Don't be stupid, stupid, stupid this time.

They close their eye.

They're back at the House once more. At least they managed to get a little more rest that time. Even if they didn't get to sleep much, they still got to be horizontal for a few hours.

Beats sitting in a tree and talking all night.

It's hopeless.

But at least there's something new to do.

For now.

[tempestmothstorm]

Ok so I mention my fantasy au for ddlc a couple times but I’ve been busy for months because of life stuff and also more brain rot for different stuff. So like. I haven’t gotten to it for months. Oops

Anyways I’ll just put the basic lore I have here because I do have a lot of ideas for this au and I am shaking the bars for my enclosure cus I really wanna talk about it

This is basically if ddlc and its concepts were put into a stereotypical rpg instead of dating sim and the club is now a cool rpg party who spend the hypothetical game encountering and bonding with each other like in the side stories. The plot would be simple and about finding the cure for a fantasy plague/curse that has been slowly ravaging the land (spooky glitch effects) only for it to slowly unravel into the wider lore and how it connects to base game ddlc

Monika is a main character and the paladin leader. Orphan from the capital turned famous knight who had become disillusioned and abandoned her high status to become a wandering mercenary to help the people in the curse. She eventually finds her own patron god, You! It’s like Oneshot where you are the narrator observing and guiding Monika, except she doesn’t actually know who you are or that she’s in a game so you have to hide it while also making sure she doesn’t repeat the sins of the past and stuff. She slowly learns to open up and trust her new companions and love her life to the fullest without worrying about perfection or success and stuff. Maybe she doesn’t need to be the legend or the perfect hero. Maybe she can just be with her new family. Maybe she could just let herself belong (the sure hope her arc lasts and isn’t ripped away by her own hands haha)(she gets better)

Sayori is the simple first best friend/second in command/heart of the group. She’s just the happy go lucky bard without that deeper tragic backstory the rest of the cast has. The daughter of a fisherman in a small starting town, Monika first encounters her after defending the town from a monster. Sayori and the town throw a celebration as thanks, letting Monika learn to loosen up and be open. On the flip side Sayori seems to have no relevant plot, only to suddenly reveal her own doubts later in the story. Having always felt useless and aimless, whether in her hometown where she had no place or job or with the party as she had no apparent use, she starts to feel insecure about her place in the group over time. There’s probably be the classic ‘heart of the group get incapacitated and everyone realizes how essential they are as the rest fall apart’ plot beat, and Sayori’s gets to learn just how important she is.

Yuri is the local smart guy wizard of the team, part of some mysterious wizards coven when the party first encounters her. Monika and Sayori are looking for info on the curse’s origins and the coven assigns Yuri to help temporarily guide them through a dungeon. On the way Yuri gets to learn what actual companionship looks like as people who are connected not only through a common goal or interest, but people who genuinely care for her. The coven didn’t really interact or care about her well being, and she was too disconnected from the outside world to learn enough about her field of study, so she decides to leave the coven to travel the world with Monika and Sayori. Over time they also learn about her backstory (because every mysterious rpg character needs a tragic backstory) about her being the daughter of a faraway kingdom’s royal family. Having been born with destructive magic powers, her family had tried everything to suppress it , without regards for their own daughter. They eventually gave up and sent her to the coven for life, basically disowning her. There could probably be a plot point where the party has to meet up with her parents for politics reasons and there could be some heavy drama where Yuri gets to admit that she’s finally found people who accept and understand who she is and how to help her. Yay

Natsuki is that one edgy rogue who starts out as an enemy to the party. Runaway turned thief turned mercenary, she’s doing whatever it takes to survive out in this world. The party finds her as part of some rival mercenary band being hired by some random kingdom they encounter. The kingdom assigns the two groups on the same mission, but Natsuki’s teammates are assholes and push all the work onto Natsuki and the main party (they’re supposed be parallel her other friends). The four of them have to work together and start out antagonistic, but they slowly realize how messed up the situation with Natsuki is and how she really deserves better (for a lot of reasons). Natsuki meanwhile is experiencing an actual feeling of belonging and concern from others and is very conflicted, so when the rival mercenary’s decide to betray the main party and take the credit, she stands up for them and fights back, officially completing the party. She eventually learns to open up and trust people for the first time ever, having a place to call home and people she can feel safe with. She’d also have a ‘confront your past’ moment where they have to travel through her hometown that she ran away from. She feels terrified having to come back and potentially face her past, but not only is the town in way better shape her father had already died years after she left. While it seems like her whole backstory is unresolved, she comes to the conclusion on her own that she doesn’t need to be stuck in the past and no amount of confronting her father would change anything. Because she’d already found a family that loves her without him, and she’s promises she won’t end up like him.

And so the classic rpg party is formed and have their work cut out for them as they attempt to find the origins of the curse and eventually stop it. But it’s slowly revealed that the curse runs deeper in the origins of their world than they’ve thought possible. They can only either succumb to the darkness or deny reality itself to survive their fate. Who knows if they could face the reality of their world and still choose to save it. This world exists to give them a better ending. With all they’ve seen, could that still be possible?

There’s other stuff like more detailed backstory since I kinda skimmed over everything, certain plot points, and overall meta lore and how it connects to base game but that’s the rundown so far

Since it’s funny and technically correct I’m gonna call this the Doki Doki Isekai au

[startagainaprologue]

actually had a dream when i napped and now i am. vaguely sad even though it wasnt real

[metanarrates]

thinking about it, it seems like me and a few of my mutuals have done some kind of Favorite Media gift exchange swap this month completely by accident

[torchstelechos]

You know what? You could make an isekai au of isat reeeeaalllly easily. Did I realize this because I was thinking about an svsss au? Yes. Does it still work? Yeaahhh.....

[jester-program]

Little update on them.

Like I said they’re from our world, they really want to go home. As in really really, as in the only reason they’re going with Mirabelle is because they want to beat the king specifically so they can hopefully go back home (their world)

Which can lead them into shenanigans like this;

I gotta stop making isat oc’s that are not originally from isat.

Anyone ever thought what’d happen if someone from our age and time got chucked into isat or is it just me?

[sploon-fic-fan]

au that puts the omori characters in the plot of isat

(not in an isekai way obvs they're just there)

honestly euphrasie!mari would be so slay tbh narrative-wise

[basilpaste]

Heyya Basil.

This isn't an anti-honesty game question (I am being sincer about this)

If a fanfiction about a Madoka x ISaT crossover where one party was dropped into the other's world, which do you think would be more intreging? The Quintent in Dormont, or the Saviors in Kamihama? Also, Sif and Homura are both aware of each others looping and fun times occur from that fact.

awawa like i mentioned i havent admittedly finished all of madoka. i fear. (i WILL get to it eventually. there is just a curse on my brain) but from what i remember i think. dropping the saviors of vaugarde into madokas world wold be REALLY REALLY interesting. in part because of how important colour symbolism is?? and. like if the saviors cant see colour how thatd intersect with things.

and also because i think reverse isekais are always fun. put that traveler from a world that doesnt have Computers into a significantly more modern setting im sure thatll be fine and good forever heart emoji.

and also... ough to homuras loops and siffrins loops happen simultaneously? does one loop back if the other does or is their flow of time different despite both mutually existing in and aware of looping time? because thats REALLY fun considering how much longer homuras loops are. but either way i always think the 'i know what you are' of two timeloopers interacting is a blast :}

[ohwormwood]

random thoughts i have while playing isat pt. 4

[woe, spoilers be upon ye!]

[tw: talking about siffrin's use of the dagger to loop!]

we have begun act 3. nothing is ok anymore

more Adventures in Stupid AUs with my friends who are watching me play- Loop Isekai

my roommate:

the same person who created the Twitter AU from last time :

me:

THEY TOOK SIFFRIN'S MAGICAL WHIMSY AWAY

sobbed my eyes out during the bonnie friend quest because dear lord i will never be able to get over just how well their character is written

mirabelle doing ALL OF THE QUEST TO SAVE VAUGARDE while OFF HER PRESCRIPTION ANXIETY MEDICATION is SO WILD, she really is the change god's strongest anxiety soldier

these sprites of siffrin n mira during her friend quest are so squishy and cute i wanna draw them

mentally prepping myself to do the Perfect Loop/Family Loop quest,,, i am not ready

i was gonna go and give loop a flower!!!!!! and then!!!!!! he hits me with the dagger dialogue option!!!!!! which i needed to do for a achievement!!!!! so then i had to sit there!!!! and sob my eyes out as loop got possessed!!! and then told me to leave!!!!

siffrin telling isa he can be a buff nerd and isabeau just goes. huh you think i'm buff??? and siFFRIN DOESNT ANSWER LMAO

IM GONNA DO IT. IM GONNA SAY THE TRUTH. ODILE IS THE #1 ISAFRIN SHIPPER AND I STAND BY THAT.

wailing

found out my art was apparently sitting at the top of the isat tag when it was trending and just. was so confused

more level grinding while listening to my isat playlist

[sifs-right-eye]

Been rotating a self insert esque isekai story where the universe pulls someone from our world into isat to be the “help” that loop asked for post-game after complicated circumstances surrounding that persons death. Except they have no idea what’s going on bc that mf never communicates and are just fumbling around the entire time. Emotional support universe assigned random weirdo stranger who keeps talking about Netflix and TV’s.

[shattering-of-stardust]

Isat Self Insert real. She got isekaied into Vaugarde and is trying not to have a panic attack about it.

Flower clip

Ocarina around her neck

Mistaken for an islander sometimes

Compression gloves cause pianist hands hurt.

Bri'ish (like me, sorry :c)

-Keokeo

[felikatze]

Hi, this is your ticket to infodump about isat/fe aus.

whehe. wheh. wawawawa. (i start vibrating)

i dont know how much i've posted abt my thoughts vs how much i just monologued to various people on discord (hello and thank you to pix, alice, and lozy (i think i also monologued to riu once? hi riu)) but you can find all (most?) of the stuff tagged under "isat emblem" on my art blog

ANYWAY. SO. I'M NOW TALKING ABOUT THE UHH. fourth. isat/fe crossover i have, which is the "what if isat ran on FE lore" one, instead of any roleswap or isekai shenanigans.

i'm looking you straight in the eye. look at me. listen to me. the forgotten island is Valla. It's literally just Valla.

FULL GAME SPOILERSSSS riu don't look at this.

ok. listen

you cannot say its name. if you say its name, you fucking die

people from valla cannot share that they are from valla, making them simply foreigners from "somewhere else"

the disappearance of valla seems to be recent, yet nobody besides people from it have any memories of it

it still physically exists, but is generally impossible to access

associated with water-based enemies that attack anybody yet also represent the regrets of its people

IT'S JUST VALLA, YALL

THE VALLA ZOMBIES ARE IF SADNESSES WERE ACTUALLY DEAD PEOPLE.

so. you may have already seen my Manakete Siffrin, but it is needless to say, i took a FUCKTON of cues from corrin for this. this entire AU is generally very fates adjacent. with some engage in it, for flavor.

Manakete Siffrin is so tasty. Please also look at Pix's dragon sif AU because this is VERY MUCH the exact same flavor because me and Pix were just on the same brainwave i guess.

In this Au, Siffrin is a dragon (silent dragon or divine dragon, either works). And the dragons lived on the island, but the island disappeared. Because dragons were so deeply associated with this place, knowledge of dragons disappeared, as well, outside of perhaps the occasional myth. (Imagine Sif being told "Dragons aren't real, silly!" man.)

Siffrin is a dragon, and fucking forgot about it. All they know is that they are Different. But not how. Or why. Imagine.

Imagine, as the loops progress, Siffrin grows stronger not through training, but through learning how strong they already were. That there are claws beneath the gloves, that they can see in the dark, that if they focus just right, they can breathe fire.

Imagine, for me, Siffrin learning they are not human. They are Other. They are a Myth. And how this plays perfectly into Siffrin's increased alianation from the party, and Siffrin's growing belief that they are a monster, and that if this is ever discovered, his friends will leave him.

If you want to bring my wolfskin Isabeau into this. I already mentioned it briefly but. Isabeau is also not human but he is In Control of it. He makes it palatable. People know what beastfolk are, they're documented in Vaugarde, I'd imagine that there's one or two frozen around the House. They are a Known Quantity. Even compared to the nonhuman, Siffrin is Other, is a Beast, and he can feel his control slipping. Compared to Isabeau, he is a feral animal. (Or, at least, they believe they are.)

Augrh. Okay.

Also. Lizard Loop. Ok.

UM. SO. I mentioned Engage, so. EMBLEMS!! This Au actually has Emblems in it. See, on the island where the dragons lived, the Emblems lived as well. And people prayed to the Emblems, to the heroes from the countless stars, to the heroes sent by the universe to guide them. Only the dragons could summon Emblems, but they could grant favor to anyone. And if all Emblems came together, they could rewrite the Universe itself.

The Emblems knew this.

And thus, when the Emblems came togehter, they wished to be forgotten. The place where they dwelled, and the people that worshipped them... were casualties of an ill-fated wish, to seal away this catastrophic power.

Yup, I made Wish Craft emblem flavored!! Because man. It's literally "prayer incantation". Divine Dragons draw power from Emblems through Prayer, through belief, and Fell Dragons draw power from Emblems through Incantation, through ritual. And the most powerful of all is combining the two. IT'S WISH CRAFT RULES, YALL.

So so, the concept of Emblems also got forgotten, but the main wish just erased the Emblems as people. That's why Sif and Co could find out about Emblems as the story progresses, same way in canon they can find out about Wish Craft.

Because I love suffering, I'd say. Instead of a Silver Coin, Siffrin has a silver ring, instead. It's just a plain band that's been around their finger for forever. It's not special at all.

....or is it?

...sometimes, Siffrin manages to rememeber a friend. Only for brief moments. When Siffrin does Mirabelle's hair, he wonders how he knows to work with kinky hair. When they eat the fish head, they reminisce that someone else liked it..... and then they forget again.

In this AU, that friend was an Emblem. That was Siffrin's Marth. But they're gone. That ring is empty.

....or is it?

hihi.

About Loop.

I think this was Lozy's suggestion, but. Loop is an Emblem. Loop wasnt always an Emblem, but Engage shows how people can become Emblems, yeah. So, Loop is a spirit from another world, sent by the Universe to guide this one. Loop is bound to their own ring, though neither of them realize. When an Emblem is asked for power through incantation, they cannot refuse. Siffrin's wish causes the timeloop by calling upon the power of the dormant Emblem they carry, which is Loop.

(How did Loop cause their own loops? Well, it was still an Emblem, even before Loop was in it. Who was it? Well, I don't know, and that's the pain, isn't it?)

Also I think it'd be really cool if Big Sif isn't just, Sif fully transforms into a dragon (which is already cool as hell) but also like. Siffrin manages to Engage with their Emblem. And after that, the Emblem is well and truly gone, for good. It just said goodbye for the last time.

And ofc Act 6 when Loop disappears, Siffrin picks up the ring that houses them in the hopes Loop will awaken one day. Yeah.

UM. CHARACTERS BESIDES SIFFRIN!!

I've mentioned this in my FE6/ISAT parallels posting but Mirabelle is so lord-coded. Specifically the Roy-flavor of "just some guy" lord. She wasn't chosen for this she just happened to be here. SHE EVEN HAS A RAPIER!!! AND AN UNAVAILABLE MENTOR!!!

Listen to me she's so so so Roy-coded MIRABELLE IS A FIRE EMBLEM LORD.

Ok. Ok.

I think it'd be really funny if Odile was just straight up from Hoshido. It would work. I don't want to change Vaugarde to a FE country because the culture is just too unique for any straight equivalent, but the other countries with less detail work. (Puts Odile in Onmyoji because she's a magic class 100%)

Bonnie's class is actually Transporter. Lozy suggested "Aptitude Villager" but i feel we need to keep the spirit of "Do not Attack The Child". So Bonnie is the Elibe-exclusive Cannot Die Items Holder class. It even works with Bonnie's potshots that Merlinus (the only transporter in the whole entire FE series) gets daggers in Heroes, which is the debuff support weapon.

Bonnie chucking holy water from the back of a horse. Thank u. That is all.

Um yeah. So that's all (most?) of the FE-flavored ISAT thoughts I have. yeah. Um.

Thank u very much for asking this. I love talking.

[not-too-many-eyes]

I'm thinking about how like...ISAT is riffing on the idea of the party idea of the Five Man Band not really by changing much of the characters themselves (I'm at the Intermission so this might be subject to change) but by changing the focus of the Story + Mirabelle herself being The Hero. I'd talk about it more if I knew anything about Medieval European Fantasy (Which seems to be what her country specifically resembles?) but most of my experience is Horrible Horrible Isekai, and I generally do not like the setting (if someone who actually is actually more familiar with this kind of setting sees this and thus can actually weigh in more do tell.)

But...Odile, Isabeau, Bonnie, and even Siffrin are pretty familiar archetypes? This isn't a criticism. I think Siffrin especially is Delightful (since we get to be in their head, and thus I get the really interesting characterful writing that I...admittedly have not been getting too much from this game at the moment. One cannot live off of cute moments alone.) Just that there Familiar and makes me raise my eye when the game tells its story in acts and Siffrin has a stated interest in theater.

They better do something with this or I'll be Very Sad.

[canmom]

Hello! I've just heard about the litrpg genre, and Ms Lethargyspecialist suggested you might be a good person to ask for an opinion. If you're interested, would you mind sharing your take?

hehehe freya is presuming i know more about it than i do! I think @javert​ might be a better person to ask.

to the best of my knowledge - as you’ve already presumably found out - litrpg is fiction which follows various genre conventions of computer RPGs, particularly the diegetic existence of game abstractions like experience points and levels, but it could instead be the existence of game-like settings such as dungeons even if the characters don’t explicitly follow game mechanics.

it overlaps heavily with the isekai genre, which was previously known in the west as portal fantasy, stories in which someone from our world ends up in a fantasy world. many early fantasy stories like Narnia, Chrestomanci or Three Hearts, Three Lions followed this mould, but for whatever reason it’s pretty much gone out of fashion in the west... while it’s had a big resurgence in Japan in the last few years.

a steotypical isekai story has a nerd from our world end up in a computer game world, where their familiarity with RPGs allows them to get a leg up and become comparatively superpowered. but that’s long since passed through all kinds of parody, so now it does seem like most isekai stories are at least somewhat self-aware responses to an established genre (the protagonist might even mention having read web novels).

for some reason, this has been by far the biggest genre of online serial, particularly in Japan but also to some extent in the west. there’s been a whole wave of recent anime which are adapted from light novels which began life as isekai web novels, which I think is partly riding on the success of Sword Art Online (probably the anime series i most regret watching lmao). this also seems to have spread to the west, I’m told that a lot of the work on sites like Royal Road falls in the litrpg genre. this seems to have become a kind of self-sustaining ecosystem: people get into litrpg, and write litrpg web novels primarily for the existing audience of litrpg fans.

recs?

as far as litRPG I actually like... I have a guilty pleasure in Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka? (So I’m a Spider, So What?), which is probably the most conventional litrpg isekai I’ve read. I unreservedly love Dungeon Meshi, which doesn’t have diegetic game mechanics (indeed going to great lengths to imagine plausible ecology for a magical dungeon) but clearly takes most of its setting inspiration from RPGs.

the Fate series is sprawling and mostly bad, and originally adapted from an eroge visual novel rather than an RPG, but it definitely follows the logic of an RPG in the way its whole magic tournament is set up, with each character having a special move and unique item and so on. (no wonder it was perfectly suited to gacha-isation). Fate Zero (written by good old Gen Urobuchi, of Madoka and Psycho-Pass fame) is probably the main thing worth extracting from that, and if you like that, Unlimited Blade Works is pretty good - I’m advised it’s the least objectionable retelling of the original game and the one which most directly follows the arc of Zero.

in terms of recent anime, I might recommend Deca-Dence - it’s much more along the lines of action + drama in the Gurren Lagann/Studio Trigger mould (albeit with more emphasis on characterisation than you tend to get from Imaishi, bless him), but it’s one which includes a sci-fi MMO-like game fairly prominently. the main characters aren’t actually playing the game, though, it’s more of an overt metaphor for captalism and the state, so it’s not really litrpg in any traditional sense!

considering these haphazard examples, you can have stories which are literally set in an imagined computer game, or stories set in a fantasy world which happens to work like a computer game. and you can take a diverse set of inspirations from games - mechanics, conventional settings, structure. i’m not sure if there’s like, a purist definition of litrpg which is more restrictive than what I’ve given.

anyway, this isn’t really my field, I have no idea what the actual web novel side of it is like, and I’m sure there’s great stuff out there I just haven’t read/watched!

I would also say that, as I understand the term, it is technically possible to have a litrpg computer game... which is when one game simulates another kind of game. the game I have in mind is CrossCode, which is a Zelda-like puzzle + top-down action game with a linear story... but diegetically it’s set in a high-tech future MMO. the characters talk about game systems, but they’re fictional game systems, and not the ones you’re playing with!

appeal?

as far as the appeal of conventional litrpg [and isekai] goes, a few speculations...

it has a very clear and satisfying (if pulled off well) structure. the protagonist starts out weak, but survives by learning about the game’s systems and outwitting her opponents; eventually we get the satisfaction of seeing her solve the systems and turning the tables on them (and then the plot can go somewhere else)

it’s got a nice ‘what if’ element: ‘wouldn’t this be a cool game if it was real’

it’s very appealing to the kind of reader who likes everything to be systematised, ‘magic’ as a kind of alternate physics. you can have your characters use a ‘magic system’ which could fit in an TTRPG sourcebook... or you could just stop kidding and straight-up have an RPG system underlie everything. or at least, the appearance of one!

when you play a computer RPG, the emphasis is usually on delivering a story... but there’s almost always a huge disconnect between the story the game is ostensibly telling, and your own experience of it as a game system. you’re constantly filling in the gaps and brushing over disconnects between the game and the story; if you’re in an MMO, you’re blanking out the other player characters, ignoring the janky unrealism of the combat system. so it’s a fun thought experiment to imagine if the characters in the story could perceive how things ‘actually’ work, and erase that divide.

it’s automatically a bit silly and self-aware which inspires a certain kind of attitude in the writing... or at least should do. (there’s some embarrassingly self-serious entries out there)

it definitely inspires a sort of ‘I could write one of these!’ attitude, much like fanfic

also much like fanfic, the ‘rpg world’ where people are questing and killing monsters provides a kind of familiar meta-setting that doesn’t need explanation - just as a fic can lean on your familiarity with the characters and setting of its source work.

all that said, I personally find the subsubgenre of litrpg set in a pseudo-european fantasy setting incredibly unappealing, and hope it goes out of fashion! but i do feel like using game mechanics in a story still has as much potential as any other fantasy device, and a lot of people seem to be having fun exploring it; heck i’ve been vaguely wondering how i’d go about it, what stones remain unturned.

so yeah, that’s my take on litrpg... as someone who doesn’t really read any litrpg :p