#lore exploration thing

[therosefrontier]

No. 8: “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier.”

Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | “It’s all for nothing.”

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Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Bosacius, Boyang, plus mentioned Alatus (Xiao), Menogias, Indarius, Bonanus

Placement?: canon lore backstory, the Cataclysm

Word Count: 1538

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He did not remember much, but he knew enough to know that what he was doing was right.

He had been wandering the land without aim—he was not sure where he had been, only that he had no purpose for being there. He was drawn to this place by the sound and smell of battle. It pulled him, invigorated him. He saw a great Chasm in the earth, monsters spewing from it like a flood. An army stood before the gap and fought the monsters, held the line. He thought that he would join this army of humans, or perhaps, he thought nothing at all. He only did. He came down, and he fought. Fighting was right; fighting was what he was meant to do. With the battle, came bits of clarity. He had been a warrior, once. He was sure of this. He knew that it had been a long time ago, and that many years of Nothing lay in between, but he knew that these humans were his allies. It was right that he should fight with them.

He was a yaksha, and he had no name. He knew that he had one, once, but not anymore. No, no, that wasn’t right—he did not lose his name, he only forgot it. Those two things were not the same. He was a yaksha with a name, who was once called a name by others. No one could take his name from him. No one.

Many ages ago, a four-armed yaksha lay on a battlefield, covered in blood. He was a warrior, but he was not free. A god found him. Forced him to a purpose. Chains hung from every wrist. He was destined to be a sacrifice today, but he did not die. What should he do, since he did not die?

“Do you have a name?” a hooded figure, clad in Geo from neck to fingertips, reached out his hand.

To give a name was a dangerous thing. However, he did not have one. If he did, it was taken from him.

They called him “yaksha,” or the “four-armed yaksha,” or the “purple yaksha,” or the “nameless yaksha.” He was fine with this. He had no memories to share with them, only instinct. He would drive off these hoards, and he would protect this land.

Much of this army of humans would die, however. The hoards were unrelenting, just like the gods and their armies of many years before. He knew that he had fought gods before, although he didn’t remember when. He knew this must be a lot like those days, an army against an army, except that their enemies had no god to lead them, no direction, no purpose except to kill. That made them easier to kill, in turn. They were disorganized. However, they were also strong. Many humans were killed. The monsters outnumbered them, and with every human that died, they would outnumber them even more, screaming cries of bloodlust into the dark cavern and pushing relentlessly to the sky above. The monsters kept coming. So, he would stay. As long as this tired army was here, so would he. No, even if they weren’t here, he would be. This was what he should do.

“They keep coming…” a soldier spoke to his comrades, his eyes wide with horror even while they sat by the campfire in between waves, polearms close by their sides as they waited for the call that would tell them to get up and fight again, because the enemy was upon them. “What if we can’t make it? This could all be for nothing…they won’t stop until every one of us is dead…”

“What!? Don’t talk like that!” his comrade grew angry with him quickly.

“I don’t want that to happen! But we…we have to do something. Something different. If we just keep going like this…we won’t stop them. It’ll just be a waste.”

“We should follow orders,” another one said calmly. “Trust that they will know what to do.”

“But we need so much more… where’s Rex Lapis? He called us here, but shouldn’t he be here? He always fought by the Milleleth’s side in the past, hasn’t he? I wonder why he isn’t here now. Surely, this disaster is just as great as the Archon War…”

“We should trust Rex Lapis. I am sure that, wherever he is, he is fighting too. We’ve seen no enemy gods commanding this hoard, haven’t we? Perhaps, there is a reason for that. We should trust.”

The yaksha stood behind the group, and he listened. Rex Lapis…he knew this name. Yes, he knew it very well, he thinks. Rex Lapis was…someone very good. Yes, someone very good indeed.

The horn was sounded when the next wave came. The men put down their food and extinguished their fires, and they took to arms. The three men who he watched discuss their fears all similarly ran into the fray without restraint. Every one of them died, that day. It was a terrible battle. But, the line still stood.

“Bosacius! Ah, there you are!” Indarias ran up to him, a smile on her face in spite of her chiding words. “Menogias was looking for you. Also, why are you still walking around with open wounds like that? Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can hear Guizhong now. She’ll shove more of her healing herbs at you.”

“Oh, yes, I am fine. I was patrolling…”

“Nope! You’re taking a break!” She grabbed one of his hands, the bandages wrapped around her arm flexing as she did so. “Come on!”

As his wounds grew deeper, and as blood and miasma clouded his gaze, he heard laughter.

Bright words, full of vigor, would be heard from his friends. That’s right—he had friends once. Indarias, Menogias, Bonanus, Alatus… what were their names again? He was certain he could see them here. He would call out for them, because obviously, if he was fighting, then they would be fighting too. They were always together. But then, he would forget. He would forget who he was calling for. He would forget their names. He forgot his name, too.

He heard screams, and his heart would be saddened to hear the screams of his friends, too. They fought a long, bitter battle. It tore them little by little, killing them more and more every time, until it was the end. Yes, all things must end. Even them. The darkness was a great, swallowing thing, just like the Chasm.

He left someone behind. Soon, he became sure of it. But who?

They made a decision. The battle must be won, and to win, they must use the compass, and seal this place for good. Some would have to be trapped down there. It needed the power of a yaksha and a human, a thaumaturge…so of course, he would not hesitate to offer. They must win. They must make sure that the sacrifices were not all for nothing. They must fight, so their homeland may live.

(Or perhaps, he knew it was the end, anyways. He knew nothing but battle. Especially now, when he knew so little at all. He knew only blood, so how could he leave it?)

He remembered now. There was someone he left behind. Alatus. He was the youngest among them, the last to take Rex Lapis’s hand. He had suffered very much…but he remembered his laughter, too. His smile. It did not come often, but it was never unnoticed. Not to him. He was sorry to leave Alatus behind. But he had faith in him. He was still alive—he knew it. He would live. He would see Liyue when it was whole, and happy. This would not all be for nothing.

“Brother! Brother, please…don’t die before me.”

Boyang had family. The yaksha asked him about them. He missed them, and the yaksha understood. He had forgotten about Alatus and about the ones who died for a very, very long time, but it was clearer now, and he knew that he missed them.

His body was giving out. The pain hardly registered, simply because he was very used to this, or perhaps because his mind was too far gone to pay such a thing any mind. But right then, before the end…he remembered again.

Alatus, Indarias, Bonanus, Menogias. His friends…no, his family. He saw their shadows waiting for him, just on the other side. He remembered a million memories all at once, remembered that he was happiest with them by his side. Painful flashes struck his soul, making him think of their suffering and death, but mostly, he remembered how they lived. Talking and laughing by the fire, food cooked in the wilderness, seeing the mountains like he had never seen them before, lighthearted antics when the days were bright. He also remembered long days of recovery after a difficult fight, dark nights of mourning a comrade’s loss, difficult discussions when they or their nation had to deal with some trial ahead…but in that, too, they lived. Because they were together.

There was always going to be a tomorrow. And tomorrow was worth fighting for.

It would not all be for nothing.

“I am Bosacius!” he said out loud, vigor filling his lungs even as his form became weak. He could see them. Menogias, Indarias, Bonanus. They were waiting for him. “And my duty…is to make the ultimate sacrifice!”

[girlbob-boypants]

Merrill using blood magic to cleanse the blight is insane given the lore that the blight is a manifestation of the Titan's torment nexus dreams. Lyrium is the blood of titans. It's a source of magic. Elves originate from the flesh of Titans. Blood magic can manipulate minds.

Something something the shared blood of two beings is used to soothe their anger. The Dalish fixing what their oppressors did to others.

[the-artist-grimm]

one thing im very complexed about is what were baal and ayms rection to narinder after getting resurected. surely they would feel a lot of anger towards him because of what he did.

When Aym and Baal are revived they’re more concerned for Narinder than anything else. Like how can their master, their father go from agonizing for MONTHS over ways to spare the lamb, to in the span of a single week telling them he’s found a way but not elaborating, looking completely heartbroken the next few days after, then when the day of reckoning finally comes telling the lamb in this muted, emotionless tone to sacrifice themselves out of the blue? It didn’t make sense. 

While Aym and Baal are 11 year old kids but they’re not stupid-they know this isn’t how their father usually acts, and something’s wrong. It's why they intentionally get hurt (and accidentally) die fighting Anthea, they're trying to snap him out of it since they didn't know what else to do since he didn't want to talk.

From there it takes 4 months to revive the twins-during that time their souls are trapped inside the gateway by the remains of Narinder's metaphysical chain. Not quite awake, but not quite asleep either-only able to tell they were alone until the voices of their parents wake them up before being yanked into the mortal realm. They’re scared, they’re shaken, they put brave faces on while dying yeah but they can feel the phantom of blade and mana caught in their flesh all over again, but their twin is beside them, and before they know it their Baba has them in their embrace wailing, yet their father is nowhere to be seen. 

Cue them being seemingly ok-ish (read: in shock) while being fussed over by Anthea for the rest of the day (given warm meals, constant hugs and kisses to the head, warm bubbly baths then a long brushing, soft nightgowns that smell like lanolin, all while their comfort kitten plushies they'd given the lamb a day prior to the betrayal in preparation for the 'move' have been returned to their arms), and while they keep asking what happened, the Lamb doesn’t know how to answer them anymore. A month before they would've said Narinder betrayed them all, but they're no longer sure anymore.

(Narinder betrayed them. He betrayed them, but then why did he help them with the resurrection? Why did he stabilize them as they struggled to break the chain, why did he lose sleep the whole week leading up just to help? Following their every word, their every order perfectly, never getting upset when they got snappy?  Why did he the leave the chapel without greeting the boys he mourned over. Why hasn't he tried to take back the crown since his arrival? Why isn’t he fighting them, angry, bitter, anything? Why is he making it so hard to hate and ignore him?)

Anthea eventually has to take the twins over to Narinder later that night since the nightmares are setting in now that the shock's worn off and they both wake up crying for him (they can’t remember the 4 months but that isolation left both with intense separation anxiety from both each other and their parents, and not having seen Narinder was really messing with them), and while that first reunion is them just launching themselves at him to cling to his nightshirt crying, followed by them then refusing to let Anthea leave either and thus both parents are stuck trying to get the boys to fall asleep in Narinder’s room, come morning they’ve calmed down enough that Anthea can leave to do cult things and they can question their father.

They just want to know what happened, and is he ok-he scared them by acting so strange and they're worried. Which kinda breaks Narinder a little because he left the chapel expecting that they hated him. That they wouldn’t want to see him since he betrayed Anthea, is the reason they died, and that their Baba deserved them more than him but here they are worried for him, and it’s the first time in months someone’s said they’re worried about him and he actually believes it. So he tells them everything.

He heard something he wasn't meant to hear, took it out of context, and in his fear over being betrayed again made a mistake. A mistake he thinks he can NEVER fix, and was a mistake he thinks he should NEVER be forgiven for. 

(He didn't trust them. Why didn't he trust them? The Lamb was his friend why would they ever betray him he's terrible Shamura was right to 'hate' him why can't everyone just abandon him already he doesn't understand-)

He thinks that’ll do it, but rather than the twins getting mad, it just clears up what they had already assumed-that something went wrong, and their dad thought he had no choice. They're not angry because he made a mistake since why should they? That just means he has to apologize.

It's that childishly innocent idea that all mistakes can be fixed by talking things out, and while it's more complicated than that, it does hold weight. Aym and Baal are the breaking of the cycle of hiding your emotions, hiding your pain, assuming the worst and self-loathing and destroying yourself as a result. The cycle of not talking to the people in your life and just letting things boil over. Narinder may have held back in some ways when raising them by not telling them to call him ‘dad’, but he raised them as he wished he’d been-teaching the twins that it’s ok to be hurt, scared, to make mistakes, and that they can go to him for anything and he won’t get mad. Anthea’s presence reinforced that-that you gotta talk to people when something’s wrong or else they can’t help. 

The boys are very empathetic and emotionally aware, and thus if they can make mistakes and fix things, why can’t the adults? So no they're not mad at Narinder, they just don't understand why he thinks it's not worth trying to make amends.

[choppyama]

I still think the lack of aus for kghn is bc volleyball is such a core part of their relationship, writers and artists don’t want to take it away from them. and since they already have such peak canon storyline it’s very easy to just expand on it.

Anyways Even it’s in a fantasy setting Kageyama just gotta be really good at something, he’s gotta be hyper focusing on it and work really hard to be his best at it. I feel like it’s a core personality trait atp, it doesn’t have to be vb necessarily he just needs to have his ‘thing’

[caramelclover]

made a mouthwashing oc because i love the game a little too much

hopefully i'll either write a fic or draw more of winnie so you can see what she's about

also she's an ex-nurse cos she was doing a trip on the freighter and got into an accident leading to her developing sepsis despite her best efforts. she lost the arm and had her nurse title stripped from her sub sequentially cos pony express is run by greedy assholes looking for reasons to pay someone less [especially if they get injured on the job]

[potato-lord-but-not]

Under discussed thing that means something to me: John said Oscar made a tourniquet that stopped most of the bleeding when he lost his aem. Yes anyone can do it but you typically have to be taught to make a good one. Oscar is a clergyman WHERE DID HE LEARN TO MAKE ONE?

no literally- I feel like there’s a lot of unexplained stuff surrounding Oscar, like sureee that could be explained in his note but also it’s feeding the delusion that’ll he’ll be back. like hey Oscar care to explain how you make a tourniquet so well? or how Arthur makes it a thing to point out how you knew to cut off your arm instead of cut it out but that literally never gets answered?? or how you’re just OKAY with the fact that strange eldritch beasts exist??? WHAT IS WITH HIM

[nopanamaman]

Hello everynyan how are you fine thank you

I'm thinking of making a Patreon in the near future, and while I do have some ideas for the content I'd post there (WIP stuff, more behind the scenes, detailed extra lore, early access to prequel comic pages, monthly illustration votes, etc.), I think getting some input would be good.

What would you like to see on there?

(video sneak peek tax)

[fruitsofhell]

I used to be one of those guys when I first joined the Kirby fandom, but everytime I hear a discussion of the series writing that starts with "So the Lore is InSaNe-" and not like, "Kirby has a fun writing style that takes advantage of its cute exterior to tell cool stories that reward player's curiosity and leave lots of room for imagination-" I cringe so goddamn hard.

I kinda just hate that people approach things that encourage investment when they don't expect it as inherently absurd. Like it is fun to joke about how absurd Kirby lore can be, but it really often comes with an air of disrespect or exhaustion rather than like, appreciation that these games are made by people who want to tell interesting stories when they could easily make as much money just making polished enough fluffy kiddy platformers. And when it's not met with exhaustion, it's met with - like I said before - that tone that it's stupid for a series like this TO have devs who care about writing stuff for it. Which is a whole other thing about people not respecting things made to appeal to kiddie aesthetic or tone.

Maybe the state of low-stakes YouTube video essays just blows cause people play up ignorance and disbelief for engagement, but like I STG I hear people use this tone for like actual narrative based games sometimes. Some people don't like... appreciate when a game is made by people who care a shitton in ways that aren't direct gameplay feedback. And they especially don't appreciate it when it comes from something with any sense of tonal dissonance intentional or not.

Anyways, I love games made by insane people. I love games made by teams who feel like they wanna make something work or say something so bad. I love that energy, especially when invested into something that could easily rest on its laurels or which obviously won't be taken seriously. I love this in a lot of classic campy 2000s games, I love this in insanely niche yet passionate fanworks, and I love it in the Kirby series and its writing. Can we please stop talking about it like it's an annoyance or complete joke?

[oneluckydragon]

"What do you remember of being human, Echo?" The question is out of the blue and unexpected. But Sora offers a patient smile and tilts her head in curiosity, just enough that one of her ears flops over. It's endearing, if anything.

But Echo wishes she hadn't asked.

"Not much. Distinct memories are cloudy." A tired tone says softly, a pained recollection in her eyes and an acrid haze in her soul that endures, endures, and endures, "But I remember the discomfort more than anything. My body always did feel wrong back then. Misshapen. Condensed. Like it was too small for everything buried underneath, and that ache went so deeply some days that it would make my skin crawl. I hated that part the most."

At that, Sora's expression falls. She looks inexplicably sad, as if she'd hoped for a different response, a gentler one despite knowing the harsh truth about the dark future and the struggles Echo must have suffered. "But you had Grovyle, right? I'm sure he took care of you."

"He did, Sora, of course he did." A sigh, a flick of an ear and claws clenched tightly into the churned earth pressed under her paws. "I doubt I deserved his attention, though. I was too busy being angry at the world to give any care back."

In my lore, Echo does not look fully human during their time in the dark future. Since they were Darkrai before becoming human, and as a result of Palkia's reckless shattering of the Dimensional Portal which distorted both time and space, Echo's transformation was broken and accidental. They ended up looking pretty messed up and definitely (not) human. A lot of their characteristics as Darkrai carried over but rather morphed into something else.

And Grovyle, growing up in a world where humans have been extinct for longer than any living pokémon has been alive, has no concept of what a "true" human looks like. The only thing he knows is descriptions of humans from glyphs and texts in old ruins. Thus, he mistakes Echo for an actual human. And Echo, not knowing what a human looks like themselves due to amnesia, accepts this identification with nothing better to use.

[thefirstknife]

Hi Bel! If YOU could make an expansion, what would you theme it around?

I've been thinking about this ask for 2 days and I still don't know, there are so many things I would want to go into it. It's impossible for me to choose. Possibly my biggest interest is exploring the universe in some way and uncovering its history.

Instead, I am asking all of YOU what would you theme an expansion around. Put it in the tags.

[bisexualjonahsimms]

Watch Mayhem On The Cross last night and have been losing it since then

Sweets imprinted on them like baby duck 😭😭😭😭 he just wants a family 😭😭 Brennan and Booth finally opening up about their childhoods for Sweets 😭😭😭😭😭😭 Brennan being locked in the trunk of a car for two days and then years later getting buried alive in a car 😭😭😭 Booth opening up and refusing to go any deeper and Brennan and Sweets going against their natures to respect that 😭😭 “family style” dinner 😭😭😭😭😭

[thorough-witness-enjoyer]

thoughts on nezarec .....

Greetings!!! I need him to keep his freaky hand feet away from me, I am so disturbed by them☺️!!!

But thank you for the message!!

To be completely honest, I think about Nezarec 24/7 just because of how intriguing the concept of his character is! Not only do I find his design to be very interesting and eye catching (I’m free tonight Nezarec), I’m forever in a perpetual state of hunger for lore about him!

You‘re telling me the Final God of Pain is a disciple of an entity who wishes to end all pain because he wants the „fullest gamut of existence“? How did he even get into the Witness‘ clutches and how did it justify having such a sadist as a disciple? What was the relationship between the two like?

He‘s from an unknown species, but can never truly die and was remade by the Witness‘ hands? Tell me more!! How does he possess such powers?!

I am so starved for Nezarec lore and I cannot WAIT to receive more once we start dealing with Misraaks‘ situation, hopefully getting his origins like we did Rhulk. I completely understand that he was not the main focus in Lightfall, but I’m climbing my walls at the fact that Bungie would release such a long awaited and theorized character just for us to have to wait so long for a follow up!!

Bungie drop more Collapse lore that focuses on Nezarec being killed and the Witness losing the Veil and my life is yours, I’m so hungry.

As for his personality, what a guy!!! I have a plethora of headcanons about him, but I like to imagine just how far his tendency to be a sadistic nuisance can go! I make him torture the Witness‘ patience in my head as karma for all it has done and I often wonder if he has an underlying philosophy to his actions! Maybe his love of pain and mastery of nightmares is related to the species he comes from, who knows!

Overall, freaky guy who should be even freakier and is in dire need of more lore! I love you Nezarec, stay freaky, and never improve as a person because you are so funny as is!

Also a little headcanon drop, I think Nez would be very fond of goats as I imagine he finds their horns to be charming (like his) and he often gets them as sacrifices from his human acolytes! In my head, he has a pet goat he treats as his baby (much to the dismay of the Witness who finds his sentimentality towards the thing frivolous)! I love making that guy do silly things.

Love the glasses and gold chain by the way.

[transmairon]

Things that live rent-free in my head forever: the near 100 years between Sauron trying and failing to enslave the Eregion elves with the One Ring and the actual invasion of Eregion.

What were Sauron and Celebrimbor doing besides building up their armies during all that time? Did they keep exchanging angry and passive-aggressive letters to each other?

[marmastry]

Sorry, my friend @incorrect-splatoon read you comic and just text me "Mr.Buddy is chad, hasa is ass" and now we made this.

😭😭😭 lol

Ok, but how dare u call Hasa Jobless. He's not!!! He pays for his rent accordingly and actively avoids being in debt! I haven't gotten a chance to explore it in the story, but he does repair work for machines and stuff. Ever since the tenta brella incident, he obsessively tried to figure out what he did wrong. He's been tinkering with machines when Marlin found him underground because it was the closest thing he could play with 😫💥 He's a hard worker overall!

Anyway, here's some of the jobs my OCs do.

Maya: Part timer everywhere from Salmon run, to package delivery work, etc. This is why she's always sleepy. Ink sport was her main income before.

Pike: Modeling.

Azure: Media related work. Works with Ariel.

Betta: Influencer

Marlin: She scouts for areas that can be an ink sport map. She travels the world a lot and is barely home because of that.

Bait: Tutor (He's really good dealing with kids)

Iodine: Cook. He does paid tarot reading as well.

I think that's about it?

[persicipen]

i had quite the burnout from playing genshin, only keeping up with dailies and events, but ignoring many quests and exploration (especially the lore heavy ones because i really wanted to enjoy them and not rush through), but i think i’m slowly getting out of it. currently finishing remuria, and dare i say that i would die for scylla, prince of dragonborn. he cute! :’3

[palossssssand]

Reconciliation

Old dome squadmates Trito and Kinoga get together at Trito’s place to catch up after years apart and a meeting by chance on the surface.

⚠️Warning for suggestive content below + implied chest trauma

After several weeks of chipping away at this, the comic is finally done! Very happy to have rendered a full 7 pages of oc stuff. Please give it a read!!

read the full 7 page comic on twitter! <-please do not click if you are a minor and view at your own discretion, this link contains explicit 18+ content. Thank you!

For the lore, includes stuff from splatoon Octo Expansion: Trito and Kinoga were a part of an octarian military squad living in the domes, Kinoga being their squad leader that many looked up to and admired. There were 6 of them who considered each other to be their closest friends. Upon hearing about the tests from Kamabo Co. and the allure of the Promised Land, Kinoga wished to seek it out in order to find a better life for their squadmates. A difficult decision, since it meant leaving them all behind, promising to come back and take them there.

Kinoga enters the metro trials and soon realizes that the Promised Land isn’t what they expected, their hope crumbling when they encounter one of their sanitized squadmates Agara, who followed suit to the metros soon after. Kinoga narrowly escapes, eventually making a break for the surface, carrying the shame of unwilling to return for their squadmates with them (it’s justified, of course, there might not be an easy way in, they might get caught again, Agara is gone)

Trito enters the Metro not too long after Kinoga does, wanting to catch up to them, and an accident that occurs in a test early on results in Trito’s near sanitization, giving him his scar. Terrified, and realizing what happens to his fellow octolings, Trito is unable to return to his squadmates, not wanting to break the news of their loved ones’ untimely fates. He hides away on the Metro until the events of OE happen and Agent 8 dismantles Kamabo, opening an opportunity to escape to the surface. Unwilling to face the possibilities of going back, Trito takes his chance to leave, starting a new life and feeling that it’s for the best if he doesn’t acknowledge it, though he missed his friends dearly.

Years later, Trito and Kinoga run into each other on the streets of Splatsville by chance, and the implications of them both being on the surface and alive hit them, having to carry the burden of leaving their loved ones behind and finding out the truth, knowing the other felt exactly the same, not knowing the fate of their squadmates and not wanting to think about the possibility of them being gone. They have a tearful reunion about it, and set up a meet later, to sit down and really talk, and get into a brief argument when the topic of returning to the domes comes up. Trito’s in disbelief that Kinoga never went back down to check on the rest of their squad, wanting them to have been a better person than him, who was too cowardly to do so. Eventually they do reconcile, and end up at Trito’s place to hook up, where the above comic takes place :]