#lorewhore

[makoredeyes]

What's a favorite lore piece you've read for the sake of writing fics?

Oh goodie you gave me a good one here because I love to screech about this one whenever given the chance because I don't think a lot of people have ever noticed this.

This Grimoire card is from the Rise of Iron expansion in D1 and is one of Rasputin's Logs. It's what appears* to be his knee-jerk reaction to the Iron Lords' break in to Site 6 where SIVA is kept.

I reference this lore directly in my Isochronism fics, but it's also one of my absolute favorites regarding Rasputin, Felwinter, and SIVA because of some of the fascinating little details that, so many years further down the road into the story, we can pick out of it. I'll unpack it for us, but TLDR Rasputin is a fucking LIAR.

Rasputin likes to keep his records in some pretty purple prose code so I'll start by decoding most of the terms he uses here, and then I'll back up and loosely translate it for us all.

--

YUGA SUNDOWN- cancels all protocols for protecting humanity/activates MIDNIGHT EXIGENT

MIDNIGHT EXIGENT - long term counterattack protocol and moral structure change. Essentially allows Rasputin to ignore morals for the 'greater good'

[O] Means the Traveler /ie [O] Energy = Lightbearers

SKYSHOCK - usually there's other qualifiers attached to this but it indicates hostiles of an unprecedented scale

AURORA RETROFLEX - A defense subroutine - presumed to be for when Rasputin is directly threatened

SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE - Meaning this is in secret/does not escape Rasputin's records

SCRY OVERSIGHT - is an observation protocol but here is used in conjunction with SILENT VELES which means effectively "no oversight"

--

I'm going to start by pointing out that that very first line indicates SOMEONE gained unauthorized access into a terminal and managed to cancel at least one of Rasputin's protocols (YUGA SUNDOWN). Ballsy AF and imo pretty uncanny that they were even remotely successful. Rasputin immediately reverses this, but I can only assume the only person who would know to do this in the first place, let alone have the capabilities, would be Felwinter, especially among the Iron Lords, who appear to file in next in the very next line.

Rasputin records the arrival of the Iron Lords as a mighty surprise, and responds to them, in this record, as such, and as a threat.

This is incongruous with his admission later to Ana and the Guardian that he deliberately lured Felwinter (and his people) there deliberately. In this record, Rasputin has gone, "oh holy shit what the hell is that turn off all my moral structures I don't know what the hell those things are fire everything purge it all kill it kill it kill it!"

*And also I'm going to turn off my body camera (see SCRY OVERSIGHT + SILENT VELES) and don't ask permission or tell anyone ever (SUBTLE ASSETS IMPERATIVE)

Even though he made sure they found this vault.

This is all 1000% deliberate, premeditated, and a forged record my friends.

Edit: *semi- forged, or perhaps more accurately greatly bending the truth. Sylenth makes some damn good points in the comments that I kind of glossed over on my analysis and kind of took for granted but she’s right and it should be pointed out.

(also, worth noting, that REPLICATE.ELIMINATE.IMMUNIZE imperative sent to SIVA that is recorded here is different than what is recorded elsewhere also)

[kiitchensiink]

this might be controversial but I've never understood why people dislike SAI, or see it as less musically worthwhile? tøp has always crossed genres and bucked tradition, and given us a new sound every album.

I really love how versatile they are! and it feels like we were genuinely being spoiled the entire album :') like, there's a perfect mix of absolutely heartbreaking songs (Choker, Shy Away, Redecorate, No Chances, THE OUTSIDE!!!!), and upbeat boppy songs with even more soulcrushing hidden aspects to them (Mulberry Street, Saturday, Good Day, Never Take It & Bounce Man)

I feel like they perfectly fit the aesthetic of cheerfully deceptive and dystopic, whilst also continuing their concepts from Trench and exploring them. I like the theme of like, maladaptive positivity that covers a hidden misery and darkness as the boys try to navigate being trapped in a hopeless situation, the critique on the current social climate of being hyperaware n information overload, and also all the MISinformation that comes along with it.

I feel like it's JUST as narratively interesting and complex as Trench was but bc there have been almost no theorycrafters talking about it, it didn't get nearly the love and insight it deserves.

I love you SAI, I love you dystopic societies covered by a chipping layer of pastel paint, I love you societal critique about being dragged back into the throes of depression and feeling as though society dresses it up in flowery language to make it more palettable to them, I love you boys who never limit themselves to one sound or genre and instead explore them all and push them to their limits and experiment and keep things interesting forever, I love you twenty one pilots

[gaylordthethird]

I can't find it but some beautiful tumblr user posted a clip of one of martyns streams where he named a world lorewhore and then described it as a pokémon and I drawed it but not very well

[kiitchensiink]

They actually DO have a type of magic that suppresses thought, Clancy in his letters refer to it as smearing! it's seen in the Jumpsuit video when the bishop comes for Tyler. I reckon all of their power to control the masses comes from sacrificing the glorious gone to the vials, which gives the bishops a cultural power in the form of faith.

not necessarily in any form of god, but as a cultural criticism of the way we deify sacrifice. their power comes from the literal glorification of death and hopelessness.

I believe that's what happens to your standard dissenter; if thoughts begin to blossom, they're quickly snuffed out by a meeting with their bishop, eliminating the need for full reeducation... However, it's shown that, given enough will to fight it, those who have been smeared CAN escape it's thrall.

so it only seems to work as much as the individual believes it will.

the power of suggestion and ignorance being the tools it operates on.

I reckon it's in the air, it's in the water, it's in their blood; many denizens of dema are simply in a fuge state for most of their lives, however, if their awareness is triggered by some type of realisation or enlightenment, they can snap out of it. it just depends if they have the opportunity to do so, and then reject the cultural influence.

tbh, I see Tyler in specific being intentionally groomed to be a bishop, but other than that to me, they seem to be perfectly content to killing the young to prolong their survival. killing their own to quash dissent among their ranks. anything to keep themselves in power. they seem purely selfish to me, and only seem to recognise Tyler for the power he has, and so, they've been attempting to transform a threat into an asset. Or make him a martyr.

what is your favourite headcanons about the methods of re-education in dema? do the citizens have much awareness of their brainwashing? and what horrible sexy things do you think happens behind closed doors :3 - kiitchensiink

ooo good question. I always assumed they used the Vials to do some kind of magic on their brain. like put them in an altered state, maybe remove memories or feelings they don't like.

I think some citizens are kind of aware but afraid to do much, but many legitimately believe in Dema and want to be there.

I wonder if many grow up there and don't realize anything is wrong. Like in Clancy's letter about not realizing until his ninth year that something was amiss.

I think behind closed doors theres people being essentially groomed into being the next bishops.

[freakinator]

zam just going off about how theres just a 9 hour stream filled with so much important shit and questioning how anybody can catch up with that... yeagh.

[brekkie-e]

Another musing about Veilgaurd as I force myself to eat-

There are two really different things going on with the lore and it both triggers my obsession and frustration. The stuff theyre doing with the Evanuris, the Forgotten Ones, and the Titans??? If there were a lorewhore equivalent to It's Raining Men out there- that song plays for me on a loop in this game. Every time I find something signed "-Im" I lose my mind. Talking to Valta? Boom, fabulous. No complaints. I feel positively spoiled with the codexes half the time. There is so much of it. If this is the last game they ship, I am kind of satisfied on this front.

But then I turn and see the Crows and it's the opposite feeling. Now I think there's a lot to be said that some of their info could be intentional indoctrination type things. But as of rn (and I'm on my first playthrough so bear with me) there seems to be a lack of that classic DA fucked up codex to clue you in that you might be receiving faulty info.

Ive heard a couple of folks say Zevran is an unreliable narrator recently and I find that to be a poor defense of Veilgaurd's Crow lore. He can't be an unreliable narrator when you as a player witness the same story as him. The other Crows hunt him down. They give him a chance to complete his contract and try and kill him if he doesnt. His narrative falls apart if his opinion of the Crows isnt based in fact. He joins the Warden because they are strong enough to protect him.

Now he is from a specific house. Each house could have their own methods of doing things. But that's not heavily emphasized in the game. There isn't a self awareness in the narrative here like when they introduced the idea that some Dalish abandon mage kids in the woods. You could as a Dalish player respond with, "what?? That's not what my clan does?"

I've also seen folks say that the Crows are as described in the books, which I will say is closer to truth but not entirely. The Wigmaker job references abusive training methods. Eight Little Talons is a tale about their insane infighting. It references past insane infighting. You dont walk away thinking "wow this is a beautiful found family who have issues hurting eachother." But vice versa there are a few short stories that include older Crows who seem relatively normal and content with their lot. But notably- they don't delve deep into how they came to be Crows or how they were trained or if there were other futures they wanted to pursue. Those topics werent the point of the stories. So using them as a full-proof defense of Veilgaurd's Crow content doesnt work for me.

Anyways. Like I said, this is just a lunch thought and not terribly in depth. Just roating the game in my mind and marveling at how it does some things so well, and others feel quite watered down.

[lillysilverus]

Credit twitter (@LOREWHORE)

[kiitchensiink]

I hope it's okay for me to add a rb comment on this, but there's also this fanmade tøp wiki, that details all of the dmaorg updates + information on the releases including the clancy letters and the ARGs that happened during the release of Trench!

it's very comprehensive, and has a ton of the surrounding information from the time. I'm also a new fan and found it very helpful, but it also really does help to just reach out to other veteran fans! I'm not sure if there are still lore-focused resource blogs here on tumblr 😭 there may still be some out there from the peak of Trench, but it'd be awesome to see a return of them!

i feel like im in way over my head

im 16 years old and have been listening to vessel for a couple months now because the lyrics really hit home, but just a week or so ago i listened to the rest of top’s discography and have been watching a ton of youtube videos—some lore related, and some just of the boys in general. i feel like im so late to the train and will never fully be fan since i really JUST got here!!! the lore is so complicated to catch up on and tøp has been a thing for so long i just feel like.. i dont know, like ill never be able to be a true fan. is there anything you could reccomend that would help me get into them a little more..? i saw you were really into the lore and stuff and i dunno… im just curious if my worries are true

yo theres nothing to be worried about !!!! im actually a little late to the party too (i became a fan in like 2019 or so) and ill admit that there is a lot to catch up to if ur a newer fan of tøp, but that doesnt contradict whether you're a 'real' fan or not . just because you like pizza doesnt mean you can list every pizza place off the top of ur head yk ?

if you rlly wanna get into the band's music more i recommend checking out some of their older live performances it will fuck you up (in a positive way). i have a playlist of some of my favorites here if you wanna check em out :)

as for the lore, im currently working on a complete document explaining all the lore to the best of my abilities :D its intimidatingly long and its not finished yet but if you want to check it out so far here is the link.

u might have already seen these channels before but a couple pretty notable youtube channels that cover the lore are nalbis, stolen potential, pop song professor, dema, and brad taste in music. their videos were all super helpful for catching up when i first got into tøp. i especially recommend watching nalbis's three videos about the trench storyline

i dont wanna cram too much info into a single ask unprompted lol but if you want a summary about the band's history and/or about the lore just hmu with another ask :)

[rinwellisathing]

If you call yourself a D&D lore whore but don't consider Kas and Vecna toxic yaoi, are you REALLY a D&D lorewhore?

[indigoraen]

i try to be real cool about dragon age on main, but on the inside, the bioware-dwarf-loving lorewhore in me has been screaming violently since 2009

[castielsprostate]

castiel would snack on toes like they're baby carrots 🥕

HE WOULD!!!!!!! he doesn't hide the fact he eats toes tho, but he snacks on them when he feels like having a little toesiewosie so usually they're just not around but one day they're just sitting in the bunker and Sam is being a lorewhore, figuring things out for a case, dean is eating/cleaning the guns/eating and cas just pulls out this fucking IKEA freezer bag filled with toes. and no one notices until they hear the fucking CRUNCH. cas is just munching away on flesh and bone and having a good time having a little snacky and sam looks up, looks back down and he snaps his head back up and his brain fries at the image and that's when dean notices and he just goes "cas man what the hell" and sam is never the same and dean never takes his socks off again in Castiel's presence <3

[blorbotomy]

That cocky grin! Also her shirt looks so comfy. Hope it wasn't lost to the nineties

humbly request more 90s magic au lore

Imogen in chaps

(i'm not posting about the world/exandrian lore until i've ironed it out further, but you can get in my dms)

[kiitchensiink]

EXTREMELY feral normal about this one. Like. Mmm.

:3 go ahead , be abnormal in my replies (PLEASEI'd love to hear ur thoughts lol)

I just loooove the tragic doomed love of it all, Torchbearer knows there is no way out of this but he'd rather die at Tyler's side than on a distant shore, never seeing the core of everything he loves ever again.

he chooses to go back, to surrender himself, so that even if Tyler is lost to the war and there's no going back,, at least he will have always known Torchbearer loved him. always.

[voidfeather]

some brëadcrumbs for the lorewhores

[frost-bitten]

please we are lorewhores i am BEGGING you to do ANYTHING with this story you have

[sunforgrace]

#well naomi was kind of a faggy angel herself post lesbian pixie cut @lorewhore

“that faggy angel” many people are saying this.