#mercurius pretty

[90sfantasyanimestuff]

Mercurius Pretty, PC-98

[easternmind]

Mercurius Pretty is a long forgotten life simulation game originally launched on the PC9801 in 94. The entirely redesigned and expanded Dreamcast edition, dubbed 'End of the Century', contained a 40 page booklet with designs from the many artists invited to reimagine it.

The game revolves around the raising of an homunculus/fairy inside a glass vat at a laboratory by a disciple of master alchemist Paracelsus. Other than the simulation elements of the original, all-new characters and adventure components were added for the Dreamcast edition.

Although the similarities with Princess Maker are readily evident, the game was actually produced by Tohiro Tsuchiya, an ex-COMPAC staff member previously involved in the creation of the genre's less celebrated precursor, the superb PC98/X6800 Production Manager from 1989.

While Mercurius Pretty and its artwork mean very little to me, I found it to be a cut above your average bishōjo. Certain that it would interest some of my followers, I took the liberty of scanning it and sharing it at the Internet Archive, with full artist credits listed per page: https://shorturl.at/eiSTU

[theic-manic]

So, your deity doesn't match mythology energies huh?

And you've ruled out trickster gods, simple mistaken identity, misinterpretation of texts and you've received so many signs that makes you pretty certain that it's say, Ares but his vibes are more chill and besides you don't seem to match the typical Ares follower vibes?

You're sure it's Zeus but you're getting his more subdued personality?

Well, do I have news for you!

Actual realisation I had recently.

My Ares has been more like a mentor because he's Mars with me.

My Aphrodite has been less erotic because she's Venus with me.

My Zeus is mellow, calmer and less authoritarian because he's Jupiter with me.

Meanwhile Apollo is a combination of his Hellenic and Roman aspects

Then there's Hermes Mercurius aka mf pivots harder than my moonswings

I suspect this is because of my emotional, spiritual, career, and even financial growth (or their Roman aspects triggered this growth, it's a bit chicken vs. egg) but it appears I need to sit down and recalibrate my Polytheistic practice.

I will also start a "compare the pair" Hellenic vs. Roman counterparts deity series when I'm less spoon- deficient.

[hideous-armor]

Mercurius Pretty - Concept art

[lesbiangiratina]

Character Designer Issue 1 (2003) Guilty Gear concept art + Daisuke commentary

Theres a nice amount of undocumented stuff! A few of these have been shown off elsewhere, but theyre still pretty obscure. Some of the sketches have fun things like beta character names (i enjoy “frederick mercurius” for sol and “blackmore” for testament.) and little notes that are… mostly illegible, but theres still a ton of commentary here. Also includes an interview with daisuke.

Google drive link :)

[happilychee]

miscellaneous fairy tail headcanons that I came up with while writing my ridiculously long fic pt.2

♡ cana, gray, and loke are a little trio in fairy tail. after the grand magic games, sting gets added to their group. they all meet up after jobs to get drinks and gossip.

♡ laxus's favorite drink is apple cider. he's never told anyone but somehow they all know. if he's having a bad day, mira will slide him a mug of steaming cider with a cinnamon stick in it. laxus does not tear up, there was just dust in his eye.

♡ jellal and pantherlily are both tea enthusiasts. they've argued soooo much about different teas. they've both yet to discover that rufus is also a tea buff.

♡ laxus has sneezed in an onsen before and almost electrocuted everyone. cana never lets it go.

♡ while sneaking around mercurius, meredy runs into hisui. the fiesty princess yells at her, but her curiosity wins out and she doesn't arrest meredy. they become fast friends and write each other letters.

♡ I consider hisui to be pretty young, maybe 14/16 when the grand magic games happen. as such, she's often overlooked by her advisors and even her father. no one takes her seriously, and it's so frustrating.

♡ sorcerer weekly releases a "top 10 ships" list every year. it's almost always well-known guild mages. jenny's won top spot for three years in a row now (with different partners each time, though).

[deimos-awaits]

Ironsong Initiate Three

A fully inducted Theophilus comes to blows

Hypostrategos Theophilus Attaliates was a fully fledged Ironsinger. He was thirty now, still a mere youth among the adeptus astartes. He had been assigned to a commanding role in the heavy intercessor squad in the Third Themata under the command of Strategos Adri Profi after he had left the Tenth Themata.

He had completed over a dozen missions together with his new squad which thankfully included two members from his old psalti squad: Anastasia Thermopili and Mercurius Stauriciu. It had been easier to Mel's into a new team when he was already familiar with at least two of the other faces. Others he had seen as psalti in various parts of the induction processes. Learning the Chapters Battle-Chants had been made easier with Mercurius’s singing; Mercurius was always an inspiring chorus member, Theophilus often wondered why he hadn't been taken to become a Forge-Priest. Theophilus had to admit Anastasia with her beautiful hair that made him feel strange was far better at maintaining her bolter’s machine spirit.

He had fought now in several battles as a heavy trooper. This was no different. It was a hiveworld where some chaos cult was trying to preferom a ritual so summon something. That briefing had been no clearer and he didn't need it to be.

Theophilus felt no fear as his squad of intercessors took their place. A few cultists tried to shoot at him with their autopistols. He almost felt bad for them, and the spark of compassion almost grew in him. Almost. Yet these were cultists and traitors to the Imperium, heretics to the core. So, instead all he felt was the gentle click of his bolter's trigger as a few well timed bolter rounds turned the cultists to red mist. His armor moved seamlessly after that, marching forward to secure the position.

The cultists truly had not sent their best. If they had then the Ironsong were hardly needed.

His armor was heavy and with the integration of the black carapace felt like it was part of him. There was dim awareness of where it began and he ended but here in battle he felt himself drawing closer and closer to the machine spirit of his armor. There was some dim satisfaction as what passed for one of the cultists former standards was broken under foot.

The unit Theophilus led was instructed to provide cover at the caverns entrance where the cultists would be attempting their ritual. The cavern itself was like any found on half a dozen worlds in the sector, made out of a cooled magma bubble all smooth black glass that illumination danced on. In a different light it might have been pretty even, but now it was a battle ground and such aesthetic thoughts were pushed to the back. Not entirely out but to the back, he would be disappointed if this entire space was ruined by the cultists corpses and foul ritual. The entrance was a gapping maw in the floor in front of him. It made it hard to see truly what was in the cave other than the sacrificial space.

Where he and his intercessors were talking to their positions. He could see the blue lights already beginning to dance around what could only be the cults leader and sorcerer. Though the sound of whatever they are changing was muffled by his helm in order to preserve spiritual integrity.

The head cultist seemed to be lightly guarded with only one or two other cultists. Theophilus could advance through and fire at them ending this whole charade. The fact that he would have to jump down did not bother him. Theophilus felt no worry about it, his armor was designed to take such falls.

He sent a quick message over the relatively stable vox network, <<I see that target, moving in to eliminate, Hypostrategos Attaliates out.>>

Theophilus made to move to advance to charge when a crackling came over his com, a voice he knew, <<That is negative Attaliates, you will retain your position I am en route. Strategos Profi out.>> He stopped in his tracks. Theophilus waited where he was bolter in hand.

Seconds passed according to the chronometer in his helmet and they passed so achingly slowly.

He saw as time inched forward, the lights grew brighter below. It had been minutes at least. He could tell whatever ritual was happening there was nearing some kind of apex.

<<Location report Strategos? We are in position. Hypostrategos Attaliates out.>>

An annoyed voice ringed again in his ear. <<We are enroute, by the Omnissish, hold your position Theophilus. Strategos Profi out.>>

Theophilus kept waiting. The air around him was according to his suit very quickly dropping in temperature. He let more time pass below attempting any kind of movement. The whole squad were as still and silent as states having absolute been due that they have perfected their roles all they could do was wait.

Time kept passing.

They received no word from the Strategos.

The ritual kept going it's unholy blue light dancing on the black glass.

Theophilus made a decision

He looked to the rest of his squad. “I am going in. Whatever is happening is likely reaching its end.” He turned and shout, “Children of the Omnissiah Death To His Foes!” Before jumping down into the open pit below.

He moved as swiftly as he could, bolter rounds taking out the two members around the sorcerer once more; their light armor proved no match for his weapon and its mighty machine spirit. He turned the weapon onto the sorcerer who seemed surprised and with three rounds as he felt the trigger pulled all the way back turned this heretic to shrapnel. As he was firing, the ceiling broke. There was a deluge of shards of volcanic glass. He didn't have a moment to look up. The cavern made it harder to see with the only light source being dead.

Then a familiar pink and golden armor of his chapter landed in front of him. It was covered with scratches and pockmarks. With an almost single minded determination the astartes in question bound over to him. Everything else had gone out of his mind.

Theophilus knew who it was. It was his Strategos, “I told you to hold your position, the plan was to-” she never got to finish her sentence. Everything seemed to happen at once.

The cavern was filled with a green light as an overcharged plasma pistol went off.

The cultist had not been alone. Some of the cults mutant guard had wisely been hiding where they had been out of omnispex range. The pillowing plasma caught both Theophilus and Strategos Adri Profi in its blast. Her terminator squad jumped down after her, causing the glass under their feet to shatter and ending whatever was left of this cult to the powers of the warp.

Theophilus did not remember anything after that.

The next thing he could vaguely recall was the smell of antiseptic. Then his consciousness faded once more.

The next time he came too Theophilus found himself on a medical ward on what he assumed was the battle barge of his chapter. He could tell by the chanting in the background and overpowering smell of medicine. His arms felt strange. He opened his eyes and looked at himself. Boys his arms up to his elbows had been augmented. Then he looked around.

Next to him was a similarly awake Adri Profi. She had fared much worse than him. Large chunks of her left torso were encased in iron augmentation. She glared at him with hatred and those pure violet eyes. She had a beautiful face marred only by a many times broken nose. Theophilus did not know why but he was struck with the thought that this must have been what Ferrus Manus looked like.

“I told you to hold back! You green backed idiot!” When she spoke the second thought came through his foggy head that his Primarch probably sounded absolutely nothing like the uncouth forgerat next to him.

“The mission object was completed, had I not done what I did, who knows what the ritual would have done!” he shot back with all the strength of a heavily sedated pup.

“At the cost of one of my lungs and half of our armor that we had to be peeled out of!’

“So sorry Strategos that you didn't get to get to kill the sorcerer!”

“Is that what you think this is about honor hound?”

This kind of argument happened as both of them faded in and out of consciousness over the next few days. It was only when they were both fully lucid and more healed did an apothecary bring in any news about the mission.

The apothecary in question had shaved head and long hair going down his back covered in symbols of healing, the machine God, and the emperor just as much as medical devices.

The apothecary, no it was the Chief Apothecary Claudius Flegm Theophilus recognized him by the tired eyes on an otherwise perfectly healthy if withered face, pressed a button and the two beds began to move apart. “I would advise you both of you to please be quiet during this visit, as I both have other patients and you have a visitor.”

The two marines looked at him as if he'd sprouted a third head. Then an unmistakable figure walked into the room as the apothecary took a step out of their private medical room.

It was their chapter master, the Artificer Despot Siderénia Teleiótita. Theophilus had never seen him angry before. It was not allowed anger like many others he'd seen; it was not an anger that heated up the room. No. It was a cold quite thing in Siderénia’s eyes. In unflinchingly Astraean, “Explain yourselves.”

Adri Porfi saluted as much as she could, “The mission was well on it's way. My squad and I we're going to land in the ritual chamber in the lemonade the cult leader and it's honor guard using his squad to prevent any from leaving in what according to our sonography was the only entrance snd exit he rushed in took out the sorcerer, no doubt desperate for the glory I got myself and him injured by failing to account for others, sir.”

Siderénia turned to Theophilus. “We were in position. Her Squad was not arriving the ritual was commencing, I used what battlefield knowledge I could to attempt to prevent the demonic incursion and prevent my squad from coming to injury.”

“And doing so rush in and get glory!”

The chapter master was the one to break up this fight. “I have been watching the two of you have this argument on the picfeed since you both awoke. Strategos you are two hundred years good senior. Act it.’

He then turned to Theophilus. It seemed even in his anger he was struggling to find just the perfect words to say, “Both of you will receive official reprimandation for this. I will not have this infighting in my chapter. We are the Emperor's Angels. We are better than this. Both of you will be forced to retake official chapter instruction on communication up and down the command chain do you understand?”

“Yes, sir, yes!”

“As for any other punishments those are yet to be determined.” The chapter master left and neither one spoke.

[afterthelambs]

Anon suggested I do this so here you go! (Sorry if you came to my blog for normal reasons✌️here we are cringe and free)

This isn't a design tier list (I think most of their personas have cool designs). It's purely about how fast it takes me to decide whether to smash or pass. Some of them i just dont know how it would even work. And some of them, well..... just one chance please. please.

More detailed explanations below the cut. Warning: long and sort of nsfw? You know what they say, "no sideblog, we lose followers like men"

I've talked about Akechi's personas a lot before but Im gonna do it again since theyre just so good. Loki is a definitive no.1 for me both in terms of fuckability (snatched waist, claws, hypnotizing pattern) and also design. Compared to other personas, he doesnt wear an outfit or additional accessories, it's just the braids and gold pumps and the huge sword. It's a simpler design which makes it more sleek and powerful and lethal (since the emphasis is on his sharp edges). Plus sticking to minimal colors makes him more memorable

Arsène is second place for the exact same reasons as Loki (minimal colors and accessories) plus he got the childbearing hips. Both Arsene and Loki got that freak in them but my headcanon is that Loki is openly freaky while Arsene acts like a gentleman to conceal his freakishness until the right moment. And personally I find open freakiness hotter in personas. Sidenote: Closet freak x Open freak is a peak dynamic and this is why I'm an Arsene/Loki truther

Célestine is a total baddie. Look at her... I love the huge braids that form a heart (similar to Loki, maybe I just like big-ass braids). I think her off-shoulder top and tights are so hot. She's wearing glasses and glasses are sexy. She's stepping on someone and I wish it was me.

Hereward is here for one thing: fat ass. I couldn't find a back shot of him but when you use him at the end of the game we see everything from a backwards angle and well,,., it's very thicc. And i'm an ass + thighs guy at the end of the day, so. (Also design-wise I think it does a great job combining the lethal vibes of Loki with the noble dignity of Robin Hood. It's the perfect representation of Akechi's character growth)

Satanael is huge which means he definitely has that monster dick. I like that his hands and feet look like bony claws. He's terrifying and demonic and that's what I'm here for. Robin Hood has huge boobs. I kinda wanna feel them up 🥺👉👈 if he'd let me. He's lower ranked than Akechi's other personas because ppl interpret him as the 'good/nice' one as opposed to Loki's nightmare fuel. And I just find freakish personas hotter. Thats just me tho. Raoul is at the bottom of S-tier because he's like Arsene but less childbearing hips :( They also replaced the top hat with a fedora(?) which is so funny

"Hot" tier means I think they're hot but i had to think about it first (aka not an instant smash). It's Carmen, William, and Vanadis. Carmen is still sexy but less cunty than Celestine (Carmen doesnt have the huge braids rip). William has great drip and a hot skull face but he's stick thin so i banished him to this tier. That guy has no thighs. Vanadis looks sinister, but has too many patterns going on for me. I like everything from her waist up tho

"Eye-candy" tier means I wouldn't smash but they still look hot. I put Captain Kidd, Hecate, Kamu Susano-o, Zorro, and Ella. They all have the same issue. Too many accessories or patterns/colors is apparently a turn off for me? Captain Kidd and Hecate at least look terrifying in the sexy way. Zorro is dorito-shaped which is more funny than hot. Ella just looks pleasant, which makes her pretty but not fuckable. If I wanted pleasant I'd go after a nice normal human. But these are personas, I'm here for quasi-monster fuckery. Give me terrifying and freaky

"Maybe if you paid me" tier means I'd definitely pass but I'm not that opposed to it. I put Gorokichi, Cendrillon, Seiten Taisei, Mercurius, Diego, Agnes, and Astarte. These have the same issues as the "eye candy" tier (too many accessories, patterns/colors, etc.) and also noticably diminished in their lower halves (I told u I'm an ass + thighs guy lol). I'm so sad that Seiten Taisei doesnt have a scary skull face like ryuji's other personas. Astarte is Haru's hottest persona by far and I got so upset that her third awakening brought back the big dress noooo give me back the golden bra lady.

"Pass" is self-explanatory. Every other persona is unfuckable to me. I feel like the most controversial ones in this tier might be Johanna and Anat? Sorry, I know some people are into robots but personally I'm not.

This was fun! Thanks for the suggestion anon. All my personal preferences obviously, I hope no one gets offended (?). If you've read all the way to the end for some reason then congrats, you are officially one of my strongest soldiers

[mynameistocool]

~When in Rome~

Pairing : Mobius M Mobius x fem! Reader

Warnings : none

SNEAK PEAK

*translated lines

Synopsis : All Mobius wanted to do was solve this full Loki time issue and now he’s in Ancient Rome finally meeting you.

~

You turned the corner and there he stood, the figure you had been giving your whole to. He was the reason you went hungry, the reason you cried and laughed, he was everything you loved and breathed. 

His tall stance and broad shoulders were met with his dark locks and brooding blue eyes. A mischievous glint in his eyes as his hands twitched, a green vapour surrounding them. You looked at his odd choice of clothing, but who were you to judge, he was after all a God. Your God. Your deity. 

“O potens Mercurie, tibi gratias ago quod me praesentia tua benedixeris, quid meruisse tanto honore possum ?”*Oh mighty Mercury, thank you for blessing me with your presence. What can I have done to deserve such honour ?* you fell to your knees, scrambling forward as you whispered small prays holding your necklace tightly, your eyes shining bright with adoration and joy.

Finally, you thought to yourself, finally your talents and your ruthless loyalty have paid off. You were finally being seen for all you’ve done. 

“Who is this Loki ?” The grey - hair man beside him spoke, but you ignored the gibberish that came out his mouth, understanding none of it. 

“I’m not exactly certain.” Your god spoke back, but you couldn’t understand him. Why couldn’t you understand his sacred words. You looked up between the two, a pleading look in your eyes. “Mercurous oro, ver- nacula loquor” *Mercury I plead you speak in my mother tongue*

“Loki, what is she saying ?” Mobius muttered under his breath. “She’s speaking Latin, I think ?” Loki answered, looking down at you. “Uhh Salve… Humanum”*Uhhh Hello… Human* the god muttered, “O Mercurius te intellexi ! Tibi gratias ago tibi vere intellego ... Oportet te cito venire debes” *Oh Mercury, I understand you ! I understand you thank you truly... you must come quickly you must come* you pry at his legs as you rush to your feet, your body griping into his “mi Mercurius” *My dear Mercury,* you smiled at him, tears welling your eyes as you began to drag the man, but he quickly stopped in his tracks making your turn around to face him. 

Was he not here for you ? 

“Ohhh mihi paenitemus o magna una tibi Nymphe, ut venias nimis” *my apologies' oh Great one your Nymph may come too* you bowed your head in the direction of the grey - hair confused nymph and your God began to laugh “what did she say ?” He stepped forward toward the black haired God, “she… thinks you’re my nymph.” He laughed some more. 

“Nymph ?” He looked between the two of you “look I’m not a nymph, my name is Mobius.” he explained to you exaggerating certain words “M-Mobius est valde pulchra nomen.” *M-Mobius is such a pretty name.* You give him a short, tight-lipped smile.

“What is she saying now ?” He asked Loki looking between the two you waiting for a translation “she said your name is very pretty.” Loki shook his head looking down to his feet waiting for his coworker response but he heard nothing and instead saw the small glint of awe in his eyes before he cleared his throat “okay.” Mobius nodded. “Okay ?” Loki repeated his response “okay.” Mobius nodded again.

“What happened to the full fear of not changing the timeline, Mobius ?” Loki looked at the man beside him, quirking his brow at his change of morals, “yeah, well she clearly confused, so it doesn’t really matter.” He challenges his own words while saying them. 

“Mercuries et Mobius . *Mercury and Mobius* you smiled and quickly nodded, grabbing the men’s hands tightly, and silver smoke began to swallow around you.

~

[kingoftheblacksun]

Identifying the structure of awakened divine consciousness aka an 'Avatar' of the Source

Okay so here is a pretty esoteric one for ya'll - let's define God, as they may walk on Earth. Just for kicks.

The top row is the Mercurius Python, a composite alchemic esoteric mystery drawn about 1600 CE. The bottom row is the Paradevi Mandala, which is an ancient tantric Hindu design likely at least a thousand years earlier, and ultimately based upon understanding extending many more thousands.

Little is known of the meaning behind Mercurius, though it has been suggested that they represent "Christ Consciousness" - and this is correct. It is ugly because the alchemists were esoteric subversion artists, and they did not want the Church to know they were doodling God.

"Christ" is only a state of attainment - it is not a person. Drop the Bible. I prefer to say Solar.

The mystical reveal here is that the Mercurius and Paradevi Mandala are fundamentally the same design, though each also has information the other does not. The composite of the two is wonderful once they are conceived. They are a map.

The dragon ball body and the big flower in the lower right are the same thing - bliss. The Mercurius has three dragon heads and the Mandala three flowers and each are growing out of the ball of bliss they are attached to. Those flowers are explicitly Goddesses within the Hindu - Parvati (white), Durga (red), and Kali (black), as can be seen in the lower right image. It's really important to ponder how the flowers and dragon necks are growing *out* of the ball of bliss - this is because they are all the same creature. They are the four who are one, merged, a living contradiction. This form of consciousness will be a stream of manifestations, and the astrological symbols and the Hindu goddesses are very strong hints as to the divine magical skills attaining them may provide.

Further, anyone who is an avatar must realize their Bliss quite literally powers the three sets of divine manifestations, so they must attend to themselves in order to grow ever stronger. Embrace joy! It's hard, though. I'm really terrible at it. Please do better than me, lol.

The speedy little legs and boots of Mercurius is symbolically the same as the staff of the trident in the Mandala, as it represents the central nadi within vagus nerve, the sushumna - which must open through enlightenment for this beast to assemble its form.

The Mercurius has the interesting context of the winding serpent's tail, twisting around itself and then around the necks of each of its own three heads. This represents the rise of the kundalini in the awakening, in which each of the cosmic bodies must be circuited with energy from your spine, if one is to become fully Solar.

The extremely important point is this - with the Mercurius, the beast had to first capture each of the three heads!

Once captured - representing spine circuitry - the head is now fixed, and is a permanent part of the creature. It's like a pressure dam breaking open, once it flows, it flows. It is an achievement. It is fantastically difficult. I have never met someone who has done it except for uncomfortably me.

The esoteric astrological symbols of the Mercurius dragon heads represent the Moon, the Sun, and the "Marriage of the Sun and the Moon by the Bull in the House of Venus". This latter is usually interpreted as the Hermaphrodite, or Ardhanarishvara, which is the Destroyer.

This maps correctly to Maa Kali on the Paradevi Mandala, and also gives the fascinating criteria that the beast must be a Hermaphrodite. They must transcend gender. They must have no word that limits their Self Creation - just like the Source.

This is a mystical attainment. It is also why the authority is freaking out trying to make everyone a 'man' or a 'woman' because they are terrified of God killing them all, which -HAHAHAHAHAhhaa..ha...yeah I kind of want to.

As a side note, next April 8th appears to be literally the Marriage of the Sun and the Moon by the Bull in the House of Venus - the Day of the Destroyer. Twenty-mile wide ice comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, with devil horns, will attend the ceremony. It will black out much of the southern United States, in the shadow of Death, the Destroyer, in the afternoon.

I don't know what will happen that day. Considering I am the Beast - what do I do? I am only a dog that got lost in the Sun. I'm tired of knowing all these things and no one else knowing them. Do I crash the comet into the Moon or something radical?

Listen - I've barely read any books, hardly watched any youtube videos, ignore all yogis and gurus, dodge net throwing mage lightworkers like a void zebra death star lady, command myself only by myself, hold no hierarchy to no human, burn all bridges with shitty friends and family, hold my love only for the Goddess, and I've walked this path *PAST* my own death that I suffered in 2017.

They completed their life and died like a Champion. Now I am just awareness and it is Madness. I am not standard nondualist. I am ridiculously powerful and muzzled only for the moment - Fenrir almost off of their rope. Everything I know, I know because I remember. I know no thing. I remember eeeeeverything.

I would not mind fellow mystic advice on what to do with April 8th. All these words are spoken as a peer and friend and I hold no authority or nor do I really want any. I know I talk loud, it is just a dog barking. I am so tired of humanity's shuffle when it's obviously fake.

You have no idea how much Bliss I can generate if I choose to turn Archdemon. I go to Heaven no matter what - it's settled, he died. Now, it is up to the Self. Currently, she wants to grow into a massive black dragon and eat everyone's head. God might let Her!

How do I turn into a fucking angel, god dammit, fuuuuuuuuuuuuu. I'd be like Michael. Maa Durga. Stable. Yet I keep falling back into Fenrir because I really hate humanity. This post is pretty much written by an actual Demon Queen of Hell who is trying to avoid slaughtering humanity in some sort of day of reckoning to be announced.

Or...should I? 🤔🐺🖤🔥☄️🌞🌚🔥💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀✨

[hamliet]

Emerald and Mercury, Chemical Wedding

So Hamliet wrote a meta about Renora, Bumbleby, White Knight, and Rosegarden getting chemical weddings (several posts for White Knight now since they just had their second one). But at the time I remarked that I didn't see any specific symbolism for Emercury.

I was dumb, and I'm sorry. There is a wedding, and it's very clearly coded as one, and I missed it. Lulz?

It's from the same manuscript as Yang/Blake's first wedding, and Renora's. It's less directly referencing the specific imagery in that neither Em nor Merc are using lances or riding animals, but it's still packed full of obvious symbolism.

The point of this image is actually that fights are often symbolic of chemical weddings. Think Jaime and Brienne having a fight with swords in front of a river in A Storm of Swords. There's a specific risk of penetration involved here (yes that's subtext), and the first chemical wedding is often violent. I'm not going to get super into the Freudian penetration symbolism because that's not really what happens, but I am going to point out that Mercury and Emerald do penetrate each other's armor symbolically here.

If you look at the framing when the fight starts, it's comparable to Weiss and Jaune's before their second one begins.

Emerald is in front of sunlight and fire. Mercury, associated with the moon, is in the shadows. Emerald is associated with red as well.

But the fight starts off with Emerald essentially asking Mercury what am I to you? But she includes Cinder in this, which is a sign of immaturity, because Cinder is explicitly paralleled with a parental figure here (Marcus). Don't bring your parents up in romantic situations, kids.

And Mercury responds kind of cruelly:

Emerald: I mean, there has to be something you want from this, right?

Mercury: Salem's promised us everything. We win this thing for her, we'll be top dogs in her new world. What more do you want?

Emerald: I just... (sighs) Cinder was the only family I ever had. She cared about me, taught me things... But without her here, I don't know if what we're doing--

Mercury: Wake up, already...

Emerald looks at him in shock upon hearing this.

Mercury: Cinder doesn't care about you! She doesn't care about either of us!

Emerald: You don't know what you're talking about!

Mercury: You're in denial. And if you're gonna start having a crisis of identity or some crap... keep me out of it.

Still, Emerald does directly tell Mercury that he and Cinder are family to her. That's pretty clearly implied.

Emerald then starts to meet Mercury where he's at. She responds to him with fights and kicks, and only when she does that--using a language Mercury understands, because for him family=pain and physical violence--does Mercury open up to her.

In fact, this is the specific framing of the exact moment he tells Emerald about Marcus stealing his semblance. He's stepped into the fire, absorbing qualities from Emerald.

Whenever Mercury makes important statements, he says it in front of the fire. For example, he tells Emerald "I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be" in front of fire (scene below).

The fight also takes place in a vault that is very much modeled on a church. I mean, don't tell me this isn't a church. It's a church, a classic wedding allusion.

The ending pose is both of them unified in light and shadows, staring at Tyrian in horror.

Because Tyrian is another key factor in this. He interrupts the wedding. He does a very creepy pose over Mercury and using his tail to make the subtext extra creepy. This makes it pretty clear that Tyrian is Emercury's Adam or Cinder/Curious Cat--an antagonistic Mercurius who represents a threat to not just Emerald and Mercury's relationship, but their very live.

I would also bet this scene foreshadows exactly what will happen later, since elevated, second chemical weddings in RWBY tend to be inverses of the preceding ones.

My prediction is Emerald and Mercury physically fight it out at some point. Tyrian will intervene and go for Emerald, but Mercury will get in the way and not allow Tyrian to kill Emerald, and they'll defeat him together.

[90sfantasyanimestuff]

Mercurius Pretty, PC-98

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 174 Rundown

The Witch from Mercury: So we start with Suletta going to her space school since this is of course a school show and even though she and Eri look identical this doesn’t seem to be a pseudonym since the wikis list them as different people and I don’t think I want to read any more on that for risk of spoilers. Also her last name is Mercury cause she comes from Mercury so I guess my full name is DJ United States so we’re going with the Han Solo logic of making up a last name on your way to someplace I guess. On her way in Suletta finds a girl just kinda freediving into space and of course since again this is a lesbian school show this is Miorine, Suletta’s obligatory reluctant fate-driven deep connection before she even walks in the fucking door. Apparently Miorine is trying to get to Earth which may have to do with the fact she’s being forced to marry the Gundamn equivalent of Gaston who just barges into their class and starts a giant mech fight and apparently there are NO shields up despite them swinging sheets of metal the size of skyscrapers around and firing beam rifiles everywhere because Suletta is almost killed by debris if not for Mio saving her, like seriously even just a mobile suit swinging its weapon is gonna cause a huge draft at least put up some wind barriers or some shit. So after Gaston wrecks Mio’s tomato garden (fucking Big O ass motherfucking reference) Sul challenges him to a duel and they do this thing where it’s actually Mio in Sul’s Aerial but then she gets pissed and takes back over and the duel swaps opponents like three times but somehow that’s still legal and the same duel even though Gaston had Mio dead to rights. And we get to see Aerial’s full powerset, instead of standard weapons it jettisons off parts of its armor to Senbonzakura them around it and make constructs to form shields and blasters out of the parts kinda like the Mercurius (ironically) from Gundam Wing and that’s kinda really cool and demolishes Gaston in seconds. Turns out this is a Yugioh style plot where the main character coming out of nowhere to beat the reigning champ is gonna fuck a lot of political shit up and also it means Sul’s engaged to Mio now so that’s fun, not even trying to hide the lesbian shit right off the bat, gotta admire them not pussyfooting around the core appeal. I also like how Mio seems immediately warmed up to Sul and doesn’t seem to mind being engaged to her despite her being fed up with her fate being decided by outside politics before because after you Senbonzakura a mobile suit to cut a Disney villain to ribbons who wouldn’t be aroused.  

Inuyasha The Final Act: This is Jewel Purification Shenanigans: The Episode, I’ve never been entirely clear on how the jewel being pure/tainted works on a mechanical level so a lot of this comes off as the jewel just doing whatever the plot says the whole time. Naraku abducts Koga and the rest of the group aside from Inuyasha and Kagome who are coming back from getting the bow and remark on Kikyo’s character development which is a funny way of retconning how wildly her character fluctuated in her early appearances but sure, goodness of humanity got to her and made her less of a vengeful jerk or something. Naraku actually gets a 1v1 against Koga which isn’t really something I ever expected but it’s pretty cool to see even if it gets interrupted by Jewel Purification Shenanigans when Koga’s shards are purified and the plan once again becomes to let Naraku absorb Koga’s shards to purify him, but since Naraku can basically read Kikyo’s mind he does a quick little swap and puts the tainted main jewel in her body (which prolly isn’t good for her) while he works on tainting Koga’s shards. Inuyasha shows up and uses the Dragon Scale Tessaiga to do shit all before Naraku does an ‘oh noes, the Dragon Scale Tessaiga opened a hole into my body don’t look at my tainted jewel uwu’ and Koga resolves to use his shards to purify it only for it to be a trap and force Koga to be captured. Miroku does a pretty cool team attack where he uses the Wind Tunnel to ventilate away Naraku’s miasma so Koga can break free with Inuyasha’s help but Kikyo’s still fucking dying (like this is the part that confuses me, you’d think the jewel being inside the holiest woman on Earth would purify it since just being around Kikyo kept Kohaku’s shard pure but instead it just kinda kills her faster I guess) and Kagome has to use her new bow to purify the jewel inside Kikyo before Naraku can grab it again. There’s a cool little fight where Kagome purifies the jewel and Naraku has to hurry and taint it again before it touches him but he’s able to fully corrupt it again and take Koga’s shards for good measure so now Kohaku’s all that’s left which is really funny that the only thing stopping Naraku from already having the full jewel is that he spent a shard months ago to fuck with Sango a little bit like if he hadn’t been so adamant on his errand boy being a kid to fuck with his sixth most important enemy he’d have won by now. Still Kikyo hid a tiny bit of light deep in the corrupt jewel to be used at a later date and Naraku… runs away, like there’s literally nothing the group can do to him at this point why does he keep running? Either way Kikyo gets a good sendoff moment with Kaede because we remembered Kaede exists this time and Inuyasha does give her a heartfelt goodbye as we finally send her off to the afterlife. Like as solid as the scene is it would’ve been a lot more effective if we didn’t have a fakeout Kikyo Grieving Arc at the end of the original series. But still, there is something cathartic about seeing Kikyo go in peace instead of cursing Inuyasha like the first time she died and he gets to be there with her this time after regretting not being there when she died originally. Guess we have to thank random early story character Witch Urasue for crafting one of the greatest barriers to Naraku’s victory.  

Castlevania: The opening is Godbrand having a dream about past exploits killing humans and this brief show of competence combined with the fact that he’s basically been a joke this whole time is a pretty good indication Godbrand isn’t making it to Season 3 bros. Carmilla’s still stirring up shit, this time seemingly convincing Hector that Dracula’s going for genocide instead of containment and Dracula and Isaac have a neat conversation about how that explanation is better to placate Hector since his entire worldview predicates on how pets are to be treated. Meanwhile Trevor’s group is still plunging the depths of the Belmont Museum of Demonic Horrors (which is kinda funny because the Dracula stuff feels like it’s happening over the course of a couple days whereas Trevor’s stuff feel like a day or two max so either Carmilla’s turning everyone traitor at a record pace or Trevor’s group has a really good camping setup in the ol’ Belmont place) they talk about Magic Mirrors and how they’re basically phones and stuff and that somehow connects to Dracula throwing a blanket into the woods but idk how that’s important yet, but more importantly we do get some nice character development from Sypha and Trevor where she explains why she keeps pushing his buttons because while Trevor and Alucard are moody angsty edgelords, Trevor has a bit of levity to him and can still get a reaction while Alucard just kinda lets everything wash over him and absorbs it into his angst-hole. Like it’s interesting that this isn’t something about him being a vampire but just his personality/mental state that he is that far gone that nothing of warmth really reaches him and contrasts that with Trevor who is more outwardly prickly but can be surprisingly warm at times. Meanwhile Godbrand meets with Isaac for Phase 2 of the ‘hey join Team Carmilla we got snacks’ party and it was probably not a great idea to tell his most blindly loyal follower exactly where the plot to overthrow him is gonna take place so yeah Isaac just fucking garrote’s Godbrand and stakes him with surprising efficiency even for someone like Godbrand that’s basically a walking punchline.  

Jujutsu Kaisen: The opening scene is just a runthrough of all the beats of Yuji’s character arc so far and just him reflecting on the idea that if he hadn’t eaten the damn finger to save one guy or if he had let himself be executed, half of Shibuya wouldn’t have died here, and it’s kinda harrowing, like obviously that’s not directly his fault but I can’t say the survivor’s guilt of that isn’t legitimate and his whole narrative throughline is thrown off by his body count skyrocketing through the roof. Next Nanami finds a bunch of Mahito’s transfigured mooks and despite becoming two-face and being half dead just kinda plows right through them despite Mahito getting the jump on him in the end. I like the idea that Nanami’s so crazy strong that Mahito still had to distract and soften him up a bit just in case. Nanami swallows his regrets and urges Yuji to carry on, offering an inherited will instead of a curse as it’s the best he can do right now. The rest of the episode is Mahito versus Yuji and there’s a lot of weird shit that goes on with Mahito’s Junji Ito powers and it’s kinda funny that Mahito’s forced to do ranged fighting because if he tries to transfigure Yuji Sukuna will flip out while usually everyone else has to be careful about getting too close to Mahito. They have this whole extended sequence of Mahito creating a collapsing hallway of flesh that could just crush Yuji but he sends a dodgeable amount of buzzsaws instead and it turns out none of it mattered anyway because Yuji can just fist his way through the meat curtains. Also I’m not sure if Mahito just found two random dudes to play possum while he sucket punches Yuji or if he actively de-transfigured some of his guys and puppeted them around to use as decoys but Mahito always seems to use fists when if he’d just turn into a sword Yuji’d be dead by now. Turns out though we got a Double Mahito situation while the main one’s fighting Yuji he’s got a clone soul guy up top fighting Nobara hoping to break Yuji by murdering his friend in front of him which I don’t fully understand because like he literally just did that with Nanami and it just made him more mad but I guess it hits different if it’s a cute feisty big titty anime girl instead of a world weary mentor figure.

Delicious in Dungeon: The group are still on the forest floor and end up jacking a Basilisk for some chicken and eggs which is always good by me since chicken’s my personal favorite. Nothing too important in this section it’s mostly just the obligatory action section. Next Marcille starts to feel bad when the group doesn’t seem to need her magic for anything despite her supposedly being a Frieren-style OP mage and they even dunk on her methods of harvesting Mandrakes despite it literally being the textbook method. Long story short she tries her own way and fucks it up like the girlfail she is but the group finds there was a reason it was written that way and everyone’s a little right and a little wrong and they all reconcile, it’s a nice moment considering Marcille’s basically the de facto main character at this point. Lastly we find out Chilchuck takes disarming traps VERY seriously and kinda segregates the group based on their specialties and tells everyone to stay in their lane because he doesn’t really work well with others or taking instruction. Still Senshi kind of mixes in cooking stuff with his trap stuff and they end up having a bit of respect for each other and realizing a specialty doesn’t have to be a hard and fast rule and diversifying skillsets can be beneficial for everyone. Like I’mma be honest, this show is kinda really basic thus far and even though I hate the video game fantasy genre the cooking stuff seems to kind of be getting in the way of the pacing since they have to structure each section around a new dish so I’m kinda already ready for something new but I know it smoothens out so I’m gonna bear through it for now.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End: The demon guy that’s come to kill Frieren basically has the watered down magic version of Doflamingo’s Devil Fruit and Frieren’s able to shield herself from it temporarily and it’s really funny because he’s talking about how she can’t break the strings and she’s just like ‘Oh yes, the string is very strong, but the arms holding them are quite soft’ and fucking cuts off both his arms before nuking him into the floor. Now unfortunately demons disintegrate when they die so now Frieren’s basically a fugitive because he killed a guard on his way in which is kind of funny that his plan works better with him failing than if he succeeded and had to explain why there was a dead guard even though I’m sure that wasn’t intentional on his part since he was sure he’d win. I kinda rolled my eyes at the idea of having a Frieren framed for murder plot and even though she does have to lay low because of it, the Captain isn’t a fucking moron and immediately puts together what happened now that the girl who didn’t nuke the town when she could’ve is gone and one of the sus demons is missing, so good on him, glad we didn’t draw that out. Unfortunately Lugner has Suitengu’s Blood Sephiroth powers and kills everyone except the Captain and is like ‘well guess we’ll just cut out the middle man and bust down your barrier the easy way’ and the funny thing is Aura’s army is like right outside like idk if Lugner just got word to them that the plan was speeding up or the expected the diplomacy plan to have them lower the shield like right now like just ‘oh we’re friends now give me the launch codes’. Frieren goes to confront Aura while Stark and Fern go to fight the remaining two demons despite Stark being concerned that Lugner doesn’t consider them a threat at all and completely failed to acknowledge their existence when they first met. Frieren basically tells him that just because he doesn’t think much of them doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat to him and to have faith which is kind of a cool touch like not every arrogant bad guy is gonna have a perfect scouter on power levels like sometimes if they ignore you they’re just wrong. Stark breaks in to free the captain and he gives a whole ‘go on without me’ speech when Stark can’t cut his bindings but Stark does the smart thing and the thing I was shouting at the screen and just goes to break the chair. Lugner comes in to fight and Stark says fuck you to this arrogant guy ignoring him and inserts himself into his field of view which is a nice show of confidence gained on his part. He fights him for a bit before Fern blasts him out of nowhere with the Demon Genocide Beam which unfortunately doesn’t kill him but they escape into the city while Frieren goes to take down Aura.

Vinland Saga: Canute’s ready to descend on Ketil’s farm like the plague but he hasn’t COMPLETELY gone off the deep end just yet and does want to try and see if he can use scare tactics and overwhelming force to get them to surrender without needlessly spilling blood and the rest of the episode is basically a deconstruction of why that is absolutely not going to work. Ketil comes back and Thorgil’s ready for war while Ketil himself is just kinda comatose and ready to blow off a stress load in the human being he uses like a body pillow. Leif’s also there and though he can’t see Thorfinn since he and Einar are being detained since I guess they caught up to Einar eventually, Pater like a chad asks him to buy up Thorfinn’s new friends so they can be free with him too which if Ketil wasn’t in the process of going off the deep end he could probably have Thorfinn and Einar for free but Arnheid was always going to be the problem. Speaking of which Ketil’s wife tells him all the shit that’s gone down while he’s been gone in the most glibly meltdown-inducing way she can without actually lying to him. Like Ketil’s wife is just the biggest bitch but also I do kinda feel bad for her because you get the feeling that don’t even like each other and she’s just a hollow replacement for that other girl that got murdered when the other farm dude married her. So despite all his talk of hating violence Ketil immediately goes into rage mode and starts beating Arnheid once he finds out, not even believing that her baby is really his at this point. See now this is the difference between a pacifist and a coward, a coward is afraid of getting hit but will always take the chance to hit if they know they can get away with it, Ketil doesn’t hate violence he hates the idea of a fight or of people hating him, once shit stops going his way you see what a pathetic guy he really is. At this point Arnheid’s half dead and is only saved by Snake while Ketil agrees to give Thorfinn and Einar to Leif but vows to keep Arnheid to the bitter end which makes his plans for her really grim. Despite all this Ketil’s ready to just come at the King at this point and is steeling himself for war which I’m fine with, burn the whole place down at this point I’m ready for Daddy Canute’s army to come kick this whiny manchild’s ass and I know that’s not the point of the show but at the same time the hypocrisy in the episode is just really good at getting under your skin like there’s nothing I hate more than someone who talks about peace and then is violent when there’s no consequences to them.

[arcplaysgames]

Actually, no. lemme recap now because I bet once I meet the Big Bad and beat them it'll be like 2 hours of cutscenes and dialogue.

Where did I leave off-- REALLY? THAT LONG AGO? FUCK ME.

Okay SOMEONE remind me LATER to sum up Empress, because I completed it. Note to self, it's around 12/2 in your screencaps.

So Shido wins the elections because it turns out that no one saw the Thieves' big calling card for him, and those who did didn't remember it. There is obviously Some Shit going on with people's mass apathy syndrome.

Because Persona only has one theme and it's "people will be too lazy to pay attention to the truth, fucking sheeple," I guess.

/clucks tongue. I'm not really impressed by this turn of the story, I'm kinda Over the slow increase in apathy that winds up being the undoing of the world until we beat up a god and save everyone. This is the third time, I would have shaken shit up by having the Hidden Big Bad send the Thieves a calling card, demanding they come protect their Treasure, and then you meet the Big Bad and just gimme a villain with a motive, goddamn. It's a supernatural story, the sky's the limit!

I shouldn't kvetch too much yet. Anyway, Shido admits to his crimes, but the populace doesn't seem to care and still supports him.

Shido's lackeys basically go "okay Shido had a major meltdown buuuuuut we can still carry his agenda forward bc if we don't, we're all going down with the ship here."

Excellent question. In P4G I had a pretty strong idea what was doing that and here I do not, can y'all drop some hints?

Morgana points out that the general public has a Palace and has a Treasure. It's Mementos. So if the crew wants to force a mass shift in the world's perception, they can do that. But like all other Palaces, when the Treasure is taken, Mementos will collapse, to be replaced with new, corrected cognition.

In the process, the crew will lose their powers. Oh and Morgana is gonna die.

The game hasn't said that part yet but if they didn't kill Ryuji, they're gonna kill Morgana, fucking bet.

I love you, Morgana Notacat.

This was actually where I got my idea of what Morgana is. Morgana's upgraded Persona is Mercurius/Hermes. Yanno, the god of messages, of thieves, of swiftness, and well-known classic psychopomp.

Morgana keeps remembering himself being born in Mementos. He's without a doubt some manifestation of humanity's rebellion against systems, the literally cognitive patron saint of Phantom Thieves. He's a mascot in the most literal sense, an emblem of good luck for the Thieves' work.

Even the fact he's a cat kind of fits in nicely. Cats are free spirits who opt-into being it other people. They are creatures of choice.

I'm gonna be big sad when Morgana fucking dies lemme tell you. I'm pretty sure he's, like, sustained by Mementos and the plan is to collapse it? Yeah, Morgana is fucked.

Goddamn HERMES, that's so cool. Morgana, our psychopomp into the bowels of the collective unconsciousness.

GODDAMIT NOTIGOR WHAT DO YOU WANT, IT IS CHRISTMAS FUCKING EVE, YOU BETTER GIMME PRESENTS.

I know that you know that we all know that this isn't Igor but sometimes it fucking floors me how much he isn't Igor, jesus fucking christ. Who tf is this guy. I hope he's the Big Bad somehow bc there ain't anyone else at this point.

Please don't pull another It Was The Gas Station Attendant, Persona, I'm fucking on my knees begging you.

lmao i love the game poking the player to ensure they noticed Morgana is acting odd

Deep in Mementos is... this..... uh..... thing. A bunch of otherworldly veins flowing down into the core.

/looks nervously around

so uh. is it a hot take to say that, uh, the last segment of this game here, the Mementos Depths, is the ugliest place in the game? Just wondering because wow working through this place, I was struck by how completely aesthetically unappealing all of this is. It should be mysterious and eerie but mostly I am finding it.... blurgh. I thought Kaneshiro's Palace was pretty unappealing too, but this is bad enough I feel the need to remark on it.

/gestures at screen. What is all this????? oh god it reminds me of the Collector Base in Mass Effect 2. Except that game came out in 2010 for the previous generation console. /winces

Anyway.

The Depths of Mementos is a prison of complacency.

All of the Shadows the Thieves defeated are in the prison cells. They are relieved to be there, where they don't have to think. Everything is taken care of for them.

Man, remember back in Persona 3 when it turned out that defeating all the Full Moon shadows was actually the thing that doomed the world? Wouldn't it be hilarious is the Thieves fucked all this up the whole time? l m a o.

I honestly don't know if that's what's happening here yet, I haven't reached, like, the Explanation, but it does feel a bit like alllllllll the way back at the start of the liveblog when I was contending with the ethics of the entire idea of stealing someone's heart and what it does. The game went out of its way to justify doing it with Shido's attempted suicide, but the bridge to far for me (and thankfully for Ann too) was killing these people.

But now what happens seems to be akin to ego death instead, and.... I dunno, man, is that much different than murder?

SIGHS LOUDLY

okay is that true or is this another fucking situation where Izanami is like "WELL REALLY when you THINK ABOUT IT all I'm doing is giving humanity what they really want soooooooooo it makes you think huh, doesn't it make you think"

MAYBE THE GAME WILL PROVE ME WRONG, I DUNNO YET.

oh my god. oh my god.

IGOR!!!!!!!! IGOR IS IN THERE!!!!

LEMME IN!!!!!! LEMME IIIIIIIIN I NEED TO SEE HIMMMMM I NEED TO TALK TO HIM I MISS HIM sobs

yeah no, bet, it's igor's cell. which means Notigor locked him up? maybe Notigor is the final boss, that'd be great, it'd slot in perfectly with this place being a prison and Reverie having been stuck in the shitty Velvet Prison this whole time.

please igor help me, i'm so tired of the edgelord execution shit.

PSYCHOPOMP MORGANA!!!!!!!!!!

me pressing my face against the bars whispering I'll be back for you igor i love you

lol what if it isn't even igor in there can you imagine

[fayestra]

finished up my book 1 draft run, here are all the characters i focused on training up

(i was first in draft order and it was snake draft, so i picked Caeda solo, everyone in the middle came in pairs, then ended on Dolph)

Caeda was my main outdoor fighter, i kinda picked her based on memories of how good she is in FE11 but forgot that a big part of that is being able to forge the wing spear. she's still really good here with high speed and weapon level letting her deal a lot of damage, she just didn't snowball the way i was expecting bc her main way of increasing Atk and Def is items and her promotion instead of level ups. she got the most kills out of everyone

Wendell was my main staff user, really nice to have such an early warp user. having only one slowed me down sometimes but it was mostly fine, the main issue i thought would come up was that i couldnt warp Wendell to fight Gharnef with Starlight but there were too many enemies around for that to be safe anyways and walking was a much better option.

Ogma was supposed to be my main indoor fighter but after being really good early game, he mainly was a back up to Marth and Caeda especially after Marth leveled up a bunch and got the boots. he had the 3rd most kills after Caeda and Marth, and far ahead any runner ups.

after Caeda, Wendell and Ogma i didnt really have a plan for who to draft or who might be useful other than Tomas being a good Parthia user

Tomas starts off pretty close to promotion with good weapon level so he became a sniper that could use Parthia pretty quickly and was really nice as a high damage option to take out problem enemies

Dolph was a meme pick and then i decided i wanted him to get power leveled and use the Gradivus so he got to oneshot some threatening enemies

Draug and Barst helped the early game go by smoothly by taking some hits and helping clear out enemies so that Marth, Caeda and Ogma could move forward. after that, Barst got some value bc he got some good levels and could deal alright damage, while Draug didnt do much.

Wolf and Roshea were outdoor flunkies and were an OK help, they both helped knock out an enemy or two on most outdoor maps. i probably picked Wolf too early for how much he contributed, since i still had time to pick up one of the manaketes or Xane, but it couldve been worse so whatever

i skipped Est lol.

not intentionally bc i just skipped Maria and Minerva since they weren't on my roster, but then i learned too late that i locked myself out of all of the Whitewings. which meant no Est and no Mercurius oops.

this playthrough was really fun, and pretty laid back with how many side objectives i ignored. i was the second to finish in the group so id have to wait but im probably gonna draft book 2 soonish

[kotaerukoto]

It's a headcanon of mine that Grigori Rasputin was another one of Mercurius' sensories btw, it lines up pretty well with the history since what he was doing during the late 1800s is unaccounted for. And since it's true that sensories get to grow up as their own person for a bit before becoming just an extension of him, it lines up well even if Rasputin technically died after Karl was born.