#orochi messy icon

[hywi2n]

qm te ver passar assim por mim

nao sabe o que eh sofrer 💔😓

[deani3w]

pedro orochi moodboard.

[armasbw]

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[frogoiw]

like.

[gigi-web]

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[askkrenko]

On Animals vs Animalfolk

The conclusion makes me realize: I don’t think you ever took an explicit stance about animal/human hybrid races.

Obviously, the current situation is a mess, with Leonin and Aven being Cat and Birds respectively, but Snake-people being sometimes Snake sometimes Naga, Lizard-people being their own things, Siren and Harpy mostly not Birds, but sometimes Birds, and this is only those we talked about recently. I don’t even remember what Loxodon and Rhox are tagged as…

So, what do you think would have been an good solution, if we didn’t have to deal with all the inertia of history? Are you strongly in favor of one or the other? Or do you think it should be decided on a case by case basis? Based on what other factors?

~ @death-burst

A very good question was asked in response to my Krenko’s Guide: Birds, and rather than just continually reblog that, I thought this deserved its own thread for people to answer.

The question of whether animal-people are their animal types (Like Leonin and Aven) or their own types (like Minotaur and Naga) is a pretty major one, and there’s multiple ways to deal it out, each with benefits and drawbacks. I’ll get into them below the break.

Option one: All animalfolk are the same type as their animals. 

That is, Minotaurs would be Oxen, Nagas would be Snakes, and Harpies and Sirens would both be Birds.  Now, the big benefit here is cutting down on creature types and letting it be easier to make decks of those types. “Cat” deck is easier than “Lizard” deck because cat people and cats are the same race, while lizard people and lizards are not. Oxen sharing a type with Minotaurs would give them the benefit of all that Minotaur tribal. It should result in the best gameplay response, but it’s also going to wind up looking the weirdest when you try to make sense of it.

 First off, as we see with Leonin and Aven, it creates this weird flavor option where a Leonin is happier to work alongside a housecat than alongside a Loxodon, which is just... a bit odd. Should Brimaz feel some sort of primal unity with a saber tooth tiger? Or a Leotau? Does it even make sense for a Siren like Malcolm (who needs a card ASAP) to think of a Bird of Paradise as one of “his people”? 

The second problem with this option is that not all ‘beast men’ as they are have a unified equivalent animal. Viashino are spread among Lizard, Crocodile, and Dinosaur. Most Merfolk are Fish, but Shadowmoor has the Seal-like Selkies. And then are Dryads and Treefolk supposed to be creature type “Plant?” Are Gorgons Snakes? Some of them certainly seem to be, but not all.

The third problem is that it makes a few creature types less immediately understandable. While people are accepting Leonin as cat people, declaring that Satyrs are actually Goats feels a bit off, as does seriously calling a Merfolk a Fish. We do it as a joke, sure, but actually writing Fish on the card would feel... off. Minotaurs as Oxen are more forgivable, but calling a Centaur a Horse just feels like a downright lie, even though a Centaur is more Horse than a Minotaur is Ox. It creates a disconnect where you actively feel certain things are mislabeled.

Option Two: All beastmen get their own race

That is, anything that uses the race/class style gets its own type. The big benefit here is that everything is clearly labeled and it makes perfect sense what works in tribe. Avens like Avens, but not birds. Minotaurs like Minotaurs, but not Oxen. Everything is exactly what it says it is. This is probably the most reasonable from a flavor perspective... but is awful for gameplay.

The first problem here is type splitting. Splitting Rhino from Rhox takes you from one type underused at 27 to two races under used at 11 and 16.  Splitting Aven from Bird is more comfortable, as both can survive on their own, but now you have an issue of future cards that care about them need to choose one or the other, no longer hitting both. This gets especially weird for one-offs. 

The second problem here is that some beastmen are one-offs. Scandalmonger is the only boar person. Wishmonger is the only unicorn person. Amphin Cutthroat and Pathmage are the only Salamander people, and that creature type is already tiny. There’s likely other instances here as well, but it certainly raises a question for the future. Would a lone turtle-person need their own type? 

Option Three: Mythological creatures get a type, invented ones do not

This tends to be the trend current Magic has stuck with, though there are a number of exceptions. If the creature is one from actual mythology and has some sort of expectation that the audience has heard of it before, it gets its own type. Otherwise, it uses its animal-men type. This is designed to be the easiest on the audience, as creature types are then what people instinctively think they are. When someone sees an ox-man, they know it’s a minotaur. When someone sees a cat-man, they don’t have anything else to call it, so it’s a cat-man. Magic can call it a Leonin, but that’s Magic’s made up word for it.

The major problems here come when invented races border mythological races. Orochi are Snakes because Wizards made them up, but Naga are also snake-men who are not snakes because they’re from mythology. This means we have two groups of snake-people who do not share a creature type, which is made all the more egregious by the fact that Orochi have a huge amount of tribal support as Snakes. A similar problem hits on Harpies and Sirens not being the same type as Aven. Further, a bunch of Dryads are clearly trees, but not Treefolk, which is a supported creature type. Wormwood Dryad, Gnalrwood Dryad, and Dryad Arbor, specifically, are just trees shaped like women.

Option Four: Purely case by case

Purely case by case is a reasonable idea, and would allow for the best mechanical and flavor balance for each type as it needs it, but this still results in major inconsistancy as a result, with players having no idea what’s what. Magic’s done a lot of this in the past, which is why we have Viashino and Cephalids.

This gets really messy really fast, and its biggest problem is that when deciding whether to make a new creature type for something is necesarry, one thing that should be asking is “how often do we plan to use these?” Lets assume a new world has a race of turtle-people. We can either label them as “Turtle” or as “Kappa.” The set’s got eight of them, because they’re a decent part of the world but not so big as to be planning a deck around them. A big question as to whether to give them their own creature type or not is if they’ll be iconic and memorable, and it’s really hard to know that until after the set has come out. If people really like them, they’re going to come back on many worlds, and as their forms change for different planes, it’ll be nicer to have the freedom to make different Kappa than just “turtles.” However, if people don’t attach to them, having their own creature type that most don’t immediately get will just be offputting and weird.

Option Five: Pipe Dream: Complete overhaul with wider types

So, I’m going to throw out first that I know full well a complete overhaul is unreasonable. I’d like one, but it’s just too much in  a game that’s mostly physical. That said, here’s how I’d do it:

All Beastmen are of a Beastmen type... But those types are wider. We’re starting to see this with Minotaur, which includes a number of rams on Amonkhet, and Zedruu, Having other suites of beastmen share typings would be a complete restructuring, but I think it’d work best for everyone.

Minotaurs would include all Ungulates here. This means Rhox, Scandalmonger, Wishmonger, but also easily opening the door for Elk-people to just randomly show up somewhere under the tag Minotaur. This would still only apply to bipeds, though, so Centaurs are still Centaurs (but a Centaur could include something with the lower body of any Ungulate.)

Aven would split from Bird, but absorb Siren and Harpy, and include any humanoid that has feathers and flies.

Ainok, or another name, would include Ainoks, Khenra, and Kitsune, as well as any other Caniform Beastman. Possibly also Feline beastmen, but I think Leonin are getting big enough to have all catfolk just be Leonin. Werewolves stay as Werewolves because they’re really not the same as other animalfolk.

Merfolk would absorb Cephalids. I don’t expect us to see enough different aquatic races that we need more than one type for aquatic animal-person.  Homarids are inhuman enough that I think we just want to tag them as Crustaceans. 

Amphin for any Amphibious Humanoid. 

Reptilians would get Viashino and Naga, because we really do recognize a difference between snake-people and lizard-people, and any turtle people would also become Viashno if they showed up. Orochi would become Naga.

And while I’m at it: Kobolds, Orcs, and Ogres are all Goblins.

This is more of a “if starting over” approach, of course, as too many gameplay effects exist to really encourage splitting pre-existing creature types.  Adding Siren and Harpy to Bird would be obvious and clear, but splitting Avens from Birds would be a logistical nightmare, and would require fighting for custody of old Bird tribal rewards.

Final Notes:

My actual suggestion at this point is, because they’re riding history, just... try not to make any new creature types, and fold in the old ones that didn’t get traction. Homarids can be Crabs now. It’s okay. We get that Homarids aren’t coming back in force, even if we still want to see a few. And when you introduce something like Naga, well, you’ve already got so much snake tribal sitting around, just let them use it.

You’ve got Viashino. Make use of it. Seriously. Viashino are inherently cool.

If you want to use a thing and really can’t find a proper type for it, like say deciding you want to do a set with lots of dinosaurs and not feeling right calling them lizards or beasts, or a set with lots of werewolves, or just needing Pilot as a new class because nothing else fits right, okay, but introducing the type Naga instead of using Snake or adding in Sirens that were visually very similar to Aven but were not Birds just doesn’t do anything because now you have a new type that you’re not even giving us the tools to use.

At least Aetherborn and Servo had lords.

I think “tools to use” is the real key here. I want the tools to use any creature type that exists, so if you’re adding a new creature type it should either be a clear label of mechanical similarity, like Processor or Pilot, or come with a card that lets me take advantage of that word. 

If you put a word on a card that does LITERALLY NOTHING, not even remind me how that card works, you’re wasting my time.

[ask-team-clst]

Ryuji Fujita

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Appearance:

Nationality: Japanese

Hair color: Black (Long and messy, usually tied back into a low ponytail)

Eye color: Blue

Skin color: Fair

Height: 5′9″

Weight: 130lbs

Handedness: Ambidexterous

Race: Snake Faunus (Mamushi)

Clothing: Ryuji’s clothes are relatively simple; a sleeveless blue hoodie over a white gi top with short sleves, a pair of blue hakama and a pair of black sneakers. He also wears a pair of blue tekkou. His emblem is stitched onto the back of his hoodie.

Emblem: The character for ‘Dragon’ (龍) embroidered in white at the center of a purple diamond.

Nightclothes: Shirtless with a pair of dark purple sweatpants

Personality: Ryuji can seem aloof and arrogant to people that don’t know him that well. But, underneath that front, he’s compassionate and very motivated. Unafraid to take risks and preferring to do things his way, these qualities that can lead to confrontations at the worst times. He also has a hard time saying how he really feels.

Past: TBA

Weapon Names: Kusanagi (Grass Cutter) and Totsuka (Ten Fists)

Class:

Kusanagi– Aura Reactive Alloy Katana (ARAK)

Totsuka– Combination Hand Cannon Kodachi (CHCK)

Description:

Kusanagi looks like an ordinary katana with a tsuba shaped like a coiled dragon, and a dark blue tsukamaki. While it lacks a secondary form, the metal it’s made from channels aura better than most, sharpening its cutting edge

Totsuka takes the form of a kodachi with dark blue revolver components built into the base of the blade. When this weapon transforms, the blade folds downwards into a bayonet configuration, allowing the barrel to slide forward to form a 10-shot revolver. 

Fighting Style:

Melee: This is an area where Ryuji excels. As a practitioner of kenjutsu and iaido, he’s a relatively technical fighter, often waiting or the right moment to strike. He usually fights only using Kusanagi; his style becomes more unorthodox when he draws both swords.

Ranged: He’s generally an overall average shot, but he tries to avoid shooting as much as possible out of pride in his sword skills

Strengths: He’s a skilled kenjutsu user and has a very quick sword draw, allowing him to catch less-skilled opponents off guard. Furthermore, he has a great eye for range and often uses this to his advantage. He uses his Semblance to help his attacks connect.

Weaknesses: He’s generally at a disadvantage in long-range combat. He’s got a quick draw but an average shot with Totsuka’s gun form. Personality wise, he can be rather reckless and his temper sometimes gets the better of him.

Aura: Ryuji’s Aura takes the form of crackling purple lightning.

Semblance: Ryuji’s Semblance is called Kamikaze, which takes the form of blue wind that swirls around his body. Ryuji typically uses this wind for a speed boost and to increase the range of his attacks by channeling it through his weapon to create air blades.

Relationships:

Crona:

Noel: 

Brynn: 

Natsuko and Touya Shiba

Model: Ryuji is based on Susano’o, the Japanese storm god who slew the Yamata no Orochi, a dragon that plagued the Izumo province.

His status as a snake faunus is a reference to the Orochi, who was commonly depicted as an eight-headed snake

His relationship with his foster siblings, especially his sister, parallels the relationship between Susano’o and Amaterasu

His weapons are named after two swords that Susano’o wielded in Japanese folklore, with the Kusanagi being the more famous of the two.

Kusanagi is just a katana, an incredibly iconic Japanese weapons.

Totsuka’s gun form is based on the hand cannons in Destiny.     Specifically, the Renegade Mk. 55.

Name:

The kanji that make up Ryuji’s first name are ‘Dragon’ (竜) and ‘Rule’ (司)

His last name, Fujita, uses the kanji for ‘Wisteria’ (藤) and ‘Field’ (田). Wisteria plants are known for having purple flowers 

Trivia:

Ryuji’s faunus trait is a snake’s tail. 

When he uses his Semblance, his eyes turn blue. 

He tends to wear his uniform with his shirt untucked with the vest and top two buttons unbuttoned. He never wears his tie either

The Kusanagi was named after a legendary sword Ryuji remembered reading about when he was younger. 

Ryuji acts as a foil for Shanyin

In Chinese and Japanese mythology, there is a belief that the tiger and dragon are different, yet similar rivals.

There’s a rather obvious Japan vs China theme. Ryuji’s a samurai while Shanyin’s a kung fu fighter.

Their last names reference purple (Fujita) and yellow (Huang), which are on the opposite sides of the color wheel