#possibly while under the influence of magical corruption

[adragonsdance]

Does anyone else ever think about how WC!Scott canonically brought Mertha back to life and there was a bit of hand waving like “Eeuuhh she was a goat that’s not to difficult” but really she was a human soul trapped in a goat’s body, so Scott could bring back a human soul by like, the middle of the trials, so he might have already been powerful enough to bring back Milo by that point or soon after, without having to go full Lich and do all the horrible things that ritual entails, but by that point he had convinced himself so thoroughly that the only way to achieve his goal was by becoming the Supreme Witch that it didn’t even cross his mind to try?

[bokettochild]

I just saw a post asking which Link would make the best villain and....

It's Time guys

Like, I love the man, but let's be real; he's a second from snapping and committing atrocities.

Twilight is so thoroughly traumatized by the vision the spirits gave him and Fi's judgement of him that he literally can't stand messing with magic that isn't actually his own or connected to him. And while, sure, he doesn't need magic to be a villain, let's be real, it'd take something magical to force him to turn his back on everything he's ever fought for.

Similarly, Wild fought and died for his kingdom, and his people. There is nothing and no one worse than what he's already seen that could possibly make him turn his back on it all and throw his work down the drain just to destroy everything he'd built himself.

Legend is the same. he's been doing this far too long to ditch now. Granted, he's a grump, but if you look at his games, you see he's a highly empathetic and caring person. Unlike the others, who were tasked with saving the world by a mentor or friend, or had to go and save a friend or family member, or who where sworn to duty; Legend was literally some kid who was asked by an utter stranger to help, and did. Six times. No way someone like that is going to go and destroy everything.

And Wind! Wind is a moral guy, with a good heart. he set out for personal reasons and saw in his journey that there were bigger fish to fry, and he fried them. He had no reason to take it on, no call of the goddess, no responsibility, no reason for him, a child, to go and save the world as well as his sister, but he did it anyway.

Sky and Warriors are simply too devout. Warriors to the kingdom and it's people; with everything he suffered for them, you can't tell me the man isn't dedicated to serving his country. And Sky is loyal to Sun, who is Hylia, so he literally would never go against her. And by the law of the Zelda universe, villains are those who go against Hylia and Hyrule.

Four is an iffy one. Most people might say "but Vio was a villain!" but let's be real; if you read the manga, you know Vio was bluffing all along. If Vio, part of Four, didn't bow even under Shadow's influence, and Vaati's, and Ganon's, then again; who and what would drive this man to become a villain? Granted, the persuing of dark magic to bring back his lost friend could be argued, but is more likely to lead to his corruption than his attempting to take over Hyrule and kill innocents.

Hyrule is tough, since we have very little to work off of in cannon, but come on, even if Hyrule did turn to evil, he wouldn't exactly be able to do much. Hyrule's already in ruins in his time, and the monsters wouldn't hear of working beside him. He'd have everyone against him, and even if he does hold the triforce in it's entirety and thus could do all sorts of horrible things, he has neither motivation nor reason to turn away to becoming a villain.

Time though......

Time has watched the world burn and all his efforts be turned around and lost. He has lost everything so many times, usually with no reward or reason. In the end, Time, though a good man, cares more for the individual than the country. He cares about his wife and his boys, and based off the scars, we can only guess what lengths he's already gone to in order to accomplish his goals.

Time, if faced with the right issue, has every risk of dropping from defender to threat. Hyrule be damned, this man cares for his wife, his kids, his home, and if you threaten that, no matter who you are, he will go after you. He's one second away from going after Hylia and all she has done to him and those around him. He detests the Blade of Evil's bane, the symbol of Hylia's blessing. He borders every moment on the precipice of taking power beyond mortals to fulfill his own wishes, even if it is to help those he loves.

Put Malon in danger, heck, one of the boys, and Time won't let something silly like morals stop him from doing whatever it takes to protect what little that is still his and hasn't already been taken from him. He will fight tooth and nail not to lose anything else, and he won't let even the goddesses stop him.l

[inconmess]

So the whole fight, I am trying to type my way through it to process stuff, may have gotten some things wrong, may go back and edit some stuff but...

Spoilers so I am putting this under the cut cuz I am likely to go into detail and make it a long post. I don't know

It started with Laudna thinking about Orym having the blade strapped on his back. Not her thinking it is cursed.

Delilah escalates that thought of thinking into it possibly being a cursed sword, and hey, I won't discount the fact that Laudna may have taken it without Delilah's influence but Delilah egging on her definitely make it more certain for Laudna to take it.

And look at this, she could've just woken up Orym and talked about her concerns but I think deep inside, she knew that he wouldn't agree for her to absorb the blade either way. Hence the stealthy try to take it.

She takes her precautions, fails and she knows Orym is a soldier. She knows what he can do. Which is also the reason she cast Darkness while she tried to take it. So she also shouldn't be surprised if he attacks her in the Darkness because he can't see and had just been hurt.

Even if Delilah's push, I can understand the argument she made. They don't know if the blade is cursed or sentient. They don't know how the blade could affect him. The Blade has killed party members and Laudna is traumatised by it. Understandable why she doesn't want to see it or see anyone using it.

She could just ask Orym to put it away, talked it out with him. If it was just about him wielding it. Or carrying it in the party's line of sight. But this wasn't about that. This was about Laudna grabbing it's power to empower Delilah. And she knows what the party thinks about her. Her stealthy action makes sense, Orym's reaction makes sense.

But when the rest of them awoke and the darkness dropped, they see Orym attacking Laudna, seemingly for no reason. With Otohan's blade. And Laudna tries to play into it. She talks about how she sensed that the sword is cursed and was trying to save Orym from being corrupted and it would've made sense. If not for the fact that she could've just talked about it.

Look, Orym tells them why he took the sword, again, makes sense with his backstory. But like he did now, he would've agreed to put it down, get it checked if it were really cursed. He is not probably going to endanger himself if the others are concerned about it.

But he (and the others later on) repeatedly asks Laudna on why she needs it and she evades it. He points out how she hurt him to take it and she says it was accidental. It was. But she still doesn't give solid answers on why she needs it. Her reasoning changes quite a bit and not really makes sense.

And then she turns it on Orym. "I gave you a bruise accidentally but you gave me gashes." "It was on instinct." "Even I did it on instinct." No Laudna, Orym did it on instinct because you covered the place in Darkness. You cast the spell intentionally and hurt Orym, not on instinct. Accident, maybe. But definitely not on instinct. Lady, what do you expect a soldier who has been hurt and woke up in magical darkness to do apart from attack?

Ashton asking Laudna to apologise and willing to take her side was nice. And technically, everything could've been resolved with a talk. But she tries to escape, opens the windows and doors repeatedly as the talks are going on, as Orym does lay bare on why he needs the blade.

Which is another interesting talk. "Why do I need the help of some dark force" he asks, pointedly looking at her. And Laudna points out her gashes. I mean, ma'am, if you are going to fault Orym for taking another sword, which admittedly killed a lot of people, let me remind you that you were trying to take said sword to feed another dark force in you.

In the tension of the moment though, I find it funny Orym did mention about his deal but they don't get to unpack it at the moment because there is more serious shit going on here.

Anyway. I need both Orym and Laudna to stop feeling they don't have enough power to handle everything but at the same time they are partially right because most of the fights they have been in, they have either come close to losing someone or lost someone so I get it but still HAVE A TALK! I love how Laudna just resolves to act than talk but at the same time frustrated by it *sighs*

And then Fearne identifies it. Chetney Grim Psychometries it. And they find no sentience there. Cursed, maybe? But not sentient. And Laudna insists on swallowing it's power any way. I mean, like Imogen asked, it may be cursed then why do you want to take it? And the way she repeatedly asks "With the harness, right?"

I know I am going about the whole sequence of events back and forth but... As I said, I am trying to process through the fight, not pass judgement.

Chet saying it is Orym's sword and Laudna is not having it. Dorian coming in with him being done with objects having power over them is interesting because he just got out of a PVP, reminiscing about the crown and how silly it had been, talking about how it is about the person who wields it and not the item right after what went down with Opal...

And then Chet also brings up how much loss Orym has gone through with that particular sword and Laudna mentions not to talk about loss to her. Justifiably so tbh.

The thing here is, I agree, Laudna has lost a lot in her life. She lost her whole life in Whitestone, she was tortured, has died and lost her family and everything, started over with her killer in her head, guiding and giving her power, died again and now lost FCG.

But Orym, similarly, lost his life back in Zephrah. Maybe not his whole family but it was still his father and husband, lost his own life and then FCG. Laudna and Orym have lost people and their lives and have had to rebuild it in different ways. Period. Not comparable.

Before anyone says anything, I am not putting trauma in a scale or comparing here because everyone can react to trauma and have it hit them differently. But Orym has had the longest beef with Otohan out of any of them. Laudna can have her beef with Delilah for killing her but leans into her for power. So in a sense, Orym does have the edge here because while everyone does have a history with the blade, Orym has it for the longest.

But he still gives it to Laudna anyway when she insists for it. "Why do you care so much?" "Does anyone want to tell her why do I care so much?" Because Orym is also kinda fed up of repeating the same thing over and over again. He doesn't want revenge. He wants to protect. He is not giving up Seedling in exchange for the blade that killed his family but rather stick it up to Ludinus and rather end the history of the blade with him hopefully. And he repeats it over and over again and she is just stuck on sucking in the sword.

Until Chetney gives her the scream needle. And she runs off. And sucks the dagger in. Leaving a party split and woken in the middle of the night.

I saw some posts about how Laudna should face some consequences. And she should. This was kinda unprovoked in a sense. And maybe, Maybe Orym should've consulted the party because in terms of spoils, Ishta can be claimed as FCG's as he was the one who victored over Otohan but as I said, it could've been talked out and people didn't need to attack out of the start? There was a chance for the group as a whole to ask Orym about the decision to take the sword, talking about it. But they didn't.

Long things short, Orym has some valid points. Laudna has some valid points. Laudna went about things the wrong way if she wanted them to trust her. And the rest of the party let most things slide easily.

But Just such a juicy conflict. Now, I may I interpreted some things wrong, missed something here and there and I welcome any and all discussion in the rbs/comments. Thank you for reading through this thought process till the end.

Rasnak signing off :3

And for now, the stuff Laudna has sucked in to power Delilah:

The Crystal

Hunger of the Shadows Bor'Dor

Hunger of the Shadows the Willmaster

Scream Needle

And I think she does suck the power of something else but I forget

Just to end it.. FUCK YOU DELILAH!

[glossamerfaerie]

Gwyn = future High Priestess?

This is an out-there theory, one that I’m only mildly attached to. But we’re going to wait a long time for the book, so why not indulge in wild speculation, haha. This was inspired by a headcanon I saw about Gwyn and Az being the reincarnation of High Priestess Oleanna (who dipped Gwydion into the Cauldron and gave it to Fionn to overthrow the Daglan) and Enalius (Illyrian warrior who possibly fought the Daglan at Ramiel; original wielder of TruthTeller). It’s a fun crack theory, but Oleanna got me thinking about High Priestesses. We learned a lot about them in ACOMAF due to Ianthe, but they’ve been a non-entity since ACOFAS.

Let’s review the facts. Spoilers for the entire series under the cut. It’s a long post, sorry!

There were 12 High Priestesses before Ianthe died. I don’t know how succession works or if that’s the maximum number possible. I’m inclined to think 12 total slots because it’s a nice round number. I doubt it’s tied to court lineage since they seem to operate independently (if occasionally collaborating with the High Lords). It’s unclear how they gain the position; we know that Ianthe (Tamlin’s childhood friend and a nobleman’s daughter) was the youngest High Priestess and lived in the Spring Court before Aramantha. She fled to Vallahan during the 50 years of tyranny.

Among the High Fae, the priestesses oversaw their ceremonies and rituals, recorded their histories and legends, and advised their lords and ladies in matters great and trivial… […] … Priestesses could marry, bear children, and dally as they would. It would dishonor the Cauldron’s gift of fertility to lock up their instincts, their inherent female magic in bearing life, Ianthe had once told me. So while the seven High Lords ruled Prythian from thrones, the twelve High Priestesses reigned from the altars, their children as powerful and respected as any lord’s offspring. — Feyre’s thoughts in ACOMAF

We later learn that Rhys dislikes Ianthe (for good reasons). But!! His dislike isn’t limited to her. He has an issue with all High Priestesses.

“I find the High Priestesses to be a perversion of what they once were—once promised to be. Ianthe among the worst of them.”

[…]

“The High Priestesses have burrowed into a few of the courts—Dawn, Day, and Winter, mostly. They’ve entrenched themselves so thoroughly that their spies are everywhere, their followers near-fanatic with devotion. And yet, during those fifty years, they escaped. They remained hidden. I would not be surprised if Ianthe sought to establish a foothold in the Spring Court.”

“You mean to tell me they’re all black-hearted villains?”

“No. Some, yes. Some are compassionate and selfless and wise. But there are some who are merely self-righteous … Though those are the ones that always seem the most dangerous to me.”— Feyre and Rhys in ACOMAF

Notice how Rhys talks about the High Priestesses. A perversion. They’re corrupt — he’s implying that they don’t serve the Mother’s will with good intentions.

The High Priestesses hid and escaped Aramantha’s wrath while the High Lords suffered. Like most organized religions, these High Priestesses seem power-hungry and selfish. It sounds like SJM was inspired by Dune’s Bene Gesserit. Their motivations have changed from the High Priestesses of Oleanna’s time. Rhys’s cynicism was warranted: we later learn that Ianthe was resentful of bowing down to the High Lords, allying herself with Hybern to gain influence.

But!!! Not all of them. Rhys himself says that some are compassionate. I wonder who he’s talking about?

“You speak rather informally of your high priestess.”

“Clotho does not enforce rank. She encourages us to use her name.” — Nesta and Gwyn in ACOSF

While we meet Clotho in ACOWAR, she is NOT referred to as a High Priestess. To be fair, Feyre is briefly introduced to her so she wouldn’t know unless someone said so. In Silver Flames, the High Priestess status is linked to Clotho’s name at least five times in the text. I presume that Clotho was a High Priestess before the attack that led her to live in the Library. The text implies that Clotho — along with Rhys and Mor — is the person who created the sanctuary.

Five days later, Cassian sat before the desk of the library’s high priestess and watched her enchanted pen move. He’d met Clotho a few times over the centuries—found she had a dry, wicked sense of humor and a soothing presence. He’d made a point not to stare at her hands, or at the face he’d only seen once, when Mor had brought her in so long ago. It had been so battered and bloody it hadn’t looked like a face at all. He had no idea how it had healed beneath the hood. If Madja had been able to save it in a way she hadn’t been able to save Clotho’s hands. He it didn’t matter what she looked like, not when she had accomplished and built so much with Rhys and Mor within this library. A sanctuary for females who’d endured such unspeakable horrors that he was always happy to carry out justice on their behalf. — Cassian in ACOSF

IMO, Clotho doesn’t have much communication or power over the High Priestesses or temple governance. They might know she lives in a Night Court Library with many vulnerable priestesses, but they likely don’t know the details or precise location (after all, the existence of Velaris was secret until recently). Clotho seems wholly focused on the Library and not the outside world.

Remember what Rhys said to Feyre?

“Some are compassionate and selfless and wise.”

Rhys is likely talking about Clotho, the anthesis of Ianthe’s character. He has to be. What other High Priestess is Rhys acquainted with where he can make that assessment? By his own account, they stick to Winter, Dawn, and Day. None of them were imprisoned Under the Mountain because they hid, so he wouldn’t have met them there.

Which brings me to this:

“At the Court of Nightmares. I allowed her to visit after she’d begged for years, insisting she wanted to build ties between the Night Court and the priestesses. I’d heard rumors about her nature, but she was young and untried, and I hoped that perhaps a new High Priestess might indeed be the change her order needed. It turned out that she was already well trained by some of her less-benevolent sisters.” — Rhys in ACOMAF

Before Aramantha, Rhys was interested in fostering a connection between the Night Court and the High Priestesses. He hoped that a brand-new High Priestess could change the organization. It didn’t go well. I’m not going to quote the entire passage (Chapter 21 in ACOMAF) because it’s a long flashback, but Ianthe shows up naked in Rhys’s bed, attempting to grab his genitalia without his consent. He doesn’t kill her because he doesn’t want to deal with the High Priestesses, but he uses his power to threaten her.

She’d hounded him relentlessly—stalked the other males, too. Azriel had left last night because of it.

[…]

Rhys leaned close to breathe into her ear, “Don’t ever touch me. Don’t ever touch another male in my court.” His power snapped bones and tendons, and she screamed again. “Your hand will heal,” he said, stepping back. “The next time you touch me or anyone in my lands, you will find that the rest of you will not fare so well.” — Rhys flashback in ACOMAF

We know that Ianthe is a grade-A bitch, for many other reasons I didn’t mention (poor Lucien). But you know what’s interesting about Ianthe now?

Ianthe is DEAD. Unless the High Priestesses appointed someone else to the twelfth position off-page, there are currently ELEVEN High Priestesses in Prythia. One spot is potentially open.

And… I wonder who can possibly take on that role? Someone pure of heart and devoted to the Mother. Someone who would mark a return to what High Priestesses OUGHT to be for the Fae. Someone who already has positive ties to the Night Court. Someone who would encourage Rhys to develop a relationship between the Night Court and the High Priestesses, something he wanted to do centuries ago. Maybe a certain teal-eyed Valkyrie priestess that we met in ACOSF.

Gwyneth Berdara

I know what you’re thinking: but Gwyn is already a Valkyrie and researcher at the Library?! She’s helping train the other priestesses! She might have relevancy in the Illyrian rebellion storyline with Emerie and Az! She doesn’t have the TIME to become a High Priestess!!

To which I say… excellent point, lol. It does seem like a lot of responsibility to shoulder. But I’m uncertain whether the High Priestess position needs to be a 24/7 gig. Clotho is at the Library and seemingly not that concerned with the outside world. To be honest, I’m unsure if the High Priestesses are even in frequent communication with each other post-Ianthe’s death. They might be scrambling with the High Lords back in power and unable to exploit the power vacuum anymore. Remember that Hybern attacked the temples and killed priestesses in order to steal the Cauldron parts; I imagine the High Priestesses are still grieving and recovering from that loss. They might be a perversion, but none outside Ianthe allied with Hybern. The High Priestesses aren’t a lost cause just yet. They simply might need someone (Gwyn) to set their priorities straight and refocus their goals in aiding Prythian and worshiping the Mother.

Clotho is compassionate and wise, but seems uninterested in untangling High Priestess politics. She can’t even control Merrill in her own library. I adore Clotho, but I don’t really see her confronting the other High Priestesses and enacting social reforms. Clotho will support Gwyn, but she won’t be the one to initiate change.

“Only Clotho can really make her fall in line, but Clotho lets her have her way, mostly because Merrill throws those windy tantrums that can send everyone’s manuscripts scattering.”— Gwyn in ACOSF

And honestly, maybe the High Priestess responsibilities are light for Gwyn. Maybe she just chills in the Night Court and oversees ceremonies/holidays for Rhys. That’s basically what Ianthe was doing for Tamlin’s Spring Court in ACOMAF/ACOWAR.

I also think it’s OK for the Valkyries to have other responsibilities. I see Nesta as a diplomat or emissary in other lands and courts. Emerie might take a central role back at home, training and helping Illyrian women. Just because they’re Valkyries first doesn’t erase their other identities.

Gwyn has been training as a priestess for her entire life. She’s experienced discrimination due to her nymph heritage, from Merrill and probably other priestesses in Sangravah. I believe Gwyn can enact real social change within the High Priestesses, advocating for species inclusivity and a return to their original duties (like in Oleanna’s time). No more power-hungry political schemes — the Mother and citizen wellbeing should be their #1 priority.

Aside from her personality, Gwyn is a good candidate for two reasons. First, Gwyn is foreshadowed to have strong magic (she glows while singing!). Gwyn’s voice inspires Nesta to have a vision of the Harp. Maybe Gwyn has fire magic from her Autumn grandfather. Maybe she has abilities from her nymph grandmother. Maybe she’s starborn. The possibilities are endless. The point is, Gwyn is magically powerful enough for the role of High Priestess.

Second, I suspect that she’s related to the Autumn Court and Eris. As a High Priestess, Gwyn would have the trust of two High Lords: Rhys and Eris (let’s assume Beron dies soon, lol). Per Rhys, the High Priestesses have mostly entrenched themselves in Winter, Day, and Dawn. That means Autumn (Eris) and Night (Rhys) currently have no connection to the High Priestesses. Gwyn would bridge that gap.

Assuming that Gwyn is Lucien’s grandniece or some other relation, Gwyn also has ties to the Day Court and Helion. I’m very sure that Gwyn and Helion will be fast friends over their love for pegasi. 😉 Having the ear of three High Lords would cement Gwyn’s status as a High Priestess.

***

Anyway… I wrote all this and now I’m not sure at all. 😅 What do you think about my theory? Too out there or a genuine possibility in the Gwynriel book?

[miscellaneouzz]

Sorry for the absolute WALL of Text but I wanted to put my own thoughts about where Pike's story could go. There's honestly a lot of avenues that Pike's story could take and all of them are so fucked and angsty in the best way possible.

Like I can very much see a storyline where Pike is targeted by the Whisper One cult for her blood + powers to resurrect him. Firstly, there's Pike's general isolation from everyone. VM's disbanded and as such, there's really no one around to see or check on Pike. Percy and Vex are in Whitestone, Vax and Keyleth are doing Ashari stuff. Scanlan's on his world tour (Plus whatever the hell they plan to do with the whole "You're not real family" thing which I KNOW is going to come back around to bash in Scanlan's teeth) And Grog, while super supportive, doesn't really ask that many questions or comments and as such, this leaves Pike in a prime state of isolation from the group.

There's also Pike's disregard of her own self as well as her tumultuous relationship with Everlight that's probably the biggest thing that'll kick everything into gear.

She very much doesn't want to bother anyone with her problems, especally when it comes to her Goddess, and her refusal to tell people about her fracturing relationship with said goddess is exactly what's going to get her hurt. Her few years away from VM was great for her because she didn't have to work as hard to conceal her problems from Grog. But now that VM is back together, it's going to be difficult to hide everything because, well, she's the healer, the cleric, the holy one. She needs to be at the top of her game, and it looks like it's going to be absolutely hell for her because her powers are not working.

There's also the added stress of her entire existance, how her blood is special, how it connects to her overall faith. It's no surprise that the whisper one wants her blood. If you go back to Season one, Delilah actually carves The Whisper One Symbol into her arm twice -- Once when she was turning Silas into a vampire and the second was when she was attempting to bring Mr. Whisper into the world under Whitestone. Both times, the ritual used blood magic to do so. While Silas' transformation was a success, Delilah's second offering was only half-that. He needs a tangable body (he was only ever able to bring his marble body to the material world) to live in and Pike's divine blood is just strong enough to allow that.

I desperly wonder how they're going to make the Whisper One corrupt Pike. I know that they're most likely going to make Pike possibly hear the Whispered One's voice (much like Delilah did--although TLOVM didn't exactly allow us to hear it, it's heavily implied that the WO preyed on Delilah's anguish and whispered in her mind her greatest desire) but I wonder if they'll go a little farther and make The WO some shadowing figure in her dreams/prayer void, not necessary charming her but speaking just enough truth to effectively manipulate her.

There's also just the fact that we could potentially see her fuck-ass hillbilly family and how their involvement will greatly influence Pike's already scattered sense of self and faith, as well as whatever they plan to do with Willhand because the fact that he didnt seem all that fazed when she returned home with white hair makes me think he knows what Pike is and i'm just---

I am so excited to see where they take our gnome in the future but also I am not ready for the pain it will cause. especially when it comes to whatever they have planned with her blood. I hope she took her iron tablets

The whispered one cult targeting her bc of her blood is a direction I can totally see them going in, especially with her having the mark! I like how throughout this season Grog does ask her questions concerning her faith, she just quickly dodges the questions and gives skewed answers (ex: “can’t the Everlight help you?” “I haven’t had a chance to ask yet” “have you tried praying?” “I don’t think that’ll help”) so I wonder how much of that is gonna continue into season 4 and if she’ll eventually confide in him like she did in season 1. I also wonder how much of season 4 we’re gonna spend apart before coming back together, like how much are we just gonna get Pike/Grog as a duo and how much are we gonna see more her dynamic with the rest of the group and her potentially confronting Scanlan about everything. (He’s also the only one who read Delilah’s book so I wonder if he would potentially recognize the mark, then again he didn’t say anything when Zerxus handed it over so idk)

I’m definitely curious about how or if it’ll all play into her pride in being a redeemer and how she views her role in the group. One of the lines I just keep thinking about is Zerxus’ “I can see why the Everlight favors you, you’re as careless with those close to you as you are yourself” bc not only does it make me want more Everlight lore but it also immediately takes me back to Pike’s moment in season 2 telling Osysa “I don’t care if I die, none of us do”. Pike’s role as the holy redeemer in her group is such an interesting clash with her less apparent carelessness/willingness to throw both her and others lives away, yet they seem to very purposefully play into each other.

I love me a good crisis of faith story but ohh man am I worried for my girl…

And thank you for sharing all these ideas/theories I eat that shit up!!

[ask-the-koopa-family]

AFTER ALL THESE YEAAAAARS HERES... CHERRY'S FATHER IN MY AU 🫨

Art/OC are mine dont copy/repost !

((Oh mannn ive always changed his style for this character, it was hard, Thanks @gaser.draws for finally motivated me to draw him lol))

SO HERES THE STORY BEHIND THIS MAN....

A long ago, there was a small kingdom shrouded in darkness and corruption, ruled by the self-proclaimed Prince Arsen. This kingdom was unique in that its piranha plants were all tainted by a malevolent poison, warping their original nature, and this poison could be transmitted. Arsen, driven by chaos and power, learned of a legendary magical stone capable of granting immense powers of piranha plants. This stone, passed down through generations, was held by Princess Emmanuelle of the great kingdom of colorful and verdant piranha plants. The stone granted immense powers to its bearer, and Arsen desired it to bolster his own destructive ambitions.

Seeing an opportunity for conquest, Arsen devised a plan. Using his nobility and charm, he presented himself as a royal suitor to Princess Emmanuelle. He claimed that his own kingdom had been ravaged by pollution and that only Emmanuelle's kingdom could save it. Emmanuelle, naive yet kind-hearted, accepted. As time went on, she fell under his charm and agreed to marry him, sincerely believing he was in distress.

The marriage was celebrated, and Arsen became the king consort. Through the union, he obtained not only the magical stone but also the ability to gain immense powers, just like the royal family of piranha plants. Using the stone, he secretly poisoned other plants.

From this union, three children were born: Ash, Cherry, and Ivy. Arsen cared little for their upbringing, seeing them merely as pawns in his grand scheme.

However, over time, Emmanuelle discovered Arsen’s true nature and his malevolent intentions. Enraged by the deceit and determined to protect her kingdom and children, she drove him out with the help of her own powers and loyal forces. Arsen, now powerful thanks to the magical stone, did not fall easily. Emmanuelle had to fight fiercely to protect her children while trying to retrieve the stone from Arsen. But he managed to escape before the stone could be recovered, leaving behind a latent threat for the future.

Before disappearing, Arsen left a threatening message: his children harbored a dangerous duality, an inheritance of their father's powers and their mother's gifts. He vowed to return for revenge and to continue his machinations.

Now alone with her three young children, Emmanuelle faced a dilemma. While raising them, she had to protect and guide them, trying to counter the dark influences that might emerge from their inherited powers. She chose never to mention their father to the children, hoping to shield them from the shadow of their heritage and provide them with a serene childhood. Yet Emmanuelle lived in doubt every day, striving to maintain light and balance in the kingdom while keeping a wary eye on the possible return of Arsen.

[alien-aisha-vending-machine]

Theory: How Neoquest was the first appearance of the Wraith threat.

i've always had the theory that the madness/dark magic from the two ring castle -> dark magic that infected darigain -> the madness that affected modern neopians during TDF -> wraiths & how it's all related to faeries being a possibly unnatural presence in Neopia

Part 1: Neoquest, or, "What do you mean Neopia is post-apocalyptic?!"

NQ1 is possibly the earliest version of Neopia we have or have ever gotten (if one doesn't consider Tyrannia as "a slice of the prehistoric era".) Notably, it's never been "debunked" in the same way that NQII has (tho, aspects in NQII imply that there are some canon aspects, or that the story itself is true- while the version we PLAY is a re-enactment or simulation.)

Though, while these days, Neoquest, (be it 1 or 2) is often considered "fictional" within the worldbuilding, a lot of early site lore really leaned on Neoquest for it's foundations. Toys, weapons, stories. monsters... a lot of this was based on Neoquest. it's a story that's been long forgotten by the site itself, but I still feel that in terms of the greater story of "Neopia", it is the most reliable glimpse into the ancient past and the sort of idea of what Neopets' original trajectory was.

It's also notable as being a version of neopia without the influence of Faeries. In fact, most neopians are neopets, and not a faerie is found in all the game.

Neopia is described ingame as a not-so-friendly place that is swarming with monsters and animals.. many of which are other neopets. The structure of this version of Neopia is very very interesting, as instead of faeries, it seems like it was ruled by a Council known as the "Circle of Twelve" who used what was known as "circles" of magic instead of the more well-known schools of Faerie magic (Fire, Ice, Shock, Spectral, and Life magic vs the Faeries' Dark, Light, Earth, Air, Fire and Water magic)

The lore goes back even further, mentioning a Great Empire and a Civilization known as Keladrian- a civilization of powerful wizards that was ancient even before the already-ancient Great Empire.. which was 1000 years ago during NEOQUEST.

Upon using the amulet on Faleinn, the leader of Kal Panning, she has this to say:

So ultimately, after a great scuffle between Kal Panning and the Circle, the Circle destroyed Kal Panning over the course of a month- afterwards, they realized what they had done and their leader, Jahbal, was banished to the Two Ring Mountains- from therein he used his evil magic to... corrupt the outside world. This long-form campaign to ultimately reduced the world to a few pocket civilizations, wrought with monsters.

A lot of the monsters are very clearly neopets, though- mad, mindless, and slowly warping from their less-crazed counterparts. They are sort of.. feral, in a way. Why.. it seems to remind me of...

Notes to Carry Forward:

No Faeries were present in Neoquest times, or before then either.

... note that there is no Faeries in Tyrannia, either.

Neopia thrived on Wild Magic.

Neopia, at this point, is a twice-over post apocalyptic civilization

There is a Dark Magic spell that is causing Madness, Mutations, and Violence.

Part 2: Champions of Meridell, aka the one without Kass in it.

Meridell is planted firmly "in the past" described ingame as a forgotten land of heroes. With Meridell and it's surrounding areas being such big players in the larger story of Neopets, it's easy to forget the world of Neopia is a very modern sort of place.. roughly pre-industrial, and while these days- Meridell and the other fantasy-themed lands often stand next to other lands as if they exist in the modern settings, Access to these areas are through a time portal.

I find Champions an ultimately more interesting tale than Battle, as it's the introduction to Meridell as a whole and contains a hugely important aspect of the land. Meridell was once suffering under famine, and under the advice of a seer, the King sends his knights to locate an Orb.

Meridell, which was once ridden with disease and famine, began to burst into life and lush greenery.

It's notable that Skarl does not know, or does to wish to share the fact that he knows, that the knights he sent to retrieve this orb had ultimately stolen it from the kingdom of Darigan.

When the orb was stolen, Darigan took a huge dive-

seemingly ending up worse than Meridell ever was. But.. why? Why did Darigain's citizens mutate when Meridell did not? Perhaps the orb was used to suppress something darker? More ancient?

In the Twisted Histories Capsule Adventure, we are presented with an alternate timeline where Meridell was defeated by Darigan. I think it's genuinely one of the coolest set of items ever introduced (the whole alternate timeline thing as a whole), as it not only implies that Darigan not only defeats Meridell, but merges with it to become one land....

Another aspect I would like to point out is that as Darigan citadel approaches Meridell, Spiked tentacles begin to grow and thrash.

Notes to Carry Forward:

A magical orb is used to bring health to the land around it.

While no faeries are explicitly mentioned in the story, we know Illusen is around, and that an air faerie saves jeran in the direct sequel.

Without the protection of the orb, the land turns Dark and pets begin to mutate. Ultimately, their leader falls to madness.

prev mentioned spiked tentacles.

Part 3: The Darkest Faerie, or- why is all the best lore hidden in the TCG?

There is a lot of lore snuggled away in TDF. It's one of my favorite cornerstones of Neopets' history- even moreso than Neoquest. A lot of it's personality does get lost in the game, but the cards are a huge contributor to really getting a glimpse into what the world was intended to be.

An interesting aspect is the concept of becoming "Tainted." Not only can pets and petpets be "tainted" but so can locations. In fact, with spiked tendrils echoing the corruption of both Meridell and Darigain in Champions, it makes it easy to draw comparisons.

In-game, the pets simply turn purple and their eyes glow, but the cards show off some more intense mutations.

That sounds a lot like "Darigainification".. except possibly more intense. The land withered, pets mutated and went crazy, and darkness fell. The designs look very similar to darigan as a color.

Note that this darkness.. didn't start when The Darkest Faerie was released, mind you. It happened after Illusen was dispatched... and one of the major quests involves a magical orb that is used to dispel the darkness.

Faerie Magic is suppressing this darkness. Perhaps specifically earth faerie magic... These Orbs- both Illusen's and the nameless one that Skarl/Darigan has, are possibly infused with faerie magic and are keeping the darkness, whatever it is, at bay.

"This, the orb that froze her in time. Fyora used it to turn the darkest faerie to stone, and imprisoned her under the sea."

With Illusen's Orb (Globe ig) and Jerdana's orb (revealed to originally belong to Fyora) being sugnificant players in the story, These orbs are very clearly a huge thing for Faeries, either powerful or special in nature.

Stepping aside to a really obscure concept, Darkest originally was an ally to the altadorian council, before her dive into betrayal.. but what caused this? This book seems to suggest that she.. dug too deep, perhaps. Maybe she too went mad with what she knew- I think in that sense, she was a lot like Xandra... well, speaking of-

Notes to Carry Forward:

A magical orb is used to dispel dark magic from the land.

Without the protection of a faerie or their artefacts, the land turns Dark and pets begin to mutate.

It is implied that Darkest fell to madness, and she uses this magic to try and destroy the land.

While not depicted in-game, Altador and Meridell are infested by spiked tentacles.

Part 4: The Faerie's Ruin, aka the one that killed off Hubrid Nox (the only sugnificant thing that happened in this plot for realsies 100% no foolin')

So, we all know and love the faeries ruin. and I'm not gunna play recap since tumblr is already starting to lag at the length of this post. But ultimately, when the faeries were turned to stone.. what began to happen? Dark creatures began to crawl from

Xandra may not have been right, but she may have been onto something.

Her neopedia entry says a lot. Neopets ruled by a Neopet? I think once upon a time, the world used to be like that.

...without the faeries' power holding Neopia together, dark creatures emerged and preyed upon the very Neopets that Xandra hoped to empower.

In the wraith resurgance, it is canonized that Neopets can become wraiths- or at least, wraith-like. However, I struggle to accept the resurgance as genuine to the canon, since it a post-staff-purge/Jumpstart-era plot. Plus, it's impossible to navigate what is left, so it's hard to glean info about it.

Stars above, the Ruin plot really did have some of the most gorgeous art neopets ever put out, huh?

Notes to Carry Forward:

Without the protection of the faeries or their artifacts, the land turns Dark and monsters begin to infest the land.

Neopets can adopt the form of these creatures. While Darigan pets are corrupted, they also exist as a color outside the lore. It is unknown for sure of Wraith pets are corrupted like Darigan pets are.

Xandra, while initally "well-intentioned", ultimately falls to madness, and she uses this magic to try and destroy the land.

Part 5: So.. what are you saying?

So, I'm just gonna cut the guff and state my theory outright: Jahabal's Curse from back in NQ still plagues Neopia to this day, and the only thing keeping it from destroying the world is interference from the faeries & their magic. The curse is the direct cause of turning neopets into monsters, and the corruption timeline as Feral and/or Tainted -> Darigain -> Wraith.

I don't think it's all intended. But I think it's interesting how this all slots together super easily.

[that-one-i-think]

Menphia Religion vs Irene religion Lore

The entire Irene religion is based on the idea of saving while Menphias religion is based more on the idea of Justice.

The church of Irene believes that everyone needs to be saved and can only be saved through the grace of Irene. They have a large belief in fixing things and problem through prayer. Not just a "I pray for the medicine to help my child," but a "I pray for a million dollars" type of prayer is also common. Belief and hope will get you through all struggles, which is the ideology. A double-edged sword because it is great to have hope and belief. Hard work is important .

The savior belief is also a double-edged sword as well. The church attracts the largest amount of healers and healing magic users in the region. People who genuinely want to help and do manage to do so. Part of the reason why Scaleswind took in so many refugees was because of the churches influence over the people. These people needed to be saved, so we need to save them.

The other part of the savior belief is the existence of savior complexes, narcissism, and corruption. People who started saving others to prove their superiority and through their drive to be better got a high position in the church. Then started accepting bribes under the guise of donations to help others only to have it line their pockets. It is how Zane became the high priest, he was a devote donation.

The Temple of Menphia believes in Righteous Fury. They believe in fairness and justice while being separate from politics. Designed to fight against shadow knights and unfair treatment by lords/politicians. They are religous warriors with the premise of being judge, jury, and executioner. They produce the best combatants and debaters.

They fight for the little man but are slow to decide for major issues, say your country is at war. Individuals warriors may help, but the Temple itself will have to deliberate and see if they will help with the possibility of the decision coming too late. The war is over and the losses numbered. They seek to provide justice, not always to help.

That is not to say that the temple doesn't help. They often take in orphans and give them skills to make them functioning adults. Though a lot of the adults stick to the Temple due to it being what they know but there is no discouragement or encouragement for either option.

Both religions would ideally work in harmony, much like how the worship of Esmund and the worship of Irene go hand to hand for guards. It actually doesn't. This is because the Menphia Religion grew on a completely different continent with a completely different culture. Meaning that a lot of the religious practices that exist in the Temple are blasphemous to the Church.

Menphia's religion involves a lot of religious tattoos, violence, and passion. Tattoos that, while enchanted to prevent them from being turned into Shadow Knights, are altering the body that Irene made for you. Violence for protection that is still violence and not forgiveness. Passion to form bonds between your siblings in arms is still the act of sex without marriage or the goal of procreation.

The Temple a lot of the times just doesn't like the Irene church goers, viewing them as prideful and arrogant. Forgiveness is not a right and justice needs to be served. Grudges exist for a reason after all. Not everyone needs nor wants to be saved.

A lot of Tu'la immigrants have had to adjust to the new culture around them making a lot of them turn to extreme modesty to hide their tattoos and meif'wa features for some. Most people who go to Ru'aun have a tendency to be hedonistic and over indulge in various pleasures.

[demonfox38]

Completed - Vampire Survivors (Base + Ode to Castlevania DLC)

This game makes my brain scream at me.

Like, okay. I'm an average office worker. If I'm not in a meeting, I've got something from YouTube running in the background. Music playlists, video essays, whatever. So, in agreement, in disagreement, whatever—the terms "hauntology" and "dopamine addiction" are consistently in my short-term memory thanks to the video essay portions. The rot of culture by failure to let new ideas bloom, clinging to nostalgia and old symbols. Taxing and abusing neurotransmitters in search of instant happiness. Fun, happy things to ponder while I try to burn these hours of my life away.

Do I think either are threats? Well, unchecked nostalgia, definitely—especially when it's faux 1950s Americana influencing law to restrict the rights of others. Dopamine addiction is a bit more of a mixed bag. Like, you've got to create habits of maintenance, absolutely. Cooking, cleaning, exercise, grooming, so on. But, if you're clever, you can figure out how to use your reward system to help support these habits. Starving it or trying to obliterate it won't help, especially if it causes rebound issues. It's just…ya know. Gaining an appreciation for slower processes over instant gratification and deriving lessons from the struggles of life over bodily abuse and obliteration.

I bring these topics up because I got both "Vampire Survivors" and its "Ode to Castlevania" DLC for the cost of a goddamn cheeseburger. This pixel-exploding throwback of a game lasted me for over 100 hours. Drug dealers and fast-food restaurants would wither and die at such a nexus of cost and effectivity.

Some killjoy could do real numbers discussing hauntology and dopamine addition as the subjects apply to this game.

Should I have gotten into "Vampire Survivors" sooner? Possibly? The communal vibes I absorbed on it were nothing but praise. I don't know if I would have felt brave about trying a Rogue-like prior to playing "Baroque," but I do enjoy a good ol' fashioned bullet hell / shooter, from time to time. It might be lame that it literally took the announcement of a "Castlevania" DLC for me to give this game a try, but hey. This DLC did better about pulling me in than "Dead by Daylight" or "Dead Cells" did under similar circumstances.

What's "Vampire Survivors" about? When I figure that out, I'll get back to you. Most of the narrative I'm picking up is derived from a mix of stage names, enemy bestiary entries, and the surnames of the characters I unlock. Generally speaking, it's about Belpaese and Ladonna kin coming together to endure waves of monsters until the cold, clammy fingers of death come for them. And then, finding a way to break past their power. The powers behind them. The limitations of space and time. Research gone horribly wrong, time and time again. Creepy things hidden at the bottom of towers. Fallen civilizations. Corrupted religious sects. Milk-based magic. Ya know. Wholesome stuff!

In another world—with another particular video game company and their infamously litigious team of lawyers—"Vampire Survivors" may not have made it past its first year. It's not hard to see what game series may have inspired the creation of its lead whip-wielding fighter of the undead. Arca Ladonna may be even more egregious in the video game celebrity look-alike competition. (Don't even get me started on those Blue Venus creatures!) But, the aesthetic inspiration certainly doesn't stop at Konami properties! "Bayonetta", "Batman", "Okami", "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Mortal Kombat"—there's gonna be at least one situation you'll have where you end up snorting with laughter with how close to the copyright line this game rides.

Also, "Vampire Survivors" is the most Italian video game I've ever played. Like, yes, tee-hee on "La Borra" and "Testa di Mano" enemies. Nothing is as fucking authentically Italian as naming a character after Cristina D'Avena. Like, goddamn. How do you top that? Make a stage based on the set design for Dario Argento's "Suspiria" and "Inferno" films? Have playable knockoffs of "Lupin the Third" characters? How about an entire race of sentient ducks running parallel to human society? Call their main hero Duckabolik or something. Goddamn.

Although, there were those ducks in space…

So, I put an RPG's worth of hours into the game without getting much in the way of plot. Obviously, something else is keeping me around. How about that core gameplay loop? It starts simple enough. Move your dude up, down, left, and/or right as needed. Hit enemies with attacks. Pick up gems. Level up. Repeat until you die or you hit 30:00, at which point the game sends a Reaper after you to finish you off for good. Run the game again, continue grinding up weapons, unlock more people and levels, etcetera. So goes this song in a round.

You determine your own progress with this game through the Achievements screen. Look at what items remain, make your next goal, and finish off what you can in your next game. Progress will remove some tasks from this list, but it may add others as more opportunities unfold. Empty out your Achievements? Well, guess what? You'll get an extra round of tasks in a brand-new Secrets screen as well! Clearing that may not get you bonus trophies in Steam, but it may get you some additional levels and characters, too. Ditto the Adventures mode too, while you are at it!

Actually, the Adventures mode is pretty strange, if you don't have other DLC for this game. It's really only two stories? Weird. Seems underutilized. Kind of strange that Konami didn't pitch something for this mode, too…

If you're looking for a general overview of tasks to complete, this may help:

Get through the first five game maps, performing well enough to unlock their Hyper Mode options.

Trigger and kill the special boss in Moongolow.

Pick up the Yellow Sign and use that to start killing Reapers.

Kill the special boss that now spawns in Capella Magna.

Gather all base relics (including defeating the damned Sketamari.)

Harass the final boss for two more relics.

Fight the final boss.

It helps to experiment with different weapons and passive items. Leveling up different weapons unlock different characters, so that makes it an easy sell. Using the correct combination of passive items with weapons may also augment the weapon, giving it different (usually better) properties. Getting proficient with different characters may also unlock Arcana cards, which can grant your character with random bonuses while in a battle. Long story short—don't go stale, and neither will the game.

Also, "Castlevania" fans: go look at the names for those Arcana cards. Come back when you've face-palmed.

Most of the game's complexity comes from making your randomly-assigned resources count. The enemies are simplistic, just ambling towards you. The pressure comes more from managing distance from them and your own powers as the enemy's strength grows over time. (Honestly, the biggest difficulty spike may just come from not getting a Garlic weapon, of all things.) Sketamari is the most complicated creature I had to deal with, and that was more building a viable weapon stack in a short amount of time and preventing any interlopers from building it up than anything else. Everything else is…well. Dodge the shit and don't get touched. Video Game Rules 101.

While aesthetically simple, the game is a glory when it comes to CPU resource management. Lesser machines could not handle the glut of objects and particles being rendered on screen, particularly in later parts of a level. I suppose a creature doesn't need more than three frames of animation when a hundred or so of them are being rendered on screen at once. It's amazing this game is as stable as it is, for all of what it is doing. I've had it chug once, sure. Even had it lock up my computer, one time (although one of my poodles was a contributor to that mess.) But, man. Whatever is going on with managing the location, health, and appearance of all on-screen objects is nothing short of technomancy.

The music is also pretty solid, too. Loops well; doesn't get distracting. Honestly, it sometimes gets crushed by the sound effects, but you can adjust the audio and music tracks to balance it out. I appreciate the soundtrack not being above having a joke or too, as well. (Remember: this is an exceedingly Italian game.)

With this game, you need to pace yourself. If you get every run perfect, you'll be spending somewhere between 15-30 minutes in intense play. (Assume you'll be more on the longer end than shorter.) The circular motions you'll be making can be taxing on your thumbs. Make sure to get up, stretch, and rest your eyes and hands every hour. Your body will appreciate it.

Also, seriously. Take the game's flashing warning to heart. You can adjust some settings to ease up on what is being rendered, but the game is designed to burn like a comet. There's gonna be tons of debris shearing off it, and you do not want that scalding your eyeballs.

For those of you hopping in via House Dracula, the DLC "Ode to Castlevania" provides an additional map, as well as…well, the marketing says 40+ weapons and 20+ new characters, but let me tell you. That plus sign is hiding a lot. Like, 90+ pieces of music, 25 bosses, and several dozen new enemies. Damn.

Much like the base game, you're not gonna get much more in the way of plot. It's mostly pushing as far as you can in a single go, punishing bosses as you gather the strength to tackle them and unlocking your Belmont, Belnades, or buddy of choice. However, there is a fun little treat at the map's end regarding the English opening cutscene of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" and Death being a goddamn nightmare. Like, damn, dude. I know the breakup of a bromance that lasted a millennium was rough on you, but this is not the best way to react.

Because of the map's ungodly size and number of tasks to tackle, you'd be better off making good headway into the main game before tackling this. At the very least, it will help you to get that time limit lifted with an Endless mode unlock. (You can also eventually invert the castle, if you're into that.)

The loop here is more like:

Unlock Belmonts (generally, in order of timeline, with a few exceptions.)

Use Belmonts to unlock ally characters, beat bosses, and unlock parts of the map.

Push forward until you finally get Richter.

Use Richter to fight Death.

Max out your new wave of characters.

Fight new bosses.

Find the Pile of Secrets and Wood Carving Score.

Continue until all secrets are exhausted.

That should hold you out…Oh, I don't know. A good 50 hours or more?

I can't get over how deep this DLC digs into "Castlevania" characters and songs. Finally, in 2024—after getting booted from two other games!—we have a playable Hammer. And a playable Mina Hakuba. LMAO. I know people didn't have her on their bingo card, but damn. There are all kinds of playable characters here that I never expected to see, whether in terms of capabilities, story fates, or just coming out of the wrong division of Konami Computer Entertainment. I don't know who wanted a playable Vincent, but uh…there you go. Congrats to you.

I mean, what? Am I supposed to be a shithead and ask for the merchant from "Harmony of Dissonance" or someone from Wygol Village? Fucking 80 goddamn characters, and two are the final Sorrow cast members that I was missing. And fucking Quincy Morris of all goddamn people, now that the copyright for Stoker's "Dracula" has gone to hell. Screw it. I'm take the W and leaving on this one.

With the way Quincy looks in this game, doesn't he look a bit like the North American cover of "Castlevania Bloodlines"? It's making me question some things about that box art…

The DLC takes a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to cast powers. Like, you're not gonna get soul or power absorption with Shanoa or Soma, but you are going to get unique boosts for each cast member. Every Belmont gets a unique way to use their whip, so that's neat! A great way to prevent stagnation, for sure. And, hey. Don't like the default weapon your character starts with? You can switch that out eventually, too. Just gotta prove your competence. Meet some achievements. Do the "Vampire Survivors" grind.

Most of the "Castlevania" remixes are pretty solid as well. Just take a YouTube playlist already. Enjoy. (I was particularly tickled by "Wood Carving Partita" and "The Sinking Old Sanctuary," for what that is worth.)

Now, the songs aren't exactly paired with the characters you may expect. Like, Christopher Belmont gets "Beginning", which then throws "Trevor" into "Aquarius", throwing Sypha and Yoko off, and so on. If you get the Magic Banger relic, it's no big deal to correct. It's just funny how preconceptions can make cool music otherwise seem off.

There was one major part that actively pissed me off with this DLC, and it was unlocking Camilla. The flavor text on her unlock secret implies that a Belmont needs to kill her off (either Leon, Simon, or Sonia, whomever you consider the "first" Belmont to be.) The actual method of unlocking her is hitting her with a Nightmare spell. Like…okay? I'm hoping that'll be patched out later, but man. Wasting hours on that only to find out I was being misled was annoying.

I can't say the sweat needed to unlock Brauner was worth it as well. He isn't as immediately frustrating, but he takes way more time than seems necessary. Just go toss the Blood Astronomia and some compatible weapons on Dracula, get him up to the gallery, level him to a stable point, and park him for a couple of hours.

As shit tier as 2024 has been personally, I can't help but be comforted with the "Castlevania" game releases this year. The "Dominus Collection", the "Dead by Daylight" DLC, and the cherry on top, this. I shouldn't have needed such an incentive to play "Vampire Survivors," but I was more than happy to go hog-wild on this game and its DLC. God bless the development team for this game. They may have developed the digital version of a stimulant drug that makes my hands and brain scream, but I can only hope the best for them.

Good people put their fan translators in their credits, man. And poncle's staff…them's good people, that's what.

The base "Vampire Survivors" is currently available for $4.99 USD on Steam, although that price tends to frequently dip down a dollar for seasonal sales. "Ode to Castlevania" tacks on another $3.99 USD. There are additional levels of DLC and expansions past that point, if you want more. I'm not certain if you'll find more vampires to survive, necessarily, but at least you've got, like, actual vampires to survive now. Which, apparently, is a whole ass meme I didn't know about before!

What's the official count on that now, anyway? You don't fight Dracula, so I don't think you can count him. But, there's Walter, Joachim, Carmilla, Orlox, a Jiang Chi, Stella & Loretta…actually, do you count them? I mean, I know the Sanctuary spell works on them, so I'd say yes, but…Or, wait. Shit. Does "Vampire Survivors" mean the vampires you survive, or the vampires that are also surviving alongside you? Maybe I didn't think this through…

Man, counting vampires shouldn't be as hard as surviving them. Ah ah ah!

[manic-sapphic]

some hypothetical thoughts on catra & magic~

could catra actually have had an innate talent for channeling magic? particularly on a planet like etheria, or with a magical being such as adora/true she-ra or melog? specifically since all are scenarios where it seems emotions majorly influence the magic~

•it seems like catra spends a lot of the show pretty much just digging down to greater depths in her mind, burying her feelings under layers of alternate emotions she believed were preferable in regards to how she, and especially others, might perceive them in terms of vulnerability.

•so we don’t see just how vehement her true emotions are under the surface, and it becomes this ongoing struggle for her to maintain a semblance of strength and power by convincing herself of holding increasingly extreme convictions and motivations, leading to an equal uptick in blind fury and recklessness that must have had her emotionally exhausted. an ideal state of mind for triggering her spiral into a mental breakdown when she heard about shadow weaver being in bright moon while she was in the waste, leading to more than one instance of her losing all self-control during the whole portal debacle.

•but here’s the kicker, corrupted catra is another reason it could be possible that catra has at least a slight predisposition to magic, especially the kind influenced empathetically (i only note this cause idk how magic works for the rest of the universe/other beings but it at least seems to apply to etheria/she-ra/melog) and that portal is a product of etherian magic being harnessed by first ones tech.

•and in the preceding episodes, we watch catra’s emotions heighten beyond anything we’ve seen until she snaps in **Remember** and just chooses to let go and drop into the void, only to crawl out corrupted a few minutes later.

•it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to suppose maybe how wildly off the charts her feelings were at the time made her the perfect vessel for some portal magic to sort of meld consciousnesses with. and since catra’s emotions were probably things like furious, finished, but also hurt and twisted and confused, maybe it tapped into catra’s emotions but used its own knowledge to terrorize adora by reciting her worst fears.

•another instance i wonder about is catra sort of resisting prime's chip relatively soon after finding herself w adora. even tho they were being forced to wail on each other p badly i think her feelings for adora, if catra does have some sorta kinda raw emotional magic going on, would give her a better chance at fighting the chip. maybe anyway?

•and i think melog definitely works as an example for this possibility. they’re clearly an empath capable of magically reading and displaying the emotions of others and do so exclusively with catra after they imprint on her. the very fact melog can tell so quickly she can be trusted, already enough to imprint on her, would seem to imply that catra does feel everything very intensely, even the emotions she tries to hide or disguise. like when bow says "it.. trusts you" and catra's response is "well, it shouldn't" but melog’s a straight up magical empath, so obvi they know she lyin lol. like yeah, good luck tryna hide ur true feelings from now on, catra hah~

•and shoot, what if at least *some* of the strength adora got from catra telling her how much she’s always loved her and them sharing their totally mind blowing kiss — strength that allowed her to deploy the failsafe as she transformed (and enveloped not only adora but also catra in the magic of the heart as it was released, btw) — was even partly catra intuitively channeling a lil bit of her own natural magic ~~the magic of her love~~ through to adora, bolstering adora’s magic like the princesses do when they join forces? if catra does have some ability as a magical conduit, that would seem to imply that the more she cares, the greater her capability of enhancing emotional/empathic magic like she-ra's/etherian/melog's, and i think it's safe to say catra cares about adora uhhh kind of a lot haha so it would follow that the kinda power boost she could offer her when she thinks adora's about to die would likely be enormous

•and like w adora and the heart esp, if we see adora's expression of she-ra's magic as the flame, then i guess what i'm tryna say is that maybe at times catra's is the spark? even the first two times adora is able to fully manifest her true she-ra form are directly inspired by catra. first when she's dying in her arms ofc, but then again in taking control when they're being pursued by prime's bot ships and adora is so moved by catra being so vulnerable w her and honest when she says "adora please, i wanna go home" like idk there really seems to be some kinda magic love happening beyond just how much adora cares about her

•also worth noting just how wild it is that catra seems to literally find a way to open a door into the void where adora's trapped just by talking to her there in the heart and pull that girl back. like she refuses to let her die just as much as adora does for her in save the cat. that def seems like some magical shi right there lol

this is all totally just hypothetical food for thought i find kind of cool, though i’m sure i’m not the first to have considered any of this. i do think it’d be pretty neat if there was truth to any of it, but who knows :)

[skeleton-mischief]

Nightmare Sans

Oh sinful child, wash off your bones but never forget that blood is thicker than water. Nightmare, was it all really worth it?

Headcanons below. Warning though, I changed some stuff up for the og story to fit how I like it teehee

- Official height changes, but he can be from 5'7 to 6'6(Jesus 💀)

- He/They

- Nihilist, he despises Fate and the Creators

- The embodiment and King of Negativity/A God if you will

- His castle was created when he was corrupted, and later on decided to make it himself

- Naturally cold to the touch, he's not easily affected by temperature

- Has synesthesia, he can see and smell others emotions/aura

- He likes sea animals, they're odd and yet so pretty and mysterious

- Has khopesh blades for weapons because they're twin blades

- He dreams of other versions of him, but he can never find them and often he is haunted by them

- An angry crier, hyperventilates and gets frustrated. Tries to be quiet, but sometimes ends up being loud anyways

- Pessimistic, cynical, observant, responsible, sarcastic, serious, assertive, untrusting, cunning, ruthless, manipulative, reserved, blunt, bitter, intelligent, patient, authoritative, cocky, and stubborn

- He is outright nasty to others, the type to jab at others when possible

- He grows more exhausted overtime once his resentment and bitter anger starts to fade over time

- he is more emotionally driven when his brother is involved in fights that he gets involved in, while more logical otherwise since Dream is the only one to get him like that

- He knows he's fucked up and deep down wants to repent for the wrongs that he has done towards the multiverse. And yet, he has his duties to fulfill

- He fears being vulnerable and doesn't get close to others as a result

- He makes deals and can "play" with his victims when he chooses to. Alliances are all well and good as well, but he is only loyal for as long as the contracts are fulfilled and as long as the other is loyal

- Time thaws his heart, in truth he can feel just as much as a child as Dream at times

- They have a giant library that they read

- Has wonderful manners and speaks very formally. Due to their origins, they also happen to have an accent of some sorts

- His goo tends to always return to him so one ability of his is flicking goo before it can harden and sharpen like spikes at a location

- He can be hit with anything and not get affected unless it's a weapon from his brother

- Strong positivity makes him nauseous, lightheaded, and weak

- Can sense other people's emotions but has the most influence on negativity

- Can analyze others extremely well, reading their body language and analyzing their words

- Hobbies of theirs include reading and writing, or even playing piano since he has a fondness for it

- His magic smells of something akin to earthy scents and moisture, like oak with wet dirt that carries a faint sweetness of decay. His magic tastes something akin to apple

- He's intolerant to children being injured, bullied, or abused. It reminds him of his childhood and thus he is protective of them

- Despite scaring most children, he refuses to harm them and is quite patient and kind to them

- He misses his brother, he does. He tells Dream things he doesn't mean in moments of anger or to get at him, but he doesn't mean pretty much most of it. He doesn't actually blame Dream, at least since he's matured over time

- He never got closure when Dream turned to stone, so those wounds opened up easily when he found out that he was alive. He tried to bury his past but his brother, whose bone is of a porcelain memory to his origins, haunt him

- He can't stand the color yellow, it reminds him of Dream. But, he has secret items that are of a yellow color

- He is fond of flower language and his favorite flower is the purple hyacinth. Fun fact: hyacinth blossoms under full sunlight, and they have wonderful symbolism. Dahlias, orchids, and hydrangea are those he is fond of as well

- He treasures the few things he's gifted, but rarely does he receive anything

- He gets slightly uncomfortable around stone, even if he knows that no one is inside. It just makes him secretly nervous

- Loves animals, but he won't touch them due to his goop and negativity

- His teeth can form into sharp fangs and he has clawed hands, his bone sharpened over time

- He avoids water because if he's fully submerged you can see the inner body that negativity possesses. Aka his original one

- He usually is covered in goop but rarely does it remove around him as a sort of venom situation. In fact, the two are separate entities in some ways, working as one

- Funnily enough he's a perfectionist who likes his things organized, especially when it comes to plans

- Does not use or understand slang

- He is a wonderful strategist, he even plays chess and can use the pieces as a visual understanding of it

- Hates sleep and avoids it until it's impossible to do so

- Can go into other people's dreams and cause intense nightmares, but he cannot do the same for his own and he is forgotten the moment the individual awakes

- He actually cares deeply for a lot of things, but he refuses to acknowledge this under most circumstances. If he vocalizes it, he threatens others to not do anything towards it

- He doesn't hate Error or even Ink, but he finds both to be a pain in the ass. Ink is one of the few he can't wrap his head around and he is one of the few who suspects Ink, especially because his emotions and aura seem....odd

- A more quiet and reserved being, he doesn't talk much unless he has to address someone or when he chooses to respond

- He's hard to read due to his air of apathy, he has learned how to avoid others detecting how he feels

- Even after eons, he won't let anyone else harm Dream

- The stronger the negativity, the larger he grows

- His original name is Night, him and Nightmare are separate but very much intertwined

- His original job was to protect those from negativity and also balance emotions in hard times to guide others, allowing sadness to occur

- Used to Call Dream Sunny as his nickname, and he refuses to let anyone call him Nighty since only Dream called him that

- People like to think of Night being manipulated by negativity but also it's important to note that what if that negative entity actually did feel that pain Nighty went through and was a source of comfort for him when Mother Tree wasn't? Yes, it eventually hurt him by convincing him to eat the apples to be corrupt, but if it's a parasite in my interpretation? I'd want to be maybe like- a situation where the corruption was also genuinely caring of Nighty while simultaneously being the reason Nighty indulged in his anger and hurt

- Multilingual, he knows every language fluently

- He had time to learn how to read and write, he forgot that Dream didn't the first time he saw a tree inside an AU carved by Dream with horrible writing underneath. That realization sort of made his "soul" crumble at the thought

- He has severe thanantophobia, he actually is deeply afraid of dying despite his circumstances. It's something he stresses out about and when Dream became more dangerous, he grew more nervous

- He's actually insecure about his aura at times, especially near those he doesn't wish to harm. He worries if they don't want to be around him because of it, which just worsens his aura

- He thought Dream died long ago, as he was disoriented and was too busy grieving. He didn't actually want Dream to die, and I actually hc that he threw the cloak over Dream to protect him as an apple happened to fall underneath with Dream. He was ashamed when Dream saw him again, and saw who he became. Still, he didn't want to change his ways because of the resentment he still held at the time

- He used to visit Dream and would cry next to his statue before he went off to feed off negative timelines. Even then, he would visit on their birthday

- He destroys mirrors and refuses to look at himself. He doesn't want to remember what he used to look like or who he's now become

- He has a secret painting that he was able to create deep inside his castle, one of Dream. He has destroyed previous ones due to finding them imperfect, a disgusting reminder, etc. this one though, this one he keeps

- His favorite fruit is pomegranate, he can perfectly deseed it and it's his favorite snack other than apple pie

- He used to be great with animals, barely do any of them approach him however

- He likes forests, the scent and even the sensation. He just wishes that he could feel Mother Tree again

- He enjoys herbal tea, actually much more than coffee and his favorite is lavender tea

- He avoids anything related to apples or fire, it reminds him of his past and in fact he grows nervous about it

- Doesn't realize that his tentacles react to his emotions, going so far as to flick with irritation at times

- His tentacles often just appear at will or with extreme emotion, but when they do appear to be actually quite painful since they tore through his back bones. Nowadays, he's numb to it and the bones have attempted to grow back due to magic healing he's attempted to find

- His tentacles actually can act like tree branches or at least resemble them. Firm, shaped similar, etc

- Genderless but prefers masc pronouns

- He actually never lies, but twisting the truth so hard involves enough intellect and leaves him to be a dangerous figure

- on the aroace spectrum

- Gets really goopy when sleeping, to the point he looks boneless

- Out of respect and guilt after coming back to his senses after the incident, he used parts of Mother Tree as custom furniture inside his castle so that she doesn't go to waste at all.

- He actually could hear her screaming when he was corrupted, and that sound haunts him

- He forgot what a hug feels like, the only time he was ever hugged in his life was with Dream. Time caused him to forget

- I feel that his form, present, isn't his true form but he keeps it up because it not only was the turning point in his life, but what protected him. It's why I think it works as something else when it detached itself. The goop at this point is a different part of who he is, and only when he is alone does it detach to speak

- Even if he causes nightmares and enters inside other monsters minds, he actually just has dreams. He dreams of what would've happened if they were happy, being raised by the mother tree, if he and his brother grew up without being guardians. It haunts him, makes him question if he was actually just justified in what he did. Was his actions worth it?

- He hates losing control of situations, absolutely throws a fit

- Struggles getting drunk, so he only drinks wine and magical drinks. Smoking doesn't please him, goop covers it anyways

- He doesn't discriminate, fools. Useless hatred feeds him, sure, but that doesn't mean he agrees and even will react violently towards blatant hate crimes

Closing Notes: no one talk to me, no one look at me. I don't exist, these two are the reasons I need therapy

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Hey after seeing this, I just read ur posts that basically nailed some things s6 and im curious

What were your thoughts on s6 ? Especially how Viren’s arc was handled and maybe how it connects with the narrative and love of strength?

“Just think how Runaan would have reacted if someone had come to break him out of his cell--or how he will react if someone frees him from the coin. Big moment.” From this post— what does this mean and what did you expect?

On that note the Runaan /moonshadow sequence felt off to me and a little disconnected and the reasons didn’t make sense to me tbh, but tbf I wasn’t looking into it that much? So im curious what your thoughts were on that too

How do you think Aaravos fits into it all? I’m thinking back to “those who fail tests of love deserve to be motivated by fear” the way I take it, that’s 1. his whole vendetta agains the Cosmic Order after Leola was killed. also 2. him saying if you can’t be swayed by the narrative of love you have to use the narrative of strength. (personally, I’m split because while he does do things like destroy katolis castle, racist queen, and fight the cosmic order, he’s also spurring on Claudia‘s hate of dragons and steps in right when she was about to choose a different path away from dark magic.🤔) So overall, how do you now think Aaravos fits into the narrative of love? And possible redemption?

Alrighty, there's a lot to this ask so let's take it in bits!

Thoughts on S6 with regard to how Viren's arc was handled and how it connects to the Narratives of Love and Strength:

I feel Viren has gotten a good ending at this point. Though it wasn't always clear to us at the time, Viren spent a lot of his previous seasons under the influence of various forces, whether dark magic corruption, dark magic timey wimey nightmares, or Aaravos' manipulation/puppetry.

This season, he finally got to make his own choices free and clear, with full regard for who he had been and what he had done - and who he has hurt. And he chose well. Viren is indeed a good man, once again.

And with his final choices, he chooses to acknowledge the pain he caused his son and the break in their relationship. He chooses not to seek glory in confessing, and finds a way to quietly accept the damage he has done. In a way, it lands with me like he is finally acknowledging that Soren is not only a good person who deserves to make his own choices in life, but a better person than Viren despite Viren's influence. Which is huge for Viren, with his struggles with praise and attention and self worth.

In arc 1 and in flashbacks, Viren was a man who took advantage when others sacrificed, and chose to sacrifice others instead of himself, so he survived tragedies while others perished. Kpp'Ar, Annika, Neha, Sarai, Lain, Tiadrin, Harrow, Runaan, Kasef. There's a downward slope with that list of names, from more coincidental to more deliberate. Viren didn't value himself, and so he didn't value others. But once he stepped away from dark magic, he chose to value others even at the cost of his own life. It felt like a neatly drawn full circle from where he had begun.

Viren and sacrifice have always gone hand in hand. But at the end, he knew his own worth and his own power, and so he sought no glory for his deeds. He just acted, from the heart, and he saved hundreds if not thousands of lives.

I like to think that it's the exact number of lives he endangered with all his scheming, but we'll never know for sure.

As for the Narratives, I love love love that Viren returned to surrender himself to the Narrative of Strength (the castle), and his last act was to save people from it while it was falling down around him. He got to see it crumble, and he didn't try to save it. He let it die, and every cruel thing it had encompassed fell with it. Viren's last act was an act of Love. He switched Narratives! He got out! He chose Good, for himself, even when no one would forgive or welcome him for it, even when no one would ever trust him again. Even when he suffered the injustice of being locked up without due process, just like he did to Runaan.

He chose Good and Love in the end, even at great and even fatal cost to himself, because that's who he wanted to be.

On Runaan reacting to being freed

I'm so happy to see my boy, oh my god I missed his face so much. I'll try to keep on topic, and hopefully you can't actually hear me squeeing back here. Ahem.

So in the post you linked, I talked about Runaan being trapped in the Narrative of Strength (the castle, but later also the coin). He cannot free himself, and no one else inside the Narrative of Strength will lift a hand to free him either, because he has shown himself to be weak by getting captured. Tldr, the Narrative of Strength says he deserves what he gets.

The only way out is for someone else to free him, but they'll have to come from a different Narrative. They have to come from Love, where they care about things like helping and freedom, even for enemy combatants. And that's where Rayla and Callum did come from. Rayla loves Runaan as a father, and Callum respects that enough to help her free him despite Runaan's earlier murderous actions.

It is not what Runaan expects to happen. His job takes him into the Narrative of Strength, where it's literally kill or be killed. He expected to perish eventually, and at Viren's hands specifically. When it got even worse than that, whyever would he dare hope for release? According to the rules he was playing by, he didn't deserve to live, and therefore he deserved all the suffering he got. Which, horribly, is exactly what we got to see him struggling with when Rayla found him again. He expected no mercy from Viren, and so he gave himself none either.

But Rayla did find him. And she talked to him long enough that he heard her, and believed her, that she loved him and wanted to end his pain by rescuing him. It took a while! He was pretty stuck in his own head there, and his suffering had long since begin to twist his soul. But she did untwist it, at least enough to get him to accept help.

And did you notice his first words! "I'm alive." He could barely believe it. It'll probably take a while to truly sink in for him. He was trying to be hard in the dungeon and prepare for death because it was the only fate he could conceive of. But he had a husband and a daughter. He didn't want to die! He just thought his fate was set.

Luckily, Rayla and the Narrative of Love had other options for him, and he accepted them.

With Viren and Runaan - my favorite characters to parallel - they both had other choices all along. But those choices were really hard to see, and even harder than reach for. Viren was used to wresting control from circumstances, and Runaan was used to being the weapon those circumstances pointed at other people.

Thoughts on the Runaan/Moonshadow sequence

My take on this sequence is that it all took place in a space that's sort of like dark magic nightmares. But only sort of - time only moves one way in the hellcoins, even if it feels like it isn't moving at all.

Those souls were trapped between life and death. Rayla had been to the world beyond life and death once before, in TTM, and reality was very malleable down in that magic water portal. I think the experience of surviving it once before helped her adapt and keep up better with Runaan, who had been existing in his own little hellbubble for over two years by then.

Runaan jumped from place to place because those were all places that tormented him. He had guilt and regrets about the Silvergrove, so Rayla found him there. He flashed to the castle battlements too, because he had guilt and regrets about fighting Rayla there - and he could remember how to talk by then, so he said those out loud.

But he couldn't follow when Rayla fled toward the pull of the other coins and found her parents. This hurts so much! Laindrin were happy together, but Runaan couldn't enter that space with them. He couldn't engage with their shared imprisonment. His guilt and regret about them centered around condemning and ghosting them, so part of his punishment inside the coin probably involved that he literally couldn't see his best friends, and couldn't benefit from their shared joy.

He was truly, truly alone in there.

Meanwhile, Laindrin were in a world of their own too, and the vibes changed around Rayla when she approached them. Each of the coined people were giving off a radius of their specific flavor of reality, and to get close to them was to engage with that reality. Rayla had no choice but to endure Runaan's suffering, and her parents' blissful dancing, if she wanted to reach them.

My headcanon is that Laindrin probably had other places they visited, and so did Runaan, as they flipped through their memories and got caught up in them. But where Laindrin had each other to see and hold onto, and remember who they were, Runaan had no one due to his own choices, so he began to struggle and erode under his guilts.

How does Aaravos fit into the Narrative of Love?

I think he started there! It looks to me that he did the Startouch vacation thing of living among mortals for a time, and tried having a family as a way to understand love better. And he was doing good with it! He seemed to be making that cool magic book as a... gift for humans maybe? But it seems he never got to hand it over because of what happened to Leola.

I have really enjoyed seeing the ways this godlike elf is actually just like everyone else. He feels, he cries, he gets angry, he wants to share, he wants revenge for those he loves. He has things in common with most every major character in the show. And I think that's what could save him, if he chooses to be saved.

He came down from the heavens to learn about empathy. And he got interrupted. He still has more to learn, and if he can calm tf down for one hot second, maybe he'll learn more empathy from the people around him. It would do him good as a person, but just like Viren, he has caused a lot of hurt with his schemes, and that's not something even he can handwave away completely.

But we've seen Viren make a personal choice to give instead of take, even after a lifetime bad decisions. There is hope for Aaravos too.

After all, the Key of Aaravos was kept in the Banther Lodge when Rayla found it. And the Banther Lodge represents the Narrative of Love.

[theflagscene]

I just had a wretched, horrible, no good thought while I was making a coffee and I just; I legit hate my brain for going there.

We know Saint is very big into social commentary, human rights and because of his experience as a teenager, believing the victims. So far The Sign has dealt with some very heavy topics whilst trying to evenly handle the idea of a non-corrupt police force, which is a fallacy but I figure Saint’s not looking to piss anybody (the government) off considering he funds these projects all himself.

But I digress, point is, the series has dealt with SA and the aftermath and the victims and their mindset, what it can lead to people to do, etc. In todays episode we see that Chalothon has started to get desperate enough to keep Phaya and Tharn apart that he’s willing to use his magic, he also is willing to kill Tharn to keep him from Phaya.

At this point I think it’s less about the ‘ownership’ of Tharn and more about making sure Phaya suffers heartbreak from not having his lover in his life, considering the Grauda ‘stole’ the Naga’s love from the other Nagas.

So today we’ve seen Phaya accidentally put another wedge between him and Tharn, we’ve seen Chalothon use magic to control Tharn, however small that may have been in the moment. Tharn is also being pushed by his brother and friends towards Phaya, which he is not appreciative of. So now he’s being actively, however underhandedly, pushed closer toward Chalothon. He refuses Phaya’s apology, he’s keeping space between them because he knows he likes Phaya and he thinks his cursed past life means his lovers are all doomed to die.

There’s been a NC scene teased since before the series started to air, that a couple will be together whilst covered in paint, it was teased last week and again this week and was also part of the series trailer. But this weeks teaser for the next episode also shows someone curled up in the shower covered in that same red paint, sobbing into their knees. You never see the faces of these people and the tattoo on Phaya’s back isn’t really seen either, so…

Chalothon is at the art gallery, Tharn is at the art gallery. The Doc is looking very smug and obviously pulling strings. Phaya is being distracted by his family and the fact that he cannot get Tharn to listen to him, you don’t think… That scene couldn’t possibly be between a mind controlled/under the influence Tharn and Chalothon, ya don’t think?

That the person sobbing in the shower naked and covered in paint is Tharn because Doc SA’d him at the art gallery? It’s just too terrible to think, but like, it’s possible. Especially with how Chalothon’s true colours are starting to show, and it would be a direct personal connection to their first case. Tharn’s trauma and Phaya’s need to vengeance, they’d be direct parallels to the SA victims and their captor seeking justice against their abusers.

That’s probably not it, I freaking pray to the QL gods that’s not it, but my mind just had a moment where it was like; what if this terrible thing happened?

So I just had to get it out because if I have to suffer then so do you lol.

[dailycharacteroption]

Corrupting Influences: Vampirism part 2

(art by Anna Alma on Artstation)

 Details

As mentioned yesterday, this corruption is more based upon the torment inflicted on Lucy (and to a lesser extent Mina) in Bran Stoker’s novel. As such, it requires that the victim be drained of blood, but not killed, by a vampire repeatedly in the same month. This may happen during pseudo-downtime if the party is staying in the same area and aren’t genre-savvy enough to figure out why one party member is steadily growing weaker, or because the character in question is simply really bad at avoiding grapples during a vampire-hunting adventure. Particularly powerful vampires might even be able to induce the corruption after only a few bites.

Regardless, this corruption begins to manifest as a thirst for blood that borders on dependency. The afflicted must regularly feed on blood. If they do not, they begin to starve and risk going into a feral state where they instinctively hunt and prey upon a mortal, draining them of life. While it is possible to stave off the corruption with willing offerings of blood that result in no loss of life, it is the assault on innocents that progresses the corruption. The afflicted loses connection with the moral principles they previously had and their body begins to register more and more as undead under detection magic until even undead bane weapons affect them, and then finally, they truly die and rise again as a bloodthirsty monster. (while it is canon that vampires turned by the more traditional method might struggle and rise above their undead nature, the way this corruption is framed, the victim has already lost that struggle, making redemption even harder, if not impossible at that point.)

 Like all corruptions, however, these victims start to pick up some of the perks (and drawbacks) of vampirism, whether they like it or not.

Some may become supernaturally alluring, having a natural charm and force of personality to inveigle (or intimidate) others. However, this comes with the vampiric aversion to mirrors, as they stop casting a reflection and become fearful of that reminder of their waning mortality.

Others learn to summon forth the creatures of the night to aid them, conjuring rats, wolves, and bats. However, while they have such power, other animals begin to sense their unnatural nature and fear them as a result.

Later on, those with allure can outright charm others. However, they also lose their ability to cast a shadow, truly no longer interacting with light in a natural way, as well as developing the vampiric garlic allergy.

Most develop the ability to grow fangs, gaining a bite attack and the ability to drink blood in combat as a result. Remember, however, that while draining the blood of foes in combat or those who are villainous does not risk corruption, feeding from an innocent still does. However, having the fangs also marks a rapid uptick in the need for blood, requiring daily feedings instead of weekly, which may spell doom for many.

As unlife takes hold, many take advantage of it for unnaturally-fast healing. However, it comes with an aversion to sunlight.

As their unlife progresses, they can heal faster and ignore many things that the unliving are unaffected by, however, sunlight becomes painful, limiting their ability to act under exposure.

Others gain the vampiric ability to drain life with their strikes. However, this marks the change in how their bodies react to positive and negative energy, being healed or harmed like an undead.

Those that take their strange half-life to the end discover the ability to change into mist when they would be knocked unconscious, activating their healing and returning to the fight. However, at that point their sunlight allergy is so strong they actually burst into flame when exposed to the sun, potentially burning to ash.

Some also learn a measure of vampiric agility, becoming stealthier and having better reactions against attacks. Later on, they can even climb sheer walls with ease. However, with this comes the vampiric taboos against dwellings, preventing them from entering a dwelling that they have not been invited into.

This corruption can progress quickly, especially once they grow fangs. However, it is fairly easy to get rid of as well, requiring only that the vampire that afflicted the victim with this curse be permanently destroyed, or if there was no progenitor, by breaking the curse itself, which may vary from a simple spell to specific rituals or actions.

 Different corruptions progress at different rates, but vampirism in particular puts a lot of pressure on the party, since having to take constitution damage every week or even every day requires a constant upkeep of restoration spells to maintain, and if the victim is alone or far from civilization, there may be little hope of them recovering or even resisting it.

 That will do for today, but tomorrow we talk a bit about what this corruption means for your game world.

[weavefcrged]

In her 'canon', ie my write up for her as a fandomless oc, Reese's abilities included psychometry with pre/postcognition, cryokinesis, seeing the dead / talking with & touching the dead, true sight, dreamwalking & regenerative healing / immortality. I will go through her character sheet and write up a list of what spells & abilities she has in game but the base abilities are ones that she still has even if there isn't a specific spell or in game ability for them as these are all powers that are shown to be in game even if not by player characters. She had most of them from childhood after her first death (in her very, very very first incarnation many years ago when I first started writing her, she died after falling through the ice when she was about seven or eight and an ancient entity resuscitated her and left a tangent of its powers behind that awakened latent abilities - this is likely what is going to be the case in this verse as well - probably left unspecified as there is a plethora of ancient gods, powers, sentient disembodied entities from other verses etc. that exist in the background of this universe.) Additional abilities were unlocked through her sorcerer's training & then of course, brain worm abilities just further amplified what she can do.

While she is generally 'good' aligned, she's also very malleable and influenced by the people around her. Between her late adolescent years and the events of the game, she was pretty closely structured, probably paired off with someone that was her guardian (possibly lover / life partner) kind've like the Warder's in WoT with their magic users, to keep her from straying too far from the light side of her abilities, to make sure she didn't come under undue influence or get snatched up by a cult that wanted to make use of her abilities. I'm running with the general idea that whomever that was died (or she presumes died) in the Illithid crash. In verses where she's the Tav, story plot progresses as canon. In verses where she's a supporting cast member or that we go with an entirely different course of events for plot purposes than what we see 'on screen' in the game, she will have wandered away from the crash (maybe even was flung somewhere else entirely not even in the primary starting location) and ended up wandering around for a while on her own until she runs into your Tav or (in the game npc) or OC or whatever and then the story can progress from there for whatever aspects of the plot we would like to explore.

I am absolutely fine with darker themes of corruption & toxic relationships if that's a plot line you're interested in - there's a few things I won't write but are part of her history (csa & n*nc*n are things that occurred at one point or another in her past, but will not be seen on screen other than mentions of plot points if the relationship with Reese & your character reach that point, or it's seen in a mental connection etc.).

This is a very rough, just getting things out there bio post; I'll work on more specific things this weekend. Let me know if you have any questions at all & if you want to know what choices she's made etc. feel free to drop by my inbox! I am at the beginning stages of act 3 in the game so most of my stuff will take place somewhere in Act 1 & 2 - I'm up for stuff in Act 3 if you want, but I have no idea what happens & have managed to avoid most spoilers so far, so you'd have to be willing to fill me in!

[creepy-crowleys]

R: I'm a little late to asking, but could you talk more about your adventure to hidden portions of Amarna, Agent? Despite setbacks, it must have been utterly riveting to be surrounded by so much history.

Of course! It absolutely was.

I will mention, going in, that the reality of my world is... a bit more fantastical compared to historical record. Of note: The Aten sun disk is a very real entity, one of the sun-eaters whose captivity was used to shape my world and whose presence leeches a virulent, corrupted for of magic into its surroundings.

I was initially called out to the neighboring inhabited city of al-Merayah on reports of suspected smuggling activity outside of the known rings in the area, as well as fears of the famed Plagues of Egypt appearing again. On arrival, the city was under siege with a local militia, the Marya, defending against the modern followers of Aten.

It was eventually determined that the earthquake that led into the reappearance of the plagues was actually caused by the magic keeping the true city of Amarna concealed failing, due to a pileup of complicating factors, time being a significant one.

Entrance to Amarna - original posting

Just beyond the gates to the city itself; note Aten sun disk - original posting

For the month and some I and a handful of Council of Venice and Marya agents operated in the city, the sun/sun disk barely moved in the sky, night never fell, and it was perpetually sweltering.

Map of the city with our initial entry point and camp circled - original posting

The drawings of the seven gods on the map represent the Sentinels, seven monuments to the depicted gods containing the souls of the seven children of a high priest of Amun-Ra, bound to the city to seal and obscure it and to keep Akhenaten from rising again.

Monument of Meretseger and chamber interior - original posting

Her name was Moutemouia, third child of High Priest Ptahmose. She was tasked with keeping the city concealed and it was her strength and conviction wavering that ultimately let us in. The siblings were able to communicate both through their monument or through the smaller statues decorating the monuments' inner chambers.

Thutmose (Horus), Nefertari (Ma'at), Moutemouia (Meretseger), Hemitneter (Sekhmet), Moutnefert (Satis), Nefertari the Younger (Bast), Huoy (Anubis).

Moutnefert dreamed of travel. Ptahmose brought her postcards and stories from the outside, but she always wanted to see it for herself. Nefertari the Younger and Huoy were just excited to have someone new to play games with them. Hemitneter was itching to take the fight to the Atenists directly, haha!

...All of them were starting to wonder if they'd outlived the gods they'd stood for.

Most of the time we were there, I was helping the Sentinels with their tasks while they taught me the spellwork to access Akhenaten's tomb so he could be dealt with directly. I got to help herd souls to the afterlife, feed the corrupted to Ammut, harass the modern living and mummified original incarnations of the Atenists.

Assorted photographs of the area - original postings (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

As can probably be expected time, warfare, and modern cultist and monster activity has seen the collapse of many structures throughout the city. Most civilian dwellings are likely to have failed by this, but several of the larger structures and temples have remained largely intact. The black sludge forming on the trees and ground (image 4) and also polluting much of the limited water supply is the manifestation of the Aten's corrupted magic, as is the spider-like monster inhabiting the temple (image 5). The creature in the sixth image is a human that was heavily mutated due to exposure to this magic during the mummification process - possibly with direct influence from the Aten itself as not all mummified cultists progressed to the same degree as this particular one did. Most Atenist (and Sol Invictus, present in the wider area) mummies retained normal human proportions, but a select handful attained more monstrous forms.

As the investigation progressed, there became an increase in seismic activity that was eventually determined to be emanating from beneath Akhenaten's pyramid.

Addition photograph of the area. The Black Pyramid, Akhenaten's tomb, is faintly visible in the background beneath the Aten sun disk. We never identified that skeleton. - original posting

There is a story among the Jinn that the first of their kind, immediately upon its creation, refused to be made subservient to any creature and so consumed its own name so that it couldn't be used to control it.

Jinni tablet cotaining the story of the First Jinn, The Fabled Genie of the Lamp - original posting with full translation

According to their lore, the Unbound was eventually deceived by King Soloman who trapped the Unbound in a magical prison (by human versions, a lamp) and hid that lamp deep underground, away from anyone that the Jinn could tempt into releasing it on the promise of granting a wish.

It was fascinating! As we were researching the earthquakes, we became increasingly aware of a voice that being projected through them. I have a couple of recordings here and here!

And using the Jinn's writing, I was able to locate and access the passage that led beneath the pyramid!

Assorted photographs of said passages - original postings (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Image 5 contains insect religion! They were congregated and seemingly worshiping the imagery of the scarab!

I have a few posts of artifacts I came across too! Here, here, and here!

I was able to locate the First Jinn's containment as well. The modern Atenists had been using explosives to hunt for artifacts in and around Amarna and had caused a piece of the ceiling in its chamber to break loose, damaging an anchor for the wards around it.

First Jinn's chamber with damaged anchor and containment device - original posting

Much of the technology used through the chamber and passages are believed to be Third Age in origin, a version reality that was overwritten by our current one. Solomon was supposedly native to it, and one of the few (probable) humans to have been able to retain themselves through the transition. Third Age magic and technology are difficult to replicate due the world simply not working the same way anymore.

In any case, I was able to get the anchor patched up and working again.

And then I broke into the Black Pharaoh's burial chamber and confronted him directly. I. Admittedly didn't get much of an opportunity to appreciate most of it. A large conflict broke out between the Atenists and the allies I brought, and I was urged on ahead to face the more serious threats. The Sentinels backed me up.

...Someone from one of the groups I had allied with shot me after the dust settled. They stole Akhenaten's body and staff before anyone else could get in to stop them and I was nearly fired for disobeying orders and having anything to do with them in the first place, so. I never got too much of a chance to look around the pyramid unfortunately, haha...! I have a few pictures of its exterior at least.

Exterior of the Black Pyramid - original postings (1, 2, 3)

Frescos found in chambers around the pyramid depicting: (1) The birth of Akhenaten's son, Tutankhaten (later Tutankhamun), (2) The formation of the Marya under Tutankhamun and Thutmose, (3) Ptahmose sacrificing his seven children to seal the Black Pyramid and Akhenaten, (4) Akhenaten's lineage with his son and wife, blessed by the Aten, and (5) Akhenaten's judgement and execution before Ptahmose, High Priest of Amun-Ra.

Ptahmose and his children were all released from their duties following Akhenaten's defeat, and the curse on the city has been fading since. I haven't spent much time there. It's hard to see the Sentinel's monuments still there and so empty without them.