#praenost depths

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Huh, interesting.

In Praenost, Avoalet, and Visoria, the lands outside of the Depths of Corruption are relatively normal, save for the obvious Broken running around. But once you get into the Depths of Corruption and the lands beyond, the air is saturated with magic, and veins of Break have pushed up through the earth. Even shards of the Break float through the air in defiance of gravity. It's obvious that magic is all out of whack in these places.

[Praenost vs Praenost Depths]

[Avoalet vs Avoalet Depths]

[Visoria vs Visoria Depths]

In Junoon, however, it's almost the opposite. Break has shoved itself up in the lands outside of the Depths, and particles of it float through the air. But inside the depths? Those lands are almost untouched by the Break (except in Farcoast Terrace, which is almost nothing but Break, but we don't talk about that accursed place if we can help it). The air is saturated with magic in Junoon's depths, giving the atmosphere a soft violet haze, but the most prominent veins of Break and gravity-defying shards are outside of the Depths.

[Junoon vs Junoon Depths]

What a fascinating bit of environmental storytelling. I thought that those bright rocks and floating stones were just atmospheric effect in the Depths, but they're not! They seem to show where each Tanta finally lost herself to the Corruption. We know the exact location where Cinta fell. She told us. Also there's a fucking crater there.

Except I'm probably wrong? Because while the veins of Break are clearly prominent around the crater, the floating Breakshards aren't. They're very conspicuously absent around Junoon Castle as well, though the castle gardens have Break-infested plants.

Clearly more research must be done.

But there's one more thing I find fascinating. There's somewhere else you can find veins of Cinta's magic pushing through the earth. Do you know where it is?

It's Cipal, specifically all the lands around it.

You can baaaaaarely see some red Break in the distance, where the Blessed Plains boarder with Praenost, but all the rest of it is Junoon. (If you're having trouble finding the red Break, look at the bottom of the cliffs below the right side of the aurora. You may have to zoom in a little)

Anyway, I'm delighted at how much more there is to discover just by paying attention to the environment :3

[cruelfeline]

This is the Fount of Blessing found in the very south of Praenost, in the Mustering Grounds.

These founts usually feature a whole field of beautiful, lush flowers surrounding them. This one has some flowers, but they're sad and scraggly and disappointing.

I'd say it may be due to Praenost's climate, but I know of at least one other Praenostian fountain that still features a proper field of flowers. Rather, I tend to think that it's due to the Break being so thick here. This is, after all, pretty close to Sila's castle.

Disturbing, how the Break can ruin the effects of such a powerful focus of Athian magic.

I can imagine Frey being disappointed, upon finding this one. Hearing the strange song that emanates from them, searching it out, hoping for a field of beautiful flowers to brighten her day here in the depths of Praenost's miasma. Only to find this sad patch of struggling blooms.

I can also imagine her feeling a sudden twinge of disappointment through her and Cuff's bond, but it disappears as quickly as she notices it.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

I will always headcanon that Farcoast Terrace is where Cinta spent the majority of her time in dragon form. Just shedding Break, concentrating it on that one area until nature is so unstable the Breakstorm is permanent even after her death.

There's also one that always pops up at the Mount Garrison belfry in Praenost, which is the same place that the Gigas abomination hangs out. This one has a Giant Nightmare the first time you trigger it, but iirc after you beat it the first time it doesn't always respawn. I'll have to go back in my save where I did beat it and see.

Then there's the one at the graveyard in the Opal Hills (also Praenost) that comes with a Giant Nightmare attached. Another one with a Giant Nightmare happens on Three Tree Mountain in Visoria. Oddly enough the third Giant Nightmare location in Junoon doesn't have a Breakstorm with it, but the Monument to Wisdom nearby leads to a Breakstorm in the past.

And then there's the one outside of Cipal that only appears after Prav sent the Break into the city. That one is the only one not near an Abomination, the only one not past the Depths of Corruption, and like the Farcoast Terrace it doesn't house a Giant Nightmare. All it spawns is Riven Carcasses—another unusual trait.

I might be missing other "permanent" Breakstorms. ("Permanent" in quotes bc only two of them never ever stop no matter how many nightmares you kill or how much time passes.) I'm sure there's one in Avoalet somewhere, but I can't for the life of me think of where.

ANYWAY to answer your question they seem to happen most frequently where the Break is the strongest. I've never encountered a Breakstorm in a labyrinth after clearing it, though.

breakstorms seem to happen pretty much randomly, except for a few places, in which they seem to occur every time Frey and Cuff enter the place. Like that mountain pass (fuck that area tbh) and labyrinths. you guys think the environment reacts to both the power of a Tanta and Susurrus' power? the two components the break was created by?

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Forspoken Photo Dump 3: Praenost Depths, Part 1

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Forspoken Photo Dump 65: Avoalet; Avoalet Castle Town, Part 2

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Forspoken Photo Dump 2: Praenost, Part 1

[phoenixiancrystallist]

All the towns filled with skeletons

The notes left behind by rescue parties, researchers, and ordinary citizens fleeing to safety, none of whom survived

This altar on Trout Mountain overlooking Praenost

The memory device with only one data log, and that's a catastrophic failure log

Whatever the fuck else Olas was up to

Nope, no horror elements here, none whatsoever. :) Just a happy fun time romp through pretty biomes flinging prettier magic all over the place, doin' flips and accompanied by a sassy wrist idiot :) Murdering zombies and also sorceress-queens who went batshit insane :) That's the whole depth of this game, there's nothing else to see here :)

I was talking about this on discord the other day but... if you're paying attention, Forspoken is a horror game

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Month 10, day 21

Still trying to decide what I'm gonna draw next, so I did some photo editing tonight :) I have a lot of fun in the Depths trying to edit out the color saturation. It's much less necessary in Avoalet and Junoon, but Praenost and Visoria are so hyper-saturated with their miasmas. Makes for an interesting challenge getting any screenshots I decide to fiddle with to look like they haven't been dipped in red or green dye XD

Original under the cut as usual, and is also a sneak preview for next Sunday's photo dump ;D

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Woo, scheduled dumps every day for this week, up to Sunday the 17th! And that will finish out Avoalet :) Next up is Visoria, which according to my planner will last until December 3rd. Then I split Junoon weird; the Depths start on December 4th and go until the 16th, then I go back to the lands around Cipal because I forgot to get half of the Barren Plains and all of the Sacred Peaks and Pilgrim's Path. So those start on December 17th, run until the 27th, and on the 28th we're back to Junoon, outside the Depths this time, and that will go until January 28th, 2024.

I think I forgot so much of the lands between Cipal and Junoon because when I first started taking these photos my plan was to follow Frey's journey, but then I started Praenost and went "nah, man, I gotta get everything." And then I just totally spaced the rest of the lands around Cipal :P

Anyway, that gives me plenty of time to get my photos of New York all organized and figured out, get shots of Fake New York and Cinta's Trip Down Memory Lane™, and anything else I decide to photograph :P I've also got shots of all the spells in action, a few shots from inside of various Breakstorms that are cool and I intend to share, and in between all of this I have various posts planned out that will be making full use of the 10 images I'm allowed to post with :3

So yeah! Lots to look forward to!

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that five out of the six ideas for how Frey's visit to Rheddah does a good job of giving layers and dimension to the place despite its origins as a completely hostile foreign entity. What other ways can you imagine the country being "humanized"?

I've been sitting on this ask all day trying to figure out how to answer, and I... I've got nothing conclusive, buddy, I'm sorry XD

If you're referencing the answer I gave for this ask you sent in last week, I listed five ideas for what the heck could be going on in Rheddah. I'm not sure what the sixth one is, or even which one doesn't add or imply depth to Rheddah's world-building? My guess is the evil scientist one, but that could just be because it's my least favorite of the bunch.

As for further "humanizing" Rheddah, there's an unlimited number of different ways it could be done, from overarching plot elements to tiny design details. I could go into potential characterization for the Tantas, potential history and lore for the cult, what kind of food did they eat, what's the land like, do they paint their houses pretty colors, did they have pets, and on and on and on. The problem is, since we know very little about Rheddah, it would all be based on headcanons and/or what I would want to write in my self-insert fics. This problem is compounded by the fact that I now have two that I'm working on, and they both paint Rheddah in very different lights. Ironically the one that starts in Athia shows Rheddah much more favorably and humane (not "human," although they are that, too) than the one that starts in Rheddah.

For humanizing what we have in canon, though? I have a post I'm working on for analyzing the outfits of the spearmen and archers that invaded Visoria, and that will include humanizing elements, such as fashion and what materials are available for them to make their gear. If I'm lucky I might be able to extrapolate what climate they came from!

I have another post I'm working on that will cover burial in Athia that involves a battlefield in Praenost where I'm pretty sure the Rheddig buried their dead—and, spoiler alert, their graves are identical to the graves we see in Athian towns. Which is fascinating, because Thalia's grave is completely different from those graves, too! Hers is more akin to the graves in Cipal, actually, which is fascinating but I'm not prepared to get into it yet.

I could talk about the artistry of their weapons, or the designs of the tents and campfires they put up at their camps. But for a properly coherent post I'd need references, and I haven't been focusing on gathering those. I probably will eventually, but I want to finish the photo dumps I started forever ago and then get to work on making the other posts I have planned coherent—and hopefully intelligent because I suck at meta analysis! XD

Heck, I could just talk about the Writings of a Rheddig Soldier, which straight up says "I already miss home terribly" in the first entry! I love those archive entries so much, exactly because they painted the Rheddig as people. I have all those entries copied down in a text document, and I can gush about them as much as either of us want me to because they're so important for my understanding of Rheddah as a whole.

But yeah, uh, I have a feeling none of that actually answers your question 😅

[phoenixiancrystallist]

Huuuuuh, you can only see them from the lands past the Depths in Praenost, Avoalet, and Visoria, all of Junoon, and the lands outside of Cipal. Basically anywhere that has BreakOre glowing. Faaaaaaascinating

Huh.

You can't see the Break auroras from up the Tower of Binnoi. I thought you could.

Hmm. Oh well, my fic, my rules, and I say yes you can :P