#rhine guides

[gold-rhine]

Nahida banner is going to run soon and i wanted to talk about her and her pros and cons if you're deciding to wish for her or not. i have both heavily invested c2 nahida who is top 8% on field builds on akasha and f2p no cons horrible support build nahida, so i can talk about different levels of investment.

her pros:

best dendro application in the game with 100% uptime.

sharing of up to 250 EM to on field character, which is very good buff to spread or aggravate carries.

she has insane AOE, you can tag entire room of enemies from far away and they will be dying passively, just from nahida's dot, which is very nice for single-target teams like hyperbloom or nilou teams that can't have grouping.

her less known pro is that she can have very good personal damage if well built, like alhaitham is called "top 3 dps" and my nahida does more damage than my alhaitham on field. the reason alhaitham is even viable is bc nahida is a tiny radish with short legs and is very clumsy to run, dash and attack.

but if you don't want her to do personal damage, she is perfectly functional with purely support build too, which is very easy and quick to get, and with 3 star weapon.

her cons are really good, and her c2 makes any dendro team insane

her banner will have xingqiu and kuki, and with nahida this is a ready made hyperbloom core that will clear one side of the abyss with minimum investment. or any content, to be clear, like if you dont care about abyss, this is a boss killer team.

overall, universal dendro support who can slot into almost any dendro team and has considerable to great personal damage.

her cons:

her insane dendro application is actually too thick and it will overrun other elements, which is very relevant for aggravate teams. you can't swirl electro thru nahida's E, so if enemy didn't die in one rotation, then on second rotation you're swirling leaf and your electro dps will not get damage buff.

another con is that she tags specific enemies, so if you kill a wave and the next wave appears, she needs to come back on field to tag them again. this is a problem for characters like cyno who do damage in long infusion state, he cannot switch to nahida without losing that infusion. characters like baizhu would be more comfortable for this.

as i already said, short child model is clumsy to use on field

her alternatives:

for kinich she doesn't do anything at all, he can be either solo dendro or work with emily

for dendro teams with furina, baizhu is preferred as a healer who can quickly stack fanfare

for nilou, she's still best in slot and tbh nilou with nahida and nilou without nahida is very much night and day, but even so, nilou has enough other option that she will be okay without nahida, with like, yao yao, baizhu, dendro traveler, kirara, tho AOE will tank significantly.

overall, in other dendro teams like spread, aggravate, hyperbloom, burgeon, you can use options like baizhu, yao yao, dendro traveler, kirara. they will have less application and AOE will drop to almost single target, but it will be functional

TLDR:

is nahida still meta? YES. she's still the most universal dendro support and the BEST, arguably only true consistent off field AOE dendro applicator who is not reliant on burst.

is she must pull? no, if you don't want to. when she just came out and there were almost no dendro characters, she was, but now we have enough options, both premium and 4 star, to slot into dendro teams instead of nahida and be functional.

get nahida if you like her and you want strongest AOE dendro support that you can use in almost any dendro teams, but don't feel pressured.

EDIT: if u want to vertically invest in nahida, get her cons, as i already said, her c2 is insane. do NOT get her weapon, its mid as fuck. for damage build yae's kagura is her best option, or any dmg oriented catalyst like widsith or lost prayer. for support, 4 star EM sac frags is about as good, and even 3 star magic guide will work.

EDIT2:

yes, you can use it as a support weapon, esp in nilou teams it'll be good. it's not bad support option if you happen to get it, its just not worth going for specifically. about nahida cons, i would advise to first trying your teams with c0 nahida bc this is more than enough. if nilou and nahida team doesnt feel like it doing damage, i would first look into rotations and if you have EM on the correct character, bc in bloom its crucial to know who will be the trigger

[tigersharks]

How I feel when I pick a breakfast spot that has live jazz and good food for my friends visiting for the first time: ☺️☺️☺️

[burstfoot]

Hello! Here's an update on all of Arknights' currently accessible auxiliary material as of May 2024! There's plenty to check out, so I hope this is helpful for some!

Animation

Arknights Prelude To Dawn (S1) and Perish in Frost (S2): [Crunchyroll]

An adaptation of the main story, up through Chapter 0 to Chapter 6! It's much more fast-paced than the in-game story, so I wouldn't use it to replace actually reading it, but it's very cool to see some of these scenes in full animation. Season 3, Arknights: Rise from Ember, has been announced! Lee's Detective Agency: [Youtube]

A mini-series animated in a chibi style with a comedic tone. Focused on the adventures of the Kuroblood-illustrated Lee's Detective Agency! Distributed by Crunchyroll globally, but entirely free to watch.

Closure's Secret Files: [Youtube]

A cut-out styled series of shorts hosted by Closure which outlines a lot of the game's basic mechanics!

Holy Knight Light: [Youtube]

A short OVA focusing around Penguin Logistics delivering a package, celebrating Arknights' first anniversary. Officially posted to Youtube!

Kay's Daily Doodles: [Youtube]

Another free, comedic Youtube mini-series, posted to the offical Arknights Youtube account and focused around Ceobe! Here's some additional animations! Each event usually also has a 15 second 2D animated preview of the event, but there's so many of those that I can't list them all. Anniversary Event 3D Animations: Zwillingstürme im Herbst So Long, Adele Lone Trail Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow Il Siracusano Ideal City Stultifera Navis Invitation To Wine Near Light Dossoles Holiday Under Tides Bonus 3D Animated Shorts: Legend of Chongyue Arknights Special - IL Siracusano Lo Scontro Youtube Shorts: Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 1 Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 2 Amiya's Siracusan Food Guide Part 1 Amiya's Siracusano Food Guide Part 2 Amiya's Special Gift Doctor's Gifts in Return 1 Doctor's Gifts in Return 2

Comics, Manga, Manhua

Officially Translated:

Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Rhine Lab: [Offical Source]

A canon manhua centered around the circumstances that lead to Silence falling out with Saria and joining Rhodes Island with Ifrit, as well as Ifrit's attempt to save a dying infected stowaway on the landship. Essential reading for understanding the Rhine Lab storyline and characters - read it right after Mansfield for when it was chronologically released! One of the characters, Darya, is mentioned in both Ifrit's module and briefly in Lone Trail.

Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Blacksteel: [Official Source]

A short story focusing on the lives of the Blacksteel operators aboard the landship. While it often gets overshadowed by the Rhine Lab manga which is bigger in scope, this is a great read especially if you're interested in Franka or Liskarm.

Rhodes Kitchen -TIDBITS-: [Official Source]

An anthology story related to the cuisine that's important to a variety of operators. While it might seem unassuming, the art is gorgeous and it's really well-written! The Blacksteel, Rhine Lab, and Rhodes Kitchen manga have all been sold in physical copies, if you're interested in having them in print!

Prelude Suite: Cadenza Virtuosa: [Official Source]

An epilogue to Hortus De Escapismo focusing on Arturia's background, with the second chapter serving as a prelude for Zwillingstrume im Herbst! An excellent read to get better insight into Arturia's character.

Angelina: Sketches of this Messenger's Journey: [Official Source]

A more comedically focused manwha, centered on the adventures of Angelina travelling across Terra as a Messenger! Currently updating, with recent chapters focusing on Sami and Siesta!

Unofficially Translated

The Dagger's Inheritors: [Youtube]

A 15-minute short 3D animated film about W's past and relationship with Theresa, released for the 5th Arknights anniversary. Arknights Comic Anthology: [Mangadex]

As the title says, a series of non-canon anthology stories regarding the cast of Rhodes' Island! Some of the chapters on Mangadex for the later volumes of the Comic Anthology specifically have been machine translated, but the same is not true for the other manga shared here. Chapters are hit-and-miss, but the whole series is generally a fun read! See the original post for specific chapter suggestions.

123 Rhodes Island: [Mangadex]

A series of non-canon gag comics for the CN server, usually updated when new operators or events release!

Arknights: Operators!: [Mangadex]

A compilation of shortform manga posted on the official ArknightsJP twitter account! Thank you to @sleepywoodscans for their work on personally translating these!

Arknights: A1 Operations Preparation Detachment: [Mangadex]

Part of the Terra Historicus website and not yet officially translated, focusing on Fang, Kroos and Beagle before they join Rhodes Island, and a catastrophe striking the Columbian city of Tkaronto. Thank you to @pooce-art for their translation work!

Other:

Arknights Ambience Synesthesia: [Youtube]

A series of concerts (4 so far), focused around Arknights' music! A live performance has been done every year, with skins released in-game for the concert's theme & 3D animations produced featuring the skin's cast in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Monster Siren Records: [Spotify] [Official Website]

Arknights' official (and-in-universe) record label publishing game OSTs, themes for almost every 6 star operator that releases, and occasional bonus songs.

Arknights: Endfield: [Twitter]

An upcoming 3D action gacha game from Hypergryph, set in the far future of Arknights' universe on another planet. Currently in closed beta testing for both EN and CN servers!

UNOFFICIAL:

Some fandom-developed tools that might be of use to you are: The Arknights Terra Wiki. While it is a very accurate source for in-game data, take the explanation of in-game story and some specific claims with a grain of salt. The FANDOM version of this wiki is currently no longer mantained and subject to vandalism! Given you can translate or read Chinese, PRTS.wiki is the current best resource for game assets!

As well, the Arknights Story Reader can help you catch up on stuff you don't want to or can't read in game! Jacob Moreau on Youtube provides voiceover readings of many in-game stories as well.

Finally, Aceship's Toolbox provides access to a variety of tools, including a levelling calculator, a calculator to ensure the best recruitments, and all the CGs, backgrounds and character sprites that are available in-game as of So Long, Adele (as far as I'm aware, the sprite/cg gallery is no longer being updated.)

Conclusion:

Thank you for reading! I hope this provided some new information to you or is an easy reference source in the future. Some things, such as merch (i.e. board games) or the official lore book have not been included due to not being accessible or translated for EN players. I'm happy to continue to provide more information like this to make the art surrounding this series more accessible! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask.

[cerastes]

What are some of the greatest/most impressive feats of strength in Arknights’s story?

Taking the overall narrative and worldbuilding into account, I believe the most effective aspect of Arknights' narrative is that they managed to make Terra feel like a breathing, living world and setting instead of a vehicle for the point-of-view character to exist in and act upon. This is specially remarkable for a mobile gacha game, as settings in these tend to be exactly that sort of vehicle instead of world that give any hints of existing when outside the player's immediately vision. The way I like to think about it is, "if a tree fell somewhere in this setting while my intended point-of-view or self-insert character isn't there to see it, did it make a sound?”. In Arknights, Girls' Frontline and SIGH Epic Seven (credit where it's due), the answer feels like a yes to me, whereas in every other game of this kind, it feels like a no, if you know what I mean.

This is intrinsically tied to the cast of characters: It is an inevitability that games where a guiding principle is to release an immense number of characters throughout its lifetime will have characters that will never have any relevance whatsoever besides existing as a minor piece in the world, and Arknights is not immune to this. Even other works of a different base nature and with a much smaller casts will be victims to this: In Trails of Cold Steel, for example, you have a pretty big cast of playable characters, some of which are very well developed and have a lot of screentime and development, and others who are Gaius Worzel. However, this leads to two aspects of Arknights as a narrative and as a game telling a story and fleshing out a world that I appreciate:

The first is that those characters that do get used, are for the overwhelming majority fun and interesting to see and accompany throughout their narrative, and rarely for me, I include the usual point-of-view character in this, Doctor. I tend to have a pretty big dislike, if not disdain, for characters you're meant to self-insert into, I sincerely cannot stand them. Doctor definitely has a big of a self-insert nature to them, but there's also a lot of the Doctor that is actually pre-established, such as them being a weirdo, tending to be very effective but also causing troublesome aftermaths that others then have to clean up, and being particularly good at bonding with assassins and underworld types, among other things. More importantly, Doctor is not present in most side-stories. This is fantastic and leads to the second aspect I appreciate.

This second aspect is that the cast has legs to stand on without needing the protagonist or POV character. You'd think this is a problem mostly limited to gacha games due to their usually flimsy narratives and structures, right? Except, this is actually a huge problem in pretty much every corner of narrative art! I can think of countless comics, manga, cartoons, anime, light novels, novels, and much more, eastern and western, that just tend to have worlds and casts that center entirely around the protagonist, for the protagonist. Whether it be a US author writing out their post-apocalyptic hoarder fantasy or a Japanese author detailing the trials and tribulations of a relatable nobody that a myriad of girls want to have sex with, and even some other pieces of art perhaps not so comically easy to make fun of, it's a consistent aspect of them that the protagonist is the center of the universe, both in terms of events and what the rest of cast thinks about, talks about, and takes action upon. Obviously, this results, in my opinion, in weak worlds and weak casts that have no legs to stand on. I appreciate that even without Doctor around, Arknights does a good job of having protagonists of their own little stories in the side stories: Olivia Silence is a joy to follow when she takes the lead in a Rhine Lab story, Kroos has been one of my favorite characters to be able to experience events through with the Sui stories, Skadi and the Abyssal Hunters are exciting to watch in Abyssal Hunter stories, and the latest event as of the writing of this post filled me inspiration, seeing Reed star in a character piece that tells us more about someone so immensely reticent to open up. It's by having interesting world events occurring throughout Terra that don't have the input of Doctor, and thus lets us see more and more of this huge cast of characters taking the lead that I think is a fascinating experience for me as a reader that keeps things fresh. It's even allowed me to come to appreciate characters I initially didn't care about, such as Bagpipe and Magallan, and see, in most games of this nature, if I don't care about a character frame one, it's probably going to stay that way because, well, if I didn't care about what their limited assortment of pre-cooked lines had to sell me on, then I'm likely not going to care about that character likely not showing me a new aspect of themselves impactful enough to change my mind in an event they'll likely just be an accessory to.

It's upon this base that I think Arknights stays interesting and fresh: A solid foundation that I can agree with and that keeps things dynamic and interesting. Specific events and story beats that I think are interesting are a natural result of these baseline aspects, but it all traces back to the cradle, to these baseline aspects that facilitate those cool narratives in the first place.

[voiddaisy]

The Victors of the Hunger Games

So when I get obsessed with a new thing, I literally need to know everything about it, even if that means making shit up. Thankfully, that means I can produce some decent, accurate content, so here that is! I made a list of all of the “known” Hunger Games victors. The canon ones are bolded, but the rest of them are named based on their district (I got the name inspiration from this naming guide). 

Huge credits to @one-mopeyboi for this idea!

I know that canonically Districts 1 and 2 have the best chance of having a lot of Victors, so I made sure that was represented, as well as when the career programs began (I have a headcanon that after the career programs were implemented, Districts 1 and 2 went on a winning streak for years). This is similar to District 4, though I think that their “career system” is hugely different than the first two districts, so they probably had fewer victors. I included statistics at the end (how many victors came from each district, genders, ages, etc..).

During the first ten games, even though District 2 didn’t have a career program, I think they still had a lot of victors due to them being the defense and masonry district -- possible peacekeepers-in-training could have been reaped, or just kids who grew up around weapons and fighting. That’s why they appear so much in the first ten years, even though the first ten years were so disorganized! 

I also gave some of my favs last names based on my interpretation of their characters, much like Suzanne Collins put a lot of time and effort into naming other characters! I’ll explain their last names when they come up!

A lot of canon victors had a range in which they could have won their games, so take any victor marked with an asterisk (*) is an up for interpretation -- add or subtract five years from their set date in this list and you should still be in the ballpark in which they won their games. Also, the ages at which they won their games are speculated and headcanons mostly, so do with those what you wish!

Ominis Jing / D1 / M18

Indigo Andrews / D8 / M16

Severus Florez / D2 / M17

Hercules Caine / D7 / M15

Atticus Gomez / D2 / M18

Vizio Everest / D3 / M18

Beatrix Regime / D2 / F17 (First female Victor)

Selerate Vega / D6 / M17

Nucleo Lamont / D5 / M18

Lucy Gray Baird / D12 (Covey) / F16 (MEMORY ERASED)

Mags Flannigan (nee Navarro) / D4 / F18 (Possibly implemented the career program in District 4 a few years after her win, and after Districts 1 and 2 implemented theirs. This is a headcanon of mine!)

Mercury Chow / D1 / M17 (Marks the beginning of “Career Districts”)

Remus Prasio / D2 / M18 

Sterling Ryfe / D2 / F18 (First time a district had a Victor two years in a row)

Victoria Argyros / D1 / F17

Cicero Shale / D2 / M16

Woof Damask / D8 / M15 *

Makari Perch / D4 / F17

Pompeii Rhine / D4 / M18

Octavio Pyrite / D2 / M17

Nyx Maelstrom / D4 / F15

Night Raleigh / D7 / F17

Ardor Maron / D1 / M18

Ting Harta / D1 / M16

Celestia Dean / D5 / F17

Seeder Harrow / D11 / F15 *

Aphrodite Penz / D1 / F18

Ceres Tritt / D9 / M16

Parsley Citron / D11 / M18

Aquarius Mokosh / D4 / M17

Spruce Hawthorn / D7 / M17

Willow Elwood / D7 / F15 (First winning streak of a non-Career district)

Olympio Knight / D6 / M16

Elixer Dynamo / D1 / M18

Lazurus Yuki / D2 / M17

Twix Serratos / D10 / M15

Tanzanite Valor / D1 / M18

Porter Millicent Tripp / D6 / F15

Tameo Swift / D5 / M16

Ciabette Pizelle / D9 / F17

Denver Propel / D6 / M16

Phyllite Hatch / D2 / F16

Beetee Latier / D3 / M16 *

Broze Aegis / D2 / M18

Chaff Pitaya / D11 / M17

Marrow Banker / D10 / M18

Wiress Latier (neē Neith) / D3 / F18 * 

Thetis Firth / D4 / M16

Cloque Madder / D8 / M17

Haymitch Abernathy / D12 / M16 (“First” D12 winner)

Brutus Castor / D2 / M18 *

Brasilia Cadillac / D6 / F17

Vestis Thompson / D1 / M18

Lyme Rabe / D2 / F18

Blight Page / D7 / M16 *

Emmer Graham / D9 / M18

Mirabelle Ortega / D11 / F17

Dahlia Celsius / D5 / F17

Eloquence Fleur / D1 / F18

Lennox Rodriguez / D10 / F17

Celia Khampan / D8 / F17 *

Enobaria Calypso / D2 / F15 (Calypso means hidden or concealed -- as an Enobaria lover who definitely sees past the whole “brutal” teeth thing, I definitely think that she has a lot of hidden rage towards the Capitol, even though people in District 2 notoriously side with the Capitol. Not only this, but she was seen running with Finnick during the breaking of the arena in Catching Fire, which I definitely interpret as she was either secretly working with Finnick or had some type of solidarity with him to be able to not attack him while running -- meaning she hid this tolerability from her district and the Capitol. I could make an entire post about Enobaria, but I’ll leave it at that.)

Gloss Mirat / D1 / M18 (Mirat means mirror -- Gloss and Cashmere were mirrors of each other -- two siblings going into the games seperately, then immensly regretting it as soon as they won for the same or different reasons. Then, they had to reenter the game together, knowing that one or both of them would die in the arena, but showing the Capitol excitement, anyway, because that is was District 1 taught them to do. They mirror each other and what their district wants them to be.)

Cashmere Mirat / D1 / F17 ^^

Finnick Odair / D4 / M14

Maze Targaren / D10 / M15

Augustus Braun / D1 / M17

Maida Pondaro / D9 / F18

 Cable Denoir / D3 / M17

Annie Cresta / D4 / F18

Johanna Mason / D7 / F17

Obsidian Trenton / D2 / M17

Lazulia Mace / D2 / F16

Katniss Everdeen / D12 / F16 and Peete Mellark / D12 / M16

NOT APPLICABLE

Victor Stats

District 1 Total Victors: 13 Male Victors: 9 Female Victors: 4 Average Age: 17 (17.54)

District 2 Total Victors: 15 Male Victors: 9 Female Victors: 6 Average Age: 17 (17.07)

District 3 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 3 Female Victors: 1 Average Age: 17 (17.25)

District 4 Total Victors: 8 Male Victors: 4 Female Victors: 4 Average Age: 16 (16.63)

District 5 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 2 Female Victors: 2 Average Age: 17

District 6 Total Victors: 5 Male Victors: 3 Female Victors: 2 Average Age: 16 (16.2)

District 7 Total Victors: 6 Male Victors: 3 Female Victors: 3 Average Age: 16 (16.17)

District 8 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 3 Female Victors: 1 Average Age: 16 (16.25)

District 9 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 2 Female Victors: 2 Average Age: 17 (17.25)

District 10 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 3 Female Victors: 1 Average Age: 16 (16.25)

District 11 Total Victors: 4 Male Victors: 2 Female Victors: 2 Average Age: 16 (16.75)

District 12 Total Victors: 3 (4) Male Victors: 2 Female Victors: 1 (2) Average Age: 16

ALL VICTORS Total Victors: 75 Male Victors: 44 Female Victors: 31 Average Age: 16 (16.7)

let me know if you spot any mistakes and I'll fix them!

[fernthewhimsical]

Fern's Nehalennia Deep Dive: pt 2

Aspects

On the votive stones found dedicated to Nehalennia some symbols are repeated again and again. Through those, we are able to get a pretty clear image of the aspects that belong to Nehalennia.

the Sea and Water

It is no coincidence that her temples were at the coast, near the mouth of the river Rhine. She was the Goddess who protected voyage over Sea and possible over the river. On her votive stones Nehalennia often stands with one foot on the bow of a ship, holds a rudder, or there is a shipping wheel leaning against her throne. From this we know she was a Goddess of protection over sea. Traversing the sea has always been dangerous: the sea can be calm or tempestuous. Navigation was difficult, and the closer you came to shore, the more dangerous it became. Having a patroness guide and protect you would have been very important. But the sea is not the only water Nehalennia ruled over. In 2021 new findings were presented by Jasper de Bruin for the Museum of Antiquities, Leiden. Nehalennia's temple was probably a place where cargo was changed from small ships that could traverse the river, to big ships that could traverse the sea. Evidence was also found of four big water wells in the "garden" of the temple. Which is thought to be where the ships would load up on clean drinking-water for their journey.

Abundance and Harvest

On many of her stones Nehalennia is holding a basket or cornucopia filled with fruits, especially apples, and breads or grains on her lap or in her hands. There are also votive stones where there are apples displayed on top, as if it is an offering that is left there for her. On the sides some stones have wheat, trees of life, or vine ranks, all symbols of abundance and harvest. On one stone there is even a hunter holding a bow, showing that she was believed to provide for her people in many ways.

Commerce and Trade

By far most of the votive stones found have been offerings from traders who went overseas to wend their wares. It brings up the question if she even was a Goddess of the sea at all, and not one specifically of trade over sea. On the stones the traders would start their offering with Deae Nehalleniae, followed by their name, where they are from, and what they were trading. It always ends with V.S.L.M. from vōtum solvit libēns meritō (“has fulfilled his vow freely as merited”). Because the traders stated their own trade, as well as where they came from, we know quite a lot of the devotees of Nehalennia. Trades mentioned are those of salt, fish sauce, earthenware, terra-cotta statuettes, and wine. There are also stones offered of those who were seafarers by trade, moving cargo from one place to another.

Protection and Loyalty

On many of her votive stones, there is a dog patiently waiting at the Goddess' feet. In many cultures, dogs are used for protection and as patient guardians. They are loyal to their family, and will fight off threats when needed. The presence of a dog on many stones can mean that the devotees saw Nehalennia as a loyal protector. Something reflected as well in the shorthand V.S.L.M.: "as merited", so something she has proven to them, probably over and over again.

Psychopomp

But, that is not the only reason for the dog to be her loyal companion. In some of the tribes in her territory, the dog was seen as a guide to the underworld/Otherworld. The dog would take the souls of those departed, and bring them to their final resting place. There is also the bow of the ship, on which Nehalennia often rests her foot. This we often see on other votive stones of Gods connected with death and dying. This all points to Nehalennia also serving as a psychopomp: one who guides the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. There are more myths connecting travel over water to the journey of the soul after death. Ynys Afallach, or the Isle of Avalon is a mystical island shrouded in mist (also one of Nehalennia's attributes) where the dead are brought to rest. There are more islands scattered through European folklore like this, including one off of the coast of Zeeland. Legend has it that once a year the local fisherman were contacted by a mysterious figure to sail their boats in the dead of night. As they reached the boats it would lie so deep in the water, as if carrying a great burden. Once their destination, often an island, was reached, they would hear a voice call out the names of the dead. And the boat would rise and rise as if one by one the souls would depart the boat.

Motherhood

As a Goddess of abundance, harvest, and protection, the step to a Mothergoddess is a short one. However from Nehalennia there is also more evidence that she was seen as a mother. In the same area as where she was revered, a group of Goddesses called the Matronae, or "mothers" were also honoured. Most often depicted on votive stones in groups of three. On two stones with Matronae the Goddess Nehalennia has also been identified. One by name, and the other by her iconic pereline and dog.

Guiding light

As stated before travel by sea was dangerous. Navigation was essential and often happened by stars, the guiding lights in the sky. But that was not the only light important to seafarers; without a lighthouse to show where the shore is, and what is a safe place to land, the journey is that much more dangerous. The same for lanterns on the ships themselves, to make them visible in the dead of night. To other ships, and to those on shore waiting for their arrival. To me, those guiding lights are part of Nehalennia's guidance and protection.

[Link to the Masterpost]

[delta-ghouls]

Give everyone in your pack a song!

Oh, this is going to take a while, but I do love this question. I'll do this one for Ghost songs first.

Meliora

Ifrit: The definition of passion. Per Aspera Ad Inferi (which would roughly translate to "Through hardships to hell.")

Ivy: Venomous Beauty. Majesty"Old one, master / All beauty lies within you / This oasis is a poison well / Of rotting carcasses that clog the deep"

Mist: The first Ghoulette, one who you'll revere. Ghuleh / Zombie Queen "From the darkness, rise a succubus / And usurp the throne" "Black light guides you, Ghuleh"

Pebble: Energetic, both the rumbling thunder and the unshakeable ground. Cirice "A candle casting a faint glow / You and I see eye to eye / Can you hear the thunder? / How can you hear the thunder that's breaking?"

Zephyr: What a melodic piece, don't you think? As elegant and as powerful. Helvetesfonster (1:05 - 1:52)

Rhine: Hidden in the water, flows through darkness. Monstrance Clock "As the parish sighs in smoke / Enters lady revealed of cloak / To the haunting sound of the Monstrance Clock"

Trent: My soul is intertwined with him, persevering even through the dark. Darkness At The Heart Of Love "When the summer dies, severing the ties / I'm with you always, always / Paint a pair of eyes, let's watch as it dries / I'm with you always, always"

Era I - III

Air: Guide of lost souls. Depth of Satan's eyes. "Spiral and pulsating / His eyes are enthralling / His eyes' like a vortex / A well in which you're falling"

Alpha: Fiery, spreads the unholy word. Death Knell "Can you say his name? / Carrier of the light / Legions of his seed"

Omega: Ancient One, his eyes are everywhere. I Believe "It's the same old song / That I always sing each year / But just because it's perennial / Doesn't make it less real"

Era III - V

Aether: Loves deeply despite it all. Mary On A Cross "We were searching for reasons to play by the rules / But we quickly found out it was just for fools / Now through all the sorrow, we'll be riding high / And the truth of the matter is / I never let you go, let you go"

Dewdrop: Bright and all-consuming. Spillways "It's the cruel beast that you feed / It's your burning yearning need to bleed / Through the spillways / Through the spillways of your soul"

Mountain: Steady and ever reliable Force. Respite On The Spitalfields"We will break away together / I'll be the shadow, you'll be the light / Nothing ever lasts forever / We will go softly into the night"

//ooc: this took me so long. went into analyzing land. also included technically era 3 ghouls but are still included in others

[dlartistanon]

I have to be honest, after everything I heard I went into Lone Trail anticipating Muelsyse character assassination-- nay, *annihilation*, for the sake of Doctor-sexual fanservice and I was ready to be disappointed. But having finished reading Lone Trail myself now... What? Her homescreen lines are utter horseshit, I completely agree, but her actual character writing in Lone Trail fits that really good analysis post by meeblo so accurately that I can't believe meeblo didn't read LT before writing

"The more I think about Lone Trail the less I like how they executed the story."

So, let me preface this with with preemptive TL;DR: If you are a fan of Silence as a character, you probably really enjoy Lone Trail.

If you are a fan of any other character, especially Muelsyse, and ESPECIALLY if you don't like or don't care for self-insert pandering, you're likely disappointed and/or frustrated with Lone Trail. I am the latter.

Let me just copypaste what my friend has to say (plus my own replies and commentary) since they can articulate the feeling better than I can:

I'm sorry. I just can't imagine a world where Saria, who means so much to Muelsyse, is nearly assassinated and in awful shape, and *she knows that* and is like "wassup doctor, heard Saria's in trouble but lets hang out"

Me: Exactly. This does not make sense with what we know of their relationship. Especially since she's later worried sick/almost breaks down at the thought of losing Saria for real

I'm just going through the story and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. And it's (I'm not done but getting there) just *so depressing* how much of the event is eaten up with kind of pointless/uninteresting doctor babysitting? She should be front & center in all of this. There's so much to work with and play with but so much of it does not make *any sense*. Muelsyse did not need to be hobbled by this. Hell, so far as I've read, Doctor didn't need to be there or could have done it on their own. Fucking frustrating.

Me: I'm not that familiar with Guide Ahead, but I can't help but imagine how much better/more concise Lone Trail could've been had they handled Samuelsten in a similar way to GA's central trio. Don't shove Muelsyse to the side, make her an active agent in the story, with the people who matter to her

I mean I’ve made it to CW-7 and as someone who’s in the middle of all of this (often by design) I’m puzzled that she’s one of the least interesting parts of the event? Kristen, HoHo, Nasti, Jara are great. We know why it matters to her but she’s on the fringes the entire time. This should have been done like guide ahead but guide ahead was much better and leaner by virtue of not needing to dedicate half the fucking event to talk about how great and interesting the doctor is. There’s no reason doctor couldn’t have been with Kal’tsit the entire time. That would actually make sense. But nope.

"It's Saria you want to see, It's Kristen who you're looking for" but why don't we just stick you with Doctor the entire fucking event and you can act like you're just on a little adventure. Cannot believe I have to rely on the furniture to give what the event should have.

This might be a controversial take, but I wish all this giant lore dump with Doctor, Priestess and Kal'tsit had been relegated to another vignette or main chapter with just mentions of Kirsten/Kristen and Rhine Lab. It's taking up much too much of Rhine Lab's event. Instead of *way too many flashbacks* with Doctor/Kal'tsit/ whoever, we could have had this building up Saria/ Kirsten/Muelsyse with their past instead of the one 3 second glimpse we got. I am so mad at this stupid fucking decision. Rhine Lab Event: featuring Rhine Lab as glorified cameos

Reply: Yeah its so annoying. It takes up sooo much god damn space and for what? And for what ? It doesn’t belong. I swear to god i wish we focused on, idk, the main relationship between saria and kirsten (and mumu but my faith is lost) instead of kirsten only showing up at the very end

Yeah, I'm sure glad FERDINAND got the most screen time out of all Rhine Lab. Just *what*. But the lore dump, while *fine* is just fucking egregious and does not belong here. This could have been referenced elsewhere and they could have fleshed out everyone else.

I have finished Lone Trail! Cumulatively, I love about two chapters worth of it! I definitely had high expectations but even if I'd had mediocre expectations I would have been let down. Not enough of the Rhine Lab founders, needless lore dump that could have gone elsewhere. It felt fragmented and like a hodge podge of things. Saria, Muelsyse and Kirsten felt like cameos in the entire event. And I'm sure the intention of this was to elevate just how goddamn special the doctor is, but the way it was written, it felt like no one at Rhine Lab gives a single solitary fuck about Muelsyse in any real capacity. These are the people she's had and adores. Yes, her loneliness was a sort of focus of the event, but the way it plays out does make it feel like "yeah, you're right to be lonely. Thank god for doctor!"

So much of my irritation is not only was she reduced to a love interest for Doctor, treated poorly by everyone at RL, she had zero agency in the whole event. She really was just floating passively for the most part. Muelsyse in Lone Trail: 1. Looks for Kirsten/ doesn't find Kirsten/ abandoned & not said goodbye to by Kirsten. 2. Looks for Saria (eventually) stopped by Saria. Saves Saria, doesn't talk to her again/ is not acknowledged by Saria. 3. Nasti tells her she's a crybaby & to get lost I mean, it really is no wonder she wanted to off herself. She built Rhine Lab with them from the beginning and this is how the event chooses for all these people to treat her? It's unbelievable.

Me: All that to make Doctor look better in comparison, right? It's jarring bc it's such a far cry from the brief concern Saria showed towards her in DV and doesn't even follow up with her claim to want to save Muelsyse in LT. Where's the consistency? She remembers that Mumu is fragile, but we don't even get a scene or mention of checking up on her after crashing back down to earth?

At least in Kristen's case, she remembered Muelsyse exists afterwards with the plantlife onboard, but it's not even presented as wrong or a character flaw how Saria ignores Muelsyse in the end, even though she literally saved her life. Just... nothing. This is the defender who protects others? The one that she fell for?

Yeah “when you’re emotional you forget that you’re fragile” & okay this is a devastating day for her so fuck her very much! No need to check on how she’s doing losing a long time friend and colleague, how she was in a thing that literally crashed but she saved *her*. And this isn’t even about Samuels in particular! This is how she was treated by the people with an established history that matter to her. Obviously the game is pandering, but given how literally everyone in the game, from the actions she can see, treats her like she is disposable trash. It’s no fucking wonder she’d be like “oh wow doctor!” Because at least they treat her like a human being who has feelings and who hurts? The fact that Saria doesn’t even reach out, that she has treated her like a stranger for the most part doesn’t track. Why did they make Muelsyse the “hero/ star” of the event banner? She’s forgotten and mistreated by everyone, gets almost zero game content, her file and voice lines are a mess and she doesn’t influence the story in any way at all. This event as a Rhine Lab story was trash.

Me: It felt so much more like a "Silence" story with Rhine Lab as window dressing. They clearly didn't have any editors around because how can you SAY that these people matter to Muelsyse but then not PROVE it? The lack of care, the disrespect towards her and other characters in relation to her is just astonishing

I like Silence a lot but wtf was she leading this? The whole thing is the conflict with Sarsten w/ Muelsyse in the middle. She got a new outfit, talked to Parvis, rehashed a conversation w Saria for the 10th time? This should have been all Muelsyse / Saria/ Kirsten but they barely existed in the event. And who the fuck polled whoever else to decide that Ferdinand and the creep Josh should get the rest of the time!Why so much build up with Jara / her closeness to Kirsten to not have any interaction with them? WTF were they doing.

I could probably write an essay about all the things I felt didn't work as a Rhine Lab event. This might have worked better as a vignette just to keep it tidy. But I think the other thing for me is that… hrm this event almost assumes that all you've seen of Silence is the manhua and thus wow! Growth! She loses the glasses and gets a new style to show that off. But the Silence of this event is the Silence we've had in the game since day one. The one in Mansfield and in Dorothy's Vision who is kind of certain about what is wrong and what is right and will stand up for that. So to me there wasn't any growth there. Because we'd already seen that growth/ that was the person we've known since the start of the game. A lot of this event kind of relies on… either not having read the manhua or exclusively having read the manhua. Because if not for the manhua you don't know/ understand why there's that Kirsten/Saria divide and how much it means. It's all very weird.

And kind of to add to my little rant… DV and the manhua allude to Muelsyse being extremely close to Kirsten and being her sidekick. But in neither the manhua or any of the events do we see any of that. Instead we get Nasti (who I like a lot) in that role and--- I just don't get it. You'll be less disappointed if you don't read the manhua. lol A ton of Muelsyse's character development and her relationship with Saria is highlighted there and this event just kind of decides to burn all of that to the ground. But if you want to see why the final chapter matters/ is special/ yes, read it.

Me: Nasti's in the role bc we had to have our self-insert fix with the hot new playable op :/

yeah. with the same motivations. but all of that should have rightfully been hers I really do think they just gave Muelsyse's role to Nasti And the cherry on top of all of it was at the end when Muelsyse is like "Huh did the three of us actually dance together or did I make all of that up?" I just can't with that final slap in the face to Muelsyse and all of them. Like her talk about loneliness is fine and well done and the little history but so much left a lot of questions.

Me: yeah… it's just. wow. there were nuggets and seeds planted that had potential, but they didn't bother to actually cultivate and develop those relationships and dynamics at which point why even include them at all

Yeah, I’ll include that in my rant, but my last point on that end is Saria’s “I would do it over again” doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read the manhua— and just doesn’t jive with what is presented in the events with her that is much more clinical. And I’ve said this about multiple things— but a story should be able to stand on its own without having needed to read a manhua for additional context— and especially when having read the manhua you’re left with ??????

[devilsrains]

aoike character guide book

places visited in yasuko aoike's works (translation under the cut by the lovely @asnowperson)

ENGLAND 1- London (Midnight Collector side story among others) 2- The National Gallery (London) (Pt.1 A Thousand Kisses) 3- British Museum (London) (Pt.1) 4- Salibury Military Base (Lieutenant Colonel Eberbach side story) 5- Heathrow Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September among others)

GERMANY 6- Plymouth (El halcón) 7- Bonn 8- NATO Bonn Office 9- Cologne 10- Thermal Spas on the Rhine River and the old castles (Eroica, among others) 11- Lilienthal Monastery (Shuudoushi Falco) 12- Berlin (No. 15 Nosferatu, among otheres) 13- Trier (No.17 Trojan Horse) 14- German Military Hospital (Intermission side story) 15- Dresden (No.16 The Panda’s Maze) 16-Hamburg (From Lawrence with Love side story) 17- Eberbach Mansion

FRANCE/ITALY/GREECE 18- Paris (No.17 Trojan Horse) 19- Louvre Museum (No.1 A Thousand Kisses) 20- Charles de Gaulle Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September) 21- Nice (No.17 Trojan Horse) 22- Avignon (Alcazar Oujo) 23- Catacombes (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 24- St.Peter’s Basilica (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 25- St.Peter’s Square (No.8 Veni Vidi Vici) 26- Parthenon Temple (No.4 Love in Greece)

SPAIN/PORTUGAL 27- Sevilla (Alcazar Oujo) 28- Sigüenza (Alcazar Oujo) 29- Toledo (Alcazar Oujo) 30- Jerez Castle (Alcazar Oujo) 31- Jerez Monastery (Alcazar Oujo) 32- Jaén (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 33- Plaza de Toros de Jaén (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 34- Córdoba (Eroica) 35- Zuera, Alcala (No.11 Seven Days in September) 36- Aragon region (Eroica) 37- Calatayud (Alcazar Oujo) 38- Granada (Alcazar Oujo) 39- Barcelona (Eroica) 40- Valencia (Alcazar Oujo) 41- Lisbon (No.3 Achilles’ Last Stand)

SWITZERLAND/AUSTRIA/LICHTENSTEIN/ROMANIA 42- Zürich (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 43- Luzern (No.12 The Laughing Cardinals) 44- Vienna State Opera (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 45- Vienna Central Cemetery (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 46- Innsbruck (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 47- Innsbruck Airport (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 48- Hofburg Palace (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 49- Tyrol region (No.14 Emperor Waltz) 50- Lichtenstein (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 51- Romania military base (No. 15 Nosferatu)

THE NETHERLANDS/BELGIUM 52- Amsterdam (Eroica, Madan no Shashu) 53- Bruxelles (No.17 Trojan Horse) 54- NATO HQ (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 55- European Commission HQ (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 56- Antwerp (No.17 Trojan Horse)

NORWAY/SWEDEN/DENMARK 57- Oslo Airport (No.11 Seven Days in September) 58- Mora (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 59- Copenhagen (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 60- Kronborg Castle (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 61- Lousiana Museum of Modern Art (No.19 Poseidon 2000)

TURKEY/SYRIA/LEBANON/ISRAEL/PALESTINE/IRAN 62- İstanbul (No.13 The Seventh Seal) 63- Rumeli Hisarı (No.11 Seven Days in September) 64- Turkish air base (No.6 Inshallah) 65- National borders of Anatolian plateau (No.6 Inshallah) 66- Historical remains of Palmyra (No.6 Inshallah) 67- Beirut (No.6 Inshallah) 68- Jerusalam (Saladin no Hi) 69- Gaza (Saladin no Hi) 70- Tehran (No.6 Inshallah)

EGYPT/TUNISIA 71- Ancient remains outside Cairo (No.6 Inshallah) 72- El Alameyn (No.6 Inshallah) 73- Giza Pyramids (No.11 Seven Days in September) 74- Alexandria (No.11 Seven Days in September) 75- Hotel Rosetta (No.11 Seven Days in September) 76- Carthage (No.17 Trojan Horse)

RUSSIA/JAPAN/USA/OTHERS 77- Moscow (No.19 Poseidon 2000) 78- St. Petersburg (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 79- Hermitage Museum (No.18 Judgment of Paris) 80- Siberia (A Tale of Alaska side story) 81- Uspensky Air Base (Eroica) 82- Tokyo Tower (Hiiro no Yuuwaku) 83- Alaska (A Tale of Alaska side story) 84- FBI Fairbanks Office (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 85- Tazlina Lake (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 86- Hawaii (No.9 The Alaskan Front) 87- West of Eden (Eve no Musukotachi) 88- Olympos (Eve no Musukotachi)

[aftokrator-official]

hi I can't remember if I asked you this before (I don't think I did but maybe?), is there any good way that you know of to get into the arknights story & characters without having to play the actual games?? like is there an organized database of all the little cutscenes and whatever that I can page through or something..... I like a lot of the character designs and would love to have enough baseline knowledge to potentially get into shipping some girls together (I tend to need a lot of canon familiarity before I can get invested 😔) but I hate phone games and I hate gacha and I don't want to actually play the game >_>

Yes there is! This site has all of the story content archived, including all the images and bgm/sfx, I highly recommend it (and use it a lot myself, because sometimes I just want to read a storyline all at once without playing tower defense stages in between, or vice versa.) The cutscenes aren't voiced and are presented in visual novel format, so there's not really any downside to reading them this way. And the wiki has all the operator files and a lot of nice writeups on lore and background info.

There's also some official manga that's online - I highly recommend the Rhine Lab manga in particular, it's fantastic, and shouldn't be missed especially if you're here for the yuri. Honestly if you read nothing else, read the Rhine Lab storylines, they're that good.

Oh, there's also an anime adaptation that covers the first few chapters of the main story, I thought it was pretty good. I watched it with my best friend who hasn't played the game and she thought it was great, so should be accessible even if you don't know the story. Personally I think the early main story chapters have some of the weakest writing in the game, so I think the anime makes a good alternative, but ymmv.

Aside from the main story, the event stories (Vignette and Side Story in the story reader site) can be grouped into several different story arcs that work best chronologically, but you can read them in any order really and there's no harm in skipping ones you're not feeling.

vague suggested reading order for the different story arcs below the cut cause this is getting too long lmao

anything not mentioned here is standalone. that, or I just forgot about it lol.

Main story: ch0-3/anime season 1 -> ch4-6/anime season 2 -> ch7-8 -> ch9-12 - A Walk in Dust, Darknights Memoir, and Vigilo are good to read before chapter 9 - What the Firelight Casts is best read after chapter 9

Rhine Lab: Rhine Lab manga -> Mansfield Break -> Dorothy's Vision -> Lone Trail

Kazimierz: Maria Nearl -> Pinus Silvestris -> Near Light -> Obscure Wanderer

Abyssal Hunters: Grani and the Knights' Treasure -> Under Tides -> Stultifera Navis

Laterano: Guide Ahead -> Hortus de Escapismo

Acahualla: The Great Chief Returns -> Ideal City: Endless Carnival

Yan/Sui siblings: Ancient Forge -> Who is Real -> Invitation to Wine -> Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow -> A Death in Chunfen

Siesta: Heart of Surging Flame -> So Long, Adele

[gold-rhine]

btw i was redoing abyss on my f2p bc it refreshed and it prompted me to talk about smth that i wanted for some time, which is f2p team building\pulling advice. bc like if you look at "f2p friendly" guides\abyss cleares, its like. a team of 4 stars, but they're all c6 r5. which you won't realistically have as f2p bc you don't pull on every banner! like every f2p guide has a sucrose team, but i played for a year already on f2p account and i don't have a single sucrose. not mention, she only gets playable on c1 and comparable to kazuha on c6. still worse than him in grouping tho! you know who i do have? kazuha! bc its easier to guarantee a limited 5 star than 4 star in genshin.

similarily, xiangling only gets broken at c4, XQ is as as good as c0 yelan at his C6, but the problem is that you can pull like 2 5stars before a 4 star when 4 star is ON THE BANNER. i got 2 5stars before a single kuki and kuki was on the banner! so advicing ppl to target specific 4 stars is useless. like yeah, it helps for like, oh you should save for these in the shop and if you see them on the banner, its good, but like. you shouldnt pull on the banner only for 4 star if you dont like 5 star. and again, you cant guarantee a 4 star!

but on the other hand, f2p doesnt mean u only play 4 stars. it means you have a limited quantity of 5 stars you can get. so i think its much more useful to advice like a staple 5 stars which will carry u at c0 with 4 star weapons and rest of 4 star teammates. kazuha, nahida, furina, yelan, alhaitham. solo c0 neuvi on 4 star weapon and mediocre artifacts will have similar clear time to hyperbloom team, which is enough to 36 star abyss.

so like instead of reccommending teams of like c6 sucrose c6 r5 XQ c6r5 xiangling c6 r5 fischl etc, its better to target 5 stars who will carry with no cons and with 4 star weapons

[midnight-pluto]

TRUE LOVE - albedo k.

TROPES: fluff, arranged marriage

UNIVERSE: royal

PAIRING(S): albedo x gn!reader

WARNING(S): none

A/N: reader is referred to as ‘prince,’ as it sounds more gender-neutral but it’s only used like once.

LOVE WAS NEVER SOMETHING THAT occupied Albedo's mind all that much. He was much more focused on how he would rule his kingdom rather than who he would rule his kingdom with.

But still, his mother wanted him to find a lover for fear that he would get lonely once he grows older. He has reassured her on numerous occasions that he wouldn't get lonely but she still tried finding a good match for him relentlessly.

On the other hand, prince Y/N was the type of person one would call, a hopeless romantic.

Their parents always wanted them to be as independent as they could be without a partner and even though they met expectations, they still longed for someone they could express love for romantically.

So, in their best attempts for wanting their child to be as happy as they can be, they looked for potential suitors for Y/N.

Ladies, lords, and non binary royalty came from far and wide but none lit up a spark in their heart just as it happened in the books that they have read about love.

They were beginning to believe that true love was just a fantasy that was made up for young children to believe in trying to make sure their world stays as rainbows and sunshine for as long as possible.

Having no other choice, Rhine - Albedo's mother - and Y/N parents arranged a marriage between the two hoping for the best.

And so, Y/N waited for their future beloved hoping that they would light a spark in their heart, knowing that the chances were slim.

Albedo however, just sighed while looking out on the scenery through the carriage window.

He suspected that Rhine would pull something like this but only hoped that she wouldn't. Perhaps if he had told her that he would not like to be arranged into a marriage, he wouldn't be there, sat in a carriage waiting for his future 'lover'.

The thought of love never interested him as a child and at the age he was starting to explore those feelings he was only met with disappointment. Met with girls with distasteful personalities and boys with egos bigger than their iq's he didn't find anyone there suited for him.

He then began thinking that no one out there would truly of him and he would never truly love them. True love becoming just a young childs fantasy to him.

When they arrived at the L/N's palace they were immediately greeted by the royals themselves.

"Hello, Queen Rhine," the king bowed as did his wife and child. "No need for that, I am no queen here in your kingdom," Rhine chuckled. "You are our guests so it would be impolite to not greet you any other way," F/N said raising his head from the bow his family doing the same.

"Now may I introduce you to Y/N?" He said gesturing over to you. "Greetings, I am Y/N L/N, pleasure to make your acquaintance," they smiled.

"I am Albedo, Albedo Kreideprinz, it is my honor to meet you Y/N," Albedo greeted returning the smile.

Based off of first impressions, Albedo seemed like a genuinely kind gentleman to Y/N but they were still hesitant about him. They have seen many suitors in the past that have seemed to be the exact same but the only thing they were interested in was the power Y/N held.

To Albedo, Y/N seemed to be more of an extrovert than an introvert. They introduced themselves with a lot of energy laced in their tone making him think that socializing was easier for them rather than him.

How wrong they both were of each other.

"I suppose we'll leave you two be for now to, y'know, bond," M/N smiled. The three soon left the entrance only leaving the sound of their footsteps echoing.

It was an awkward silence between the two but Y/N broke the silence saying "Do you, wanna hang out in the gardens?" "Sure."

They then took his hand guiding him through the halls of the castle. Albedo was stunned for a second not expecting their actions but quickly relaxed. As they arrived at a pair of double doors Y/N opened them, but it wasn't what Albedo expected.

"With all due respect Mx. Y/N, I don't think this is the garden that you were talking about," he said looking at the towering bookshelves.

"Well I didn't know what else we were gonna do in the garden so I supposed we should grab a few books, that's alright with you right?" They were expecting his face to say 'Seriously?' and his eyes full of judgement but they surprisingly didn't. His eyes lit up and had the cutest expression on his face.

"Of course, what books do you like to read?" he replied wanting to know more about his future beloved.

"Hm, I'm fine with all different genres of books but I've really enjoyed reading things centered around mythology recently, what about you?" They inquired wanting to know more. "Well, I've always enjoyed reading non-fiction books."

"Really?"

"Yes, it always surprises people when I say that but it's true, I've always enjoyed learning things about the mysteries of this world and coming up with theories about what it's true purpose is," Albedo rambled while they were walking around the library.

"Huh, I've never thought about things like that. I guess I'm to lost in my own world to think about those types of things," they chuckled. It was now Albedo's turn to be surprised. When he rambled about his tastes in reading, or anything really people always called him boring making him hesitant to share but Y/N seemed to be genuinely about him. He really appreciates that.

They stopped at one of the bookshelves letting Y/N gather some of the books they wanted. Albedo took a few glances at the books they took off the shelves.

"What's the genre of those books?" he inquired to Y/N causing them to avert their gaze away from him. "Romance . . ." They mumbled, barely over a whisper. "Come again?"

"Romance," they said loud enough for him to hear. "I've actually never read any romance novel before," he adds on.

"You've never read romance before?!" They exclaim looking at him. "Never," he chuckled putting his hand behind his neck.

They immediately grab his hand leading him to the nearest table, placing the books they previously holding down. "Stay here," they ordered placing him in a chair while scurrying off into the bookshelves.

He chuckles at their actions taking a better look at the books on the table.

Before he knew it, they were already back with a stack of books in their hands nearly covering their entire face.

"Alrighty, um, I know this seems like a lot, but that's because it is," they say nonchalantly placing the books on the table, "But, I will only give you three of these to read. Unless you want more of course."

And so they began going through the books, Y/N explaining the pros and cons with minimal spoilers with Albedo listening and asking questions here and there.

It really comforted both of them that they wouldn't be married to someone they wouldn't enjoy their time with. They would be married to each other.

Who knows, they might be each other's true love after all.

[burstfoot]

Figured I'd make a post outlining Arknights' auxiliary material for those who want to see more of the universe and aren't aware of all that's out there! ANIMATION Arknights Prelude To Dawn (S1) and Perish in Frost (S2, currently airing): [Crunchyroll]

A straight up adapation of the main story, up through Chapter 0 to Chapter 6! It's much more fast-paced than the story, so I wouldn't use it to replace actually reading it, but it's very cool to see some of these scenes in full animation. Lee's Detective Agency: (Youtube)

A mini-series animated in a chibi-style with a comedic tone focused on the adventures of the Kuroblood-illustrated Lee's Detective Agency! Distributed by Crunchyroll globally, but entirely free to watch.

Closure's Secret Files: (Youtube)

A cut-out styled series of shorts hosted by Closure which outlines a lot of the game's basic mechanics!

Holy Knight Light: [Youtube]

A short Youtube OVA focusing around Penguin Logistics delivering a package, celebrating Arknights' first anniversary!

[Upcoming]: Kay's Daily Doodles: (Twitter Annoucement)

Another free youtube mini-series that starts airing December 1st, focused around Ceobe! Here's some additional animations! Each event usually also has a 15 second 2D animated preview of the event, but there's so many of those that I can't list them all. Official Anniversary Event 3D Animations: Lone Trail Where Vernal Winds Will Never Blow Il Siracusano Ideal City Stultifera Navis Invitation To Wine Near Light Dossoles Holiday Under Tides Bonus 3D Animated Shorts: Legend of Chongyue Arknights Special - IL Siracusano Lo Scontro Youtube Shorts: Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 1 Ch'en and Lin's Watermelon Splitting Game Part 2 Amiya's Siracusan Food Guide Part 1 Amiya's Siracusano Food Guide Part 2

Comics, Manga, Manhua

Officially Translated Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Rhine Lab: (Offical Website)

A canon manhua centered around the circumstances that lead to Silence falling out with Saria and joining Rhodes Island with Ifrit, as well as Ifrit's attempt to save a dying infected stowaway on the landship. Essential reading for understanding the Rhine Lab storyline and characters - read it right after Mansfield! One of the characters, Darya, is mentioned in both Ifrit's module and briefly in Lone Trail.

Rhodes Island's Records of Originium: Blacksteel: (Official Source)

A short story focusing on the lives of the Blacksteel operators aboard the landship. While it often gets overshadowed by the Rhine Lab manga which is bigger in scope, this is a great read especially if you're interested in Franka or Liskarm.

Rhodes Kitchen -TIDBITS-: (Official Source)

An anthology story related to the cuisine that's important to a variety of operators. While it might seem unassuming, the art is gorgeous and it's really well-written. I particularly recommend the Goldenglow (Chapter 4) and Rosa (Chapter 5) chapters.

Unofficially Translated

Arknights Comic Anthology: (Mangadex)

As the title says, a series of non-canon anthology stories regarding the cast of Rhodes' Island! Note that the link provided only has complete translations up to Volume 4 (and Vol. 4 is missing Ch. 7), and most of the chapters avaliable after that point were MTL'd, so I can't vouch for their accuracy. Chapters I'd recommend are: Volume 1: Chapter 12 (focused on Myrrh trying to improve her medicine), Chapter 14 (focused on Saria and Silence trying to put apart their differences to take Ifrit on vacation, afaik the only place where they are directly referred to as her "moms") Volume 2: Chapter 1 (Manticore tries to make friends), Chapter 3 (The LGD gets drunk), Chapter 11 (Texlapp and Mosexu yuribait), Ch. 13 (Magallan tries to find a pet), Chapter 16 (Ethan spies on the interior lives of Rhodes operators) Volume 3: Chapter 6 (Snowsant, Ifrit, Nian and Shaw are forced to make friends), Chapter 7 (Gummy flashes back to Chernobog), Chapter 10 (FEater and Shaw yuribait), Chapter 13 (Blackout on the landship, as well as Ayerscarpe and Leonhardt yaoibait)

Volume 4: Chapter 4 (Thorns tries to make friends with Weedy [this one is my favourite]), Chapter 6 (Tomimi tail spankings), Chapter 9 (Elysium helps Frostleaf get along with Dur-Nar) Volume 6: Ch. 1 (Whisperain opens up to others) [this one isn't MTL'd afaik]

123 Rhodes Island: (Mangadex)

A series of non-canon gag 4komas! Many of the games' offical stickers are done in this series' art style.

Arknights: Operators!: (Mangadex)

A compilation of 4komas posted on the official ArknightsJP twitter account! Thank you to @sleepywoodscans for their work on translating these, please show them some love!!

[Edit: For clarities sake, the only stuff here that has used MTL is later chapters of the Comic Anthology! Sleepywoodscans’ work on Operators! is all done by hand (they’re a native Japanese speaker). Again, I really appreciate their work!]

Arknights: A1 Operations Preparation Detachment: (Mangadex)

Part of the Terra Historicus website and not yet officially translated, focusing on Fang, Kroos and Beagle, and a catastrophe striking the Columbian city of Tkaronto. Unfortunately, only translated up to Chapter 6, but one of the characters (Elba) has a brief cameo in Light Sparks in Darkness! Edit: Chapter 7 has been translated by @pooce-art, and they're working on Chapter 8!

Angelina: Sketches of THIS Messenger's Journey: (Mangadex)

Also published as part of the Terra Historicus website and not yet officially translated, focuses on the adventures of Angelina travelling across Terra as a Messenger! Recent chapters relate to the upcoming Sami event & IS4, as well as the upcoming So Long, Adele.

Prelude Suite: Unrestrained Play: (Wiki)

Unfortunately, I can't find a full translation for this one - an epilogue to Hortus De Esscapismo focusing on Arturia's background. Of course, major spoilers for Hortus apply - if you can find a full translation yourself.

As well, an upcoming manhua focused on the Break the Ice cast was annouced during the 4.5 Anniversary stream. As far as I'm aware, chapters have not begun releasing yet!

Other:

Arknights Ambience Synesthesia: (Youtube)

A series of concerts (3 so far), focusing around Arknights' music! A live performance has been done every year, with skins released in-game for the concert's theme & 3D animations produced featuring the skin's cast in 2022 and 2023.

Monster Siren Records: (Spotify) (Official Website)

Arknights' official (and-in-universe) record label publishing game OSTs, themes for almost every 6 star operator that releases, and occasional bonus songs.

Arknights: Endfield: (Twitter)

An upcoming 3D action gacha game from Hypergryph, set in the far future of Arknights' universe on another planet. Currently in closed beta testing for their CN servers!

Arknights: Nomad City: The Founders: (Youtube)

A to-be-released CN Arknights board game! Unclear of if it will ever be translated or released globally, unfortunately...

Terra: A Journey: (Wiki)

An upcoming CN lore book focused on the intricate details of Terra's worldbuilding. As well, unclear if it will be translated or released globally.

UNOFFICIAL:

Some fandom-developed tools that might be of use to you are the Arknights Terra Wiki - which just transferred from FANDOM to wiki.gg, and has very detailed information on both game mechanics and world-lore.

As well, the Arknights Story Reader can help you catch up on stuff you don't want to or can't read in game!

Finally, Aceship's Toolbox provides access to a variety of tools, including a levelling calculator, a calculator to ensure the best recruitments, and all the CGs, backgrounds and character sprites that are avaliable in-game.

Conclusion:

Thank you for reading! I hope this provided some new information to you or at least provides an easy reference resource in the future. There's a lot to check out even outside of the game, and I hope you find some stuff you enjoy!

[cerastes]

Whatever is it that's causing Dorothy's Vision to be so delayed on global anyway?

I made a post about this that I cannot find for some reason, but long story short, they (this being Yostar) has specific dates to adhere to when it comes to slotting big events, which lead to them doing the switcheroo with Dorothy's Vision and Ideal City (in CN, Dorothy's Vision came out before Ideal City).

For nearly two years, (after W's banner, which was also delayed quite a lot), events in CN and other servers have run in pretty much the same order with a few small exceptions so big anniversary events always run in the same anniversary dates. What really sent the minecart off the rails is that Hypergryph over in CN realized that for the most majority of people, Contingency Contract is downtime: Very few players aim for higher than Risk 18, and let's be real here, the vast majority just looks up a guide to Risk 18 ASAP and then goes back to farming 1-7 for the rest of the two weeks, maybe doing the daily map. It's not even a guarantee that high-end players will try for high Risk anymore; I myself used to Max Risk, or at the very least, Risk 26, but I lost all interest because all high Risk nowadays simply devolves into 1:30 minutes of doing the map, 7 minutes of stalling the boss in place while slowly chipping them to death. Which is incredibly boring. My fellow ex-Max Risk friends feel the same way.

Why is this important? Because this led to a decision by Hypergryph: Run CC and events simultaneously. CC9 overlapped with the end of Stultifera Navis and the start of the Under Tides rerun, and CC10 ran concurrently with Ideal City. This was received positively among CN players.

Yostar did not follow suit in either occasion. Not only did this mean that they were adding two extra weeks of dead time twice after events (so a whole month of dead time CN did not have), it also set the schedule on fire with kerosene because anniversary dates are kinda inflexible, resulting in the whole mess we are dealing with here. The worst and most frustrating part is that this could've been avoided very, very easily: Yostar simply had to do as Hypergryph did in CN for the other servers. It was that simple. Unfortunately, Yostar assigned their weakest, puniest personnel to Arknight's scheduling, it seems, so now It's A Mess. There's even two distinct rumors running around that after Dossoles, they'll run Mlynar's banner, further delaying Dorothy... Or, alternatively, that they'll run Mlynar's banner after Texas the Omertosa's banner. Now those would be some real good fireworks. Dorothy isn't meta and is a new character (albeit with some existing connections on virtue of being a Rhine Lab Director and having been involved with [SPOILER]), but Mlynar very much is meta, in addition to having been in NPC jail for years now, so, well, That'd Get Pretty Ugly.

There's also another rumor that the Dorothy's Vision delays stem from them not having yet translated the Rhine Lab manga (you know the one), which does provide context for Dorothy's Vision, but I personally don't buy it.

So, basically, Dorothy's Vision should come after Dossoles theoretically, but given that Yostar time and again proves unable to do things competently, schedulingwise, Who Knows, Actually.

[une-sanz-pluis]

Every now and again, I think of how Kathryn Warner wrote about Blanche and Philippa of England in her book about pre-WOTR Lancaster and York and get mad.

The king’s elder daughter Blanche of Lancaster had already married, in July 1402 when she was only 10 years old. She wed the elector Palatine of the Rhine, Ludwig von Wittelsbach, and died childless in 1409 at the age of 17. Her younger sister Philippa married Erik of Pomerania, King of Sweden, Denmark and Norway, and a first cousin of the late Anne of Bohemia, Richard II’s queen. Philippa and Erik had no surviving children, and although Henry IV had six legitimate children he had only one legitimate grandchild, Henry V’s son Henry VI. (His sons also fathered several of the illegitimate kind.)

a) Blanche did not die childless. Rupert the English existed.

b) surely there is more to say about Blanche than "she died childless"? You couldn't even mention her famous crown?

c) Ludwig became Elector Palatine the year after she died, not before he married her.

d) what a terrible summation of Philippa's life. She married! She died! She had no surviving children! What, not even "she was the first recorded European princess to wear white at her wedding"? Not even "she died following a stillbirth"?

e) SHE DEFENDED COPENHAGEN AGAINST THE HANSEATIC LEAGUE WHILE HER HUSBAND STAYED IN AN ABBEY PRAYING.

f) I'm so glad we know how exactly Erik of Pomerania was related to Anne of Bohemia and got a reminder of who Anne was. I'd completely forgotten who Anne was despite the fact she's been mentioned in the previous chapters fairly often and the helpful "who's who" guide provided. That's incredibly important information to know. I'm so glad we spent presumably limited word count on that detail and not talking about Blanche and Philippa as individuals.

(n.b. obviously this is interesting and I'm not mad to know this but I am mad that this is considered important enough information to include but nothing about the girls' lives or actions. This, after all, was a book about the Houses of Lancaster and York, not "Anne of Bohemia's family tree". And really, if you wanted to drag Anne in, you could at least mention how Ludwig's father deposed Anne's brother? Give us a sense of the context Blanche married into? I just.. the obvious minimal fucks given here.)

[lizalfosrise]

Honestly Ho’olheyak is just so funny and delightful to me, let’s review:

Event starts off with Ho’ol vs Mumu - “Hey Muelsyse why did you leak info again... Just because you’re a pretty Elf (yes we know you’re an Elf dear) doesn’t mean that your bloodline can keep you exempt from punishments so now I have been sent to eliminate you. Don’t try to resist because I can immediately shut you down.” Mumu tries to resist, is immediately shut down Yet Ho’ol disobeys her client in order to go ‘this Mumu is a useful tool that will help us later’; laments how people nowadays don’t seem to know about the Elves and What Happened To Them anymore.

Gets ordered to take down noted tougher-than-steel bone wyvern supertank Saria, whom Ho’olheyak seems to have quite a fascination with. Instead shows up to merely intimidate Saria’s informant buddy into using the suicide tooth implant he’d installed behind Ho’olheyak’s back, yet she still knew of. Downing his drink just to show she didn’t use poison. That guy doesn’t even get killed but it makes Saria go into reckless aggressive fighting mode where Ho’olheyak cannot beat her 1v1 (let alone the 2v1 with Mechanist in the mix), yet manages to keep up with her before deliberately not blocking Saria’s lethal blow towards her vitals. Only to use the localised atmospheric manipulation technique that shut Mumu down to shunt the entirety of Saria’s Punch Of Explodes You behind her as she dodges to whisper sweet nothings useful hints into Saria’s ears before leaving through the convenient escape hole that formed.

Because this was a setup to lure Saria to that disguised&paralysed Elf to test multiple things in a Fun Trial gauging the effectiveness of the power armour for Ferdinand (ostensibly), the newer variable of Rhodes Island, and Saria’s wit/resolve - if she’d be smart enough to realise what Ho’ol had meant before she killed an ally (and potentially how that might affect her suitability for the role of a champion in whatever unfolding prophecy Ho’olheyak seems to be aiming to guide & witness?). That done it’s time to go camp around Rhine HQ (Look Ferdinand I’m totally intending to stop her meeting Control, honest!)

Gets intercepted by Mechanist as she’s pacing about while going “Actually I want to talk with Saria some more!”. They get into a hilarious standoff going “Oh I know ALL about you too!” to each other, essentially like Ho’ol is pouting “You’re not Saria but she’s finally sorting out her breakup with Control and Rhine itself but you’re not Saria and I want to be talking with her!” whereas Mechanist went “Hm, you’re reaaaally not fighting? Okay, then share about the cool technology within your custom staff. I am something of an Engineer. Wherever cool technology is- yum yum- all is my workshop- yum yum-”

Absconds from Rhine HQ and Mechanist to enter Site 359 via the back entrance, presumably letting off some steam by destroying Ferdinand’s getaway car to regain her composure shortly before the “Oh, hello Ferdinand. Are you running away? So sorry but your car is already torn to shreds ufufu~” moment and that delightfully ironic speech as she sends him off to his fate - not killing him herself but going “get in the power armour. go out there pointing to the wasteland as you like to say, ‘reach prosperity with your own effort. not heading to another nomadic city but carving out your survival. good luck - Pioneer~’”

And then the epilogue cutscene where oh, the real winners were Kirsten (who is Totally Coping after Saria Divorced Her Round 2: Jerboa Boogaloo) and Ho’olheyak after all. She wasn’t particularly bluffing about that huh, Ho’olheyak has importance under several roles and affiliations actually. This funny snakebird is so Powerful and Knowledgeable that even Control of Rhine Lab is just another piece to be guided around. Observing with maximum smugness over “Do they know? The horrors? Will they manage to overcome what shall happen next? Ufufufu~” She somehow sets off the magic astrolabe Astesia has??? She is related to the Space Magic? The space and stars made of lies and deceit? This is another way that if like Kjera - the only other snake-bird we’ve met being an immortal called as goddess, Ho’olheyak turning out to be immortal would make her this sort of Nega-Kal’tsit given how Kal’tsit was the one apparently preventing people like Kirsten trying to investigate space.

In the city-state of morally-warped unethical scientists and researchers, it feels fitting that the flavour of messed-up evil historian we encountered so far appears to be less “I will be the God of this new era!” and more “How WILL they face this trial? I shall be the one to record it firsthand!”. The outcomes of choices in this event were presented as seemingly not mattering to her; she was more delighted at observing the responses, managing her expectations while Knowing. Fucking with people the way she was itself likely placed the players where they ought to be for the big reveal hopefully next installment of this storyline.

I absolutely need to bring her into Rhodes Island next time it will be incredibly fun actually she will fit right in, trust me.