#sketched this out literal months ago and i haven't touched it since so i am glad that i sat down to finish it

[goblinbeetle]

You belong with me.

[sillyspero]

hi! i found you since you followed my atz lore acc @tothisemptiness and i wanted to say i just finished going through you slideshow which is amazing tbh i love how you kept it fun while explaining smth as heavy and complicated as atz's lore. i have some questions tho if you don't mind me asking.

you said a good part of the treasure series is a completely separate storyline and it does make so much sense and is an interesting take but i have three questions: do you think it links or will link to the main storyline at some point? if it doesn't or won't why does cromer appear there? if it is really completely separate, why do you think they chose to tell a story they will never touch again?

in his lore explanation videos hongjoong said that halazia is not a separate universe but another pov of the story that was being told right before spin off, why take it as an alternate universe instead?

you mentioned the full moon at the end of crazy form, what do you make of the crescent at the start?

i love the insane attention to details btw, i would have never thought of concert performances like you did and if you have any ideas what the little sketches in newer concerts mean i would love to know!

PS: THE GIANT BALLS IN THE ROOM TOOK ME OUT I LITERALLY MADE CRYING NOISES WHILE LAUGHING EJFALJDLKASJDLJSF

First of all, thank you so so much for reading my slideshow, I was excited to see your account (another loretiny to gather perspectives from!) so I'm honored to have you asking the big questions. I have a lot of thoughts so I'm gonna put them below a cut but hopefully, I can give satisfactory answers. :)

First, I want to clarify why I approached treasure as a separate story. When I was working on this, I tried to gather as many different theories and takes as I could on the timeline and story and such, but a problem I kept running into was that when I saw theories that included treasure as part of the larger story in its entirety, I had trouble being convinced. A lot of the theories had to stretch quite a bit to include it, and I felt like separating it made it much more cohesive, regardless of whether it was approached as just a prequel or a sequel, or anything like that. That being said, I've been keeping my eye out since then for ways they could be trying to tie it back in because I desperately WANT them to. If you had asked me a couple months ago, I probably would have told you that I am doing so and that I just haven't seen anything that convinces me yet. HOWEVER. After reading the Golden Hour Part 2 diaries, my mind started churning and I felt something click that connected treasure for the first time, something was convincing enough. I'm currently chugging through finals but this is actually a huge reason I'm planning to remake the slideshow and rework it, because I feel like the information we learn about the history of Halazia and the new artifact really puts things into perspective. Anyway ig long story short, yes I think it links in now and my theory is relatively manageable (although too long to summarize here) so I'd just keep an eye out for the slideshow update.

I think the simplest answer is, ironically, simplicity. I think initially I took what Hongjoong said to mean some sort of alternate story and then after fumbling around with it, I landed on sort of a similar conclusion as that of Treasure which is to say I had a lot of trouble fitting it in with the rest of the story, particularly because of the way it constantly insists upon distinguishing itself from the rest of their titles. This is another one that will get rewritten in the update, along with Answer I believe.

A big stretch theory that would be kind of interesting to consider would be to wonder if perhaps the moon in this series has always been a crescent and everything they've experienced in "World Z" has been a dream, and I think I've seen theories similar to this floating around so definitely something I've considered. I actually kind of hope this isn't the case because I think it's kind of a cop-out, but at the same time, it would fit into the general themes we've seen from the story so far. I would LOVE to hear your theories on this because I was really stumped by it. Ateez is very intentional about those sorts of details, and so it really makes me wonder, but I haven't been able to figure it out.

Finally, in terms of the sketches at the concerts, I think there's a lot of symbolism in them and I want to analyze them deeper. If the content of the dances doesn't make it into the slideshow, I'll make a post about it and tag you. Funnily enough, I went into the concert thinking "I will pay such close attention to the dances so I can analyze their place in the lore" and then I proceeded to be so awestruck that I forgot to think about it and lowkey blacked out so I don't really remember anything about it hahaha. I'm gonna look them up and revisit them in closer detail soon.

Sorry, this is so long, and sorry that some of them are kind of non-answers. There's still so much I don't quite understand so I appreciate you pushing me! This month marks 1 year of being an atiny so I think there will always be more for me to learn and discover. Please feel free to send more questions if you have them! I love rethinking things and seeing what people notice that I miss. I would also like to say please check out the sources linked at the very end of the slides because a lot of my theories are pieced together from various atiny who are much smarter than me <3

PS Glad I could make you laugh lollll

[inqyblots]

Story Time!

So many years ago, I got my first big name computer game that was all hyped up and I was super excited for, and unlike most games, I got it within the first year of launch. Normally I'd have to wait several years for it to go on sale or go clearance or be forgotten by time, because I was a teen at the time and had no allowance bc my parents controlled every. Single. Aspect. Of my life. (Including which places I could consider working, all of which were places I didn't want to work bc my coworkers were my jerkwad classmates and no ty)

So my birthday rolled around and this game had come out about six months prior and I had expressed how exciting this was to them in such a way that they listened for once. So when I opened gifts I saw the franchise name on the box, got excited, opened the wrapping the rest of the way and got confused. What is this? It's got the right franchise, it's got the game name on there, but it has other writing on it. So I read the box...

My parents actually tried. And I was honestly grateful for it, because even if they bought me the box of dlc content without the main game needed to play it, they remembered the game name, the franchise, and tried. I thanked them for trying, explained why I couldn't play this right away, and said that I know it's expensive to get the right one, but I can wait for Christmas.

Now my birthday is close to the end of the school year, and I was graduating high school. So they took me to the store that day and had me look at the games to make sure we get the right one this time and explained they'd consider it my graduation present. I told them over and over they didn't have to, but they didn't listen and got it for me anyway. So by that night I was playing TES: Oblivion and having a great time. After sinking literally hundreds of hours into Morrowind (bought from the clearance section for $10), this was amazing. The graphics were amazing, the characters spoke to you instead of you having to read it out, why did the vast number of weapons disappear, look at the ruins, the environments were stunning, and it was fun laughing and groaning at the facemaker.

Later that year, when I was still taking my time and slowly working through the game, exploring and savoring every bit, my older brother moved back into the home. Now when I say savor, I do mean it. I spent time finding areas I found beautiful and stared at them. I didn't use uesp or anything to tell me what quests were where or stats or whatever. I wanted to find it all myself and enjoy. I didn't even know they existed at the time. The moment I found the hidden passages in certain castles... Both happy and somewhat horrifying.

The computer was in what would be his room. He took to the escapism like a duck to water. A game where you can be a cat or lizard or elf, and he picked the most boring imperial character every time. Same face every time. Ran through the game at lightning fast pace and, granted maybe wanted to share in that with me, but my slow savor was gone because now he was finding things and telling me and going "what you haven't found this yet?" And that ruined it for me. I'm playing and minding my own business and then he's over my shoulder explaining the not very hidden quest I hadn't activated there and how to make it work. Suddenly I have mods downloaded to my game that I didn't want or ask for or know we're being added.

For Christmas while he was still living with us, he bought me the expansion. I felt so thrilled because yay it's more of the game for me, followed by the sinking knowledge that it was given to me but was really for him. And this the pattern continued through that.

The game was so thoroughly ruined for me, left so much of a foul taste in my mouth, that I couldn't touch this amazing gift for years. Even when Skyrim came out. Even after I moved out. When my wife got me a copy of Skyrim to play, I had to get firm with her, telling her this story and telling her that I can't have spoilers or be rushed or anything else that my brother did to ruin oblivion for me. (She was amazing about it and there's a very good reason I married her <3 ) If I ask or come to her, then fine, but let me experience it myself without interference. Even after playing through Skyrim, I couldn't... And my Skyrim playthroughs were colored by him.

It's been a decade since Skyrim came out. I'm replaying Morrowind, both on stream and for grins. I remembered on stream the awe at the beauty of that foreign land, it's strange mushroom trees and flying jellyfish entrancing me and making me want to sketch it out like I felt so long ago. I created a character and used console commands to make her super-powered just for the sake of exploring the landscapes of Vvardenfell and sketching. Her name is Bobbi Rose (bc I am not Bob Ross by any actual stretch).

But with some amazing friends in the background, I've installed oblivion again for the same reasons I found my greatest pleasure in the game all so many years ago. The scenery was beautiful. I want to sketch it. This is the first time in a long time I've felt the desire to touch the game.

Wish me luck.