#someday art and i will have to tell you all the lore we have about him and rosenberg

[nancyboy1997]

im starting act 2 >:) end of act 1 song was actually a banger and i am terrified

YEUSYEUSTEYHAS COMÉDIE TRAGÉDIE

[defining-skyology]

Defining Darkness.

I need to decide what I want to do here.

I could just tell you what I think the Answer (to each topic) is, and what led me to that. But instead, I want to ask as many questions as possible. If I'm alone in my echo chamber, I need to be my own worst enemy, the most thorough critic possible. I want to make this fun (for me).

So let's strip this down to the most barebones it can be, and dive into the wonderful world of Lexicology: the study of words.

Darkness.

Darkness, according to Wikipedia, is defined as:

A lack of illumination

An absence of visible light, or

or a surface that absorbs light.

Darkness is a concrete, normal concept about real life, but it has transcended beyond its immediate definition to become a steeple of powerful metaphors expressing endless bounds of human emotion.

Darkness is used to paint a picture of evils, unknowns, dangers beyond the warmth of the sun. Darkness eats the sun, holds it hostage and drains hope, love, and joy. Darkness wants, it hungers, and it schemes. It has a plan. And worst of all, it's very patient.

...at least in writing.

Darkness can mean anything a writer wants it to mean, so it can mean all of those, and it could mean none of those!

Our job as Lore theorists, is to observe what this word means to Sky, and what picture should be painted in our head when we try to understand exactly, just what 'darkness' is.

{{{Continue Reading}}}

Because to the unaware, when they first hear of a "Darkness" in Sky, their minds go to every far corner possible that I had just poetized above.

There is an inescapable tendency among fanfic writers and OC designers to relish and drool over the idea of 'the bad guy'. We are craving an antagonist, and we paint them in our thoughts the moment a crumb of content leans in that direction.

And even better than an antagonist; we are itching for an antihero. For some kind of 'opposite' side against the light. Something to represent our rebellions and battles in real life as we rage against the machine, for whatever our machines are.

"Dark" creatures, "dark" skykids, "dark" elders; a world of possibility opens up and we just can't help ourselves, not even the devs!

[Official Sky concept art by Tom Zhao]

But enough about Lexicology (the study of words (if you forgot)).

What about what we can actually see in person? (In game)

As we begin to observe the world around us, we have an immediate official Rule that every theorist seems to agree on:

If it hurts your Light, it's Darkness.

[By the way, damage to your Flame is not damage to your Light. This will someday make sense later.]

The game warns us early on to 'protect your Light', and as we travel through the realms we find creatures that attack us; creatures that the game warns in loading screens are 'dark' entities, "hungry for your light". The rainfall and sludge in wasteland are also harmful to your Light, showing that Darkness may be carried in water.

Within this rule we now have a small list of Things-That-Hurt-Us:

Forest rain

Wasteland water

Darkness crabs

Dark Dragons (Krill)

Shardfall, and Dark Shards

And for the loremoffy, that leaves them with a bunch of questions and dots to connect. Starting with the creatures on the list, we're instantly alarmed, especially as moths entering the false temple for the first time. These two 'enemies' are canonically named by quests and loading screens as 'dark' creatures. "Are they dark evil minions of the bad guy??" gasps the moth, audibly. They certainly seem evil, attacking you with no [some] hesitation. If they are 'a part of' the Darkness, then that seems to guarantee the Darkness wants/exists to attack Light.

And what of signs of 'evil' darkness that don't appear to hurt you?

Darkness plants, also canonically named so, don't hurt you, but, foreign and invasive in appearance and nature, they do seem to be uninvited guests in a land that didn't really expect them. They appear in places that are wet and dimly lit, and have been seen to trap exposed light, be that smaller creatures of Light, memories of Light (released by Shardfall or memory/spirit quests), and lastly, the spirits of Ancestors, who's shells have been cracked and exposed to the Darkness.

The plants appear to keep and store Light, mostly inside small orb-like sacs. This along with the fact that it traps Beings of Light and memories of Light, seems to show that whatever this 'Darkness' is, it doesn't 'get rid' of Light, but rather bury it, keeping it perpetually contained, encased within a strange tomb indefinitely.

More official concept art by Tom Zhao

These things are slowly and painfully choking the land, killing whatever still dares to perch on the ground. They may or may not be 'evil', but whatever they are, they're a plague, a disease. Are they what make the Dark creatures the way they are, or do Dark creatures and Dark plants all appear because of something deeper down the rabbithole?

We follow the trail of Darkness, worse and worse as we grow near its source, and find that the worst of the Darkness comes from the ruined kingdom's heart of society. Whatever Darkness is, the Ancestors obviously seem to have something to do with it. From here the lore moth can trail down a few paths. The Ancestors were either the direct cause of this Darkness, or created it by accident. It was either directly connected to whatever they were doing, or they didn't expect Darkness to be a factor at all. Regardless, we'll look at why Darkness is on another day.

But What is it?

The goal of an Answer is to be able to summarize everything you know about a subject, into a bitesize, consumable, tolerable answer. And to answer what Darkness is, after all of this blog-long research and meditation; one specific word is the Answer.

noun

noun: pollution

the presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Pollution is the word that matches everything we know about the way this Darkness spreads. It has been introduced into the environment by the Ancestors, and is affecting the world. Pollution contaminates and poisons, killing the world with no intent of its own, but destroying everything nonetheless. This is the perfect word for what we've seen in our journey so far.

But how does this tie back in to the beginning of this post?

We had determined that the possible definitions of Darkness ellicit:

Lack of Light

Opposite of Light

An Evil

Absorption/Burying of Light

We are beginning to find that Darkness in the world of Sky does not 'lack' Light, as it instead traps and stores Light in a perpetual sleep.

🚫 [Darkness]: a lack of Light

We have also found that, being released by the Ancestors of the ancient kingdom, Darkness is not seemingly malicious, but instead a force, a storm, almost 'natural' in its ways, with no conscious mind of its own. We cannot create a face of pollution in real life enough to visualize an antagonist we can 'defeat', unless you generalize a concept of rich old fat men. It is the same way with Darkness in Sky. It's probably not 'evil', but it's not okay.

🚫 [Darkness]: an ancient evil

But we have confirmed that it does absorb Light, which is a concrete definition of 'darkness' in the dictionary.

[Darkness]: content that absorbs Light ✅✅✅

And because of that, we've come full circle! 🎊🎉🎇

Wait, we didn't address if our Darkness is or is not synonymous with the definition "opposite of Light"...

Well, maybe it's better we hold off on that thought for now. Because in order to say it's the opposite of Light, first we have to Define what Light is. And I think its safe to say we won't get there for a while. 😅

You're crazy if you actually read all of this, but thank you so much.

I think I'm really going to enjoy making these, so long as I can make them s l i g h t l y coherent. Have a good day/night yall!

[imekitty]

☁️/🎨/🕯️/🧃- i can't choose haha, so now you have ✨️options✨️

🕯️-on a scale of 1-10, how much do you enjoy editing and why

🧃-some lore (bonus points of it's from Disillusioned) that we dont know about yet [bahahaha im just thirsy for some more Dis spoilers XD]

☁️-what made you choose your username? my guess is that you like cats. am i close?

🎨-link a phan art you rlly like, and explain why u like it

(ask game)

🕯️- I'd say 7 to 10 depending on what I'm editing! I'm an editor in real life so I very much enjoy it!

🧃- Hmm, not entirely sure what it means by "lore," like behind-the-scenes stuff? Something else?

Behind the scenes, something interesting is that I basically winged the entirety of Disparaged. I had no outline at all, I was just writing what I thought sounded like a good thing to happen next. I didn't expect much to come of the fic, so I wasn't really trying that hard with it.

Now Dissembled, Dissembled I planned out from beginning to end. Same with Disillusioned. While winging it was fun, it's not something I would likely do again, and I do not recommend it to anyone who is serious about getting good at writing.

ALSO I am not against giving anyone spoilers! All you have to do is slide into my DMs and I will tell you anything and everything you want to know lmao.

☁️- My username of choice as a kid was Empress Kitty! Because yes, I love cats lol. And then to make it look a little more "grown up," I came up with "imekitty" (which means "I am E. Kitty").

🎨- I don't keep up with Danny Phantom fanart mostly because I don't want to risk seeing something that might relate to what I'm writing and I want as little outside influence as possible (I try really hard to make my vivisection fics unique since there are already so many!). But I love everything drawn by my friend @chintadraws! And I especially love this Kill Inviso-Bill series she did:

Someday, I'm hoping she'll do one for Maddie.

[cerealmonster15]

[background template source!]

hmm yknow what. maybe i was supposed to describe the unique magic in that bottom box. oh well teehee!!!!!

updated references for twst rsa ocs Char and Dañarte!!!!! for now. i'll add them to artfight soon!!! I was gonna do another one for Dañarte's Scarabia Era but I worked on these all week.... so i'll just do that one separately sometime maybe lol. anyway i've posted about these guys a lot as u can see from the tags i gave them on my blog, BUT my main origin post about their soap opera lore is really long and intimidating to read.... I have a shorter lore post here, but JFKSJLDJFKLDS.... finding these templates made nice, more condensed intros for them lol. and I [slightly] updated their looks so they aren't just carbon copies of what the seven dwarf characters are wearing!!!! but i'm bad at clothing design so i didn't really change them much!!!!

also i tried to be careful but my handwriting is Bad so i'll retype the info / talk more under the cut.

First guy: CHAR

Age: 18

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Birthday: March 19

Class: 3-C

Club: Fencing [does rsa have a fencing club. idk. they do now.]

Height: 175 cm

Hobby: Horseback Riding

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Arts & Crafts, Shellfish

Dislikes: Keeping Secrets, Beets

Unique Magic: Unknown [I haven't decided one for him yet, and I may simply make him a late bloomer who hasn't discovered his yet lol]

Extra info:

Favorite Stones: Pink Opal & Chrysoberyl

Older Cousin to Dañarte

Long-lost childhood friend + new love interest to Cater

Source Character: Prince Charming from Cinderella

Second guy: Dañarte*

Age: 17

Best Subject: Ancient Magic

Birthday: February 13

Class: 2-C

Club: Equestrian Club

Height: 182 cm

Hobby: Writing Speeches

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Planning, Grain bowls

Dislikes: Tenderhearted people, Undercooked meat

Unique Magic: Kiss of Frost: He kisses something or someone and temporarily freezes them ICY STYLE!!!!! or something like that. idk it doesn't kill people[???? maybe it could. idk.] but it don't feel good. Perhaps the area of frost can vary as well, like a small smooch spot vs spreading through the whole body? We gotta workshop it a bit more I'll get back to u on that someday. maybe.

Extra info:

Favorite Stone: Apatite

Char's younger cousin

"Love interest" to Cater + later on, Jamil...

Source Character: Hans from Frozen

RSA -> NRC -> Scarabia [He gets expelled and/or leaves RSA for whatever reason, I still haven't come up w/that part LOL... and ends up at NRC post breakup with Cater and gets sorted into Scarabia.]

* Disclaimer bc I feel the need to point out whenever I bring him up about his name lol- Dañarte isn't truly a name, it's just a spanish verb that's like "to hurt you". his character literally spawned from a convo I was having with a friend when I was trying to think of a name for Char, and something I said got autocorrected to Dañarte, and we made jokes about an evil princely character... so he became his own thing and I just kept that as his name lol.

anyway. i like talking about them but i also get shy and embarrassed about it klfjslfjks. also i probs did not draw them to scale bc life is hard. so are colors. i went very basic bc im scared but im trying to remember how colors work again in our year 2024 or whatever. WAHOO FUNNY LITTLE GUYS!!!!

shoutout to op of this template [@unfinished-projects-galore] making me sit here and consider the lives of these boys a lil more w/that bio layout. i was tempted to put summoning as Char's best class but WHAT do they summon. tell me idia what does that MEAN - jk it's probably like how juice bb summons cauldrons lol. I also considered Potionology for Dañarte but I think he'd like stuff like history and all that jazz and older [perhaps FORBIDDEN] ways of doing things.

[greywindys]

What do you think things would be like if Gorillaz had gone through with the 2000’s Celebrity Harvest movie, and what do you think of the movie itself, based on the scant few details we have of it? Probably would have been a cult classic at the very least.

God, I hope we get a whole book detailing the true history behind this project and failed attempts like the above, as well as the actual people and dynamics behind it instead of the fictional characters and Nameless, Faceless employee Number 102…it must be frustrating for many people behind it to not be really credited or well known for their work, like the live bad and Cass…even Damon’s work is often more attributed to the characters and their arcs rather than analysis of just the songs themselves! It’d be cool to have an entire collection of Jamie’s Gorillaz art too…one can dream!

If they had accomplished a full-length movie during P2, I think the fanbase would have been bigger because a chunk of "The Lore" would have been so much more accessible to a wider range of fans. It's difficult for me to form an opinion of the film with such little info. I would have like to see Murdoc start his own metal band though...tbh I still think we're due for that - Murdoc ditching the band to go off on his own (I kind wanted to see this post P5...before I realized that the Gorillaz "plot" was never meant to be all that important).

I specifically want an official Gorillaz tell-all from...someone. Cass kinda did this in his Hallelujah Monkeyz interview. But we know there's been some drama behind the scenes with the canceled tour, the ghosted VAs, the soured relationships with some collaborators, scrapped projects. I'm nosy and I want to know, lmao. What I'm hoping for is probably more gossip-y than what you're hoping for dsjakflas. But I can't lie. I fully support your more wholesome idea of a Gorillaz history. And you're right - all the peope who have worked on Gorillaz outside of Jamon deserve to be recognized, and I'd love to hear more about their experience working on the project. Idt the Jamie wish it too impossible - he already had his art book, so maybe a Gorillaz exclusive one will exist someday.

[betterbooktitles]

My wife and I got married in the Hamptons of Cleveland, a small gated community an hour south of Buffalo called the Chautauqua Institution. A year later, steps from where we had danced to a Beatles cover band, someone stabbed Salman Rushdie. 

I worry Chautauqua will be known for that attack someday. When I tell a friend where we were married, will I see their face change in subtle recognition? Will it become like saying you went to Columbine High School but graduated years before the shooting?

Probably not. The Chautauqua lore is so rich that it’s unlikely to be known for any single event. It’s been praised by the New York Times for being a spiritually and intellectually satisfying retreat, and bashed in the New York Times for its Boys’ and Girls’ Club, the oldest children’s day camp in the country, one that still separates the sexes. 

“Chautauquas,” according to the first few pages of Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance once littered the United States. Intellectuals toured the country giving lectures during the Lyceum Movement, an experiment in adult education for the masses. Chautauqua, New York was the flagship community and is also one of the few Chautauquas that has survived.

An entire page of my sophomore American History textbook was devoted to Chautauqua. Writers, politicians, comedians, and essayists all traveled on the lyceum circuit to get their message out to the world. William Jennings Bryan was likely the most exciting speaker, a man who I first heard about in the play Our Town where the Stage Manager excitedly tells the audience that “Bryan once made a speech from these very steps here.” Thanks to my family’s yearly vacations in Chautauqua, I too had seen some steps where Bryan had once made a speech. Exciting stuff. I was walking through a page of my history textbook every summer.

Though I knew the place was somewhat famous, Chautauqua’s history often seemed embellished. Once, a nice white-haired lady walking past me on the road, unprompted, pointed at a patch of grass beyond the institution’s fence and said “You know, Amelia Earhart landed her plane on that golf course once.” Sure she did, lady. Then a few days later, I’d found myself in the Chautauqua library staring at a giant black-and-white photo of Amelia Earhart standing on the Chautauqua golf course. It’s near a few photos of FDR in front of the Chautauqua Opera House. 

It’s difficult to describe Chautauqua to the uninitiated. I happily let my wife describe it for others whenever the subject comes up: “It’s the set of Dirty Dancing.” Aside from the fact that it’s not in the Catskills and the spirit of the place is a little more centered on intellectual/spiritual edification, it is exactly like the set of Dirty Dancing, complete with a treelined lake, an enormous hotel, and a house full of actors and dancers at one end of the grounds who let loose, partying every night to the wee hours (10 PM) when everything in the Institution closes and strict quiet hours are enforced. Women can even take Ballroom Dance classes with young men, though I get the sense that both parties are a little more puritanical than Swayze and his students. Unfortunately, also like the movie, thanks to a few speakers from the Heritage Foundation, there are also several Chautauquans who like Ayn Rand.

For the kids who grew up going to Chautauqua every summer, it was a giant playground. We went during Week Five of the season consistently and became fast friends with anyone our age. Boys’ and Girls’ Club hours went from 9 AM to noon, and from 2 PM to 4 PM so parents could attend talks or a pottery class while the kids were playing dodgeball and rehearsing for Air Band (a lip-syncing competition for all club attendees). Because the Institution is safe compared to nearly every place people visit from, the kids roam free. They have carte blanche to do whatever they please during daylight hours. We biked, ate mountains of ice cream, or played ping pong for hours when we weren’t at club playing GaGa Ball, a game where you hunched over and used your hands to hit your opponents’ ankles with a volleyball.

Read more here.

[metvmorqhoses]

i'm curious how you reconcile your deep dives into voldemort/death eaters' psyches with the fact that they are, more or less, wizard nazis. i have read your statements about jkr, this isn't about her; rather, the two facts that 1) voldemort's purebloods-only ideology maps pretty squarely onto hitler's rhetoric (clearly a result of jkr's mediocre worldbuilding skills), and 2) with the newer lore, it's clear that the harry potter world is, as a whole, deeply antisemitic. does that matter to you?

So, there are at least a hundred ways I could answer this question (the more effective one being probably ignoring it altogether), yet I find that none would really convey the utter sense of sadness the mere existence of such reasonings ultimately gives me.

I find it disturbing, worrying, claustrophobic, depressing - you name it. This is really not what I want to see the world turning into. And yet, this is exactly the kind of pit we are collectively falling into without anyone trying to interfere. So I'm answering you now as openly as I can in the hope you could hear me out with the same kind of good disposition, because this is really going too far.

I already stated my opinion on the matter on many occasions, but this time I'd like to leave aside the fact that I find asks like this, with this attitude and tone and meaning, beyond unacceptable, that there's nothing noble or valid in judging people, especially strangers on the internet you really know nothing about, for the art they supposedly enjoy, for the sake of telling you, with all my heart and without a trace of sarcasm, that if a normally intelligent and educated person, as I'm sure you are, is reaching the point of really believing what you just wrote to me without being able to first analyze it and immediately grasp the utter... absurdity of it, then I'm afraid this matter is reaching far beyond justified or unjustified activism, and hurt and indignation are making you and countless others vulnerable to a really dangerous herd mentality that is tragically robbing you of that precious gift that is your own uninfluenced critical skills and basic empathy, and I really hope someday you could muster the strength to realize it and seize it back, for your own sake before that of others.

With all my heart anon, the internet is not what life is. This is not how real life works or should work. Policing and intruding into other people's hobbies and interests and tastes is not acceptable, ever. This crusade, as right as I'm sure it fundamentally is, has become a disproportionate and hurtful witch hunt against people who are not doing anything harmful or wrong. I'm seeing people terrified their playing the new Harry Potter game could show up on their social media for fear of being harassed or judged. I'm seeing people online constantly questioned because they are still enjoying a children's book they have liked since they were six. I'm seeing posts trying to manifest JKR's death, along with countless insults, one more disgusting than the other. The list goes sadly on.

I understand her opinion was harmful, especially because so many of those she ideologically hurt used to idolize her and think her world an unadulterated safe space, but this is, regardless, not how civil people behave. This still means being morally way worse than her. You can disagree with someone, feel betrayed and disgusted by them, but this doesn't turn decent people disgusting in turn. What the internet society is currently considering acceptable (just look at how everyone behaved when the Queen died) is disgusting and the fact that everyone is congratulating each other for it doesn't make it any less so.

Not only no one has the right to do any of this, but the most disturbing thing is that it's generally believed behaving like this is doing society a service, that this is what nobility of heart and activism are. This single thought is appalling, utterly dangerous, and could translate disturbingly easily to many other fields of life, with terrible consequences.

You started this ask saying that this is not about the author or her opinion, but it is. Before she made her unfortunate remarks, for more than two decades no one ever found anything problematic in those books. If, as you say, that children's saga is but a disgusting caldron of crimes against humanity, praising of Nazis and antisemitism and racism everywhere, why did no one notice before now? Why have the minorities of the world found for decades a safe space in it? No one had critical skills before 2019?

I don't appreciate hypocrisy as much as I don't appreciate inquisitions.

As much as people saw everything Harry Potter-related through exaggerated lenses of greatness before that unfortunate statement, they are now finding any sort of filth in those books to justify their agenda of cancellation, their anger and disdain.

This is sad to witness, and it isn't the author who is paying the greatest price for this, but normal innocent people that refuse to be ideological weathervanes about their own personal tastes.

Now, leaving aside the fact that I'm quite tired of having to spend so many words regarding something I've such little interest in (I've never been a huge Harry Potter fan, I never liked the fandom, I've always found the author somewhat unpleasant even recognizing her great achievements, and other than being fond of the books and movies as dear childhood memories, I've only ever really liked Voldemort and Bellatrix as villains - or better, my own vision of them), but, as I was saying, let me address your concerns about my own morality as a single individual - because this is what you were questioning me about, isn't it?

You know, I actually found your first argument quite funny, since not only I obviously think Voldemort's character very interesting, but I've actually always found World War II and the Nazi ideology quite interesting as well. I've even read many books about it, watched countless documentaries. Passionate as I am about anthropology too, just the other day I bought Otto Rhan's diaries. Not only this, but I'm quite fond of watching true crime as well.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your ask was suggesting that I shouldn't be able to reconcile those things I find interesting, psychological dives you quite fittingly called them, with being a... decent human being? With having a conscience? With caring about humanity? With not being a Nazi or a murderer myself? You pick the one you like best.

I suppose that, following your reasoning, I and every single Nazi/Hitler/World World II/psychopathology passionate scholar of the world should be considered amoral monsters and put away forever. Or perhaps what people find fascinating has nothing to do with their sense of morality or disposition. I wonder which one it might be.

The thing that worries me is, I consider this logical conclusion ten years olds material. Seeing people with a developed brain failing to grasp this is... genuinely disturbing.

This said, I actually find the Voldemort/Nazi parallel the lazy, uninteresting interpretation of his movement and ideology. No doubt the author drew inspiration from it, but I think that what everyone is failing to grasp is that JKR probably did it more out of what I like to call literary sloth, then out of a malevolent intent to further the National Socialist ideology. JKR stole left and right, from real life, from history, from other books - I can name you countless instances of it. This is because being creative is extremely hard work. Thinking about something original is painful and most of the time impossible. Authors like to take inspiration from something that already exists, it makes the work less gargantuan. This doesn't really mean they are seconding malevolently the said source of inspiration, at least not without a solid proof. And in Harry Potter there's really nothing that promotes Nazism or antisemitism or racism whatsoever. At the very worst, we are dealing with banal worldbuilding. A turban is hiding Voldemort, that's racism! The goblins have big noses and are only interested in gold, that's antisemitism! Please. Jumping to such conclusions is just stupid and futile. I can name a hundred mythological sources that describe goblins and dwarfs as ugly, with big noses and incredibly lustful for gold (Wagner, Tolkien, Norse mythology, everyone?). I can name a dozen fantasy books questioned about their standing in World War II - The Lord of the Rings included.

Again, finding all sorts of unsupported faults now in this saga is nothing but embarrassing hypocrisy. How can people convincingly preach those things is beyond me.

And finally as for Voldemort, since you asked, I actually don't particularly care to reduce his figure and ideology to the source of inspiration of the author. It's uninteresting, and being uninteresting is the most damnable fault in art. I talked about it many times, you can go check it out, but while Nazism had a pretty absurd reason to be "blood-purity" obsessed (Hitler was obsessed with myth and magic, but myth and magic aren't real), I like to argue that, as monstrous as it was nonetheless, the Wizarding World's pureblood ideology was more justified and therefore more complex and nuanced - magic existed, wizards were a meagre minority reduced into hiding, many bloodlines were producing squibs, etc etc. The blood purists had a very real reason to fear and act (unlike the Nazis who had just fanatism and economic reasons), even if they probably were the very source of the problem, since I like to think it was their inbreeding, and not the mingling with muggles, the thing that was weakening magic more and more. Voldemort's pathological relationship with magic was though, in my opinion, his reason to marry the ideology and use it to further his plans. I wrote about it extensively, I think you might have missed it.

I hope I could give you food for thought.

[jazzpostsstuff]

Introduction to CHAZ

Hello, everyone! This is Jazz and I am starting a Tumblr blog dedicated to my fan project! I have been working on it for a full year at this point and only now I had decided to release the first chapter of it to the internet!

What’s CHAZ?

CHAZ (short for “Chapter: AXL, ROCKMAN ZERO”. Don’t ask me why it’s in that order), or Chapter: AXL is a what-if revolving around the idea of Axl making it to the next century where Rockman Zero series takes place as we see him adapt to the new world and search for the answers. Axl ends up coming across Neo Arcadia, joining forces with them to fight against Resistance after learning of the fate of his dear friend, X, who was reported to be slayed by Zero.

What is its format?

This fanfic is written in a format of a videogame script with scene and gameplay directions (which are not as fleshed out in the first chapter as I wanted them to be but the next chapters should get better at this). This results in the script seeming awfully long but you should be able to get used to it quickly.

Why is it written like that? Simple. I don’t have any programming skills and I don’t want this thing to take 10+ years to come out in its entirety. Maybe someday it will become an actual game, but not yet.

The fanfic is seperated into chapters, each of them covering one game in the series. There will be 3 Chapters in total, with each one having multiple parts (mostly because then the document won’t lag) and bonus stories and additional materials that tell more about the characters that didn’t get enough screen time. So far, all stuff for Chapter 1 had been completed (aside from some artworks and the in-depth document on the game mechanics. I don’t have enough time and desire to finish those at the moment, but I will do this eventually!

Who is working on it?

I am the author of this particular idea. I am also the project’s director, main writer and the only artist. Aside from that, I have four more people helping me with the script, grammar, ideas and proof-reading. I really appreciate their work and you can find them in the credits for Chapter: AXL (located at the end of Chapter 1, Part 2)!

Where can I read it?

I have only ever posted this to my Google Drive, sending links to it to my friends of Discord that were interested. Due to its length, I don't really think I can post it on Tumblr, so you will have to use the links to the Drive.

I have made quite a bit for Chapter 1 already so don’t get too scared at the amount of links.

Part 1: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sbm2eYnMHrpiLg8xEDLgM0mJudZ5LRfr_Uzx7_8XE2A/edit?usp=sharing

Part 2: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-alGV-iNFJO8u9e3S6lo_ewVbU8UMgEr_MYOzlipRFQ/edit?usp=sharing

Trinkets (”lore” items Axl gets after the missions): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WVba7hUyiCy3Zd3gMqVsdB0NfFzoSd124iwYpEa2v58/edit?usp=sharing

Art Assets (it’s all over the place but I hope that will be alright): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T9udymlLnmhSTKdlf-SzzCL0MWu5poED?usp=sharing

We hope you enjoy reading it! I will be posting updates about the progress on Chapter 2 occasionally!

[urbandokkalfar]

Context for my last post and small lore drop

When I was in school, from seventh grade to graduation, I did odd jobs under the table. I cleaned aquariums and did yard work for neighbors, I worked in a local slaughter house, eventually got into taxidermy and processing game animals, worked with the county to pick up road kill, worked on farms, sold art work, worked at my first (now deceased) step dad's auto repair shop - stuff like that.

I made decent money, it wasn't awful and I generally made my own hours.

What w a s awful was the way my family looked at it all. It wasn't stuff i could put on job apps because it wasn't 'legit'.

Mind you I was making a couple thousand a month combined from all this, most of the time I was on six to seven jobs a month for only 3 - 5 days a week.

I'd contribute about 25% of my money to which ever household I was living in that week (mom or dad), would spend some on tools and junk for work, a little for my own whims and then save the rest.

Before my stepdad passed away and shit r e a l l y hit the fans I had a sizeable chunk of money in my account.

After he passed my mom didn't really wait long to get a new boyfriend, it was within weeks of SD's funeral she came out and said she was seeing someone.

My SD passed away from an aggressive cancer. We watched him become Skeletor over the course of two months before he died. He was one of the coolest people I know - stood up for me when people remarked on how I dressed etc, taught me auto repair, encouraged me to do my jobs, all around a kick ass dude.

The guy my mom started seeing was the polar opposite. He bullied and threatened my older sister until she left out of fear then he started in with me.

We got into a fist fight because he threw may cat across the room for sitting in the garden window (a window that protrudes from the house to put potted plants in).

When he started abusing my mom, we got into even more fist fights which often ended with him leaving and coming back. Mom was sooooo enamored with this man she drove down our street at sixty five miles an hour while I clung to the truck door and step rail.

When she stopped and let me in I admittedly slapped her.

Eventually he fucked up. They went out drinking and a girl I knew from school was staying with us because her mom kicked her out for being a 'whore'.

He started whailing on my mom, threw her down the basement steps and sarted beating her in the basement - my friend ran next door to call the cops. I went downstairs, put my hand through the glass gun cabinet door and racked an unloaded shotgun.

He shit his pants and locked himself in the bathroom upstairs.

Both of them were taken to jail for the night and my sister and I picked her ass up the next day.

Five days later my mom suffered a massive heart attack, because of her bf I'd quit my jobs because she couldn't be alone with him. If I'd had been working she would have died. She had a month long hospital stay, my savings went to pay household bills and get her medication.

I spent three years of my life protecting her then caring for her for her to tell me she never wanted me when i was born and admitted to doing things when pregnant to try and home abort me - she didn't have Pre-eclampsia, I was c-sectioned otta her two months early because she didn't want me to turn out like my sister.

My sister has ADHD and a touch of the 'tisim - which same tbh.

For bonus context: In school my sister was so awful and unruly that if I had her teachers they treated me the same they did her. Like shit.

I was the proverbial black sheep for being Goth and holding odd jobs etc.

Now my sister's got two kids and is horrifically abusive to her husband - I hang out with her at times to get her out of the house so he can have peace.

Maybe, someday, I'll elaborate on my sister but, this is what you get for now.

Oh yeah, TLDR I worked under the table for cash for YEARS and my family dunked on me for not having a 'real' job, continued to be shit ass over it even while supporting one of them and now I have a 'real' job they're pissed I don't spend any real time with them 🙃

[tears-of-themiss]

Can i request something with marius where he learns that s/o gave up their passion for a paying job? Like they excel in their job and have a reputation but it’s not something they’re passionate about. I just think it’s interesting dynamic.

So this ask is literally months old and I started writing this in fucking October, but, hey, I did get around to finishing it eventually. ^^;

I fully took this as an excuse to do something entirely self indulgent so hope you don't mind.

Note: I did fall off of the ToT train for a few months so I'm sure I fucked up w some lore things and maybe some characterization idk I tried. Feel free to gently berate me if needed. Also, you can almost certainly tell but I have zero experience with anything in the white collar business world we are just gonna hand wave through it all.

And this could probably use another read through/edit, but if I refrained from posting it until I felt satisfied I would never post it. So that being said

Number One Fan | Marius von Hagen

WC: 1718

It’s a Friday night- well, it was technically Saturday at this point but- there’s something soft and indie drifting from his speaker and his partner is sprawled out on his plush and incredibly soft bed in one of his hoodies, and, god, he should be lying with them and annoying the hell out of them until they both fall asleep, but there are only so many hours in the day and he needs to paint goddammit!

It’d been an incredibly long week that had concluded with the gallery opening for this year’s Pax Art Young Champions. It was a lot of bullshit and mingling, but also a lot of beautiful artwork from up and coming artists. Which meant his brain had been going non-stop all night as he studied and admired the pieces, filling him with creative juices and lots of inspiration.

By the time they’d gotten home, he’d been dying to work on his newest piece and his beautiful, wonderful, ever-so-patient partner had only encouraged him. So he sat, in his boxers and his unbuttoned dress shirt, and he painted.

He’s mixing a new shade when their voice startles him out of his creative trace.

“Did you always want to be an artist?”

"Well, I don't know about always,” he says after a pause. “I vaguely remember wanting to be an astronaut at one point." He grins as he recalls staying up late with Giann to look through his telescope. The darkest of blue skies, the twinkling, burning white flecks of stars thousands and millions of miles away, the moon almost a spotlight on Giann as he talks animatedly of old tales, of more worlds than humans can imagine.

He deftly fights past the familiar lump in his throat. "But I fell in love with art when I was pretty young, yeah."

He hesitates and resumes painting, before speaking again.

"My mom's paintings were all over the house growing up, and I adored them. Had to learn about the business, though, so it was on the back burner until I got older, and I could really pursue it."

Until I couldn't.

It goes unsaid, but it hangs heavy in the silence that follows. Music still drones from the speaker, but they say nothing and it leaves him feeling uneasy.

"What about you? Did you always wanna be a ‘business person?’"

They snort and Marius turns to see the grin on their face. "Oh, yeah. All my life, I was dreaming about piles of paperwork and email etiquette."

"Your sarcastic comments are deeply hurtful and entirely uncalled for."

The two share a smile before they unceremoniously flop backward onto the mattress, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"I wanted to be a vet for a while. That is, until I was, like, eleven, and me and all my nerd friends decided we were all gonna write our own stories-"

An image of them as a child, sitting in a circle of friends as they all write their own tales makes Marius perk up immediately. "Please tell me you have that saved somewhere."

"Absolutely not, and for that I am forever grateful because yikes. But it did get me into writing, and got me dreaming of someday being a published author."

"So, what made you get into business, then?"

Still lying down, they raise their arms in an exaggerated shrug. “Money?”

He frowns, that answer settles in his gut, feels wrong. Was that the entire reason?

They turn their head and see something in his face that makes them keep talking.

"I mean, I love writing- I took some creative writing classes and workshops between all my requisites- but unless you're going into teaching, a Lit degree seems like a waste of money. So, I was totally lost. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

"Sometime in sophomore year, a friend of mine got me a paid internship at a small marketing firm. In the end, the boss sat me down and told me she thought I had potential. She said that I could continue to intern while working toward a degree in marketing, and, you know, it was fine, I didn't hate it- the internship or the classes- so that's what I did." They shrug once more.

Didn’t hate it.

Marius knows he is privileged, that he always has been and that not everyone has had the same opportunities as he did. But hearing it spelled out so plainly by the person he loves, that the reason they’re not following their dreams because of money?

It kills him every day- struggling to run Pax, to keep the family legacy going, to make his father- make Giann- proud, all the while knowing that he can’t truly pursue his passions. He feels exhausted all the time trying to make it all work, to make time for himself, his studies, his art.

His chest hurts.

He puts down his brush and palette, and joins them on his bed. He lies on his back next to them, mimicking their position, but studying them from the corner of his eye.

"Do you still write?"

"Sometimes.” They smile ruefully. "It's hard to find the time between work and the exhaustion that comes from work. For a few years, I barely wrote anything at all. Between school and work, and depression and writer's block, I couldn't get much out. All the ideas and creativity I had when I was a kid seemed to just... run out.

"The past two years or so have been better, though," they add, looking over at him with a soft smile. "I seem to have gotten out of that funk- knock on wood."

Marius reaches an arm back to knock on his headboard, relishes in the genuine grin that earns him.

"What if you could quit your job and focus on writing? Would you?" He throws it out casually as if he isn’t immediately willing to make that happen for them.

They laugh. "I mean that'd be nice, I guess? But I've got bills and rent and student loans, and I have to, like, pay money to exist in this world, so..."

“Well, do you still dream about getting published?"

They hum, taking a moment before responding. "I mean, yeah. Ideally. I'm not holding onto the idea of becoming a renown author anymore, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, for one, that’s such an insanely rare thing- an author becoming so big, especially for any long period of time. And, two, well…” They trail off, gazing back up at the ceiling with a frown. “I’m- I don’t know if I-“ They’re exuding uncertainty.

Marius rolls over onto his side and places a comforting hand on their arm. He opens his mouth to say something dumb and comforting, but they beat him to it.

“Do you ever feel like you're not even good at the one thing you love doing?"

He’s not sure what he had been expecting them to say but it wasn’t that. And if his chest didn’t hurt before…

He barely gets a second to process before they laugh. "Fuck. That’s a stupid question to ask my boyfriend, the immeasurably talented, world-renown artist."

“Babe…” He flounders for a split second before breaking out into an exaggerated grin. “You really think I’m ‘immeasurably talented?’ Aw!”

His grin softens when he sees he’s able to get a smile out of them.

"I know it might be hard to believe, coming from someone as wonderful and talented as me,” he’s awarded with an eye roll, “but every artist has doubts. It's a cliché for a reason: you are your own worst critic." A paint flecked hand reaches over to cup at their cheek and, gods, his heart aches when they look up at him with those eyes. "Every piece I've made, I can look at and tell you at least twenty things I could've done- should've done- differently."

"I know, I know,” they look away. “But what if I'm, like, genuinely not good? What if I suck at it and it's just something I'm not meant to do?"

"Then, you do it anyway because it's something you love." He runs his thumb over their cheek, ever-so-gently. "I don't, for a second, believe that you're as bad as you think you are. But you write because it brings you joy. So, write! Don't focus on any of the expectations, don't worry about the outcome- just write.

"And, read, too! Like, tonight- I always get so inspired after going to a gallery- just feeling that creative energy and seeing the emotion and effort put into a piece makes me want to pick up a brush."

“Crap, you were painting! I didn’t mean to interrupt your painting time.”

“Nuh-uh, nope.” He shakes his head and wraps his arms around them, pulling them to his chest. He chuckles at the indignant squawk of his name, buries his face into the crook of their shoulder. “I’ll always make time for you, and I'm going to support all your endeavors, no matter what. I just want to see you happy. I'll always be your number one fan."

“Marius von Hagen, you’re gonna make me cry.”

They turn in his arms and he only catches a glimpse of watery eyes, of that face he could spend forever looking at, before they pull him into the softest of kisses.

He’s left feeling smug and energized and warm- so warm.  It’s autumn leaves and hot chocolate and laughing til he can’t breathe, rib crushing hugs and breathtaking sunsets and painting in the sunlight. Everything blurred together into the bright fire of a star one million miles away, shoved into his too small body, bursting out at the seams.

Marius is so stupidly in love.

They lie together for a while, not quite listening to the music that continues to play off whatever playlist they had chosen earlier. The dreamy atmosphere- and undoubtedly ungodly hour- has him drifting off. But, still, his mind runs rampant thinking of them.

"You know, if I'm not mistaken, the Pax Art Foundation does have some writing groups..."

"Hmm... I dunno...” They murmur. “Seems a little sus. I am fucking the chairman after all."

He snorts. "It's not all scholarships, you know? There's also open groups and workshops, even some classes..."

They hum. "I'll think about it."

“Good.”

[producermokyo]

Lucius Tiberius is one of my favorite characters in all of TYPE-MOON I would like to talk a bit about him today, and what little bit of lore we have for him. I find that he is misinterpreted by some members of the fandom, because honestly, the content for him is hard to find, and those that do hold said content don’t necessarily want to upload it onto the internet. 

So the first point, is that he is a Roman Emperor in TYPE-MOON! I have seen others say that he’s technically not a Roman emperor because he never existed, but neither did Arthur Pendragon so unless we’re keeping that same energy for him, then I am going off the assumption that he was an actual Roman Emperor in Nasuverse lore. 

He obviously fought Artoria as well, as Bedivere took up the name of Lucius during the Camelot singularity. But we don’t know what that fight was like, or if they actually got along. It’s unclear. If someone has a better idea, then please, link me to sources. 

That being said, Lucius is an extremely strong person. He had allies that included the king of the Greeks Epistrophius, the king of the African people Mustansar, the king of the Hispanics Aliphatma, the king of Egypt Pandras, the king of Babylonia Micipisa, and the king of Bithynia Polydetes. He commands beasts, magi, mages from the Far East, and Shamans. 

He is also a genius tactician, and can even fight hand-to-hand easily with the use of martial arts. He strikes fear into the Rakshasa, which tells me he conquered all the way into India. He fought Gawain and Bedivere at the same time without breaking a sweat as well.

Merlin even disappeared once she heard that Lucius was on his way. Saying, “If that’s the case, then see your dream through. You can probably win in your dreams.”

As far as Lucius conquering Britain… That is just standard practice as far as Rome goes. Arthur even states that: “The great majestic roman empire who was proud of its power since the pre-era, was trying to further extend its evil influence from the lands of Gallia――――and it was the great continental empire that was starting to meddle with the Isle of Britain in the form of providing relief for the huge phenomenon called the racial transmigration of the Saxons.”

Gallia, or Gaul, was a province in the Empire for a long long time. Julius Caesar was the first Roman general to ever fully pacify Gaul. With that in mind, Britain, or Briton was also a Roman province for a good while until the Romans eventually abandoned it, as it was no longer profitable.

For Lucius to not go and confront Arthur would be considered odd. The empire probably heard of the Saxons moving into Briton, and thought it would be the best time to attack. I’m not sure. We won’t know for sure unless Lucius someday gets put into FGO.

I have also seen others say that he is a discount version of Gilgamesh, because, and I truly believe, for no other reason than he enjoys fighting Arthur and he is arrogant. Ozymandias often gets hit with the same comparison, but that is another post for another day. 

Firstly, at least, as far as I personally know, Gilgamesh was never a warmonger in the manner that Lucius or let’s say, Caesar or Iskander was. 

Secondly, Lucius Tiberius thinks of himself as a god. He flaunts that he is Romulus-Quirinus’ descendant, with, quote: “My divine ancestor Romulus was said to have died by disappearing into lightning! If that’s true, then there is no question of doubt that I the current roman emperor can wield the lightning itself!”

If Lucius is a discount Gilgamesh, then I am expecting him to curse gods, not actively worship Flora, his patron goddess, or Romulus, his ancestor. 

Thank you for coming to my ted-talk. Sorry if this post is a bit long.

[noirbriar]

FFXV AU: The Lion, the Coeurl and the Cub (4)

The one regret is we never got to see Galahd. Somehow I pictured Besaid from ffx after seeing that forest concept art.And suddenly I found a concept art of the Kingsglaive peeps in Galahd and I’m SHOOK HELLO!?

FFX’s OST fits this chapter I think. But the beliefs of galahd mostly grew from FF13, considering xv was its continuation of sorts.And I am certain Luna knows some self defense since girl trekked alone through Eos.

But yes!They are all going to find some answers, but maybe some things are better left alone…  (crossover of FF lores ahead in this AU.OOC-ness is all on me.You have been warned!)

 PART 1 HERE  PART 2 HERE PART 3 HERE

- The journey is long but it gives them some downtime. With the boys and Luna huddled and resting in a puppy pile, the older ones quietly take their rest as well for what awaits them.(“Regis please don’t do this, Noctis would-“”Its cute Clarus look!”He shows him the picture he took.Good grief Clarus is so tired.Maybe its time for Iris to stand in as Shield.She certainly is doing far better than he or Gladio did at her age.And for goodness sake why is Ardyn fiddling with radio stations...Wait.Does that mean Ardyn is his liege too?Nope.Not touching this issue for now, boxing it up and putting it for later.)

- Nyx comes up and finds Cor looking from one of the windows.He leans against him, entwining their fingers together. They need no words after all these years, a comfortable silence, knowing they aren’t alone. They have a son and a home to save but for now, this belonged to them both. He had somehow hoped they would someday return with Nyx to his hometown under better conditions. 

-Cor will never admit it but if you had told 15 year old Cor this is his life now he would probably punch his future self in first.But he won’t give up anything for what he has now.An understanding partner ( it scared him at first how much younger he was, but Nyx was so sweet with that much love to give to both him and his son…though Regis and Clarus shall never ever hear of this from him.Over his dead body. ) and the son he simply adored since he first picked him out of that crib in that wretched nursery in that cold lab.When the year old babe didn’t even cry but gave him such bright laugh, deep down he knew there and then this child was his.

- Under the growing twilight, landing in Galahd is nerve-wreaking especially after they realise they are coming,out of all the transport, from a drop ship.

- It was Libertus who quickly and smartly threw Nyx out to deal with the frazzled Galahdians. When they look at him he casually shrugs and tell them to watch and wait.

-Some retired Kingsglaives who came back after The Fall recognises them too.And even without magic, they know something is wrong.The tension was thick but Nyx manages to defuse situation with the worried tribe.(He knows some of the language but his husband was speaking so quickly and he still can never get the slangs.Cor will never ever admit even if threatened with death but Nyx Ulric actually being serious in his Commander mode makes him feel things. ) Regis then steps up and make his speech, first in an apology and later a plea for them to put aside what grievances they have for now. For the people to understand what’s happening on the mainland and promises of reparation and if they desire, autonomy, as it is true that Insomnia has failed them in their time of need.

- The Ruling Clan Leaders gather and Nyx acts as mediator between Regis and them. Until an elder notices Prompto shivering at the back being supported by Luna and Gladio. His eyes are still bright and a dead giveaway. They sputter and stumble before they started to allow the party to have passage into their town.In shambles but it is enough for now.They will have time to rebuild after all this. They have a bigger worry if its true that they are seeing the Eyes of Etro, and with the darkness of the starscourge and the betrayal of Astrals. 

-The Galahdians have long forgotten about the old ways and rites of Etro,most praying to Ramuh and Astrals like many others but in other forms of worship.However Etro was a goddess still deeply rooted in their culture and custom from a forgotten time.Though most have believe her to be more of a folktale now.Stories told of her being benevolent as she is cruel in her love for mankind while she guards their souls, keeping them safe. Prayers are given to her for the dead to have safe passage into the otherworld. Or for the safety of the lost ones.

-The shrine still stands despite the war, deep in the forests that are smaller now, but nature is resilient. Nyx and Libertus are so at ease in their homeland, they make way through their childhood territory easily, war had forced the wildlife into hiding mostly, with nothing much but herbivores. Prompto was so weak now he can barely walk, and Cor simply pushed Gladio and Ignis forward to help the two older men, while Ardyn looks absolutely fascinated by new grounds. Noctis is still wary of his weird uncle?Ancestor? And simply chooses to help Luna through the thick foliage. Prompto is embarrassed but lets Cor carry him on his back, the nostalgia not lost between them.He was a sickly child (possibly from the labs and the different climate) and Marshal Leonis was a prideful soldier first, he made so many mistakes learning to be a parent (thank the stars for Nyx too, his partner had helped him through so much.) but he will damn if he isn’t proud of his boy. Always so accepting, so understanding, never giving them trouble if he can help it (or as much as possible if Noctis is involved as well).Even when they were deployed, their son would always welcome them back with that sunny smile and a warm home. 

-“Thanks dad…you know, for everything.””There’s nothing to thank, Prompto. Thank you too.”

-They arrived at the old shrine, noting that nothing seems odd but the abundance of plants growing into the inner sanctum with multiple steps into various alcoves, some broken stone lamps lining the hall. Almost thinking their journey had been a futile effort until Cor feels a presence.Or a rather a few. And an odd noise from Libertus.

-Coeurls. Pure, white, Galahadian coeurls that are bigger than normal ones.Their fur sleek and silver horns sharp, whiskers flicking curiously. The beasts blocking their only exits behind and above.They were surrounded. Although one of them in particular had a scar across its nose, looking at Nyx intensely. “Your friend?” Cor asks pointedly.”Kinda.Gave me the lovely electric scar on my chest that you adore so much.” (Prompto is in so much pain but he still manages to cringe, he didn’t need to hear this, help.)

- Having a stare down with the coeurls is intense, they have limited weapons and a party at half strength, until Prompto suddenly urges Cor to let him down.The gunslinger approaches the coeurls who seem to assess the human quietly, before parting and showing him a door in the highest alcove. A door that automatically opened is not foreboding at all. Nyx calls out as the scarred coeurl blocks his path. Prompto quietly looks back and promises he’ll be back and just to wait.Before Cor can take a step forward, the door seals itself and the coeurls finally backs down and lazes by the boundaries,allowing the humans to breathe. Cor is suspicious and Nyx’s hand on his back doesn’t bring much ease.

-They wait.So Noctis,Clarus and Gladio meanwhile are curious about the supposedly extinct beasts hanging around them, listening to Libertus explain they are almost never seen, and how they are revered by Galahadians for being rulers of the jungle. They were also supposedly Etro’s favoured beasts. Nyx is the only one in several generations to actually see one and got into a fight with their tribe’s sacred beast as a young dumb teen on his first hunt. Regis and Luna are interested in the architecture of the shrine and wondering about the shrine’s history.While Ardyn seems be bouncing across the lower alcoves into various passages.Cor doesn’t want to understand.

-Time is hard to tell, their phones seem to not work in the shrine, which is a warning in itself and its now always twilight, the growing night is approaching.Cor trusts that their troops on the mainland to deal with the daemons and Ifrit, but there’s so many factors in play now, brain too much in overdrive its stressing him. Nyx can tell by that tension on his shoulders.He hums that old galahdian hymn he knows that Cor is so fond of, hoping just to bring a semblance of comfort.

- “Gentlemen, and lady, of course, I fear… I find some distressing news that I believe you ought to have a look.My old Galah reading is abysmal and old Solheimian simply terrible.I am not sure how far liberty with translation by these old ancient people of old tales can go.” Oh what now, Ardyn. Cor watches as he pulls up a few old scrolls he dug up from…somewhere. The coeurls begin to stir.Oh shit.They probably shouldn’t be touching them.What the fuck,Ardyn.

- Regis,Ignis and Luna are probably the only ones who vaguely recognise old Solheim text,Noctis’ knowledge stopped at the basic Solheim alphabets. While Nyx is the only one who knows old Galah. And scroll after scroll their faces pale.

-Some text speak of Etro’s origin,that she became guardian of the Beyond, the Unseen Gates.Another said she granted humanity power and that should she cease to exist completely, so will the balance on the planet.

Others spoke of her l’cie?Or Messenger,Champion?That they bear the Eyes that see the flow of time.There’s even one crumbling book that spoke of Sorceresses(that sounds familiar but Cor isn’t sure…).While another of their guardian and protectors. 

Galahd is supposedly where the last of Etro’s believers remained and perished in time. But without fail.almost in every scroll, speaks of the death of Etro’s chosen in their fated trial.

-Cor has never felt truly and absolutely powerless as he does now. _._._

PART 5 HERE

[psychewritesbs]

Okay I just finished Sonny Boy and all I can think about is Megumi and Tsumiki running between worlds like Nagara and Mizuho😭😭😭

It was also disturbing how much Asakaze and Megumi looked alike.

Do you have similar recs?

Hola anon 🤙🏼!

Ok, your head canon of Megumi and Tsumiki running between worlds is cool af! I wonder if Megumi is also into big boobs like Asakaze 😂. 

Soooo... Sonny Boy is a truly special experience. It's unlike anything I've ever seen before so, sadly, that said, I am not sure I can make recs that are similar to Sonny Boy. 

What I can do is recommend other anime with psychologically-driven storylines or interesting premises that I've loved/really liked...

If anyone else can think of recs don't hesitate to send them over or type them in the chat!

My recs and comments below the cut... 

(Yes, I really like Yoko Kano’s music)

Prepare to get scroll happy 😳🖱

Individual shows/movies in alphabetical order...

Akira is a movie I saw A LONG time ago. All I can tell you is that it deserves all the praise it gets. It’s good.

Attack on Titan are you watching this? If you aren’t watching it, why aren’t you watching AoT? It can be hard to get through some parts of the story (lots of talking), but when AoT is on, it’s on like Donkey Kong. Like holy *$HWR^# &*$@^&G. I have really come to appreciate Iseyama’s skill at world building and consider Eren to be one hell of a protagonist (note I have not read the manga’s ending). I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re watching it...

Durarara It’s been a long time since I saw this one too so I don’t remember the specifics of the plot very well. I can tell you I really liked the first season but think I lost interest during the second season. Very psychological!

Ergo Proxy it’s been A WHILE (more than a decade?) since I saw EP but it is defo on my queue for re-watching some day (that’s how you know I liked it A LOT). It’s very psychological and, if I remember correctly, it throws a curve ball at the audience. I am a sucker for well-executed plot twists so all I can tell you about EP right now is that I remember being VERY glad I watched it.

Gankutsuou this is another one I have not seen in a while but will re-visit again someday. Back when I saw it first I absolutely loved it. This is basically a re-telling of Alexandre Dumas’ Count of Montecristo set in the future. The art and music are fantastic.

Made in Abyss Do not be fooled by the cute art style. MiA is brutal. Fuck if it’s brutal. I think I cried at the end of season 1 and waited desperately for the movie and season 2 and then I forgot about it because it took so long. 2022 is a good year to be alive because we are finally getting season 2. 

Imagine two kids going into a hole in the earth full of monsters and the shenanigans that ensue. Music by Kevin Penkin (one of my favorite anime OSTs), lore, wholesomeness, tragedy... Absolute amazingness.

RahXephon is a weird anime. It’s been compared to Neon Genesis Evangelion (which I have not seen) and I understand that without Eva’s success, an anime like Rahxephon would not have been given the green light to be produced. Rahxephon is the story about your typical misunderstood teenager who happens to be able to pilot the mecha that no one else can pilot. It has a nice romance subplot.

Sarazanmai The perpetual look on my face while watching this was “what the actual fuck?” But then I learned the director was also involved in Revolutionary Girl Utena and it all made so much more sense. I guess it’s yaoi? or more like a (very much not subtle) queer coded anime of three boys who become kappas in much the same way a magical girl goes through a transformation. It’s wacky af and I really enjoyed watching it.

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju was an anime that I almost missed out on and am sooooo glad I didn’t. If you read the plot description you might be inclined to think it looks boring, and I would have been one to agree with you until I watched it. SGRS is a beautiful story about friendship, love, and passion for one’s work. Don’t sleep on it.

The Vision of Escaflowne Ok, I’ll be honest, I’ve never managed to finish the anime but I own the OVA and I truly love it. Compared to the anime, the OVA is darker and edgier and it is one of the very few works that I watch dubbed.

Escaflowne is basically an isekai meets mecha from the 90s, so it’s nothing like the isekai from this day and age. In other words, it’s good. Also, music by Yoko Kano.

Wolf's Rain is a beautiful story set in a dystopian future where the world has been ravaged and wolves have gone extinct. In reality, the few remaining wolves turn into humans and walk amongst them in search for paradise. Lots of mythological lore, an interesting plot, and music by Yoko Kano. There’s just something about this anime...

Watch anything by these authors/directors:

Urobuchi Gen

Urobuchi Gen I have not decided whether Gen gets to join the “I’ll watch anything by this author list”. I am currently watching Psycho-Pass and find myself liking it more as the series progresses.

Psycho-Pass has got one of my favorite 2D sexy dudes, lots of talk of mental health, and mystery. 

Gen’s other work that I REALLY liked is Puella Magi Madoka Magica (also known as “depressed lesbians”), a dark and twisted re-imagining of the magical girl genre. It’s got a fantastic plot twist that is very well-executed. Just like with the Made in Abyss example, do not be fooled by the art style.

The “cat” became one of my favorite characters of all time.

Kon Satoshi

Kon Satoshi ah, Kon-san was definitively one of the best anime directors to have graced the world of anime. It is unfortunate that he departed from this world when he was so young. My respects to the man.

My favorite movie by him is Millennium Actress, a beautiful story about a young girl’s endless pursuit for the man she fell in love with.

But quite honestly all of his movies are amazing and solid. 

Tokyo Godfathers is a fun and endearing look at the lives of three homeless individuals in Tokyo. 

Finally, Paprika and Perfect Blue are both amazing mind fucks.

Shinkai Makoto

What sets Shinkai Makoto apart is that his movies are always a visual feast. More importantly, you can tell Shinkai is a real romantic at heart because his stories always feature soulmate love. 

I first discovered him when I saw The Place Promised in Our Early Days. If it weren’t because I remembered loving that very imperfect movie, I probably wouldn’t have been so excited to see his mega-hit, Your Name.

If you have not seen Your Name, you need to. 

You may or may not love it--the movie has got deep plot holes, but if you get emotionally sucked into the story, you won’t notice the plot holes until you’ve seen the movie 20 times... true story. 

Above all, Your Name will make you believe that soulmate love is real... also a true story. Just consider that the number of people crying at the movies after having seen this movie was enough to keep Kleenex in business for another decade.

Weathering with You was also a very solid movie featuring global warming, Japanese daily esoterism, and, of course, teenage love--that’s kind of Shinkai’s signature.

Apparently he’s releasing another movie this year (Suzume no Tojimari), so guess who’s going to be at the movie theatre when it comes out in the US?

This nerd right here.

CLAMP

It’s no secret that I am a massive CLAMP stan and I am working my way through all of their manga with a few pit stops to re-read some of my favorites. 

Consider that anime based on CLAMP manga is often lackluster compared to CLAMP’s beautiful and super detailed art. So you might want to read their manga instead of watching their anime.

Aside from the beautiful art style, I am a massive Okawa Nanase (the writer) stan because of her ability to create fascinating stories (always with a plot twist) that are full of esoteric lore. Also, I don’t know how she does it, but her characters always feel like actual people. 

I want to be like Nanase-san when I grow up.

noa-ciharu wrote a fantastic post on her best intro to CLAMP recs that I highly recommend checking out, but my favorites are Tokyo Babylon (because Subaru), Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHolic.

Just be warned that CLAMP is out to make you cry.

Watanabe Shinichiro

The thing about Watanabe anime is that it is bittersweetly beautiful and human. Now that I am older, it is also clearer to me just how much thought and attention to detail this man puts into his work. His stories are loaded with symbolism, making them a truly fascinating experience. 

That said... Watanabe is a genius in my eyes.

Let’s start with the obvious one. It should be a crime to not have seen Cowboy Bebop. Cowboy Bebop is the anime classic. Also, music by Yoko Kano.

Samurai Shampoo is a solid 9 or 10/10 too.

I am currently watching Carole & Tuesday, which I dare say is Watanabe’s take on the cute girls doing cute things genre, and it has turned out to be a really enjoyable watch. This anime is his latest work.

But my favorite is Terror in Resonance (Zankyou no Terror). If you get emotionally involved, Zankyou will beat the fuck out of your heart and serve you a heavy dose of existential angst once it’s done beating you to a pulp. I know how it ends, and yet, I get chills every single time I watch the ending. 

If you happened to be in the same room while I watch that last episode, you would hear me yell “WHO HURT YOU WATANABE?!” at the TV screen. True story.

Zankyou is psychological story meets cute anime boys blowing sht up meets Greek tragedy (emphasis on the Greek tragedy part). In case it wasn’t obvious, it’s one of my favorite anime. Also, OST by Yoko Kano that very clearly inspired Kevin Penkin’s music.

Whatever the case, I can guarantee you I will also be watching anything Watanabe directs moving forward.

Anyways, of course, all of this is up to personal taste, so hopefully you will enjoy some of these titles as much as I enjoyed them.

♥️✨

[nemycchi]

Unforgotten Enigma : Aria Toujou

Enter the land of lightning and let the whispers of water guide the wandering souls to their rightful abode.

PROFILE / DIALOGUES

About Aria

Me? Eh, I don’t know much about myself, you see. The past is something that escaped my grasp way too long ago. However, what I can tell you is that as an editor and a priestess apprentice, patience is truly a virtue.

About Us - Novels

Oh, so you know about our contest? How so? Are you an avid follower of the entries or are you actually a writer? Come on, you have to let me read your works too, if so!

About Us - Patience

For as long as I can remember, Miss Yae has been on my side through it all. In my failures, my achievements– in my very existence. I cannot wait for the day when I can repay her for everything. One step at a time, I’ll get there. How about you, Traveler? Do you have someone you wish to repay someday?

About Us -  Journey

I have never stepped outside Inazuma once in my life. It’s just, my duty calls for me to be here at all times! Editing, shrinekeeping and tending to Miss Yae’s needs, of course. Well, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t go on a journey with you someday– that is, if you’ll have me!

About Us - Dreams

Traveler, do you ever dream of things you cannot comprehend? I’ve been having these curious dreams lately. Of a white-haired maiden, with braids like rice paper cords perfectly intertwined. I wonder who she is.

About the Vision

Visions, visions. I think they are very much alike any gift bestowed upon us by the greater beings! As such, it is best that we treasure it and use it responsibly, you hear? Wait– what do you mean you don’t have one?

Interesting Things

Aside from Knot-tying, I actually do enjoy training with weapons. It all started when I chanced upon a spear in the old shrine cabinet. If I remember correctly, there was also a katana there– of such deep crimson color. They were both fascinating but the spear seemed as if it was calling on to me with such sadness that I couldn’t help but take it with me. Well, I got scolded afterwards by Miss Yae but she soon started training me with handling the weapon well.

TALENTS : 

“To find that which is lost, to guide those who wander– that is your duty. Be like the spring, calm and clear. But for those who forsake or tarnish the memories, be like the storm, tempestuous and vengeful.”

Normal Attack : Twines of Words

Elemental Skill : Proofreader

Elemental Burst : Art of Knot-Tying

Passive 1 : Final Draft

Passive 2 : Splash of Letters

Passive 3 : Editor’s Choice

FEATURED WEAPON : Melancholy of the Priestess

“May your will be passed on to those of my legacy, your spear be as strong as your might. Eras may pass but those of the past shall not be forgotten. For you, my fair lady, I will weep till the end of my days.“

A sealed spear of unknown origin. Has been in the possession of the House of Yae eversince. Legends say that it is crafted from the spear of the warrior who once abolished the great evil of the village posing as a young maiden. However, like any other legends, it too shall be passed as an epic and nothing but an epic.

CONSTELLATION : Flos Sacerdos

“Like the beauty of a flower perfectly crafted, you too shall flourish as you are. But like that of the spear, never forget the sharpness of your judgment.“

An alignment of stars depicting a Mizuhiki flower pierced by the might of the spear.

—————-

Note : Welcome to Inazuma and meet my original character for Genshin Impact, Aria Toujou. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that I name all my original characters as such– even in the BNHA, JoJo and HypMic universe. However, this time around, her features are considerably different. This is because I tapped into the lore of Honkai Impact and Genshin Impact then tweaked a few things. I had a fun time designing her everything and I hope you had a good time reading through this little thing I made!

[madamescarlette]

WIP folder tag

Tagged by my ever-so-beloved @thebirdandhersong to visit my garden nursery of slumbering stories, so here we are!

The thing is, I have a whole bunch of story ideas that I just….tip tap away at over the years, like an miner in a giant cave, except that it’s a cave that I have to gear up to return to over and over and so it gets harder the busier I am. (Does this analogy make sense? No? Well I’m going to use it anyway.) I have a habit of saying that right now might not be the time to learn how to tell a story, but maybe someday in the future, with all the cumulative experience I’ll have then, it will be. Which is to say, I leave things simmering for years at a time. HOWEVER I do have a shortlist of stories that I typically return to over a period of time and still feel inspired to work on at present so those will mostly comprise this list. 

Also every story idea I work on for a significant period of time comes with their own code name because for me, part of the joy of finally handing the finished thing to other people is the unveiling of the name (because names have POWER) so that is what you’ll find here. They’re always puns or jokes or just straight up allusions to the title. They’re not always good, but they’re fun to ME and that’s what matters really.

BOOKS

Tree Novel: The story idea I’ve posted about most lately! It has its roots (ha) in my love for the bodyguard-princess trope except genderflipped, and in the delight of trying to world build from a scientific level, rather than from the lore as I usually do. The basic premise revolves around these giant trees, all separated across the world, where people have set up their own city-states in their roots, who have even learned to speak with these trees. The threads are: friends who share everything, even their birthdays, the joy of discovering the wideness of the world when you’ve always been in one place, an almost monster-of-the-week format except it’s my two kids wandering around trying to solve the problems of all their new friends. (The codename is just because. there’s trees and I love ‘em.)

Butterfly Novel: The sequel to the story of which my username is the main character. Basically The Goblin Emperor but if I wrote it- which is to say, more hijinks, less details and thus less fun, and because it’s me has lots of people sitting in corners being like “aaaaalright you ready to talk about your FEELINGS?” Takes place over the first few years of a young queen’s reign. It’s about- learning about leadership, learning to grow up and reconcile who you once were with who you are now, friendship blooming into love. (The codename is a pun about monarch butterflies.)

Milk Novel: My romcom I cooked up about two summers ago that was originally loosely (LOOSELY, LOOSELY) based on Snow White but has far devolved away from the original plotline but also I don’t want to rope it back so away it shall unfurl! This one’s premise revolves around a woman who, estranged and cut off from her family at a young age, now works in restaurants and as a line cook and essentially teaches herself how to be a chef, who gets hired to be a caterer for a floral company, and about the man who the company owner specifically hired her because of him and the fact that he doesn’t care very much about food. The main themes are grief, food, learning to forgive a transgression that changed your life irreversibly, learning to let go of a perfectly happy time to move forwards to something else, and about learning to communicate when you’ve spent your entire life trying to be as small as possible. (The codename is literally the translated title.)

Spring Novel: Everyone needs their own Hades and Persephone right? And this is mine. It is meant to be my version of OUAT’s first season combined with Greek mythology, so essentially a modern retelling where Percy’s an art historian unsure of where her life’s headed, when one of her friends’ illness leads her to meeting a doctor whose patients always seem to die. Similarly, about grief but also the lead-up to great loss and change, and learning to reconcile those things with your life, also the fears of letting yourself be loved when you had been convinced you would be better off alone, as well as learning to deal with the fact that your skills might not be what you wanted them to be, but how to live with them anyway. (The codename is really just a reference to Persephone- the lady with a suitcase full of summertime!)

SHORT STORIES (to come…I’m going to say that stubbornly to bully myself into it actually happening)

Garden Story: An idea that sparked when I was rewatching Roman Holiday and ruminating on how some true loves can happen in our lives that aren’t necessarily forever but are still significant. Revolves around a little girl who hides in a garden one afternoon, the woman who owns that garden, and the girl’s older brother. Bittersweet but in a GOOD way, hopefully.

Vampire Story: Based off of a conversation I had a long time ago where one of my best friends said she, as a vampire, would use her (undead) lifetime getting every degree that exists, and I would use mine paying for the bills of everyone I met (since vampires are fabulously rich); this along with the realization I had recently that if vampires don’t have immune responses and thus don’t need to note antibodies anymore, what would stop us from making synthetic blood for them? My premise is that if three vampires got bored of the debauchery of their comrades and decided to spend their lives caring for the people around them were suddenly put upon to raise a baby, how would that turn out? Hopefully fine, right?

Star Wars Epilogue: I said once that in my epilogue to the ST, Rey would begin wearing a wedding ring in the years that followed the war, and I want to make an entire story revolving around that. Rose is pretty much the biggest character besides her but also is a sub-in for me, wandering around telling people they need to take better care of themselves. The usual themes for me- grief, loss, rebuilding your life, bread and fresh air and life. Hopefully a sleepy story if I can pull it off properly.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Karla

Debut: Splatoon 2

After the Ink Theory and Octarian posts, you may be asking, “How much left is there to talk about in the Splatoon world?” The answer is... still quite a bit! Despite only having two games, Splatoon lore runs deep, with an assortment of funny fish, weird deep-sea creatures, silly bands, and other wacky characters and things that we haven’t even scratched the surface of! The truth is, Splatoon’s probably going to provide us with content for many, many Funky Fridays to come...

Today we’re looking at Karla, who falls into categories two and three, though I suppose you could argue she’s also category four, as a “wacky character,” but heck, that applies for a lot of this series’ cast. Karla is the bassist of a band called SashiMori, which mixes their lyrics YouTube Poop-style. But more importantly than that... she is a scaly-foot gastropod! That’s right! With access to all the media in the world, the snails never have to stop. We’ll write about every fictional snail ever until there are no snails left. And by that time, there will be more snails. Fictional snails will outlive us all.

So how good is Karla at being a snail? The answer is very. While most Splatoon characters are based on sea creatures, they come with varying ranges regarding anthropomorphism, from “barely anthropomorphized” to “practically human.” But Karla is weird in that she is both at once! While her body is distinctively humanoid, her head is just an entire scaly-foot gastropod, which I think is splendid. I wish my head was an entire scaly-foot gastropod. I’ve seen some artists try to draw Karla more anthropomorphized, but if you ask me, the sheer appeal of Karla’s design comes from the wackiness of her head being a different animal’s entire body.

But perhaps I am getting too far ahead. Maybe I need to tell you what a scaly-foot gastropod even is before I talk about how magnificent it is that she is one. So! Brief Weird Mario Enemies biology lesson! Open up your notebooks! This WILL be on the test! Scaly-foot gastropods are a kind of deep-sea snail, and a VERY wacky type of snail at that! Their shell integrates metal, something completely unique to this animal, as far as I am aware, and rather than eating food like all of us unfortunate horrible primates do, they get energy through chemosynthesis, where they convert carbon molecules and nutrients into organic matter. It’s a popular thing in the deep sea, where there’s not enough sunlight for photosynthesis, I recommend you try it someday.

The reason I bring all of this up is because all of this is relevant to Karla’s lore, which thanks to a push from the community, I do have a reliable translation for! Prior to SashiMori, she was in a wall-of-sound rock band with harsh lyrics, and apparently her “ironclad body” made her resilient to how harsh the band’s sound was. It is also said that no one is quite sure how she gets nutrition, since she is never seen eating anything. But we know. Sure, chemosynthesis probably wouldn’t work for an organism as big as Karla is, but that’s just one of her many mysteries. But she’s not gonna ever tell us. She doesn’t talk much. We don’t even know how old she is.

I love Karla on account of being such a weird and mysterious character whose head happens to be an entire mollusk. She’s very lucky in that regard. But is there any more information on Karla? Maybe...

In the Octo Expansion art book, we see that Karla’s design was originally intended as one of the Deepsea Metro passengers, but was scrapped at some point down the line, before she was brought back as a minor in-universe musician. Does this mean that Karla has a history from the deep sea that we do not know about? Maybe. Maybe not. She’s still not saying anything. Her lips[sic] are sealed.

At the very least, she wasn’t the only draft of an attempt to design a scaly-foot gastropod for Splatoon. Get a load of these guys!

Hehe! Butt buddies!

By the way, if you want to know about ALL of the bands (not just Karla) then good news! We have FINALLY gotten accurate fan translations (fanslations?) of all the band info! You can read it all here! You should read it all. You can learn all about that lesbianistic experimental jazz band I’m always telling people to stan!