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itstheghostofmypast · 1 year ago

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Meow (Chp-2)

Choi San x (f)Reader

Summary: He had spent an entire millennia in solitude, waiting for her to come back to him, bearing this curse that was a constant reminder of his ignorance, his mistake, and his guilt. He had forgotten how fate had always been cruel to him, punishing him for all he had done, and so be it, meeting her in the 21st century should have brought him joy- there was only one problem, his love for her may not have decreased a drop, but she may love Poofy more than she ever loved him.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort Fluff

Warnings: death of a major character, war, PTSD.

Word Count: 2.3K

Est. Read Time: 11 min

Networks: @cromernet @k-labels

Masterlist I Chp-1

"Shit." hissing in pain, his fingers gripped the handle of the dagger that was etched into his shoulder, sneaky bastard was lucky, if he was distracted by a butterfly, he would've sensed the goblin stalking up behind him.

Going back and telling Yeosang what happened would only cause more to laugh at the War Chief, reminding him of how he still is a mere child at heart, his title only a facade to match his physical presence. Pulling it out with a grunt he let out a low growl, staring at the emblem, "Bloody Xikies." Tossing it somewhere across the field he paused at the muffled thump, where was he?

His head slowly turned in every direction, and his body stumbled forward to the golden field, sunflowers? It had been many moons since he had seen this part of the forest, it had been even longer since he had seen such a bloom, blinking slowly, trying to take in the beauty of nature before him. Yunho had never told them about this part- was this their turf?

Slowly gazing up at the sky he sighed, admiring the hues of pastels, the sky blushing down at him, the setting sun peaking at the creature below, letting him bask in the time of quiet, the hour of merging, the hour of tranquillity, the sun looking no different than the big-headed flowers around him, the once yellow petals, now golden, matching their settling master.

Slowly the world around him began to tilt, strange, he had never seen such strange scenery, the sky tilting into the ground, while the flowers chased the sun, pushing it over oh.

Thump

Slowly blinking away the blur, a whimper broke past his chapped lips, poison, the dagger was poisoned. Bloody goblins knew what they were doing. He could feel his limbs slowly giving up on him, the tingling sensation turning into tiny pricks, his fingers twitching, trying to grip onto something, that being a sunflower.

Perhaps this was not the worst way to move on, the spirit realm may be a better resting place than this world full of hate. The view of the pale sky was obscured by the sunflowers looking down at him, possibly because his head had used their sibling as a cushion, as grave as this situation was, it was oddly romantic. Guess he was a romantic deep down, deep down he knew that too, the only regret he may have while departing was the lack of a soulmate in his life, no one to call, 'the one'.

Perhaps this was not that bad of a situation, his departing would only cause his lover pain, possibly as much as he was feeling now. Blinking up at the dancing specs of fuzzy darkness, he sighed, what a War General, one that fell to his demise because of a dainty little butterfly.

Warm.

And soft?

He felt extremely warm, but the soft below him only forced his body to melt further into the - wait, what? He had fallen in the field- the ground, the dirt and the hard earth below. Jerking awake he hissed at the pain that shot up from his shoulder to neck, a broken whimper following as he fell back. Slowly blinking away the fatigue, the onyx-haired man looked around himself, head cushioned on soft linen, above him was a wooden roof, a cabin? Turning his head to the source of warmth, he spotted the small fireplace, the crinkling of the burning wood was the only other sound - other than his shallow breathing. He was close to the fire, a bit too close, well not enough to harm him but his own temperature was usually enough for him on snowy days, so this was somewhat bothersome. Slowly sitting up his right hand instantly reaching for his left shoulder, glancing down he noticed his bare upper body, his wound neatly wrapped up, encasing most of his torso- whoever this was, they were thorough. To his right was the door, if he could get off his futon, he'd be out quick as a cat, but much to his displeasure as soon as he had stood up and taken his first big boy step towards the door, his body decided to go back on sleep mode, almost falling face front, his right hand breaking his fall. Well, at least his cognitive process worked enough, he was able to not use his injured arm.

Unfortunately, the commotion had alerted whoever held him captive, the door sliding open with a feminine gasp following soon after. Glancing up from the ground his frown deepened, though something else within him seemed to blossom, why didn't he just die when he had the chance?

Great. A human.

"You're…awake." she entered the bedroom, closing the door behind her, tipping her head slightly as if to greet him. Well, at least this human was mannered- his eyes scanned her form, from her robes to the way her hair was delicately decorated with jewels, her whole posture radiating an air of royalty, yet her face was what had his breath hitch, the way her soft gaze on his shoulder had him gripping the futon he was on- no San, humans are the lowest being, they are selfish, ugly, petty, insensitive and-

"I- Ummm… I know you still don't trust me, but you need to rest, the antidote worked but it is slow." clearing her throat she sat with her hands on her lap, "It's been long since I've met someone like you."

Chatterbox, huh? Cocking a brow at her he tilted his head, he was in his human form, what was she going on about? More importantly, he was three times her size, how did she carry him here?

"Umm…he was a… puppy? You're a feline, right?" she gave him a small smile, "I-"

"Are you high?"

"W-what?" his question caught her off guard.

"I said, are you high? Did you consume something?" glaring at her, he stared her down, watching her squirm under his hard stare, "You and I both know I'm human so cut the crap, if you want something for saving me just ask and- " his words were cut short when she picked up a mirror and turned it to face him.

"Nice ears, kitty cat."

"OH MY-" snatching the mirror out of her hand he pulled it closer, his eyes widening at the reflection.

"I believe the poison in your blood must have altered your ability to transform," his eyes flickered up to meet hers, was she…smirking? Scoffing in response he rolled his eyes, turned his and placed the mirror beside himself, still not saying a word.

"You were a kitty when I found you," she leaned forward, trying to inspect the damage, that and to get a closer look at the ears poking out of the tuft of his hair, twitching at the slightest of sound, accidentally letting the next word slip, "Cute."

His head snapped in her direction, eyes resembling slits, as she covered her mouth, trying to catch herself from saying anything more, but a muffled giggle escaped her when he hissed, his tail tapping the wooden floor beside him, it was only then when he realised that his tail had accompanied his ears.

"I- I beg your forgiveness." Chuckling, she dipped her head in shame (or tried to) honestly at this point she was trying to hide a smile, one that he had noticed, biting his lower lip from morphing into a similar one- she was contagious. Disgusting human.

"If I may, I am Y/N, I understand you're a bit… skeptical about this situation but I found you as an injured cat." she explained before standing up and going to the other end of the room, rummaging through a box, "I found this, and it was drenched in lily oil" turning to show him the dagger that lay wrapped in a silk cloth, in her hands, "I gave you a detox serum."

Coming back to his side she sat down neatly, smiling at his gaze, no longer stern or cold, but swirling with curiosity, pupils dilated and shaking, much like his tale that was tapping against the wood. Nodding in understanding he sat there patiently, his hands placed in his lap, though she noticed how his long legs were now covered by the blankets, must be feeling cold.

"Honestly, your chances of survival were slim, but I tried anyway… And eventually, you did show signs of improvement. " Placing the covered dagger between them she sighed, "Though heaven knows how I almost fainted at the sight of an unconscious man on my bed instead of an injured cat."

Frowning at the statement he nodded in understanding, of course, that would be awful and somewhat horrifying, men could be real beasts, especially with someone as delicate as her, no wonder he thought she looked familiar, her necklace had a small gold sunflower hanging, her face radiated a similar glow too and- San, stop it. Sighing in frustration he growled, catching the way she had flinched, noting how she may have scooted a bit further. Hongjoong would have probably scolded him for scaring off his saviour, especially someone who looked like she was not only royalty but was sent down from Heaven itself.

"How long…" Clearing his throat, he tried to sound normal, a form of a passive apology, "Was I… unconscious for?" After all his feline instincts clawed at him to maintain distance, at least for now.

"Around…two weeks," mumbling she looked everywhere but at him- IS SHE POUTING? Was she upset? Did he upset her? Should he thank her? Is that why she's upset? He could feel the panic spreading through his veins, noting the way she was playing with her fingers, "I think that's it." His fingers itching to grasp onto her smaller hand, but his resolve did not break, though it did crack, just a wee bit, after all, Sannie had always been a romantic, "Thank you for saving my life, little human."

Her eyes flickered to meet his gentle smile, a small smile of her own gracing her lips, much to his pleasure.

"My name is-"

"I know." he nodded, before looking ahead at the open window, the setting sun suddenly all too interesting, "But names lead to familiarization, which makes letting go, difficult." his words were soft, though they hit her with full force, she knew what he meant, they were from two different worlds, it was something her friend had told her too when they were younger, perhaps the last time she had seen him, the same day she had not only lost her mother but him too.

"I understand." with that she slowly stood up, bowing in respect before standing up straight, the sound of a bell catching his ears, eyes flickering to the little charm she was using as a hair accessory, a small bell hanging off a smaller ceramic cat head, painted in all black. "This is my cabin, a personal quarter of sort, only I come here so you will be safe, you must be hungry " mumbling she looked at the door, "I'll bring you something…"

"Why is a lady of your stature wearing such a childish accessory?" his words were blunt and direct, but holding no malice. He had been cautioned by Wooyoung several times about his bluntness, and the last thing he wanted was to upset his sunflower even more than he had already- his sunflower???

"It is- I like it- it just." shaking her head she gave him a tight-lipped smile, "It was a gift, I like wearing it when I'm alone."

"What was its name?" he asked, gesturing towards it, before scratching his head, "You can…. call me…whatever you called it." No lover would give such a childish gift to a lady, no mother would pass on such jewellery, hence this pin was a mere ornament that held to it an extent of emotional value, one that he knew must have been for a cat- perhaps his other form resembled her pet.

His eyes caught the smirk that graced her face for a second or less, a shiver running down his spine at the way her aura changed. What was he getting himself into? He watched her nod before walking towards the door, almost out before stopping to look at him, "I'll bring you something to eat��Poofy." with that the door slammed shut, leaving a flustered mess of the War Chief whining to himself as his tail swished around in anger, whimpering when the jerk causing a sharp pain to shoot up. Heaven was testing him, and fate was gripping his heart with pure glee, this is not what he meant by finding the one before his death.

Bonus:

"A… human?" Hongjoong looked up from his scriptures, his advisor standing before him with a frown, arms crossed over his chest, the tail of a green dragon tattoo peeking out from underneath the neckline.

"Yes. Wooyoung confirmed it today, the Xikey told him the same story," scoffing, the advisor glanced at the window, watching the sunset, "San has been getting himself into stupid things these days."

"Seonghwa, you're the one who sent him to that area." The king sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration, "And you say she's royalty?"

"I'm not sure…I've sent Jongho to investigate. " He mumbled, "I hope he's fine, with the war going on and him being injured, that too with a human, I don't like the odds."

A knock on the door interrupted the two, before creaking open, "Sorry to intrude but I'd like to inform you two that San is in good hands."

Hongjoong gestured for their mapmaker to enter his personal quarters, honestly, most of these fools didn't need permission but they had stuck by the rules of royalty ever since the kingdom became his, "How are you so sure of this, Yunho?"

"Trust me, I say so based on personal experience."

Taglist: @edenesth @mlysalt @yessa-vie @spooo00oky @cereal-simp

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umbralstars · 11 months ago

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Kemetic Influences on Fire Emblem Three Houses (Part 1)

I know I have made a more unstructured post regarding this before; however, I am certain in my assessments that the influence of Ancient Egyptian mythology had on 3H is vast and more varied then I, personally, have seen people discuss. Yes, we know of the etymology behind Sothis and Seiros' names, but I believe these connections go much deeper than the surface level. This will be structured with me discussing what I am most sure in to what is more interpolation on my part. This part about Sothis is so long that it needs to be it's own post entirely. Sothis is based on Hellenistic/Roman period worship of Lady Isis

As we know, Sothis' name can be traced to one of the names of Sirius, specifically the Hellenized name of Sopdet the goddess of said star. However, this is surface level. Sopdet was often syncretized with Isis during the Hellenistic period and in Lady Isis, I believe, there are more clear allusions to Sothis and how she acts as a deity within 3H's world. Lady Isis is an Egyptian deity who was worshiped across the Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman period. Sothis in her mythology, actions, and how she is depicted in-game shares remarkable similarities to Isis. The images and sources I will be using as a reference come from Dr. Andrew M. Henry's (ReligionForBreakfast) video on the topic and FEDatamine for everything regarding 3H.

Sothis and Isis are both "great mother" deities who act as supreme goddesses to their followers.

Even before coming to supreme status in the Mediterranean, Isis was an incredibly important goddess within Egypt. She was the bringer of magic, a guardian of women, a compassionate goddess who wished to relieve all human suffering, and much much more. All of these traits are extremely close if not direct parallels to Sothis. We know that magic within Fodlan is directly connected to Sothis through the visual of all the magic circles (save for Agarthan dark magic) and it can be postulated that, like Isis, Sothis magic was beyond the capabilities of other humans or other deities. Faith magic in particular is directly correlated with the ability to heal and protect, which is one of the main domains of Lady Isis in antiquity and modern day. She was the healer of the sick and injured, so much so that she often traveled in human form so that she could aid those who called out to her. I don't believe it is a coincidence that healing magic was reskinned as faith in this game given that context. And the connections continue beyond that. Consider this text from a temple to Isis in Cyrene:

During the Hellenistic period, Isis' power and prominence grew to wear she became a supreme goddess within these polytheistic societies. She was believed to be the ruler of time and fate itself, and, as stated here, one of the creators of the cosmos who first set time to course. She was often depicted holding a steering rudder or with the planet beneath her very feet as the goddess through which all fate flows.

Next, take this quote from Lucius Apuleius: The Golden Ass a text from a satirist, but nonetheless believed to hold elements of truth to Isis' worship during the Roman period.

Once again, we see the language that would describe a supreme, cosmic deity. Compare to similar wording in The Book of Seiros Part 1: "The goddess is all things. She is heaven above and the land below. She is eternity incarnate. She is the present, the past, and the future. Her eyes see all. Her ears hear all. Her hands receive all."

Due to this language, it is believed by some religious scholars, and presented within the video, that within the mysteries of Isis there was an element of henotheism at play. A philosophy within religious practices where one god is worshiped a supreme deity whilst not denying the existence of other gods, and such a system of worship is what I believe to be happening within Fodlan's religious context. Other gods are known to exist, they are spoken of in the Book of Seiros; however, Sothis is supreme goddess of Fodlan.

Now, I ask, what is Sothis' primary characteristics within the Church of Seiros and as depicted in game? She is the supreme Goddess of Fodlan, who's depicted with having control over time and fate itself (literally divine pulse), spoken of as a savior not only in the past but also through the actions of her vessel Byleth, who created all life (or at least the Nabateans) as "The Beginning", and the arbiter of souls as an explicitly afterlife related deity.

All of these traits are direct parallels to Lady Isis, and I am not even finished listing all the similarities. First take this quote from The Book of Seiros Part 2: "In the beginning, amid the great cloudless ocean, Fódlan came to be. At the end of a long journey, the goddess glimpsed that land and there alighted. Upon that sacred ground, she breathed life into the world and created all of the creatures upon it.

By the goddess's hand, plants took root, birds took to the sky, and animals roamed the land. Last of all, she created humanity." Within multiple Egyptian creation myths one of the prevalent and constant features is the primordial ocean of Nun. It was place of nothingness and chaos all at once, a "cloudless ocean" if you will. And from that ocean came the first land, the benben, and from there any number of gods created all life. This includes Isis, who within the inscriptions at Philae, is described to have created all life and the cosmos itself (Žabkar 1988, pp. 134.): "Indeed, she is the Lady of Heaven, Earth, and the Nether World, having brought them into existence through what her heart conceived and her hands created..." Both of them are related to the afterlife and are explicitly called out as deities of fate. Once again from the story of Apuleius:

Lady Isis' connection to the afterlife as she who guides the soul to it's fate goes back even further in Egyptian texts and she has been a funerary deity all the way back in Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts. Take that in context with Rhea's line of Sothis being the "arbiter of souls" and much of her cosmology in-universe revolving around the afterlife you have another link between them. Isis was said to be able to prolong a person's life if they were to follow her mysteries as she knew the lifespan of all people and could manipulate it with her magics. She also typically interacted with her followers via dreams. This is something Sothis is shown to do constantly with her appearing in Byleth's near death moments, within their dreams (at the beginning of the game and later during her speech regarding Fodlan's plight. And can I say, Sothis being aware of the blood being split and awakening Byleth to explicitly put it to an end is a very much like a savior goddess). Then, in Rhea's backstory, she said that she heard Sothis' voice within the Holy Tomb (or within Enbarr) and that is what lead her to take up the name of Seiros and begin to fight against Nemesis. Sothis inspiring the creation of the Adrestian Empire through Seiros, and Byleth's place to chose the fate of Fodlan, directly correlates to Lady Isis' role as a goddess of kingship. Her protection was explicitly called upon both during the defense of Egypt and during campaigns of military conquest, and that she alone was comparable of armies of soldiers. Isis and Sothis both are also transparently related to nature. They are callers of the rains (cited in the Philae Hymns for elsewhere and in-game for Sothis) and related to bounties of the harvest. In this way, Sothis may also cross into the sphere of Osiris who was more explicitly a fertility god and the ruler of the dead/judge of souls. An interesting similarity can be called to the myth of Osiris' death and dismemberment at the betrayal of his brother Set, Isis' incomplete resurrection of her husband, and Horus' becoming king of Egypt after contending with his uncle where he avenged his father; with how Sothis herself was killed and dismembered for her power, then Seiros' creation of Adrestia (where he also chose the first king) to avenge her mother, and her inability to resurrect her due to Sothis' body being scattered and incomplete (at least, until her ib/Creststone was placed within the intact khet of Byleth). But that is an aside for now. I want to finish this off with a look of the physical similarities between depictions of Isis and Sothis. Once again from Apuleius:

"Firstly her long thick hair in tapering ringlets was loosely spread over her divine neck and shoulders, and her head was crowned with a complex garland of interwoven flowers of every kind. At the centre, over her brow, a flat disc like a mirror or rather a moon-symbol shone with brilliant light. Coiled vipers reared from the right and left of her coronet which was bristling with erect ears of corn. Her multi-coloured robe was of finest linen, gleaming here pure white, here a saffron yellow, there flaming rose-red, with a woven border flowing with flowers and fruit, and what dazzled me most of all was her jet-black cloak with its full sheen, wrapped gleaming about her, slung from the left shoulder, knotted at the breast, and sweeping over her right hip. It hung in sweetly undulating complex folds down to a tasselled fringe, and along its borders and over its surface fell a scatter of glittering stars, round a full moon at the centre breathing fiery rays. And she bore a host of emblems." To me, there are some similarities between this and the depiction of Sothis plus how Rhea dressed and Byleth's Immaculate One outfit. The floral motifs of lotus flowers, the crisp white of Sothis' mural appearance and those of Rhea and Byleth, the crowns of flowers and star motfis, the way Isis bears many emblems around her, much of it bears some similarities to Sothis. But this is not the only depiction of Isis, let me show you some visual representations. Let us compare this mural of Sothis to some depictions of Isis:

Here are two of Isis from Pompeii with one being a mural and another a famous reconstruction of a statue:

Again, while not 1:1 there are some visual similarities in design. The white linen of her dress and the cut of it are fair similar, as are the wings that are associated with nearly every depiction of Isis. To show and example from Egypt:

The fact that Sothis is shown with feathered wings in particular feels important given her other similarities with Lady Isis. Plus the throne hieroglyph that represents Isis and often often seen above her head looks exactly like the throne of Sothis as seen in the Holy Tomb. Lady Isis is also known as the "Lady of the Throne" just like how Sothis is called the "Girl on the Throne." The amount of connections between them does not feel like coincidence to me. If you want to take the Romance into account as well, both Sothis and Isis are associated with floods in that case, especially with floods that are said to be caused by their sorrow. Sothis is a savoir deity who protected and saved from Fodlan from the destruction of the Agarthans; she is said to have caused a flood in the one, possible, Agarthan account we have. Her name is Sothis, transcribed from Sopdet, lady of the blue star, who was syncretized with Isis who also became manifest within Sirius. I think I will make one more note: the Rite of the Goddess' Rebirth is transparently related to Wep Ronpet, the cosmological new year in Kemetic religious practice. Both take palace in late July (or into early August for some dates of Wep Ronpet), both are related to the rising of a particular star (the Blue Sea Star is based on Sirius, this fact), both are related to the rebirth of the world and the gods, and both are a day of celebration with family and friends. As one final aside: in Kemetic practice, worship of the gods has always been an intimate and close affair, both in antiquity and in modern practice. Gods are active and immediate presences within the world, and they are presently felt within physical parts of the world. Ra, Aten, and other solar deities are all the sun, Nut the sky, Shu the air and wind. Various "truths" about natural phenomenon could all be true at once and created a multi-facted view of existence. So Sothis having the Blue Sea Star as her "home" are acting as her spiritual double entirely makes sense within this framework. Sothis' laws are also fairly similar to the Laws and philosophical underpinnings of Ma'at; however, delving into that is outside the scope of this post. So I will need to leave things off here.

#fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem #sothis fire emblem #fe3h meta #stars rambles #i'm sorry if this feel unorganized i've been trying to synthesize my thoughts for days #sothis having all these allusions to lady isis has been very obvious to me for years #so i'm happy to have post laying it all out #and obviously this isn't the only influence #but one that i feel doesn't get talked about enough #and it's important to me #so with that #dua lady isis

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maboroshi-no · 8 months ago

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Title: Outbreak! The Fantasy Garden Battle at My Castle Artist: Mochizuki Kazuomi Source: Fire Emblem Fates Comic Anthology Side: Party Gathered and Offspring Generation (DNA Media) Story / Chapter: 7 Synopsis: Nina and Soleil disagree about what is the best between boys flirting together and girls flirting together. Scanlation: maboroshi-no

Read it here:

https://mangadex.org/chapter/2926309f-abe3-49d0-8c3e-ced691764627

I have translated this story following this request.

Aaah~ It took me a while, but I have finally finished it!

#fire emblem fates anthology #fire emblem fates #nina fire emblem #soleil fire emblem #forrest fire emblem #laslow fire emblem #niles fire emblem #fire emblem series #fire emblem anthology

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emblemxeno · 19 days ago

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I saw that my ask had gotten eaten by this hellsite, so I'll repost it again. Lucky you, I had it saved!

I think the thing that pisses me off the most about FE fans... is how much they often feel like they miss the point of the series.

"According to the developers, the Fire Emblem series' central theme revolves around the inherent humanity of the characters, who have more to them than just being chess pieces. The games also encourage a lot of individual growth and players using whoever they like the most, due to the emphasis on the humanity of the cast and the sanctity of each life. This, it seems, is sadly lost on the portion of the fandom that takes the Nintendo Hard difficulty as a reason to rigidly adhere to using characters within the lens of strategic elements based on immediate gains. Add that to how a lot of the series locks behind character potential through supports and the fandom's reluctance to actually learn more and state their opinions on it without adopting an extremely binary morality view (see below), and the community clearly enjoys the game, if for much different reasons than what the devs intended. Can't get more of a dissonance than to have a theme song loudly blare The Power of Friendship and people not understanding that the characters are humans within their own rights. Matters are not helped by virtue of people wanting to validate themselves within their "correct" opinion of the story, not taking into consideration how others may see differently or the fact that there's only losers in war for all sides, a theme that Fire Emblem Fates and Fire Emblem: Three Houses bash you on the head with." Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MisaimedFandom/FireEmblem

Like, FE has always, always been about love, bonds and the power of emotions triumphing all in a simulation RPG. The bonds of who you use, who lives, who dies, who marries who, that has been the heart and soul of the series by treating the various cast members as their own people with their own lives, will to live, and inherently diverse views on how the world works. There being so many ways to play FE and so many strategies that if you make it work, that just shows you overcoming the game's challenges; you can use Seth or Titania to solo most of their games, but just as much use Amelia or Rolf to do that if you so want to. And the difference is that while there's often restrictions for said characters, you can and often do are able to make it work by playing on those inefficiencies and use whatever strategies you can to overcome the challenges in a simulation RPG. It's inherently about subjectivity, and inherently about love, hope, and kickass swords! The broad strokes and worldbuilding of the series yet sheer richness of the story and sheer randomness for how your runs may turn out leave so much to headcanon and worldbuilding, letting YOU play the way you want to play and nobody else. It makes for a truly amazing storytelling experience that isn't rivaled by any other FE game in the series. It's inherently subjective, straight from interviews, no less:

“I think it’s because of the focus we’ve had in recent games on having you develop affinities for the characters,” Maeda says. “You choose the characters you like out of a large stable, you’ve got a lot of freedom to build them the way you like, and each player has their own characters they’re fond of.” [...] “It looks a bit like you’re moving players around in a chess match at first, but in reality, each one of them are human beings, with flesh and blood,” says Intelligent Systems director Kouhei Maeda. “As the player, you don’t want to lose them. You love them as a real person/character, and you want to make them stronger.” Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/plrmlt/i_found_a_really_interesting_interview_on_the/

NOM: So the purpose was to make it simple but fun, but what does that mean, exactly? Narihiro: When it comes to Simulation, it is actually difficult to think that there are too many visible components. Each component alone is simple, but variation increases based on the combination of these components. By combining a multitude of simple components, it means that each person can play in their own way. For example, individuals who say, “I want to fight using only female units” or, “I only want to use bows!” can play according to their own desires. (laughs) Source: https://kantopia.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/fire-emblem-path-of-radiance-staff-interview-highlights-nintendo-dream-june-2005/

FE is truly unique, special and amazing for the sheer empathy, warmth and humanity it exhibits, and it taught me to value the meaning of human life and all it values. And I'd have no problems if people actually realized how geared FE is to inherent subjectivity regardless. But that's not what happened. The FE fandom is reclusive, reactionary and territorially aggressive to even the slightest bit of self-expression or non-curative fanlore, being so utterly obsessed with being "objectively correct" they invented stuff like 'Personal Experience Means Nothing' despite the inherent subjectivity of the series and bashed anyone for having the "wrong opinion" while taking what's fundamentally a simple yet fun gameplay experience and not only tried to outright compare it to chess, but had the shitting temerity to act like they were qualified to "teach" the centralized way of playing FE at college communities. (https://twitter.com/lucky_lunatrick/status/1790562171207696517). This is a fandom that revels in excluding people while continuously gaslighting anyone who dares protest this abusive relationship (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIOI057L0g) while shitting on anyone for daring to show emotion to the story as "bad taste" (https://youtu.be/DInHAC3FIL4?si=xIWiekGECP_McfLk, https://youtu.be/p2k24l-c13w?si=BGzqZr6eGx5RO3Xa). All while they are so dedicated to "fighting misinformation" in the fandom, while being blind to their own biases in story and spewing open misinformation or misinterpretation of the story or coming up with ideas of what they're like. They take a game series fundamentally about subjectivity with many right ways and tried to make it as objective as possible with there being only "one" right way of playing the series. They took a series that bashes you on the head of the humanity of all sides yet they only see from their perspective and try to act like their side is automatically right while all others is evil. It's cartoonish how much they miss the point of the series. It's like saying My Little Pony supports Nazi beliefs like /mlpol/ tried to argue, when that's just objectively not true. Given it involves openly hacking the game for 0% growth runs or playing in blatantly rushing elements, it feels sincerely like they're playing for factually the wrong reasons, and I don't use that term genuinely. Worse, they actually think this hyper-fixation on being "objectively correct" means they can exclude others!:

>"Players feel excluded when their gameplay doesn't reflect community standards" This is a non-issue. Not everyone needs to be part of every discussion. I keep bringing this example up in these threads, but if I play Smash Bros casually and there's a competitive tier list thread going on, I don't feel the need to participate. I can read it and it's fun to learn how competitive people play and how they see the game, but at no point do I feel like I need to butt in with my uninformed opinion. The problem is people wanting to be included when they have nothing of value to say. Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/16q6tnu/how_efficiency_has_warped_the_fe_community_and/

Like, to give an idea how fucking unhinged this is; Smash Bros. is a metagame that, doubtlessly as you know, has an extremely in-depth and complicated metagame of ways to play the game and the best ways to win a match-up. Everything is usually fiercely defined by usability and with clear winners and losers. This is okay, because there doesn't need to be anything other than that, because Smash Bros. is at a competitive level on a fundamental level that doesn't need that. The skill ceiling is very high and only the best of the best will win you the day. Which is fine... but FE is a single-player strategy RPG. A game that explicitly has it so that you're strongly encouraged to play the way you want to play and emotionally invest in the characters you love, and ultimately use that gameplay to help them change their fate and earn them a happy ending through the amount of emotional investment you provide them. All while still not applying any kind of media analysis on FE or what its story means.

The fandom absolutely hates having to dig for any story context even when it's there in the game and loudly screeching at the player, because if it's not lore dumps or blatantly spoonfeeding context to the player, it's useless. People hated Fates because it so dissatisfied this completionist/"true gamer" mentality because it was emotionally unsatisfying for them because they refused to dig deeper. While 3H gets praise for them removing that fundamental self-discovery and personalization element of the series and spoonfeeding it by forcing it to the player as unsubtly as possible to tell them what they think. In almost any other fandom this would be seen as ridiculous, but the FE community is so ass-backwards they think this is good writing and gobble it up while shitting on Engage for being "back to basics" (which I didn't like like you did OP, but I respect what people love about it so much).

FE is a fandom that willfully and ignorantly twists the series's sentiments to its own self-justifying perspective while having a superiority complex over a fucking anime JRPG. And gets mad when you point out how pointless it is and only exists to be exclusionary! And I'd be fine with it if it was one sector of the fandom, but this shit is fucking everywhere. It's like if Fallout only had No Mutants Allowed as the only place to go for the fandom when you don't think the Bethesda Fallout games are the devil (well, not me and 3 anyways, that game slapped), while the shitting on people's tastes is so omnipresent it makes me wonder how anyone tolerates them IRL because they're the kinds of people who will die alone because nobody would put up with their above-average midwit brainiac egotist Brian Griffin-lookin' ahh.

Point is, while there are fandoms with a reputation as more toxic (e.g. Steven Universe pre-porn exodus, Danganronpa, Undertale, etc.), I cannot think of a fandom that's as exclusionary or downright missing the point of the series on an objective level (and again, I avoid using absolutes as much as possible!) as the FE fandom. The kicker is that people loved Fates and you consistently have luck with people who adore the story and its characters outside of these mainstream communities, but the hardcore fans are so utterly toxic they shame anyone for daring to express it despite the fact it didn't become the second best selling FE ever out of thin air. I think you cannot get more closer to missing the goddamn point of your own series than if you made a mecha show that's fundamentally anti-war and say "Wow! Cool robot!".

this was the long post, guys.

the post where i was frustrated with this website, was applied to this

#fire emblem discourse

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