#the THERAPY SWORD timeline

[luna-azzurra]

Emotionally Questionable but Artistically Valid Things To Do When You’re a Writer Losing the Plot (Literally or Figuratively)

Write your WIP’s obituary. “She lived a chaotic life, filled with plot holes, unresolved arcs, and one very confusing love triangle. She is survived by a Google Doc, 74 sticky notes, and a Pinterest board titled ‘vibes but make it pain.’” Bonus catharsis if you make it weirdly tender. Double bonus if you actually cry a little.

Make your WIP a dating profile. Age: Timeless. Location: Trapped in your brain since 2018. Looking for: A writer who won’t ghost me mid-draft. Interests: Slow burn tension, morally gray decisions, and long walks through traumatic backstory. Will it match with anyone? No. But you might remember why you fell in love with it in the first place.

Assign your plot holes a Hogwarts house. That one you keep ignoring? Slytherin. The subplot that’s doing too much? Hufflepuff with main character energy. The gaping logic error you swear you’ll fix later? Ravenclaw, but drunk. Somehow this helps. Somehow this feels like control.

Write a resignation letter from your genre. “Dear Fantasy, it’s not you, it’s me. Actually—it is you. The worldbuilding demands are emotionally abusive, and I just want to write messy little humans having conversations that ruin their lives.” You can always go back. Or not. You’re allowed to genre-hop like a chaotic frog with a laptop.

Host a fake podcast episode where you psychoanalyze your protagonist. Today on Therapy, But Make It Fictional, we discuss why Aiden cannot maintain a single healthy relationship, the consequences of childhood abandonment, and how trauma is not a personality trait (even though he tries). Record yourself. Don’t post it. Unless you do. I won’t stop you.

Put your WIP characters in a reality show. Big Brother: Emotional Damage Edition. Who cries first? Who forms a secret alliance? Who self-destructs on Day 2 because someone used their emotional trauma as a joke? (Yes, this is basically writing. Yes, this counts.)

Create an “Am I the Problem?” chart for your WIP. Spoiler: You’re not. The plot arc from hell is. But mapping it out like a true crime board will help. Use yarn. Use vibes. Use Google Slides if you’re a Virgo. Just externalize the chaos.

Write fanfiction… of your own book. That spicy scene you know you won’t put in because it messes with pacing? Write it. That “what if they shared a bed but didn’t touch” trope you secretly crave? Give in. You are your first fan. Be delulu. Be free.

Create a soundtrack for your villain’s redemption arc that will never happen. Include Lana Del Rey. Include Mitski. Include at least one angry violin solo. You don’t have to redeem them, but you can imagine them staring into the rain while “The Sound of Silence” plays.

Doodle your plot like a crime scene. Victim: Narrative Cohesion. Suspects: A surprise third act twist, a talking sword, and that one flashback chapter that broke the timeline. Go full corkboard-and-pushpins energy. You’ll either solve it or at least feel like an unhinged genius. Which is basically the same.

[friendlycursedspaceotter]

she’s an artist. she’s got DID and it’s not villainized. her armor is a bunch of tiny freaks in a trench coat. she’s good friends with one sword and traumatized another as a child but they are rebuilding that relationship. she infiltrated the mafia. her husband supports trans rights and I think she does too but this hasn’t been confirmed and probably won’t be for at least 3-5 years in our timeline. probably more. she needs therapy but was probably one of the reasons it was invented. she’s also ginger. I’m not saying who it is but you know who it is.

[spirtualitywithlumi]

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞'𝐬 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 + 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐭 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 (𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞: 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬) Pt.2

This isn’t your average love reading. This is about the one, the soul who already exists in your energetic field, even if they haven’t stepped into your life yet.(Spoiler: yes, but not in the way you think).

🌸 before you dive into part 2... make sure you’ve read part 1 so everything clicks perfectly and you don’t miss any of the details ✨

📎 read part 1 here: How Does Your Pile Contact Their Soulmate?

trust me, it sets the mood just right for what’s coming next 💌 pink skies, soft energy, and deeper truths ahead 💕

Close your eyes, take a deep breathe and pick your piles.

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 1

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 2

𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 3

🌟𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 1 : Kunzite

Kunzite is a soft pink to lilac crystal known for its healing influence on the heart chakra, and most importantly, for its energy of receptive, childlike, pure love. It’s often associated with emotional vulnerability, spiritual awakening, and protection for those who’ve been hurt but still hope.

Part 2: How is Pile 1's Soulmate Doing in the Physical World Right Now?

(Seven of Pentacles, Six of Swords, Eight of Pentacles)

Right now, your soulmate is in a phase of deep evaluation. The Seven of Pentacles is a pause between planting and harvesting. In the physical world, they are likely investing their time, energy, and focus into something they care about deeply,this could be their career, studies, a personal healing journey, or even the slow, meticulous rebuilding of a life that once fell apart. They’re not rushing. In fact, they're exhausted from rushing. The kind of relationships or dreams they chased in the past may have left them drained, and this moment in their timeline is about intentionality. They are likely working hard at something but like they’re constantly questioning: “Is this worth it?” This applies not just to their job or health, but also to their emotional investments. Who they spend time with. Who they open up to. This person has become selective. Wise. Cautiously hopeful. They want a love they don’t have to recover from.

We saw the Six of Swords in your contact cards as well, which means that both you and your soulmate are undergoing parallel transitions. They may have just moved away from something emotionally painful similar to a breakup, grief, depression, toxic family entanglement, or even a version of themselves they no longer wish to be. Physically, they could be in a new city, a different job, or a quieter environment than they were in before. They are in a liminal space as a quiet chapter between endings and beginnings. It’s not glamorous. It’s not Instagrammable. It’s just real. A part of them still aches for comfort, but another part whispers, “I’m finally healing.” This card tells us they’ve released baggage, but they still look over their shoulder from time to time.

The Eight of Pentacles confirms that your soulmate is fully immersed in their self-betterment arc. This isn’t someone waiting around for love to fix them. They’re doing the hard work: improving their craft, learning emotional discipline, reparenting themselves, or healing their body. Whether they’re training for something, practicing new habits, going to therapy, or just trying to keep their inner world tidy AND they’re committed to the long game. This is a person who doesn’t want to offer a chaotic heart to someone ever again. They’ve done that. It didn’t end well. Now, they’re focused on becoming someone they themselves can be proud of before they let anyone new in. The way they’re showing up in the physical world is quietly consistent.

“You don’t have to be perfect to be loved.”

🌟𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 2: Pink Spinel

Pink Spinel is a stone of revitalization, emotional resilience, and regaining your spark after devastation, and we get a very specific kind of soul story.......this is someone who’s been cracked open and is trying to rise,but hasn’t yet let themselves fully break in order to heal properly.

Part 2: How is Pile 2's Soulmate Doing in the Physical World Right Now?

(Five of Wands reversed, The Tower reversed, and Queen of Pentacles reversed)

This person has been mentally and emotionally overwhelmed by conflict, but instead of confronting it or letting it flow through, they may be avoiding it, suppressing it, or trying to people-please their way out of it. In the upright, this card is chaos you can name: arguments, clashing egos, internal debates. But reversed, it’s messier like the chaos is happening inside. They may have just left a toxic situation or are still mentally trapped in one perhaps a job that drains them, a family environment filled with unspoken resentment, or even a friend group that subtly competes instead of supports. Either way, your soulmate is caught in a state of quiet combat. They're pretending things are fine on the surface, but their heart feels like a crowded, echoing room of arguments that were never resolved. They’re not just dealing with others like they’re at war with their own decisions.

This is the heart of their energy right now. The Tower reversed is a refusal to let go, fear of emotional collapse, and clinging to something that is no longer safe. Your soulmate is standing in the ruins of a situation that’s already cracked,maybe a relationship, a belief system, a way of living,but instead of surrendering to transformation, they’re resisting it. Why? Because letting go feels like death. And they’re scared of what comes after. They may be experiencing symptoms of burnout, insomnia, identity confusion, or sudden waves of anxiety. Their foundations what they thought was “stable”are crumbling.

In the reversed Queen of Pentacles, love becomes obligation. Care becomes exhaustion. They’ve poured so much of their soul into holding things together for others like friends, lovers, family that now they feel used, empty, and unworthy of receiving. They may even feel guilt at the idea of resting or putting themselves first. Their body might be showing signs: fatigue, hormonal imbalance, aches, disconnection from touch or pleasure.

“You’re not broken. You’re just tired of pretending you’re okay.”

🌟𝓟𝓲𝓵𝓮 3 : Rhodolite Garnet

Rhodolite Garnet ia a crystal of both the heart and root chakra, intensifies the theme of healing after manipulation, standing up for one’s truth, and learning how to love courageously again without self-betrayal.

Part 2: How is Pile 3's Soulmate Doing in the Physical World Right Now?

(Page of Swords, Ace of Pentacles, and Five of Swords)

Your soulmate is in a mental processing phase. They’re alert, curious, and perhaps even obsessed with understanding people like reading body language, observing conversations, doing their own inner research on who is safe and who is not. This person has been through something that sharpened their intuition but also made them slightly paranoid. They're wary of false promises and fake intentions. They may be someone who listens more than they speak. They might be a loner with strong online presence like scrolling through ideas, consuming a lot of information, but keeping their personal life private. In the physical world, they could be in a learning phase: a new job, new skill, or transitioning into a new role, but emotionally? They’re trying to figure out what love actually means when it doesn’t hurt.

This is a hopeful yet grounded card. Your soulmate may be manifesting a new lifestyle, new routine, or financial stability. There’s a desire in them to not just connect romantically but to build something real,something they can touch, taste, and trust.This card also suggests they are being given or will soon receive an opportunity that changes their direction. A job offer, relocation, new passion project, or even a surprising meeting could be the seed of transformation. Spiritually, this is the universe saying: “You’ve earned a clean slate.”

They may feel guarded, defensive, or even guilty for how they’ve had to cut people off. And this guilt becomes a block to love because part of them believes that protecting their peace made them selfish. But it didn’t. It made them free. Still, they're carrying emotional residue. Their mind replays old arguments. They wonder if they could’ve fixed things. They wonder if love always comes with pain.

"I want to start over… but it has to feel real this time."

✦ do you want a personal reading like this?

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—

📩 DMs Open: @xuexing-lumi Tumblr inbox

🖤 closing words from Lumi:

We ride or die, even through the mess. 💅 — Lumi, the Moon’s Bride 🌕💋

—

(ignore):

[thinkmarkthink]

🎓 Wayne Academy Faculty List

🏫 Principal Alfred Pennyworth

Wears tailored suits. Enforces dress code with a raised eyebrow and tea with intent. Students are terrified of disappointing him. The only man in the building with absolute authority. Calls staff meetings “tea service.” Once fought a senator over arts funding. Won.

🧪 Bruce Wayne – AP Physics & Administrative Oversight

No one understands why a billionaire teaches one class a year, but he does. It’s AP Physics. It’s brutal. He never uses notes. The chalkboard is covered in equations no one understands. One time he taught class with a dislocated shoulder. Half the students have crushes on him. The other half think he’s Batman. They’re right. He denies everything.

🩰 Cassandra Cain – Dance & Movement Therapy

Her classroom is a silent sanctuary. You speak with your body. She can correct your posture with one glance. There is always soft music and bruised knees and unexpected catharsis. Once a week she does “Combat Choreo” where the dance class fights each other with foam swords. Somehow it’s still ballet.

🎭 Dick Grayson – Drama & PE

He teaches Shakespeare and backflips. Once did a monologue from Hamlet on the uneven bars. Has a “no toxic theatre kid” policy, which he enforces via somersault. The theatre department has glitter budgets and foam weapons. Gym class includes yoga, acrobatics, and the occasional obstacle course set up by Batman himself.

🖤 Jason Todd – English & Literary Analysis

His syllabus includes Frankenstein, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Catcher in the Rye, but he lets kids do their book reports via PowerPoint, cosplay, or fistfights (graded on argument structure). He says “fuck” once a week and dares the school board to fire him. Students trust him with their deepest trauma. He’s terrifying. He brings donuts.

💻 Tim Drake – Computer Science & Math

His class is a chaotic blend of hacker ethics, binary theory, and blackmail prevention. He wears mismatched socks and grades at 3AM. Has written two textbooks under a pseudonym. Can’t remember anyone’s name but knows their IP address. Every quiz ends with a trick question. His classroom runs entirely on caffeine and dread.

🎨 Damian Wayne – Visual Art & Advanced Ethics

Teaches with the rigor of a military commander and the finesse of a tiny, judgmental renaissance master. Has a sword in his classroom. Destroys students with critiques like “You are better than this. Start again.” Holds yearly gallery shows that make critics weep. Also runs the falconry club. No one’s quite sure how.

📖 Duke Thomas – History & Social Justice

His classroom is alive. Debates, documentaries, timeline murals that cover entire walls. He teaches rebellion like it’s a science. Uses pop culture to teach civil rights. Wears sneakers and button-ups. Empowers his students so much they start protests without him. Somehow the most grounded adult in the building.

🧁 Stephanie Brown – Health, Sex Ed, and Cheer Coach

Unfiltered, compassionate chaos. Teaches anatomy with a whiteboard and a vendetta. Will scream “USE A CONDOM” across a football field if she has to. Brings snacks. Once hosted a “Period Party” to de-stigmatize menstruation. Has a massive cheering squad with no tryouts. Everyone gets a glitter baton. Even Bruce.

🧠 Barbara Gordon – Guidance Counselor & Tech Integration

Her office is a haven. Smells like lavender and has two couches and three backup charging stations. She tracks every student’s grades, sleep schedule, and emotional regulation through apps she coded herself. Gives therapy through sarcasm, spreadsheets, and hugs. Knew you were having a panic attack before you did.

🛑 Bonus: Gotham Parents Association

Lois Lane is head of the PTA. Clark Kent bakes for bake sales and accidentally melts the oven. Oliver Queen funds half the school and keeps asking if they’ll name the gym after him. Harley Quinn teaches an optional Psych elective once a semester. It’s weirdly good.

[taravangians-storming-balls]

How to Write Moash - A Breakdown of Moash's Personality

A while back someone asked for some advice on writing Moash - they wanted to include him in their story, but since he’s such a divisive character they felt nervous about representing him accurately. Um. I accidentally made an entire document about it and figured I might as well share in case it's helpful to anyone else. It's long. (I'm sorry)

This is by no means exhaustive, and I’m very certain there are aspects of his personality I’m missing here, but it’s certainly a good start if you need a refresher on his personality or have never written him before. Obligatory these are my opinions and you’re free to write Moash in whatever way you wish ♥

Click here to read it in google doc format with headers and things or you can read the whole thing here below the read more:

Appearance

Might as well start here, just as a quick reference. Moash’s body type has been described as strong, lean, solid and tall. He has a narrow hawkish face, brown hair speckled with black, and a faded scar along his chin. The official figurine gives him curled, shortish length hair. His eyes are canonically dark brown that turn tan when he has his Shards, however, his eyes were accidentally described as dark green in an early release of TWoK and some people prefer to give Moash dark green eyes so you can do whatever the hell you want. Kaladin describes him as “a younger man, perhaps near Kaladin’s age”. More on that later.

Moash does not have slave brands on his forehead, and gets his Bridge Four tattoo on his left upper arm. Hot writing tip - depending on when in the timeline you’re writing Moash, you can have some fun with this tattoo. He’s no longer a part of Bridge Four, but forever will have marked in his very skin a reminder of the people he loved and then pushed away. Yippee.

General Personality / Tone

I feel like something some people forget with Moash is that he really is just some guy. Imagine a generic, grew up in a very masculine society, never got any therapy, doesn’t connect well with others DudeTM. He goes out with his friends. He's blunt. He wants the cool swords and powers. He doesn’t deal well with his emotions. He loves manual labor. Moash really is just some guy who is absolutely going through it.

In no particular order, here are some things about Moash. Some things I’ve left out of this list and only talk about in the Life Experiences section, because it’s more in the realm of analyzing than just selecting quotes to show off the things he does.

Skepticism

He didn’t expect or need their admiration. He knew what it felt like to be beaten down, despised. When you’d been treated as they had, you didn’t trust someone like Moash. You asked yourself what he was trying to get from you. (Oathbringer Ch. 51, Moash POV)

In the above quote Moash is referring to the singers he helps (Khen and Sah’s group), but to me, it’s clear he’s also talking about his own experiences. This was likely his exact internal dialog when he was busy hating Kaladin in the beginning of TWoK. Moash doesn’t trust easily, and generally needs people to prove one way or another their intentions before he accepts them. At the very least, he needs proof of what he’ll get out of a situation.

“I never promised it would work, Moash. If you’ve got a better idea, go ahead and share it.” Moash hesitated. “Well, if you really do teach us the spear like you promised, then I guess I don’t care.” (TWoK Ch. 46)

Moash has insecurities though, and can be played like a fiddle if people know where to press. Praise (of himself, his ideas, or his actions) and promises of power primarily does it for him.

He is also openly skeptical of things that don’t make sense to him and won’t hesitate to speak up about it, usually bluntly.

“Sigzil said these violet eyes of mine aren’t native to Alethkar. He thinks I must have Veden blood in me.” “Your eyes aren’t violet,” Moash said. (TWoK, Ch. 46)

This skepticism can lean pessimistic, and pops up in serious situations and normal everyday conversations.

To the side, the bridgemen turned back to work. Kaladin caught a few of them grumbling. “Bastard,” Moash said. “I said this would happen.” (TWoK Ch. 43, directly after Kaladin yells at Bridge Four that it’s hopeless and he won’t try any longer)

“Bah.” Moash dusted himself off. “He just saw a group of undefended archers and took the chance to strike. Lighteyes don’t care about us. Right, Kaladin?” (TWoK Ch. 62)

“It could have just been posturing,” Moash said, folding his arms. “Political games, him and Sadeas trying to manipulate each other.” (WoR Ch. 2, after Moash asks if Kaladin is willing to trust Dalinar)

Moash grimaced, looking at the bridgemen. “You assume some of them will be ‘more eager,’ Kaladin. They all look the same level of despondent to me.” (WoR Ch. 2)

“I think I’ll look silly in this,” Moash grumbled, but walked over to change. (WoR Ch. 2)

Trust

Moash is usually all in when he does put his trust in somebody or an idea, and it’s hard to shake him of this trust once he’s grasped it. In general, once he decides on something, it's hard to change his mind. This doesn't mean he doesn't listen - there are plenty of scenes where he listens to what Kaladin says - but it's hard to shake his worldviews once he settles on them. In any case, as soon as Moash decides he’s going to trust Kaladin, he’s immediately defensive of him and loyal.

“I’d surrendered my plans, but you’ve returned them to me. I’ll guard you with my life, Kaladin. I swear it to you, by the blood of my fathers.” Kaladin met Moash’s intense eyes and nodded. (TWoK Ch. 63)

“I have a plan,” Kaladin said. He waited for the objections. His other plans hadn’t worked. No one offered a complaint. “Well then,” Moash said. “What is it?” [...] Kaladin’s men nodded, and Moash seemed content. As contrary as he’d been originally, he had grown equally loyal. He was hotheaded, but he was also the best with the spear. (TWoK Ch. 62)

“I’ll never outrank you, Kal,” Moash said, faceplate of his helm up. “You’re my captain. Forever.” (TWoK Ch. 68)

It’s important to note that no matter how much Moash trusts someone, it won’t stop him from asking questions about what they’re doing - he won’t follow completely blindly.

Confidence

Moash acts with a lot of confidence, and will firmly state his opinions or what he thinks is true in blunt ways. Can be very confident of his own skills, and sometimes seems to take on the belief that if he just tries hard enough, he’ll be able to succeed at whatever lofty goal he has, sometimes in a way that feels boyish or naive.

“You shouldn’t speak so casually about the Fused, human,” Sah said, standing up. “They’re dangerous.” “Don’t know about that,” Moash said as two more passed overhead. “The one I killed went down easy enough, though I don’t think she was expecting me to be able to fight back.” He handed his waterskin to the overseer as she came around for them; then he glanced at Sah, who was staring at him, slack-jawed. Probably shouldn’t have mentioned killing one of their gods, Moash thought. (Oathbringer, Ch. 51)

He walked straight-backed with his chin up. Save for those dark brown eyes of his, he could have passed for an officer. (WoR, Ch. 2, Kaladin POV)

“Any man can win a Shardblade.” Moash said. “Slave or free. Lighteyes or dark. It’s the law.” “Assuming they follow the law,” Kaladin said with a sigh. “I’ll do it somehow,” Moash repeated. (TWoK, Ch. 46)

“We could swallow them,” Moash said. “You would choke. Spheres are too big, eh?” “I’ll bet I could do it,” Moash said. His eyes glittered, reflecting the verdant Stormlight. (TWoK, Ch. 55)

Questions

These trust issues, skepticism, confidence and bluntness leads Moash to asking a lot of questions and pushing back against things he doesn't get. He does seem to be genuinely curious why people do things, and was constantly theorizing why the Fused are doing certain things as he travels with the army. This isn’t scholarly curiosity, like Sigzil might have, just what feels like a need to know what’s going on. Moash isn’t afraid to walk up to nearly anyone and ask them about a situation, or why they’re doing something, no matter the position of the person he’s asking. I’d describe him as having a constant idle curiosity.

“What’d they do, anyway?” he said as he took up his rope. “What was that?” she asked, looking back at him. […] He didn’t actually expect an answer. (Oathbringer Ch. 48)

“So the gods,” Moash said, nursing his own drink, “were pleased that you solved problems on your own . . . by going to other gods and begging them for help instead?” “Hush,” Rock said. (WoR Ch. 46)

Moash strode right up to the creature. “I need to talk to someone in charge.” Behind him, Moash’s overseer gasped—perhaps only now realizing that whatever it was Moash was up to, it could get her in serious trouble. [...] Moash took a deep breath. “Can you tell me, then, why you treat your own so poorly?” (Oathbringer Ch. 54, it should be noted that Moash is a slave at this point)

To quote a Tumblr post of mine: This was 100% why he was talking to gaz in twok btw. I figure it was moments after kaladin punched moash in the stomach that he walked over like "yo where the fuck did this asshole come from"

And then, my personal favorite section which shows a lot of various Moash personality traits in my opinion:

“Something wrong, soldier?” Kaladin asked. Moash blinked in surprise at the use of the word, but he and the others had grown to expect all kinds of unorthodoxy from Kaladin. “Why did you make me leader of a subsquad?” “Because you resisted my leadership longer than almost any of the others. And you were flat-out more vocal about it than any of them.” “You made me a squad leader because I refused to obey you?” “I made you squad leader because you struck me as capable and intelligent. But beyond that, you weren’t swayed too easily. You’re strong-willed. I can use that.” Moash scratched his chin, with its short beard. “All right then. But unlike Teft and that Horneater, I don’t think you’re a gift straight from the Almighty. I don’t trust you.” “Then why obey me?” Moash met his eyes, then shrugged. “Guess I’m curious.” He moved off to gather his squad. (TWoK Ch. 30)

Defending Others/Reactiveness

When Moash is a target of hostility, he will often glare and grumble, or is snappish, but isn’t very explosive about it.

“Why do they do that?” Moash said quietly as a passing soldier tossed an overripe pile-vine fruit at the bridgemen. Moash wiped the stringy, red fruit from his face, then sighed and fell back into his stance. Kaladin had never asked them to join him, but they did it each time. (TWoK Ch. 57)

Moash climbed to his feet, rubbing his stomach and glaring at Kaladin. (TWoK Ch. 14, Moash directly after being punched in the stomach)

However, he’s very reactive when he sees something he doesn’t like, or when someone he’s attached to is being insulted.

“I’ll find a way to get them up,” Kaladin said. “You say things like that a lot,” Skar noted. “Leave off, Skar,” Moash said. “He knows what he’s doing.” Kaladin blinked. Had Moash just defended him? (TWoK Ch. 55)

The man looked him up and down. “I heard you held a bridge, practically by yourself, against hundreds of Parshendi. How’d you do that?” He did not address Kaladin with “sir,” as would have been appropriate for any other captain. “You want to find out?” Moash snapped from behind. “We can show you. Personally.” “Hush,” Kaladin said, glaring at Moash. (TWoK Ch. 5, Kaladin and Moash talking to a lighteyed Kholin guard)

The whipping began. The cries, the crack of leather on skin. That’s enough. (Oathbringer Ch. 48, Moash POV before he catches a whip to defend Khen and Sah’s group.)

He can also be fairly reactive in high stress situations.

“Would you two just storm off?” Moash snapped. “It doesn’t matter. You heard Kaladin. Even he thinks we’re as good as dead.” (TWoK Ch. 43)

Moash spat. “And this will accomplish something? Damnation, Kaladin, I feel like I’m already dangling from the noose!” (TWoK Ch. 62)

There is a balance to be found with Moash’s reactiveness, you don’t want to lean too far one way or another.

Moash moved up beside him. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You’re right.” Kaladin smiled, this time genuinely. “I’m not going to pretend I don’t hate them,” Moash said. “But I’ll be civil. We have a duty. We’ll do it well. Better than anyone expects. We’re Bridge Four.” (TWoK Ch. 5)

Power

Moash is very routinely interested in the cool shiny things, things that give him power, and basically anything new as well. In many other spots I’ve included the quotes of Moash wanting a Shardblade, and in Oathbringer POV Moash says he dreamed of one for years.

The lean man had turned immediately at the mention of Shardblades, and now watched them hungrily. (WoR Ch. 16, Kaladin about Moash)

“I’d join them in a heartbeat,” Moash said, walking up behind. (WoR Ch. 46, about lighteyes)

He’s really eager to possibly learn Kaladin’s Radiant skills, and keeps butting in while people are talking to Kaladin about it to ask if he could teach them.

“Can you teach me to do what you did?” Moash cut in. (TWoK Ch. 73)

This is veering into the next main category about his life experiences, but I theorize that at least a portion of this desire for a higher position and power is that his life continuously beats him down and disappoints him over and over, and Moash wants to feel capable of fighting back. He's had very little control in his life, and craves it. Also power is cool and I’m pretty sure Moash likes cool things.

Worldviews

Moash believes in higher structures and relies on systems working. He likes structure, and likes to fit things somewhat into their spot. It’s a funny bit of contrasting ideals in Moash’s character, that he can be so skeptical of things and yet so willing to do what he’s told and believe in the correctness of societal structures he knows. He hates lighteyes, but he believes his society would work if there were only the correct people ruling. It’s almost as if Moash has a hard time imagining another option, the way he treats it. This gives him a certain naivety or childishness to his worldviews.

“Oh, I’m happy to punish [lighteyes],” Kaladin said. “But I have no desire to take their place, nor do I wish to join them.” “I’d join them in a heartbeat,” Moash said, walking up behind. He folded his arms across his lean, well-muscled chest. “If I were in charge, things would change. The lighteyes would work the mines and the fields. They would run bridges and die by Parshendi arrows.” [...] “Eye color is not so odd a method, compared to many others I have seen. If you were to overthrow the lighteyes and place yourselves in power, Moash, I doubt that the world would be a very different place. The abuses would still happen. Simply to other people.” Kaladin nodded slowly, but Moash shook his head. “No. I’d change the world, Sigzil. And I mean to.” (TWoK Ch. 46)

Moash shakes his head no to the abuses still happening if he were in charge and made lighteyes do those less desirable jobs. It doesn’t seem like he’s envisioning a world where lighteyes are abused, necessarily, but it’s hard to say what he IS actually thinking this would look like. He seems to trust that it would all just work out, thus the naivety I mentioned earlier.

More on this in the life experiences section, but Moash lost his family support structure at a young age (parents, and then grandparents), which likely made him lean more heavily on these outside society structures. 

Adding into this section that Moash is okay with a certain amount of violence and sacrifice. He likes it when people get what's coming to them, so to speak. This is a section I want to add more thought to later, but a good way to look at it is that Moash is rather typically Alethi.

Fixation

I touched on this in the Trust subheader, but Moash tends to go all in on everything he does.

“I’ve noticed you keep training when Teft lets the other men take breaks. Dedication is good, but don’t work yourself ragged. I want you to be one of the decoys.” (TWoK Ch. 63, Kaladin to Moash)

“Let’s get those armorers and help you take it off,” Kaladin said. “No. You go to Rock’s storming feast. I’m going to the sparring grounds to practice! I won’t take this off until I can move in it naturally.” (WoR Ch. 66)

“I came to this war to get myself a Shardblade,” Moash said. “And I still mean to do it, somehow.” He blushed, then turned away. (TWoK Ch. 46)

He’ll also get fixated just on random things. When they find an emerald broam in the chasms, Moash gets really enamoured by being able to keep that specific sphere. The bridgemen find and keep an amount of spheres equal to the worth of the emerald broam, but Moash practically pouts when Kaladin says they can’t keep it.

“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Moash asked, staring at the emerald. [...] “We could get all of the spheres,” Moash said eagerly. “Even the—” “No,” Kaladin said firmly. [...] Moash looked crestfallen, but the other bridgemen were eager. (TWoK Ch. 55)

You could even consider his desire to get revenge a fixation, and I think it is, but the trauma of losing his grandparents affected him so much that I think it gets pushed into a slightly different class. I’d say that once he becomes Vyre, Kaladin becomes a fixation for Moash.

Silence

In extreme states of duress, or even just shock, Moash often times will fail to respond verbally to others talking to him. The most extreme example we see of this is in Oathbringer Ch. 45, where he goes fully nonverbal after realizing that lighteyes are still in charge of the human slaves despite the opportunity under the singers to remove them from power and stop obeying them. He responds numbly to everything happening around him, and does not respond to the question Brightlord Paladar asks Moash, even when Paladar shouts at him to speak up. Paladar orders Guff to be beaten for bringing him somebody that “has something wrong with him”, and Moash remains silent.

Old Guff cried out as they seized him. Moash just nodded. Yes. Of course. That was what they would do.

They throw Moash out, and Moash barely hears their words. There are two other minor examples that come to mind to show off this silent response Moash sometimes has. In Ch. 40 of TWoK, Moash freezes when he notices Kaladin come out of the barracks alive, and doesn’t listen when Torfin yells at him, instead ducking out from under the bridge they were practicing with wordlessly. Also in Oathbringer Ch. 45 when Guff asks if Moash was a soldier, Moash just. Wordlessly stands up and stretches to show off his uniform coat? That last one more so shows off the weird way Moash can sometimes respond to things. Guff had to squint in the darkness to see his coat. Why did he do that instead of using his words. Anyway, that brings us to:

Social Skills

Moash isn’t awkward in social situations, and like we’ve already talked about, brings an air of confidence to most things he does. As far as I can tell, he feels comfortable in social situations. He does however, have a certain … extra-ness to him? He’ll just sort of say things sometimes.

“It was the king,” Moash said. “He had my family executed.” It took Kaladin a moment to realize what Moash was talking about. (WoR Ch. 44)

Moash says this completely out of nowhere. I’m not even talking about Moash bringing up his past out of nowhere after a period of silence between Kaladin and Moash, I’m talking about “it was the king” was not connected to anything Moash was talking about in the scene prior. It’s amazing Kaladin figured out what Moash meant by this.

He stepped up to Kaladin, then knelt down on one knee, Plate clinking. He saluted, arm across chest. (WoR Ch. 68)

Did you know that, besides Szeth kneeling for people holding his Oathstone, Moash is the only person in the books to go down on one knee like this to salute a superior? Moash is just Like That I guess.

“They tried to break me. Damnation, they did break me. But then he made me again, a new man.” Moash paused. “I threw it all away.” “Sure, sure,” Guff said. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

Moash goes to find his old coworker/friend, Guff, and immediately starts waxing poetic to him about his time with Bridge Four in the most vague way possible, not really explaining anything. Moash just ignores Guff calling him weird.

Bridge Four

Moash valued the camaraderie and friendship of Bridge Four, and really attached himself to it.

“It just…” Moash said. “It didn’t feel right to go to sleep until we’d had a chance to… well, do this.” (TWoK Ch. 73, Moash talking about having Bridge Four stew around the fire after being freed)

Moash held up the patch, trying to catch the firelight for a last look, and then couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. [...] Were the others sitting around Rock’s stewpot somewhere? Laughing, joking, betting on how many mugs of ale Lopen could drink? Ribbing Kaladin, trying to get him to crack a smile? Moash could almost hear their voices, and he smiled, imagining that he was there. (Oathbringer Ch. 43)

He seemed to hang out with Bridge Four frequently for fun activities like going to the tavern, and was often a part of group activities. He brings that teasing quality to the one scene we get.

“You weigh about as much as a starved axehound, Lopen,” Moash said skeptically. (WoR Ch. 46)

Moash will often say “We’re Bridge Four” or other such chants of their name, like a thing of pride. It should be noted that this next quote is from after he ran away from Bridge Four and feels awful about it. He still feels attached enough to say this.

Orange blood coated him, steaming in the chill air. He seized his spear again, fingers slick with blood, and pointed it at the three remaining Voidbringers, who regarded him with stunned expressions. “Bridge Four, you bastards,” Moash growled. (Oathbringer Ch. 43)

Parshmen

Moash displays a lot of the casual microaggressions towards singers that many of the characters do - such as early Bridge Four interactions with Rlain in Oathbringer - including Moash referring to them as “shellheads” when speaking with other caravaneers. He doesn’t seem to display any hatred or ill feelings towards singers, but definitely was used to using parshmen in his line of work, as his caravans he worked on used parshmen frequently to pull the wagons when they weren’t using chulls. Moash frequently will just accept things as the way things are, and I imagine he never particularly gave any mind to parshmen or whether his society’s treatment of them was just. Parshmen existed, people used them because they were useful, and Moash would as well. 

Skills

The most skilled were Skar and Moash. In fact, Moash was surprisingly good. Kaladin walked to the side, watching the hawk-faced man. He was focused, eyes intense, jaw set. He moved in attack after attack, the dozen spheres giving him an equal number of shadows. (TWoK Ch. 63)

Moash is a great fighter, and proves it again and again in the books. He kills Leshwi with only a regular spear, and during the Battle of the Tower, is the only one to survive of his group defending a particularly hard section of the bridge. His dedication means he tends to learn things fast, and he has a lot of tenacity once he sets his mind to something.

It hadn’t even been a week yet, but Moash walked in the armor easily. (WoR Ch. 68, Kaladin about Moash walking naturally in Shardplate)

Kaladin normally wouldn’t have started resetting exercises until the second or third day. Yet here, Moash was drinking it in after only two hours. (TWoK Ch. 49)

Manual Labor ♥

Moash straight up loves hard, manual labor. 

The last station was the most interesting to Moash. This was for hard labor. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

I’ve been trying to keep Vyre out of this section because he’s a different beast, but I can’t not note that he says people not telling him about the marble that needed to be hauled was like “keeping sweets from a child”. Odium is taking his pain at the time, and hauling around marble and working himself all day seems to be one of the few things he genuinely enjoys doing.

In general, Moash seems to be fond of physical exercise and moving around.

“Silversmiths. I never picked up on the trade. Liked to be out walking. Going somewhere.” (WoR Ch. 44)

Moash found himself enjoying these weeks hiking and pulling his sledge. It exhausted his body, quieted his thoughts, and let him fall into a calm rhythm. (Oathbringer Ch. 48)

While he does seem to genuinely enjoy it, Moash also uses working himself hard as a way to avoid any pain or feelings he’s having. When Moash is in distress, he tends to seek it out.

Lighteyes

Moash really hates lighteyes. Obviously, probably.

With a start, Moash realized that the man had pale green eyes. Yet he still raised his hand and volunteered to carry water—something that had once been parshman work. Well, that was a sight that couldn’t help but brighten a man’s day. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

They’ll need to press the people into this, Moash thought. Maybe they can round up some lighteyes and make them trudge across the rock like beasts of burden. He’d like to see that. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

When he has his own light eyes, Moash is firm in insisting he’s not a lighteyes.

“Everstorm tonight, Brightlord. We were given a half day off, in celebration.” “I’m not a brightlord,” Vyre said, checking the sky. (RoW I-4)

He does seem capable of respecting lighteyes however, if they prove themselves. He talks highly of Graves, and uses the fact that Graves married a darkeyed women to help prove to Kaladin that Graves doesn’t treat people differently based on their eye color. Moash comments in Oathbringer that he used to admire how refined Graves seemed.

Extra Bits

Moash painted his Shardplate blue with red accents, and then later got a custom made uniform that looks like a Bridge Four uniform but it’s black and red. Do with this what you will.

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He sticks his hands in his pockets to walk around a lot. In general he has laid back mannerisms, such as scratching his chin, shrugging casually, or resting his elbows on his knees.

-

The caravaneer salute is visually close to a rude gesture, and apparently they squabble a lot like a family. Moash probably fit in pretty well, even if he didn’t make good friends. It’s also fun to note that caravaneers have a distinct accent. Does Moash have this accent, or does he not for some reason? Does he suppress it? It’s a fun thing to add into writing.

-

“You did it, Kaladin!” Moash exclaimed. “You found the secret. We need to make this work. Expand it.” (TWoK Ch. 62)

“Your eyes are really changing.” “Yeah,” Moash said. “But I’m not one of them, you hear me? I’m one of us. Bridge Four. I’m our . . . secret weapon.” (WoR Ch. 68)

There is something about these two lines that are connected in my brain. I don’t know what it is, but it’s important. Something about Moash’s use of secret in these scenes reads as so boyish and endearing to me.

-

“Now, there’s a soldier!” the quartermaster said with a laugh. “Still think you look silly?” He gestured for Moash to inspect his reflection in the mirror on the wall. Moash fixed his cuffs and actually blushed. Kaladin had rarely seen the man so out of sorts. “No,” Moash said. “I don’t.” (WoR Ch. 2)

Moash has a praise kink. Sorry but I’m not wrong.

He isn’t a total asshole, actually

This section is because the way Fuck Moashers write Moash pisses me the fuck off. Moash is gruff, he can be a bit of a bitch, but he’s not a monster. Here are some random quotes of Moash being normal and caring about people.

They were joined by Moash; despite the latter’s protests that he didn’t trust Kaladin, he looked almost as concerned as the other two. [...] “You did this for us,” Moash put in. “We’d have died on that field. Perhaps as many as died in the other bridge crews. This way, we’re only going to lose one.” (TWoK Ch. 34)

Moash stepped in. He wore his Shardplate, as always. “Storms, Kal. Were you asleep? I’m sorry!” “No, I was awake.” “In the darkness?” Kaladin shrugged. (WoR Ch. 77)

“Idolir and Treff?” he asked. “We lost them,” Moash said, growing solemn. “We did two bridge runs while you were unconscious. Nobody badly wounded, but two dead. We…we didn’t know how to help them.” (TWoK Ch. 40)

He barely had time to take a fresh breath of air as the bridgemen reached him, calling out with joy, nearly tackling him in their excitement. “You fool!” Moash said. “You storming fool! What was that? What were you thinking?” (TWoK Ch. 62)

“Head back and get some sleep,” Kaladin said. “You too, Bisig. I saw you on shift this morning.” “And you?” Moash asked Kaladin. [...] Moash raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got to be at least as tired as I am, Kal.” [...] “Then you’ll get some sleep?” Moash asked. (WoR Ch. 22, Moash encouraging Kaladin to sleep.)

Moash rarely glanced in their direction without finding one of them being beaten, yelled at, or abused. Moash’s heart wrenched to see and hear this. [...] His sledge soon caught up to the parshman crew. The two sledges walked side by side for a time, and Moash liked to think that keeping pace with his crew could motivate the poor parshmen. (Oathbringer Ch. 48)

Life Experiences and How That Influences Him

A lot of this becomes speculative as opposed to the above section that was just commenting on directly what we see in the text, but hopefully it’s clear enough what is directly from the book and what is me theorizing based on what we know.

Childhood is important, so lets talk about why Moash is fucked up. Moash lost both of his parents at an undisclosed, young age, and his grandparents raised him. His grandparents were 75 when they died, so Moash was raised by people fairly old. This can have all sorts of fun effects on Moash that you can add into your writing if you so choose. Moash might be familiar with certain pain medications he’d pick up for them, or maybe he’s used to speaking at a louder volume. Moash seems to be aware of how fragile they were.

“You doubt that sending a seventy-five-year-old couple to the palace dungeons is a death sentence?” (WoR Ch. 44)

Moash’s grandparents are also second nahn, which puts him at an interesting and also probably confusing spot in his society to navigate - important, nearly as much as the lowest lighteyes, but still not a lighteyes.

Before we go further we need to talk about Moash’s age. This is all speculation, because we don’t know more than that single line I quoted from Kaladin in the Appearance section earlier. “Younger man” could probably mean anything in your 20s, as low as 18. Kaladin is about 21 in WoR, and if Moash is near Kaladin’s age, I’m going to assume they’re within five years of one another. We also know that Roshone shows up in Hearthstone near the end of 1166, so by those parameters, Moash was anywhere between 10 and 18 when his grandparents were killed.

Personally, I think he needs to have been at least fifteen, because not only is Moash going on caravan trips and working at that point, but he also is completely on his own after their death and I just can’t imagine that for anyone younger than fifteen.

That’s extremely young to be dealing with the sudden death (and practical murder by your own government!) of the people that raised you, after already losing your parents at a younger age. It’s no wonder he didn’t process it well. On top of that, it doesn’t seem like he had any other support structure, and likely no one helped him through those feelings after finding them dead when returning home from a caravan trip. As of WoR, it is eight years since Moash’s grandparents passed, and he still seemed tense and angry about it when telling Kaladin what happened to him. He clearly hasn’t done much healing.

This event was huge in shaping who he is, and is important to keep in mind when writing him. Possibly even more important however, is this feeling of being alone and unwanted.

Huddled groups of people regarded him with hostility, even though he was just another refugee. He’d always been met with hostility, no matter where he storming went. A youth like him, too big and obviously too confident for a darkeyes, had been considered a threat. He’d joined the caravans to give himself something productive to do, encouraged by his grandparents. They’d been murdered for their kindly ways, and Moash … he’d spent his life putting up with looks like that. A man on his own, a man you couldn’t control, was dangerous. He was inherently frightening, just because of who he was. And nobody would ever let him in. Except Bridge Four. Well, Bridge Four had been a special case, and he’d failed that test. Graves had been right to tell him to cut the patch off. This was who he really was. The man everyone looked at with distrust, pulling their children tight and nodding for him to move along. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

Okay so let’s unpack all that. Joining the caravans “to give himself something productive to do” screams troubled childhood to me, and it sounds like Moash has always had a hard time making real friendships outside of Bridge Four. Moash seems to be ostracized even from other darkeyes and a common target for hostility, and even Kaladin targeted Moash, choosing him of all the bridgemen to punch in the stomach and throw over his shoulder. There were likely a million little things Moash found himself in trouble for throughout his life, his fault or not.

He slid his knife from his side sheath—he still wasn’t used to being able to carry one that long. A knife that was too big could get you into trouble as a darkeyes. (Oathbringer Ch. 43)

It makes sense then why Moash is so standoffish, bristly, and distrustful of others. When everyone you meet immediately brings this hostile or defensive energy, you learn to expect it and guard yourself by being defensive first. Of course, then it becomes a vicious cycle. If there is one thing about Moash, it’s that he loves a vicious cycle. This is a fun thing to include in your plots - make that boy a target of abuse! Make him expect the worst from people until proven otherwise, and in turn people expect the worst from him.

Note that Moash lies to himself, and is good at burying his feelings in layers. If this is just who he is, it helps cover the pain of his life, because then it wouldn't have been possible for his life to have played out differently. Moash rationalizing away pain that he can’t handle feeling is something to keep in mind while writing him. As touched on above, Moash lost his support structures, and he never seemed to really learn how to process his emotions well.

Moash doesn't have a particularly high opinion of himself, likely due to all this bullshit.

“I always do that,” Moash whispered. “Why must we always take something precious, Guff, and find ourselves hating it? As if by being pure, it reminds us of just how little we deserve it. I held the spear, and I stabbed myself with it.…” (Oathbringer, Ch. 45)

Until a specific point in Oathbringer (we'll get to it) he views himself as defective compared to others, but it's important to separate how Moash views his skills and how Moash views himself. One of these things he is confident in, and will train hard until he's very skilled, the other is stuck in this belief that its inevitable that he'll fuck things up, and that is simply “the way that he is”. There is a thing that can happen when you find yourself frequently alone, where you simultaneously hold the belief that you’re better than everyone else and also a piece of shit at the same time. Moash doesn't want people to see things bother him, hell, he doesn’t want himself to know he’s bothered by it, and so he battles this with overconfidence, which is also backed up by him being genuinely good at practical skills. 

It's very possible that he was beginning to feel good about himself as he existed for longer in Bridge Four, as he had companionship and people who trusted him and respected his abilities, but after the betrayal it would send all these feelings crushing back down as we can see in his Oathbringer POVs.

Moash looked down at his Shardblade, the wealth of nations, the most valuable possession a man could own. Who am I kidding? he thought. Who did I ever think I was kidding? (Oathbringer Ch. 43, directly before Moash decides to fight Leshwi with a spear instead)

Side note - if he hasn't had very many friendships or people he feels he can be vulnerable with, that helps explain why he doesn't always navigate friendships elegantly and has trouble connecting with others. I also feel the need to note that I have a personal headcanon that Moash is autistic, but that’s not what this document is about so I’m not going to go into it. All the pieces to that are in here though, so you can form your own opinions.

Oathbringer

So Moash has been let down in his life, over and over and over and over again. Everything he tries to do goes wrong, including joining the military, as he gets sent to the bridge crews instead. After the next string of mistakes, Moash finds himself again a slave, but this time under the singers. The world appears to be ending, and Moash is desperately clawing for something to believe in or to relieve the pressure of his pain. Moash thinks he finds it in the fact that under the singers, lighteyes and darkeyes are finally put on the same level, and the lighteyes no longer have power.

Then this too, gets shattered. That’s when we see Moash have a severe crisis, and we get that mentality shift that’s important to inspect if you’re writing Oathbringer Moash.

He wasn’t broken. All of them were broken. Alethi society—lighteyed and dark. Maybe all of humankind. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

Moash still believes himself a piece of shit, but now everyone else is too. He truly has nothing left in this moment, nothing to believe in. He is isolated, without friends or guidance or help. The world has done nothing for Moash, so he becomes disillusioned. Note that immediately after this, Moash does a classic Moash move of avoiding his feelings and seeking out something that will help numb him - this time, hard labor. My favorite thing when writing Moash is to play around with the various things he uses to avoid feeling his feelings. He is set up to be particularly susceptible to what Odium offers.

They told him to stay away, but Moash barely heard. He picked himself up, dusted himself off, then walked to the third of the work stations—the one seeking hard laborers. (Oathbringer Ch. 45)

Moash often fishes for a reason why things are happening, a justification for why it’s all going wrong. Moash also needs a structure to believe in, and so he flips to giving all his admiration to the singers, who comparatively, have treated him pretty okay thus far. More importantly, the singers aren’t humans, who have done nothing but disappoint him.

And he goes all in. Like he tends to. Boy doesn't do things halfway.

“Stop it!” he snapped, then shoved the other overseer aside. “Don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re becoming like us.” The two overseers stared at him, dumbfounded. “You can’t abuse each other,” Moash said. “You can’t.” (Oathbringer Ch. 48)

Moash needs there to be something good in the world, and he’s latched onto this idea that maybe the singers could be that, and Moash fights to try and keep this world view from shattering too. It’s not really about the singers, it’s about them not being the people who have hurt him over and over.

Hopefully this breakdown of his thought processes is helpful for creating your own disasters for Moash to go through.

Plot You Might’ve Forgotten

Bridge Four doesn’t know why Moash left at the end of WoR. 

Moash had been the closest to Kaladin, but he wasn’t in Bridge Four any longer. Kaladin hadn’t said what Moash had done, only that he had “removed himself from our fellowship.” Kaladin got stiff and unresponsive whenever Moash’s name was mentioned. (OB Ch. 35, Sigzil POV)

I don’t know how Kaladin got away with just not telling anyone, but apparently that’s what happened. Sometime between Oathbringer and RoW people seem to be aware of it, or are at least aware that Moash killed Elhokar in Kholinar. Still unclear if they know about WoR events, though a line from Adolin in the court scene in RoW implies at least he knows about Kaladin’s struggle with deciding to kill Elhokar with Moash or not. 

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Kaladin betrayed Moash. The timeline goes as such: Moash tells Kaladin about his grandparents, and Kaladin puts it together that Moash was behind the shitty attempt on Elhokar’s life. Moash convinces Kaladin to meet with Graves, and Kaladin is not on board for the regicide. Kaladin meets with Graves, and is still not on board for regicide and tells Moash not to meet with them anymore. Kaladin is making plans to round up Graves and his men, but oops Kaladin gets thrown into prison after Whitespine Uncaged. Now Kaladin IS on board for regicide because he got too sad in prison. Kaladin gets wishy washy, but does continue to give Moash the green light. It’s not until literally the last moment that Kaladin is like “wait! Moash we have to get revenge on Roshone instead actually” and understandably so Moash is like “wtf is wrong with you.” It's important to note that Moash breaks Kaladin’s ribs after that, so he definitely wasn’t an angel or anything.

If you want to headcanon that Moash was going to kill the king anyway whether Kaladin agreed to it or not, that’s up to you, but Moash before now wasn't in the habit of lying to Kaladin and he insisted he wouldn’t. He’s been honest the whole time when Kaladin asks.

Kaladin frowned. “Have you still been meeting with them?” Moash looked away. “Only once. To assure them that you’d come around.” (WoR Ch. 56)

-

Moash got put into the bridge crews for no reason. Remember that thing I said about him continuously being a target of abuse?

“You joined up assuming they’d make you a spearman, didn’t you?” Kaladin asked. Moash hesitated, then nodded. “Some of those who joined with me did become soldiers, but most of us got sent to the bridge crews.” (TWoK Ch. 46)

Interesting to note that he tried to run away.

“This plan of yours had better work, lordling. Last time I ran away, I got a beating. I was told if I tried again, I’d get a slave’s mark instead.” (TWoK Ch. 46)

-

Moash did not kick that kid. It’s very important to me that you know this. He did kick Lift though that one did happen.

Relationships

Just a brief overview of people Moash has interacted with.

Kaladin - All of ThatTM. They’re foils, they’re best friends, they’re rivals, their fates are bound together, whatever.

Elhokar - Also All of ThatTM.

Bridge Four - Rock pats him on the back, Sigzil and Moash were the biggest haters, Moash jokes with Lopen, etc etc.

Graves - Moash respects him, despite being a lighteyes. Then he dies.

Danlan - The only human woman Moash knows? She was working with Graves to kill Elhokar and is in the meeting Moash brings Kaladin to. They never directly spoke.

Rill - Mercenary working with Graves. He worked as a mercenary on some of the caravans Moash worked on, and is apparently the one that initially approached Moash after Moash was freed to connect him with Graves. This implies Moash probably did a lot of loud complaining about Elhokar while he was working the caravans after his grandparents passed.

Guff - The man Moash asks about after spotting caravaneers in Oathbringer. He’s a wheelwright, and used to work with Moash. I’m not sure of their relationship - Moash starts pouring his heart out to him immediately, but it’s unclear how familiar their relationship is since Guff doesn’t seem particularly caring towards Moash. Moash doesn’t try to seek him out again.

Uncle - Moash apparently used to run caravans with his uncle “as a youth”, but appears to not consider him family. My belief is that Moash’s uncle is the one who got him started in working the caravans.

Ana/Da - Moash’s grandparents. Moash describes them as kindly, and they ran their own silversmith shop. They were second nahn. “The only family he ever had”. Unclear if Ana and Da are their real names, or Moash’s name for grandma and grandpa.

Parents - Moash never mentions his parents except the one time - that they died when he was a child. He was likely pretty young when this happened.

Leshwi - Leshwi thinks he’s silly

Khen / Sah / the other singers - Moash catches a whip and punches somebody in the face for them, so that’s pretty cool. Moash teaches them how to fight with spears so they have something of a chance in the Kholinar siege to be promoted afterwards as Leshwi promises, and they seem somewhat reverent of Moash after he becomes Vyre.

Odium - drug dealer and boss combo. Has seen Moash’s gay thoughts for Kaladin. Appears to Moash as a singer, not human.

Jam - Moash rode in Jam’s caravan to travel to the Shattered Plains to join the military. Kaladin also knew a Jam in Hearthstone. Same Jam? I dunno.

Abrobadar - Moash got this guy’s Shardplate from the duel. Just putting this here because I worked hard to puzzle this out based on Plate color and so I’m gonna bring it up as often as possible. Especially because Abrobadar’s name is stupid.

Gavinor - Moash doesn't kick him. Gav wants to kill Moash anyway the little bitch

Vyre

Sorry I’m not going to finish this section right now, come back later.

[rottenpumpkin13]

How much do AGS fair when Zack excitedly announces that he’s going to be a daddy? How does everyone else?

Oh, and were the Turks or Kunsel first to start the betting pools? :o

 

*sending absolutely not a bribe cookies*

(@violetinkclouds)

*Zack bursts into the room, proudly wearing a bright yellow t-shirt that reads "#1 Father" in Comic Sans, glitter glue obviously involved*

Zack: GUYS. Look what I have!! It goes perfectly with my new identity! Aerith and I decided to level up our relationship!

Angeal: OH MY GOD NO—NO NO NO!

Genesis: ZACKARY. YOU ARE A CHILD.

Sephiroth: Congratulations on your fulfillment of heteronormative domestic aspirations.

*Angeal immediately drops like a sack of potatoes and begins violently sobbing*

Zack: What, so I can't become a dad just because I'm "young" and "irresponsible" and "once lost my sword for two weeks and used a broom instead"? TOO LATE. Baby's already here and Reno's on babysitting duty!

Genesis: YOU IMPREGNATED HER AND SHE ALREADY GAVE BIRTH??? WHAT IS THE TIMELINE HERE, IS SHE A SUMMON??

Sephiroth: You left your offspring with Reno? A man who has smoked things that aren't even legal in the Gold Saucer? That's—OW, OW, Angeal stop clinging to my leg, you're cutting off circulation—

*Angeal is ugly sobbing, face smashed into Sephiroth's thigh like it's a therapy pillow*

Zack: Listen! So what if Reno's nanny-ing? I just wanted Angeal to meet his grandkid. You guys can all be uncles! Uncle Gen, Uncle Seph, maybe even Uncle Tseng—

Genesis: NO. NO, I REFUSE. I AM NOT SIGNING UP FOR PTA MEETINGS OR CHANGING DIAPERS.

Sephiroth: Angeal? My friend? Genesis, he's stopped blinking. He's vibrating. Why is he vibrating?

Genesis: Zack, you buffoon, this is catastrophic. Think of the logistics. R&D will have your head. Where will you even put the child? The barracks? You are a FATHER now. And Angeal is a GRANDFATHER. I NEED A SEDATIVE.

Sephiroth: Oh! Angeal has found a snack. Genesis, help me unhinge his jaws from his own shirt.

Zack: You're all being so dramatic. Look! Reno's here with the baby! :)

*Enter Reno casually wheeling in a tiny stroller with a tiny succulent snuggled inside*

Genesis:

Reno: Yo. Kid's asleep. Didn't cry once. Kinda proud of him. We shared a juice box earlier, he's chill.

Zack: There's my little tyke!

*Angeal has passed out on the floor, one hand still gripping Sephiroth's boot like a lifeline to sanity*

Sephiroth: Your child is beautiful, but I fear Angeal requires medical evacuation.

Genesis: It's like everyone snorted crack.

[kbookblurbs]

Wind and Truth - Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive #5)

4/5 - midseason-finale ass book; he needs to scrap this editor; this book simply never ends

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!! LIKE FIRST LINE!!!

We finally come to the end of the first arc of the Stormlight Archives and they are going to need a new name. Before we dive in, I want to clarify that I did enjoy this book! I think it tackled a series of very hard-to-conclude plotlines in a relatively good way, and I think it sets Sanderson up for success in the latter half of this series. With that said, I'll be splitting this review into four parts:

Kaladin, Szeth, & therapy speak

The Spiritual Realm plot

Azir

Book mechanics

Kaladin, Szeth, & Therapy Speak

Now first of all, anyone who's read anything I've written knows I love Kaladin - he's one of my favorite characters of all time and his journey through depression is one of my favorite parts of this series. That said. I find the whole timeline of this healing to be highly suspect, and his attempts at therapizing embarrassing at best and deeply annoying at worst. What context is there for him to go from literally attempting suicide in the last book to semi-competent therapist in no time at all? Need I remind Sanderson myself that there is no time skip between the end of RoW and WaT?

The language is also just bafflingly modern in a way that nothing in this series has been before, but we'll get to more on that later.

The flip side of this criticism is that Szeth's plotline was easily my favorite of the book. His completed arc might rise to rivaling Kaladin's (thus far) in terms of how much I enjoyed it. His backstory is so tragic (slay for the almost successful military coup though?) and I truly believed he wasn't going to make it through the book until the very last page. His moments with his father, in the past and present, brought me to tears more than once.

The Spiritual Realm Plot

This whole plotline took too long and frankly, it was boring. Watching Shallan slay her demons for the umpteenth time and deal with Formless again and kill her mother again was, and this may be controversial, not a very interesting plot point to me. She's done all this before. I feel that this book, as a whole, gave diminishing returns on her pagetime to character development ratio. I also don't feel that Shallan, with all her everything else, needed a Herald as a mother as another twist, but maybe that will be more relevant in the future. For that reason, and that reason only, I'll bite my tongue on criticizing it unnecessarily

While it was nice to see Renarin and Rlain get together, I have to admit that Renarin's POV didn't add much for me. I think Sanderson could have written the entire plotline for these two from Rlain's perspective and it would've been far more interesting since he is, in my opinion, the more interesting character between the two of them. Renarin's POV does not reveal anything that isn't already clear from other POVs.

I also just wanted more of Ba-Ado-Mishram. She was haunting the story but not present. I understand that's likely for later plot reasons, but it did make this section drag. Dalinar contributed to that but  we don't have time to get into that right now. I was happy he died though (long overdue, in my opinion).

Azir

Adolin #1 character of all time? The only one to save their assigned city and did it with 0 Radiants and the power of friendships? Nobody is doing it like him.

I loved the founding of the Unoathed and, particularly, Yanagawn's development. I'm really hoping that Yanagawn becomes a more important character in next major arc, since he was so sweet here.

I did not love that we spent probably 25% of the book in Azir fighting battles. Contrary to the opinion of Sanderson many fantasy authors, there is an upper limit on how many battles you can include before I get tired of reading them. There's only so many ways you can swing a sword or block a pike etc etc before I'm bored.

Book Mechanics

Overall, I find this concluding book to be much weaker than the other 4 in the series. Whereas it had seemed that the pacing was improving in Oathbreaker and Rhythm of War, here we were back to all over the place. While I liked that he split the plot into each day leading up to the contest, the timeline genuinely made no sense.

Beyond that, this entire book was filled with oddly YA-style prose that has never appeared in the Stormlight Archive until now. I think whoever edited this book must be different from the other four because, in my opinion, it was much too modern, not as tight, and frankly, not as good. And I know this might be controversial, but I did not think Maya calling Adolin a slut was funny. Why would she even use that word? Whore or prostitute would've been acceptable because they've been referenced here before but I found that example and others like it to be jarring.

Conclusion

I liked this book, but it's by a longshot my least favorite in the series. It was too long and frankly, some of the characters didn't even sound like themselves. I know that Sanderson can do better than this, but it leaves me a little wary for the next arc.

There's lots here I didn't cover (Jasnah my beloved, Sigzil! I'm in mourning) but this was already quite long. DMs / ask box are always open if you'd like to chat more.

[touchofhemlocktea]

An Undeserved Second Chance

A soulmate au dc x dp ficlet

Jordan Fenton-Masters had said many times that the future that never will be was a haze for him. He was so lost in grief and rage that everything blended together.

It was perhaps a fitting price for his sins that one moment remained stunningly clear, the moment he'd slaughtered his own soulmate.

Gotham had been one of the last places standing in the end. Some would think that the Supers, Atlanteans, or Amazons would have stood longer, but Jordan had treated them as the real threats they were.

Most of the Lady's protectors had lasted up to that point as well. The Blue one had been unlucky enough to be with his gaggle of Titans when they made their futile last stand.

But this was about one particular protector, wasn't it? A revenant helmeted in Crimson with holy swords in his soul.

In Gotham's final stand, the Revenant Prince had witnessed each member of his clan be picked off one by one.

Maybe it was fitting he was the last one.

The Revenant had lost his helmet at some point during their battle. Those annoying blades of his had eventually shattered under Jordan's assault.

Then it happened.

Jordan had gpne to pick up the broken figure by their neck, intending to throw them off the building they had ended their battle on. The moment Jordan made contact, a burning sensation had spread through them both.

A collar of thorny blood blossom bloomed around the Revenants throat. The Soulmark was beautiful to behold in hindsight, yet at the time, he had only felt a brief moment of disgust at being tied to such a weak creature.

On his own palm, a phoenix scorched into existence, tail wrapped possessively around his wrist.

There has been a blindingly fast flash of emotions from the undead in front of him. A brief flash of instinctive joy crushed by all consuming despair.

He hadn't even tried to beg.

The marking had only given him a moments pause, though. He reveled in the despair of the man as his broken body was impaled on Jordan's fist, the proto-core shattered, and heart crushed in a single move. He had laughed as his new soulmark went cold and dark.

...

Jordan didn't know what brought him to Gotham. He had served his allotted time in Clockwork's service. He was attending mandatory therapy sessions in the Far Frozen. He called both the Fentons and Masters at least once a week. He was free.

....

I just realized I have no idea what timeline I'm doing here. So I'm leaving this here..

[rei-ismyname]

Jean Grey kills God

It's the very end of the First Krakoan Age and it's up to Jean and Phoenix to fight the final boss. An apex AI God made by Nathaniel Essex - Enigma, the Dominion. Good thing they're freshly resurrected and full of Phoenix juice! In another timeline, The Phoenix killed a whole bunch of Dominions so he invited them ALL to help kill them.

Luckily, they only showed up to tell him he sucks and to wish Jean well. It's a nice moment, as this arrogant jerkoff is given the opportunity to learn a lesson. You won the game bro! Why are you terrorising mortal and linear beings? There'd be no fight if you didn't start it. Alas, he's too much of a God to remember being human and too human to enjoy being a god. Fear, power and hate is all that drives him.

Enigma isn't very happy about that, cursing his brethren as they bail to do God shit. Still, he's incredibly powerful and has mastery of all space and time. He doesn't have to worry about retconning himself, so he plans to do that to Jean or anyone else he feels is necessary. MF will kill Stan Lee's parents while replacing X-Men #1 with a random issue of Maxim, or worse. It's a chase through time with everything on the line!

He explains it pretty well as we shift into his POV. He's unraveling pieces of Jean's history to undo or subvert her - the omnitemporal equivalent of smothering her in the cradle while pulling every thread on her sweater. With every change he makes Jean spots it and undoes it.

He tries to prevent her going to Xavier's school. Overwrites Maddie with Jean at the point she gives the ultimatum. Delays discovery of Emma's 'psychic therapy' until much later. Replaces her younger self with a clone of himself. He even changes the Progenitor's judgement from fail to pass. Everything that led to this moment is on the chopping block but Jean is keeping up.

Enigma turns the sun into a Red Giant as he prevents humans from ever existing. There's no lengths he won't go to for victory. Jean catches them all, but he's tweaking everything, everywhere, everywhen. All Jean's history, all X-Men history, all living history. Evil only has to win once and everything is gone forever.

Luckily, Chuck is making a good decision for once. He convinces Moira to betray Enigma (it's really complicated), robbing him of his omnitemporal advantage and forcing him into a straight up fight. If he was from 2011 instead the 19th century, he'd say 'come at me bro.'

Jean and Phoenix don't give a fuck, standing tall against this obscene abomination with all the backup in the world. Drawing power from all the X-Men that ever lived, could live, or will live they declare 'you can't stop us all.' X-MEN THEME DOT EM PEE FOUR 🐦‍🔥🐦‍🔥🐦‍🔥

That's right you punk bitch. What have you got against the Phoenix with infinite Wolverine claws? Nothing. Desperate denial and delusions. Stabbity stab. Get Phoenix'd idiot!

Enigma does not die. Jean and Phoenix leave him at the moment of death, screaming forever. In every millisecond in every dimension and timeline that ever was or ever will be, screaming forever. His corpse fragments strewn across timespace of this reality, a symbol of victory and a warning to any other cosmic predators. His head on a spear saying 'fuck off, this is under our protection.' Go Jean!

The battle won, Jean and Phoenix return to ordinary time and space. 'Now,' if you like. To their lover's side, who never doubted them for a second. I wonder if she did tell Scott later. An abridged version, most likely, or perhaps a psychic projection of the experience. To celebrate - one last Krakoan party. The warriors put down their swords and dance, hug, kiss and all the rest. Except for Chuck, who's on pretty much everyone's shit list. Oh well, nothing like a Shi'Ar party.

[pikapeppa]

Year-End Writer's Roundup: 2024 edition

It’s that time of year, writer friends: time to take stock of what we’ve been up to this year! Tagging to literally ANY AND ALL WRITERS who would like to participate — seriously, if you write and you see this, please take this as an invitation to fill it out! — but I’ll throw down some tags from the top of my head: @contrivedchaos @iamcayc @midnightacrobat @elveny @johaerys-writes @crackinglamb @alyssalenko @vorchagirl @auntie-coagulant @sweetorangepoptart @himluv @mwasaw @varric-tethras-editor and GENUINELY anyone else who wants to join in!

Words written (published or not, WIPs totally count too!!): 882 674. A decrease compared to previous years, but there is a good reason for this (even though I need to keep reminding myself that it’s a good thing) — more details below.

Smut scenes: 44 — similar to the past few years.

New things I tried:

I wrote a fully-fledged poly ship for the first time with Halsin, Astarion and my Tav, complete with feelings and all! I’ve written sexual-only threesomes/moresomes before, but this is the first time I’ve had there be actual romance as well as sex. 

Significant M/M sexy time, including anal sex. I probably won’t write anal sex again for personal reasons, but I’m glad I dabbled at least.

I wrote something that I do not intend to post publicly, purely just for me. More on this later.

Fic I spent the most time on: 

My Astarion/Tav fic, just based on sheer number of words alone.

Fic I spent the least time on:

My Zoro/Reader fic, Relentless. These three chapters came together (HUEHUE) so quickly based on the sheer force of Zoro thirst. NOTHING LIKE THAT THREE-SWORD STYLE TO GET US WANTING HIS FOURTH SWORD 🤣

Favourite thing I wrote: 

This is tough this year aaaaaaaa. The Teia/Viago fic was one that I’d been wanting to write since 2020, and I’m grateful to the Veilguard hype for resparking that flame and making it happen. I LOVED writing all of my Halsin smut because Halsin just makes me SO CRAZY (I genuinely think he might be the one singular videogame boyfriend I’ve felt the most feral about). My Rolan/Tav fic felt like it was born from a very bright spark of inspiration, and I had a fun few weeks just blasting through writing that. 

But my #1 fave thing to write might have been the One Piece Sanji/OC fic that I am not planning to publish. Not publishing means there’s been no pressure to “make it good” or to figure out every detail of timelines/lore/OC backstory etc, so I can just do whatever I want. And that freedom to just make the fic mine, for me, has been really valuable this year. 

Favourite thing I read: 

Oh fuck, I read basically nothing this year HAHAHA. But I did read this one Sanji/Nico Robin smutfic that I REALLY loved. And I absolutely devoured a novel by one of my fave authors (Grown Ups by Marian Keyes) during our mini-vacay to Florida in February.

Writing goals for next year: 

My only goal for the coming year is this: to write only what I really WANT to write.

This probably sounds obvious, but it’s a whole thing that’s tied up with expectations of myself and self-worth and blah blah blah, so the rest of this post will be a bit of a personal essay that you can feel free to pass on HAHA.

I started therapy last year, and I’m in the part of my “therapy journey” now where one of the things I’m working through is the fact that I hold unhealthily high expectations of myself in basically every realm of my life. I force myself to suppress/compartmentalize/ignore my own feelings because I prioritize other people’s feelings over my own, and I spend a lot of my time focusing on things that I think I “should” be doing, at the expense of my own comfort levels/needs/physical or mental health etc. (ELDEST SISTER SYNDROME ANYONE?) And unfortunately, over the years, this way of operating has insidiously snuck its way into my writing.

When I first started writing fanfic in 2017, the writing was entirely born from an overwhelming desire to just get out this story in my head and make it a reality. I started writing for no other reason than because I wanted to. But as time went on and I gained a lovely following of readers, I started prioritizing my readers’ desires over my own. In particular, I’ve gotten too caught up by the idea of being That Writer™ who posts frequently and who finishes her fics: two qualities that I have often been praised for. This led to a habit of sticking to very strict schedules of always posting at least one chapter of something every single week — and if I was working on more than one fic, I would pressure myself to post a chapter of each fic every week. I would pressure myself to do this even when my back pain and migraines started flaring up in 2020, because I did not want to disappoint my readers.

To be clear: all of this was pressure coming from myself. Nobody was telling me I need to post every week or that I need to finish everything I write; I was the one holding myself to these insane standards. But for years, I’ve been able to meet these standards, and it hasn’t been a problem — or so I thought.

Then this year happened. Therapy stuff happened and health stuff got worse, and for the first time ever, I started having days where I just could not make myself write. I would sit at the computer for hours, unable to conjure any words. For some of my fics, this meant weeks or even months between updates. Sometimes when the words finally came, the writing felt like a struggle or a chore rather than an act of love, because I was doing something that I felt like I had to do rather than something I really wanted.

This has been absolute fucking torture for me. I felt so shitty about myself for not being able to do the one thing that I legitimately love doing the most in the world. This was especially distressing because I have given writing advice before stating that when you’re writing a long fic, you sometimes have to write shit you don’t want to write before you can get to the good stuff. And the fact that I’m struggling to do this now has left me feeling like a hypocrite and a failure for not being able to follow my own advice. 

To make things worse, some of the fandoms I’ve been writing for have been… unresponsive. The ratio of hits to actual comments has been pretty abysmal. The lack of engagement and encouragement just added onto the feelings of shittiness and inadequacy, as though I was failing to meet readers’ expectations somehow, and I can’t lie: it was part of why I stopped writing for one fandom this year, and I’ve never felt so bitter about finishing any fics as I did with a couple of the fics I wrapped up this year.

With time, a lot of tears and self-castigation, and ongoing therapy sessions, I’ve slowwwwwly realized that I am being unkind to myself by holding myself to such high expectations, and that I need to actively combat these expectations by refocusing on writing things that I want to write rather than worrying about disappointing my readers. I’m also working on writing only when I want to and when I feel good, i.e. not forcing myself to write when my head is throbbing or when I’m in too much pain to sit in my office chair. 

To this end, I have been writing some One Piece fic that I have no plans to post publicly: fic that is entirely self-indulgent fun. And it’s actually been the best exercise in returning to the hedonistic selfish joy of writing what I want, which is why I started doing this in the first place. Moving forward, I’m going to keep working on writing for myself first and foremost. I’ll strive to write what only what really sparks joy for me, and if that means my word count keep dropping year after year, I will try to remind myself that this is a good and healthy thing, since any words that I write should be a gift to myself first and foremost. 

[sympathytea]

i totally didn't forget to give my thoughts + theories about the latest episode hahahahahaha

*COUGH* spoilers for Minecraft but I join the ENEMY of PVP Civilization

Gonna be so real with y'all. I thought the first part (where the whole gang has blindness) was a dream sequence for a good minute, mainly due to how the blindness effect was previously characterized outside of battles, but I guess we're retconning the 'blindness knocks out the characters' part of it and/or Evbo and The Diamond Swords are. Immune to that.

MinuteTech. Love you king, always looking out for our (extremely suicidal) lad. He's definitely the most visibly concerned person in that entire group.

Wemmbu is still acting suspicious but alas. I cannot get a good read on him, guess we're waiting until the finale to REALLY see what he's been plotting.

Or it turns out he was a red herring, which could happen. I wouldn't mind that, funny enough.

Evbo is curiously, more outwardly going the 'I'm irredeemable and I need to be sacrificed' angle and still seems to have a weakness complex. Hopefully he gets that therapy soon (he won't. but we can dream, right)

ClownPierce! God where do I start.

So my prediction about him being the PVP God masquerading as a mortal was incorrect, unfortunately. He and Tabi are some of the oldest players that currently exist, depending on how long ago that genocide by the Sword Civilization was (timelines are so fucking wack in this series to the point IM a little lost on how some have survived for as long as they have)

The fact that him and Evbo are teaming? Highly doubt that will actually go through as planned, I'm betting either Tabi and Evbo betray Clown, or Zam is betraying all three of them first. I highly doubt Zam is willing to completely drop his plan for Clown's.

Very curious on what his plan is, since it revolves around journal machines that he placed everywhere, offscreen I suppose.

Speaking of Tabi...

Man. Girl I'm so sorry that shit happened to you. Her plan is significantly understandable, and riddled with conflict. Shes great, I need to make a post entirely centered around her at some point because the worms.

Zam had. One appearance this episode and seemingly?? Completely fine being around the rest of those tridents. Squiddo is understandable, she just spawned in and definitely doesn't know that he isn't supposed to be allowed in Trident Civilization. But everyone else?? Get that man. Immediately. Bruh.

Love the LifeSteal cameos in general, always a treat to see.

Although if I were to nitpick here...90% sure that is an alternate MinuteTech skin, but I could be wrong? That's the only major issue I have with this episode, its overall pretty alright.

I will say, I don't think 'Genocide against the Bad Civilization™ is A-OKAY!" is gonna be the message of the entire series. Especially considering recent events, that would be EXCEPTIONALLY poor taste on the CC's part. A terrible message for kids, might I add. Which Evbo is primarily pandering to. So no, I don't think that is where the whole series is going.

There are. a lot of loose plot threads that I am not entirely sure are gonna be cleaned up all tidy. Also I have definitely missed a bunch of small stuff relating to this, and the brainfog isn't helping me LMAO

Will 100% appreciate reblogs that want to add more onto this summary, but until then...

See you at the Grand Finale!

[autisticlalna]

yesterday's lore roundup: we got confirmation that Vintage is Olm's host...

Avid: Technically, you're in a polycule, because everyone Olm's ever possessed is inside of Olm's mind, and they're in the mind there for all eternity. Marmalade: "Is this couple's therapy with Marmalade?" Unfortunately, it seems that it is couple's therapy with Marmalade. Avid: So... Ruby: [stunned] What? Avid: The thing is, Ruby, like, you basically... have to share... Marmalade: Ruby, if you could-- Could you please, could you please, come down from the shulker boxes, just, y'know, so that we're all on the same level now. Ruby: Who... who has he-- Avid: Vintage is in there, probably, by the way-- Ruby: Who has he possessed? Who has he possessed? Avid: Vintage's hands are at the bars at the prison, shaking it furiously, "Let me out! Let me out!" Ruby: Avid, who has he possessed? Avid: --and everyone behind her is like, "first time, huh? First time," all the other brains and the minds in there. Yep. Ruby: Avid. Avid, I'm going to say this very politely. [draws sword] Who has he possessed. Avid: Uh... Let's see. There's this one person named Chara, um... Eromourn, he's still kinda... Ruby: Oh, he's kinda hot though, okay. Avid: Timelines are funky... Uh, and then all-- There's many others I haven't disclosed over quite a- quite a millennia.

...because of Avid talking about Cherruby being in a polycule.

he also confirmed that OSSHA Vintage being in Vintage's episode 1 means that Olm has been there for a while.

[howlsofbloodhounds]

You kind of know about Decussate (my Cross variant). The multiverse he originates from is known as Knight’s tale. A multiverse that is more heavily fantasy based. Dragons are the third race among humans and monsters.

With all the out of the way,

I just want to briefly introduce you to the main Killer of Knight’s tale.

Killer wears the skull of a dragon, a black cloak and wields the legendary sword, Excalibur.

Clipped out of his alternate universe’s reality. Became displaced by the multiverse for a short while but was rescued by Core Frisk, Dream, Ink and Color.

He’s not a bad or good guy. Just hangs around in the Delta Sanctuary (Omega Timeline equivalent). Is getting the help and therapy he needs.

Killer and Decussate do not get along in the slightest. Disgusted by how Decussate reminds him too much of Chara. Appalled by the Decussate’s connection with The Angel and dragons.

[12-cluh]

(since I'm on an absolute tirade with my o5 council posts, I figured I'd make a single post with all of them and their backstories. this'll be updated gradually so you might wanna check back sometimes for updates)

Please enter credentials. Processing... Welcome, Administrator. What files would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "O5 Council Personnel Files" What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-1"

Full Name: James Aaron Siegel Designation: O5-1 Codename: The Founder Purpose: Guiding most base foundation operations. Age: 51 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: The United Kingdom Accent: British Medical Information: 89% of his body is composed of mechanical replacements because of the an attack by SCP-682 during the Anomalous War. Social Relationships: Romantic partner of The Nazarene (O5-2). Closest platonic relationship is The Administrator (O5-0). Other Information: In a romantic relationship with the previous Administrator before her untimely death. Founded the Society for the Preservation of Humans during the anomalous war to save as many people as they could. On one of the missions, he came into contact with SCP-[PENDING] (The Gate Guardian), which told him to "protect". Constantly carries SCP-0462 (Lucifer’s Sword) What file would you like to access? What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-2"

Full Name: Ezra Nahir Designation: O5-2 Codename: The Nazarene Purpose: Chief information on interdimensional travel. Age: 49 Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her Country of Origin: Iraq Accent: Arabic Medical Information: Nothing of Note Social Relationships: Romantic partner of The Founder (O5-1). Closest platonic relationship is The Psychiatrist (O5-3). Other Information: She was brought into our universe via unknown means from another one. She is the alternate version of one of the researchers at the foundation. Her counterpart native to our timeline has not been made aware of her existence. First encountered The Founder (O5-1) during the same period of time in which he met SCP-[PENDING] (The Gate Guardian). Enjoys gardening. Former head of the ethics committee. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-3"

Full Name: Dr. Hoga Kenshin Designation: O5-3 Codename: The Psychiatrist Purpose: Chief of the Ethics Committee, in charge of quality of life. Age: 37 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: Japan Accent: Non-Discernable Medical Information: Nothing of Note Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationships are The Nazarene (O5-2) and his assistant (Deborah Syphus). Other Information: Assisted in founding the Ethics Committee. A more recent addition to the council as a new person was needed after The Nazarene (O5-2) stepped down. Got a Ph.D. in bioethics while on the council. Firmly believes that therapy on personnel and anomalies could solve many issues the foundation faces. Constantly butts head with O5-6 (The Cowboy) due to his method for keeping the world safe is to “shoot it until it dies.” Enjoys gambling as a hobby.

What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-4"

Full Name: Kai Taylor Designation: O5-4 Codename: The Ambassador Purpose: Serves as a liaison between The Foundation and other GOIs. Age: 36 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: Australia Accent: Australian Medical Information: Slight anxiety. Social Relationships: Unconfirmed romantic relationship with O5-7 (The Unlikely). Closest platonic relationships are O5-10 (The Archivist) and O5-0 (The Administrator) Other Information: Worked at the foundation before the anomalous war, after which he gained a seat on the council. The reason for the speculation on his romantic entanglement with O5-7 (The Unlikely) is that while he has denied it, O5-7 (The Unlikely) confirmed it. Assigned female at birth. A former actor, which could possibly explain his absurd charisma. Confirmed to have super-speed, capable of crossing the entire globe in seconds at a speed of 3496330 miles an hour, or 4556.85 times faster than sound. While he works with O5-5 (The Blackbird), they are not close friends. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-5"

Full Name: Gabriel Lucien Designation: O5-5 Codename: The Blackbird Purpose: Chairman of the Department of Paranormal Organisation Review. Age: 42 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: Turkey Accent: Turkish Medical Information: Nothing of Note Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationships are O5-6 (The Cowboy) and O5-7 (The Unlikely). Other Information: Has a pension for birds for an unknown reason. Constantly doodles birds, goes on birdwatching tours, has a signature with 5 blackbirds, and incorporates birds into his outfits. Has a pet raven named Edward, or Eddy for short. A skilled artist. One of the more laid-back members of the council, known for his level-headed decision-making. Uncle of Calvin Lucien, Special Agent of the Chaos Insurgency. Extremely regretful of what he did to their family. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-6"

Full Name: ​​Jasper Morgan Designation: O5-6 Codename: The Cowboy Purpose: Commander and Field Leader of Mobile Task Force Alpha-1 (The Red Right Hand) Age: 43 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: United States of America Accent: Southern America Medical Information: Smoker. Social Relationships: “Friend with benefits” too O5-11 (The Liar). Closest platonic relationships are O5-5 (The Blackbird) and O5-7 (The Unlikely). Other Information: While they are still friends, he and O5-7 (The Unlikely) are antagonistic towards each other due to his connection with the Chaos Insurgency, which was founded by former Mobile Task Force Alpha-1 (The Red Right Hand) operatives. Founding member of the new O5 Council. Only ever seen wearing a bright white suit and wearing a white cowboy hat. Holds an office in the Pentagon. Suspected of not knowing how to ride a horse as, anytime he’s tried, he’s quickly fallen off. Wears a black and red suit when on missions with Mobile Task Force Alpha-1 (Red Right Hand). What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-7"

Full Name: Victor Dreyfus Designation: O5-7 Codename: The Unlikely Purpose: Head Director of the Chaos Insurgency Age: 38 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: United States of America Accent: Neutral American Medical Information: Scar over left eye. Social Relationships: Unconfirmed romantic relationship with O5-4 (The Ambassador). Closest platonic relationships are O5-5 (The Blackbird) and O5-6 (The Cowboy). Other Information: Has survived a curious number of assassinations, which likely means anomalous interference. Catholic. Tallest member of the O5 Council. The Council is aware of his relationship to the Chaos Insurgency which has led to many arguments with O5-6 (The Cowboy). What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-8"

Full Name: Ethan Monroe Designation: O5-8 Codename: The Lesser Purpose: Chief Contingency Coordinator Age: 31 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: United States of America Accent: Neutral American Medical Information: Heavy Anxiety, PTSD Social Relationships: Romantic partner of The Outsider (O5-9). No close friends to speak of. Other Information: Extremely cautious due to a mistake in the past which led to the assassination of Dr. Ivans. Wears a large metal mask that resembles a skull. He’s denied telling the reason as to why, but the two prevailing theories are either shame or heavy scaring. If the scaring theory is correct, they likely came from the train crash that took the lives of his brother and 97 others. Extremely scared of O5-0 (The Administrator) due to a previous encounter after the assassination of Dr. Ivans. This event has also led him to severe caution in decision-making. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-9"

Full Name: Lorelei Aroha Campbell Designation: O5-9 Codename: The Outsider Purpose: Serves as an interpretation of what Foundation actions look like to civilians. Age: 29 Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her Country of Origin: New Zealander Accent: Kiwi Medical Information: N/a Social Relationships: Romantic partner of O5-8 (The Lesser). Closest platonic relationship is O5-11 (The Liar). Other Information: Carries a cane for no reason as she does not have any medical problems that would require it. Her appointment barely passed, with a Council vote of 5 to 4. When not working for the foundation, she is a geology professor. Initially developed a relationship with O5-8 (The Lesser) out of pity, but she claims she grew to love him genuinely. May be cheating on him, however, he hasn’t been made aware. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-10"

Full Name: Asha Sinclair Designation: O5-10 Codename: The Archivist Purpose: Keeps the records of the foundation and its operations. Age: 44 Gender: Female Pronouns: She/It Country of Origin: Botswana Accent: Neutral American Medical Information: Wings Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. No close friends. Other Information: There have been multiple archivists before the current O5-10 (The Archivist), even before the Anomalous War. Has wings, and has denied telling anyone where they came from, though that, coupled with the markings on her face, leads to several religious theories. Has access to a Way, leading to the Wanderer’s Library, the base of operations of the Serpent’s Hand. An unconfirmed contempt for humanity as she rarely ever talks to anyone outside of her duties. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-11"

Full Name: Lorelei Vale Designation: O5-11 Codename: The Liar Purpose: Chief Disinformation Officer Age: 39 Gender: Female Pronouns: She/her Country of Origin: Unknown. Accent: Varies. Medical Information: Nothing of Note Social Relationships: “Friend with benefits” to O5-6 (The Cowboy). Closest platonic relationships are O5-9 (The Outsider) and O5-5 (The Blackbird). Other Information: Most definitely a shapeshifter, with all her forms being conventionally attractive and donning expensive clothing. A quite sizeable risk to the foundation prioritizes their self-interests over the good of the council and others. Sometimes rumors around the foundation for the fun of it. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-12"

Full Name: Cyrus Neuros Designation: O5-12 Codename: The Cerebral Purpose: Anomaly Rotation Officer, Personnel Interviewer. Age: 33 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: America Accent: Uses a computer to communicate. Medical Information: A brain in a jar. Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationship is with his caretaker (Margret). Other Information: Possibly the inventor of the current amnestics the foundation uses. Was initially known as The Physician before his injury that forced him into the jar he now sits in. Was a victim of SCP-106 (The Old Man) which caused his body to fail, leading to a rushed council vote to save his life. Currently trying to have a robot body built, progress remains stunted. Right now, in his own words, “we’re just kinda going with the flow of things.” Has a malaysian striped coral snake named Shesha. Has a collection of model trains. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-13"

Full Name: Yalmü-Garbha Designation: O5-13 Codename: The End Purpose: Prisoner of the council. Age: Existed since the beginning of time. Gender: Inapplicable. Pronouns: He/they/it Country of Origin: Inapplicable. Accent: Varies Medical Information: Nothing of Note. Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationship is O5-6 “The Cowboy.” Other Information: The earthly avatar of The Brothers Death. In the event of any form of end-of-the-world scenario where next to or all of humanity perishes, O5-13 (The End) has 48 hours to return them all to life. Extremely uncaring on foundation matters unless they involve death in some form. He and O5-6 (The Cowboy) occasionally go on bar dives in the middle of the night, when patrons are tired or drunk. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-14"

Full Name: Dresden Oakland Designation: O5-14 Codename: The Overseer Purpose: Oversees the universe the foundation operates in. Age: 44 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: United States of America Accent: Neutral American Medical Information: Half skin is covered in molten rock. Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationship is O5-1 (The Founder). Other Information: May take his job the most seriously out of any of the other council members. Had a wife (Hakaru Nakamuri) and an unborn child who was killed by SCP-682 (The Hard-to-Destroy Reptile). Obviously, he hates SCP-682 (The Hard-to-Destroy Reptile) very much because of this fact. The reason for his skin condition is because the previous overseer of this universe (Tarsa) did it to him before being slain by O5-1 (The Founder). Worked for the foundation before the Anomalous War. What file would you like to access? Processing... Accessing "File O5-0"

Full Name: Eidolon Zephyr Designation: O5-0 Codename: The Administrator Purpose: Contingency in case any of the council step out of line, tiebreaker vote. Age: 46 Gender: Male Pronouns: He/him Country of Origin: France Accent: French Medical Information: Nothing of Note Social Relationships: No known romantic partner. Closest platonic relationships are O5-1 (The Founder) and SCP-343 (God). Other Information: Consistently wears SCP-262 (The Coat of Many Arms). Said numerous times by various members of the council to be the best-dressed member. A bit sorry about giving O5-8 (The Lesser) PTSD, but he tries to not dwell on it. Brother of the previous administrator, taking over after she passed. Quite kind as far as people working for the foundation go as he occasionally checks in with both D-Class, scientists, mobile task force operatives, and some anomalies.

[demonfox38]

Completed - Crystalis

Nothing like enduring one catastrophe to inspire playing through another one.

So, here’s a timeline for you:

October 1st, 1997—According to this game, the world we knew came to a fiery, missile-riddled end. Despite this, reality continued.

September 23rd, 2019—I bought "Crystalis" on eBay.

October 1st, 2019—I put the game in my console and discovered it accidentally lined up with the 1997 date. Chuckles were had.

September 20th, 2023—During a yearly video game battery check, it appeared that no save files for "Crystalis" were loading. I grabbed a replacement battery and took the game to my parents’ house for my father to resolder. Procrastination left it untouched until…

June 22nd, 2024—A flood occurred in my parents’ hometown. The volume of water that came with this submerged the entire basement of their split-foyer home, causing significant property and structural damage. (But, hey. At least the foundation didn’t collapse.)

July 1st, 2024—While cleaning up, my father found the games I had left for his repair. Upon opening them up, I determined that all three were destroyed beyond salvaging (of which "Crystalis" was one.)

July 11th, 2024—I purchased a new copy of "Crystalis" on eBay.

There's a funny little trauma that happens after you've survived a flood. Like, you'd think a heavy rain or standing water in the streets would be more triggering after something like that. Which, hey. I'm not big on that, either. But, the real brain zap comes from remembering just how much was lost. Like, reading about religious texts and remembering the copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead that used to be in the basement. Going through record albums at an antique shop and recalling how both of my parents had a copy of the "Star Wars" album before they were married. Seeing pictures of the couch that was older than my sister and knowing it was torn apart and hauled away as nothing more than ruined trash. That's not even getting into the more practical nightmares of dealing with losing all of our vehicles.

Don't get me wrong. Weirdly, I'm glad that I was there to help my parents get through this mess. I was a major contributing factor in getting our pets to safety, and I know I saved some significant items that were in the basement (guns, ammunition, and a good deal of electronics.) But, there was definitely a price to pay for all of that.

I'm just lucky that I can afford the ~$400 replacement car payment…

As a way to cap this shit-tier year off, I decided to finally get around to playing "Crystalis." Seems like direct therapy, right? Beat the game so that, in the event it too is destroyed, I can at least have the memory of having gotten through it once. Keeping that in mind may have paid off not only for myself, but for the game as well. Because, let me be honest. It was jumping on my nerves like a monkey on a couch. But, its potential fate could have ended in a watery grave with a popped, corroded battery splattering all over its PCB. Few games are nasty enough to deserve a death like that.

"Crystalis" is a 1990 fantasy action game released by SNK. In it, you play as an amnesiac, mute dude-from-a-tube who has been awakened in a post-apocalyptic, futuristic version of Earth. And by that, I mean, you have to use elemental swords to shoot magic at creatures that may have once been other animals, but now roughly resemble something from Gary Gygax's sketchpad. The end goal is to stop Draygon (a villain whose name turns out to be very on-the-nose) and his four henchmen from spreading its abusive empire across of what is left of the planet, as well as lassoing the strange floating tower hovering in the sky.

Maybe you can get some wise people to help you. Maybe your counterpart girl-in-a-tube could help you out, too. Ya know. Once she's done being kidnapped. 

A layman might describe this game as "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" but developed 30 years in the past. That's missing a significant data point. See, I know what this game idolizes. I know what photos it hides in its high school locker, what perfume it wears, why it styles its hair in the way it chooses. This game adores "Ys II." Maybe it wants to emulate it. Maybe it wants to wear it as a second skin. But, oh man. "Ys II." That's the DNA that serves as the base to this game's genetic structure.

Is it just a vibe check? Perhaps. But, it's making my intuition crackle like a Geiger counter. The field to snow to cave progression, the tower in the sky motif, the people enslaved and set in stone, the missing kid, the weird animals living in isolation and fear, the important female figure that is almost completely useless, the limited inventory, the emphasis on magic…there's just a lot here that brings "Ys II" to mind. I'm not faulting "Crystalis" for this. I know it's not the only game that has done this. (Looking at you, "Lagoon.") I just want it to know that I know. I know. I accept.

Also, not everything's about "Zelda" games. (Although, "Neutopia" is. But, that might be a subject for another time.)

While I find the premise interesting, I don't think "Crystalis" actually does much with it. Without two screens at the beginning and three screens at the end, this may have just been a straight fantasy game. There's not exactly a lot of broken-down cars or city rubble lying around. I wouldn't say it's as graceless as Roger Corman's "Teenage Caveman" when it comes to its messaging or apocalyptic events, but God, is it tiptoeing right up to that line. Frankly, a lot of the environment and enemy design from "Faxanadu" may have worked better for this world than what was presented. But, again—this is not something to drown the game over.

The appeal of "Crystalis" comes more down to its gameplay. For certain Nintendo addicts craving a top-down fantasy game with real-time combat and exploration elements, this will scratch the itch. Personally, I was struggling to get along with it. Exploring the world? Fine. The dungeons were a bit tricky, but it wasn't something that memorization or following an online map couldn't solve. Fighting? Eh…

A few things were getting in the way of my interfacing with this game. First, my left thumb was killing me. Like, if I went over an hour of gameplay, it would scream at me. It's probably some residual damage from going over a hundred hours in "Vampire Survivors" recently. Additionally, I was playing this through my HD TV set. While it does have an AV hookup in the back, it's not exactly Retrotink quality, if you catch my drift. The video feed is lossy with colors. It takes more time to process the image than a direct AV to CRT set would. Between pain and questionable video performance, I was having trouble maneuvering through the game.

Not that those problems are the game's fault. Those are factors well outside of its control. Inflicting my dude with a status ailment any time he so much as shoulder-checked an enemy was, though.

I don't think this game is set up well for typical sword combat. Because getting hit by an enemy will often result in poisoning, paralysis, or calcification, you're going to want to keep back and give yourself room to dodge. Additionally, you are granted projectiles by charging up your sword. So, while you could go face-to-face with some drooling ghoul, you could also just hang back a second and let some elemental volley do your dirty work for you.

Warning: if you do have any light sensitivity, skip this game. The elemental charge for the Thunder Sword is severe.

While I didn't enjoy handling standard encounters, I did find the boss fights in this game to be interesting. Most of them come down to "memorize the patterns; dodge the projectiles." Despite this superficial simplicity, they can often be challenging, especially if you aren't packing enough health and/or MP restoring items. The game is usually good about letting you continue from the boss room, should you be wiped across the floor. Just stick with it, apply some neurons, and victory is usually assured within two or three attempts.

The choice of available save spots is irritatingly low, by the way. It's basically overworld areas and cities. No boss camping for you. You do that dungeon, suck up your failures, and keep continuing, young man. (Of all the things this game didn't take from "Ys II"…)

MP conservation will help you survive more grueling encounters. The game is somewhat liberal with the support spells you get, initially starting you off with a healing spell. It does require you to keep holding the A button until you are maxed out, however. (This will likely drain half of your MP bar in the process.) You do eventually get a spell for reversing status ailments, but not before going through great pains to get it. Barriers are vital for eating boss projectiles at the end, and proper use of the Change spell will net you strong items. Hell, you even get a teleport spell, for when you need to GTFO.

Or, you could just press A+B on your primary controller, then A on a secondary controller. (Assuming you unequip your spells, anyway.) Then, you can just teleport to one of sixteen checkpoints whenever cost-free. Thank you for the oversight, dev team!

You will have to manage your level in order to improve your health and damage output. It's fairly low, only capping out at 16. You will want to max that out before the final two dungeons. Additionally, you should be swapping your swords around from time to time. Some enemies are only immune to specific kinds of elements, so you will want to have the right sword to handle them. (Weirdly enough, some rocks require different elements to break them. I get using the Water Sword to freeze waterways, but needing different elements to break down rocks? Very strange and picky…)

Also, expect to grind for cash. Reality's economy isn't in your favor, and neither is this game's. Although, you really can't hold too many items. It's 8 consumables, 8 accessories, 8 key items, and 8 spells. You'll probably end up pawning off your armor and shields from time to time to make room, as you can only carry four of those. Again—you're going to want to get good at managing your MP. Maybe review what your accessories do as well. God knows I accidentally made the game harder on myself by not using more than the Gas Mask for half the game…

In terms of technical execution, "Crystalis" is…well, I'd say that a static screenshot of it looks better than "The Legend of Zelda" or "Faxanadu." It does suffer from common MM3 mapper rendering issues (think the menu rendering bugs from "Mega Man 3.") There are also several instances where the glut of sprites on screen results in dropped sections or slowdown, particularly with bosses. The music is also okay, but some of the instrumentation is a little high-pitched for my liking.

It's doing much better than the Micronics port of "Athena," at least. I feel like that game is accidentally going to damage my NES every time I boot it up. (As opposed to a Wisdom Tree game, which is deliberately going to war with the lock-out chip. Cursed behavior…)

Speaking of Athena—I saw that purple girl character named Asina. I know what's been botched in translation. (I wonder if Mesia was supposed to be Messiah, as well.) While the translation initially starts okay, it does fall apart towards the end. Particle drops, typos, one NPC making no logical sense. All the fun of 30+ year old translation work…

If this game has a fatal flaw—as in, may have contributed to my first copy being destroyed—it is definitely with the menu design. Pressing the Start button allows you to see your current status and equipment. Pressing Select gets you into the item and equipment screens. Loading a game requires you to hit Select, then Start, then navigate to either Save or Load, then selecting your file. That is some goofy-ass shit. (So is pressing Up + A on a second controller to force a save screen a la Zelda, but that's significantly fewer screens and commands to remember.) Because of this nonsense, I've often wondered if my battery check for "Crystalis" was wrong and I just didn't see that the game and its battery were working. I wonder if it died for nothing.

That's the flood trauma, man. Wondering what more you could have done...

I'm disappointed that I didn't jive more with "Crystalis." I think it's a decent enough game. Definitely, not something that deserved to be destroyed as horridly as it was. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for its shenanigans. It's not like my own human body is a perfectly programmed interface, either. Sometimes, there's just not chemistry happening. (As long as it's not causing a battery to short circuit and explode. Am I right?)

The NES version of "Crystalis" is fairly cheap for a cartridge game, running around $20.00 USD as of December 2024. I've heard that it was on Nintendo Switch Online, but I'm not certain about the specifics of how that works or if it is still available. Given some of the game's annoyances, you may want to find a way to raise the black flag on it. Get it in a program that will let you take save states whenever you'd like. That may significantly help your experience.

But, hey. Don't feel like you have to take my opinion on this. I was the dumbass that spent several hours cleaning off and saving copies of such wondrous NES titles like "Milon's Secret Castle", "Karnov", and "Dirty Harry" post flood. They certainly deserved my mercy less than "Crystalis." Perhaps, its fate as well.

I may have my sentimentalities misplaced.

[blizzardowl007]

Hey! Real quick I want to talk about a therapy that me and my sister were talking about last night.

It's pretty crazy but just hear me out

HSR Crack-ish theory

So this is about Phainon being the flame reaver and I know you heard this theory before but again hear me out.

What if the flame reaver is Phainon from the future.

Crazy right well let me tell you why I think this theory makes sense

One of the flame reaver could truly sense who had a core flame then he would have sense Mydei coming before he even attacked instead he kept on trying to get the core flame from Anaxa

Also the prophecy from Janus about only one person gets to the beginning of Era Nova, that person being Phainon. If Phainon is the only living person/Chrysos Heir to make it with the information on who all is a holder of a core flame and who isn't and where to get them so he could stop everyone from dying.

Back to before Mydei got the core flame he told Phainon that if he needed any help to call the name of new God and he shall come in from the sword in the sky

But Mydei didn't come down from the sword in the sky no this was because Mydei's prophecy told him that some one was going to stab him in the back and you can't be stabbed in the back if you are behind the person that is going to stab you. Which Mydei doing that means not only doing that threw off the current Phainon but also the one from the future.

Now I know I said that since future Phainon is from the future he would know where everyone is with a core flame is currently and try to kill them including knowing where Mydei was going to show up in the end

I present to you that future Phainon is from a different timeline

Considering that the FATE collab is going to happen soon, the biggest reference they could do is make this flame reaver character a future version of the main hero from a different timeline like archer from the show itself.

WARNING FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN FATE STAY NIGHT THIS IS GOING TO BE A HUGE SPOILER FOR YOU SO TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED

Anyways Archer is the the future version of the main character Shiro from a different timeline where his goal was to kill Shiro is the basic jist of it.

Any way that is all I have for now @tht0nemadi for the theory that I kinda just added some stuff at end .

Well if any one else wants to add to this you can! I most likely forgot something and if I did let me know!