#the arcana theory

[eelsinatub]

The Arcana- magic headcannon

(small spoiler for Julian's route) I was thinking about one scene in Julian's route, where MC is teaching Julian how to do magic. While drawing out a symbol to make fire, MC mentions how there are marks that make the whole thing work, and without it, it's just a decoration. So what if you could get tattoos of different symbols. Spells that hide your appearance, putting fire runes on your hands, things like that.

[soullessseraphim]

cat behavior

have this old sketch I was too lazy to update but not lazy enough to leave black and white

[biblicallyaccuratefangirl]

ꕥ Asra Headcanons: Jealousy ꕥ

If ever there was a healthy relationship, it would be one with Asra— it's something that is very important to him and something he actively works to maintain

Despite his willingness to spend his near every waking moment with you, he's very accommodating when it comes to you needing space

It's this same mutual trust and stability that makes him so comfortable with you spending time with other people

Despite his maturity and security, the beginning of your relationship (like any) was a period of heightened emotion. In the midst of it all, despite himself, Asra still had tiny inklings of self doubt and worry when it came to you being alone with people who had little reason not to be more than friends

He hated his anxiety about it, and felt guilty that there was still any part of his mind that struggled to trust you and your devotion to him

From the start, however, he'd never found himself feeling insecure when you two were together among other people. He always felt that being around you was very grounding, and you seemed to be able to restore all his sensibilities

By now his trust in you is unwavering, and he feels fully secure in the place he has in your heart. There are, however... a few small exceptions to his confidence

It hits the hardest when he's away for long periods of time. Every idle moment is spent thinking of you, and he makes sure to communicate with you as frequently as he can, but eventually the guilt of leaving you alone catches up

He has immense gratitude for the people in your life able to keep you company in his absence, but sooner or later the regret begins to take the shape of a benign jealousy that others are caring for you when he ought to be

He hates feeling so helpless, but the longer he's away the more that shame piles up on his heart. The muted envy that others are getting to do his job is never resentment, he's too grateful that you have support around you. But he certainly does wish he were there with you, reclaiming his responsibilities as your partner

Beyond that, there's little that could put a dent in his faith in your relationship. He knows any attempt to alter your mutual affection will be entirely unsuccessful

If someone does try to make a move on you, he feels in no way threatened, but he's quick to indulge in a little flaunting. A hand sliding down around your waist... Leaning close to your face to speak to you... A kiss to your knuckles... Standing close enough to you that his body brushes yours... All little ways to simultaneously flirt with you and deter those interested

Overall, he's nearly never jealous, and could hardly be a better partner if he tried 🫶

[snobgoblin]

erm I've actually been nervous to post my Arcana theories here but I really like this one if you'll fuck with me on this

I think that like, the way the characters use magic? is actually based on the Minor Arcana. let me explain

the suit cards, to my understanding, have an elemental association and an overarching thing they relate to in a reading. I'll list out the elemental association of each suit and the traits associated with it, to the best of my ability, drawing from multiple sources including the official Arcana tarot guide, and then when I'm done with that I'll explain how this correlates to the magic systems present in the game

Cups ☕️💧

this one is associated with water, and it relates to matters of the heart, emotions. as well as connections to other people, spirituality and adaptability

Swords 🗡🌬

is associated with air, and deals with internal dialogues, logic, and intuition. it also has associations with decision making and intelligence

Wands 🪄🔥

this one is associated with fire and emphasizes willpower, self reliance, and the ability to take direct action. there's a lot of strong emotions associated with this one, it's a passionate suit

Pentacles ⭐️🍃

is associated with earth and deals with the tangible things in one's life, physical things. it also represents hard work, stability, and practicality

NOW THAT IVE EXPLAINED THAT let me explain how this fits into the way characters will use magic

Asra 💧

i dont think *matters of the heart* represents anyone better than Asra, how about you 😉? not to mention his magic is described as feeling like rain, he communicates through water, he can MAKE water in the desert, in the gladiator battle they can control it too iirc, AND his personal gate is full of pools of water. their teachings also seem extremely emotion based in a way that's hard for me to explain, a very "believe it will happen and it will happen" kind of way to using magic (God I wish I could articulate this better but luckily the others will be easier to explain) all of this would mean they would be operating under the Cups magic system

Nadia 🌬

Intuition is her whole thing! of course she'd be the swords (also notable that Nadia is great with a sword) intelligence also screams Nadia, she knows 12 languages and when she first met the High Priestess all she wanted to do was figure out how the realm worked because it wasn't scientifically accurate to her. decision making is also fitting considering she is the Countess

Lucio 🔥

Lucio is actually a little bit bad at magic according to Asra, so I won't be relying on him entirely for this (you'll see) however, it should be noted that when Lucio summons Vlastomil, he does so by setting a fire and then cutting open the bottoms of his feet. this mirrors how Morga uses magic, like once she cuts open her palm to catch her own spear on fire, and there is no hesitation in the way Morga uses magic, like rushing into portals (not for recklessness, but because she's so sure of herself) and another time she breaks the Devil's chains via extremely precise spear throw, something Asra is impressed by. so! I think the wands suit fits just perfectly when we consider direct action and self reliance in reference to Morga, and I suppose by extension Lucio, if he practiced a bit more

Muriel 🍃

his magic is actually described as feeling earthy at at least three different points, and the way he casts magic is very interesting as well. runecasting, which is described in the game as Muriel throwing a rock and interpreting the meaning. which is a very physical, grounded way to use magic. not to mention the myrrh and protection charms he uses- those are also extremely tangible things, naturey things so I think it aligns perfectly with the Pentacles. I would even argue that Mazelinka falls under this magic system, since she uses plants to make her potions- which is also a tangible way to do magic- pulling from your environment and such

so yeah I just thought that was interesting 🤔

[lala1236]

Summoners!!!!!!!!

So...it's me again and I want to encourage our enthusiastic fandom to keep creating more content for artw, even if Storytaco keeps starving us of content! I encourage everyone to create edits, make more bots on Chai and characterai and write fan fiction! We can't die yet!!!!

[sleepytwilight]

Theory #1

Spotlight: Sirrah and Alpheratz

Remember when Spica's butler said this? Has no one thought it weird?

Sirrah is Polaris lover. The first to imprint to Polaris yet, Alpheratz was Sirrah.

Polaris was still there when Alpheratz is a kid.

You probably think, "Maybe Sirrah died first?"

Nope, Sirrah was there to watch Polaris turned into a monster. Polaris died and Sirrah is there to witness his death.

Entry I

The memories got alternated because of Sirius using the forbidden magic, time magic. It could have messed with everyone memories.

Though, there's lack of evidence because Spica said he was saved by Polaris from drowning. If the memories did got alternated and Polaris already dead at that time, who the hell saved Spica and Alpheratz.

Entry II

Alpheratz might as well died from drowning.

Though I don't support my first theory

Entry III

Sacrifice.

Sirrah death was never mentioned, he was chosen by the constellation so he can't age.

Schedar knew Summoner was Polaris... He might as well knew Sirrah and Polaris were a thing.

Storytaco did follow the Greek story *cough* Pollux *Cough* Castor. Who knows they might as well follows the old urban legend. (There was a story I once heard about a mother killed her own son to bring back her husband to life by letting her husband be in her son's body...)

Anyway... As I was saying, knowing Alpheratz personality, he did mention he don't like Polaris sacrifice thing and think sacrifice for other people are just a pain.

If Sirrah actually died after Polaris death, Schedar might had to sacrifice his own grandson so Sirrah the sorcerer of Pegasus can live again.

He makes sure Sirrah won't remember this sacrifice... Yet Alpheratz always feel hinted of disgusted when it come to Schedar.

Also to the anon who gave me Mama's boy theory, THANK YOU IT WAS SO GOOD- I'll reply to it later okay?

[macabremayhem]

The Arcana (head)canon.

I have a strong opinion: Valdemar, because of their antiquity, was born in the land that has a lot in common with ancient Egypt. Not only because of their antiquity: the developers (NH, of course) said themselves about their inspiration for the Tarot history.

Okay, Renaissance, Arabic, but... Egypt? I have never seen any specific Egyptian motifs in the visuals of the game. But what if...

Okay, okay, Valdemar is an ancient being born as a human. Somewhere in the ancient kingdom like the Ancient Egypt in the Arcana world. I'm absolutely sure!

Please don't tell me who they are: AMAB or AFAB, I really HATE THAT subject. And I really hate any kind of "AMAB Valdemar" or "AFAB Valdemar". They are NON-BINARY. They were non-binary as a human, they are non-binary as a demon and eldritch horror. That's it. Also, I love the fact that Vulgora and Valdemar are demons and have never considered that a "bad representation". Sorry, but as a non-binary person, I really want to have the ability to fully transition as an option. I want nothing to do with any option of human genitalia. And I have the strongest gender envy for the Vulgora and Valdemar. They're not human anymore, they can turn their bodies into anything they fucking want and they can live as they feel. Not AFAB. Definitely not AMAB. But Ȩ̵̙̟̬͚̊̿̉͌͜͠l̷̶̡͙̼̗̳̃̑̄͒͡d̶͒̍ͤ̓͏̴̦̮̲͓͝ŗ̛̯̪̠̤ͬͯ͂ͫ̕͠i̴̵ͪͥ̄̎͜͏̭͎͕̗ẗ̵̨̹̻̥̹ͥ̂̆͜͡ç̝͚̗̗̃̍̔ͬ͘͠͝h̆̌͛̔҉̴̧̦̲̘̪͢ ̵͚̤̲̮ͫ́̀̔̀͘͜H̴̡͙̥̩͔ͩ͛͐͛͟͞o̢̢̖̳͉͕͛͂ͫ͌͟͞r̵̞̮̮̮̄͑ͭ̃̕͢͟r̒͗̒̒͏̢͏҉̯̠̝͚o̯͔̭̝ͦ̔ͣͬ́̀͞͡r̍ͫ̔̄͝҉̛̺̺̗͔́ ̏͊̃ͮ҉̸̷̢͈̲͍̝.

Okay, let's go back to the Ancient Egypt theme. I'm sure - the developers should have had that reference, and maybe when they were building the Arcana world they had that thing in mind.

Also. I love learning something (or use my knowledge) and turning it into the Arcana reference. Ancient history is the best thing for that entertainment. So...

Meet the goddess Sekhmet. She's beautiful, she's angry. According to the myths, she wanted to destroy humans because they had humiliated her father, the Supreme God Ra.

And the goddess Sekhmet was a... patron goddess of medicine. She was a patron goddess of medicine, and the same time she had the power to command the diseases and especially the plague.

Plague!

That was her, shall we say, "crown curse sign". Medicine in ancient Egypt was also extremely advanced (for the ancient world, of course). The first time, I swear, I headcanoned Valdemar as a priest of Thoth (for the reasons). But the connection between medicine, plague and the goddess Sekhmet is amazing.

Thank you for coming to my Ted-Talk. :D With all my love for the world of Arcana, Lunatic Sun.

[polluxverse]

ARCANA TWILIGHT ENTHUSIAST WE RISE!!

WE ARE SO BACK OMG, I'M GOING INSANE. IT'S 12TH FLOOR SOON, THE ANGST- I CAN FEEL IT COMING

[lepus-littlebear]

(Analysis?) Summoner(MC) returning to home-world

“We’ll help you return to your home world……or not?”

The ArTw boys and their views about sending Summoner back home analysis(?). It's more like a rant but here we go.

Disclaimer, i wrote this at 1 in the morning so i may have left out more things i got to say and i’ll probably add them later but have this for now-

SPOILER ALERT

·̩̩̥͙＊•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚　　˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚＊·̩̩̥͙

I’ll use Summoner’s canon official name here- “Lee Dam”/”Dam(i)”(first name) bc it’s convenient ✩

So as far as we've established, Lee Dam is from Mid-Eartheim or at least that’s what people around her conclude. Later in the story, they even suspect that Dami is not from another world at all.

But here, we’ll go with our main boys’ perspective.

When it comes to sending Lee Dam home, the boys seem to have separate opinions.

🐑Arcturus above all seems to be very keen and persistent in Dami returning back to her world. He’s the first one of the boys to promise her a safe return home and not only that, he’s the only one who keeps on insisting on this promise for the first few chapters of the story to the point where he’s the only sorcerer with a voice line in home screen who once again promises her to find her way back and asking her to trust him.

I, at first was like yeah Arcky being helpful lil bean like he is but is he really? That’s what I thought after progressing throughout the story. Arcky looks like one of the purest guy ever but later as we move on in main story, he seems somewhat shady. My theory is that he is hiding the fact that he knows or even better remembers something that others don’t.

Y’know the Void organization thing going on? I suspect Arcky of having something to do with The Void. But when there’s discussion of Void, he says that he’s been curious about it and has no idea what it is. Although I would like to believe him, I have this teeny tiny feeling he’s pretending OR he forgot and remembers only fragments of those memories related to Void.

In a library scene,  he clearly sighs and seems relieved after he says that info about Void is top secret.

Further on, when things are still tense and even Schedar orders that Dami should be guarded even more than before, the always over-worrying Arcky is careless and invites Dami over to grab snacks outside knowing full well he is supposed to be extra careful. And he doesn’t even sense that someone is following them at all? This seems far too careless even for someone as clumsy as Arcky.

Vega even reminds Arcky later on about this mistake and states the duo was being followed. That he should’ve consulted with others before doing anything. Vega requested for an urgent summon by Dami’s side and his voice in the call seems to be audibly restless hinting it was no small matter.

Maybe Arcky just absent-mindedly did that or maybe he didn’t.

I cannot be sure here but Arcky in my opinion seems to have a motive other than being simply helpful to Lee Dam find her way back. He’s more consistent about this matter than anyone, almost as if he thinks she needs to go back. She shouldn’t be here.

Again, i’m not sure but we’ll see how it plays out. But one thing I’m certain is that he doesn’t truly wish for Dami to get hurt or at least that’s what I like to believe. He cares for her genuinely.

♊Pollux is a confusing one for me. He seems kinda neutral on the matter. But my conclusion is that he doesn’t like the thought of Dami returning back. Despite saying “i don’t make friends easily” in their first meeting, Pollux actually is the one who initiates their friendship. Saving a seat for her, texting her lecture materials, helping her out, etc. He even grows protective of her later on and continuously suspects Sirius, his clan fellow when it comes to Dami.

But hey, nobody rlly trusts Sirius so understandable. And with this growing closeness, Pollux would rather not part with Lee Dam but i feel like if he’s told it’s for her safety & well-being, he would let her go for her good.(cue some crying and stubbornness)

🐨🐺Listen I may sound crazy but in this matter Alpheratz and Sirius are quite similar. In one side, there’s Alpheratz continuously suggesting Lee Dam to not get herself involved in all of this, and on another, we have Sirius always warning Dami to not see, respond, or hear to the entity appearing in her consciousness time and again. Although both have not clearly revealed their say on our summoner’s return to mid-eartheim, I feel that they think it’s better to leave and go back to her normal world. A world where she won’t have to worry about being targeted every 5 seconds.

Alpharetz indirectly expressing that he would rather she return to her world by always insisting Lee Dam to not tag along with the guides to their dangerous trips and his affection level going up when Dami chooses to stay behind.

Sirius closing her eyes and ears every time it feels like Dami is again in contact with the giant eye and the entity, and warning her to not come to the tower when she does. Him texting her that he prays she leaves before matters get worse.

Sirius is confusing, he involves her and initiates danger but still protects her and says he would rather like it if she isn’t included in all that chaos. BUT after reading floor 11, I have a feeling Alpheratz changed his mind a bit? It’s more like, she’s someone i’ve wished for years and years– since the previous timeline so I’m reluctant to lose her again, that’s why I’d rather give my all to keep her safe this time no matter what.

❄️Vega, oh Vega, my sweet lil snowball. I’ll say that he’s conflicted. There are many assumptions in my mind about him. It’ll be so freaking hard for him to let go of Dami, his childhood sweetheart who he waited an entire decade and more for. Will he let go of someone who he spent his lifetime waiting for? Hard to say but maybe yes. Vega is selfless and wants her to be safe above anything else.

He also says that he is sick of seeing Dami be involved with this world and its dangers that she doesn’t deserve. He might side with Alpheratz slightly. He doesn’t want to let go of her but at the same time, he would rather have her be happy than see her get hurt and lose her forever. Or even better, he leaves with her since they’re both from Mid-Eartheim. After all, Vega spent his entire lifetime awaiting one star and that's Lee Dam and only Lee Dam, no one else.

♍Have you noticed that Spica’s the only one who has never stated that he wishes Lee Dam to return and not be involved with Bound Arlyn’s crisis? Yes, some other guys haven’t either but have you noticed he’s rather opposite to wanting her to return? He advises Arcky to not keep false promises like sending her home. He’s also continuously shown to want Dami to join them when they plan to go on a field trip(visit) and actively invites her to potentially dangerous places.

He does not have any malicious intentions but instead, from what I see, I’m rather suggesting that Spica wants Dami to adapt to her new life completely and continue as a summoner. He’s always keen when it comes to discussing Lee Dam’s potential as a sorcerer and even asking her if she wants to become a constellation’s choice. Imo, Spica wants Dami to get better in her school activities and use her power for the betterment and protection of the world. HOWEVER remembering that sus lil conversation he shared with our local shady man who's trusted by no one in the banquet, i have doubts on Spica too. (basically, i doubt 3/6 of these men bc otoges have taught me better than to trust someone even if they are love interests)

To put in small words, let me categorise them-

“I want you to return back”

-Arcturus

“It’s better to go back”

-Alpheratz, Sirius, Vega(?)

“I don’t want you to but it can’t be helped”

-Pollux, Vega(?)

“Would you like to stay instead?”

-Spica

The following pics kinda summarise my thoughts(?)

·̩̩̥͙＊•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚　　˚•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙˚＊·̩̩̥͙

anyways thanks if you read until here, i just wrote this for fun and none of these are facts but rather my silly little venting bc the plot is just too good.

Here's a bonus: our local shady war criminal as Florida man news headlines

he would do this.

[cheemken]

Greetings! What would be the outcome of the au? A bad end where everyone is defeated by the Timekeeper? Vertin sacrifices themself to protect everyone or do the suitcase fam capture her and attempt to free her ? this au is kinda stuck in my head now lol, like the idea of arcana revealing herself like the geto scene with the brain if u seen jjk.

Hi hey, I'm so glad you're interested in my au hahaha

Idk much abt jjk tho like idk what scene that is but that sounds cool hahah

Anyways

My initial concept is that Vertin came back yeah, and a few starts to notice, I think it'd come to the point where Sonetto and Regulus confronts her?? Bc there's clearly smth wrong w Vertin

Ofc, Arcana plays her part well, and as Vertin, she deflects, saying she's fine, just tired and still a bit shaken after escaping from Manus Vindictae. It was a miracle how she escaped, she thought she'd die then and there

But they know there's more to that. It'd be funny tho but also on brand if Regulus herself knew smth was amiss bc ofc, Vertin using her wand more and more, but the thing that set Regulus off was the fact that Vertin was using her left hand, she's right handed as far as Regulus knows, and ofc, how she uses her tuning arcane skill, how it's like a seasoned magician

And it got to the point that while they're still in the Foundation, Vertin kept her distance, always wandering off by herself, wandering the halls like a ghost, everyone was starting to get worried

And until one night, where Vertin was there in the courtyard, well,, Madam Z and Tooth Fairy tried to talk to her, to go back inside, it's dark out already, and hey c'mon, she's their daughter at that point, and they just got her back from Manus, so seeing Vertin like this, it worried them

Imagine as they try to approach her, Z just stops dead in her tracks, grabbing Tooth Fairy's arm, stopping her, as they both hear Vertin chuckle darkly, slowly turning towards them, and as she did, Arcana's wand formed at either sides of Vertin's head, and her silver eyes turned pale yellow, and she smiles ay them, the same godforsaken smile Arcana always has on her face

And ofc, that lil drawing comes to play, the strings on Vertin, it would be so so fun if like,, w those, and w the influence of Arcana's magic, she managed to take control of a few arcanists too. Like can you imagine her just attaching the strings on the arcanists Vertin had saved, and taking control of them like puppets, that'd be so cool and bc ofc in c2, wasn't there a part titled Puppet, and bc if I remember right, Arcana also called Vertin her puppet

Like that'd be such a cool concept, Arcana using Vertin as a puppet, and w Vertin's hands she uses other arcanists as her puppets too

But also the mental image of all of the arcanists in Vertin's suitcase just fights off Manus followers on each floor of the Foundation buildings, look, I have a concept, I wanna write it, I just don't know how to execute it well, it has Schneider in it, Arcana brought her back or smth to make it hurt more, and the Schneider and Sonetto fight is just cbmxnd ough

But yeah, her defeat, idk, I want it to be some temporary defeat, ofc me being biased, as Sonetto was fighting off Schneider, Regulus rushes to where Vertin is, and ofc, she and Arcana fight lmfao

But do you see my vision when I say Arcana uses Regulus' line against her, y'know the thing Regulus says before her ult right

Imagine Arcana using that, just having Regulus pinned, one hand on her neck, the other on her cheek, her thumb trailing upward to her lower eyelid, pressing down hard, as she whispers in Vertin's voice, "are you ready... To be blinded?"

And Regulus spats out, "are you?" And uses her ult on both of them

Look look it's good on paper and it's a good mental image I can't just execute it well here but I hope you see the vision cbsmnd

But yeah, after that, and more psychological mindscape stuff of Regulus trying to save Vertin, Vertin was saved! That's a good thing right? Arcana was gone, so were the Manus followers, but it was so sudden, it shouldn't be that easy, right

Ofc it's not, Vertin wasn't saved, she never will be. Arcana's wand was still w her, lying dormant, waiting to be called out again, waiting till it finally corrupts their precious little Timekeeper.

[just-1-scorpio]

Spoiler for chapter 6.

So who is the Guiding One, that Forget Me Not mentiond in the 23th stage, when he told Isolde that he has to report that she killed Heinrich because it was ageinst the rules?

Is this a name for Arcana, or is it someone else? Doas that mean that Manus Vindictae, has a council, or there is someone who has a higher renking in it, then Arcana? Who is this Guiding One? Or I just forgot something?

[soullessseraphim]

Huh ? That doesn't sound right

Naaah, I call cap ; let's check it out let me download that and open Krita real quick

Looks kinda green to me though y'know how could it b-

.....what? Nuh-uh, wait- they are green it can't-

.....

...

WHAT THE FUCK??

[fishareglorious]

All I have in my main story bingo card is that Regulus will be there in the reveal of the identity of Vertin’s mother, just for the “so you have a mother?!” joke to come full circle.

[snobgoblin]

what's a random Arcana headcanon you have!

oh dear I have a lot. I guess I'll choose one I've been thinking about a lot lately- I wanna start by saying for me the lines between "theory" and "headcanon" are very blurred because for like 99% of my headcanons I basically just take things that happened and build on them or put logic to them that was never explicitly stated. i like connecting things. the other 1% is "I think it would be funny if this happened". anyway

uhhh this one. okay the theory/headcanon is "Vulgora has made a deal with Morga at some point, and if not Morga, then Eir". this is one of my more flimsy theories but the logic is

>Morga is very familiar with what she describes as "foul magic" and she can smell it on Lucio when he makes a deal with Vlastomil. where did she get that from? why is she so familiar with it/able to recognize it

>Vulgora already knows Morga's full name without her saying it to them in Muriel's route ("Watch your back, Eirsdottir. Next time, I'll stab it.") especially notable since Vlastomil calls Lucio a fool for revealing his full name to him. Demons don't just KNOW they have to be told (though, Lucio and Vulgora have a "frenemy" history so I suppose they could have learned it from him at some point, I just don't see Lucio going "ah yes this is my mother Morga Eirsdottir and she looks like this" you know what I'm saying. it's more likely they know each other)

>IF I remember right Vulgora was extremely excited to fight Morga. so they already knew she was skilled- again HOW, Morga just isn't someone people from Vesuvia know. they have to be involved somehow

>The Scourge is associated with beetles and Vulgora is the demon of war. they share similar motifs in general- to me it almost seems like The Scourge at one point relied on Vulgora for power

>the fact that Morga is so skilled against a demon isn't damning in and of itself- of course she's a skilled fighter but that coupled with her scleras turning black when she uses magic... I mean, no other characters do that unless they have either become The Devil or recently made a deal with him like in Nadia's route. perhaps indicating Morga has made a deal for her skills at some point (especially considering Morga manages to break The Devil's chains with a well placed spear in Lucio's route? that's crazy impressive. like to a supernatural degree)

>also the fact that Morga knows about the magical realms and is entirely unphased by going there

anyway that collection of facts kind of makes me think there's some history there, like maybe either Morga made a deal with Vulgora for her power and upheld her end, thus not being cursed like Lucio was. and that maybe, Vulgora has been dealing with these people for generations- maybe Eir was targeted! who knows! I forget what made me think Eir was involved but there was something that tipped me off. I'll put a pin in it. anyway maybe the long history could explain why Lucio's curse is red beetles despite his first deal being with Vlastomil and not Vulgora. but I do have a whole theory about why they're red beetles specifically anyway that I won't get into right at this moment

[alpacahat67]

actually one of these days ill make a big post abt it but if we assume julian was taught humorism he isnt a COMPLETE nutjob about his use of leeches

[n--n]

One last touchstarved theory thingy bc I’ve almost purged my brief obsession!! It’s mentioned by both Leander and Vere that the one running the Senobium- and thus its shady policies- is someone called The Abbess. An Abbess is a nun in charge of the nunnery, so I can only assume she is gonna have some sort of religious symbolism related to her like Kuras and Mhin do. Unfortunately the literal one-sentence blink and you’ll miss it lines are all we have to go off for her, but I’m excited to see what she’s really like in game! (From the attitude both Vere and Leander have in those one-off lines, it’s clear she’s almost certainly a villain).

Some misc, tinfoil-hat theories:

- Elyon, as a powerful noble, likely works with but opposes the Abbess. He owns most of the brothels in Lowtown apparently so he has incentive to keep the divide between hightown and lowtown, but as someone with power he probably chafes at the control the Senobium has over hightown

- Sen, from her one-sentence descriptor, is a revived warden seeking her own death. Almost certainly one of the Senobium’s experiments, not sure what a warden in the context of the touchstarved universe is but probably a Fancy Jailer for the Senobium like the word usually implies. Maybe the experiments left her with such a painful condition she’d rather die? Or it could be more supernatural, in that she can not Rest until her unfinished business in Eridia is Taken Care Of.

-The Abbess could be the one that initiated the changes at the Senobium in the first place a generation ago, since immortality is confirmed to exist in-universe (see Vere being chained “Centuries Ago”)

-I think Leander is meant as the sort of “starter LI”, since the demo and supplementary info give us the most info about him while at the same time holding back just enough as to be intriguing (see: the countless Leander-specific theory posts that started this post lmao) I imagine his route will tell us the most about lowtown, fogfall and Eridia at large, whereas Vere/Mhin/Kuras will tell us most about the Senobium, and Ais will tell us most about the overall world, magic (fogfall again), monsters (like the soulless), and of course Ais’s boss/“friend” Ocudeus and the Seaspring

Other thots:

- I’m most excited for Leander’s route for obvious reasons (hot + will get to meat of story + I want to see What’s Really Wrong With Him so bad) but also know that will make me more disappointed if he turns out to be Just Some Asshole. I want him to be a monster bc he commits atrocities like the rest of them, not because he’s a reminder of the shittier guys I’ve met. That being said I know I’ll probably still really like the character if they do go that route, since the overall writing from the demo is super engaging and solid in quality- which bodes well for the final product

-Speaking of writing, I’m loving that different backstories actually have weight in the narrative. I love when the player is actually rewarded with info for making a choice, instead of it just being one or two flavor text things. Choosing different backstories affects your red dialogue options (the romance-y choices) and gives you different attitudes towards events in the story, making replay ability high

-I’m worried by how successful the kickstarter is since I Have Been Burned last times I backed videogame Kickstarters (Blue Omen Operation, Homestuck Game) 😭 The team seems experienced and competent, since most seem to have come from Nix Hydra/other successful otome games that got killed by poor management. But like, still really worries me since it’s their first game and all. The demo was so good but so was Blue Omen Operations and look where that landed me ($15 less in my pocket from backing years ago 🥲)

-On a lighter note, this game is clearly a passion project and I’ve loved what I’ve seen so far- if I have enough money to spare before the Kickstarter is over, maybe I’ll get it just to support the devs

-getting so obsessed w the demo even if only for a week or so has reminded me Oh Yeah, I Forgot I Love Gothic Horror. If by some miracle you’re still reading this drop a recommendation pls