#the lore is lacking i'm disappointed in you all. there are supposedly at least a few of you and yet. there is no flesh to this ship

[the-way-astray]

strieefe for life :P

another one has fallen prey to the dark side . . . we must protect the children before their young minds become indoctrinated by this horrific atrocious excuse for a ship

[buryam-soul]

Ramblings about Candace in Chromatic Ode of Candies and Roses

I was going to add this to my cynodace culture post but since it's mostly about Candace (and not all of it culture-related), I figured I might as well make it its own thing.

Candace and Music

Candace and Nilou's performance at the parade being a parallel to the legend of the first ever Sabzerus Festival is already cool on its own. It strengthens their already-existing ties to Deshret and Malikata, respectively, and even a reincarnation-theory-neutral like me can enjoy that.

What caught my interest even more, however, were Candace and Deshret's instruments.

Deshret's is only described as an instrument with strings, while Candace's is explicitly named as the tanbur.

In real life, tanbur refers to several instruments from some parts of Asia, including India, Iran, and Iraq -- areas which heavily influence Sumeru's rainforest, but not so much the desert (except for the Girdle of the Sands area/Pari lore). So I like to think that the tanbur in Genshin is primarily a rainforest instrument, and Candace chose to learn it in part to connect to her father's cultural heritage.

Candace and Nahida

In a story primarily following Candace's point of view and centered around Nahida's birthday, it's...disappointing that they didn't so much as talk one on one.

But you could also argue that it might be intentional, at least on Candace's part. If you squint at some things. Mainly her voiceline on Nahida, which seems a little distant.

Perhaps it is a testament to the Dendro Archon's benevolence that I, a descendant of the Al-Ahmar bloodline, am able to live peacefully on this land. If so, I suppose I am grateful for this much, but... I am first and foremost a child of the desert.

Candace, "About Lesser Lord Kusanali"

She also wasn't mentioned in Alhaitham's Character Story 2 as one of the people who came to the Sanctuary of Surasthana to have discussions with him and Nahida. It seems she just... never really made contact with her even post-AQ (contrasted with Dehya who was part of the Surasthana meetings and has a voiceline about Kusanali being too light on the Sages).

Which makes her decision to take part in this parade interesting to me! It's like Candace is a little behind from everyone else in getting to know Nahida, but she now chooses to anyway, even if she's starting with silent observation and offerings of a performance. As someone who is steadfast in her duties even after finding out that the god who supposedly blessed her never did, she is probably the one least used to the concept of a god who is just...there, and not a distant thing of the past or something she could vaguely pray to.

It would be fun to see future Sumeru stories show her making progress on this. I would say I'm coping, but the fact that we got any Candace focus at all post-3.x has given me hope that anything's possible.

(Still bummed enough about the lack of interaction to draw something about it though)

Desert Gang shenanigannery

(I ship them all queerplatonically but feel free to read as whatever flavor you prefer)

Ouh her smile...

Also Ms. "Trying to save rowdy mercs fron Candace's wrath in her demo" Dehya is not immune to being a worrywart, I see. Very cute.

"I will encourage them being Worse" and Cyno's worse is "puns" and Candace's worse is "terrifying to troublemakers". I love them.

And finally. This line is not about them, I know. But I really like it combined with the Alhaitham and Candace focus. They're both very fond of their own "mundane" lives and have refused "better" job opportunities to keep said lives. Rotating this line in the Candace & Haitham corner of my mind constantly, I'm so glad we see them talk more.

Whew. Okay. Ramble over. Live laugh love Candace <3

[astrunaria]

The Ballad of Saint Briar

NEW WORLDBUILDING ALERT

Yeahh this took me longer than I wanted. I had a LOT of ideas for this and kept doing rewrites because I was figuring out how to tell this BUT IT'S FINALLY FINISHED!!

Real quick before I start I'm expecting some of you guys are out of the lore loop (I gained like 17 followers since the last worldbuilding post I think) HIGHLY recommend you guys also check out these posts....

Arphene: The Beginning - The basis of how my fantasy world and how it's magic came to be

The Skirmishers - Important lore dump on The Burning, just for a little background info

NOWWW

The Legendary

The Burning was a perilous time for all of Throdia. It was one of the first times humans had faced off against such power, and it showed. The predicted human death toll for The Burning is approximately 4 million. A notable myth from this time, however, is the one of Saint Briar. Briar Lorx was a young bard who’d grown up towards the end of The Burning, meaning they’d grown up used to a world on fire; a world constantly reshaped by the flames of war.

And then, with Alexandria’s passing, The Burning ended. 

Despite a victory, the people of Throdia felt lost. Their land was forever changed - marked not only by the effects of the war, but by the strange magic Alexandria had left behind with her death. It was clear that rebuilding would take a while. And then, Briar came along. Briar single handedly managed to take charge of helping the needy due to the war within Throdia City, their ideas seen as astonishingly progressive for somebody their age. They then revealed something rather controversial, much to people’s surprise.

They had been receiving visions from Aurelia.

They spoke of Aurelia realising her mistakes, and wishing to assist in rebuilding Throdia in her own way... Naturally, people were reluctant, still scarred from The Burning. But Briar sang tales. Tales supposedly extracted from the dreams of Aurelia herself. Tales which swayed the crowd, and led them to believe. And thus, thenceforth, was Briar heralded as a saint.

This is the version of the tale taught by the churches of Aurelia today, The original tale has supposedly been lost to time. Some devout followers of Aurelia choose to search for it, in Briar’s honor… But they typically never get far.

A Truth

“Will he ever wake up?”

Briar gazed down upon the phoenix laying by the traveller’s side as she stroked his head. “He’ll be alright. As I told you, he needs this rest. He’s been in pain for a long time. They arched a skeptical brow in response. “But you say he’s been asleep since before I was born? Is he cursed?” A fond smile seemingly flashed upon the lady’s face in return. “This magic isn’t the kind you know, child. He has godly power within him. It’ll take a while, at the very least, for it to settle within him.” The room fell silent for a moment.  “... Say, Briar. What is it like out there? How are the people?” She continued stroking the phoenix.

“People are… relieved it’s over, I’d say. I’m not really sure how to put it. It’s like we won… But is this cost really worth it? That’s what I hear the elders contemplate at the bar downstairs a lot.” The woman turned her head towards where she last heard the bard speak “And how about you?” A silence fell upon the room.

“I… I don’t know. I’m conflicted. It’s our god, you know? But she sent her soldiers to attack us. Kill us. Perhaps. What did she think that would do? Was it meant to purge us? It always seemed like it.” They shook their head with a frustrated sigh. “Heavens… I don’t understand gods.”

“It is… Curious.” The lady faced ahead as she leaned back. “But Aure’s still got a lot to learn. She is alone now, after all.” Briar frowned at that. A god? A being so powerful… Needing to learn? They hadn’t considered such an idea before. “What do you mean?” 

“My, I’m disappointed!” The lady put a dramatic hand on her chest as if Briar had committed a grave sin by lacking knowledge, yet she couldn’t keep herself from smiling. “Typically, the bards I’ve met are well dusted up on their history and folklore! You have heard of the tale of the Sisters, yes? Of Aurelia’s sister?”

The bard pondered for a moment. “... Yes, but what are you referring to, miss?”

“Have you ever considered what happened after the story ended? Thought that, perhaps, your patrons were correct to ask for more after you finished performing it? The story’s not really over, naturally. Life goes on, it always has. There is also the saying of two sides to every story.”

“... Are you saying there’s, what, more to the story?” “Yes.” The lady turned her head towards the direction of the wind picking up through the window, leaving Briar with their thoughts for a moment before speaking up again. “This… This isn’t a way to live, people fearing their maker. Things got out of control.” Out of control?

“What are you saying, miss?”

“I suppose I’m saying…” The woman turned heard towards where she last heard Briar once again. “View her in a more empathetic lens. Perhaps she’s a god, but running a world cannot be easy.” A silence fell over the room. She tilted her head curiously. “Are you alright, Briar?” “I’m… fine, miss Ophelia. I think I have to get going.”

And thus, Briar set off, their mind clouded, yet with the beginnings of a faint idea forming in their mind…

[monsterblogging]

Pacific Rim: Ascension is pretty good, actually

So yeah, Pacific Rim: Ascension is a prequel novel to Pacific Rim: Uprising, and based on that you might think it wouldn't be that great. But IMO, it's very much worth reading for a number of reasons.

The author was clearly very familiarized with the lore developed for PR1, and actually integrates a lot of it into the story in a way that gives it a sense of depth, reality, and drama that Uprising and The Black lack. Characters are also generally written well (and Hermann is written so wonderfully well), and Vik and Jinhai's backstories are, in my opinion, extremely engaging. And if you're one of the people disappointed that the Kaidonovskys and Cherno Alpha didn't get more screentime, you are absolutely in for a treat.

For the lore-oriented fans, the author's clear attention to detail means this book is actually a fairly reliable source on what was originally developed for PR1, including Jaeger details and character histories. It does include at least one piece of outdated data (Romeo Blue having three legs), and the story claims that drift compatibility is something you either have or don't have (something we know isn't true from Beacham's posts), but there's no reason to dispute, say, Vulcan Specter having a drill weapon or Shaolin Rogue having an extra-aquatic design.

The book also gives us lots of wonderfully bizarre kaiju. The somewhat frequent mentions of tentacles (forbidden by del Toro) suggests that these are based on very concepts, or were invented by the author himself. Either way, they are absolutely great monster designs. If anything, some of the things these monsters have going on make the movie's kaiju look a little boring.

That said, it's not perfect. Hermann's cane is never mentioned at all, and - well, the rest of the issues are spoilers, so I'll put them under a cut.

We learn that some people have apparently been using Pons technology to implant programming into people's minds - a detail which ultimately has no relevance on the plot, and feels weirdly edgy for Pacific Rim. And I know it's a common trope in sci-fi, but its proximity to right wing conspiracy theory bullshit makes it... not exactly my favorite trope. I don't know whether its presence in sci-fi is really super problematic, but in real life belief in this kind of thing has been used to basically justify witch hunting. Like, I understand the dramatic value here, but at the same time, people still living today were put on trial and even sent to jail based on belief that this was a real thing. Like I'm not going to tell you that this is an Objectively Bad Trope, but it's definitely a trope with a lot of terrible baggage.

The story also gives an explanation for how it was worked out that kaiju blood explodes when exposed to rare earth minerals, and it's pretty ridiculous. Supposedly a kaiju's blood rained down on a microchip factory, and the factory exploded. Accepting this detail means accepting that nobody's phones, laptop computers, or other electronic devices never came into contact with kaiju blood splatter or mist, and that kaiju blood never splattered into a damaged conn-pod. This is the kind of thing that should have been observed fairly early in the kaiju war, not several years in.

Also the PPDC in this book apparently just classifies information for No Real Reason, like the fact that a particularly violent kaiju cult tried to destroy the world. Like you'd think that this would be the kind of thing they'd want to broadcast, for reasons of "hey look how awful our political enemies are."

Also lol the fact that PPDC records pilots' drift memories and just peek into them is creepy. Like it doesn't exactly make Mako Mori look good when we learn she's been invading cadets' privacy like this, ya know?

But yeah like, I think it's definitely worth a read. The book shows a lot of imagination and makes good use of Pacific Rim's worldbuilding. Even if you don't like Uprising, you'll probably still find something to enjoy about it.

[dmclemblems]

It's mind boggling to me that the devs saw the potential with Almyra and had a Warriors game to give us Claude who can actually focus on Almyra this time around. Yet instead they wasted the concept to make Claude an Edelgard 2.0 WTF. If they wanted Claude to go gung ho in a Warriors game, why does he have to join Edelgard at all? Just have him focus on Almyra! Or have him focus on the Empire/Agarthans like in VW! Why was "invade the Kingdom" ever something Claude should do at all? I'm so mad.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. Even if you consider the whole idea of this darker version of Claude they apparently wanted, this doesn't really fit that. For all Claude's insistence that Dimitri wants him to free Faerghus from the Church by dealing with Rhea, he for some reason didn't consider that before attacking Faerghus? If you don't get the Arval chapter and they weren't able to ally for that battle, that idea comes out of nowhere.

Also, when they attack the capital they leave before even talking to Dimitri, so the entire invasion was for even more of nothing. They attack them and then leave and then return to fight Rhea, but this time they don't fight Faerghus, so it's like... you couldn't... do that in the first place? Couldn't go for a strategy that reduced bloodshed? Even then I still think it's bonkers that Claude of all people didn't even attempt to talk to Dimitri before invading. No matter how you look at the whole "any means necessary" concept for Claude, it doesn't make sense or work for him because he didn't even make the attempt to begin with to handle it peacefully. If he was someone aiming for peace at any cost, he would've at least tried to work it out before fighting.

Regarding Almyra, I definitely was disappointed we didn't have more focus on it. In Houses it's implied that Claude has several brothers at least and we only see one of them. We also don't get any word about what's going on there after one of their princes left and... didn't come back. Considering Claude's other siblings supposedly didn't like him, wouldn't they want revenge for Shahid? Wouldn't at least one of them be close enough to Shahid to seek revenge?

I feel like part of the problem with Hopes is that they made it so that every route was connected even more strongly than in Houses. They made it so that each route was another perspective of the same story but it only changes to your route the winning side by the end. Since they kept the Fodlan war for this game and made the story like that, it meant all the routes had to follow the same general direction. It gave very little opening for Almyra to be part of the story. In AG and SB, a good chunk of those routes involve civil wars and internal conflicts, but GW just kind of... kept it minimal. Instead of using that space for Almyra, we just got More Fodlan War.

If they didn't go for the "all routes follow the same story" and let them be totally unique, they could've actually focused on making it more personal to Claude. I mean... he's the lord of the route, so... shouldn't it be... more personalized to him...? Kinda like... the other routes are...? AG has plenty of focus on Duscur and Sreng as it should, so why does GW have such a lack of Almyra?

While I want to hope for DLC to handle some of that, I don't have many expectations for things beyond Hopes specific lore (like Arval). I'm not even sure it'll focus on the main lords if we get DLC.