#the only island that's also a country that's also a continent

[pynkhues]

I wonder if they'll shoot all the Lestat flashbacks in French. I am kind of hoping not. I enjoyed the sexy blood-sharing Armand/Lestat scene in French, and I totally get what Assad means about feeling more Armand-like in French, but for Sam especially, that would be a LOT of doing scenes in another language while also having to be super emotionally present for the heaviest possible scenes...like, would it interfere with the emotion of the Magnus stuff, or the more emotional Nicki stuff, or the more emotional stuff with Gabrielle, if he's having to do ALL of that in a language he doesn't fluently speak? Not to mention I wonder if AMC or Rolin would want such large chunks of the show in another language -- I mean, they found a way for the theatre des vampires to not speak French.

But I do have a lot of trust in Rolin, so if he has them do the scenes in French, then I believe that he doesn't think it will interfere with the emotion.

(this is a much more minor concern, but I also personally would rather not see what I'm sure would be ENDLESS comments on Sam not having a good French accent, that would just be so tiresome as part of the weekly discourse about the show. Assad speaking French so well is praiseworthy for sure, but I just don't care if Sam has a proper contemporary French accent -- he's a character from the 1800s French countryside, he technically wouldn't sound like any contemporary speaker, and embodying a character is about a lot more than technically accurate accents in any case (I get how that could be more of an issue for French viewers, but the show isn't really being made for French viewers, any more than a French show with an American or British character is being made for a native English-speaking audience) -- and Sam does such an incredible job, as Rolin has talked about so much, of making Lestat sound kind of alien and other and immortal. And actually, Assad talked about that -- that seeing how Sam placed his voice and used his voice to sound like a 200-year-old being helped him decide what to do with Armand's voice), and THAT is what acting is.)

Sorry, this is long, and just to be clear it's not a negative response to what Assad said -- I love him and I 100% get what he means about the sensuality of the language informing Armand, and he did that so brilliantly, that scene between him and Madeleine was particularly incredible. I had just been wondering before I saw this post about the French in the show and feeling a tad concerned that making all the flashbacks in French would undermine their emotional impact. But again, I trust Rolin, so it's not something I'm going to worry about -- just had to get the thoughts out lol

I can't find my reply now, but somebody else actually asked me about whether or not I thought the flashbacks would all be in French a week or two ago, and they similarly hoped not given the ask that would be on the actors (especially Sam). They actually had the great idea of them starting in French and then Daniel in the interview being like 'um, Lestat, I don't speak French so how about we do this in English' which is both hilarious and feels tonally in line with the show?

I've been percolating on it since too, and after re-reading parts of TVL for this fic I'm writing, I've been thinking it'd actually work on a thematic level to keep the very early flashbacks in French and then go to English when Lestat and Nicki reconnect as adults? There's so much stress in the books on the fact that Nicki is educated and has been living in Paris while Lestat has not only not been educated and kept so isolated and ignorant in the countryside, but is effectively entirely illiterate (he can only read and write his own name and a few prayers and bible passages in the book). Nicki not only completely opens up his world when they reconnect, but becomes his primary source of what's happening in the world and a vital communicator for him when they leave the Auvergne for Paris. Lestat relies on him to both read and write the letters from and to Gabrielle, learns the scripts for the plays through Nicki reciting them to him, and has Nicki read him the reviews for his work.

I feel like the language in the flashbacks shifting to English at that moment could be a really good way to signify Lestat's world shifting from one of isolation, abuse and neglect to him breaking free of that? It's also interesting in signifying both Lestat's level of genuine love and connection to Nicki as lovers, artists and like-minded souls, but also the fact that they were pretty pretty co-dependent / needed each other to survive in Paris given Lestat couldn't read, write or work without Nicki, and Nicki couldn't have moved back to Paris without the money Gabrielle gave Lestat nor the job Lestat got him at Renaud's theatre. But yeah, I think to move to English there would make a lot of sense as it marks Lestat kind of entering the world / cosmopolitan society? It would also mean Sam's doing most of the heavier flashbacks in English.

(And yeah, parts of the fandom are....odd about Sam).

[quixoticanarchy]

“This system of severity of exploitation of poor people of color at the bottom of global supply chains goes back centuries. Few people sitting for breakfast in England in the 1700s knew that their tea was sweetened by sugar harvested under brutal conditions by African slaves toiling in the West Indies. The slaves remained far removed from the British breakfast table until a band of abolitionists placed the true picture of slavery directly in front of the English people. Stakeholders fought to maintain the system. They told the British public not to trust what they were told. They espoused the great humanity of the slave trade—Africans were not suffering, they were being “saved” from the savagery of the dark continent. They argued that Africans worked in pleasing conditions on the islands. When those arguments failed, the slavers claimed they made changes that remedied the offenses taking place on the plantations. After all, who was going to go all the way to the West Indies and prove otherwise, and even if they did, who would believe them?

The truth, however, was this—but for the demand for sugar and the immense profits accrued through the sale of it, the entire slavery-for-sugar economy would not have existed. Furthermore, the inevitable outcome of stripping humans of their dignity, security, wages, and freedom can only be a system that results in the complete dehumanization of the people exploited at the bottom of the chain.

Today’s tech barons will tell you a similar tale about cobalt. They will tell you that they uphold international human rights norms and that their particular supply chains are clean. They will also assure you that conditions are not as bad as they seem and that they are bringing commerce, wages, education, and development to the poorest people of Africa (“saving” them). They will also assure you that they have implemented changes to remedy the problems on the ground, at least at the mines from which they say they buy cobalt. After all, who is going to go all the way to the Congo and prove otherwise, and even if they did, who would believe them?

The truth, however, is this—but for their demand for cobalt and the immense profits they accrue through the sale of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles, the entire blood-for-cobalt economy would not exist. Furthermore, the inevitable outcome of a lawless scramble for cobalt in an impoverished and war-torn country can only be the complete dehumanization of the people exploited at the bottom of the chain.

So much time has passed; so little has changed.”

— from Cobalt Red, Siddharth Kara

[akajustmerry]

Hello! I've just found your podcast and listened into some older episodes. They helped me on my journey of understanding my sexuality, and formulate why some stories appear more sincere than others. Thank you two! In one episode that Aboriginal people are "like black people in Australia" (I hope I quote this correctly). If It's no hassle, I would be curious in understanding the social circumstnaces you are descrbing. Happily waiting for a new episode, and thank you very much for the fun and informative work!

hello there, thank you so much for listening to gayv club! I'm chuffed that you love the podcast (psst follow @gayvclubpodcast) 🥰

So, to answer your question, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the Indigenous people to what the world calls "Australia". And we are Black people. We are Black people and were racialised as Black Indigenous people when British and European people colonised the land over 200 years ago. Aboriginal people were called Black throughout Australias white colonial history and so we also call ourselves Black.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country have been subjected to anti-Black violence and genocidal policies that include but aren't limited to slavery, deaths in custody, segregation, and apartheid. Not to mention forced child removal and assimilation policies intended to "breed the Black out" of our culture.

But we're still here! Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the oldest continuously practising culture in the world. Recent archaeological discoveries show Aboriginal people were baking bread even before the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. As a community, we've had our own Black power movements, music movements, and art movements too.

I'm generalising a lot because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are very diverse. We've got over 400 languages and nations, each with its own cultural rules. While many of us have lost our language and culture because of colonisation, there are many who haven't and many working to restore and preserve it.

One thing I will make very clear is that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples refer to ourselves as Black (sometimes without the C) regardless of what we look like. There are many Aboriginal people, like myself, who are pale skinned and still call ourselves Black and are accepted as such. This is because we do NOT adhere to blood quantum that colonisers try to put on us. Our connection to Blackness is about our connection to family and community, it is not *only* about how we look.

Hope this helps you understand a bit. I for one am very proud to be Blak. I'm very proud to be Aboriginal. If you want to learn more about Aboriginal culture and history, here's some resources:

[what-even-is-thiss]

In English, North America and South America are two different continents but in Spanish they’re just one continent and continents are a made up concept and what constitutes as a continent has no useful definition that fits all of our regular lists of continents and why are Europe and Asia and Africa three different continents in the first place and is Australia actually just a very big island?

Anyways that’s why I don’t type things like USAmerican because in English they’re just Americans but I understand why some people do get annoyed with that but at the same time I’ve seen zero Spanish speakers in my personal life argue for speaking that way in English and I guess my point is that we should probably be more aware of how certain people see themselves and be respectful of that but also at the same time I’m an English speaking person in an English speaking country and if I use America to refer to what we call The Americas in my everyday life people will assume I’ve made a mental typo or that I’m being contrarian and if I tried to make that a thing in my everyday speech patterns I’d come off as a pretentious idiot. If I’m speaking Spanish that’s a different story. Then yeah there’s other words for US Americans like estadounidense. Or famously gringo, more colloquially.

I’m not looking to start arguments here. Like I said I totally get why people make that distinction. But there’s also like the nuances of the lived reality of living in certain cultural contexts that I think people forget about.

I’m not here to tell you to not make that distinction in your speech. I’m not even here to tell you that you’re not allowed to be frustrated about it. I’m just here to explain why I don’t do that and why most English speaking people don’t and why it’s not inherently malicious when people do. Like if someone fully dismisses your perspective on the issue and how you view your own identity yes they’re the asshole. But also generally in English it’s The Americas or North, Central, and South America. And yes maybe that’s stupid but so is the existence of Europe as a concept and we all seem to believe that Europeans are a real thing.

And to reiterate. I’m not trying to tell anybody how to speak or how to feel here. Just trying to insert some nuance into this conversation. Because people I call Americans and you might call USAmericans are only gonna call ourselves Americans. That’s just how we view ourselves, how we understand our own identity as a nation. And some people will be jerks about it. But many of us are also just living in the world we live in, referring to ourselves in the way we always have, not aiming to tell anyone else how they ought to view themselves.

I’m American. Soy estadounidense. Some stuff unfortunately gets lost in translation.

Also continents don’t exist. If we try to get rid of the concept of continents we’d all be too confused at all times to have these disagreements. Confusion superiority. We go by tectonic plates. California is on the same continent as Japan now.

[mythicallystupid]

As an Aussie I fuckin love the 'humans are space Australians' title, it hilarious.

(I would LOVE someone to use this as a short story prompt, PLEASE)

SO IMAGINE, a big cruiser has a few (like 10ish) humans on the crew (none of which are Aussie) and everyone is just chatting over 'lunch' and the topic switches to earth and it's cultures/countries. One of the humans decide to just go "fun fact, Australia is not only a country but also an island and continent all in one" so the whole conversation shifts to how dumb Australia is.

All the non-human crew are just staring at the group dumbfounded as they tell 'fun facts' about Australia.

Then one day an Australian Human needs a hitchhike to a station the cruiser is stopping at next (with permission [optional]) so during a meal time they basically get interrogated once everyone realises they are in fact an Australian and, as we do, they spread 'knowledge' of our wildlife such as drop bears and many creatures alike.

( FEEL FREE TO ADD :D )

[whencyclopedia]

The Hundred Years' War was fought intermittently between England and France from 1337 to 1453 CE and the conflict had many consequences, both immediate and long-lasting. Besides the obvious death and destruction that many of the battles visited upon soldiers and civilians alike, the war made England virtually bankrupt and left the victorious French Crown in total control of all of France except Calais. Kings would come and go but for many of them, one significant measure of the success of their reign was their performance in the Hundred Years' War. Divisions were created within the nobilities of both countries which had repercussions for who became the next ruling monarch. Trade was badly affected and peasants were incessantly taxed, which caused several major rebellions, but there were more positive developments such as the creation of more competent and regularised tax offices and the trend towards more professional diplomacy in international relations. The war also produced enduring and iconic national heroes, notably Henry V of England (r. 1413-1422 CE) and Joan of Arc (1412-1431 CE) in France. Finally, such a long conflict against a clearly identifiable enemy resulted in both participants forging a much greater sense of nationhood. Even today, a rivalry still continues between these two neighbouring countries, now, fortunately, largely expressed within the confines of international sporting events. Another consequence of the military successes was the revival of medieval chivalry, especially by Edward III who, along with his son Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376 CE), founded the exclusive chivalric Order of the Garter c. 1348 CE which still survives today. Saint George, the patron of the order, was now firmly established as a national saint of a confident country finally on equal military terms with the French. By the end of the war, England became wholly separated from the affairs of the Continent and was already moving towards a more 'English' cultural identity where the English language was spoken at court and used in official documents, and where customs and the view of the world were now firmly part of an island outlook. France, meanwhile, was richer and more powerful than ever before and ready to expand its interests on the Continent, notably in Italy. Finally, the war created enduring national heroes who continue to be celebrated today in popular culture. In England, Henry V became a legend in his own lifetime after his stunning victory at the 1415 CE Battle of Agincourt against enormous odds and, thanks to writers such as William Shakespeare (1564-1616 CE), his star has risen only ever higher as Henry V continues to be performed, filmed, and quoted. In France, Joan of Arc became the great figure of the conflict as her heavenly visions inspired her to lift the siege of Orleans in 1429 CE, turning the tide of the war. Joan was burnt at the stake as a witch but, made a saint in 1920 CE, she still today symbolises defiance against the odds and French patriotism. Both countries, then, have created a mythology of the Hundred Years' War, a now long-past time where the enemy was clear, the heroes were virtuous and the victories golden.

[loriache]

The world's major cities

So, Kabru copes with stress by reciting important world cities. That's very cute. Let's move on from that character beat, though, and get weird about Lore.

Cities!!

Kahka Brud and Izganda we know - Kahka Brud is the city nearest to the Island, the dwarvern port with a large population of Half-foots. It's also partially built into the ruins of a dungeon, the Brud Dungeon Cluster. That's really neat!

Senshi is from Izganda; it had mines and a large dwarvern community.

Sadena is where Daya is from - it had a dungeon. Her family were dungeon-keepers.

Dozahk is where one of Senshi's previous comrades was from; he's a "city dwarf", the son of metropolitan merchants, and so I assume it's a pretty big city.

They're all on the Eastern Continent.

Kabru doesn't list Bonnario, which is also written on the World Map, on the Eastern Continent, so I guess maybe it's not that important of a city? I don't know if it comes up anywhere in the story or extras, but I'd expect it to if it's on the map. I didn't notice anyone's bio saying they are from there, but I could have missed it.

Merini is the city on the Island, arguably also on the Eastern Continent. And, eventually the name of the country too. ...I know continents are established by agreement and not landmass, but despite what that line from the manga's ending says, I seriously doubt it will get considered a separate continent. It's big but it just doesn't seem that big... it's only my subjective & half assed calculations (in this post) that puts it about the size of Aotearoa or the UK, but I genuinely can't imagine it being so much bigger that it warrants being considered a continent as just one country that's already attached to the Eastern Continent.

Anyway based on grouping all the Eastern continent cities in here:

....I'm going to go ahead and assume this bubble is just cities from the Eastern Continent.

Then, the cities in these bubbles could be from two other continents:

Though I don't know which. He doesn't include Wa, so I'll assume not the Eastern Archipelago. If he's going by proximity, the nearest places to the Eastern Continent are the Northern Continent (where Laios, Falin, and Marcille are from) and the Southern Continent. We don't get any city names for those AFAIK, though.

If anyone has any speculations, I'd be quite curious; I can't really tell what the vibe is of these names, they mostly just sound "fantasy-like" to me. Since this panel is a throwaway joke, the ones that don't come up elsewhere were probably just transliterated literally however, so if they're supposed to sound reminscent of something it would be easy to miss.

Utaya isn't here (not surprising, if I was Kabru and trying to keep myself calm) so it's possible that he isn't listing cities on the Western Continent.

He could also have just started listing with the continent he's on, and the separate bubbles don't mean anything, but A) less fun as speculation-fodder that way; and B) he definitely switched continents at some point or it wouldn't be labelled as "the world's major cities" but rather "the Eastern Continent's major cities" or just "names of cities".

[opencommunion]

"While the North American colonists identified with the chosen people who sailed across the Atlantic to conquer the promised land, to be wrested from its unauthorized inhabitants and cleansed of their presence, the Latin American revolutionaries, in the wake of their argument with Spain, tended to denounce the genocidal practices of the conquistadores, Spanish in particular and European in general. Here too the road had been indicated by the black slaves of San Domingo who, after having broken with Napoleonic France and defeated its attempts to re-conquer it and reintroduce slavery, had assumed the Indian name of Haiti. ... Thanks to the politico-social homogeneity (strengthened by the availability of land and westward expansion) of its dominant class, and thanks also to the confinement of much of the ‘dangerous classes’ in slavery, the North American republic soon succeeded in achieving a stable structure. It took the form of a ‘master race democracy’ and a racial state, based on the rule of law within the white community and among the chosen people. The situation in Latin America was very different: between liberal beginnings and radical outcomes, the revolution had mobilized a front stamped with profound social and ethnic contradictions. Thus two contrasting ideas of liberty confronted one another: one calls to mind the English gentleman determined to dispose freely of his servants; the other ultimately refers to the struggle that had put an end to black slavery in San Domingo-Haiti.

Around 1830 the American continent presented a rather telling picture. While it had disappeared in a considerable part of Latin America, slavery remained in force in the European colonies, including British and Dutch ones, and above all in the United States. We can say that from the slave revolution onwards there developed a pent up confrontation, a kind of cold war, between San Domingo and the United States. On one side, we have a country that saw ex-slaves in power, authors of a revolution that was possibly unique in world history; on the other, a country almost always led in the early decades of its existence by slave owning presidents. ... Once the new revolutionary power had consolidated itself, it was a constant concern of the United States, where not a few ex-colonists took refuge, to overthrow or at least isolate it through a cordon sanitaire. It would be dangerous, observed Jefferson in 1799, to enter into commercial relations with San Domingo. That would result in ‘black crews’ disembarking in the United States, and these emancipated slaves could represent ‘combustion’ for the slaveholding South. On the basis of such concerns, South Carolina banned the entry into its territory of any ‘man of colour’ from San Domingo or any of the other French islands, which might in some way have been infected by the new, dangerous ideas of liberty and racial equality. Regardless of commercial exchanges, stressed influential political figures in the North American republic, by its very example the island risked challenging the institution of slavery far beyond its borders. ... Only after the end of the Civil War did the United States agree to open diplomatic relations with Haiti. But it was a move bereft of any warmth, and in fact functional for a project of ethnic cleansing. The idea, also entertained by Lincoln, of depositing on the island of black power the ex-slaves, who were to be deported from the republic that continued to be inspired by the principle of white supremacy and purity, had not yet been abandoned.

Hence a distinguished historian of slavery has appropriately warned against the tendency ‘to confuse liberal principles with antislavery commitment.’ ... Lincoln himself initially conducted the Civil War as a crusade against rebellion and separatism, not for the abolition of slavery, which could continue to survive in states loyal to central government. It was only later, with the recruitment of blacks into the Union army and hence with the direct intervention of slaves and ex-slaves in the conflict, that the civil war between whites was transformed into a revolution, conducted partly from above and partly from below, making the abolition of slavery inevitable." Domenico Losurdo, Liberalism: A Counter-History, trans. Gregory Elliot (2011)

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[bestworstcase]

So, I was gathering reference for a map making project and when looking at the Vale World of Remnant video got reminded of this map and was curious if you had any thoughts on things:

This was its follow up:

i think about those red settlements all the time. (i have another post about this somewhere but it’s lost in the tumblr abyss. rip.) now, first thing, the placement of these settlements is clearly vibes-based—we know there are no settlements in the menagerian interior and there’s no green markers where the city of vale should be, etc—so their distribution is probably meant to give more of a general sense of where people tend to be in a world populated mainly by grimm, rather than the exact location of specific settlements. in any case, what’s up with quadling country those settlements on the “uninhabited” continent where salem lives?

third data point, from the great war spot:

which implies that battles were fought across the southern peninsula of the “uninhabited” continent during the great war; this does not make sense to me unless there were people there, so my thinking is that these red settlements must have existed at the time and their obliteration occurred during the course of the great war, which tracks with qrow noting many settlements were permanently lost due to the fighting and the grimm.

but that leaves the questions of 1. who were these people, and 2. why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned them?—because if this was an entire kingdom that got annihilated during the great war, you’d think that would merit at least a footnote in the great war episode. the two explanations that i can think of are:

#1, the red settlements represent a now-defunct faunus kingdom that is receiving the same treatment in history books that menagerie receives politically in the present—namely, the “four kingdoms… (and menagerie)” thing where the faunus kingdom is not only completely marginalized on the international stage but humans barely even acknowledge that it exists.

this would also make menagerie a much harder kick in the face, if the faunus already had a kingdom—a much larger one, even!—that was razed to the ground, ended up impossible to reclaim from the grimm, and got unceremoniously erased by human historians while the human kingdoms were like “stop complaining, we gave you an island!” about it.

however, i’d think this would be a bit of history blake knew, and there’s an obvious place in V4 for her to have brought it up because she talks about the history of the great war in relation to menagerie!

or,

#2, the red settlements were founded by vacuans displaced by the conquest and occupation of vacuo. this conveniently explains why they’ve never really been explained, if they were separate from vacuo by virtue of not being under mistrali occupation but also still, in a way, considered ‘part’ of vacuo because the people living their were vacuan—the settlements were destroyed or abandoned after the war, sure, but in the end the vacuans who lived there got to go home and have their own kingdom back. i think this is also more in keeping with the decolonial project of the vytal accords, with imperial territories being liberated and so forth. and you still get the whitewashing-history vibe of well, sure these vacuans lost their homes but they got a kingdom in the end so…

<- this would make the vacuo arc the natural place for it to come up in the story proper, because the vacuans would remember even if the rest of the world didn’t.

either way, the fact that the settlements are 1. located on the continent where salem presumably lives, and 2. color-coded red definitely implies some connection between her and them—whether that’s a legitimate connection or just ozma making an assumption that people living in her proximity must secretly be under her thumb remains to be seen, but it’s interesting. i do think it’s quite unlikely that salem herself is the one solely responsible for their obliteration, because the great war episode does show that there was fighting in that region; if she did attack them she did so under the cover of a level of destructive warfare that would have wiped them off the map anyway.

i’m also very interested in the menagerian-lime settlements on anima—it’s always been my assumption that that’s where the WF is headquartered and the idea of faunus-majority settlements in southern anima, protected by menagerie, compels me.

[jokeroutsubs]

[ENG TRANSLATION] "It seemed like an impossible dream to perform on Sziget's Main Stage" - Exclusive interview with Joker Out

Original article written by Peti for MusicDaily on 25.07.2024. English translation by IG gurdonanna, X brnbergeron and X zozzzzie, proofread by IG gboleyn123

Video interview available here:

Formed in 2016, Joker Out became the fan favourite band of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. The boys represented the neighbouring Slovenia with their hit 'Carpe Diem', and this year they are finally coming to our country for the first time. Namely to Sziget Festival, at which they say was one of their biggest dreams to perform - or rather, never in their wildest dreams they could imagine to ever get about an hour long time slot at the main stage of such a big festival to prove their dedication and talent.

If you ask them, they describe their musical style as 'shagadelic rock n'roll', which roughly translates to very sexy rock n'roll mixed with the extravagant style of the '80s. They've toured the old continent, and in the UK, even Lewis Capaldi was curious to see what kind of party they put on. One thing is for sure, with their coolness, they put Slovenia on the musical map of the world, as they proudly use folk music in their sound, sometimes in the ex-Yugoslavian style.

We sat down with the boys for a Zoom call before their performance at Sziget Festival, where Kris, Jan, Jure and Nace were present.

We asked them about their song 'Bluza', of course, but also about the new album, Sziget and their experiences at the Eurovision Song Contest. The guys already knew a few Hungarian words, which we will only reveal in the video version, while you can read the whole interview below - exclusive interview with Joker Out.

It's so nice to see you. How are you today?

We are good, right? I think we are well woken up right now, because usually this would be too early for us, but we've been doing interviews for the past hour and a half, so we are in a good mood right now.

You'll be playing your first show in Hungary in less than a month. Have you ever been to Hungary before?

Yeah, yeah. But I think we've only been to Budapest so far.

This summer, you'll be performing at Sziget, which is like one of the biggest festivals in Central Europe. How excited are you about the show, and what can your fans expect from it?

I think we are all very, very, very excited for it, because especially playing on the main stage has always been one of those unachievable dreams, like we never thought it will ever happen. So it's very surreal, that we'll play there, and so accordingly we are gonna give it our all onstage.

We'll have everything with us: screens, lights, special effects, to make it worthwhile for everyone, for those who already know us and those who don't yet.

And your fans are very curious if there will be any unreleased songs at the concert...

We haven't decided on the setlist yet.

We have so many released songs, so it would probably be a mistake not to play them. The thing is, we probably won't have a lot of time to play, so we have to prioritise... and those are definitely going to be the released ones.

And speaking of concerts, do you have any pre show rituals that you always do before concerts?

When the intro starts rolling... there is always an intro. When the intro comes on, and we hear it in our earpieces, we do this [demostrates] and it's like, unifying our energy before we go on stage.

Sziger Festival is also called "The Island of Freedom". So I'm curious, what does freedom means to you personally?

Freedom from alarm clocks. That is definitely one of the biggest freedoms I enjoy and do not take for granted in my life.

Freedom is to be able to freely express your opinions on any topic, and to walk around on the streets of your town without feeling danger, that anything might happen to you. That is a kind of freedom we take for granted, but maybe it is good to sometimes think that it's not the same for every person in the world.

And the freedom when we are creating music. We don't have labels on us that are pushing us. And being able to live from music. That's freedom to me. Being able to do what you want and to have the financial means to feel free and to enjoy this.

If you could change just one thing about the world, what would it be?

That there would be no jealous or greedy people in the world anymore.

And I would try to make the borders between countries disappear as much as possible.

No more music on Spotify, only on CDs and records. And stop spreading false information and only share what is objectively true. It's a hard one, but it's a good sentiment.

You just released your latest song 'Šta Bih Ja'. Can you tell us a bit about the background of the song? What inspired it, and what is the message you want to convey with it?

The background to the song is that we went to London for two months, in January and February, to create our new album, and this was the first song we composed. We actually put this song together very quickly in January, in maybe like the first or second session in our new rehearsal space there.

Musically it's very up-tempo, energetic and a bit ex-Yugoslavia inspired, but the lyrics are darker than the music itself.

So there's a bit of contrast. The message or the vibe of the song is kind of what we felt when we went to England. The feeling of being a stranger in a big city, not knowing many people, and knowing that someone you love is waiting for you somewhere else, but you can't reach them at that moment. That's pretty much what it's about.

How is your new album shaping up?

Slowly, but good. Very slowly. But very good.

What three words would you use to describe the album?

To describe the album in three words? Not released yet.

If I had to say one word, I'd use "cocktail". Because it will have different languages and musical styles. Love... of course. And an album full of hits. So the three words: cocktail, love and hits.

Your fans are particularly excited about one song, and that's 'Bluza'. Do you know when it will be officially released?

I just recorded the drums for the second time yesterday, so slowly, probably in a couple of weeks. I mean to finish it, not to release it. We haven't even finished it completely, but we'll probably release it before the album.

This is going to be the next single, so probably in late August or

September.

September, yeah. Hopefully. Don't take it for sure, but yeah, because

it's a song that we all really love, and we feel it's very special, so we want it to be perfect for release.

Now let's talk about Eurovision, a very famous competition with a very long history. So I wonder how you prepared for it emotionally?

I think there was not much emotional preparation. Everyone says that Eurovision is intense, and you have to prepare and stuff like that. But nobody, at least the first time they go to Eurovision, really understands what is meant by that. So you just go into it like 'yeah, I'm gonna do this', and then when things start happening you realise it's really intense, but by then you're already way too deep into it to start preparing. So what we did was more like surviving Eurovision, doing everything we could and then trying to process what happened.

It's much easier for us because we're a band. We can do it together and so relieve the pressure of interviews or performing on stage. So it's much easier than being a solo artist.

Do you have a favourite memory from your Eurovision journey?

Barcelona, Barcelona. The pre-parties. Those were awesome. Oh yeah, getting to the final... the semi-final too. The semi-final was great.

Finally, do you have any message for your Hungarian fans?

First of all, it's very nice to see that we have Hungarian fans, because although it's a neighbouring country to Slovenia, it's a very different country. We don't share many cultural aspects, especially in music, so we're happy that we have fans there to play for, and we hope that one day we can play our own concert in Budapest.

We promise to try to make that happen as soon as possible. See you there, and at Sziget!

[lalalian]

into the far lands of the celatum... | aethergarde academy

date: october 8, 2024

EDIT: I don’t mean a lot as in like ‘major resource’ I mean a lot as in it gets a lot of one really niche resource from this island, namely ce’ceri scales; ce’ceri aren’t known to the world really, but their scales sometimes escape the barrier bc they contain a pretty good amount of mana

where am I?

I've really been starving ya'll lately in terms of actual main story lore, so, think of this post as (yet another) teaser.

This is like huge, actually 😭😭 not the island, I mean the importance of this place.

Today, I'll talk more about mermaids and their effects on Ostathia and the rest of the world.

BUT

Before that, let's talk mermaids (in general!!)

why are merfolk even important?

Merfolk are extremely important when it comes to trade, guiding, and water safety. Eudora has a tight bond with the merfolk-- they often do spy work and provide resources to land dwelling people that can only be found underwater.

I don't think I can stress how important merfolk are when it comes to trade, like they can block off trade routes within minutes if they want to.

Brimstone (Brimstone=all the kingdoms/empires on the continent) has a hard time trading with other places because merfolk constantly try to wreak their ships due to their alliances with other empires... especially Eudora and Caldarune. Asahn's outside alliances + the merfolk they're allied with do help reduce the attacks. It's not uncommon for empire to pay merfolk to do this; this is including the Eudora Empire.

Even if you use aircraft (atm, the only flying transportation vehicle is a floating ship invented by an institute in Aielles), you'd have to fly at a certain distance above water + make sure the bottom of the ship is strong enough to withstand their arrows. No, the merfolk aren't just going to throw spears at the ships by hand, they've made cannon-like machines to cause as much damage as possible.

Trading groups who are rich enough to have reinforced top-of-the-line air ships can generally withstand the merfolk's revolts.

asahn's history with merfolk

Asahn is the only Brimstone territory that has an alliance with some kind of merfolk group-- the group they're allied with is a small colony of 120~ who also don't like humans and have been known to have a peculiar taste for dragon flesh + blood.

If you've read the stuff in the script about Asahn, I think you could infer where they get their supply of dragon corpses (if you're deemed too weak for your dragon, your dragon is removed from your care).

I'd like to point out that Asahn is not a communist country, it's more totalitarian. There's nothing Asahn desires more than strength and power, to be worthy of noble status, you must be a B tiered rider or higher. Race and gender generally don't matter, you just need to be as powerful as you can possibly be.

Some of Callisto's resources are from Asahn

why are merfolk important to ostathia?

Ostathia was sealed by unknown entities for the last century. Though, the residents of Ostathia do know it was by aquatic beings.

Merfolk.

Ostathia is hidden from riders, dragons, and even other merfolk-- they cannot sense the presence of the force shield or the residents living in Ostathia. You can literally sail through Ostathia and not even know you did so.

Residents born in the kingdom of Ostathia (their residents call themselves Ostathees) don't leave; no outsiders were reported to have entered Ostathia since its closure.

The mermaids who reside in this kingdom care for the ce'ceri (seh-sir-see) -- water serpents. These serpents are a relative of the bakunawa, but these serpents are different enough to be unable to mate with bakunawas.

ostathia

I'm not going to say everything (once again, lmao) but I'll leave this post off with this:

The weakest point of Ostathia's barrier is located at the billows, it may only be marginally weaker, but it's weaker nonetheless

Who are the residents of Ostathia?

Are we really sure that nobody's left the kingdom in the last century?

Who are the dragons hanging around the Isles of Phaum?

Do/did the ce'ceri have riders?

Who is the black ce'ceri?

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-

-

I'm open to questions about Ostathia as long as it's not related to the major conflicts directly.

I will say that you will be dealing with this kingdom in your last year at aethergarde academy.

wanna know more about my aethergarde academy dr? here's a masterlist with everything I've posted about it!

[emblemxeno]

Ideas for a Fire Emblem Game

Hi, I wanted to post my ideas for some things I'd include in a Fire Emblem game, because I never shared a creative thing of mine on here before.

I have outlines for Lore, General Plot, Themes, Chapters, Characters/Personal Skills, Classes/Unit Types, Weapons and Items, and one Other thing.

This is LONG. The longest blog post I ever made, so I'm putting everything under the cut. I don't really know if I wanna do anything more than this, since I've never written fanfic before, but maybe I'll be inspired to do so in the future if I feel like it.

Lore

---For lore inspiration, I drew from the Four Symbols in Chinese culture. I'm using their Japanese names because FE is a Japanese series.

---Backstory is that before life existed, there was emptiness. Then suddenly a flash of light that led to life. Unfortunately, one these lives was a Gold Demon Dragon (Kohryu) that threatened humanity. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, four divine beings defeated and drove off the Demon: Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu. They were celebrated across the continent, and before their passing, four countries formed and took their names in reverance. Over time, the four kingdoms began a cycle of going between feuding/warring with each other and peace time, eventually leading to each country evolving into their current forms with new cultures and aesthetics, with only the names of their deities and a shared faith remaining.

---The countries are the Genbu Kingdom, a snowy northern land famed for its knights and with Norse/Germanic aesthetics; the Suzaku Theocracy, a southern desert country home to the major religious establishments and Egyptian aesthetics; the Byakko Empire, a meritocratic temperate western land covered with forests and jungles with Yoruba inspirations; and the Seiryu Dynasty, a relatively isolationist island nation that's the capital of the arts, famed for war ships and dragon riders, and Japanese inspirations.

---Each country also has their own holy artifact, said to be the concentrated powers of their deities; Genbu's Black Tiara, Byakko's Pearl Bracelet, Seiryu's Jade Sigil, and Suzaku's Fire Emblem. These artifacts are responsible for maintaining magical balance, for advancing warriors to new levels of power, and granting mysterious cognitive powers, such as preserving historical records and premonitions of possible immediate futures.

General Plot

---Four main characters to parallel the Four Symbols. The primary main character is a jaded but compassionate young Dark Mage/Savant of mixed ancestry, who comes from a village on the Genbu border that houses families from different cultures and countries, which serves as thematic foil to the countries at large being at odds aside from annual conferences. Dark Mage is raised by his father, a retired Genbu knight. After displaying remarkable tactical and diplomatic skill in quelling a long time bandit group, the Dark Mage/Savant and his father are invited back to the Genbu capital to sit in on a conference between groups of country representatives.

---There he meets the other main characters, a suave Swordmaster/Hero from Suzaku, a melancholy Falcon Knight/Valkyrie from Byakko, and a brash Dancer/Kabuki from Seiryu. Genbu's royal family (including a generous prince), Byakko's imperial entourage (including the emperor himself), and Seiryu's dynasts (including a branch family chancellor) are in attendance, as well as the high bishop of Suzaku standing in for the holy family, the reason for this being a civil war happening within the theocracy and each side lead by heads of the holy family, a sister and brother.

---Unnerved and annoyed with the pomp and circumstance of the conference, Dark Mage exits the court in a fit, which both tenses and intrigues the important figures there. Under surprising circumstances, he and his father are employed by the high bishop to help end the civil war, with direct assistance from Genbu knights. The high bishop also gifts him the Fire Emblem, Suzaku's precious holy artifact.

---Dark Mage/Savant employs cold yet efficient tactics, weaponizing the power of words and rumors to minimize as much direct combat as possible by causing the rebel forces to crumble from within. Eventually the civil war is ended in Suzaku with much less bloodshed than expected, a feat that Dark Mage/Savant is celebrated for, especially by his Swordmaster/Hero compatriot, who takes a liking to him.

---However, everything is turned upside down upon returning to Genbu, where warfare and destruction runs rampant. In the chaos, the boy's father is seemingly killed by an unknown magic user. The boy's party escapes to the borderlands, where the other main characters (Swordmaster/Savant, Falcon Knight/Valkyrie, Dancer/Kabuki) meet him and relay what's happening: the prince of Genbu committed treason and slew his family with support of forces from Byakko's emperor and Seiryu's chancellor, all in a grand scheme to forcibly unite the continent under one banner once more.

---After regrouping, the main characters make a risky play to topple the Byakko Empire from within, with covert support from the now defending Suzaku Theocracy. Despite Byakko's renowned military might, its merit based society is fragile and on the verge of mutinous infighting due to the disparity of privilege and strength in its population. Fed up with her country's unforgiving and misguided way of governance, the Falcon Knight/Valkyrie personally takes command and leads the party to liberate her countrymen, in the name of fighting for the weak. Due to these surprise attacks and waning support from his people, the Emperor is killed in a last stand, and the Byakko Empire is now allied with Suzaku under the guide of the Falcon Knight/Valkyrie.

---Taking the next step to secure the alliance, the party heads to the border, but is locked into a battle between their forces and the combined might of the Genbu Prince and Seiryu Chancellor who were targeting a battalion lead by Suzaku's high bishop. Repelling the forces, the party take the high bishop into their protection, where they are also greeted by surprising guests: apparitions of the Four Divine Deities.

---Big lore drops happen. The high bishop explains that another player in this conflict is his would-be successor, a nihilist bishop who, through forbidden magic, gained the power of the ancient Gold Demon Dragon, Kohryu. The deities reveal that they didn't defeat Kohryu, but rather they are all facets of the Demon, having split off from each other upon bearing witness to humanity's beauty. This fact was lost to history over millennia and the ascent of the deities to a new plane, but after their passing, they left their powers encased in artifacts to support humanity's progress. However, this proved to be a double edged sword: were their powers to ever be reunited, it would spell the return of the Demon. Despite this, this also meant that the deities still had ties to the plane of humanity, and could descend back through a divine prophecy: "Bearers of our virtues, through our caller we may return, grant our gifts, and become one with the land beloved."

---Through a divine rite led by the high bishop, the four main characters are bestowed divine powers and weapons. Coming to terms with her country's misdeeds, the Dancer/Kabuki calls for the party to launch an offensive on the Seiryu Dynasty. Upon arrival to the island nation, the Dancer's/Kabuki's resolve serves as inspiration for disillusioned commoners and lower ranked nobles to rise against their home's ambitious chancellor.

---As the party fights further into Seiryu, it's revealed that Seiryu's dynastic family had been turned into puppet figures by the chancellor, who was blackmailing them with secrets of past crimes committed by the nation yet hidden from the public. Seiryu's chancellor, Genbu's prince, and Byakko's emperor all shared ideologies: they believed their continent has suffered disarray and tragedy due to being split apart, and humanity will stay weak and at war with each other unless forcibly united under a single banner. In a previous conference, they were all approached by the high bishop's successor/the nihilist bishop, who promised power and influence through religious dogma as tools to further all their ambitions.

---The chancellor and her loyalists are defeated, and the family dynasts freed. The family decides to divulge their secrets to the public: their ancestors once sought to use forbidden magic on their holy artifact and, by means of war, declare full independence from the rest of the continent and dissolve the legitimacy of the church, one of the few remaining unifiers that the continent had left. This was discovered by the high bishop at the time, and this plot was ended before it began. As punishment, the dynasty's secret was used by the church and the other countries as leverage to justify possible pre-emptive subjugation in case of future wars. This information was privy only to the leaders and other high ranked officials in each nation. Despite this being done under the guise of keeping the peace, this act ironically exacerbated tensions between the nations as well as the church, with more and more conflicts sprouting throughout centuries due to shifting power dynamics.

---The final piece of the puzzle falls into place. The high bishop's successor had lived a life of tragedy. He was orphaned at a young age by bandits in a Genbu village. The Genbu knights were warned about a rising bandit group terrorizing more and more villages, yet they did nothing to quell this problem until it was too late for many families. The future successor began wandering, rejecting his homeland of Genbu. When he was too weak to make a life in Byakko, and the decadence of Seiryu disgusted him, he turned to the church in Suzaku. There he finally found solace; that is, until the years of secrecy and backstabbing (as well as the origins of the Four Deities) was taught to him in preparation for his succession and responsibility. This was his breaking point, and he began a plot to erase humanity from the face of the earth. As a religious figurehead, he devised to use forbidden magic on the holy artifacts in order to combine them and bring back the Demon. He enthralled ambitious leaders of the nations, manufactured the Suzaku civil war through lies to draw eyes away from him as he came into contact with each artifact, and planned the grand war to afford him time to further complete the Demon's resurrection.

---To end this war, the party marches back to confront this nihilist bishop as well as Genbu's prince. A sideplot has been occurring alongside the main one ever since the party's first major attack on Byakko: a dangerous, ghostly horseman has been appearing in various battles, seemingly targeting the Dark Mage/Savant main character relentlessly. This turns out to be his father, corrupted by the nihilist bishop's attack back when Genbu was usurped. The father's mind became distorted; while he was supposed to be killed and brought back as a soldier under the influence of the Demon, his previous contact with Genbu's holy artifact (because he's a pre-promote) in combination with his strong willpower and love for his son led to him instead surviving and becoming a rogue, unpredictable force. While he would previously attempt to settle things peacefully or justly, now he would slaughter those who angered him (ironically, this happened to be to the detriment of the nihilist bishop, whose soldiers were often victim's of the father). However, his killer instinct and longing to see his son again became entangled with one another, leading to him attacking his blood. Before the party of heroes is able to advance on Genbu's capital, they take on the Dark Mage's/Savant's father one more time, and thanks to their newly bestowed divine powers and access to three of the artifacts, they are able to ward of his corruption and revive him.

---This, in turn, leads to the deities regaining more of their powers, as they themselves were born from the Demon. They take the father's corruption/darkness unto themselves and once again take physical forms to assist the party in their final battles. The party faces off against magically resurrected knights, court officials, and even the former king, queen, and princess, before finally meeting the prince, who has gone mad in combination from his actions during the war and his side's continuing losses. The party defeats him, and eventually confront the nihilist bishop. However, this is a trap! According to the forbidden rites, "To revive the Demon, a soul of emptiness must be freed from the shackles of flesh to serve as host." Killing the bishop brings back the Golden Demon Dragon, Kohryu. In a last stand the party throws all of their might at the Demon, but in order to destroy him for good, the Four Deities decide to use their very lives to do so. They ask their inheritors to make a world for all, where love can bloom freely, and light will always pierce the darkness.

---In the epilogue, each nation goes under reconstruction: the father of the Dark Mage/Savant is elected Knight Lord of Genbu's new kingdom; the Falcon Knight/Valkyrie recruits a roundtable of people from different walks of life to push Byakko into a direction of charity; the Dancer/Kabuki works with the dynasts to end the nation's isolationism and is on the verge of a cultural renaissance as a result; the heads of the Suzaku Theocracy and the high bishop tirelessly fund international reconstruction and provide sanctuary for war vicims, with the Swordmaster/Hero working as ambassador; the four main characters routinely meet up to journey together for days, even weeks at a time so as to maintain their bond and love for their homes.

Themes

----I intended the themes for this plot to be: rejection of destructive nihilism and misanthropy; rejection of both isolationism and forced unification, instead promoting mutual cross-cultural trust and companionship while still respecting each other's borders; the power of words and diplomacy, for good and bad; the idea of true strength comes from a foundation of wanting to help your fellow man despite differences, rather than one of everyone simply being under one banner (i.e. not having differences to possibly clash over at all).

Chapters

Here are what I outlined for chapters and character join times. I also have an idea for paralogues being accessed through memory events a la the memory prisms in FE Echoes, and completing them gives Bonus EXP, but I haven't thought far enough ahead as to what the paralogues would be.

Prologue-Page of History: M!Dark Mage/Savant, M!Sword Paladin, M!Fighter, MtF!Pegasus Knight

Chapter 1-Compassion: M!Myrmidon, M!Soldier, F!Archer

Chapter 2-Rare Opportunity: M!Mage, F!Priest

Chapter 3-Hall of Pride: F!Sword Armor, F!Lance Armor

Chapter 4-March to Suzaku: F!Axe Cavalier

Chapter 5-Desert Divide

Chapter 6-Faithful Clash

Chapter 7-The Ruthless Strategist: M!Thief, F!Hunter

Chapter 8-The Weight of Words: M!Fighter

Chapter 9-Vision of Love: M!Swordmaster/Hero

Chapter 10-Shattered: Lose M!Sword Paladin

Chapter 11-Tooth and Nail: F!Falcon Knight/Valkyrie, F!Kabuki

Chapter 12-A War For Whom?

Chapter 13-Braving The Forest: F!Dragon Master

Chapter 14-Duty to Protect: FtM!Lance Paladin, M!Sniper, M!Axe General

Chapter 15-Tiger’s Keep: M!Tamer

Chapter 16-Imbalance: F!Sorcerer

Chapter 17-Value of Strength

Chapter 18-Brink of Collapse: F!Sage

Chapter 19-The People’s Champion: F!Halberdier

Chapter 20-The Four Gods

Chapter 21-Turning the Tides: M!Saint, M!Dragon Lord

Chapter 22-The Jade Dynasty

Chapter 23-Betrayer’s Resolve: F!Trueblade, M!Druid

Chapter 24-Desperate Measures

Chapter 25-Sinking Below: F!Assassin, F!Falcon Knight

Chapter 26-Catharsis

Chapter 27-A Future’s Cost

Chapter 28-Welcome Home: Re-gain M!Sword Paladin/Great Knight

Chapter 29-Snowfall Memories

Chapter 30-For Our Children: M!Manakete, M!Phoenix, F!Beastkin, F!Guardian

Chapter 31-Court of Ice

Chapter 32-The Bloody Dais

Chapter 33-Emptiness

Finale-A World For All

Characters and Personal Skills

---I haven't come up with names for anyone besides the Four Deities lol. All I have are personal skills (which for the main characters change as they are granted divine powers at the end of Chapter 20, and the Dark Mage's father when he returns after being cured of his corruption). I made the Personal Skills powerful because I envisioned no other skills in this game, offensive or otherwise. Personal skills and equippable items are the name of the game in team building here.

M!Dark Mage/Savant: (Pre-Chapter 21) Understanding-Allies within 3 spaces recover 5 HP per turn/(Chapter 21 onward) Compassion’s Pulse-When this unit uses a healing/support staff, grants Def/Res +5 to target allies for 1 turn

M!Sword Paladin: (Prologue-Chapter 10) Doting Father-Enemies suffer Def/Res-5 for 1 turn after combat with this unit/(Chapter 28 onward) Stalwart Father-Str/Spd +5 if HP > 50%, Def/Res +5 if HP < 50%

M!Fighter: Stubborn Ox-Def/Res + X for the rest of the current map, with X = number of times this unit has taken damage (max = Def/Res +5)

MtF!Pegasus Knight: Unicorn Dame-Female allies within 2 spaces deal +3 damage and take -3 damage

M!Myrmidon: Like Water: Grants Spd +3 and Avo +15 when foe initiates combat

M!Soldier: Seeking Strength: Str + X for the rest of the current map, with X = number of enemies this unit has defeated (max = Str +5)

F!Archer: Hidden Vitriol-Damage dealt +5 when initiating combat

M!Mage: Young Elemental-Use ‘Adept’ Command to attack two foes within range at 50% damage each

F!Priest: Open Warmth-Allies within 4 spaces take -2 damage

F!Sword Armor: Brash Beauty-Unit can move 3 more spaces in the cardinal directions

F!Lance Armor: Sly Sister-If unit’s HP > 50%, grants Mov +2

F!Axe Cavalier: Idle Idol-Use ‘Rally’ Command to grant Dex +8 to and gain support with units within 3 spaces

M!Thief: Plucky Spy-Unit is immune to poison, and gains Avo+20 when attacked by an offensive staff

F!Hunter: Seasoned Huntress-Deals X more damage during combat, with X = number of spaces this unit or enemy moved before combat began

M!Fighter: Atoning Brigand-Hit/Avo/Crit/Eva +20 during combat when adjacent to an ally

M!Swordmaster/Hero: (Pre-Chapter 21) Charm-Hit/Avo +10 to allies within 3 spaces/(Chapter 21 onward) Lover’s Visage-Hit/Avo +20 to all allies on the map

F!Falcon Knight/Valkyrie: (Pre-Chapter 21) Solidarity-Crit/Eva +10 to allies within 3 spaces/(Chapter 21 onward) People’s Champion-Crit/Eva +20 to all allies on the map

F!Dancer/Kabuki: (Pre-Chapter 21) Performer-Use ‘Dance’ command to give an adjacent ally another action/(Chapter 21 onward) Divine Actress-Use ‘Dance’ command to give all adjacent allies another action

F!Dragon Master: Draco Madame-Use ‘Rally’ Command to grant Def+4 to and gain support with units within 3 spaces

FtM!Lance Paladin: Haughty Baron-Male allies within 2 spaces deal +3 damage and take -3 damage

M!Sniper: Smooth Operator-Use ‘Potent’ Command to add an extra strike at half damage during combat

M!Axe General: Thundering Giant-Use ‘Advance’ Command to move 1 space toward a foe that is 2 spaces away and attack with double weapon might

M!Tamer: Crafty Hermit-Grants Crit +30 when not adjacent to an ally

F!Sorcerer: Grand Enchantress-Using a healing or stat boosting item applies the effects to both unit and adjacent allies

F!Sage: Author of Spells-Deals X more damage during combat, with X = 2 * the number of tomes in unit’s inventory

F!Halberdier: Famed Officer-Grants Avo/Crit + X, with X = how many enemies are left on the current map

M!Saint: Heaven’s Caller-Staff range +5 and AoE +1

M!Dragon Lord: Draco Gallant-Use ‘Rally’ Command to grant Str +4 to and gain support with units within 3 spaces

F!Trueblade: Passing A Legacy-Use ‘Rally’ Command to grant Spd +4 to and gain support with units within 3 spaces

M!Druid: Font of Knowledge-Use ‘Rally’ Command to grant Mag/Res +4 to and gain support with units within 3 spaces

F!Assassin: Earth Walker-Unit deals effective damage against all enemies at the cost of avoid rate being cut in half

F!Falcon Knight: Wings of Hope-Str/Spd/Def/Res+4 and Hit/Avo +10 when fighting a higher leveled enemy

M!Manakete: Azure Dragon-Mag/Dex +5 during combat to units within 3 spaces

M!Phoenix: Vermilion Bird-Spd +5 and Avoid +10 during combat to units within 3 spaces

F!Beastkin: White Tiger-Str +5 and Crit +10 during combat to units within 3 spaces

F!Guardian: Black Tortoise-Def/Res +5 during combat to units within 3 spaces

---Here are allegiances/nationalities as well, I made sure that each nation has an equal amount of characters in the party:

Genbu Kingdom, Winter, Norse: F!Genbu, M!Dark Mage/Savant, M!Sword Paladin, M!Fighter, M!Myrmidon, F!Sword Armor, F!Lance Armor, F!Axe Cavalier, F!Assassin

Suzaku Theocracy, Summer, Egyptian: M!Suzaku, M!Swordmaster/Hero, M!Soldier, F!Archer, F!Priest, M!Thief, F!Hunter, F!Sage, M!Saint

Byakko Empire, Autumn, Yoruba: F!Byakko, F!Falcon Knight/Valkyrie, MtF!Pegasus Knight, M!Fighter, M!Axe General, M!Tamer, F!Sorcerer, F!Halberdier, F!Falcon Knight

Seiryu Dynasty, Spring, Japanese: M!Seiryu, F!Dancer/Kabuki, M!Mage, F!Dragon Master, FtM!Lance Paladin, M!Sniper, M!Dragon Lord, F!Trueblade, M!Druid

Classes and Unit Types

-I brought back Radiant Dawns 3 tiers of classes, Engage's unit type systems, and the Trinity of Magic.

-The Weapon Triangle and Trinity of Magic each function like Engage's Break system, but the Weapon Triangle requires damage to be dealt to Break a foe, while the Trinity of Magic's version is called 'Seal' and doesn't require the foe to be damaged, only for a hit to be made; this is to possibly incentivize using magic against other magic users.

-There are no promotion items, as the holy artifacts are used to promote. Every character has a level ranging from 1 to 30. At level 10, units auto promote to tier 2 classes. At level 20, tier 2 units auto promote to tier 3.

Myrmidon (Sword) - Swordmaster (Sword) - Trueblade (Sword)/Hero (Sword, Axe)

Soldier (Lance) - Halberdier (Lance) - Sentinel (Lance)

Fighter (Axe) - Warrior (Axe, Bow) - Reaver (Axe, Bow)

Archer (Bow) - Sniper (Bow) - Marksman (Bow)

Thief (Knife) - Rogue (Knife) - Assassin (Knife)

Sword/Lance/Axe Armor (Sword/Lance/Axe) - Sword/Lance/Axe General (Two Weapons) - Marshall (Three Weapons)

Mage (Anima) - Sage (Anima, Staff) - Archsage (Anima, Staff)

Priest (Light, Staff) - Bishop (Light, Staff) - Saint (Light, Staff)

Dark Mage (Dark) - Sorcerer (Dark, Staff) - Druid (Dark, Staff)/Savant (Dark, Staff)

Sword/Lance/Axe Cavalier (Sword/Lance/Axe) - Sword/Lance/Axe Paladin (Two Weapons) - Great Knight (Three Weapons)

Hunter (Bow) - Tamer (Bow, Knife) - Fenrir (Bow, Knife)

Pegasus Knight (Lance) - Falcon Knight (Sword, Lance) - Seraph Knight (Sword, Lance)/Valkyrie (Sword, Lance)

Dragon Knight (Axe) - Dragon Master (Lance, Axe) - Dragon Lord (Lance, Axe)

Dancer (Knife) - Kabuki (Knife)

Guardian (Breath)

Manakete (Breath)

Beastkin (Strike)

Phoenix (Strike)

Prince (Lance) - Usurper (Lance)

Heiress (Anima) - Chancellor (Anima)

Emperor (Sword, Axe)

Demon (Breath)

The unit types below apply for the entire class lines

Backup: Myrmidon, Soldier, Fighter, Hero, Demon

Covert: Archer, Thief, Dancer

Armored: Sword/Lance/Axe Armor, Guardian, Emperor

Mystical: Mage, Priest, Dark Mage, Savant Manakete, Heiress

Cavalry: Sword/Lance/Axe Cavalier, Hunter, Beastkin, Prince

Flying: Pegasus Knight, Dragonknight, Valkyrie, Phoenix

-The Hero, Savant, Valkyrie, and Kabuki classes are tier 3 excluive promotions for the four main characters when they're blessed by the Four Deities. Guardian, Manakete, Phoenix, and Beastkin are the classes of the Four Deities. Prince/Usurper, Heiress/Chancellor, Emperor, and Demon are enemy exclusive classes.

-Pretty much all the classes are self explanatory as they return from previous FE games, but special mention to the Hunter/Tamer/Fenrir line. I combined the classic Hunter/Nomad class with Engage's Wolf Knight, just so I could have another class to work with.

Weapons and Items

---S Rank Weapons are named after gods/things in various mythologies, Prf Weapons were bestowed from the deities onto their champions

---5 slots for weapons, and 3 slots for items

Swords: Iron, Storm Sword (D), Steel, Armorslayer, Wyrmslayer, Killing Edge, Levin Sword (C), Silver, Tempest Blade, Wo Dao (B), Brave (A), Heimdall (S), Ivory Blade (Prf for Valkyrie)

Lances: Iron, Javelin (D), Steel, Ridersbane, Killer Lance, Flame Lance (C), Silver, Spear (B), Brave (A), Ogun (S)

Axes: Iron, Hand Axe (D), Steel, Hammer, Killer Axe, Hurricane Axe (C), Silver, Tomahawk (B), Brave (A), Hermóðr (S), Scarlet Cleaver (Prf for Hero)

Bows: Iron (D), Steel, Killer Bow, Longbow, Radiant Bow (C), Silver (B), Brave (A), Yemoja (S)

Knives: Iron (D), Steel, Killer Knife, Rune Dagger (C), Silver (B), Brave (A), Horus (S), Jade-Sea Fan (*)

Anima: Fire (D), Thunder (C), Blizzard, Bolting (B), Bolganone, Excalibur (A), Izanagi (S)

Light: Lightning (D), Shine (C), Divine, Purge (B), Aura, Nova (A), Isis (S), Golden Void (Prf for Corrupt Bishop)

Dark: Ruin (D), Nosferatu (C), Luna, Swarm (B), Goetia, Waste (A), Izanami (S), Ebon Verse (Prf for Savant)

Staves: Heal, Mend, Physic, Obstruct (D), Restore, Rewarp, Freeze, Silence (C), Recover, Warp, Rescue, Fracture (B), Fortify, Entrap (A), Osiris (S), Vegvisir (Prf for Savant)

Items - Useables: Vulnerary, Antitoxin, Elixir, Pure Water, Stat Tonics, Torch, Seraph Robe, Energy Drop, Spirit Dust, Secret Book, Speedwing, Dracoshield, Talisman, Goddess Icon, Arms Scroll

Items - Equipment: Renewal Ring, Speed Ring, Mystic Ring, Prayer Ring, Canto Ring, Paragon Ring, Weapon Brace, Full Guard, Chain Guard, Sword Band, Soldier Band, Fighter Band, Archer Band, Armor Band, Pegasus Band, Wyvern Band, Mage Band, Thief Band

Other

----In between chapters, you go back to a base a la the Tellius games. There you view/manage characters, sort inventory, shop and forge items (bringing back paint jobs for weapon forges cuz that's fucking cool), participate in limited number of activities to improve support and gain bonus exp (arena, walking together, managing stables, secure provisions, and eat together), view support conversations, and view base conversations and memory prisms, as well as past custscenes and music.

EDIT: ----Forgot to mention that the holy artifacts are the new rewind features, hence why I described them granting powers to view the immediate future. With each artifact obtained, you gain 5 more rewinds, but given how I planned the story, you'll have just 5 for a long time, then 10 after defeating the Byakko emperor, and 15 after defeating the Seiryu chancellor. I guess after defeating the Genbu prince, you'll then have 20, but there's only 2 chapters left after that... meh, guess it still works.

But there's still a mid-battle save feature like in Engage.

EDIT 2: Had to edit stuff out, like taking skill scrolls out of the useable items list, forgot to delete that when I decided not to include skills

[pockymun]

Maps of Tenebrae by Pockymun

Tenebrae was such a beast. I thought Galahd was difficult; Tenebrae is so much bigger and has continental climates to deal with. Like last time, I nearly lost my mind trying to make sense of the climates, so I kind of gave up.

Most of the writing I've done for FFXV has skirted around Tenebrae, focusing moreso on its politics than the landmass itself. It's been in the background for the most part, largely because I didn't have a proper map to explore with! I copied it the best I could from reference images.

Tenebrae is not as cold as I initially assumed it was. It has a warm ocean current on its western side that brings much rain and warm winds that keep the northern reaches largely temperate. The eastern side of Tenebrae is hit with a cold ocean current, getting far less rain and winds. The fishing is better on the east coast. The southern half of Ulwaat was given a temperate rainforest climate based on what we saw of Tenebrae in Kingsglaive; it had that dark green flora of a rainforest.

I base a lot of my headcanons for Tenebrae off of Western Europe primarily, with a little bit from Northern Europe. The way I figured the latitude lines of Eos, Tenebrae is still well below the subartic circle (assuming Eos has one). It's climate is based upon Ireland, the UK, and Scotland, but those three have only two climates: oceanic and subpolar oceanic. I chose climate terms that best described the forests found in Tenebrae. Because Tenebrae is nothing but forests, mountains, and hills.

Tenebrae is the land of high altitudes and trees. What reference images we have of Tenebrae seemed to have a lot of peaks on it. In the glimpse of Tenebrae that we saw in the movie, there are large rock islands that just float above the rest of the land. While Galahdians have a knack for using magic, Tenebrae itself is a land of magic. These floating islands are unique to its mountains mostly, although a few clusters can exist separately.

Water also seems to be a theme for Tenebrae, with its northern cape, the southern sounds, and a few small bays all around. Where there are mountains, there are rivers running down to the ocean. I imagine there are natural springs all around the country, used as a natural remedy for several ailments.

I will dump my headcanons about Tenebrae below:

I've been talking with @groovytimetravelflower, who has the theory that Niflheim's airships are powered by stones or ores mined from the floating islands. It just makes perfect sense. Niflheim had several reasons to invade Tenebrae: to dominate the whole continent, to establish complete control over trade, and to get their hands on whatever magic exists in the land.

Much of the magic is not well-known nor understood beyond the floating islands. The forests of Tenebrae are old, especially in the north.

The only other country close enough for Tenebrae to trade with is Niflheim. Though Tenebrae has a couple ports of its own, these are not large enough for massive shipyards and international trade. Trading with Niflheim allows Tenebraen trade goods to go farther in the world. The downside is that Niflheim can control all trade that Tenebrae does, taking things for the Empire and blocking imports.

The country is very difficult to navigate because of the terrain. Roads are often winding and go around obstacles; this was done moreso out of the belief that the land could not be damaged by man-made endeavors. Trains have only been established in Ulwaat. There may be a few antique cars, but the most common mode of transportation on main roads are chocobo-drawn carriages, or riding chocobos.

Tenebrae is behind on technology overall: this is a result of Niflheim conquering them so long ago. Niflheim doesn't often invest in the lands they conquer. You can see this in how mainland Lucis has such outdated technology, which was left to languish once the Imperials seized control. Most high-technology Tenebrae is exposed to comes from the Imperial Army and is only used in their operations. Ulwaat is the most developed province. The railroad in Ulwaat was developed by the Empire to more easily transport the stone and ore they mined in the mountains.

The further away one gets from Fenestala, the less modern technology there is. In Morrith, Krahage, and Bruiral, indoor plumbing is a recent technological advancement. Not all places have it; it requires electricity, which is difficult to establish in Northern Tenebrae. Because Tenebrae is such a mystical place and the population is probably very religious because of the Oracle, not a lot of people mind being behind in technology.

Cellphones are unheard of, and you wouldn't get reception in most of Tenebrae anyway. Fenestala Manor probably has a couple TVs, but similarly, reception is terrible. Radio signals come through a little more clearer, mostly because the Imperial Army needs them to.

The architecture of the capital and towns of Tenebrae is Victorian and Edwardian, with art noveau used in Fenestala Manor. Villages typically are full of cottages of wood or stone and roofed with thatch. The typical fashion is also Victorian and Edwardian, although more of the youth have recently begun to wear the modern Western clothing imported from Niflheim. People further north of the Breksos Mountains dress in traditional Celtic and Norse garb.

The Breksos Mountain Range naturally divides Tenebrae into a North and a South. These regions do not strictly adhere to the cardinal directions; it is just what people have referred to it as. Travel through these mountains is especially difficult. There is one passage near Woudoord, but it becomes blocked by snow in the winter, completely isolating the north.

Queen Sylva frequently sent aid in the form of doctors, vaccines, and schoolteachers to Northern Tenebrae. She did a lot to improve the relations across the mountains, although the past few Oracles have never gone north of the mountains. All aid stopped with her death. The Northerners became even more apprehensive of Southerners as they appeared to submit to the Empire.

Northern Tenebrae is even further behind in technological advancements than Southern Tenebrae (ie the indoor plumbing). Northern Tenebrae is very isolated from the rest of the world, especially in the winter. It's rare for a Northerner to travel south, and vice versa. The South views the North as barbarous, and the North view the South as weak. Southerners are prim and proper; Northerners... are not. Both greatly revere the Oracle.

As I said before, Tenebraens are religious, largely in part to the Oracle's presence. Tenebrae has become known as a land of healers, with many practicing natural remedies. The people are generally modest and proper. Victorian and Edwardian social customs still run strong.

Tenebraens are seen as mysterious and exotic to the rest of the world. Niflheim hasn't allow Tenebraens to leave their country since they attacked Fenestala Manor, so it's very rare to see one in Lucis. The rest of the world doesn't really understand the difference between North and South Tenebraens. The differences become clear when putting one of each side by side and listening to the bickering.

-

Feel free to use these maps when writing your own fics or headcanons! I would greatly appreciate being credited. These maps are just my interpretation, and don't stand in for canon material. They are flawed, but I worked with what I had. I made these using Inkarnate.

[gunkreads]

Tagged by @highladyluck to give 3 book recommendations and tag a few people!

edit alright i didnt read the original. these were supposed to be one sentence each. fuckin whatever

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett:

The Divine Cities trilogy is one of my favorite series ever. Fortunately, this is actually the weakest of the three and it still rocks ass. This book takes place in the city of Bulikov, once the greatest city on the Continent that ran on the power of highly active gods and slaves from the island nation of Saypur, now a center for the Saypuri counter-colonization of the Continent after a Saypuri guy went on the most successful deicide spree since God of War III.

This is fundamentally a conspiracy story, with the core plot question being "whodunnit" (or, more accurately, who's gonna dunnit). The core theme, though, is "What makes YOU the good guys?" The thing I find so strong in all of Bennett's work is that he presents characters who have actively orchestrated systemic evils, makes them sympathetic and interesting, and absolutely refuses to allow you to forgive them.

Turyin Mulaghesh, the #1 Woman Ever, is in this one. The second book centers around her. I'd confidently say these books are an excellent prelude or follow-up to The Masquerade; they're attacking many of the same questions from a very, very different angle.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames:

An all timer for a me for a reason. Pulp fantasy camp elevated to something greater. Eames understands that if you grab a concept and run with it, you can actually run far and fast enough that it's yours now. The cops won't get you.

This book is about a bunch of old retired guys who used to be The Rolling Stones Saga, the greatest rock mercenary band in the world. This world, Grandual, effectively asks the question, "what if being a hero was an actual job and a legitimate career path?" I'm not being cheeky with the strikethroughs. These guys are explicitly supposed to be 80s rock bands. It's an excellently woven bit of absurdity that feels completely diegetic somehow.

It takes place long after Saga's heyday, and Eames does an excellent job of having background characters trickle in half-true anecdotes supporting the protagonist, Clay Cooper, in his belief that Saga really DID go everywhere and do everything. They're going everywhere for the second time, but everything feels fresh because Clay's back fucking hurts.

The core plot is that the former lead singer swordsman of Saga had a daughter who took up the same trade, but got herself into an impossible siege, so Saga is getting back together to go bail her (and several dozen thousand other people) out.

Structurally, it's a fairly stereotypical fantasy adventure, crossing the country through all the standard Danger Zones and recovering your lost bandmates (one of whom is very explicitly just Mat Cauthon), but Eames squeezed absolutely everything he could out out of the rock band and old guy concepts. These guys are celebrities everywhere they go (Clay was the bassist so nobody recognizes him), and they have been EVERYWHERE. Eames layers on their experience with the world in a way that only deepens the worldbuilding, by omitting the initial description of places and phenomena in favor of Clay's second or tenth reaction to them.

Also, it's fucking fun as hell.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss:

What are we even doing here. Don't even fucking talk to me. It's as good as everyone says. No, that's not true. It's unbelievably better.

The Name of the Wind is a story about what a story is. It could be about anything or anyone, except that it couldn't, because it's about Kvothe and it's about being alive. I can't even put two sentences together recommending or describing this book. I would be nowhere without it. I have read it and its sequel around 10 times and I'm overdue for a reread. I genuinely could not name a single aspect of the story that I'd consider a flaw. Caveats for certain people, sure, because I'm a critic at heart, but not flaws.

Tagging @pillowfriendly @briannysey @terramythos

[aerbiscuit]

So, this may be a super silly idea, but bear with me.

Giants are intriguing fantasy creatures. Depending on how big they are, their existence has massive implications for wherever they live. What do they eat, and how much/often do they have to do so? What is their population size? Where do they live that has enough room for them all? How does their waste not make large stretches of land filthy?

And, most importantly… do they fart?

No, for real, I’ve often thought about this. As a kid, I was taught that cow burps and farts contain huge amounts of methane that could threaten the atmosphere. Now, of course, I know that there are a ton of factors at play in this claim, all of which turn this glimmer of a fact into a misleading claim. (While cow farts, and especially burps, do contain a large amount of methane, the largest contributions to climate change are still human pollution and fossil fuel usage. Cow gas is remarkably small in comparison and we can change their diets to decrease their methane production anyway.)

Still, this has always made me wonder about the gas output of giants. How would their flatulence affect smaller creatures and the world around them?

… well, I now have a gassy mythology about giants. Read on for a peculiar fairy tale.

In my fantasy AU, giants exist. However, they all live on a small continent (which to them is a large island) far in the middle of a distant sea. This land is perfectly suited for their needs. A few large races of animals exist for them to eat meat from time to time, and certain quickly-growing species of fauna provide them with continuous sources of vegetation. They also eat bugs by breeding, collecting, and chowing down on them at once, kinda like how whales can subsist off large amounts of krill. The land is also large enough for them to handle the subject of their waste, which they’ve developed systems to dispose, reuse, and/or filter. They’re a smart race of beings and can live sustainably in their home country. However, they largely stay where they are, and any giant who attempts to travel to the smaller lands is seen as foolhardy and asking for trouble.

Legends say that the reason for the giants' isolation (stories which both the giants and the smaller folk tell) come from a time when lots of giants travelled around the world. Giants were friendly, and even set up homes in smaller lands to learn from the tiny races. There are still a few stories of friendly giants, and the good that they can do.

Unfortunately, many of the smaller races saw the giants as a threat. If a giant didn’t have the time or resources to set up food sources (bug farming, bringing livestock, etc.), they’d need to eat from the small folks’ land, which the small folk saw as decimating their resources. Giants also had to do a LOT of research into where they could piss or shit, unless they didn’t mind accidentally flooding or burying valuable land. As thoughtful as most giants are, you couldn’t help the occasional emergency, or just the handful of people who weren’t as considerate as the others.

And of course, there was the gas. Giants need to break wind too. It’s hard to stay around someone when one of their farts sounds like a thunderclap and produces clouds of smog that take up to an hour or so to fully dissipate. And if a giant strayed too far from a majority bug-based diet, those farts could get numerous and gnarly.

Finally, one cruel and bigoted wizard devised a plan to make enough small folk hate the giants to banish them. He used the entire freshwater lake that a group of traveling giants had claimed for their water supply to make an eternal potion of flatulence, one that was so strong, it altered your very biology into making you sensitive to most food sources. Any meal of standard meat or veggies would turn into a night full of farts, and that’s not counting eating the standard fart fare like beans, broccoli, sprouts, dairy, etc. He cast the spell, complicating it so that only he could possibly undo it, and waited.

Soon, the damage was done, and all the giants in the area turned into giant gasbags. Even if they stayed near their camps, neighboring villages could hear choruses of belching in the distance, or smell the results of dinner on the wind. Finally, enough people got so fed up that they passed official mandates of banishment. All giants, even the ones who didn’t drink from the lake, were sent away, and threatened with war if they returned.

The giants, who are peaceful folk and newly embarrassed by their tremendous eruptions of gas, didn’t put up a fight. They all packed their bags and sailed home.

Upon their return, the giant’s cycle of reproduction showed that the spell was more permanent than expected. Any offspring of a newly gassy giant with an unmodified person became half as gassy. If two gassy giants mated, then the offspring had full fart power. After enough generations of mating, all giants became gasbags to some extent. While the giants grew used to, and even happy with, their new powers, they knew this was the last nail in the coffin of their diplomacy. Now, no giant could try to live peacefully with the smaller races. Barely any giants visit the small lands even now.

The end.

… but, of course, the world goes on after “The End,” doesn’t it?

First, there were the unintentional side effects of the lake. After the expulsion of the giants, the wizard quickly used the last of his remaining power to neutralize the water. However, some damage was already done. While humans were the majority of the small races to hold issue with giants, most of the demi-humans (goat-mans, centaurs, satyrs, etc.) had no issue with giants and were happy to hang out with them, share meals with them…. and drink with them. This is the theory of why these races are flatulent even beyond their animal counterparts’ abilities. Their guts have been forever tainted by the same brew that doomed the giants.

Some of the demi-humans who liked the permanent changes to their digestive tracts acted quickly, bottling some of the water before the wizard neutralized his work. These potions of flatulence are incredibly rare, and possibly no more than legends, but people search for them to this day.

Then there are the members of the small races who don’t mind venturing out to visit the giants. After all, no rule was set up that they couldn’t visit, although some years had to pass before the giants were in a good enough mood to be visited. This is how the small amount of giant-to-small-person communication and research still persists.

And who knows? Maybe in enough time, relations will improve enough to reach the level that they used to be.

Until then, most giants will stay at home, entertaining only the most friendly (or peculiarly inclined) members of the races who banished them.