#then the intro plays

[gasogene]

s5e1 black screen murmur unmistakable gasp rustling fabric belt buckle wet kiss little moan slick sound hum bed creak hushed laugh

[lucanls]

20 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIMS 2 September 14, 2004, dev. Maxis

[sockiepuppetry]

The dark lore of transformers animated

[hazelnootnut]

ACT 2 "You're... me?" "That's right, stardust!"

You know I've been drawing Loop as their Siffrin form so much that it's got me thinking. I've read and seen so many fics and artworks of Loop eventually getting back to looking like their old self, but I don't think I've seen any so far of Loop already being a mirror copy of Siffrin. So uh, yoink?

ISAT AU where the game plays out the same way (plot-wise at least) but Loop looks like Siffrin the whole time and while Siffrin is extremely perplexed that there's another him, he's still gotta accept their help because how else are they supposed to escape the loops? Good ol' Loop is here to help, helpful friendly Loop!

Siffrin is going through it still but Differently.

[crypticthumbs]

[calkestis]

"Tell me, samurai...do you surrender?" GHOST OF TSUSHIMA (2019)

[exltwounds]

 — can you see yourself?

[squoobest]

i had the most splitting headache during frostyfest tonight that all i could do to channel my thoughts about it was draw big man snow angel

[starryeyed-seer]

me: I'm not a bat

Mr pages: (stuffing novels under its robe): I must abscond

[thylacines-toybox]

Sorrel (he/it)

Probably the wonkiest, most nervous and whimpering thylacine plushie I own so far. Made by Tasile, bought secondhand from Australia in February 2024.

Played a little game of vets with it the other day and it made an excellent pitiful-looking patient.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[g0nefischin]

Yeehawgust 2024

Day 1 - On the Road Again

The battle between Humans and Monsters

[pratchettquotes]

The Igor looked up.

"Good morning, thur. And you are...?"

"Moist von Lipwig," said Moist. "And you would be Igor."

"Got it in one, thur. I have heard many good thingth about you."

"Down here?"

"I alwayth keep an ear to the ground, thur."

Moist resisted the impulse to look down. Igors and metaphors didn't go well together.

Terry Pratchett, Making Money

[remxedmoon]

“the eternal wanderer…? even death cannot release it from its plight… hm. did i create a second copy of this card?”

tribeless

1 power - 1 health - 7 bones?

unkillable - when a card bearing this sigil perishes, a copy of it is created in your hand.

corpse eater - if a creature that you own perishes by combat, a card bearing this sigil in your hand is automatically played in its place.

brittle - after attacking, a card bearing this sigil perishes.

hidden trait - cursebearer

this card cannot be sacrificed at the sigil stones event.

[twohats spoilers below the cut!]

“callous, aimless, manipulative. this pitiful beast hides behind a mask of its own face.”

tribeless

2 power - 1 health - no cost

repulsive - if a creature would attack a card bearing this sigil, it does not.

bifurcated strike - a card bearing this sigil will strike each opposing space to the left and right of the space across from it.

hidden trait - shapeshifter

while in your deck or hand, this card will disguise itself as the wanderer.

SURPRISE BONUS CARD!!! or well. not really a surprise if you’re from the discord. still!!!! bonus card!!! writeup below!!!!

this is an ijiraq reskin!!!! or well. they were supposed to be one. their out-of-battle behaviors are pretty different but they work mostly the same in battles

the repulsive sigil is there because the ijiraq has it! but it also counts towards loop’s. general attitude towards themself i think. at least they can’t get attacked (if they don’t attack something with sharp quills that is). in kaycee’s mod, this sigil only appears on the ijiraq and starvation (which can only be played by leshy). probably for the best!

i added bifurcated strike both to set them apart from the ijiraq and because scissors craft! stats and sigils wise, they’re a sidegrade to the ijiraq. the fun stuff comes with their hidden trait!

so! shapeshifter!! originally just called. ijiraq. but it works a little different so it gets a different name shshhh. but i’ll just explain how the regular ijiraq works since it’s a kaycee’s mod card and kinda obscure. basically, it diguises itself as other cards in your deck! while on the map, it’ll show the card’s alt version with a red glow, but in battle, it’ll look and behave exactly like the card it’s mimicking. it only reveals itself once placed on the field! so it’s always a surprise! loop works similarly, but they only mimic sif’s card. because twohats :3

like the ijiraq, loop will swap themself with sif for most card events! though there’s a good few that they’ll just refuse to do. too much to talk about there, maybe i’ll post the talking card dialogue for them at some point? idk

oh, speaking of which!! like sif, loop is a talking card! they’ll still talk, even while disguised, but they’d have slightly different lines and portraits methinks. which does make it a little easier to figure out who’s who but that’s a sacrifice (heh) i’m willing to make. plus it’s just fun.

vulpecula is the name of a fox constellation! for fun parallels with siffrin! the constellation itself doesn’t have any mythology behind it though. just a fox. the reason loop’s holding a goose in their mouth(…?) is because the constellation is sometimes depicted with one! please look at the goose i’m really proud of that goose.

this was. probably the hardest card to draw Period. my usual way of drawing loops spiky face would’ve felt out of place with the inscryption style so i had to improvise! and BOY it was a struggle!! especially since i didn’t have a sketch prepared like i did with the others. i think this turned out pretty nice though!

NO PATCH!!!! REJOICE!!! loop can’t be selected for sigil transfers (because ijiraq) so they don’t have any!!!! i mean, i could’ve hypothetically given a patch to the sif disguise but no. i don’t want to even try to recolor the patch. that would be a nightmare. maybe if i ever find a blank png version of the patch.

if i were to give them a patch sigil tho, i think i’d give them hoarder? which lets you draw any card from your deck after placing loop on the field. as like, a nod to how much QoL they add in isat.

also as a little aside, you can attempt to fuse them and the wanderer at the mycologists. they won’t let you but you can try. similarly, they’ll be counted as kin in the trial of kin! because again. twohats

THAT’S EVERYTHING 🎉🎉🎉 rare cards wise, at least. trust me there’s a ridiculous amount of extra stuff for this au. i’m making an entire campaign. god have mercy on me

no extra alt card art so uh. thank you for reading these!!! isatscryption is like. probably the most self indulgent thing ever for me. thank you so much to everyone who’s responded to these aauauuaa i reread the responses like. every day!!! so thank you!!!!!! 💥

[sydneystarlights]

The Viper | Ashur and his ties to the chantry

Wanted to compile a post with all possible references I've found (so far) to Viper being the Black Divine both in game and from other sources (I’m brainroting hard and need to ramble.)

In game connections

Starting with the most obvious connection, the Venatori Message by Bataris found during the quest “The Tempered Soul, Everlasting” to save the captured Viper that states that the venatori have heard rumours that the Vipers true identity is that of the scion of the Vesperians, the fruit of at least 4 bloodlines.

And the Cult Victim you rescue during the “Last Rites” prelude quest says that the Venatori mentioned that killing the Viper at the Temple of Andraste specifically would “suit him” thus starting the quest “The Tempered Soul, Everlasting”

Viper himself is confirmed to be a Highblood mage “Born and bred” during the argument he has with Tarquin and that fits with him being the scion of the Vesperians.

Side note-

The tile of the quest to save Viper “The Tempered Soul, Everlasting” is taken from the Chant of Light: Canticle of Exaltations 1:8 "Whatsoever passes through the fire Is not lost, but made eternal; As air can never be broken nor crushed, The tempered soul is everlasting!"

Which ties into saving Viper from being executed at the Temple of Andraste, but also could tie into his connection with the Chantry itself.

In the Codex entry: Different Flavors of Andraste Harding mentions that the current divine is Aequitas II and the youngest son of Corimer Vesperian as mentioned in the codex Neve’s Case Notes: Maevaris Tilani. Said Case note codex further elaborates on how Aequitas II Vesperian was supportive of Maevaris and Dorian’s Lucerni faction.

In an ambient conversation between Tarquin and Viper, Tarquin directly implies that Viper has at least some power in the Chantry, asking him why he cannot do anything about Knight-Commander Lenos since Lenos answers to the Chantry.

The Vesperians have ties to house Tilani. Maevaris taking the Lucerni underground and the Viper happening to be one of the leaders on par with both her and Dorian is noteworthy.

With Viper having power in the Chantry, the Venatori rumours about him being Aequitas II, him being a highblood like the Divine is, and his closeness with Dorian and Maevaris him being the Black Divine fits.

Datamines

Now, the datamined lines are cut content and not present in the final game, but with all the evidence that is already in the game they're important to note.

Firstly, a direct quote remarking on Viper being the Divine 

(shout out to amirdrassil on twitter for originally posting this script line and starting my downward spiral into the insanity of spending hours going over the script myself and going through frosty editor for the game files)

Second script thing is from a whole conversation between what seems to be Rook, Viper, and Lucanis where Viper is referred to as “Your Holiness”

The conversation is pretty jumbled with how the scripts formatted but it seems like Viper might?? of been Lucanis contact who found out where Zara was for him, since Zara is found in the Treviso Chantry. 

The Third is a reference to his “The Tempered Soul, Everlasting” quest, it's unclear who is speaking the lines but it directly comments on Vipers ties to the Chantry.

[Editing to add another script pic] While these lines from mae to viper are vague, with the codex that mentions that house Tilani has ties to the Vesperians it felt relevant enough to add.

Extras

This section is more or less unrelated conjecture but still some fun things to note.

On page 206 of the art book Docktown is described as "We thought of it like Gotham City from Batman: The Animated Series. A less-grim Sin City with magic instead of guns.”

And on page 208 Viper is described as Minrathous’s equivalent of the Shadow.

The Shadow is one of Batman's main inspirations drawing a clear parallel between docktown and gotham and Viper and Batman. The Vipers secret identity then being of someone of very high importance further fits with the Batman thing he has going on, since Bruce Wayne isn't just a generic normal rich guy he’s on another standing from that. (Also the picture of Viper no mask and with hair looks so similar to depictions of bruce wayne haha)

Bonus things I'm including for fun that have vipers religion influencing things he does: Viper repeating a part of the Chant of Light: Canticle of Trials 1:2 during the memorial for the dead shadow dragons.

And the codex on the pawn shop and how Viper totally chose it partially due to its relevance to Shartan and Andraste, adorable.

[bone0921]

I don’t know why, but now I’ve done enough to commit