#theorick twain

[darealsaltysam]

okay maybe i should actually make a separate post promoting it...

hi wynn tumblr!! i wrote a fic!! its about the twains!! i wanted to look at their dynamic as kids + sort of come up with why theo might be as big of a dickhead as he is. so i gave him trauma~

also, bak'al shows up and almost kills a child. so nothing out of the ordinary for him

here's the link! enjoy! :3

[wiyldefire]

The brainworms have won again my friends, have a post about why Theorick and Mael Twain were autistic from your local autist with special interests in both autism and Wynncraft.

Theorick-

In the secret discovery "Pottery wheel" it is shown that Theorick likes to create pottery. In the area surrounding the pottery wheel, there is a large amount of identical pieces of pottery, with some larger, more detailed pieces. This can easily be interpreted as stimming, involving both repetitive motions and the texture of clay.

We can also see what can be interpreted as a strong sense of justice presenting in an unusual manner, combined with strict rule-following. A strong sense of justice is often portrayed as things such as activism, however that is just one way it can present. It's completely possible that Theorick's demand of payment stems from the need for transactional fairness. When someone does something for you, you pay them. That is a rule. That is what is fair.

As well, him always wearing his hood could be a form of sensory regulation. Autism very frequently presents with sensory issues and wearing a hood could be Theorick's way of dealing with that.

Mael-

Mael is harder to argue since we have a lot less information to go off of. The main piece of evidence is the ostracization from his brothers. This is not an uncommon situation for autistic people to be in. Theorick also being autistic does not exempt him from bullying Mael for being autistic, and in fact may even have been why he did so (internalized ableism).

The accusations of "dark magic" could be a misinterpretation, potentially even wilfully so, of stimming and adherence to routine, combined with a distaste of things involving death. We know Mael was quite spiritual, and even if spirituality was the norm for the time and place, we can still gather that Mael's relationship with it was considered "other" by his peers. This, combined with the fact he preferred to keep to himself, could easily paint a picture of someone obsessed with things considered "dark", who speaks to either himself or people no one else can see, fixed to a routine no one else understands or is willing to understand, performing strange movements for seemingly no reason. I'm going to leave it at that and let other people more qualified than me speak to the historical connections between autism and demons or changelings, but it does exist.

Reclusivity in general is also associated with autism for multiple reasons, including sensory issues and socializing being more tiring for autistic people.

And my final piece of evidence that applies to the both of them is that I say they're autistic and telling me I'm wrong is ableist or something. /j

[archie-archivist]

On A Hunter's Calling

As this post does refer to the final quest of the game as of writing, it will predictably contain spoilers for it. So for this post in particular, the 'keep reading' button I include for length shall serve the extra purpose of hiding spoilers.

A Hunter's Calling is a level 103 quest that requires the completion of A Journey Further and the Eldritch Outlook quest to begin. As it's main reward for completion, it unlocks the Hunted gamemode that you can toggle on the class that completed the quest and enable permanently on future classes at character creation. Hunted mode is Wynncraft's current form of PVP combat, allowing players in Hunted to kill and loot each other.

As a quest, however, it's quite the outlier in its structure and content. While all of the Silent Expanse quests are odd - most notably The Olmic Rune, a quest that feels more like a secret discovery at times - A Hunter's Calling is a confusing end to this section of the story, especially for players going through it for the first time.

For the first time, you're not acting as yourself. You are an undead, a villager, a dwarf, or a mech depending on the scenario. You see events surrounding familiar faces that are set in time periods ranging from several centuries ago to perhaps a few months from now.

There is also the fact that everything you witness is a hypothetical scenario. An 'end' as the quest giving entity calls it. Nothing is real, though they tend to be entirely possible scenarios. What ifs and what could have beens. Possibilities with no real tie in to what's happening and what the player character's goal is.

And therein lies the problem - the clear lack of connection to everything else. Like I said, it's an outlier. It looks at first glance to be a quest with no purpose other than to unlock the Hunted gamemode.

Which, in a way, that is its purpose, but to get the full picture we can break it down into three questions:

1) Who is the one giving the quest to the player?

2) Why is the quest structured as it is?

3) What is the possible narrative purpose of Hunted mode?

Let's take them one at a time, starting at the top: Who is giving the player the quest?

The obvious answer is, of course, the mysterious entity that stands outside the Portal to Dark. However, that doesn't tell us much of anything about who that is. Its location is the most important factor in truly answering this - it's right outside the Portal to Dark.

It is the only living creature we see on the road to the portal at that point. Of course, there are creatures in the places around and beneath, but if you don't stray off the path you can avoid running into anything at all from the spike wall to the portal. Yet, ??? as the entity is so named, is stood there even after you finish the quest.

This suggests to me that it stands there for a reason, perhaps directed to by a higher force - namely, the Dark Beast itself. It is, also, the only entity like itself that we see in the current state of the game and the only creature other than the Eye, its puppets, and the Omnispective Wanderers (through telepathy) that can talk to the player.

The second question is a little more nebulous: Why is the quest structured like that?

??? speaks in short, cryptic sentences except when providing the riddle to the next city and scenario. It repeatedly offers the player 'an end' which take the form of those scenarios. It also questions the players reactions to the scenarios with 'To what end?' - essentially saying 'what's the point?'.

However, the key to answering this question lies in the scenarios themselves and the similarities they share. They all have the role of the player character following orders that lead to terrible outcomes. You kill citizens and help Ragni fall; you kill the mayor of Almuj and let WynnExcavation run wild; you kill Theorick Twain and cause the corruption of Nesaak; you release the Corrupter of Worlds and destroy Troms; you trick people into Dr. Urelix's lab to become more iron golems; you blow up the Rodoroc slums; you begin a civil war in Corkus and kill Maxie; and finally, you kill Aledar and Tasim in order to take Detlas for the corruption.

It is also important to remember that the events of the Realm of Light questline were spurred on by you following the orders of Orphion, to sometimes painful outcomes. Excluding the events of Realm of Light III where you honestly just go and give Dullahan a terrible day. It should also be noted that Orphion himself states, in his dialogue at the end of the Nexus of Light raid, that he underestimated your power.

This questline is the biggest blow the forces of darkness have faced in quite some time - they lost the parasite and their influence over Orphion. You then follow this up with killing the Eye, the overseer of Wynn and a key minion of the Dark Beast. You are now standing right outside the portal to its realm which is an extension of itself, pretty much.

The Dark Beast does not want to underestimate the player character and does not believe that it can win in a confrontation between them.

So the next best thing is to get the player to deal with themselves: cause them to doubt their actions. Cause them to doubt the fact that they follow orders so blindly. Cause them to hesitate when it really matters.

Everything in A Hunter's Calling outside of the scenarios is presented as a choice. ??? offers an end. You are not required to continue the quest, it is always your own choice to go out there and witness these horrors. And because of this, there's a small sliver of a side effect that it presents the forces of Darkness as granting more freedom than that of Light. 'Look, we offer you choices!' 'You can always say no!' 'Do you really want to lose more people by following orders?'

The Dark Beast cannot win a fight against the player at full power with complete conviction in what they're doing, so it must first weaken them.

Given that, the third question has a neat answer: What is the narrative purpose of Hunted mode?

It is another way for the player to deal with themselves, to get themselves out of the picture. Frankly, the player's ability to dodge death is unique and likely unexpected by everything except Death himself.

So, with the assumption that the player has one, single life? Letting them go out and fight people just as strong as them is a great way to let the problem handle itself. The victor of the scuffle that kills the player wouldn't be Orphion's Pulse, after all.

'Hunted' is also an interesting name to give to a PVP mode. Predators hunt while prey is hunted. The player, no matter how many victories they achieve, is always the prey and this comes with the usual fear and paranoia - constantly looking over their shoulder, checking their gear, can you trust that other person who's also in Hunted? - of their life being constantly under threat.

The player may also take to the gift like a duck to water - diving right in and relishing their new ability to fight and kill those just as strong as them. Which if witnessed and unprovoked will land them in trouble with the law - murder is, after all, quite illegal. And murdering powerful soldiers protecting the province? Well, that's probably an even worse crime but even better for the Dark Beast.

Hunted exists to weaken the player: to make them fear; to drive a wedge between them and their allies; to kill them; or just to get them locked away and out of harms way.

All in all, A Hunter's Calling boils down to quite the sinister gambit pulled by the Dark Beast. But, given your strength and all you have accomplished, it likely feels like that is the only choice it has.

[darealsaltysam]

hello wynn tumblr :3 i wrote ANOTHER twain fic! yes i have a clear favorite. shut up

this one involves nesaak freezing, mael being forced to deal with the fallout of that, and then training bob in archery !! mainly just. half mael angst, half mael and bob father son dynamic. enjoy~

(oh and momo shows up a little bit too as a ghost. and bak'al is like. mentioned. morsel of bak'al food)

hereeee's the link!! enjoy ^^

[darealsaltysam]

CUSTOM BOSS MODELS

RAIDS AND DUNGEONS OVERHAUL

OVERHAUL OF BUILDINGS AROUND THE MAP

CUSTOM MUSIC SYSTEM

CUSTOM GUI

GIANT. FUCKING. KAIJU BATTLES

INFINITE TELEPORT SCROLLS

NO MORE SCRAP OR SOUL POINTS

OTHER CUSTOM MOB MODELS + NEW MOBS????

NEW GUILD STUFF??????

NEW SILVERBULL STUFF??? (i do not care)

AND MORE TO COME??? MORE TO FUCKING COME????? PARDON????? PARDON?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

[darealsaltysam]

hiya!! welcome to my blog!! im sam (she/her) and i like to write :3

since you're stopping by anyway, why not take a little look at my fics? i write on ao3 and have done work in many, many different fandoms! currently, you can find fics from the following;

ace attorney

fnaf

wynncraft

faith

the walking dead

star wars

paladins

the x-men movies

dsmp (mainly older, discontinued works)

below the cut i'm going to put more detailed descriptions of all of the fics i'm proudest of, so if any of the above fandoms interest you, take a little peek!!

ACE ATTORNEY

spiky twink rebooted

a very silly highschool au chatfic. crack with minimal angst here and there to carry some plot along, but it's very low-stakes. really just something i write for fun to wind down. perfect if ur looking for some good ol crack to turn your brain off to!

waiting for godot

a three-part fic exploring mia and diego's story in ace attorney - before, during, and after his coma. it goes into the background of their relationship and dives into godot's mentality after waking up and finding out about what happened to mia. angst with a somewhat bittersweet ending, canon compliant.

SOME OLDER FICS

Object Class: Fey - completed. an ace attorney scp au, very miego focused with some light background narumitsu. does not represent my current quality or style of writing, but i still enjoy the story a lot and am proud of the fic as a whole!

Time Paradox at The Turnabout - discontinued. a time travel fic of sorts. various different versions of various different characters travel to one time period, hijinks ensue. not that well-written and was never completed, but you might enjoy the concept!

the adventures of spiky twink and the burger queen - discontinued. older version of spiky twink rebooted - read that one instead!

spiky twink extras - discontinued. companion piece to the above. short stories within the universe, essentially!

FNAF

THE SCRIPTVERSE

the scriptverse is a trilogy of scripts + a prose prequel which seeks to retell fnaf lore completely. it sticks to canon in some parts but deviates in others, so it will surprise you even if you know the lore inside out! i made my own changes to the timeline, mixed and matched stuff from the movie, books and games... overall, just a big revamp of the whole thing, all told through movie scripts!

the series is made up of:

MR AFTON, a william-focused first part retelling the missing children incident

MR SCHMIDT [act 1], a michael-focused sequel retelling william's trial shortly after

MR SCHMIDT [act 2], a massive third part to the series which deals with the fallout of the murder and the trial, michael meeting jeremy, ghosts showing up in the pizzeria, and michael finding out he has a sister he didn't know about! crazy stuff!

mr emily & ms schmidt, a prose prequel to the series which focuses on how henry, william and his wife clara met

WYNNCRAFT

warm hands, cold hearts, gentle smiles (also holy shit is that bak'al over there?)

a fic which focuses on exploring the dynamics between the four twain brothers as kids + includes an appearance from wynncraft's favorite bitch boy. also, i made theorick less of a bitch by explaining WHY canon theo is such a bitch!

my legacy in death, your legacy in ice, our legacy in blood

a follow-up of sorts to the above fic, focusing on mael having to help nesaak post-theorick freezing it. the second half of the fic looks at the time mael spent training bob. all around lots of angst, some hurt/comfort in the second part, and a very, very bittersweet ending.

requiem

currently ongoing!!! an x reader fic that has you, the player, take on the role of the villain. you team up with bak'al to take revenge on someone who has wronged you. the fic, and even its description, contains BIG spoilers for wynncraft's late-game quests, most notably a journey further and a hunter's calling. it also explores some dark and uncomfortable themes, please refer to all relevant warnings!! read at your own risk!

OTHER FICS

closer, then you're close enough to lose - completed. a short, slykaar/bob one-shot based in an au i came up with together with @meefys !!

PALADINS

a city of self-fulfilling prophecies [paladins superhero au]

currently ongoing!!! a paladins superhero au that i've been putting together for years, and am now finally writing! most champions will be included as characters, with maeve, ying and lex as the three protagonists and corvus as the lead villain, alongside evie, cassie & kinessa, lian & rei, octavia and many others as major characters!

SOME OLDER FICS

the scholar loved the scion // and the scion loved the scholar, but not in the same way - completed. a short fic exploring a one-sided relationship between lian and rei. hurt, and no comfort!

FAITH

soul of christ (sanctify me)

a short fic which focuses on john and lisa's childhood, with a nice portion of catholic guilt and queer shame on the side (yes i projected onto john. no i am not sorry). very experimental but probably one of my personal fave works ever!!!

X-MEN (movies)

oh, i will ruin you (it's a habit, i can't help it)

a very short cherik one-shot, because they've infected my brain. it's just them flirting and making out tbh. nothing more nothing less. but i'm pretty proud of it!

again and again and again and again

a 5+1 exploring charles' post-first class depression era, from hank's perspective. lots of bitterness, lots of anger, lots of sad feels, and a bitter-sweet comfort ending.

and daddy made a soldier out of me

currently ongoing!!!! the first fic of two in a big xmen au i've been putting together for two months now!! the au itself involves a lot of concepts and combines them to form a more complex retelling of first class, the ten year gap, and dofp. the changes to the story include; - cherik as soulmates - erik raising wanda and pietro, then him and charles raising them together - after the beach, wanda leaves with erik, and pietro stays with charles - the twins grow up apart (and erik doesn't get arrested, so he actually gets to raise wanda) - dofp reunites the family forcefully - angst ensues! - also, a few other mcu characters have been added into the storyline as alternate no powers/human versions to themselves to help with plot stuff. this means the inclusion of wandavision!!

Cogito, Ergo Sum

my own take on the house of m storyline! mainly focused on stephen's perspective of things as he slowly unravels wanda's spell. a way more compassionate take on her side of things, with a sprinkle of ironstrange for the soul~

OTHER FICS

below you can find all my other fics - these i'm a little less confident in, because they're either older works or discontinued ones.

tommyinnit - dragonborn! - discontinued. dsmp skyrim au, sbi focused, secondary dream team focus. i really loved this fic and writing it but was forced to discontinue due to... stuff(tm). im still very passionate about the story and happy with what i wrote here, so i recommend it if you're into it.

The Between Dreams and Memories Series - discontinued. a complete retelling of the dsmp storyline. was planned to have 3 parts - same as above, forced to discontinue. contains 2 complete fics (part 1 and a spin off) and one unfinished fic (part 2 of the planned trilogy). one of the biggest fics on my account, a product of several years of work, and a very important work for me, even if its quality doesn't hold up. read if you wish!

a house full of serial killers VS the barbie movie starring margot robbie and ryan gosling - completed. a very very stupid creepypasta chatfic oneshot. i wrote it in one sitting because i was bored. it's nothing special, but it's pretty funny!

dance with the devil - completed. a very short dsmp oneshot, focusing specifically on c!niki and c!schlatt. im still pretty happy with how it turned out!

Deserve Better - completed. a pretty badly written who killed markiplier oneshot. darkstache focused. one of the first fics i ever posted!

laughter [anidala] - completed. a short star wars one-shot i wrote for my girlfriend, focusing on ani and padme!

mutual hatred builds character - completed. a short the walking dead one-shot, focused on maggie and negan. NOT SHIP! i just think they're a fun duo to study like bugs