#theorycraft thursdays

[nadas-dirthalen]

Veilguard Theorycrafting Thursdays: The Evanuris & Their Lyrium War

Welcome, one and all! While I count down to Veilguard's Halloween release, I'm going to dissect one tinfoil hat theory I have per week.

This week: I think the Evanuris were waging war over lyrium, and I think that in their desire to Blight the world, they killed the only one standing in their way - Mythal.

Elaboration, brainstorming, and sources below the cut! Be warned: this post is LONG.

SPOILERS for the Trespasser DLC, Tevinter Nights, and all Dragon Age games so far, INCLUDING VEILGUARD PROMOTIONAL CONTENT.

"The First of My People:" from Earth and Sky

Before I talk about what the Evanuris became, it's important to lay out my theories about how they came to be. So, to start, let's talk about Elgar'nan, first of the gods, and what the wiki says about his origins:

He was the first of the elven gods, born of the sun and the earth.

Now, to understand the deeper meaning I glean from that sentence alone, I want to talk about how the ancient elves view "the sun" and "the earth," and how neither of these things are as simple as they sound.

First, we can talk about Skyhold: literally the place where the sky was held back, where Solas first created the Veil. With this translation, we can understand that to the ancient elves, the sky and the Fade are interchangeable terms.

From what we can glean from the wiki, we can assume that the elven word 'elgar' means 'spirit.' The word for 'sun' is incredibly similar: 'elgara.'

Therefore, I conclude that the sun and the Fade are the same. One part of Elgar'nan comes from the Fade, in my interpretation. As do all elvhen: I interpret it to mean spirit-essence or spirit-people, suggesting the elvhen are spirits given shape (versus the elven, ostensibly their descendants).

In the Vir Dirthara, you find this codex:

The pages of this book—memory?—show a solemn group of elves in an ampitheater of living wood, entire trees grown into seats and stairs for the listeners to recline on. Two other elves and a spirit of learning are speaking in turn on ways to bend the properties of the material world when casting spells. At the end, the spirit, with the air of a senior lecturer, floats forward and booms in a surprisingly deep voice. "The unchanging world is delicate: spells of power invite disaster and annihilation. The unchanging world is stubborn: the pull of the earth fiercely resists making fire run like water or stone rise like mist. The unchanging world rings with its own harmony. Listen with fearless hearts, and great works will unfold."

Note how these words are being used. The unchanging world is a reference to the waking world, what would become our side of the Veil. But in that world, there is a pull of the earth. This references the deep earth, and its own magic: the magic of the Titans.

Therefore, Elgar'nan is one part "earth" and one part "sun" or "sky." One part Fade, one part Titan magic. In my interpretation? One part lyrium.

I believe Elgar'nan and Mythal, first of the Evanuris, are spirits who became corporeal, somehow involving the magic of Titans. Even though Mythal is said to have risen from the sea, I believe Elgar'nan and Mythal both began their existence spontaneously. They made themselves corporeal, and would go on to create more together. (More on that in a different post!)

From lyrium they came; to lyrium they all would fall.

Mythal and the Titans

Before we go into the Evanuris waging war on one another, we must understand their relationship to lyrium in the first place. How did they go from their own domain to underground, and what laid the groundwork for this infighting?

In the light of the veilfire, the runes seem to shift, coiling and uncoiling like snakes. A thunderous voice shatters the stillness, shouting: "Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!"

If you've done the Descent DLC, the Inquisitor will go on to say, "The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and... something else. It's not clear."

Personally, I'm not sure when Mythal and the Evanuris first began slaying titans. Maybe this precipitated their own corporeal origins. Maybe she and Elgar'nan became corporeal using the bodies of the slain.

What is clear is this: their demesne was given to the People. What is the Titans' property? All we know is that lyrium is their lifeblood. Other than territory underground, this is all that could be given to the People. (More on my thoughts on this and the origin of the other Evanuris in a later week, I promise.)

The Evanuris and Lyrium

For now, one theory I have is that the Evanuris then created unliving servants from lyrium. We see this in another Vir Dirthara codex.

The pages of this book—memory?—show a narrow plateau on top of a mountain, Two armored figures—one in gold, one in black—are fighting in the snow. Steel flickers so fast the air hums. Blood dots the ground. They do not stop for breath. The one in black makes no sound as a blade parts his throat. "Mythal, in her wisdom, interceded in an argument between Elgar'nan and Falon'Din. With clever words, she convinced them to settle their grievance through a battle of their champions. Elgar'nan and Falon'Din agreed, and set their champions against each other rather than declare war among the gods. May those knights long be remembered, and Mythal's wisdom be praised."

These things aren't human! They bleed, but don't breathe. They never stop fighting. This duel lasts 100 years.

But we know that the Evanuris' handling of the Titans and lyrium did not end there.

For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire. The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers: "What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

The Hubris of Andruil and the Origin of the Blight

Let me be clear. I think there is so much more to Mythal's murder than "Andruil and Falon'din were greedy and upset." But I do know that Andruil and Falon'din are both cited in Inquisition, from various sources, as being greedy and willing to push boundaries in order to further their own gain.

First, we have Andruil: goddess not of the hunt, as the Dalish believe, but of sacrifice, according to Solas in the Temple of Mythal.

One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking the Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning. Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.

We know that blight disease is sometimes referred to as a "plague." We also know that prolonged lyrium use causes mutations in mages. We also know that red lyrium is Blighted lyrium - the blood of a Blighted Titan.

We also know that regular lyrium can, at the very least, empower a templar's anti-magic abilities. And we know what Mythal did to Andruil for her frequent trips to the Void.

[Andruil] howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn. So Mythal spread rumors of a monstrous creature and took the form of a great serpent, waiting for Andruil at the base of a mountain. When Andruil came, Mythal sprang on the hunter. They fought for three day and nights, Andruil slashing deep gouges in the serpent's hide. But Mythal's magic sapped Andruil's strength, and stole her knowledge of how to find the Void. After this, the great hunter could never make her way back to the abyss, and peace returned.

The moment I found out that memories are stored in lyrium, I had strong feelings about this codex. Especially since Solas, once absorbing Mythal's power at the end of Inquisition, gains the ability to use dwarven magic (turning people to stone with a thought). My interpretation is that Mythal has always been able to use this magic, for whatever reason, and was able to take Andruil's memories from her, storing those memories somewhere else. (There's a whole other theory branching from that, but it is not for this post.)

Point being: Mythal actively worked to prevent the other Evanuris from delving too deep into lyrium/Stone magic/the Void.

And it would be her downfall.

The Lone Voice of Reason, Doomed

Given the Evanuris' relationship to lyrium and the Titans, it would only be a matter of time before their desire to amass power would bring them too far, past the point of no return.

This would drive them to murdering Mythal, but not right away.

First, we can see countless examples of Evanuris greed leading up to Mythal's murder. Ghilan'nain created monsters of all shapes and sizes before the Evanuris raised her to godhood in fear. In Horror of Hormak, we gain a little insight into this process: a laboratory in the Deep Roads, an awful briny fluid, and a yellow-green lyrium crystal powering everything, which is then used to collapse the strange mountain above the laboratory, destroying it.

Later, Ghilan'nain encourages one of Dirthamen's followers to take a winged shape reserved for the gods, presumably a dragon. This sends Mythal into such quick anger that she turns this person to Elgar'nan for judgement, knowing his judgement is violent and cannot be trusted.

Second, Solas talking about Falon'Din in the Temple of Mythal makes me think that Falon'Din attempted a very similar rebellion, only to meet a similar failure.

INQUISITOR: Do you know any legends? SOLAS: It is said Falon’Din’s appetite for adulation was so great, he began wars to amass more worshippers. The blood of those who wouldn’t bow low filled lakes as wide as oceans. Mythal rallied the gods, once the shadow of Falon’Din’s hunger stretched across her own people. It was almost too late. Falon’Din only surrendered when his brethren bloodied him in his own temple. INQUISITOR: Did ancient elves believe all their gods so terrifying? SOLAS: Yes. I believe they did.

For a time, the Evanuris were on Mythal's side - at least when others were watching. I think, more likely, no one wanted to be publicly associated with failed rebellions.

Taken together, I conclude that the elven gods were quietly trying to rebel against Mythal for a long time, and would only succeed when they all worked together.

We know from the Veilguard trailer that the elven gods are all Blighted. This suggests to me that they all united on their desire to exploit lyrium and spread the Blight.

What Does This Mean for Veilguard?

Well! I'm a bit late in writing this all down, so the Veilguard Release Trailer has already hit a lot of my talking points. BUT. Tinfoil hat on, this is what I could see:

Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are both Blighted. I'm guessing Elgar'nan's dragon form is also Blighted, and this will have implications for Solas/the Dread Wolf form.

I think the original valasslin used by the Evanuris were inked in lyrium, and since Solas' spell to remove them still works on a present-day Inquisitor, I wonder if some lyrium component is still involved -- and if it is, I imagine some of the Dalish might be puppetted by the Evanuris in DA:tV.

We know at least one Titan is Blighted, because of the existence and spread of red lyrium in DA:I. I'm thinking we see this not only spread, but mutate, due to the differently-appearing darkspawn in DA:tV and the existence of altered darkspawn in the short story Horror of Hormak.

We know Weisshaupt is supposedly dealing with its own "problems," and can also be seen with red lyrium in that one map trailer for DA:tV.

I think something is going to happen to everyone presently affected by lyrium. Vivienne and Solas both say that even regular lyrium permanently affects a mage who consumes it.

I think Mythal/Flemeth/Morrigan is going to tell us the intricacies of the lyrium war, as well as reveal secrets about lyrium's uses.

So... YEAH! If you got this far, thank you for reading this much. Let me know if you agree, or if I've missed anything important!

Happy 70 days 'til Veilguard, my dudes.

[guster-animations]

HELLO EVERYONE

for the past two months i’ve been working on a rewrite of my godawful beloved 2 year old 3rd life sburb fic! it’s part of the MCYTblr AUfest, and today is the day where i will finally release the first chapter!!,!!!

i am so fucking excited to share this silly little incredible fanfiction with you all so…

HERE YOU GO! ENJOY

if you have any questions or want to know anything please don’t be afraid to shoot me an ask or scroll through my tag #sotdd

I WANT TO SEE YOUR REACTIONS. do not be afraid to share them

posting schedule below the cut!

chapter 1 (world machine)- posted MONDAY july 17th (today!!)

chapter 2 (awakening)- tuesday july 18th

chapters 3 and 4 (regret & proximity)- friday july 21st (this gap is to allow time for theorycrafting and shit)

chapter 5 (redacted but the title is so fucking funny)- sunday july 23rd

chapter 6- tuesday july 25th

chapter 7- thursday july 27th

chapter 8- sunday july 30th

chapter 9- wednesday august 2nd

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

09/29/2024 – 10/05/2024

Sunday

Week 34 of missing Cipher Academy

UNDEAD UNLUCK WE ARE SOOOOOOOO BACKKKKKKKK LET’S GET THESE FIGHTS ROLLING

Today was the last day of the mobile game Revue Starlight Re LIVE. I’ve been working for the last two months to archive the game’s story, and I’d been working on the wiki for this game for almost three years before that. Revue Starlight is one of if not my favourite anime of all time, and everything about it has irrevocably changed my life. The game’s been with me for the past six years. It’s become an integral part of my life – not just playing it, but thinking about it and documenting it and talking about it with others. Getting excited over datamines and theorycrafting about what could be next. Planning out troupe strategies and coordinating with my teammates. Waking up every six hours to use up my stamina for events or tearing my hair out over difficult stages. Saving for months and months until I could pull for my favourite girls in the gacha. Logging in every day without fail, at night or in the morning or at noon or in the afternoon. Playing while I ate or watched YouTube or listened to music or updated the wiki. I literally scheduled my life around wiki updates like a rock embedded in a tree that learned to grow around it. Even when people complained about the gacha system or the events, I always loved it. I love everything about it, even now. My only regret is that I never really got to read any of the stories. I always thought I’d do it eventually…I always thought I’d have more time. Archives exist, of course, and there’s a private server in the works, but it won’t ever be the same as having the game on my phone or tablet and being able to carry it with me wherever I went. As having it in my life every single day. Hopefully I’ll still be able to carry it with me, but just in my heart from now on. I love Revue Starlight Re LIVE so so so so so much, and I’ll miss it every day.

Monday

Finished Makeine and it was a pretty fun show. I really liked the Cultural Festival arc, even if it ended a bit messily – Nukumizu forcibly taking over the President role for Komari even though it was entrusted to her was never going to go over well, and it almost comes off as forcing Komari to admit defeat that she’ll never be good enough to do it… But that scene where she bares her feelings through text was really well done, and I can accept some teenage drama messiness where there really wasn’t a winning solution to be found. I probably won’t read the manga (unless they never make more of the anime, in which case I’ll wait until the light novels end and then see if I feel like reading Nukumizu and Anna’s slow burn romance), but the anime was a great watch and a 8/10 for me.

Tuesday

Nothing

Wednesday

Nui ni Koishite mo Ii desu ka? updated with its last chapter and man…I really wish this series was given more time to grow and develop. I would’ve loved to see the main couple overcome various wacky scenarios together and grow closer as a result, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. I enjoyed my time with it, though, so I’ll give it a 6/10.

Watched harmoe’s 3rd tour,  “ii’m here,” and it’s so beautiful… harmoe are just on an entirely different level when it comes to music and choreography. I thought All of Me was a little goofy, but I do love the way that it looks like they’re an anime character slowly creeping closer towards you. And then HyperLoveSong just absolutely blew me away…everything about it makes me think of the journey they’ve had so far, and the love that they have for each other and us… It’s everything.

Thursday

Nothing

Friday

Nothing

Saturday

Watched Grand Theft Hamlet and it was…okay. I thought I’d love it because I love emergent narratives and pursuing “silly” things with sincerity but this just tonally fell flat for me. They tried too hard to fit it into a conventional documentary story mould: the staged arguments about how “GTA Hamlet is all I have” and “You hardly spend time with me anymore because you’re so caught up in this project” were so cringe and forced, and they don’t even really get resolved by the end other than the assumed happy ending that comes from pulling the production off and winning an award for it. This probably seems like a crazy stupid idea for normies, but as someone who grew up in the YouTube Let’s Play mines (Car Boys and PBG’s Minecraft Hardcore series and any number of Nuzlockes come to mind), the so-called monumental task they were attempting seemed laughably easy to me, especially since they got people from outside of GTA to act in it (the alternate universe version of this movie where they recruited entirely within GTA and got gamers to care about Shakespeare would’ve been peak). The real difficulty seemed to be scheduling issues and getting the audience from place to place within the game, and that wasn’t all that compelling. And I was annoyed that they showed so little of the actual production. I didn’t enjoy the journey all that much, so I was at least looking forward to the destination… The postulating about Hamlet was also annoying because the observations were all so surface-level lol I would’ve rather the themes come up naturally through the course of this documentary rather than monologued to me by the director and tied back into the themes of Hamlet like a high schooler having to write a comparative essay. If you want to ruminate on creating art in a violent video game world and what humans can accomplish with a shared but insignificant seeming goal, go watch Griffin McElroy’s Peacecraft instead. 4/10.

I made the mistake of bingereading all of Shounen no Abyss in a single night and it was also mid. The suffering vortex certainly drew me in (otherwise I wouldn’t’ve read it in one sitting), but the ending was so lackluster that it made the rest of the series feel meaningless. I thought the writing was fairly competent and considered, even if certain backstory elements/character motivations were dialled up to an eleven for the sake of drama. I was willing to buy into that campiness (and the fact that everyone wants to fuck/control/own Reiji lol), but it really just reached an unsatisfying head by the end. Nagi was definitely the weakest point – for being Reiji’s number one fixation and the catalyst to this entire mess unravelling, she never had enough focus in the story to warrant this idolization of her. (Also the writer meeting her by chance right after finding out that Reiji liked her was ridiculous). But still, I did like a lot of the writing – I clocked Gen’s whole deal pretty early on, but I’m still surprised that they went through with it, even if it was kind of just for shock factor. I would’ve liked to see their identity properly explored, but the final chapter left So Much to be desired that we don’t even have time to get into all that. I liked Chako’s realistic feelings and how her Tragic Backstory was realistically down-to-earth but still understandably upsetting. I was fairly ambivalent to the mom and the writer’s torrid romance, but I did like that Shino’oka makes the point of the writer romanticizing his image of Reiji’s mom as being an innocent victim in need of saving, when in reality she was as flawed and greedy as the rest of them and kicked her own boyfriend to his death. It’s believable that so many would be taken in by her charm and vortex of manipulation. The teacher had the most insane ups and downs in this series, but my favourite part of the whole thing was seeing her go toe-to-toe with Reiji’s mom in the gaslight gatekeep girlboss Olympics LOL the psychological and social manipulation on both sides was really like watching a Shounen battle arc. But then everything just devolved into absolute misery porn with Nagi’s super evil villain uncle and the teacher redirecting her terminal yandere syndrome towards him instead, and Nagi and Reiji’s suicide pact being resolved off-screen and mentioned offhandedly in a timeskip… That whole last chapter was really such a mess, and just illuminated how there was no real thesis for all this suffering – it was just suffering for suffering’s sake, or suffering for increased readership’s sake, I suppose. At this point, I’m just glad it’s over. I’ve escaped. I’ll give it a 6/10, because the writing for most of the series did really engage me, and I loved a lot of the visuals (that one panel of Chako and Reiji hugging/trapping Gen took my breath away when I saw it).

Oh! Just realized that this is the 52nd Week in Review!!!!! I didn’t know if I could keep this up for a whole year, but it’s been a great outlet for expelling all the thoughts I have about media that no one cares to hear. I’ve gotten so comfortable with writing these things that I almost hope that no one reads them lol but the best part is being able to Ctrl+F and find my previous writings and reflect on my opinions. My memory isn’t the best, so having this record of my life is fun… Here’s to another year.

[ask-riven]

A note on Targon Things

// I would just like to suggest that you guys take a breath.  From one person to have things turned on their head to others, please relax. 

The basic bio story for Leona still shows her compassion for others.  In fact, that’s largely the entire point of it, actually.  Diana had been given up on by everyone else, but Leona saw someone who just wanted answers to her questions.  Where literally everyone else turned their back on her, Leona stood up to help her.  And though they never saw eye to eye, they became friends.  She literally did the most dangerous thing in her culture to try and protect Diana from herself by climbing Mount Targon.  And at the end of things, it says that she still wants to help Diana learn to control her powers.  That doesn’t sound like someone single-minded to me.

Yes, it says a lot about Diana in there, but honestly, would someone that was as compassionate as that really be nothing more than a thoughtless drone of her religion? 

Leona is clearly a warrior.  So is Diana for that matter.  But she is, at heart, still the same protector she has always been.  She sees Diana’s power when Diana butchers the elders, and though she is shocked and hurt by the actions, she does not swear an oath of vengeance, instead, she swears to be the guiding light for her people as they navigate “this new reality.”  A reality where gods have come down from on high and spell a time of great trials ahead.

Leona knows this because Diana told her about what she’d found and they argued about it, ending with Leona making Diana promise not to tell what she had found to anyone else.

If she were simply a puppet of her beliefs, she would not have taken the mantle of her people’s light as seriously as she seems to do in her story.  In fact, Leona seems interested only in fighting and killing if she sees little other way to handle a situation.  If nothing else, she is intelligent and is compassionate for those that she believes to be misunderstood or misguided.

And, in addition, this new spin on their origin stories puts them in a place where they can both grow as well, similarly to how Riven is now in a place where she can grow as a person and character after her story with Yasuo etc.

One thing we’ve learned from all of these lore changes across the years, especially now, is that they want to put characters in a place where they can tell their stories and have them develop and change based on those interactions.  Yes, they may have simplified Leona/Diana’s stories in doing this to a degree, but I think the core of who they are is still there.

It’s the knee-jerk reaction to what we see that causes the most frustration.  Heck, I didn’t know what to think when Riven’s changes came out, but honestly, so far, I’m comfortable with what I see as happening for her.  And though it might make things a bit troubling for some Leona or Diana RPers, I have faith that things will get better, and that all your character-building for their compassion and or interests are not completely invalidated because of these new changes.  It might just seem like that at first.

[zekeyspaceylizard]

Grief is a hell of a drug.

There was a time when I was younger that I didn’t think internet friends were as important as real life ones. Then I met Oliver. Oliver was a fan of mine from the old Newgrounds and AlbinoBlackSheep days. We met on steam and got along well. Very well, in fact. We had similar senses of humor, and many of my favorite jokes and memes and gags came from him. He lived in the UK and I lived in the US and we talked via Steam for years and later, when it was available, Discord.

Oliver was like a brother to me. We talked about frustrations and pain in our lives we didn’t share with anybody else. We’d theorycraft about updates to DOTA2 and other games we liked to play. Discuss stupid crap in pop culture and shoot the shit for hours. Oliver always believed in me and, like many of my other online friends, never quite understood why I’ve become such an unlucky massive disappointment as an adult, potential all squandered. He always told me he wished our lives were better. So we could both be happy.

He’d send me music sometimes for bands I’d never heard of, introducing me to things I’d never experienced. Through him I started to realize that he was just as important to me as any real life friends I’d had. Even more so in many cases as many of them got older and found success and moved on with careers of their own, while I continued to struggle here and make something of myself.

He was there to console me when I had my nervous breakdown in 2009 that lead me into a deep depression. He was there to cheer me up when I turned 30 years old and was depressed again. He never got a chance to turn 30.

A bit over a year ago he was feeling poorly and saw a doctor and learned he had lymphoma. The prognosis was good and he felt confident he’d beat it. He’s show me photos of the giant ghastly lumps on his skin where his lymph nodes used to be. And I hoped and prayed to whatever I could that it would all go well and he’d recover and have a normal life. But I wouldn’t be writing all this if that were the case.

A couple weeks ago he had lost the ability to walk properly due to developing anasarca as well. It made him unable to visit family in Germany which broke him as he wanted to see them one last time. His last couple of big outings was meeting his boyfriend in the US and later attending a Newgrounds meetup where he got to hang out with Luis, another Newgrounds animator he was friends with. He was in bad shape at that point, a bag of fluid around his heart mutating into a giant growth that protruded from his chest. But even that he took lightly and would crack jokes about. He was just that kinda guy.

Over the years I had drawn stuff for him, usually involving his beloved orange tabby cat, whom he had raised from a kitten. The week he had learned he had lymphoma, that cat was hit by a car and killed. He grieved for it a lot. He loved that cat and would send me pics of it all the time. I even painted that cat as a kaiju once, lording over a city. That illustration is lost to time. I wish I’d kept it.

The one bright spot was months later he found an abandoned black kitten and adopted it. It was one of the few positive things in his life anymore.

As his condition grew worse, I asked him a handful of times if he wanted me to draw or paint him anything to cheer him up. As an artist it was all I could really do for the guy. I’d have donated my own lymph nodes or heart to him if I could have, but such things arent possible. About a week ago he finally had a request. He wanted me to paint something from the game Jet Set Radio and Jet Set Radio Future, which were two of his favorites as a kid. He was eager to try out Bomb Rush Cyberfunk since it looked like a spiritual revival of that series.

So I painted like a madman. Painted as hard as I could, sleeping little, hoping to make something he would love. His birthday would have been last Thursday, just a couple days ago. At around 1 am, the night prior, I sent him the painting. He was offline, which struck me as odd. He was one of those guys who was always connected to the web, usually playing Runescape. It was ominous.

Then 24 hours passed, with him neither online on Discord or Steam. I had a bad feeling that he was already gone. And learned hours later, from his other friend Luis, this was indeed the case.

My beloved friend Ollie died the night I finished his birthday gift. He never got a chance to see it. He never got to celebrate one last birthday. I wish I’d sent the unfinished version when I had the chance. I wish I could have made him happy, even for a little bit, in the multitude of ways he often brightened my days.

But it won’t happen now. It’s a very strangling feeling. Like someone has wrapped razor wire around my throat and is winding it tighter and tighter. All we needed was one more day. Not a lot to ask for, in the grand scheme of things.

There’s not much more else to say so I’ll end this with a link to a video he and I used to reference all the time. A cartoon we often chuckled at, and one of his favorites. We Get The Night.

Rest in Peace, Ollie. You absolute lad. You beautiful bastard. I hope if there’s a heaven that you save me a seat, man.

[dunamanticarchivist]

Welcome to the Munchkin Nein

Ok I’ll admit to being pretty new to the whole roleplaying game thing. There are two parts to it right? The roleplaying and the game, with as much together as possible for maximum fun yeah? Critical role has definitely been about the characters and story, the feels and imagery and drama . For me I love that, I love the fanfiction, the art that this beautiful story inspires. The dreams and fantasy that offers a reflection of or escape from this reality of ours. 

I also come from a video game (RTS) background, so I’m pretty fascinated by the idea of trade-offs, optimization and managing limited resources (I’m also a final year economics student). Pretty sure that’s the “game” part of RPG, and probably the part that comes more naturally to me, rather than roleplaying or acting as some might call it.

Since the big fights in the Victory Pit, I’ve seen a bit of discussion here and there (Discord, Alpha chat, Reddit twitch chat begone, thot) that some of the characters aren’t quite punching up to their dice potential. I’ve seen questions asked of the cast about the choices they make and how sub-optimal they are and what “better” options there are. It feels a little distasteful to debate taste or De gustibus non est disputandum as the Romans say. These are the cast’s characters and where they choose to take them is their preference. 

I take this stance with regard to the choices about the character development the cast have made. Having said that, I think there were comments that the cast may not be entirely familiar with the options they have available to them, especially in combat, due to their focus on story and roleplaying. Also, something important to note is that they are adulting adults, with jobs, relationships, children, commitments and basically not that much time on their hands to be flipping through the books/wikis and theorycrafting and being armchair generals. 

I, on the other hand, am a student on summer break and have a deep aversion for sun on my skin. So purely as an intellectual exercise for myself, and maybe to serve as a resource if any of the cast would so wish to make use of, I’m compiling a list of the combat abilities every character gained access to as a result of their developmental choices. Hopefully, this allows the cast to have a smoother gaming experience and developing the wonderful storyline of the Mighty Nein. So I’ll be making a series of posts on the existing mechanics of each character at their current level, and possibly some combinations (when I get to think of them) between the characters that I will endeavour to find as much lorewise justification for happening. What this will NOT be, is an attempt to find fault with the gameplay of the cast, nor in any way to suggest that these facts are in any way necessary or superior to enjoying the gaming experience. 

In honor of the metagaming pigeon, there will be something birdy in each post. Like the next post upcoming: Condor Widogast 

Please remember to love each other, and ITS ALMOST THURSDAY no its not even Tuesday *sobs*

[miss-pyrrha-nikos-isms]

Small Mun Announcement

V5 premiered yesterday and my gosh was it a doozy. However, I will not be posting episode relevant stuff until Thursday out of respect for the followers who don't have First and busy lives. A 24 hour grace period seems fair. If it works, I'll continue that for the rest of the volume.

Repeat: I won't be posting V5 stuff until Thursday.

But after that, you best believe Mun will be posting all the things and potato farming with the best of them. Prepare for gushing, fangirling out over the animation, characters and general developments, as well as Mun overanalysing the fudge out of every little detail and theorycrafting like a boss.

You've been warned!

Lots of Love,

Missy.

[myrmeen]

Not sure if any of you following me would be interested, but I’ve just recently become a wanna be streamer of WoW. I usually stream from 9pm-11pm AEST on Monday and Wednesday, and 2pm-4pm AEST on every other Thursday - with the occasional random stream at other times depending on my mood. I mostly stream levelling and dungeon PUGs, and otherwise chilling out and talking about all things WoW (mostly my opinions on narrative and style, I’m not much of a theorycrafter or hardcore PvP/Raider).

If you want to watch me, my channel is here:

Zandilar

I’ll be streaming today from 2pm-4pm (that’s in ~30 mins yo). Oh and did I mention I’m Australian? I have an Australian accent! *waggles eyebrows*

[sinfulfox]

r/FFXIV RSS || [Weekly Thread] Crafting/Gathering & Market Thread (Wed, Oct 09)

Hello fellow Eorzeans! It's Wednesday, so let's talk about crafting and making gil. Maybe you want to discuss methods to improve crafting success rates, economic impacts, popular recipes... anything around crafting is welcome in this thread.

Monday: Media & Memes

Tuesday: Raiding & Theorycraft

Wednesday: Crafting/Gathering & Market

Thursday: Lore

Friday: Victory Friday

submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments] from Final Fantasy X|V Online https://ift.tt/321EFev

[nadas-dirthalen]

It's a Thursday at 9pm. Y'know what that means?

That's right! Downing 2 cups of caffeinated tea, putting on Ghilan'nain's boss fight music, and getting a start on the Big Theorycrafting Followup. :))

[theorycraftthursday]

DotP Proud’s standard Sven build

[dotpbuilds]

Proud’s Juggernaut Build aka THE BUILD

[unifyingleaguelore]

Theorycraft Thursdays: Gods = Ascendes?

The Ascended of Shurima only appear to be god-like, but they all are very mortal - yes, even Xerath. The Ascended are given their powers based on their personality, deeds, and domain they are given. Who choses the domain of the Ascended? It is given by the Sun Disc during the transformation.  [Nasus’s domain is Death, long ago he was once the Grand Mortician - one of his many functions. Renekton’s domain was War, and he was head of the Emperor’s guard and General of Shurima.]The Ascended ceases natural aging functions, and cannot die by mortal means (e.g hunger, exhaustion, dehydration, disease). When an Ascended has filled their duty to Shurima, they are given permission by the gods to repeat the Sun Disc ritual and join them among the stars. The exact details of how the gods contact the Ascended and  how the secondary ritual is performed has been lost to time.If an Ascendant is killed before such time, they do not die, but rather go into a dormant states for decades, perhaps even centuries to heal.

Many people believe Xerath corrupted the Ascension ritual, which is false. Xerath is merely, the channeled power of the Ascension ritual contained in a form. That blue energy? That’s mana, he is mana incarnate - the force of magic present in the world. His domain is Magic, he manipulates the arcane force that courses through the world. The gods of Shurima, are many, and do not contact the mortal plane anymore. That stop doing that even before Xerath was born. Cruel forces have cut their direct ties to the world, still they are worshipped by few now. The people of Valoran learned to stop depending on gods long ago. Still, the chosen  few act as conduits and avatars. The Ascended are a few of these conduits of the gods, that keep their influence (however small) on Valoran.

If you asked me to name the gods, they are numerous - they are the wind, the leaves, the trees, water and the sand, they are the world.

[ask-riven]

Theorycraft Thursday:  The Mount Targon Rewrite Rant

// I’ll come out and say it plainly.  The new Targon lore creates a vibrant new place in which new stories can be told, and it has gained much in that direction.  But it has lost the three characters we once loved.  They are no longer the same people with the same motivations.  The old Diana, Leona, and Pantheon we all knew are dead and gone, and these three new “Aspects” are in their place.  I’ll be touching on all three below, but we’ll start with Diana first.

Diana -

Diana is possibly the only character with a shred of who they once were still intact.  And yet, even in that, she is still not the same person she once was.  Diana, previously, was a girl who knew the Solari teachings well, dared to dream of something more, and was punished for it.  She became an outcast, hated and reviled, and in turn, fell to a dark place, filled with thoughts of revenge and hatred for those that had caused so much suffering.  Of that old persona, only the girl who saw something more and was punished remains.

Instead of being the antagonistic force, the stubborn, hurt, scarred warrior she once was, Diana is now the one seeking peace.  This is the exact opposite of her previous personality.  While she is dark, subdued, she is a woman who desires to be allies with those that once scored her, that there is no need for them to be enemies, and that they can coexist peacefully and fight together.

But, above all else, Diana shares a trait now common with the other Targonian champions.  She is a demigod.  Her personality has been superseded by a powerful otherworldly host, that uses her body like a fleshy meat puppet to carry out its whims, and fills her head with visions.  All the Targonian champions have this commonality now.  But out of the three, Diana showcases this the least, and as a result, has become the ONLY Targonian champion who is easily relatable as a human being.

Leona -

Leona was once a kind girl born into a tribe of powerful warriors.  When she was forced to kill a boy in the pit during her coming of age ceremony, she instead rejected the harsh ways of her people and refused to end his life.  Her people were angered by this, but before they could strike her down, a beam of light struck her, and she was taken in by the Solari.  There, she became the avatar of the sun, and brought its light and warmth and protection to all who needed it.

That Leona is now dead.  Instead of refusing to kill the young warrior, she instead chose to spare and otherworldly creature.  In doing so, she again angered the Rakkor, and was forced to fight Atreus (Pantheon) as punishment.  A Solari elder, however, halted the fight and took Leona in.  There, the kind girl was brainwashed and turned into a powerful warrior who believed only in the light and power of the sun, and her capabilities turned her into the leader of the Ra-Horak, the Solari’s private army of warriors.

This time when Diana came calling, Leona was there, but Diana’s moon powers were too much and she fell, along with the rest of the Solari elders.  Outraged and hating Diana, Leona left for the peak of Mount Targon, and encountered the golden demon boy she saved earlier.  There, she gained her sun powers, and became even more zealous than she’d ever been before.

The old Leona, who was prideful, yet compassionate and caring, no longer exists.  Leona is a warrior who is more along the lines of a Noxian   She is brutal and efficient.  The power within her is one of fiery destruction, not warmth and comfort as it used to be.  It can be argued that she only seeks to protect Targon’s people, and thus uses this radiant force of death on her enemies, but the compassionate side of Leona is missing almost completely in her new lore, wedged in almost as an afterthought to this shining paladin of the sun’s rage and fury, not it’s warmth.  If Leona is supposed to be compassionate and caring, the very thing that lead her down this path in the first place, then that part of her is horribly represented in this new telling.

Right now, though, she is the embodiment of the darkness found in the light.

Pantheon -

Pantheon is no longer the warrior he once was, literally.  The man, who once wielded the relic weapons of his people in their defense and rose above the challenges of war by sheer skill is dead and gone, instead replaced with the entity known as Pantheon.  Pantheon cares only for one thing, and that thing is war and combat. He is still an aspect of immortality housed in a meaty shell, and apparently can still be killed at great difficulty, but that means little.

Pantheon/Atreus is the clearest example of a character that has been done a disservice by this lore rewrite.  While it is also true that most of what we knew of Pantheon (the man) was anecdotal before these changes, his story gave him character, and we could empathize with his situation.  Instead, what we are given is something we cannot empathize with.  He is a tool, an extension of a powerful otherworldly entity, and a herald of a great fight to come, and nothing more.

The human being who he replaced is gone and dead, and only his body lives.  Atreus is a puppet to the Pantheon entity.  You cannot empathize with something that has no emotion, no drive, no humanity outside of battle.  But that is all Pantheon is.  He is a warrior, perhaps a protector, but nothing else, and that is not a compelling or interesting character.

Conclusion -

I can’t fault the lore and narrative teams for wanting to create a more vibrant place in Targon.  It was fairly underdeveloped before, and little was known about it.  However, now, Targon isn’t the same place we knew.  The character we loved are now completely different in many respects.  I heard whispers from the grapevine that people internally didn’t like the new direction of Targon, and after seeing it for myself, I can completely understand why.

Targon has become a more dynamic place, with otherworldly entities and threats looming above the clouds, and a place where supernatural beings infuse their energies into chosen persons to defend the mortal realm from harm.  It parallels several themes from mythology and antiquity, and I find that part of the developments really cool, although somewhat poorly explained and defined.  Lots of questions are unanswered, but that’s not uncommon for Riot’s narrative team these days.  Unanswered questions lead to more speculation and story potential.  However, all of this has come with a radical shifting of who these characters are and were. 

Diana, the once angry and scorned woman is now the person who desires peace, but she lacks purpose and any real direction, and even her old self had that much.  She is shown to be appalled by violence and the carnage she created, where before she was driven by her hatred of what had been done to her and her people.  It may have been flawed, but it gave her more character.  This strong girl seems to be anything but now, lost and without a true path to follow, even after discovering her beliefs were true.

Leona, the once compassionate warrior is almost anything but, shown to be a Solari zealot and keen on burning any who challenge the light of the sun or Targon to ashes.  Where is the woman who turns to her allies and says warmly “I will protect you.” as she charges into the fray?  Why was she turned into a woman who seems to show no mercy or care for her foes, when the very thing that drove her before was a desire to protect those who could not protect themselves, and to abhor unnecessary or excessive violence?  The sun has set on a more beloved version of the character.

Pantheon has been stripped of all his humanity, literally.  He is no longer a person, but an entity.  He is driven only by war and conflict.  While he was before a powerful leader of his people, now he is only a paragon of an act of aggression, a celestial being wearing a human skin.  We already have a character like that, and his name is Aatrox.  Why was it necessary to turn Pantheon into this entity?  Why toss away his humanity, and an aspect that people could understand and relate to?

There are many things that the Targon lore does fairly well, but there are others to which it does a disservice.  When those persons to whom it does a disservice are the very characters that we have come to know, love, and cherish over the years, the very characters that have made Targon what it was, why make those changes?  Why not try to keep them intact?

This is something I cannot understand.  Every change to Targon’s background and setting could have been accomplished without radically altering the key players.  This is not Freljord, where a handful of champions were changed (and some butchered), this is every single one being altered radically for no real apparent reason.  Leona and Diana seem to have been reversed, and no longer have the hints of a previous bond.  In fact, Leona’s lore even goes so far as to suggest that Leona hates Diana because she’s gone against the Solari teachings.  Aspects are a fine addition, but why did they have to bring upon such perversions to these characters?

I have to question the Riot narrative team’s decision-making here, especially in recent months.  Jhin came first, followed by this.  Where last year was a great development of characters we already knew and loved, as was Shurima, this year has been a systematic deconstruction of places and characters the community loved.  Earlier in the year, Riot came out and suggested that they had “missed the mark” on how the community viewed Fiora.

I may be only one person speaking out about it, but I honestly believe Riot has again “missed the mark” about what the lore community found captivating and endearing about these three characters.  And if this trend continues, I fear that this year will not be as good a year for lore as the previous ones were, especially if Riot’s narrative teams continue to have such a disconnect between what “makes” a place, setting, and it’s character for them, and for their audience.

[ask-riven]

[I loved your post on Noxian weapons! Can I ask you to talk some more about Talon's blade? As much as I love him, I've always thought that it was too big/would unbalance him but handwaved it off as 'magic/fantasy weapons don't have to make sense' but your throwaway line about it in the concluding paragraphs hinted that you had actually considered it and its uses seriously.]

// Stated simply, Talon’s blade is for stabbing, maybe some light slashing, and not much else.  Though, theoretically, it could also be used as a defensive implement, like an arm-mounted buckler of sorts.  And, depending on the model or illustration, it might be able to be used to disarm an opponent, but don’t let all that fool you.  Talon’s blade is an offensive kind of weapon, made for stabbing and killing a target in a single stroke.  Or, rather, you’d better hope it kills you, because otherwise, you’re going to be in a LOT of pain afterward from the gaping wound in your body.  But you’d be able to have some solace in the fact that a good hit from his blade will leave you to pass out from blood-loss not long after being shanked before you finally die.

[ask-riven]

When it comes to swords, i am sorry to say this but you are wrong: When it comes to swords, "smashing and chopping" at a person in armor is terrible. You were right on the more rounded blade being better, but wrong on the why. It wasn’t that it could “smash or chop” or “pierce” armor. When it comes to leather and mail? Yes, sure. But Plate? No. Swords can’t do that to articulated plate. But that’s where the sword’s design comes in.

A bit about the longsword first: It is a two handed weapon whose design is similar to the arming sword (the one handed, two edged sword used in conjunction with a shield) that came into being once articulated plate did – knights abandoned the shield since plate armor offered equal protection (and a full suit was only ~50-60 ibs; the whole plate armor is heavy thing comes from jousting armor – a piece of SPORT equipment, not war) and articulated plate offered almost full range of movement the only thing that gave better range was NO armor.  

This was done through multiple layers of overlapping plate; and why the long sword’s design was necessary, and why single edged weapons did not work in Europe; we had them, but they were not preferred.  Trying to damage plate armor is HARD; it is tempered steel shaped in such a way that it deflects, rather than absorbs, the blow.  It takes a LOT of force in a very SMALL area to damage it; hence the warspikes on the backsides of hammers and, yes, axes.  These were effective.  BUT there are records (and I have even seen a test) of articulated plate armor protecting an individual from a BALLISTA bolt.  Simply put, a person wearing it has very few areas of vulnerabilities.  And this means, rather than trying to pierce it, you instead went around it.

A longsword typically weights some 3-5 ibs.  and has core made up of two metals; one hard, one soft, that are braided together.  This makes the sword strong and flexible; a properly made one can bend at an almost ninety degree angle without any damage done to it what so ever.  Combined with the wider blade of your concave design, this left it perfectly suited for a technique called half-swording.

Half swording is when you pinch the blade in the middle with one hand while the other maintained its position on the hilt, (imagine wielding a quarter staff) and suddenly you have a lengthy weapon that you can wield with the precision of dagger.  Combine this with the 6 points used to fight/protect yourself/hurt an opponent (the tip, 2 blades, 2 points at the end of the crossguard, and the pommel) and the binding technique (Binding is when the blades touch and you then feel the muscle movements of your opponent through the blade by the shifting of force against yours and reacting accordingly) and you are now grappling in course quarters, looking to slide the tip of the point through the overlapping plates (those on the joints, arm, hips, and neck) to maim, wound, and kill your opponent; and because of the long sword’s ability to flex and bend, it could do this.

That is why that blade design is popular; not because it could “smash and crush”, but because the longsword’s design offered: 6 usable points in combat, a weapon form that allowed for both simultaneous offense and defense, enough cutting/slicing prowess to sever limbs, and in the case of those wearing heavy armor: a long, precise, and flexible weapon that allowed for the circumnavigation of the armor by sliding and bending through the overlapping plates into the flesh beneath.

I do apologize for the absolute deluge of asks i sent you with information about the long sword.  Your text on Noxian weapons was lovely and well written, but you had some things in there that I felt the need to correct; you had many good and correct things to say, but i just see the wrong information so often, i didn't want someone with as wide an audience as you to send it out as well.  As for my credentials: I am a historian as well as a student of both eastern and western martial arts.

// This very kind anon wrote me 9 separate asks telling me about some errors I seem to have made in my big post.  I’m not one to shy away from proper criticism and factual corrections when I make an honest mistake, so I’m sharing all of this with all of you as well.  Our mystery anon is apparently a historian and a student of martial arts, and thus quite qualified to speak on the matters at hand pertaining to the longsword, and why it’s such a badass weapon. =3 (I even own one, and it is beautiful.)

As far as a personal reply, I’m well aware of the many uses of a longsword (be it in one or two hands or a longsword or a bastardsword), particularly with halfswording, binding, and other techniques you described in your response.  I can’t perform any of them (I feel cool just swinging my sword), but while I’m not a historian, I have gone out of my way to try and educate myself about these sorts of topics since I enjoy fantasy.  I don’t get everything right, obviously, since I’m not a licensed or credentialed historian, but, from what I’ve been told, read, seen, etc, blunt instruments, like the flanged mace for example, or even axes like those that were discussed above, were particularly useful against armor for some of the reasons I specified in my long post.

My intent was to explain that longswords, in their design alone, don’t pierce armor specifically well, or have any major effect unless you’re targeting joints or any vulnerable areas with the tip, or grappling in manners like you suggested.  The V-Shaped blade would also be less effective at dealing with repeated impacts against armor, if that’s what the weapons were doing, which is also why I suggested that particular edge would be more useful.  The weapons being wielded by the Noxians in my examples are far bigger and bulkier than most real-world equivalents, such is the fantasy aspect, so, while they still might glance off armor, they’ll still carry a good, solid hit behind them, as the impact force distributes through the armored plates of your typical Demacian warrior, for example. 

A real-world soldier in articulated plate isn’t going to shrug off a strike from an axe like Sion’s, or a hit from Riven’s blade, for example.  They’re going to feel that quite solidly, and it is very likely that their armor is going to be damaged in such a way as to prevent optimal use, especially if something damages a joint or impairs their vision, or even gives them a concussion or internal trauma, which is the overall point I was attempting to make.  Even if the armor itself is unharmed, the person under it can still take a beating.  This is also a world with magic, so everything I’m saying could be out the window anyway.

The weapons of Noxus seem to be designed around doing horrible things to targets without heavy armor, and when faced with such enemies IN armor, likely follow through with brute force.  Katarina’s blades, however, are designed to function more like a longsword in that case, not in flexibility exactly, but in flexibility of USE to deal with a variety of targets, armored or not.  She could target joints, unarmored areas, or any host of other places that an armored knight might not be able to see coming.

Either way, thank you for offering some insight into the longsword, anon.  I’ll try to edit my post to make it a little clearer pertaining to the longsword, as per your feedback.