#there are 5 million characters if I had to choose daemons for all of them we'd be here all day

[x-i-l-verify]

「Dream SMP Daemon AU 」

    ◈ BAD BOY HALO + SKEPPY (GOLEM) ◈

Nether denizens deposit their Dust in physical objects that then gain a sentience of their own instead of having projected facets – such as daemons – like Overworld denizens. But while Piglins forge living weapons, Nether demons build animate golems out of rock or metal. Golem-building is an intuitive and sacred process that begins when demons are still infants. The first time an imp laughs, a grand party is thrown, with everyone in the community invited. Every adult brings one small crystal, rock, gem, or chunk of ore, and the imp is presented with all of them. The rock the baby is drawn to first becomes their phylactery, put in an enchanted, protected pouch worn on a string around their necks and kept with them at all times. Their Dust accumulates in the rock they chose, and develops a sentience of its own during the imp's childhood.

When the imp turns the equivalent of seven, they begin construction work on their phylactery’s outer shell, the golem. First, they choose a building material, which can be the same as the phylactery, but usually is different. The imp will mine for enough construction supplies and learn crafting techniques pertinent to the material they chose. It is also customary for the imp’s parents or caretakers to add a piece or two of their own golems into their offspring’s as it's being constructed. (For example, Bad’s phylactery is a chunk of pink scapolite with a golem shell made of diamond, which has obsidian eyes from his dam’s golem, and a ruby tongue from his sire’s.)

Whenever the child finishes constructing their golem, usually sometime during early to mid-adolescence, they are considered “settled,” a mature, adult demon. A ceremony is done wherein the imp’s parents and their golems transfer their phylactery to a special chamber inside the imp's golem, which then fuses with and animates the previously inanimate material. Golems choose their own names, always derived from the material their core is made from.

Phylacteries are only capable of communicating through impressions and emotions, much like a piglin's morai-kelul. Once they obtain a shell and become a golem, they gain an audible voice of their own and become capable of verbal speech. Golems are always the same gender as their demon.

Because the phylactery is safely encased in a strong, protective shell, demons have no issue whatsoever with touching each other's golems. However, touching someone’s phylactery without their consent is taboo, a crime tantamount to rape. There is no limit to how far a demon can go from their golem as long as they do not try to leave the Nether, the Overworld, the End, or their server without them. If this happens, the demon will instantly become like a zombie, with a living body but no conscious mind. It is not uncommon to see demons walking around without their golems and vice versa, and they are masters of multitasking because of this. However, this has also led to some Overworlders viewing demons as soulless monsters because of their visible lack of a facet.

Golems are very tough, but it is still possible to damage or pry open their shell to get to the phylactery within. If the phylactery is broken or shattered, the demon will instantly perish, and the golem will become an inert statue. It is customary for dead golems to be broken down into crafting materials for other projects, usually for a building or a weapon, but sometimes they will be left whole as a memorial to the dearly departed.

Bad is ambitious, conflict-avoidant, anxious, and empathetic. Skeppy is Bad’s id personified; impulsive, blunt, easygoing, and chaotic to the extreme.

~

NAME MEANING "Skeppy" is derived from scapolite, the term for a group of minerals that are essentially complex silicates of aluminum, calcium, and sodium, which can be used as semiprecious stones. They are considered symbols of inner peace, personal growth, and faithfulness to oneself, able to help individuals see what is truly important, find their true calling in life, and face difficulties and responsibilities head on instead of avoiding them.

~

SOURCES https://www.jewelsforme.com/gem_and_jewelry_library/scapolite

[callunavulgari]

SCRAPBOOK 2017 - TAKE TWO

Scrapbook for the second half of 2017, because tumblr doesn’t like it when you have a million links on one post.

Italicized titles = enjoyed muchly, bold titles = love, titles with an asterisk* = OBSESSION and titles in (brackets) are re-watches/re-reads. And lastly, strikethough = DISLIKE.

Goals are: read thirty-five new books this year (yikes, way behind), finish four video games (definitely on track here), finish writing and publish the Sabriel AU (eh heh), and write something original (does coming up with the idea count?). 

MOVIES

June

Wonder Woman

(Doctor Strange)

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Bronson

Chocolat

Tristan and Isolde

(Moana)

Power Rangers

July

Spiderman: Homecoming

Mona Lisa Smile

Baby Driver

(Logan)

Ouija: Origins of Evil

(Star Wars: Rogue One)

Passengers

Atomic Blonde

King and I

Stranded

August

The Sixth Sense

(Armageddon)

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children

9

(The Princess Diaries)

(X-Men: Apocalypse)

Legend

(Silent Hill)

BOOKS

June:

Authority | Jeff Vandermeer

July:

Authority | Jeff Vandermeer 

The Secret History | Donna Tarte

A Wrinkle In Time | Madeline L’Engle [Fin]

The Archived | Victoria Schwab [Fin]

Scythe | Neal Shusterman  [Fin]

Shadow and Bone | Leigh Bardugo [Fin]

August

Siege and Storm | Leigh Bardugo [Fin]

Less | Andrew Sean Greer

Authority | Jeff Vandermeer

A Wind In The Door |  Madeline L’Engle [Fin]

PODCASTS

June:

The Bright Sessions Eps 31-32

Alice Isn’t Dead Eps 3-4

Welcome to Night Vale 1-3

July:

Alice Isn’t Dead Eps 4-5

EOS 10 Eps 1-3

August

N/A

TV SHOWS BY SEASON

June:

Grace and Frankie

American Gods

(Stranger Things)

How to Get Away With Murder s2

Black Sails s2

July:

Black Sails s2

Grace and Frankie

Stargate SG-1 s2, s3

Doctor Who s8

The Strain

Boku no Hero Academia 

August

Westworld

Voltron s3

Game of Thrones s7

The Strain

Yamishibai

Jerry Springer  (Vacation w/ boyfriend’s family. Brother and friends are awful.)

VIDEO GAMES

June:

LoZ: Breath of the Wild (Definitely more than 40 hrs; Fin)

Dishonored 2 (Corvo Playthrough, 7 hrs)

Witcher 3 (15 hrs?)

July:

Witcher 3 (15 hrs?)

(Final Fantasy XV, 2 hrs)

August

(Final Fantasy XV, 2 hrs)

DELIGHTFUL FIC

June:

Running on Air by eleventy7 (HP; Drarry; 75k;  Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.)

Slithering by astolat (HP; Drarry; 27k;  Draco found the nest down in the Manor’s cellars, while he was clearing them out.)

Bitter Honey, Green Night by Faith Wood (faithwood) (HP; Drarry; 14k;  An inn, an Auror, a criminal, a mystery.)

Hermione Granger's Hogwarts Crammer for Delinquents on the Run by waspabi (HP; Drarry; 93k;  'You're a wizard, Harry' is easier to hear from a half-giant when you're eleven, rather than from some kids on a tube platform when you're seventeen and late for work.)

Stately Homes of Wiltshire by waspabi (HP; Drarry; 57k; Malfoy Manor has mould, dry rot and an infestation of unusually historical poltergeists. Harry Potter is on the case.)

stranger things than polyamory by trepan (Stranger Things; Jonathon/Steve/Nancy; 3.5k;  Somebody spray-paints NANCY WHEELER HAS TWO BOYFRIENDS on a wall she walks by on her way back from school in May. There are a couple of other students watching her as she passes. Nancy gives the sign a long look, then smirks at them politely.)

the heart its own rough animal by trepan (Stranger Things; Jonathon/Nancy/Steve; 21k;  “Where’s her daemon,” says one of the boys urgently. “Guys, she doesn’t have one.”)

in the bone by patho (ghostsoldier) (Dishonored; Corvo/Outsider; 2.8k;  It all began when Corvo started kissing the Mark for luck.)

The Sea and Stars Are Yours, My Dear, But the Moon Would Not Cooperate by NeverwinterThistle (Dishonored; Corvo/Outsider; 25k; The Outsider explores the murky seas of human courtship while Corvo watches in bemusement, and in the background Emily draws, Callista takes charge, Piero sulks, and Cecelia accidentally becomes indispensable. There's also a plague, a vase of asparagus, and about a hundred singing whales who randomly showed up in the harbour one evening.The squid is still wriggling.)

apocrypha by aerynlallaboso (Dishonored; Corvo/Outsider; 95k+; WIP;  The Eighth year of the reign of Empress Emily Kaldwin, First of her Name, the second year without a whisper from the Outsider, is the year the Void chooses to mark the end of an era.)

a small soft death by patho (ghostsoldier) (Dishonored; Corvo/Outsider; 2.8k; “The finest steel,” the Outsider says, “is forged with true purpose in mind. Elements that enhance the strength of the weapon are carefully chosen, and those that make the metal brittle and weak are burned away. It is an exacting process. The most beautiful dagger will be of no use at all if the steel is not properly tempered. Do you understand?”)

in·car·nate by bygoneboy (Dishonored; Corvo/Outsider; 21k; The Void’s Chosen have loved him before.)

The Crown of the Summer Court by astolat (Merlin; Merlin/Arthur; 24k;  "The king sent me to get you," Merlin said, with a tone that implied strongly that he wasn't rolling his eyes where Arthur could see, but just wait until his back was turned. "He said you're to get changed into formal clothes and meet him in the Great Hall, there's a delegation coming from the Summer Court.")

the king of oak by saltpans (HP: FBAWTFT; Credance/Percival Graves; 38k; The first thing Percival Graves does after being released back into the world is buy a new wand.)

Hi, You Were My Husband in Another Life, Professor by littlebirdtold (Star Trek; Spirk; 48k; Um, hi. I'm Jim. Jim Kirk. You don't know me, but I know you. Well, sort of. It's a long story.)

  Bluebird by waldorph (Star Trek; Spirk; 7k; Jim whipped around so fast most of his drink ended up on Spock, who was reaching for the phaser that wasn’t there. The Enterprise crew was parting like the biblical seas before Moses, and Jim could feel the temperature dropping. “Mom,” Jim croaked.)

Misethere by astolat (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 46k; Emhyr was looking at him for once, with a strange expression. “I have misjudged you,” he said, sounding irritated actually: how dare Geralt surprise him.“I get that a lot,” Geralt said.)

Blooded Crown by astolat (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 24k; “You need not thank me,” Emhyr said. “I have an ulterior motive.”It annoyed Geralt to be surprised. He should’ve known from the start. “Yeah?” The words came out with a little bite. “Have another daughter you need me to track down?”“If I wished to hire you, I would hire you,” Emhyr said. “No: I want you to come to my bed.”)

Cursed by astolat (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 8k;  Geralt was reasonably sure this was the worst damn day of the worst damn month of his life, and it hadn’t hit bottom yet.)

July:

The War of Silver and Ash by astolat (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 15k; He hadn’t come here with a contract. He’d come here to get the faces out of his head: the bloodless dead sprawled in heaps through the streets of Beauclair, the morning after the rampage Detlaff had unleashed; the blank eyes of the boy in the orphanage tilting his head to let Orianna drink from his throat, with the lullaby she’d been singing him still hanging in the air.Wasn’t working that well so far.)

A Year In Toussaint by astolat (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 30k; Geralt had no damn idea what to do with a vineyard when Anna Henrietta gave him Corvo Bianco, but he figured it couldn’t be that bad.)

circling by xpityx (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 5k; Emhyr sighed, as if Geralt’s lack of immediate understanding was a fundamental failure of his character.)

Running Behind by Asidian (FFXV; Prompto/Noctis; WIP;  There's a tag hanging on his storage pod, instead of the clipboard that documents his progress. On that tag, there's a single word stamped in red: defective.)

Toys by astolat (Lucifer; Lucifer/Chloe; 2k; “You want to fuck me!” he said gleefully.)

Emblazoning by astolat (Merlin; OT4; 19k; Morgana turned away from the high, barred window and rubbed her arms, chilled and bare. Arthur was sitting in the dirty straw at the very limit of his chains, which kept him a few inches too far away to touch Merlin's limp body. Outside they were putting up the stake.)

Redemption Merry Go-Round by astolat (Lucifer; Lucifer/Dan/Chloe; 8k;  Dan was deeply sorry for whatever he’d done in his life that had landed him in this mess, and also reasonably sure that despite all the shit he’d pulled in the last couple of years, he still didn’t deserve this.)

wild peaches by notbecauseofvictories (The Labyrinth; Sarah/Goblin King; 3k;  The morning after Sarah Williams defeats the Goblin King, she gets up and makes toast.)

where the weeds take root by beenghosting (Supernatural; Destiel; 30k+;  “Are you happy? Y’know. Just—being here,” Dean says, gesturing to the yard with his beer bottle. “Being with—I mean, you used to fight in celestial wars and—and save the world. Now you’re growing vegetables and talking about chickens.”)

damnatio memoriae by temporalDecay (Witcher 3; Geralt/Emhyr; 12k;  “May I walk the estate?” Emhyr repeated, and his nose crinkled in that familiar twitch of displeasure that Geralt had always secretly delighted in causing, despite how downright suicidal it was to invoke it on purpose. “I'm not going to run away,” he added, with a slight glare. “I'm merely bored.”)

Heart and Home by lc2l (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 97k; In an alternate Paris, werewolves occupy the majority of the ruling classes, making and adjusting policy to suit their interests. The punishments for a human attacking a werewolf can be brutal, unless they have the protection of a wolf pack.How this translates to 'claim Grantaire as your mate to get him out of prison' is something Enjolras is still trying to get his head around, but he's never been one to give up on a cause even when it's sleeping on his sofa.)

August

How the Future's Done by barricadeur (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 12k;  "Grantaire," he says slowly. "What do you have in that box?")

vocal ink by sarahyyy (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 3k; “Officially, we don’t have a leader, everyone here is equal,” Courfeyrac says, keeping his voice low as Enjolras starts his speech, “but if we did, and we don’t, it would be Enjolras.” He looks over to Marius. “Do not approach him. Let him come to you, let him be the first to initiate conversation, and for the love of God, do not mention soulmates.”)

Years Since It's Been Clear by lady_ragnell (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 10k;  Grantaire really doesn't expect Enjolras to force him to move in with him when he hears how shitty Grantaire's apartment is. And he definitely doesn't expect Enjolras to want him to stay, or how easy it turns out to be, or the way Enjolras has a habit of doing his studying in the sunshine on the living room floor ...)

Tolerable (Inuyasha; Sesshomaru&Miroku; 30k; “The scent is not entirely unpleasant.”)

Silence Is the Speech of Love by lady_ragnell (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 50k; Grantaire's life has a pattern: he pays his respects to Aphrodite, he goes to work, he loves Enjolras and provokes him because he can't bring himself to do otherwise.)

The Five Year Plan by Neery (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 16k;  Enjolras loses his memory. Thankfully, nothing unexpected seems to have happened to him in the five years he can't remember. Well, except for the boyfriend. The boyfriend's kind of a surprise.)

dance this silence down (the emergency room remix) by Fahye (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 54k;  He's sitting in a car with all of his belongings in the back seat and his hands wrapped around the steering wheel, admitting to himself that a stupid, dizzy firework of a one-night-stand with a man he'd barely known is one of the only bright memories he has right now.)

World Ain't Ready by idiopathicsmile (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 185k; Enjolras presses his lips together. He already looks pained, and Grantaire hasn't even opened his mouth yet. That's got to be a record, even for them."I need a favor," he says at last)**

  The Ghost of You by luchia (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 25k; Grantaire moves into an apartment inhabited by a poltergeist. Enjolras haunts him, and Grantaire should really win an award for most complicated relationship status ever.)

box of secrets by nightswatch (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 53k;  Grantaire leaves his doodles all over the place. Enjolras collects them without knowing who drew them.)

Yes, Sir by mikkimouse (Voltron; Sheith; 8k; "Are you all ready to get started?""Yes, sir!" twenty voices answered in unison.Shiro's stomach flipped at the words. Oh, no.The soulmark on his right wrist burned, confirmation that his soulmate was one of the twenty people who'd just uttered the phrase.)

despite what you've been told by caseyvalhalla (Yuri On Ice; Yuuri/Viktor; 14k; When Victor falls, he goes down hard.)

these things take time by sonhoedesrazao (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 63k;  He’s always wary of making assumptions; even more so when Grantaire is concerned. He knows he’s not the easiest person to deal with. People either like him or can’t stand him, and it’s easy to respond to those reactions, but Grantaire—Grantaire is hostile and mocking, Grantaire scorns his beliefs, and Grantaire stays.)

In the End We Have Each Other by samyazaz (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 50k; what startles Enjolras the most is that he manages approximately half a step through the door into the back room where they all meet before Grantaire rattles his glass down on the table in the back that he's taken for his own and drawls, "Is there something you forgot to tell us, Apollo?"That silences the room, predictably enough. Everyone breaks off their conversations and swivels to stare at him. At him, and at the baby carrier that he's got hooked over one arm.)

True Colors by lady_ragnell (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 4k;  The first thing that catches Enjolras's eye when he enters the Musain Cafe for the first time is the walls. They're a dull black that it takes him a moment to realize must be chalkboard paint, because near the tables there are words and doodles, and all over, even the erased sections are stained with faint colored marks like the walls have soulmarks.)

Hit Me With Your Best Shot by tellthemstories (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantaire; 10k; Fourteen times Grantaire tried to kill Enjolras.And one time he fell in love.)

RSVP (+1) by tellthemstories (Les Mis; Enjolras/Grantire; 21k;  When Enjolras is invited to Marius and Cosette’s wedding, he fully intends to ignore the ‘plus one’ on the invite. He’s busy at work and he has a lot on - he doesn’t have time for relationships. What he doesn’t expect is for Grantaire to invite himself along and then hit it off immediately with all of his friends.)

always there to remind you by estora, taywen (Dishonored; Corvo/Daud; 8k;  Later, after he had killed a number of people for coin, but before he killed so many that he lost count, Daud was glad he had no mark. No soulmate deserved to have his words marked on their skin.)

( Watercast by Fishwrites (Voltron; Lance/Keith; 96k; WIP;  Shiro has been a Galra prisoner for over a year; with his flight feathers clipped and unable to fly. Desperate to escape, he jumps overboard while being transported to the capitol on a Galran ship. Lance is a merman who saves him from drowning. Keith thinks Shiro is about to become mermaid dinner. Hunk just wants Lance to stop going to the surface all the time, dammit!))

DELIGHTFUL FANVIDS

June:

Multifandom || Tessellate (TYS: round2)

Multifandom || Bleeding out (collab w/ KatrinDepp)

Multifandom || Is this Real?

Multifandom || Insane Like Me (TYS: round1)

Multifandom │ Warriors

July:

the beast of america | percival graves

Get You Killed || Percival Graves

Percival Graves - Hit & Run

► Graves (+Credence) | Are You Insane Like Me?

Credence Barebone/Percival Graves || And I wanna fight, But I can't contend

[FIREFLY] - She always did love to dance

[Multifandom] - Dance with me

The Last of Us || Can't Pretend

The Walking Dead || Bottom of the River

Multifandom || Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight

Doctor Who (Logan Style)

Spider-Man (Peter Parker) // Everybody Loves Me

Iron Man (Tony Stark) // Gold

In The Flesh | we're gonna die, die, die

In The Flesh || We're Alone Now

Fantastic Beasts || Step into the light

Stranger Things|| Knocking On Heaven's Door

Jonathan & Nancy|| Tighten Up

Multifandom|| Stuck.Broken.Dead.

[Multifandom] - One Word

Marvel | Human

percival graves | can't hold us

August

Hela // Castle

grantaire & enjolras - help me kill the president

Game of Thrones || Blood of My Blood (for 60k)

(GoT) House Stark | The North Remembers

(GoT) Jaime Lannister | Oathbreaker

Jonathan Byers || I'm not like everybody else

Uptown Funk || Marvel Universe

MARVEL || Can't hold us

GLITTER & GOLD || Multifandom [HNY●2017]

I'M SO SORRY | Marvel Cinematic Universe

David Haller [Legion] | Dysfunctional

(Legion) It's Better When it Feels Wrong

unless you make it real [Legion]

not today [yuri on ice]

Haikyuu!! || not today

Multifandom | Tame Your Demons (w/SnowLightxx)

Six Of Crows - Trouble

marvel || battle royale

(GoT) Jon Snow | The Targaryen Wolf

Arya Stark // See What I've Become

(GoT) Jon Snow || The Wolf With Dragon's Blood

MARVEL/DC || BORN ready 

DELIGHTFUL MUSIC

June:

Johnny Hollow - Boogeyman

Sia - To Be Human feat. Labrinth

Lorde - Green Light

The National - "Don't Swallow the Cap"

The Growlers - "I'll Be Around"

The xx - I Dare You

Phantogram - Fall In Love

alt J - In Cold Blood

And I Waited All Night For You To Come, But You Never Did

Sia - The Greatest

Hopeless Fountain Kingdom - Halsey (Album)

History - Monakr

Wildcat! Wildcat! - Relentless (feat. Wynne)

Ingrid Michaelson - In the Sea

Cities in Dust Lyrics- The Everlove

Prides - Messiah

ODESZA - It's Only (feat. Zyra)

Metric - Breathing Underwater

Purity Ring - Sea Castle

Hundreds - Fighter

Labyrinth Ear - Urchin

Rasputina - Dig Ophelia

Sóley - Fight Them Soft

Soap&Skin - Boat Turns Toward The Port

CocoRosie - R.I.P. Burn Face

AURORA - Nature Boy

July:

Hamilton Soundtrack

Karen O - I Shall Rise

Miracle of Sound - Lady of Worlds 

Annie Lennox - I Put A Spell On You

Woodkid - IRON (Sara cover)

Peronal Yeezus By Chambaland (Atomic Blonde Trailer Music)

Kesha - Praying

twenty one pilots: Screen

Lemaitre - Higher

Regina Spektor-Blue Lips

Zaz - Les Passants

Katie Costello - Stranger

Arctic Monkeys - Knee Socks

Silversun Pickups - The Pit

If I Apologized - Mirrormask 

August

Les Mis - One Day More

Les Mis - Red and Black

Les Mis - Do You Hear the People Sing

Les Mis - Epilogue

Sleeping At Last - Mars

Hozier - Take Me To Church

Lynrd Skynrd - Freebird

You - Keaton Henson

Radical Face - All Is Well (It’s Only Blood)

Valerie Broussard - Trouble

Erutan - The Willow Maid

Imagine Dragons - Gold

Imagine Dragons - Thunder

Which Witch - Florence & the Machine

Paint It, Black - Ramin Djawadi

Honor For All - Dishonored

Daniel Licht - The Return

Patrick Wolf - Teignmouth 

Ballet Breakup - RvB

WRITTEN FIC

June:

it's warm, this skin i'm living in (SGA; Rodney/John; 1,170 words; When he is thirty-seven years old, John Sheppard thinks about the universe.

it's good to be in love, it really does suit you (KH; Sora/Riku/Kairi; 1,694 words; “We’ve done dangerous before.” Sora shrugs. “Getting a mortgage was dangerous, but we did it anyway.”)

a hazy shade of winter (Stranger Things; Steve/Nancy/Jonathan; 1,863 words; In November, they build a tree house.)

July:

can't deny your appetite (SGA; Rodney/John; 4,031 words; John finds out that there’s a vampire in Atlantis the day after they’ve stepped through the gate.He finds out that the vampire in question is Rodney McKay four weeks later, when they’re all hunkered down in the yawning shadow of some crumbling ruins and Rodney looks at him, his eyes eerily bright in the darkness, sees the blood on John’s face, and says, “Oh.”)

August

caught off guard by you (FFXV; Prompto/Noctis; 1,671 words;  “I just got you back,” Prompto says quietly, words muffled into the curve of Noctis’s neck.)

take me to church (Teen Wolf; Sterek; 3,129 words;  Derek scoffs. “You want to take me back to Quantico.”)

FANMIXES/GRAPHICS

June:

N/A

July:

the salt water sting:  wor·ship | noun | the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.

The Flash | Fire Fire [Vid]

August

love has no heart: A mix for those with no hearts.

i believe in you: You love him. The story still ends.

January.

February.

March.

April.

May.

June.

July.

August.

[theantisocialcritic]

This AntiSocial Life: Borealis and Artistic Purity

Storytelling is one of the hardest jobs their is. The reason why is both simple and frustratingly complex. Stories require specific functions in order to create their desired function and most people don’t recognize those things. This is often the mile high hurdle that pushes down against young creatives as they struggle to try and create their own place to express themselves to an audience. Most people are il-equipped to handled such tasks. This isn’t for a lack of trying or creativity on the part of most people of course. It’s just a problem of difficulty that our greatest stories are so hard to grasp and recreate and most people never end up learning the skills necessary to do so. 

Growing up the closest I ever came to throwing my hat in the ring was with the Machinima fad of the late 2000s. The fad came as something of a strange artistic wave within the gaming community. Born in the 90s by the hands of a group of Quake gamers who created short narrations based in the world of the game, the phenomena launched in popularity after the breakout success of a small web series called Red vs Blue. The pitch was a simple parody of the in game mechanics of Halo: Combat Evolved’s multiplayer engine but the small Austin, Texas crew struck gold. 15 years later the same crew how own and operate their own Film studio. 

Machinima is a very simple concept but complicated in execution. In essence, Machinima involves using video games as the base medium to tell visual stories such as webseries and movies. To accomplish machinima in the earlier days was rather difficult. The process usually involved multiple players controlling different in game avatars and one player to function as the dedicated “camera” from whom the in game content would be recorded. From there the recorded material is edited down into traditional movie form. The process is one that initially required a great deal of time, patience, technical expertise and cooperation in order to pull off. The Quake videos and Red vs Blue did so like gangbusters. 

Red vs Blue’s runaway success reverberated up the chains of both Halo’s developers at Bungie and the gamers who loved the show. The popularity of the show gained so much attention that the developers of the game themselves personally gave the show the green light to continue without worry of legal issues from the publisher. Not long after new shows such as the dramatic series The Codex and the talk show This Spartan Life quickly rose to prominence and critical acclaim.  Given that the fad had arisen via the success of the Halo franchise it was only natural that the studio would come to recognize the golden goose they held. 

With rising popularity Bungie Studios sought to give their machinima fan base the ultimate boon. That boon was the famed Theater Mode. When Halo 3 released in 2007 the mode was one of the game’s most innovative and popular functions. Allowing the player to replay footage of their prior games and position the camera at will, theater mode was the ultimate gift to machinima fans. No more did Machinima require intensive multi-television set ups and multiple people. Now anyone with an Xbox 360 and four controllers could effectively create their own machinima. Namely myself… 

Yah… This embarrassing piece of storytelling was adolescent me’s attempt as creating his own Machinima and it sucks really badly. Not to mention it ripped off multiple other major Machinima series. Normally I don’t enjoy showing this off as it has stood for a while now as something of a personal blemish but I here I think offers a fascinating example of what Machinima was like at it’s height. Almost anyone could do it and often it failed. Occasionally though genuinely great creators managed to find their own strange, funny and/or creative niche to express and brought it to bear. To help foster this came the rise of one of YouTube’s most famous, beloved and hated channels, Machinima. Founded by some of the creators of the Quake videos, the channel became a hub at the height of the machinima craze (approximately 2007-2013). 

The channel’s great innovation was it’s ability to channel great talent into one place and keep them churning out consistent work. Shows like the wildly nihilistic and funny Arby n the Chief and the sketch comedy Sanity Not Included represented much of the best output of Machinima at the height of it’s popularity. Smaller but solid shows like the cult hit Phil also joined the highlights of Machinima at it’s height. Even with all the strong headliners Machinima’s best gift to the form was it’s ability to promote and release the smaller, less well know shorts that talented Machinima creators were churning out. Wonderful comedic bits like The De-Ranker, Gears of Halo-Theft Auto 5, New Halo Update, Birthday Surprise, The Wall, Bungie Police and Everything is Going to Be Alright hit the web to enormous fanfare with hundreds of thousands, sometimes even millions of views. For me though, one of these sketches has always stood above it’s contemporaries. Though seemingly innocuous on it’s surface and rather lacking a flashy surface compared to it’s contemporaries, i’ve always felt that this short stands head and shoulders above it’s entire medium for the very simple reason that it may be it’s entire form’s example of a pure artistic statement. That short is titled Borealis. 

As much as anyone else i’m all about fun and games. Machinima is nothing if it isn’t a great form for comedy. The inherent problem with Machinima as a form though is that of any art form I can imagine, no other one suffers such enormous creative limitations as Machinima. This genre quite literally is trapped within the confines of the games it is based on. Complex storytelling is immediately forced down by the inevitability of having to find some sort of in story explanation why everyone wears armored suites and carries assault rifles. Naturally there are a few get out of jail free cards for Machinima writers to pull in a pinch. 1. Set the Story Within the confines of Playing a Multiplayer Video Game 2. Set the Story Within the Canonical Universe of the Game

These solutions worth well in a pinch and many great Machinima creators worked out great sketches using them. The problem of course with this comes down to esotericism. Either of these options leaves you telling a story about either Halo or the experience of playing Halo. That’s it. Given that most creators working in Machinima weren’t master storytellers it was rare to see shorts that didn’t devolve into self reference and inside jokes for die hard gamers. Right off the bat this is a huge part of what makes Borealis so unique amongst it’s peers. It manages to be a story both separate from and informed by it’s origins. 

There is no reference in the short at all to Halo or any elements of the stories involved. On the flip side of things, with the exception of the voice acting no element of the short’s production exists outside of the game work. Even the music itself is drawn from the soundtrack of Halo 3: ODST. It’s an excellent synthesis of machinima’s natural limitations being embodied by an original story. On top of that it’s one of the only memorable Machinima I know of that wasn’t a comedy. Most series and shorts chose comedy because the absurdity made for good humor. Borealis actually chooses the harder root and tries to tell a serious story. The end result is a haunting, melancholy little poem about anxiety and one’s place in the greater scheme of things. 

On the downside it isn’t a subtle exploration of the topic. The story doesn’t give way to much real drama and the characters play out the themes of the piece word for word telling you pretty much exactly what they want you to think about. Greater implications can be thought of but I can’t imagine many of these characters truly existing beyond the small six minute snippet that we actually get shown in the picture. To be fair of course much of this is problems of the genre of Machinima as a whole as opposed to merely being this film’s fault. With rare exceptions Machinima isn’t an art form guided by a subtle hand. It’s primarily a niche entertainment genre and it has it’s strengths in inside jokes and subtle nodes to things most fans of Halo and other games would recognize. The closest I can imagine to a subtle hand in the genre comes out of later years Arby n the Chief which heavily relied upon darker themes and shocking plot turns. Borealis flaws and all certainly holds up amongst the best of them. 

When I call Borealis a poem I truly mean it as such. More than in it’s storytelling I find it to be a surprisingly thoughtful spoken word speech of these two characters musing on their place in the universe at one small place in one small time. This is a story about a confused young person being guided by an external force to help set his place in the universe. He starts out as a soldier, confused and alone. Sergeant Gabrial shepards him through his moment of frustration to find perspective to the state of things. His life will ultimately be defined by his choices. He very much is a small, insignificant person lost in the universe, but that universe will remember him for what he choses. The short then ends on a question to the viewer asking them the same haunting question. How will the things you do echo in the halls of eternity? 

Director Robert Merritt of Hallow Robot Productions who originally collaborated with Machinima’s Directing Program, Euphorian Films and Daemon Productions was kind enough to sit down with me for a Skype interview last fall to discuss the film and the eventual decline of Machinima and Machinima.com. Unfortunately coinciding with the departure of director Jon Graham from Arby n the Chief in 2013, Machinima.com began phasing out it’s directors program. In time regular contacts to the site began falling out and more and more films were being rejected as the company’s internal politics shifted and the company moved to reshape itself into something more legitimate from a business standpoint. The channel has gone on to partner with a number of major corporations in providing distribution for content for series such as Halo and the Justice League. Creators like Lyle Burrus and Dexter Manning who had previously highly successful jobs with Machinima broke out onto their own and eventually ceased YouTube as their full-time work. Several members of Machinima’s internal gaming crew once known as Inside Gaming even fled ship and reformed as a subsidiary of Rooster Teeth known as Funhaus. Rooster Teeth itself which still maintain’s Red vs Blue as it’s theoretical flagship has diversified it’s content so widely into live action comedy sketches, reality TV, feature films, gaming commentary and animation has largely abandoned Machinima it’s focus. Similarly so most of Borealis’s creators have moved on to various pursuits such as video game live streaming, video game development and filmmaking. Robert himself is currently working video games and CGI animation. He was involved in production of the flash game Office Freakout which was featured by YouTube celebrity Markiplier and works commission in independent filmmaking. 

Machinima’s moment in the sun has long since passed. While legacies such as the recently revitalized Arby n the Chief: Season 8 have popped up on occasion even the developers of Halo themselves have largely moved on from the fad, making Machinima in games like Halo 5: Guardians almost impossible by way of certain game restrictions. Given that little hustle has come up about it’s affect on Machinima it’s safe to say it hasn’t had a large effect. 

All that said, as Borealis shows our legacy echoes in eternity. The internet offers a database of potentially infinite possibility and the ability to preserve information for centuries to come. I’ll certainly remember Borealis, Red vs Blue, Arby n the Chief, Sanity Not Included and the numerous other Machinima's that defined this movement. As with legacy, great stories never die. 

Thank you all for reading! if you would like to see more essays like this lemme know by tweeting me at @AntiSocialCriti or commenting below. Also be sure to check out my new review show The Fox Valley Film Critics!

Live long and prosper!