#this is part of the reason i don’t use the wiki

[taylynceo]

now which one of y’all put this on the stupid wiki

[reesiereads]

So I wonder if Husk’s dislike of his form is (at least somewhat) a result of Alastor’s treatment of him?

It’s mentioned on his wiki that Husk does not like his form. He’s essentially a house cat with bird add-ons, which isn’t exactly intimidating.

His dislike could be for plenty of reasons but to me it kinda came across like he’s used to being treated as less than human? Like a pet.

Angel’s “kitty has claws�� and “meow” are the flirtations that seem to cause the most visceral reaction out of husk (outside of “I can make those wings flap” which is, again, about Husk’s actual form). Angel was also touching Husk on both situations, moving him in the way he wanted to emphasize his point (tilting and holding Husk’s chin and tilting his wings). Part of Husk’s dislike is definitely because he dislikes Angel’s fakeness and the infringement on his boundaries, but these comments in particular set him off in a way the others don’t. It’s genuine anger over exasperation.

Then we get the Husk and Alastor scene in Episode 5 where Alastor openly talks down to Husk and scratches him behind the ear like an actual cat. This sets Husk off enough that, even knowing he’s owned by Alastor who is extremely dangerous (because I doubt he’s just forget that), he still snaps back. The first thing he says is “You may own my soul but I’m not your damn pet” and the level of anger here seems to imply Alastor treats him like this with at least some frequency. This is further proven when Alastor responds with a simple “oh, but you are!” Which is what leads to Husk snapping enough that he sets Alastor off.

Alastor then proceeds to push Husk to the ground and show his chain, pulling Husk closer against his will the same way one might an unruly dog pulling on its leash.

I think it’s also worth noting that Alastor is not usually a touchy person. This episode is an exception in that he’s being extra nice to Charlie to piss off Lucifer but this is still far from the norm. The only one he’s really touched up to this point is Nifty and that was only because she climbed on him. Him petting Husk was only a move of control, which is probably part of why it set Husk off so badly.

I think this also changes our perspectives on “Loser, baby” and the comparison there, since we now actually know what Husk and Alastor’s relationship is like. Angel may be Val’s toy but Husk is Alastor’s pet. His cat who’s brought in to take care of the mice.

[hauntingrabbits]

Batman my little pony AU. Part 2 here, Part 3 here

More info on these under the cut!

1. Sundown Mane/Batpony (Bruce Wayne)

His backstory & general situation is pretty much identical to every other batman out there so I wont get into it.

Other notes:

-His cutie mark is a masquerade mask that I tried to make vaguely bat-shaped. The general public sees his Cutie Mark through the lense of his reputation, and he leans into it heavily to obscure the truth. In interviews, he presents it as being tied to hosting galas (it’s the reason he started hosting those huge masquerade balls in the first place) and/or his fashionable looks, but in truth it’s far more representative of his stealth and disguise capabilities, as well as his masked night time hobbies as a whole.

-He’s not an actual bat-pony in any way, the bat wing appearance is just the costume (intentionally designed that way for intimidation, battle, and obscuring his identity further). Though most citizens assume he’s a true bat-pony, other rumors range from him being a vampire, to an Earth pony with false tech-based wings, to a magically disguised alicorn, to a spirit of the night.

-If Batman were actually to be a pony I think he’d 100% be an earth pony, because his big thing is relying on skill and tech rather than power and he has the whole “normal guy amongst gods” thing going on. HOWEVER. There are actual bat ponies in this show. How am I not supposed to utilize that somehow for the guy whose name is BATMAN? Also with Sundown I think being a Pegasus just fits the playboy personality front he puts up. I don’t know why, its just vibes.

-I think he just doesn’t fly much while patrolling as batpony, instead using his wings for extra jump or for intimidation and cover like with his cape. They’re probably steel-tipped or something too. He doesn’t rely on flight for advantage and trains entirely grounded because he doesn’t want to be dependent on flight and find himself lost if his wings are ever incapacitated.

2. Apollo Honeyscales/Two-Face (Harvey Dent)

Fascinated by the Equestrian legal system and craving a more organized society than what was offered by his generally disorderly and solitary fellow Chimeras, Apollo moved to Gotham to pursue higher education. Unfortunately, ponies are often intimidated by, if not downright terrified of Chimeras, so though Chimera cultures usually give each head equal social weight and three individual names, Apollo quickly adapted to instead try to present himself as pony-like as possible. He used a singular name and pronoun for his whole body, presented the less intimidating, herbivorous-looking goat as his “main” head, and eventually even took to having a faux Cutie Mark applied for media and court appearances. Prior to the attack, the lion and the snake head were never seen talking in public, and even in private the only ponies to have heard them speak were his close friends Sundown Mane and Glider Gold.

After being attacked with acid in court, Scales succumbed to injury and had to be amputated, while Honeybite was left alive but severely scarred. With this event, Apollo’s and Honeybite’s already fragile mental states from years of pony society othering them, the weight of their job, and personal repression finally snapped in their grief and anger, leading Honeybite to fully take the reins and create the criminal persona of Two-Face. Attempts from both Sundown and Glider and to reach out since have been unsuccessful.

Other Notes:

-According to the wiki only one chimera shows up in the whole show so. I made stuff up. -Chimeras typically being solitary is based on the fact we only ever see one in the show. This solitary nature would make it hard for them to have a widespread legal system at all, let alone to enforce it; thus Apollo’s original fascination with the foreign pony legal system. The Chimera in the show also has individual names for each head, each with a slightly different style (the goat following pony name conventions with the name Pumpkin Cake, the tiger following a slightly more violent version of pony name conventions with the name Sweetkill, and the Snake bluntly just being named Snakey). I tried to follow similar conventions for Apollo. I was most happy with the name Scales, because it followed the blunt snake naming convention while also sort of doubling as a scales of justice reference. Apollo is just a reference to Harvey’s nickname in some of the comics, and Honeybite is just for fun.

-His perfectly split coat is unique even among other chimeras, and as Apollo he was generally considered attractive and “exotic” by Equestrian media outlets.

-The temporary Cutie Mark application was done professionally. (Surely ponies have perfected this art, right? Like this has to be something pony society does and has services for, right? Ponies covering up embarrassing Cutie Marks, blank flanks covering up an embarrassing lack of a Curie Mark, Ponies getting Cutie Marks done for costumes, theater, movies, etc… you get it.) Apollo’s choice of a faux Cutie Mark is meant to serve as both a way of further integrating himself into pony society and a proclamation of his legal skills.

-Apollo was a genuinely great lawyer. Ponies on defense were often so preoccupied at the terror of having a lion and a snake silently stare them down that they wouldn’t realize it was actually the goat they should’ve really been afraid of until their entire case had already been ruthlessly torn to shreds.

3. Glider Gold (Gilda Gold)

Even prior to their relationship and subsequent engagement, Glider had long been Apollo’s closest friend and confidant. She saw the way his job and keeping up his image was tearing him apart long before the acid attack, and she deeply regrets not trying harder to get him the help he needed before it was too late. Multiple news outlets have been trying to get an interview with her and their efforts only increase every time Two-Face shows up in the news (despite Sundown’s efforts to dissuade them). She hasn’t been the same since the attack and Apollo’s disappearance, losing interest in her work and finding her friendship with Sundown heavily strained as they both feel the weight of Apollo’s absence.

Other notes:

-I wasn’t even going to draw Gilda originally because she’s such a minor character in Batman stuff but as I was writing out Apollo’s background she nudged her way back in. I like her too much.

-This version is based on her very first iteration where she was a sculptor. Her green coat is a reference to that version’s accompanying Two-Face (also his first iteration), who had green scarring.

- The choice for her to be a pegasus was mainly just to go with her silly name, but I do think being a pegasus would be beneficial to a sculptor. No ladder required to work on high details just fly up there.

-I am not immune to the bruce/harvey/gilda agenda

[kyupidos]

updated 08/02/24: here is a part 2 to this analysis!

i think one of the most disturbing yet funny things about sebek antis is how they manage to twist a well written narration about internalized racism and the struggles of being a mixed person into something relating to “fascism”.

( btw there will be SLIGHTTT b7 spoilers in here but i personally think it’s whatever, no big difference to what we’ve known in the past nothing shocking. )

as his biggest fan AND as an ethnic person i feel as though you HAVE to be brain dead and/or white to not understand any of this. he doesn’t genuinely believe that humans are an inferior race, he has MULTIPLE instances praising human people ( riddle, epel ). and the evidence is in firstly, epel’s school uniform vignette where he praises his apple carving, saying it’s even nice enough to be used as a gift to malleus, and we KNOW how highly he regards him. and not once does he ever say anything like “for a human”, or insult him for “being human”, he appreciates his skill.

then there’s riddle’s ceremonial robes vignette, and while he does look down on him, it’s not really even about being human saying, “i would better be served by weight training than riding with a bunch of amateurs” ( in reference that here we see him initially join the equestrian club ). but once riddle proves his skill, sebek is more than willing to respect him highly.

( a small thing from the harveston event that i’ve been told of from a friend as well, he also holds high respect and love for marja. initially he wasn’t fond of her, but she gave him a squirrel plushie for the plush sled race. because of this he’s basically like, “she’s the only reason i got this far!!” and praises her. i haven’t played the event and this is what my friend says, but i figured to at least include this. )

the most insane part is you don’t even have to scour through every single moment he shows up on screen to know this, it even shows in his WIKI that one of his dislikes/pet peeves is “whining.” to be clear, while admittedly he does make patronizing remarks in regards to humans, it’s never enough to say he has a genuine hatred, and in fact he proves the opposite many times, in both epel and riddle’s case. and, in regards to the personality section, again referencing epel and riddle ( there may be other examples, they just happen to be the ones i found specifically ), he isn’t afraid to acknowledge and respect people for their talent or skills, even if they are human.

and if you’re wondering what i mean by it being ethnically related, fae are canonically ( say it with me now canonically, ) considered to be a minority race. being half human half fae is what makes him mixed, equally canonically so. as far as i’m concerned basically everyone in the fandom knows this but the complexity around this part of his character is just SO undermined that people are willing to call him “openly racist” ( to others, not his internalized racism ) and a FASCIST. are you serious?

we know already that sebek learned a lot of what he thinks now from his grandfather, ( sebek zigvolt wiki, trivia ) considering malleus and lilia commenting that his temper is a trait he gets from him ( scary monsters event story for malleus ), which of course is likely what garners his dislike towards his human aspect and his father for being human, even considering his father outputting, trailing off when noting he is human, while being prideful in his mother who is a fae ( birthday boy vignette ).

and what do we learn about his grandfather? he was in a war against humans, which makes it obvious enough how he would learn this internalized racism and why he would put down that part of his human identity. remember that fae age differently, this war wasn’t even that long ago for them. i think it’s a shame people seem to put so much love into diasomnia but not even recognize its lore that’s rooted so deep yet at the same time is right in front of our face.

but that’s all from me folks. willing to dive deeper into my sebek love and analysis if anyone wants it!

[erinwantstowrite]

Let me just quickly say, cross-overs can sometimes get REALLY difficult to map out and write in a cohesive way but you have absolutely NAILED IT!! I absolutely ADORE LoF!!! I usually don’t even bother reading fics with the ‘Richard Grayson is Richard Parker’ premise cause I felt like they were super confusing and overcomplicated but this fic?? SUPERB. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. OH MY GOD I ADORE IT. Everyone’s characterizations are so nice and wonderful aaaaaaah!!!! <33333

Ok ok I did actually have a question as well: would you be willing to share what your writing process looks like in terms of a chapter you’ve already posted? I was just wondering since I’m also currently working on my own fic (it’s been a few years but I managed to get fixated on an idea and it grew legs lol) and I’m currently fighting the organization of it haha.

How do you keep track of the plot points and/or foreshadowing you want to get a ‘lightbulb!’ moment for later? Do you have any tips?

Thank you so much! I absolutely adore your writing AND your art is so gorgeous omg it adds so much to the incredible story :DDD I hope you have a good day!!

I have a secret: I actually didn't like "Richard Grayson is Richard Parker' tag for a while for the same reason. Sometimes they felt like they missed the mark or it's just. A thing that's there? I almost didn't include it for LoF, but I'm glad I did because it changed the direction in such a big way.

Another secret: this made me incredibly happy because I have read so many wikis and scoured the internet to make sure that I had enough info on both fandoms so LoF could make sense to anyone who's reading it, whether they know Spider-Man, Batfam, or neither at all. Sometimes I worry a lot before I post that I'll miss a mark and will confuse people.

As for the question: I definitely am willing to share what my writing process looks like!

Be prepared for under the cut, I love to yap. It's in my blood to yap. And that's why it took a minute to get to this ask haha

(Spoilers for Leap of Faith!! Everything mentioned has already been published ((Chapters 1-11))

I had to go and find out which chapter I wanted to use as an example and I think we're gonna go with Chapter 5 for the most part :)

My writing process is, as described by alighterwood:

I think the description fits because while I'm all over the place, I have to be very detail oriented and I store everything in one spot.

Starting with the overall process, what I find is most helpful for me, when organizing, is having a notebook rather than doing it all digitally. I've been using a 70 sheet notebook that I had lying around waiting to be used, and as of yesterday, I officially filled the entire thing front to back. It's been an incredible help, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it's a lot easier to remember something I physically wrote down than it is to remember something I typed. I'm now on to my second notebook for LoF, and I might even have to get a third.

In another ask, startupkat asked me this:

And I shared a little about my outline process there, but I'll try to go into a little more depth here. Emphasis on little because this is so long.

I write a truly insane amount of outlines in this notebook.

This is just what I can show you, but a good chunk of the notebook is just outlines. Over and over and over again. That's because they're always changing/adapting based on so many different factors. Sometimes I get to a chapter I thought I had fully planned out and then realize it just doesn't work anymore. Other times, I get to the chapter and realize I don't want to write that anymore/isn't as interesting as I thought it would be. A few times I got halfway through a POV of a scene I was struggling on and decided to switch POV's, which will change up the outline for a chapter every now and then.

Which is why I don't write incredibly detailed outlines and try to keep it vague until I actually get to that chapter. It's a lot less daunting to rewrite a chapter outline than it is to rewrite the entire outline.

Fic outlines and Chapter outlines look a lot alike.

This is what I said in the other ask, but I didn't elaborate on it all the way.

I make a list just like that, and then I try to put it in chronological order/in an order that makes sense. I keep the Fic outline vague by writing down "Goals" for a chapter rather than scenes. But I also keep notes to myself if I really think something is important. The more important I think a scene needs to be, the more details I write down to make sure my future self recalls what I had in mind when I thought it up.

Really simple example:

Chap 1 Goal: Peter gets to Gotham and meets Babs while running around. Meet Nightwing too? Get shelter.

Chapter 2 Goal: Bats are like "???" about Peter. Batfam dynamic important... Peter stalking Batfam back? Peter meet Batman >:)

When I get to a chapter, that's when I make a far more detailed list of wants/needs/goals. It's the Step 2 from the Step 1. Here are some examples from Chapter 5:

Needed to have:

More POV's from universe 1299 (Peter's home universe)

Tony's POV more specifically, how he's doing/feeling, what he's figured out

What they've figured out on 1299 side vs what's going on in 1300 (Gotham)

Explaining more about Peter's trauma/his past

Dick learning more about Peter, and vise versa

Wanted to have:

Ned being a more central character

Natasha :)

Loki being a little shit

Tony and Cap bickering

Peter talking to Nightwing again

The last name Grayson

Gymnastics!!

(This is the shortened list, because the chapters are so long)

When I looked at this list before writing my outline, I had to figure out how I could incorporate everything. If I needed more 1299 POV's, and I wanted Ned, Natasha, and Loki, there's one scene accounted for. I had to get their side of things and wanted that trio together. I needed a Tony POV, and I wanted Tony and Cap bickering, so those went together, plus I got 1299's POV of Ohnn and his plans explained.

I needed to have Peter explaining more about his trauma, and Dick and Peter to talk/get closer. I wanted a Nightwing POV, to have Peter say his last name, and them doing gymnastics. I knew Peter wouldn't willingly talk about that, so I had him have a nightmare. Not only did it give readers perspective but it made Peter more susceptible to talking to Nightwing because he was more emotionally vulnerable/lonely, and that's how that scene came together.

That's when I would write down the chronological order of these events by writing out "Scene Blocks." (This is what I wrote down but my handwriting was so bad I can't subject y'all to it):

scene 1- Ned talking to Loki. Natasha should be nearby and observing Loki's behavior. They are not on friendly terms. Ned is more worried about Peter than he is as to what Loki could be up to, so Natasha takes on that role.

scene 2- Tony is freaking out about Peter being in an alt dimension. He should attack Ohnn when he's not prepared for it. Beat his ass? Beat his ass. Cap there too.

scene 3- Peter's nightmare. "Ben, where do you go when you die?" "Where do you think?" "With you. Where you went."

scene 4- Nightwing and Peter.

Of course, things come to attention when writing. Like originally, Tony and Cap were arguing in the Tower. But it was a little too much like his and Natasha's argument, and I kept in mind that Tony is smart. Sometimes I forget that the characters are smarter than I am, so I have to account for what they would figure out. So Tony would have picked up the puzzle pieces and come to more conclusions than I originally thought about, and I figured he'd be way more proactive about it than just. Being in the Tower and waiting.

Which means that that scene ended up being as listed above: having a squabble with Cap, learning more about Peter's dynamic with the Avengers in this universe, and seeing how Tony is reacting to it by throwing himself head first into trying to capture Ohnn.

I'll realize I need something else to be mentioned or put in and I'll have to shimmy things around, but that's basically how it goes.

As for other forms of organization:

Keeping a timeline is so important because it tells you a lot about the environment your characters are in. It's also important to remember what a character has on them, what money they've spent, who they've met/who you have mentioned, every alias that is being used, to read your work and write down edits you want to make before you make them, to write down ideas beforehand of situations you can use, and, most importantly: MAKE A MAP!! This has saved me so many times. Sometimes your brain WILL trick you or make it harder on you to envision a scene. Make a map of where your characters are physically!! It will save you too!!

As for foreshadowing and plot points, I'll let you in on yet another secret:

Your subconscious is doing a lot more than you think it is.

Sometimes when I foreshadow something, I didn't even know I was until I got to it. I very often go back to read chapters that came before this to see what I've mentioned and what I haven't, and when I do, I'll see something and go "I have to bring this back" or "I almost forgot about that!"

Other times, I am very aware of what I'm foreshadowing, and that's because I follow a mystery plot formula. You have to keep in mind everyone's intentions, all the time. How are they feeling? What are their motivations? And: what are they doing right now, while this character is doing this?

Like Beck and Ohnn. From the very beginning, I knew I had to make sure that it was obvious Ohnn wasn't working alone. From there, I had to weave through the story and slowly build him up as someone who's working behind the scenes. Even from Ned's first POV, I made sure to mention that this person knows Tony and is tech savvy.

My biggest tip is to make sure you reread your work or at least skip through it, because sometimes you don't even know that you placed something there.

And sometimes, it's very purposeful. :)

I hope this helped! I really tried to keep it short but I am insane and the process is sooooo long. It sounds complicated but it really is simple when you're actually doing it I swear

[lulu2992]

“My New Father”

It seems this note is often attributed to John Seed:

It could be because, on the Far Cry Wiki, the document is described as “John's feelings towards Joseph”. Sadly, as we know, the Wiki is far from reliable, and nothing proves the Baptist did write this.

In my opinion, he didn’t, and here’s why.

First, John signed all the other notes he wrote:

If he had written “My New Father”, I imagine he would have signed it too. And if he hadn’t, I believe that his name would still have been mentioned somewhere, for example in the title, like “Jacob’s Manifesto” (which isn’t signed), just to make it clear to players who the author of the note is. In “My New Father”, Joseph is also only referred to as a “Father” and never as a brother, which I think is strange.

Then, this is where the document can be found in John’s Gate:

This is Silo A, Floor -04, in the A3 dormitory (Level -4 on the map I made). This is apparently where “regular” cultists live, so it would make more sense to me if the note had been written and left there by one of them instead of John. There reportedly are areas of the bunker only he can access, so I imagine this is where “My New Father” would have been located if he had written it.

Finally, whoever wrote the note is very self-insightful, seems at peace, and feels loved… so quite the opposite of John. To me, the Baptist doesn’t seem to be as aware of who he is and how he functions (as much as he likes to think he is), and although he tries to be in control of any situation he’s in, he’s everything but calm. In the message he left at Seed Ranch, Joseph explains his little brother’s main problem, the reason he suffers and makes others suffer, is that he was unable to fully cast away his past and, unlike the person who wrote the note, doesn’t realize how much love there is around him.

I agree that parts of “My New Father” describe John well, and that may be why people believe he wrote it. He too feels he was given a second chance and was “born again” thanks to Joseph, isn’t used to the feeling of love, had a troubled and abusive childhood, and made sure he was “society’s very model of success” on the outside while, on the inside, he was “full of suppressed anger” (to quote The Book of Joseph). The problem is, John is still “a tormented boy, damaged and afraid”, and he’s certainly not driven by “acceptance and love” because the conclusions he drew from what happened to him when he was younger are wrong. He didn’t heal from his trauma, he rationalized and weaponized it. John tries to convince himself he’s right, but deep down, I think he knows something’s wrong, and he’s obviously still in pain. The cultist who wrote “My New Father” healed from his trauma and feels safe enough to open his heart, but the same can’t be said about John, unfortunately.

It would have been better for everyone if John had recovered from his awful youth, understood how harmful the lessons he was taught were, and realized that it was now safe for him to love and be loved, without fear, but we know that never happened. This, plus the fact his name doesn’t appear anywhere in “My New Father” and that we find it in the dormitory where other cultists live, is why I don’t think he’s the author of the note… as much as I wish he had been able to write something like this.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Hi, I had a random thought about Wylan Van Eck and it accidentally turned into a world building rant so enjoy… I guess?

Every so often I randomly remember that Wylan has canonically been to the races at Caryeva in Ravka and I just can’t help but wonder what the hell this situation was like. I don’t recall a lot of specific descriptions about Caryeva so correct me if I’m wrong but I believe it’s an environment quite similar to that of the Barrel and that boy was not thriving in the Barrel okay the stress of imagining young Wylan stuck with his father at the Caryeva races is so real. Like I’m not saying the entire place must be a hellhole but the key information we know about it (at least to my recollection and what I gathered about two minutes ago from the Grishaverse wiki) is that its main points of interest are gambling in horse races and producing alcohol, and we know that Vasily gathered a less than pleasant reputation whilst spending most of his time there gambling away what little fortune he had left. And also what the hell was Van Eck doing there in the first place? The version of Jan Van Eck we see him present to the other characters and therefore to us as the reader (since we don’t ever get his POV) would simply cease to exist at the impropriety of it all, he can’t get through a conversation about the Barrel without cringing and you’re telling me he went on a trip to Caryeva and took his presumably very young son with him? (I’m assuming this bc Wylan says he *used* to take him everywhere with him and Van Eck found out he couldn’t read when he was about eight). What was this situation???? Why was he there???? I wonder if this is another subtle hint towards the potential extent of less than savoury business Van Eck is involved in beyond Wylan’s knowledge, like when he suggests meeting on Vellgeluk (an island used mostly by smugglers and traffickers) and Inej is surprised he knows about it and Kaz responds something along the lines of “perhaps he’s not so much the upstanding merch he claims to be”.

The reference to Caryeva just always sticks out to me as slightly random in comparison to the other places Wylan lists his father as having taken him to - the Shu oil fields? Absolutely, this is a world (at least as I’ve understood it) currently moving towards its Industrial Revolution at top speed of course Van Eck of all people is looking to invest in oil futures he may be the worst but he is clever; the Ice Court? It’s a diplomatic event between the leaders of two countries, one desperately trying to maintain its neutrality to hold tightly to its place in the world economy as it very quickly develops (Kerch) and one desperately trying to impose itself as a greater world power than its being given credit for via violence and focusing its development on military-based progress like the tanks (Fjerda) (btw I think I’ve talked about this before in my worldbuilding posts but I have thoughts about the tanks and the general global development of the grishaverse so if anyone wants more theories/analyses on that let me know), so yes it absolutely makes sense especially since we’re starting to see (or at least I think we are but I’m not a historian I’m basing this on my understanding about how these things happened in our world and how they would develop in their world based on the distinctions between the two) the globalisation of the Grishaverse beginning; the Jurda farms in near Shriftport? We all know Van Eck has a vested interest in jurda and we also know it was a big part of his business long before parem came to the scene because it is a massively used stimulant throughout Kerch; Weddle? Absolutely, I don’t know if it’s been confirmed as the capital but if it isn’t it’s still a major city in Novyi Zem there are a thousand reasons Van Eck could’ve been there; Elling? Once again it’s entirely reasonable to imagine Fjerda having a vested interest in an alliance with Kerch to secure their place in the global economy and to manipulate what is almost definitely and imminent and unavoidable collapse of the country’s questionable neutrality; Elling makes sense because Van Eck probably visited Fjerda a lot and even if there wasn’t anything about alliances and military tactics and etc going on Elling is a port settlement and it makes plenty of sense to assume large amounts of trade take place here. (My theory about the military stuff if below, sorry the paragraph was too long to get it all in together)

(Ravka is in severe debt to the Kerch government and we know Fjerdan intelligence is well aware of this, especially since Matthias knew when he hadn’t been in the government for over a year and never worked anywhere near espionage, and Kerch is also a massive global power. Support for Fjerda from Kerch would mean support from the Southern Colonies and possibly even division in Novyi Zem, and whilst it would probably prevent the Fjerdans from any kind of alliance with the Shu due to the tension between Kerch and Shu Han being so high it would also probably not be necessary for them to make a deal with the Shu if the had the support of the Kerch. Ultimately, Fjerda and Shu Han are fighting for control of the same land, they just haven’t reached each other yet because they’re still stuck on opposite sides of Ravka. If either country gained control of the majority of Ravka’s land then it would lead to a fight with the other; Fjerda need global support if they have a chance of winning two wars immediately after each other and if Kerch are in fact going to have to lose their neutrality, as it seems they are being forced to do and definitely would have been forced to do if parem became a global resource (Van Eck even says himself on the matter that Kerch has enjoyed neutrality for too long), and already have high tensions with Shu Han and rising tensions with Novyi Zem (due to the assassination of the Zemeni ambassador, which I do believe was an attempt to start a war btw, that they blame the Kerch for and the Kerch suspect the Shu for) then they are the perfect target for Fjerda to form an alliance with. Kerch also has a very strong navy which Fjerda presumably lacks since their efforts have all been focused on Ravka, where they share a land border, so to enter a larger scale/global war they would need a navy on their side. Again, I want to emphasise I know very little about military tactics and history I am approaching this by imagining that it’s a logic puzzle, so you might be reading this and this and thinking that it makes no sense in realistic scenarios but this is just my theory)

But Caryeva???? Even if there weren’t standing for Van Eck and the Merchant Council to be plotting against Ravka, which I personally believe there is, it STILL WOULDN’T MAKE DIPLOMATIC OR BUSINESS SENSE TO GO TO CARYEVA. So in summary I think Van Eck was doing lots of messed up things that young Wylan didn’t understand because he was a small child so why would he, plus this was a time in his life when probably trusted his father, and I think that this is yet another of the very subtle ways Leigh Bardugo shows us that there is a lot more going on beneath the surface than we notice or that the characters have comprehended because it does!’t fit into the focus of the story. Whether or not Van Eck was planning on building his diplomacy towards Fjerda into an alliance or not (but I do want to add that the only other language he hired someone to teach his son was Fjerdan, so that may also be a hint), I definitely think that he was involved in something illegal to specifically be at the races in Caryeva. Like to vineyards or something for a trade deal, sure. But why, after going on and on about the questionable version of Ghezen he believes in and how the Barrel is a “den of filth” and calling gambling a “vice” and arguing with Kaz because he was offended when he said that speculating on the markets was a form of gambling, would Jan Van Eck be at Caryeva horse races?

Anyway I’ve been going on about this for way longer than I intended, hope this made some semblance of sense and thanks for reading

[mythalism]

thinking about that new varric voiceover lore video and about the evanuris and their connection to the archdemons… the fact that all of the evanuris other than ghilly and edgar are “gone” supports this i think. we also have since seen that mural in Solas’s minrathous hideout that shows a dragon being bound in chains by elves. then the mention of “ghilan’nain’s archdemon” threw me off a bit when it first came out but i think ive made sense of it.

each evanuris has their own dragon… but can also BE their own dragon. maybe they learn the dragon form by binding a dragon? thetes a codex about it being a “form reserved for the gods”, maybe it involves absorbing a high dragon soul or something? im thinking of Solas’s dread wolf form post-inquisition described as “draconic” and “winged” and “scaled” in tevinter nights, and we can pretty safely assume it became that way after he absorbed mythal’s soul/power. we also know flemythal can BE a dragon but also has a dragon bound to her will, which she gives an inquisitor who drank from the well. if morrigan drinks, she can learn the dragon form as well, but only after defeating that dragon. we don’t know the details of how she learns it, maybe it’s some combination of the well + fighting the dragon + being flemeth blood? if someone remembers that scene better than me, please lmk because i always have my inquisitor drink so i rarely see it. there’s also the line from Mythal “a soul is not forced upon the unwilling” which is maybe relevant here? this is honestly the part we know the least about.

but in terms of the evanuris and the archdemons, we know a bit more. first, we now know only ghilly and Edgar are left. the others are “gone”. gone forever? maybe not. but they’re not in the prison, so we have to assume they got out. we also know that Mythal wanted urthemiel’s soul, and it was the reason she sent Morrigan with the warden and Alistair.

we know that blights happen when the darkspawn find an “Archdemon” underground and infect it with the blight. it then leads the darkspawn to the surface. this suggests that Archdemons are normal dragons sleeping/trapped within the deep roads until they are blighted by darkspawn. we also know that the forgotten ones were trapped in the "void" by fen'harel, and that they represented the "maligned aspect of the elven pantheon", things like "disease, terror, spite and malevolence" (lucanis lovers... this might be relevant). most people have assumed for years that the forgotten ones are the archdemons.

we also know blighted creatures can body-hop into any other blighted creature nearby, making them incredibly difficult to kill. this is why only grey wardens can kill an archdemon, because the “essence is drawn into the sacrificial grey warden, killing both” (per the wiki) but im not sure if there is any elaboration on exactly why/how? maybe origins scholars will know more but the wiki is vague. the dark ritual, however, which uses blood magic somehow cures urthemiel’s soul of the taint and allows kieran to be born untainted but containing two souls. no fucking clue how that works. lmk if anyone has thoughts LMFAO

anyway back to the evanuris. we also know now thanks to veilguard marketing that the evanuris are behind the blights and have been orchestrating the blights in some way. but then the question is how have they been doing that from their prison?

so now what im wondering is if whatever apotheosis godhood process made the evanuris into the evanuris involved binding dragon souls and learning their form in the process. this explains why the evanuris can shapeshift into dragons but also seemingly have control of several dragons (we see ghilly commanding several, only one is referred to as "her archdemon"). considering the evanuris have been clearly separated from the archdemons, and assuming the archdemons are the forgotten ones, perhaps the archdemons that the evanuris bound are the forgotten ones and the evanuris absorbed both their souls and their power? we know they fought a war and than fen'harel ended it by locking them away. but i wonder if absorbing the forgotten ones power was a goal of the evanuris, and that fen'harel stopped them by locking them both away. how the forgotten ones fit in is definitely one part im stumped on.

but im thinking that the evanuris are the old gods, at least mostly, and they spoke to the magisters sidereal and bid them to enter the black city. this then released the blight into thedas, obviously, and commanded the darkspawn (one of the gameplay vids uses this language; that ghilly is "commanding" the darkspawn) to hunt down their dragons/the archdemons/the forgotten ones, whatever the fuck they are, and when the darkspawn give the archdemons the blight, it gives the evanuris the ability to body hop into them via their blight powers. then, they've effectively escaped their prison, even if they had to leave their elven bodies behind. however, clearly some sort of power/sentience gets lost in the process, because the archdemons do not use magic the way the evanuris do. but perhaps its a price they're willing to pay for freedom and revenge?

this explains why the rest of the evanuris are gone when ghilly and edgar break free, as well as why those two still have elven bodies and and an archdemon - because they did not have to shawshank redemption their souls into a blighted void dragon/forgotten one creature in order to escape. it also explains why mythal wanted the old god baby ritual done so badly, as that would be one of her children's souls who was purified within her grandson (not that it'll matter in veilguard lol) and that she was able to get back. it also explains why solas was so upset at the warden's plan in inquisition, a plan which was given to them by corypheus. considering corypheus probably met the evanuris when he breached the black city (whether he knew it or not), and presumably learned blight magic from them (body hopping) and then wanted them to find the other archdemons "in some bizarre attempt to preempt the blight". while the wardens think finding and killing the archdemons will prevent blights, solas clearly knows that it will NOT and actually says finding them "could make everything worse". this would make sense if the act of finding them is what allows the evanuris to then possess them and break free. it also could suggest that separating the forgotten ones in the void and the evanuris in the fade was an integral part of his fade-prison-veil-creation-coup scheme. he was trying to keep them apart.

what it still does not explain is what the fuck the forgotten ones are or how they play into it, because im just extrapolating. it also doesnt explain what the fuck is going on with the void, which is relevant because that is where the darkspawn originally came from.... even though we know the blight originated in the black city with the evanuris??????? whats crazy is solas could have told us all of this and yet he insisted on being a little shit and keeping his mouth shut. anyway hope u enjoyed my yapping

[anewstartrekfan]

Reading an old Star Trek book and to my surprise Jim Kirk has always had Daddy issues

So the only Star Trek book I’ve read was the one explaining how the tribbles episode was made and the aftermath, so trying to read Enterprise (1986) with some basic knowledge of trek post 2009 is fascinating. Cuz you see where the breadcrumbs of some of the characterization and even backstory come from.

In chapter 2, Sam Kirk and Kirk’s mom show up to Kirk’s ceremony where he takes command of the enterprise. They talk about George Kirk Sr. being in Starfleet, (he’s dead here too) something that I don’t think was in any of the episodes or movies. And how he was always distant and away. And they’re clearly going for some parallels/dramatic irony with the Wrath of Khan when it comes to Kirk not believing he could’ve developed a relationship with his father as an adult. And it plays into the tragic aspect I love about Kirk.

Upon reflection he’s happy that Carol rejected him (he proposed to her in chapter 1) because he doesn’t want to leave anyone behind while on the job, only returning for sparse visits the way his father did. But at the same time, Jim craves companionship. And he can’t get it in his current job because as captain, it is not ethical for him to date anyone else on the Enterprise.

Anyway the long and short is if we take this book into account, Kirk has always had daddy issues. It’s just in TOS EU it was abandonment issues whereas in 2009 it was dad sacrificed himself so high expectations issues.

The little details like the mom’s name getting carried over into the aos movies are a good touch, but then seeing George Kirk being a Starfleet officer actually get incorporated into the 2009 movie as an important plot point, and then also using his absence in Kirk’s life but just in a different way as part of Kirk’s backstory is so cool to me.

A difference though is unlike fanfic tropes, Winona is actually a good mom and wants Jim to succeed in his career where his father failed in his Starfleet career. Unfortunately though Jim appears to be falling into the same pitfalls. As in lack of communication and unwillingness to play workplace politics.

That last burn from Winona tho… like damn girl I felt that.

Another thing I want to backtrack to, Sam Kirk. Sam being the alleged chosen child, the one that was supposed to follow in George Kirk’s footsteps but didn’t, and then Jim strolled in and did even more than what Sam was supposed to do, and Sam and George never reconciled. Like dudes this book is almost 40 years old and this stuff was in strange new worlds last year. Tho xenobiology appears to have morphed into xenoanthropology (tho according to the fan wiki he’s still a biologist so idk what the deal is)

For the record Sam’s characterization isn’t remotely the same here. Likely the choice to keep him out of Starfleet all together removed any sort of resentment of Jim potential like he has in SNW. There’s still tension though, as Sam tries to force Jim to confront why he’s reacting like this to his first mission for the enterprise being an escort job for a flying horse.

Shifting gears back to Jim needing to learn how to play workplace politics. The assumed reason for Pike leaving the enterprise. While SNW is doing the whole, Pike knows he won’t fly the enterprise forever and about the disfigurement and is cool with it, I find if fascinating that he’s more, sad about it here and that he got promoted out of the way for pushing too many buttons. It would be a sad ending but I wonder if SNW would incorporate that into its eventual ending. Hell I wonder if that’s what happened to Kirk between TOS and TMP.

Anyway big picture is this book is a fascinating time capsule and it’s fun seeing just how much has stuck around over the years both in fandom and in the franchise itself. Whether or not that’s the book’s doing is questionable but still. Fun to think about.

[flickering-nightfall]

I’m pretty sure that you made a post explaining why the arm is not the umbilical but I can’t find it, so, if you did make one, can you give a link to it? Sorry if you didn’t make one, I don’t have very good memory.

I'm not entirely sure which post that is but it sounds like something I'd ramble about? I have this post talking about making a 3D umbilical and this post talking about making a 3D arm with allusions to that buuut...

If that post doesn't exist then I'll make one right now!

Here, I made a diagram of terminology I use for the puppet/arm/umbilical structure. These terms aren't necessarily canon - they're just what I use.

As for umbilicals being different from mechanical arms, it's an interpretation, I think. But there's reasons why I call them different things.

So first here's this Moon dialogue.

(I think that's vanilla dialogue? The wiki confuses me sometimes. Link here if you want to see it yourself.)

We can assume from that dialogue that the wires + cord are the "umbilical." Moon's are obviously cut, but Pebbles' are not. And Moon's puppet is still attached to her mechanical arm.

(Lots more under the cut)

Umbilicals in real life resemble the wire/cord structure far more than the mechanical arm portion does. So that's another reason I refer to the wire/cord as the umbilical.

Lemme slap some stuff from my iterator headcanons doc here.

I like interpreting the puppet as a place to focus an iterator's consciousness. It acts as a sensory hub and a means to interact more finely with their surroundings. Neurons, in turn, are active memory comparable to RAM. Moon refers to Pebbles' imprints on his neurons as "a ghost left from his processing routines." They're not meant for long-term memory storage, but upper processes such as, well... thinking... cannot be done without them. So removing neurons affects an iterator’s ability to encode, recall, and process information. (Courtesy of my friend Folly, I also think they're mostly made out of fat. Kind of gross to eat.) Although Moon's umbilical is severed, she is still able to see through and control the movements of her puppet. So either she has some sort of other connection to the rest of her can, or her consciousness comes from the puppet rather than the can. The mechanical arm’s functions would be mostly structure-to-puppet function (control movements of arm and puppet, transmit the sensory information of the puppet) while the wire/cord handles more consciousness-in-puppet-to-structure function (facilitates awareness and control over superstructure and all that encompasses). So both the cord and the arm are part of the iterator-to-puppet connection, but the cord is more important. I feel like with the wire OR the arm's internals intact, the iterator can maintain perception of the puppet. When you give Moon an overseer eye, she says, “I am not much more than what you are looking at - a little creature in a box.” This can be literal, or it can imply that her perception is just limited to what she can see through her puppet in her damaged state.

In Rivulet’s campaign, the rarefaction cell could be partial compensation for a missing umbilical. Moon can move on her arm, call up image projections, reconnect to her overseers, and broadcast locally to Pebbles after getting the rarefaction cell. She refers to it as finally having her freedom back. But we don't know how many of her systems she does or does not have access to anymore.

If you eat one of Pebbles' neurons in front of him as Rivulet he says "I would appreciate if you would not eat those. My umbilical will keep me conscious, but every neuron lost is a piece of me lost as well..." We know that Pebbles keeps his wires/cord/arm connected in Saint's campaign, though, and he remains conscious despite having no visible neurons. Does the umbilical compensate for the lack of neurons as well? Maybe there are some still alive in the structure that we can’t see, and the umbilical allows him to stay connected to them.

...honestly, I think downpour makes questions about umbilicals harder to answer than if you only base off of vanilla lore. But I like working with downpour stuff, so oh well.

One last thing - the wiki page for Moon also says this under her trivia: "Looks to the Moon is still connected to the wall by her umbilical, but the damaged hardware lacks power to let her move around." Other references to umbilicals written throughout the wiki imply the arm is the umbilical as well. But! I don't know where the writers of that got that information. I don't think there's anything in the game that confirms that the umbilical and the arm are the same. If there's anything in the game that supports that, let me know~

So to summarize: I think evidence suggests the wires + cord are the umbilical because Moon refers to hers being cut. The mechanical arm could also be a part of the umbilical, or it be considered a different part that provides function in a different way. I usually refer to them separately, but that's just me, and I mostly do it for the sake of clarity. It's not confirmed canon.

There are a lot of things about Rain World lore you can run in circles around for hours, but not find any definitive conclusions for. It's part of the fun even if it drives me nuts sometimes. Come be confused with me :)

[m-says-hi]

Hi I have more thoughts about Sampo… kinda. This is more about some weird things I found out about Mechanical Fever that might have to do with Sampo

For those of you who don’t know, Mechanical Fever is Serval’s band. Why do I think Sampo has anything to do with it? Well in his character introduction he mentions that he used to play for Serval’s band. Or more specifically, he would stand in when they were short handed. 

So yesterday, I remembered this and decided to look into Mechanical Fever, not expecting to find anything. I was wrong.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me first list the members of Mechanical Fever and then explain the weird things you find out when you speak to them about the band.

Serval: Lead singer and guitarist Pela: Drummer Lynx: Keyboarder Dunn: Old keyboarder ???: Bassist

I’m going to go from least to most interesting response

Pela I don’t think we ever actually talk about Mechanical Fever to Pela in person. If we do, I didn’t find it on the wiki. However she does message us about it, asking if we were coming to a show. Other than that she doesn’t really tell us much.

Dunn Talking to Dunn is when it first gets interesting. When we talk to him about Mechanical Fever, he mentions that he remembered there were four members: Serval, Pela, him and an unknown fourth member. 

The weirdest thing about this is of course the fact that Dunn doesn’t remember who this fourth member was. He doesn’t even remember the instrument they played and only remembered they played the bass after we suggested it.

Another strange thing is how Dunn calls the bass player a “he” before doubting their gender. When I first found this information and shared it with my friends, we assumed it was Sampo. Afterall, we know he played with Mechanical Fever sometimes. We also know he’s a Fool, so him messing with Dunn is believable. And Sampo’s gender seems to be questionable considering his adventures as Burghel.

But talking to the other band members made me doubtful…

Lynx When talking to Lynx in the outlying snow plains you can ask her if she’s a member of the band. She says yes and then goes on to talk about the other members… also bringing up our mysterious bass player. But not only that…..

She mentions Cocolia of all people.

Now our good pal Sampo was a well connected man. But Cocolia? I’m doubtful of that for some reason. Especially since he eventually became a part of Wildfire. Yet who else would just “disappear”?

I didn't think much of it at first. I was pretty convinced Sampo was the bass player at first. And Lynx even calls it a baseless rumor. But Lynx isn’t the only one who mentions Cocolia.

Serval Serval is the last member to talk about. We actually speak to her about Mechanical Fever twice. Once is during a quest Pom Pom sends us on called “Looking for a Disk”. Basically we’re looking for music for the express. One of the places we go is to Serval to ask if her band has any discs to give to us.

She tells us that unfortunately she can’t and lists out the reasons why… problems with their bass player being one of them.

The other time we talk to her about it is when we find her in her workshop. We ask her about the members of our band and we hear about the bass player and… Cocolia again.

Again, it’s said that the lack of a bassist has to do with Cocolia. In fact Cocolia is mentioned so often with this mysterious bassist that the wiki has named her as the former bassist of Mechanical Fever.

However, I disagree with this conclusion. Both times Cocolia was mentioned, she was never directly called the bassist. Only that the bassist’s disappearance has something to do with her. It feels odd to me that they would mention the two separately. If Cocolia was indeed the bass player then why don't they just say that?

Another possible explanation is that maybe they’re trying to hide the fact she was a member of Mechanical Fever. But that doesn’t make sense either. Both Cocolia and Mechanical Fever were very well known. I mean Dunn’s status on his messages says that he left the band and people should stop contacting him about it.

If people know Dunn was a member, then surely they would know Cocolia was. That also doesn’t explain why Dunn doesn’t even remember who the bass player was. I’m pretty sure he’d remember who Cocolia was. 

So… if it’s not Cocolia, then who? Sampo? But how is Cocolia involved? A friend of mine offered the explanation that maybe Sampo got himself involved in some sort of trouble involving both Serval and Cocolia. Then using Masked Fools magic, he wiped everyone’s mind. But the question remains, what trouble did he get into? And is this bass player even sampo?

[sunderingstars]

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✩ ‧₊˚ ⌞ GENDER ⌝

sampo analysis m.list

— what the stars reveal: interpretative analysis, theory, elation!sampo

— word count: under 1k

— overview: (as of 2.5) a companion piece to my sampo character story & brughel poisson analysis! an examination of the similarities between sampo’s relationship with gender and the relationship higher beings have with gender.

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Across the board, Aeons and higher beings in Honkai: Star Rail seem to have more complex relationships with gender than the average character. Beyond going by They/Them pronouns (further emphasized by THEY/THEM in recent updates), Aeons often have androgynous looks and even “multiplicity” of identity. It makes sense — beings who exist so far above mortal comprehension would obviously have a different understanding of gender (if subscribing to it at all) and be less likely to care about mortal binaries. As such, Their identities, much like every other part of Them, are multi-faceted and vast, only able to be attempted to be understood by mortal frameworks (which often don’t fully capture the identity anyways). 

Higher beings closely affiliated with Aeons also have nuanced experiences of gender, like Emanators. Emanators are sometimes referred to by the “it” pronoun set, as shown by Boothill at the beginning of 2.2’s Trailblaze Mission:

While looking through the Data Bank and Official Wiki, it also seems that Emanators can be referred to by any and all pronoun sets according to the situation — for example, the Wingperor of the Wingweavers (Abundance) is referred to by binary pronouns (he or she), the Harmonic Strings (Harmony) are referred to by they/them pronouns since they are multiple embodiments of Xipe, and the Noblesse Worm (Elation) is referred to by it/its pronouns. 

From this, we can surmise that Emanators — in a categorical sense — exist in a genderfluid state. Depending on the specific Emanator’s position and relationship with their Aeon, they can be referred to by any set of pronouns, perhaps even ones that haven’t been established in-game yet. 

It is important to note that in Boothill’s specific case, the “it” pronoun may be used as a way to dehumanize — rather than referring to the Emanator by it/its pronouns the Emanator themself chose to go by, Boothill almost seems to be projecting an “it” status onto them (i.e. assuming that because of their specific position as an Emanator, they are no longer “human” or relatable). This is an issue Emanators may run into writ large; despite existing in a multitude of different states, there is most likely dehumanization that comes from separate sources, the kind that reduces their identity to the “other” rather than understanding the nuanced existence they inhabit. 

It is also important to note that both Emanators and Aeons have a history of changing appearance. The aforementioned Harmonic Strings can take the form of any Family member regardless of gender, Tingyun was used as a vessel for Phantylia, and Aha Themself has been known to assume mortal form to toy with others. As such, any character who is able to quickly and effortlessly change appearance is a notable candidate for higher existence theories.

Which, of course, brings us to Sampo. As I detailed in my Character Story & Brughel Poisson analysis, Sampo not only has a history of genderfluidity, but of physically changing appearance with ease. Brughel Poisson seems to be an alias he uses often, to the point it’s implied he has an entire place of residence in the Overworld as her. While this could be purely for the benefit of his scams, it also shows a casual disregard for gender norms, the kind that almost seems to imply a more nuanced, complicated existence than what mortal frameworks can offer. 

I also have a theory that the reason Madam Poisson was so confident in talking about the wigs in Part IV is because the wigs don’t exist. If Sampo is able to shapeshift on his own, then there would be no need for wigs or other such amenities — his different identities would be so convincing because he literally changes his own appearance. Having such a power and doing so with ease would place him much closer to a higher being in my mind. 

However, even if we aren’t assuming he can transform on his own, his relationship with gender still seems very Aeonic in nature. Or rather — he doesn’t seem to care about it beyond what it can do for him. Again, the ease with which he embraces genderfluidity speaks to a deeper and more complicated relationship with gender, one that has been seen overwhelmingly in the cases of Aeons and Emanators. 

(Note: Sparkle has also been shown to directly shapeshift across genders as a part of the Masked Fools, however this power seems to come directly from her mask. Sampo, on the other hand, is able to manipulate his appearance (through his own power or otherwise) without his mask, giving the sense that his mask is either A. Only for decoration or B. Holding a power even more deep-rooted to the Elation than that of a common Masked Fool.)

Overall, I see lots of similarities between Sampo’s experience of gender and the experiences of higher beings. The almost uncaring nature towards gender norms, the casual fluidity of being, the ease of transformation — it’s all there. Also, as a genderfluid person myself, I just think it’s really neat!

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.𖥔 ݁ ˖ જ⁀➴ thank you for reading to the end!

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© analysis by sunderingstars. do not copy, repost, translate, modify, or claim my work as your own.

[project-sekai-facts]

Your recent update made me wonder about something. I don’t know how much you know about this but wanted to try asking anyway. Hopefully this makes sense? Why would the English translation choose to censor things? I assume translations are being done in America where queer things are slowly becoming more accepted but is that a factor? Are the translators themselves changing certain things due to their own biases? I don’t know who they are and don’t want to assume anything about them, but I can’t help wondering if that’s part of the reason? Or is it because of something like, for example, sometimes movies or TV shows have certain content removed based on where it’s being aired, so is it something like that? Is the game being released in regions where queer content is banned or removed? Now that I wrote it, I feel like this is the most likely answer but what do you think? I basically just rambled in your ask my bad. Also, do you know if the Korean and/or Taiwan servers have censorship too?

oh there's more than just the Asahi thing and i have mentioned it in passing before but i'll cover it properly here. "the miles i fell in love with is so cool" -> "it was so cool! i guess that's miles for you" is definitely the biggest example though.

First off, a minor thing. it doesn't really happen anymore but in the earlier translations they quite often use words other than partner, like "pals" and "buds", in the VBS story. Probably one of the best examples of this would be An and Kohane's 3rd kizuna title, which the JP name was often fan-translated as "Making each other better" or "Raising each other up", and is called "Two supportive pals" on EN. Which does have the same meaning but the "pals" seems so unneccesary when they could've used partners. The original text is Takameau futari, the first part means "to raise" or "to lift" and futari means "two people" or "a pair/couple". So it technically is a good enough translation but using pals when partners would be more accurate to canon just seems.. off.

I’m assuming their avoidance of the word partner is because it could easily be misinterpreted as romantic, but they seem to have moved on from that at this point.

There's also THE POWER OF UNITY where they switch out "love" (daisuki) for "cares about a lot" when KAITO is comparing the relationship between Arata and Souma to Akito and Toya. Daisuki literally means "likes a lot" so often you'll see people translate it as love, though likes a lot is still valid. "Cares about" is not a direct translation but definitely can still convey the same meaning, so again instance of valid localisation it just seems like an odd choice when using love would've conveyed the exact same meaning and been more true to the original.

Then you've got another instance of them not translating daisuki correctly in Dear Me, As I Was Back Then (sorry this one is a wiki screenshot my phone died). This is worse. Like I guess if you really want then it does have a close enough meaning to the original. Like I guess daisuki meaning "like a lot" or "love" could be localised as "you're the best" if you really wanted it too. But even then, the line before this is "I'm gonna show just how much I admire her!". Minori's shout of "I LOVE YOUUU" from the original would be way more fitting here. "You're the best" feels too casual and buddy-buddy - even if Minori didn't know Haruka at this point, Haruka still had a big impact on her life and imo "I love you" would be the best to use here.

There’s also this one from Walk on and on that removes one key thing. In the original, Toya says something more along the lines of “I was able to make this track because I want to continue to be a partner who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you from now on and always”. This is a bit more similar to the Asahi incident in that they’ve restructured the sentence to make it two, adding in the thing about performing which isn’t even there originally, and replacing “korekara saki mo zutto” with “keep singing with you”. And “keep singing with you” still works, but it’s much more toned down, let’s say. You know what really is odd about this translation though? If the quote I put seems familiar, it’s because it’s also the name of Toya’s event card. Kinda odd they omitted that from the story then, huh? The thing is the translation of the card is very accurate so removing it from the story starts to seem intentional, especially when everything around it is accurately translated like with the Asahi incident. Also doing this removes the fact that the card name references the story so what the hell are you doing EN? It's the same sentence, if you can translate it correctly on the card you can translate it correctly in the story.

There's definitely more than this, this is just what came to mind first and I don't want to make this post too long.

These were certainly... choices. Especially with the ones that avoid translating daisuki as love because they do translate as that on other occasions, most frequently with An and Kohane. I'm assuming the reason they omitted it with the guys is because it's far harder to pass off guys saying that they love each other as platonic because societal expectations or whatever, but I'm actually surprised by the change to Dear Me because normally they're pretty good with Minori and Haruka usually. Like they've translated daisuki correctly for them before and leave in everything else that indicates Minori has a crush on Haruka, so why not this line?

I'm tempted to say that they just change the things that they think are too hard to safely pass off as platonic, but then again they left all of the unsubtle ship teasing in Buddy Funny Spend Time, which has a lot of focus on Minori and Haruka's relationship (and they even added in Haruka saying that Minori makes her heart tickle in her card story), so I'm genuinely not sure why they left that in but then changed one instance of Minori saying she loves Haruka which doesn't even have to be interpreted romantically. Like what is the limit here? An can say she's going on a date (with Kohane) and the WEG regulars can ask who she's been seeing, but Asahi can say he fell in love with Tsukasa's character and it gets removed. Both of them have romantic connotation. The only thing I can think of is that An's comes from a whole card story and event, but Asahi's is one line that's easy to remove. Same with Toya saying he wants to stay with Akito forever.

In other words, it's a mess and I don't think any of what I just wrote is coherent either.

Interpret all of this however you will at the end of the day it’s all just ship tease which is up to interpretation anyway. Except the Asahi thing. That one is a censor.

Oh and the KR and TW servers don’t do this.

[heaven-s-black-box]

Notes- Sunshine Neuvillette & more x gn!reader

Return to File

Recovery date: October 11th, 2024

Description: hello again to my favourite writer! im thinking about headcanons with the boys with a s/o who's like emu in project sekai, and she's js a super energetic bundle of cheerful energy if u want a summary! for the boys uh maybe neuvillette, al haitham, xiao, kazuha, wanderer and heizou? if its too much u can take some out!

-⭐️ anon

Notes: This work was recovered in conjunction with researcher ⭐️, we thank them for their contributions. So, I had to look this character up. The first headcanon on all of them is my initial thoughts based off your request, and then everything else is based off her fandom wiki page!

Back to directory

Neuvillette

Initial thought, he’s used to Furina and her persona of Focalors so it’s not really new to him

Despite what he thinks, he’s gotten very good at human emotions

But he does write a letter to Sigewinne for how to help you, and she pulls through by suggesting he cooks for you

He wants you to rely on him like everyone can rely on you

You’re intuition on peoples sincerity is really useful

He looks at cases so critically, but you’re willing to believe the accused and sometimes you point things out that he missed

Especially now without the Oratrice, he has to be extra careful when examining everything

You’re smart, he definitely goes to you for help about humans and cases

Al Haitham

Initial thought, you must be really smart or really good at returning his snark for him to handle your energeticness on a daily basis

He’ll warn you about being too naive, just because something sounds like a great idea doesn’t mean it is

He has come to your rescue a few times, like when you went into the dessert and thought one water bottle would be enough

When he notices you bottling things up, he gifts you journal

He won’t make you talk about your feelings, in fact he prefers it this way, but he hates seeing the negativity eat away at you

No notes on your emotional intuition, though he thinks it’s a useful skill

Hey! Wiki says Emu is really smart

This is why Al Haitham can live with your energetic personality, just don’t expect him to match you

Xiao

Initial thought, baffled by how positive and energetic you are but doesn’t hate it

You have called him on multiple occasions when you’ve gotten yourself in trouble

He wishes you weren’t quite so naive, he’s saved you from hilichurls a few times because you didn’t realize they’d spot you trying to slip past

He’s really bad with feelings but, he’s there for you if you need him

To him, your negative feelings seem to eat at you the same way his karmic debt eats at him

So he tries to help

Glad you have such good emotional intuition, he’s horrible with them

No thoughts on your intellect, it doesn’t really affect anything with him

Kazuha

Initial thought, he finds it inspiring for his poems and stuff and while he doesn’t have quite as much energy as you he’s happy to meet your cheeriness

Always happy to help you with your plans and make sure they’re reasonable, you don’t usually get to the point he has to save you

Encourages you to let out your negative emotions, bottling things up isn’t good

Sometimes you write poems together, and sometimes he just listens to you

Your emotional intuition amazes him

He’s always thought he was good at reading people, but you don’t even need to see the person

Likes having intellectual conversations with you

Be it literary discussions or more stem inclined

Wanderer

Initial thought, like Al Haitham you must have something else going really strong for you because you are a beacon of attention and he actively avoids everyone

Indulges your naivety because you have to learn somehow, but he doesn’t let you get hurt

Like that time you miss judged the trek to Avidya forest

Connecting with emotions is part of his reformation, so he tries to help you

Especially if those emotions have to deal with abandonment or grief

Honestly, his response to most things being “murder” makes you laugh and he’s glad

He hates that you can see through his nonchalant act right from the get go, the words just don’t match the look in his eyes

You make writing papers easier because you raise counterarguments for him

Heizou

Initial thought, like Kazuha he finds you inspiring but on more of a personal level and has use you to distract criminals

Acts on your impulsive plans together, if you fall you fall together

Plus he can protect you in a dangerous situation

As a detective, he’s the first to notice your smile no longer reaching your eyes

So he uses interrogation techniques to get you to confess

And by that I mean he discreetly leads you into telling him what’s up, no torture required

You make interrogations so easy, he’s good at catching liars but you’re better at telling when people are hiding something

Also he’s baffled when you tell him Itto isn’t acting and really is that happy go lucky

Loves that he can match wits with you, puzzles are a fun pass-time of yours

[asaka-lucy-dr-rc]

Hello Asaka! :))

This first part isn’t really a question, and I apologize for rambling in your inbox unprompted, but I saw you talking about the Nagito Komaeda wiki and I just wanted to complain a little about it. I feel like the English Nagito wiki doesn’t actually do a good job at representing a good or universal interpretation for his character. It makes me cringe and frown a lot, I don’t like how it says “he’s a revealed to be a psychopath,” either it’s misunderstanding what the definition of a psychopath is and feels very harmful!

As for what the topic was actually about, from what I’ve heard about “English fandom versus Japanese fandom,” it seems like Japanese fandom more commonly will say make sure to say things are implied, while the English fandom will take things as fact when they are implied? I think that’s really fascinating, I don’t know Japanese though and can’t confirm if that’s actually the case it’s just what I’ve heard. Is that actually a true difference between the different fandoms or am I misunderstanding? I’d love to know what you think the main differences between Japanese and English fandoms are from your perspective!

This statement is more so rambling again and not as much of a question, but my interpretation is that I think Nagito was lying about lying when he talked about his illnesses, I think since we know his parents actually died he would have no reason to make up the illness. One of his songs written by Megumi Ogata also has themes of how his life is fleeting, I think if his illness is real his story is more compelling overall :D!

Sorry I rambled in my ask many times, but my main points are I’m asking what you think the differences between English and Japanese fandom are and I would take what the English fandom wikipedia page says with a little skepticism since it’s not the most reliable all the time!

Hi, Zen! :D I am a little relieved to see your message, because there are actually some statements in the Danganronpa fandom wiki that seem too assuming(judgemental?) to me. (Not only the page about Nagito!) The wiki has been very useful for checking the lines of each character and the differences between the Japanese and English versions, and there is information that I think is reliable, so I know it is only some of the contributors who make assuming statements, but... to be honest, there are times when I wish they would write a little more fairly and carefully.

As for the differences between English and Japanese fandom, I think your understanding is correct! For example, in terms of wiki writing, the Nagito wiki has the following statement:

In his final free-time event, Nagito claims to have Frontotemporal Dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that affects their personality and social cognition and thus may account for some of his strange behavior. He claims he was lying immediately afterward and it is unknown whether this was a lie or not. Nevertheless, it is clear that he has some type of psychological disorder.

I don't think a JP fandom wiki would have the statements like the followings: - that affects their personality and social cognition and thus may account for some of his strange behavior. - Nevertheless, it is clear that he has some type of psychological disorder. These two sound like very personal interpretations, and if I wrote something like this on a JP wiki, I think it would be deleted. While JP fandom makes it clear that things are just being implied or possible, or that someone is considering such things, I feel that EN fandom statements often end with a conclusion as to what the truth is. I wonder if this is an effect of the English language itself (the way it should be written in English), but the JP wiki usually ends with a vague conclusion when the fact is unclear!

This is a bit off topic, but some JP fandom wikis on Danganronpa characters still take care of spoilers. For example, when searching for a character's name on Google in Japanese, Pixiv's wiki is always the first result, but the Izuru Kamukura wiki does not mention that Izuru and Hajime are the same person (at least physically), even though it has a warning that "This page contains important spoilers related to the core of the story"! I feel that now that Danganronpa 3 has been aired on TV, that fact should be written already, but they still took care of that spoiler, and I was impressed by that when I looked at that wiki last year after a long time. XD By the way, there is another wiki for describing personal thoughts or opinions. It is called the 考察wiki (Roman: kousatsu wiki/ EN: thoughts or discussion wiki): https://w.atwiki.jp/dangan2nazo/

In conclusion, I think JP fans tend to be more cautious about wikis, and when they want to write their thoughts, they create other wikis to make it clear that it is just based on their observation. However, because of this, the JP fandom wiki tends to have less information than the EN fandom wiki. Even I, a Japanese fan who can find official information more easily than other language speakers, often find the English fandom wiki very useful! 😄 lol The EN fandom wiki is great in the sense that a lot of information can be found in one place, but I feel that there is a mix of unreliable information, so it would be nice if that could be improved. :)

----------------

Before I mention Nagito's illness, I would like to tell you that I did not know that the lyrics of his character songs were written by Megumi Ogata until I saw your message. WHY DID I NOT KNOW THAT!? I even listened to some of the Dangan Radio she hosts! 😂 (Well, she didn't want to talk about the fact that she wrote the lyrics, since she even changed her name as a lyricist?)

Anyway, I find it interesting and convincing why you think his illness is real! :D I wasn't sure if I should write it in the answer to the question that started this thread, and I ended up leaving it out, but just in case anyone is curious, I will write how much of his illness is true and how much is unknown:

He made the following statement at the last free time event: Original: "余命は半年から1年… でも、そう診断された直後に希望ヶ峰学園の入学が決まった…" English: "My life expectancy is between half a year to a year... But right after I was diagnosed, I was accepted into Hope's Peak Academy..."

If his life expectancy is as he said, he should have died about halfway through the Despair Arc of Danganronpa 3. Incidentally, the school trip (in the Neo World Program) of Danganronpa 2 took place more than 3.5 years after Class 77 enrolled Hope's Peak Academy, so he outlived his class by about 2.5 years.

Q. How do you know that the school trip took place 3.5 years after Class 77 enrolled? A. Because in Danganronpa THH's final trial, Junko tells Class 78 that you guys were killing each other with your friends who had been good friends for 2 years, which means that at least THH's killing game took place 3 years after Class 77 enrolled. (Since they enrolled a year before Class 78.) Komaru mentioned in Danganronpa Another Episode that she had been locked up for 1.5 years, and since that lock-up should have started around the same time that Class 77 decided to live only within the Academy, even if the school trip took place shortly after the story of DRAE, it would be 3.5 years after Class 77's enrollment. If you want to know more, here's a detailed chronology compiled by a JP fan that you might find useful (though it's in Japanese...):

Back to the main topic, there is no known reason why he lives longer than his life expectancy, and there are several theories among DR fans! The first two theories that divide the most are these:

Because the illness was a lie to begin with. (Either it was a lie made up by Nagito or the doctor misdiagnosed him.)

The illness was real, but for some reason he lived longer than his life expectancy.

Since the former ends there, we can delve deeper into the latter and come up with the following ideas:

The illness was real, but fortunately cured.

The illness is real and it's not cured, but fortunately it hasn't caused death yet. He is still struggling with an ongoing disease.

The name of the illness and the life expectancy were wrong, but that he has another ilness and it is not cured.

I think each of these would be interesting. In the first case, we could think that the Academy helped him cure his illness, or in the second and third cases, we could think that Hajime and the other Ultimates are taking care of him so that his illness does not progress to the point of death.

But honestly, I don't think it would be easy to live 2.5 years longer than his life expectancy with a fairly serious illness like the one he described, and since Despair Arc doesn't mention that he had surgery or something for treatment, I think it's a more obedient way to look at his statement as a lie. But I also think it would be more dramatic if his illness was real! XD

As for why he lied if I think he lied, I think it is very important to note that he was already prepared for death when he arrived on the island. (This was told in Nagito's ending in the island mode!) I guess he was worried about whether anyone would care even if he died, and he wanted to test that (to see how Hajime, the person he was most open with, would react to it). Some might not like the idea that Nagito lied, but in my opinion it was quite cute that he wanted to see Hajime's reaction like that. :)

Sorry that my answer has been so long! I've been thinking a lot after answering the ask, so I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about it. Thank you for asking! 💖🫶

[fr-likes-chocolate]

Hehe back with bird siblings :)

Today I talk about why Phil is separated from his siblings and what the watchers actually want from the siblings .

A disclaimer because I need to read the friggin wiki: I am new to hermitcraft, life series, and all other SMPs and series related to Martyn, Solidarity, Grian, and Pearlescentmoon. Information may be slightly inaccurate, and I welcome someone informing me about my mistakes :)

Ok!! Now let’s start with why Phil isn’t with Martyn, Grian, Pearl, and Solidary. So as I have mentioned, Phil and Martyn are twins who used to be the gods of death and life respectively. And this does lead to arguments when they were gods, it basically boiled down to this:

Martyn: Stop killing my guyssssssss

Phil: *evil laughter as he kills another*

Most arguments are harmless, they work it out in the end, after all, death is a part of life, and they are still brothers.

When they got demoted to human, their emotions got complex, and suddenly they couldn’t see eye to eye most of the time, Jimmy, Grian, and Pearl had to constantly calm the two down and reason with them.

After about 200 years, all five siblings were a little sick of each other, and soon a huge argument broke out, it ended with Phil storming off, and the other four decided that they all needed a little space, so they decided to each take a portion of what they had and leave in a different direction, leaving a fifth for Phil.

When Phil came back after cooling off, he found a deserted home, no note, only a fifth of their belongings. He was understandably upset, and he took what was there, and left a note explaining where he was going and that he had taken his portion, hoping at least one of his siblings would know where he was.

So while Grian, Pearl, Solidarity, and Martyn stayed around mortals, making friends and living happily, Phil went into total isolation in a hardcore world, preferring to commune with the lesser gods of that land, as well as connecting with Kristen, the new goddess of death.

Eventually, Martyn, Jimmy, Pearl, and Grian find each other, as each of them recived a note to a mysterious event, which would eventually be dubbed the Life Series.

When Grian won the life series, he met the Watchers, who bestowed a fraction of his previous power back to him in return for keeping his power and the Watchers a secret. Then they won their game, and Martyn and Pearl were both offered the same deal, with Scott being forcefully sworn to secrecy by the other three about their true identity.

When Phil won purgatory, he also received a fraction of his power, but the federation managed to bury it, they could barely deal with Phil without that power, they feared what he could do with it.

So why are the watchers doing this? Well, they want to grant the siblings their godhood, all they need is Solidary to win, and then all 5 will ascend to godhood again. As to why they want them to ascend? Well, no one aside from the Watchers themselves know.

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If you don’t know what I’m talking about or want to learn more, links to other posts are here and here

Edit: Lore here is subject to change