#tho I do believe they all have odd relationships with concepts of their old crowns like kallamar seeing how sickness ravashes a person

[movedtodykedvonte]

Imagine Follower Heket refusing to eat more than the bare minimum needed to survive

She is the Bishop of famine, and her nature as a bishop means for a long time she probably didn’t need food to sustain herself. She probably has really weird thoughts on the idea of eating.

I feel the opposite of this actually! Well, the part of her not liking to eat...

While the bishops tend to punish with their respective domains and things they lord over (famine, pestilence, war, chaos...) each of the bishops (sans Narinder) have an altered part of their abilities such as health, order, wisdom and especially fertility/harvest for Heket.

While Heket didn't need food she likely was offered dishes or the best of harvests as a way to pray for more fertile land, bountiful harvests and fertility (life) in general. Starvation and not eating is still a bad thing in her mind, a punishment, even the way they sacrifice to Heket (the critters stuck in the mushroom trees) is a form of feeding.

Likely as a follower, Heket would be more perturbed that she can't eat as much (like when she was being offered food or havin feasts in her honor) either due to the cult rationing food or her own throat limiting what she can eat or handle.

Of course, I still think eating would be odd for her just because I don't think she's felt full and satisfied by a meal in a long time due her god body not needing food. She'd gorge herself and feel awful cause I don't think she'd realize that's what full feels like and sorta struggle with portions cause she likes the feeling of satiated hunger but wouldn't get when to stop.

[llewey-watts]

Work in progress post:

Detective Watts Best Quotes

Concocting A Killer

Watts: “Ah, so you’re the one who botched it.” Murdoch: “Excuse me?”

Watts: “Well, that’s why I’m here, isn’t it?”

Brackenreid: “Listen, Detective Murdoch did nothing wrong. The Crown is just worried that Shanley may claim prejudice if the same detective reinvestigates the case.”

Watts: “Right, right, right. You’re just biased. The coroner’s the one who botched it. Coroners. Odd lot. Far from reliable to say the least. Not to mention the smell.”

Murdoch: “Our coroner has a flawless record. And she also happens to be my wife.”

Watts: “Good God, man. You’re married to the city coroner?”

Murdoch: “Yes.”

Watts: “Oof. Is she pretty? Ah, she’d have to be pretty. I don’t know how else you could tolerate being married to a colleague.”

“The streets of this fine city are my office.”

Crabtree: “Should I read these files?”

Watts: “Absolutely not. The less you know, the more pure you remain. From purity emerges truth. From truth emerges justice. Knowing nothing allows one to see everything.”

“Our mind is where we live our lives. The only home one needs is the human skull.”

Watts: “Oh, no. You interviewed a witness?”

Murdoch: “Oh, no. She called on me.”

Watts: “Your involvement was to cease entirely. Instead, it appears you are continuing to seek a conviction. And based on what? A visual test done 12 years ago by a neophyte coroner?”

Murdoch: “Dr. Ogden is my wife.”

Watts: “Which makes it all the more likely you’re blind to her mistakes. No, it appears this dinner was a poor idea. Good night Detective.”

Watts: “The detective was wrong.”

Ogden: “About what?”

Watts: “You’re not pretty.”

Ogden: “Excuse me?”

Watts: “Look at you. Classic, Romanesque bone structure, excellent physiognomic symmetry. You’re not pretty. You’re beautiful.”

Ogden: “Well, I suppose I’m flattered.”

Watts: “Why? It’s merely an objective assessment. But that necktie **shakes his head**.

“Honestly, Inspector, how does anyone work with this man? He is some kind of renegade to whom rules are a foreign concept.”

“Let’s suppose for a moment that Mr. Shanley is guilty of this current murder. Now, does that make him more or less likely to be guilty of the first? Are you the same man today you were yesterday? Your hair is not the same. You cut and discarded it. Same with your fingernails. Over time, our entire body falls away and is reconstituted. How, then, can you be the same? Oh, but our thinking changes with maturity, with experience. In truth, the continuity of personhood may be nothing more than a delusion. In fact, it makes me question our whole profession..."

“We need to get out of doors detective. The truth is in the air. We must **deep breath** breathe it in.”

“We both know you didn’t do it. — We have to blame someone. The function of the police is to attribute blame on behalf of the community, but the community doesn’t particularly care if we blame the right person. — Why not? Man has been using scapegoats since Leviticus. The sims were placed upon the goat, the goat was banished to the desert, but mo one cared that the goat was innocent.”

“The ignorami at Station One have done it again. I clearly told them to release the man who looks like Karl Marx. They’ve let out some fellow who’s as clean-shaven as bloody Kierkegaard.”

Hades Hath No Fury

“How could I have been so unaware? My sister was in distress, and I suspected nothing. Age is no excuse for inattention. -but, sir, you found her. Your sister’s alive.- Yes. So I’m at peace.”

“Yes. Well life is but a cruel sport for whatever maker you are forced to believe in. -Detective Watts I understand...- Would your sister forsake you for a house of women who have eschewed the world in which you live?-my sister was a nun.-“

“Truth is absolute, unyielding and eternal, Jackson. It is our one constant in a turbulent universe.”

“Your face is *pause* symmetrical, but that hat *shakes his head*”

Merlot Mysteries

Watts: “Wine is proof that God loves us and wants to see us happy.”

Murdoch: “I highly doubt that”

Watts: “Oh, you reject the words of Benjamin Franklin?”

Murdoch: “Even a clever man is capable of a bad idea. no. wine, like any alcohol, is a depressant. It hinders the mind.”

Watts: “Ah, but ‘in wine there is truth.’ -Pliny the Elder.”

Murdoch: “Writers and Philosophers are seldom the best of judges. Especially when it comes to alcohol.

Watts: “Well, no one less than Louis Pasteur called wine, ‘the most helpful and most hygienic of beverages.’ Is it that you don’t enjoy the taste?”

Murdoch: “Ah.”

“Oh. Wait right there. I’m going to show you how wrong you are.”

“‘Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, make the sage frolic, and a serious smile.’”

“In the words of Diogenes, ‘What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.’”

Murdoch: “Spectroscopic analysis.”

Watts: “Ah, yes. Not reliable in my experience. How’s it meant to help us?”

Murdoch: “By comparing the wine in question to the light profile of other varying ages, we’ll be able to discern precisely how old it is.”

Ogden: “The older the wine, presumably, the light the color, thanks to the blanching effect of sunlight.”

Watts: “Mm, but it was kept in a cellar. Depending on conditions, two bottles of the same provenance could be wildly different. There’s absolutely to way to determine —“

Murdoch: “Thank you, Detective. Please.”

Watts: “All right.”

Ogden: “Ready?”

Murdoch: “Yes.”

Ogden: “It’s 4.3.”

**Watts waiting + messing around.**

Ogden: “It’s 5.2. 8.5.”

Watts: “Well?”

Murdoch: “[Sighs] They are all different.”

Watts: “Really?”

Murdoch: “Every grape, every year, every bottle.”

Watts: “Hm, you don’t say.”

Murdoch: “It compares to an 1880 Merlot...a 1902 Tempranillo...and...several others.”

Ogden: “Well, I suppose you told us so, Detective.”

Murdoch: “All right. Call in your expert.”

Watts: “Uh, not my expert. My sommelier.”

The Talking Dead

“No one intends to get murder **scratches his beard** and yet.”

Crabtree: “Sir, are you not concerned that you yourself are marked for death?”

Watts: “Oh, I don’y like it, but the truth is death could come to any one of us any day.”

Crabtree: “Still, no need to hurry it along.”

Watts: “Well, very little of life is under our control. Very little death as well.”

Crabtree: “Watts, have you ever been to Paris?”

Watts: “Ah yes, The City of Light.”

Crabtree: “I thought that was Buffalo?”

Watts: “No, I believe Paris came up with it first. Why do you ask?”

Crabtree: “Nina’s involved with a show that’s preforming there. She wants me to go.”

Watts: “Forever?”

Crabtree: “No, no, just a short while.”

Watts: “Well, the world is only an oyster if you choose to open it.”

Crabtree: “So go to Paris today, for tomorrow I might die?”

Watts: “Precisely.”

Crabtree: “What about you? What would you do with your last day?”

Watts: “Just this. Talk to a friend.”

Crabtree: “Who? Oh me?”

Watts: “And solve a crime.This is what were looking for.”

Crabtree: “Brilliant.”

Watts: “The City of Love with a beautiful woman. You’d be a fool to say no.”

Crabtree: “Thought you said it was the City of Light.”

Watts: “Light. Love. Are they not one and the same?”

Crabtree: “I prefer to love with the lights off, sir. I fear I’m bashful.”

Crabtree à la Carte

“A shame. It looks terrific. I think I’ll go out for lunch. Anyone care to join me? —- This disappoints me. But I soldier on.”

“I’ll work with her. People are not to be defined merely by their words, thoughts, and actions.”

“KRRRKRRRKRRRSHING SHING SHING SHING SHING! a moleta.”

“[speaking Italian] RESPONDA TO ME!”

That man’s look tho.

Watts: “It may once again be safe, but I’m not sure I’ll ever regard meat with the same enthusiasm again.”

Cherry: “Perhaps you should stick to freshly butchered cuts.”

Watts: “I thought the same. Then I read up on the abattoir conditions in the stockyards.”

Cherry: “The Shelleys subscribed to a Pythagorean diet. Da Vinci too.”

Watts: “Pythagorean? You mean vegetarian?”

Cherry: “I do. ‘My body,’ said da Vinci, ‘will not be a tomb to other creatures.’”

Watts: “Yes. Yes, it’s the only way to live, isn’t it? Join me, Miss Cherry. From this day forward, we shall follow the ranks of all moral men in our strict adherence to vegetarianism.”

Cherry: “Uh, I don’t think so. What, are we cows?”

Murdoch Schmurdoch

“Are you being facetious?”

“**To Constable John Brackenreid** Let me guess, you invited a lady to accompany you on an outing and she declined. — I would counsel you to persevere. Ask again. As Lord Nelson wrote, ‘the boldest measures are the safest,’ although I suppose a woman is quite unlike a Danish Fleet. — Yes. Tread softly, Young Brackenreid. Let her know that if her inclination changes, your offer still stands.”

Game of Kings

Ogden: “I see. Well, I don’t much fancy being stared at for the next five months.”

Murdoch: “Julia...”

Ogden: “Inspector, I couldn’t help but notice that you and all of the men were staring at the us both. Is there something you’d like to ask?”

Brackenreid: “Uh, no.”

Ogden: “Constable Crabtree?”

Crabtree: “What? [Chuckles]”

Ogden: “Higgins?”

Higgins: “No, ma’am.”

Ogden: “What about you, Detective Watts? You seem like a curious fellow.”

Watts: “Well, there is one thing.”

Murdoch: “What is that?”

Watts: “When’s the baby coming?”

Crabtree: “Oh!”

Brackenreid: “Bloody hell, Watts! They wanted to keep it a secret.”

Watts: “How could they do that when everyone clearly knows what’s going on here?”

Free Falling

Watts: “One hopes this won’t put too much of a strain on their relationship.”

Crabtree: “How so?”

Watts: “In the face of great loss, emotions can be misdirected. Feelings amplified. I knew a young couple who experienced a similar issue. They never recovered.”

Watts: “The secret to dealing with gruesome remains is to replace natural instinct with logic.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Okay. How?”

Watts: “Consider an ant. Imagine you trod upon one, crushing it, and leaving it’s body mangled beyond recognition. Now, does this disturb you?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Not really.”

Watts: “Exactly. So we simply apply the transitive law. If we are not disturbed by an ant, there is no reason to be disturbed by a beetle. If not by a beetle, then not by a caterpillar. Nor a butterfly, nor a sparrow, nor a fish, nor a rabbit, not a dog...nor a human. What we have here, then, is no more disturbing than the squashed remains of an ant.”

Hart: “What’s this?”

Watts: “A reminder of the inhumanity of man, Miss Hart.”

Hart: “How poetic.”

Watts: “Constable? It seems something’s troubling you.”

Crabtree: “How so?”

Watts: “There’s an expression on your face that suggests you have a thought in your head.”

Crabtree: “Do you remember I asked you about visiting Paris?”

Watts: “No.”

Crabtree: “And then I was away for some time?”

Watts: “No.”

Crabtree: “No. Well, in any case, I did. I went to Paris with Nina.”

Watts: “Mm.”

Crabtree: “And she wants to go again, but for good.”

Watts: “So you’re considering leaving us all behind?”

Crabtree: “I don’t want to. My whole life is here. But I could imagine a life there. I don’t know. If I...If I don’t go, I lose Nina. If I do, I lose everything else that’s dear to me.”

Watts: “One loss doesn’t outweigh the other?”

Crabtree: “The enormity of either seems too great to contemplate.”

Watts: “Oof. Well...I can’t give you any advice. But I can tell you what I know. I know that we spend our whole lives holding on to what we have. We fear loss as much as death itself. But without loss, there is no change. Without change, there is no? Life.”

Crabtree: “Detective. You realize there’s nothing written on the blackboard, right?”

Watts: “Uh, yes, but it provides a frame of reference.”

Crabtree: “Ah.”

Brothers Keepers

“Of course I’m not certain. Memories are fragmentary impressions at best. The mind moves like a flock of starlings. It’s hard to pin down a thought, let alone a memory.”

“Did I have reason? Nigel Baker tortured and killed a man I...A man who was in every way my brother. Someone who deserved my protection. I had ample reason to kill Nigel Baker. But as I have already made clear, I didn’t recognize him. So did I kill him with intention? No. Am I sorry he’s dead? No, I’m not. To be honest, even if given the chance to exact my revenge, I’m not sure I’m capable of it. Obviously, my philosophy rejects that very idea. No one asks to be the way they are, not even boys like Nigel Baker.”

In reference to justice being found:

Watts: “Where is that to be found? I’ve been asking myself that. To be honest, I’m unable to think of much else.

Murdoch: “You seek justice.”

Watts: “I crave it. If I could, I would demand it. I want the man who killed my brothers to feel their pain. To feel my grief at what he did to them. But he’s dead. At the hand of his father. Did he even know why? And now the father will likely hang. Is that justice?

Brackenreid: “Of a sort, I suppose.”

Watts: “Then why don’t I feel better?”

Annabella Cinderella

Constable Brackenreid: “Do you think I’ll get a chance to meet him?”

Crabtree: “Who? The lawyer? What do you want to meet him for?”

Constable Brackenreid: “I-I followed the trial. I felt sorry for her.”

Crabtree: “John, she killed her mother with an ax.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Harriet Rawlins wasn’t her mother. Annabella was a home child.”

Crabtree: “So that makes it alright?”

Constable Brackenreid: “She was beaten and tortured. Her home sister admitted as much.”

Crabtree: “The home sister that Annabella then tried to murder?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Rosemary Rawlins was abusive as well.”

Watts: “That’s what made it such a brilliant defense. The victim was painted as a villain, the villain painted as a victim. Annabella Cinderella.”

Crabtree: “So you’re a fan of the lawyer as well?”

Constable Brackenreid: “He took her case for free.”

Watts: “Oh, nobody’s motives are purely altruistic. It’s all in the service of his political aspirations. He running for mayor, don’t you know?”

Crabtree: “Thank you very much, Detective Watts, for everything. You as well, Mr. Daniels.”

Constable Brackenreid: “And I’m terribly sorry about all of this.”

Watts: “Of course you’re sorry. It doesn’t change anything, so why waste energy in saying it?”

Constable Brackenreid: “Does Detective Murdoch know?”

Watts: “No, he doesn’t. And that’s not the question you should be asking right now.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Sorry, I...”

Watts: “Nope.”

Constable Brackenreid: “W-What is?”

Lawyer: “How do we find her?”

Watts: “Ah. On the train over, I went through the file from the Crown prosecutor. There’s one more person we should protect.”

Lawyer: “Who’s that?”

Watts: “The doctor who filed the death certificate and attended the case.”

Lawyer: “Dr. Beattie was never called to testify.”

Watts: “He provided evidence that helped convict her.”

Lawyer: “Good point. Let’s go.”

Watts: “No. You stay. **waves gun in the air** This is police business. All right.”

Constable Brackenreid: “I’m not saying she’s innocent. I just pointed out that there are other people who may have wanted to kill her mother.”

Watts: “Which, if they did, would ipso facto make her innocent.”

Crabtree: “Did she say she was innocent?”

Constable Brackenreid: “She did, yes.”

Watts: “‘Twas ever thus.”

Constable Brackenreid: **opens the door** “Oh, my God.”

Watts: “Still think she’s so innocent?”

Constable Brackenreid: “This is my fault.”

Crabtree: “It’s jot your fault, John.”

Watts: “Losing the prisoner was your fault. This is merely a consequence. One cannot be accountable for every consequence, because the consequences of every action are infinite.”

Constable Brackenreid: “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

Watts: “Your feelings are irrelevant. It’s simply the truth of it.”

Crabtree: “It does confirm our fears. The girl’s out for bloody revenge.”

[fantroll-purgatory]

Technically these trolls fled from alternia to get away from the violence, when Condy was ruling.

mostly notes about this planet !

CD: Don’t worry, I like having a lot of info to work with. *Cracks knuckles* Mostly, when you’re building a new planet, you want to ask yourself- What makes this so different from Alternia that it’s worth writing a story on a different planet instead of a different region? I think you’ve got a lot of interesting stuff to work with in that regard, but it still needs a little work.

(SA Incoming! Plant biology (with a focus in Mycology and Fungal Like Organisms) is literally my bachelor’s. Coming in for the science references.)

“Comantem- blooming in Latin. Represents a new peaceful age for the Trolls species.”

-planet is covered in plant life !!

CD: Plant life is a really vague term. You talk later about the moss and fungus(not plants but bear with me), but that’s about as specific as you get. What kind of plant life? Is it aggressive and hostile? Is it why the planet is so dangerous at night? Or do other creatures cause that? Is it plant life the trolls can EAT and thrive with, or does it represent an agricultural problem for them? Do trolls have to try to beat back the natural plant life on the planet to farm their own food to survive? (Actually, do trolls even eat plants or are they carnivorous?) (I know not all planets that exist aren’t covered in plant life but… liveable planets are. Earth is. Alternia isn’t exactly liveable and it does. Check out where Terezi and Aradia live. You don’t really have terrestrial life without terrestrial plants. Who’s making the oxygen otherwise?)

-Rainbow drinkers are seen as great soldiers for the fleet and other things. RD can live off the blood of their enemies so its good on the planet’s economy.

CD: Jades are rare and Rainbow Drinkers are RARE. Relying on the possibility that a small subset of your already uncommon population for your military is a good way to get blasted to hell immediately. A more likely approach is to rely on golds and bluebloods. Golds tend to have psionic abilities and using them for fighting forces instead of living batteries could be a major advantage. Have them act as long range fighters while the naturally strong bluebloods take the forefront. Jades can still be considered an important part of a team/good to have on a team, but they shouldn’t be central. (I will admit that weaponizing Rainbowdrinkers in a “secret monastery of elite battle ladies” way does appeal to me, though. Given that they don’t need to do AS much of the work given that they don’t need to tame lusii or anything, maybe they can retire to military service?)

- adults stay on planet.

CD: This leads to my next question- how is the planet sustaining its population? Did they steal a mother grub? Mother GRUBS, multiple? Who takes care of these mother grubs and how does the grub-raising system differ? Do they still do the cave thing or does the gov’t regulate grub care to prevent massive death and help the population thrive?

Also, re: stealing grubs and running away: How’d they slip that one under the radar? Does Condy know where they are and is she a threat or are they hiding for now? If they’re hiding, the Sky Hives might be a little riskier. Hell, if they’re KNOWN about the sky hives might be risky. Think of the motivation for this. If they want hives off the ground, then that must mean the risk on the ground is worse than the risk of getting caught. Work with that. What threat on planet is worse than getting caught by Condy? Must be pretty scary.

-there is a government. Government still believes in blood color discrimination. If a lowbloods is elected to be in said so gov, they are respected but risk assassination attempts.

CD: If the government believes in blood color discrimination, why did it leave Alternia? Highbloods certainly don’t suffer as much oppression under Condy’s rule and get more cushy positions even in the Space War than the lowbloods who get treated like cannon fodder. This is like imagining an alternate version of history where rich nobles and religious majorities fled Europe for no reason. Give us a motive. Who is in charge? Is it seadwellers still, who are on the highest end? If so, why did they leave? Or are we playing Landdweller Government. We know that landdwellers and seadwellers are at odds and their nobility has a contentious relationship, so while purples (who are seemingly decently loyal to the crown, even if chaotically) might not be as tempted to leave, blues certainly would have some motive. That can change up the scheme of the hemospectrum, creating a shape that peaks at blue and descends on either side.

Like that.

- the sun is not harmful. But at night it is more dangerous.

CD: What makes it dangerous? I kind of went into this above, but elaborate. Where’s the danger? Is it local fauna? Local flora? Something even more insidious?

- FLARP games are uncommon to play, but still exist.

-gov puts sopor slime mix into consumables. They use this to keep the violence rate in check and low.

CD: Okay, this leads to the question of what you believe sopor is made of. Is it squashed limes, because how’re they flying THAT under the radar?

- The trolls aren’t that much physically violent and their government psychologically messes with them

- lusii are much more aggressive than the ones on Alternia. This resorted to Com trolls to using troll caretakers. Caretakers are often seen as bodyguards than just parents.

CD: What makes the lusii more aggressive? Is there something about the planet that makes them behave that way? This also raises the question of why they would even keep breeding them in that case? Why would they want these aggressive useless animals around? Have they transitioned lusii to a food source? Why don’t they just try to rely on local fauna instead? Are the high ranking officials just being old fashioned and clinging to traditionalism despite it being futile? Or is it an idea you can scrap because it has no actual useful basis?

You also need to think about the implications of trolls who have never had parents before trying to take on a caretaking role. What does this mean for the new generations of trolls? How might their behavior differ? (Lusii are also just aggressive in general. In Friendsim, there’s an entire “battling a lusus” sequence in one of the routes. They’re not like “fun peaceful animal friends”.)

-lusii have naturally growing plants and patches of moss on them. Cordyceps fungus usually affects the lusii and rarely trolls.

(But why tho.) (No. “Aesthetic” is not a reasoning. Nor is “it’s my entire world concept!” Those don’t explain this. Like… how? Why? You make a comment about trolls also getting plant patches? (also nitpick- Moss are plants, they just aren’t vascular plants. They’re not fungus) Why? What has altered troll-lusus biology SO HEAVILY that they are gestalt organisms now? That’s not a thing that just happens.) (I don’t want to be that guy, but: do you know what Cordyceps does? I literally have a degree in this subject so I most assuredly do.)

(Given what we know about troll biology -that they’re insectoid- Cordyceps species would be much more likely to affect them and not the lusii, and would be a bane to wrigglers, who would be the primary hosts of O. sinensis. Even species that are still technically within Cordyceps (like Beauveria) affect insects almost exclusively. O. sinensis killed caterpillars are even eaten as folk medicine!)

(There’s a 99% chance you’re referring to O. unilateralis, the “zombie ant” fungus. Which, as I’ve stated before, would affect your trolls LONG before it would turn Lusii into zombies. O. unilateralis would cause your wrigglers to wander into high humidity environments at a specific height, lock themselves down, and then be mummified as the fungus works its way through their bodies, and then explode into a cloud of spores that could affect other wrigglers. Given how the troll life cycle works (and the fact that you have centralized government and caretaking) this would likely never affect older trolls, and Cordyceps species don’t affect non-insects, and would struggle to burst through in larger bodies, hence why it’s evolved to parasitize ants and not like, monkeys.) (Another point is that even in Ants, the ants can tell when something’s parasitized and will literally move infected members of the community away so they don’t wreck the colony. A thing that your trolls would be able to do with medicine.)

-sky hives !! the government is always focused on moving forward so they have advanced tech powered by plants.

CD: Again like I said, consider the ramifications of Sky Hives more closely. If they’re floating up in space, they’re more likely to be noticed. What’s down there that makes being noticed the preferred option?

-mutants stay underground or in the sky most of the time.

CD: Why is there still mutant oppression? If this is a planet that ran explicitly to flee Condy’s oppression, some more weight might be given to the lives of the mutant folks. Especially because the government doesn’t want to cull them if they wanna keep their numbers up and their people invigorated. Maybe instead of them having to hide, mutants could be the ones the highbloods elevate as political symbols? It can create a unique new sort of oppressive environment for them that isn’t exactly the same as on Alternia.

- conmantemrians have glowing neon teeth in the dark, and their bones are the same as well as their eyes! (but the glow in their eyes are faint.) (Can be any color, depending on the blood caste!) Mostly due to them having adapted to the planet’s environment.

CD: How long have they been on this planet? Because if it hasn’t been a looong time, they probably haven’t biologically adapted this much. And if the planet is dangerous at night, what is the benefit to glowing? Wouldn’t that make them stand out more and be more likely to be hurt? Does the threat hate light and avoid it at all costs or something? If so, why?

-occasionally some trolls have small patches of glowing moss with either fungi or flowers. Usually the lower and mid castes get these. The high castes (Purple to Fuchsia) get stinging anemones (which feel like pinches, used for defense against wild lusii)

CD: My question here is Why. The aesthetic of this is cool and all, but think functionally. How does this happen? Where does it come from? Trolls are bugs, not beds of soil. How will they grow plants on them?

-there are barely any actual teals on the planet. Instead, there’s jade-leaning or olive-leaning. The government believes the teals would attempt to overthrow and take control.

CD: Teals are known for being relatively law-abiding folk thanks to their association with the legislacerators, so you need to establish where this idea would come from. During the original foundation did a group of crown-loyal teals attempt to rat them out? Is that still a story that gets told aroud the planet, causing teals to be associated with betrayal? Also: blood color isn’t a spectrum quite like that in the homestuck canon. Are you doing an AU where the blood colors can blend like that? If you’re trying to use canon hemospectrum rules, there are only 12 colors. There can’t be “jade-leaning” or “olive-leaning” anything. (Also, Mothergrubs don’t choose what color blood trolls have. If so, we’d never had mutantbloods. We don’t really know exactly how troll blood color is passed on, but it’d be strange to assume that this planet just doesn’t have the ability to make tealbloods. If it was 1-to-1 trolls, we’d never get any Fuschias ever, given that Condy geeks them all when they come of age, and a new one doesn’t like… immediately replace them, else there’d be overlap.)

-olives are the face of society. They’re somewhat favourable to the government. They’re treated nicely, given clothes that resembles the Greek gods, and such. They’re usually considered snooty to the other midbloods and lowbloods.

CD: You should probably take more inspo from Old Alternians than Greek Gods. Trolls aren’t going to know what Greek Gods are, after all. And I once again have gotta ask, why olives? What gets them revered? Give a backstory for why besides randomly saying it. Were olives goodluck charms for the original establishing trolls? Is it a Folk Belief that if you don’t revere your olives your shit will get fucked? If not, then it’s probably better to just transition this entirely over to the Objectifying Worship Of Mutant Folks.

-They have caste appreciation holidays but Olive and a couple others are the only ones that are actually celebrated by society

-Olive/Jade-leaning peeps are not well liked but are redeemed bc both olive and jade have good purposes in society

CD: What are the olive’s purposes? You call them revered, but you don’t say what they actually do? Given the history of the olive legacy w/ the Disciple, you cooould probably make them religious figures?

-Fucking freaky weather yo (except it’s good for the plants so w/e) (What does this mean though. Good for what plants? Plants aren’t a monolith. Is it a jungle planet? A grassland planet? A planet of entirely cacti?)

CD: Weather Starts in the sky, usually, so how does this impact the sky hives?

Pro/anti-plant people for the plants on the trolls (arguments on whether growth should be allowed bc not everyone gets them) (I discuss earlier how this concept makes little to no sense, but having political debates about them checks out, given that it’s like… very bizarre and strange for trolls.)

-Secret sopor farms! Sopor factories! Lots of purple-blood overseers

-Sky hives = blood rain on the rare occasion someone dies

-Government made FLARP manuals to show peeps the ‘right’ way to do it and keep them from getting violent in their games

CD: I’m combining the Blood Rain and the Nonviolent FLARP thing because I have an idea. Now… FLARP stands for Fatal Live Action Roleplay. There is NO way to avoid being violent in FLARP. FLARP is, inherently, totally, and completely, a violent game. So if the gov’t wanted to regulate it, what if they did Gladiatorial FLARP instead. Arena Combat Hours. This can make the blood rain more of an EVENT. They blood of the slain players is rained down Intentionally.

A summary; Comantem: a planet filled with lots of plant life and a government that drugs their citizens so they cannot rebel but is generally a peaceful planet compared to Alternia.

Hope this is good enough? This is a new concept that I made like a day ago so yup

CD: It’s definitely a real interesting concept! You’ve got some work to do filling things out and making the world feel living and breathing, but you’re on your way! Thank you for sharing and I hope these comments have been helpful.

[theplagueofstars]

Inconsistency of motivations and it’s effect on plot

Warning: Major spoilers for Comrades under the cut. If you have not reached the end and do not want to be spoiled do not read.

With the addition of Comrades into the FFXV franchise we are delivered some additional lore and happenings with our characters and the side characters. This is great and not inherently a bad thing. We get to read about what happened to Talcott and a few of the others in the interim years. At the same time, however, I can not dismiss the haphazard and often lazy story telling devices that make a DLC like Comrades possible.

Allow me to put this out there: it is retconning. A lot of what happens to our glaives and Astral motivations in particular is retconning. Retconning by itself is not an inherently bad literally device if only an overused one in media. The most common reasons for retconning are [s]:

To accommodate desired aspects of sequels or derivative works which would otherwise be ruled out;

To correct and overcome errors or problems identified in the prior work since its publication;

To change how the prior work should be interpreted;

To match reality, when assumptions or projections of the future are later proven wrong.

Now for the purposes of what I am seeing and gleaning from Comrades in regard to your glaive and the Astrals falls under number 1 with a healthy sprinkling of 3. Again that is the frame of this post and nothing further.  

( Sidebar conversation: The reason many of us are attached to Comrades is the ability to create an avatar and have the feeling of effecting the world in some capacity. The avatar since we created we have more attachment towards because this is something we put thought into. It is human nature. Nothing wrong with it. )

We are introduced to our storyline with the following:

‘Your body is a vessel for the blessings of the stones of Lucis... but let it be known your transgressions have not been forgotten... only then shall you be set free from the burdens you bear.’

All right without delving into the lore hidden from us in the menu screen that expands as we progress we are led to believe that the Glaives despite lacking a pact with a living king have their powers back. It’s a stretch. Let us consider in Kingsglaive where Nyx and the others lose their powers upon the death of Regis whom they borrowed their power from. Regis dies. The glaives lose their power. Nyx had to plead to the kings of yore for a temporary leave of their power with a price to pay. The price being his life to ensure the future survives.

Yet, somehow the glaives have their powers back again without being connected to a living king to drain from. The explanation comes to us later that the glaives were granted this power by the graces of what Lunafreya did for Noctis during the battle with Leviathan.

So awakening the power of kings in Noctis somehow through an act of god gives these powers back to men and women whom were severed from them during Regis’ death. If the opening is led to be believed the ones whom were traitors to Lucis receive these powers. We are told nothing of the ones whom remained loyal ( if surviving ) were given the same ‘blessing’. Did their powers too return? Or are we only gifting them to the ones who were traitors to repent for their ‘sin’? Logically, we already see the first falling apart in answering this question. We shall reward the traitors, but curse the loyalists.

This is a sentiment that is later repeated in Bahamut’s entry ( further down the post ) and given that the main protagonist turns out to be a traitor too then we are giving a blessing as a curse to traitors. Man if I have to commit a sin to get awesome powers because some vague absolution of said sin, sign me the fuck up. 

Furthermore, if Luna could just enable the power of kings why do we need the ring aside from a conduit for the Crystal to dump its power into? Why do we need to collect the glaives of the old rulers when she can just ‘unlock’ the power? Why would Nyx need to sacrifice himself just to gain their power for one evening? Why would Ravus need to lose his arm for even trying on the ring?

See in Kingsglaive, there is a price for such power. It drains the king. If you want to obtain it without the king then you have a price to pay. Nyx paid with his life. But now the Kings of Yore are handing out their powers like candy at Halloween? I highly doubt Luna was begging them for assistance for anything other than PLEASE HELP NOCTIS WIN THIS FIGHT!

These kings also talk to the glaives. Yet, none of them talk to Noctis? Tell him of what is to come? They have spoken to Regis, but never Noctis. Though I am certain this was a device to keep us the players in the dark on the story there is a way of telling the player something the character knows but you don’t. Again this game is trivializing Noctis and further designating him as a lamb for slaughter. We, the Kings of Yore, can speak to some random glaives, but not the Chosen? Yeah I call bullshit.

And if I want to take this from another aspect: the power drains the king as seen with Regis... we are draining the Kings of Yore which Noctis needs to end the endless night ( more like endless twilight up until the last scene of Comrades tho ). Either way we have to completely disregard established canon in Kingsglaive to take Comrades additions as canon or disregard aspects of Comrades and take Kingsglaive as canon. You can not have both without the inconsistencies.

Astral Motivation

Otherwise known as the fickle, ever changing and wtfery.  The Astrals have always had poor lore in FFXV. Comrades further muddies the waters on Astrals and to a greater extend the prophecy. So what is the motivation for the gods you ask? Well to judge you of course for your sins! To designate your glaive, the traitor, as a Guardian of Angelgard! To bring back the light to Angelgard so Noctis can wake! So Noctis has been sleeping for 10 years not because of the Crystal needing to unleash its power onto the ring and by extension Noctis, but because we were waiting for random glaive to come and wake him?

Please point out anywhere in the prophecy this is mentioned. If anyone should be designated as Noctis’ guardians it should be the three following him around. But nah Bahamut is gonna just choose among some traitors to prove themselves for the honor. Not only that he is going to bestow his blessing and grace. Know what this flies in the face of?

The fact the Oracles and Kings are the only ones who can form such bonds with the gods. In a game where lore is so scant any small tidbit has to be taken into consideration. This is just another inconsistency in the story.

To further this odd motivation of Bahamut please take into account once again the language disparities. Here is the Spanish language version screenshot where it states your glaive is granted immortality and Bahamut’s blessing in battle. 

‘This divine holds a tight relationship with the Caelum House— the Glaives have an emblem with the figure that represents him. For the gods' benevolence he didn't have a death-like slumber, but came back to give a chance of expiation to the Glaives who confronted the very crown which they were meant to serve and which they've got their powers from. It was expected of the Glaives to be capable of protecting their own until the incoming King awakened, to earn enough power to give everything for the royal house, thus cleanse their traitor image. And it was those who showed the required qualities to become guardians of Lucis received from Bahamut an immortal body and his eternal blessing on battle.’ — ( translation provided by @umbraticum )

So the glaives are immortal now. But another thing to note here absolving your glaive of sin returns the light to Angelgard.

Look at that beautiful sunlight. I guess we didn’t need the Chosen King after all. We kick Bahamut’s ass enough to absolve us of our sins and the sun will return! Quick everyone in Eos get over here to kick Bahamut’s ass.

Back to the point of retconning this lessens the impact of Noctis’ sacrifice and draws further question if this whole elaborate thing was needed at all. We just need to absolve mankind of theirs sins to return the light after all.

Also flies in the face of a certain document we find in Lestallum that the Scourge is caused by a parasitic organism drinking the light. But nah. Just gotta absolve mankind of its sin.

I know this was addition to make our OC glaives appear to have a real impact on the story, but really this inclusion cheapens the sacrifices of Nyx, Luna, and Noctis if all we needed to do was this.

Also how can the gods not guard Angelgard themselves? They were already doing so before you arrived. Are they really just that lazy and hands off? Which they have been nearly the entire game, so now out of the blue Bahamut needs a bunch of traitors to become his champions?  The gods have been if anything thus far but cold and calculating on the execution of the prophecy. So once again I ask, where was any of this detailed?

The Final Scene

You know what was great about scene of Noctis waking up on the island? The desolation. The hopelessness. The lack of life. The feeling we need to do something as players as Noctis to restore the world because this isn’t acceptable. By the inclusion of the glaive team and Gentiana at the boat we are greatly lessening that impact and in turn giving a very different vibe. It takes away from the desolation we are supposed to feel.

These are questions the Comrades DLC poses and to me negates some of the sacrifices these other characters made to be able to fit in MP with a storyline. And let me real here: This storyline sounds shoehorned in because it is. The concept of the multiplayer DLC was not in the original plans for the game during autumn of 2016 [s] .

As a whole Comrades lore regarding the glaives and the gods is murky, inconsistent, and often flies in the face of canon. As such I wish to consider Comrades at best a nice AU in an attempt to include us the players into the game and feel like we have an impact and at worst a money grab by Square to ride on that sweet, sweet MP hype.

In closing this is a fine example of....

A Systematic Issue in the Gaming Industry

Let’s be real FF as a whole have always suffered from a suspension of disbelief to make the stories work. There have always been logical fallacies and inconsistencies within their works. However, ( aside from the complication of FFVII ), have not broken a fundamental storyline aspect in the game. Comrades does exactly this. It was created after the fact for Square Enix to cash in on both the hype of FFXV and the shoving multiplayer in games fad ( see Deus Ex ) sweeping the game industry as a whole, they went and retconned their story with little regard to the original tale.

This brings up an even more disconcerting trend. The fact I, as a fan and consumer, have to purchase add-on DLC that effects the main storyline so completely is frankly a bunch of horseshit. It is a precedent in the gaming industry that is predatory and an obvious money grab. In the case of Comrades a cash grab for the hype of Multiplayer. DLC should not fundamentally alter the storyline. I should not need to purchase paid DLC to understand the entirety of a story a game or any media is trying to tell.

Now I await the day one of the updates adds micro-transactions to deal with the Comrade’s grinding problem. 8) I hope I’m wrong on that. If you enjoy Comrades and playing the game go ahead that is your right. Enjoy the fuck out of it. I only mean to draw attention to the issues that this DLC adds to the game and how Square Enix is falling into that AAA game predatory customer mindset.