#thorne core btw | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

amxthystiine · 8 months ago

Text

You fuckin asked for it op

Warning for Library of Ruina, all Cantos up to & including Canto Vi & Distortion Detective spoilers btw

Here’s my theory I am constantly thinking about that probably will not happen but it’d be funny as fuck if it did, and this has been stewing in my brain for a WHILE now every since I saw Greg’s labeling.

So-

I think that Greg is gonna compromise us in a huge way somehow in the future, whether it be a full blown betrayal or even against his will.

I have multiple ideas for this theory to possibly play out but let’s start with WHY I think Greg will be this significant in the first place-

So far, he’s the only sinner so far who has failed to obtain their bough, and Canto VI’s second golden bough Nelly stole back COULD be Greg’s, and if so, implies that this golden bough will be somehow important later, as yknow Chekov’s Gun and all that

While there are multiple explanations not linking to this theory for this, I find it quite interesting that Hermann’s the leader of the main villains so far, considering she’s Gregor’s counterpart

WE STILL HAVE NOT SEEN HIM GO BUG MODE YET, DESPITE EVEN HIS MAIN DESCRIPTION HINTING AT SUCH (though I will say it’s strange how “cockroach” is redacted - perhaps there’s more to his metamorphosis 🥁) HE DIDNT EVEN DO SO IN HIS TURN THROUGH THE WRINGER, SO (haha Chekov’s Gun again) PROJECT MOON MUST BE SAVING IT FOR AN IMPORTANT MOMENT

This is also how I believe Greg compromising us may be against his own will, as maybe he encounters a strong enough “emotional change” or “change in environment” for the full transformation to kick in, or Hermann somehow forces him into it

This brings me onto:

4) HERMANN SAYING THAT “THE ARM ISNT ALL THERE IS TO IT”,,,, THEYRE PURPOSEFULLY POINTING OUT/HINTING TOWARDS A GREG BUG MODE MOMENT

I THINK this line kinda confirms my third conclusion.

And finally-

Gregor so far is the one of the few main characters in general alongside Dante to have been associated with the Library & Lobcorp, and has been connected to them far before Dante via his base ego illustration.

Furthermore, Yuri was deeply connected to Greg, as in they got quite friendly quite quickly and she appeared within his Canto exclusively, which is interesting considering she was a LOB CORP clerk.

Additionally, Greg’s base ego’s illustration has him wearing the G Corp uniform alongside some of the badges of the Library’s floor logos, which, if I’m interpreting this correctly, makes NO sense chronistically considering the fact that the old G Corp was part of the Smoke War and collapsed soon after the war due to losing it, which was part of Benjamin and Ayin’s plan to make Lob Corp into a wing, which then lead to the events of Lob Corp & THEN came the creation of the Library, meaning Greg CAN’T have had those badges during the G Corp War, as the Library didn’t exist yet. Of course, this can be explained away by the core of Metamorphosis as a book & some intentional choices relating to Greg, linking him to Judaism & thus being non canon in a weird way as a funny library for those who have stuck with the PM storyline for a while, but considering how even DANTE’S NOTES and THREADSPINNING AND UPTYING AND LVL UPS ARE CANON, I heavily doubt this. I’ll come back to this later.

I personally believe Limbus Company will end/lead to us going to the Library at some point, as we have been to the Outskirts before & are hunting down Distortions, so what better place to go to but the SOURCE of all of them?

Why I think Greg will compromise/betray us is due to a few reasons -

1) Greg is SINNER NUMBER 13 for FUCKS SAKE it’s a LOW HANGING FRUIT but yknow JUDAS!!!!! AND his heavy APPLE imagery yknow THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE AND SYMBOL OF SIN (?) (despite it also possibly only being there due to links to symbolism in Metamorphosis)

However I do remember reading up on how apparently Garden of Thorns Greg’s cross on his back is that of St Andrew’s, the first disciple of Jesus.

WHO IS THE FIRST PERSON DANTE INTERACTS WITH? GREG,

So if this theoretically makes Dante Jesus, (oh god this has immensely interesting and horrible implications for future events such as the mass death one) Greg being Sinner #13 is EVEN MORE concerning cause Judas betraying Jesus and all that

There is also the fact that in Judaism 13 is a lucky number while to others 13 isn’t, and this duality/stuck in the middle type meaning fits Greg quite well, but we can have 2 meanings here for a choice sooo,,

2) as mentioned before, Hermann’s hinting may imply she may be able to possibly trigger it and how he still hasn’t gone bug mode despite explicitly mentioning this, and Canto I proves that sometimes Greg isn’t able to control himself.

3) I do think theres a damn reason why Greg was so respected, and while Limbus Company contract debuffs are probably in place, I do believe he could wreak absolute havoc if Canto I and G Corp Greg (not kit wise kekw) are anything to go by, and that things will get FAR worse if he goes full bug mode, alongside some of Choi Han’s corrosion voice lines as Greg just being absolutely unhinged (:fear:, but MAN I’m here for it)

4) If we’re going for the betrayal aspect, I have this unhinged sub theory that somehow Greg knows Iori -

- Greg could theoretically fit in with her goons in the prologue if we’re going by animal theming

- All sinners have a corresponding association that they could be linked to (Ryoshu & her familiarity with the Shi and Ishmael & Eight Association) and share a nationality with, except Gregor.

UNLESS you consider the cut ending cutscene of LoR canon where Iori MAY have started a whole new association, being our theoretical 13th association that the goons from the prologue could’ve belonged to, as per possibly evidenced by their purple scale (?) ribbons they all wore with a buckle that resembled the white part of The Purple Tear’s logo.

Furthermore, I do think that Iori will be important as one of the many, blurred and shrunken Fixer badges Don has is a rather prominent one of Iori of all fixers - maybe a fun Easter egg, maybe a way of foreshadowing her coming relevance to the plot if we keep the former in mind.

This would then make Gregor’s corresponding association that of the 13th, which would be Iori’s,,, interesting.

- This would also explain Greg’s badges within his ego because WOOOOOO TIME FUCKERY‼️‼️‼️

- And I personally think that character/personality wise, while Heathcliff is 100% getting the Roland Identity that Gregor resembles him more, being a burnt out, disillusioned and gloomy ex smoke war veteran who hates himself that puts on a mask of casual charisma and is cringefail as fuck sometimes, seeming to be the normal guy who gets a few pints every now and then down the street, despite their deeply traumatic backstories. (I could ramble about how Greg and Roland possibly feel inexplicably savant syndrome autistic coded to me but hey that’s just me projecting onto characters I resonate with again oops)

AND WHAT DID ROLAND FUCK ASS DO

BETRAY THE MAIN CAST AFTER A LONG ASS TIME OF WEARING HIS MASK DUE TO HIS MAIN TRAUMA’S SCARS UPON HIM

AND KNEW/WAS TRAINED BY IORI

Also idk Gregor smoking is interesting/ironic to me considering most of his trauma could be pinned on the SMOKE war and this could also be linked to Roland’s clear constant Smoke imagery (especially in The Black Silence reception) but yknow this could also be coincidental

I may add more to this post as I remember but this all fuck ass started because I saw him listed as Sinner #13 (WHICH COULD’VE BEEN EASILY AVOIDED, though there are other possible explanations for why it was chosen for him) and have IMMENSE brainrot for the funny bug man. He gets me in an inexplicable way (it’s the burnt out autism vibes)

hi hi! so me and my friend sloth (over at @slothpower-central) have been working on a collab video idea, except we need one thing...

theories! (and other such things)

project moon fans, i am asking you very kindly for your theories and such! parallels between characters, speculation on characters, world notes, things you've noticed, impactful moments you feel could be highlighted, anything really!

( however, we would prefer if ship-related theories were not included. this is simply to avoid possible discourse. ) ( we are focusing on limbus company more for the video, but all project moon games/media are open! )

if you have a post relating to it somewhere, please feel free to link it! (that way if we do include it, we can give proper credit somewhere!) or if you want to ramble in the reblogs there, feel absolutely free to!

( in the end, what we want for theories is a good bit of evidence behind them to show off! be sure to show why you believe those theories and such! for facts and tidbits, do prefer lesser known info! i.e, fact that probably aren't noticable at a first or second glance. )

[ note: this post was made after canto 6, and may be revised or remade in the case that new cantos release before we get this done. lol. ]

21 notes · View notes

kiame-sama · 2 years ago

Note

Yandere Chase Young who decides that for some reason you're his mate? Btw, I love your work.

Mixed Signals- Yandere!Chase Young x Reader

Warnings; Display dance, reference taken from several different species, yandere behavior, exophilia, noncombatant reader, drake instincts are strong, yandere chase young, adult themes, NSFW, noncon, mating, breeding kink, female bodied reader,

When you had gone for a walk in a more wooded park, you had not been expecting the dilemma you now had to face.

Standing ahead of you, between you and freedom, was an impossible creature that terrified you to your very core. The razor sharp teeth lining the beast's muzzle and the wicked claws the beast flashed made your heart race in complete and utter horror. You had no way out, stuck with thick thorn bushes all around other than the way you had come and the exit that was blocked by the reptilian monster that now stared silently at you.

In truth, the beast was a walking nightmare that stood at about 4ft tall on all fours and more than doubled in height when standing on hind legs. As it alternated between the two forms of locomotion, you realized that no matter how the beast chose to pursue you, it would be faster and stronger than you. Rows of razor sharp teeth lined the elongated maw of the beast and black stripes broke up the deep green hide.

The odd red coloration on various parts of the beast seemed to flush an even deeper crimson, splines extended and teeth bared. Amber colored eyes watched you closely almost like it was judging your reactions as the beast stared in silent observation. Each movement was smooth and seemed rather natural to the beast that stared at you, where you watched the beast with uncertain eyes and unsteady legs.

A surprising snap of teeth made you jump slightly as the desire to run filled you, the only things stopping you being that beast and the daunting woods behind you. If you ran back, you would very easily get lost among the towering trees, unable to find your way back. Beyond the beast was home, and no doubt the creature would never let you pass.

The monster snapped it's jaws again as if demanding your attention, noticing the slow way the giant lizard bobbed its head up and down at you. Now the red color along the splines was burning crimson, that color quickly traveling down the throat of the beast as it softly made a chuffing sound. It almost seemed like the monster was trying to coax you to do something, though what that thing was, you didn't know.

The fold of skin between the jaw and neck flared out, expanding and flushing with deep red as the reptile chuffed. In some ways it reminded you of how male birds would puff themselves up to look good for prospective mates. You hadn't seen another one of these lizards, but it was always possible that the beast was posturing for another who you had not noticed yet.

After a moment of chuffing, the beast hissed loudly, making you cry out in fear and stumble back, tripping backwards over a tree root and onto your ass. Before you could scramble to your feet, the creature leaped on top of you, thick forelegs pressed razor claws into the dirt on either side of your head. You were left completely pinned beneath the hulking brute, seeing those amber eyes closely examine your body.

The creature lowered that muzzle full of razor sharp teeth down to your neck, gently prodding at your flesh as it snorted hot air onto your skin. Even with how badly you wanted to run, there was nothing you could do to squirm away from the beast, whimpering as it clacked those fangs together. Your whimper made the beast freeze, and sharply raise up to look at your expression, the creature's cheek pressed against your nose due to how closely the beast stared at you.

A slow secondary eyelid slid across the gleaming amber eyes, the gleaming flecks of gold seemed to sparkle. The smooth scales across the beast reminded you of the slender scales of a snake despite the crocodilian figure. Slow breaths fanned over your skin, almost like the beast was taking deep inhalations of your scent.

Again you heard that low chuff, the sound accompanied with a deep vibrating from within the beast, much like the low rumble of a cat purring. As that maw opened again and glinted white teeth in the light, you felt yourself becoming lightheaded, spinning away from consciousness.

~~~~~~~~

The frightening beast examined the now unconscious figure beneath it, keenly aware of what was typically a sign of submission. A deep chuff rumbled from the chest of the drake, purring so affectionately at the soft female that carried such an alluring scent. Each slow snort gave him more of that attractive scent and his reptilian brain was thrilling in joy.

It wasn't often that he found someone he truly adored the scent of. Usually most people had the scent of prey, not the scent of a mate, yet here this woman was. Some part of his brain that hadn't yet been taken over by the beast realized that falling unconscious was a fear response and the woman was terrified, not being submissive. However, the beast mind was stronger and it couldn't help but salivate in anticipation at the prospect of having found a suitable mate.

~~~~~~~~

There was an intense warmth above you, like someone laying their body across your own and trying to press as close to you as possible.

As you slowly returned to consciousness several things occurred to you. The first was the way you lay on your front, hips propped up on what felt like a pillow. The second was that a rather hot rod was sliding in and out of you at a brisk pace. Along with your second realization, you let out a startled and strangled cry that came out more as a whining moan.

Where you expected soreness or some other pain to come crashing down on you due to the unwelcome actions, only a burning pleasure registered to your mind. The sensation of movement in your violated hole paired uniquely well with the warmth of the beast that lay across your back. Each thrust seemed to send more pleasure into you and you could feel your walls restricting around the large length.

A deep growl rumbled out in response to your body clenching down on the hot length, the thrusting only becoming more wild and frantic. The beast was growling- or perhaps it was purring- as it panted moist warmth onto the back of your neck, long slimy tongue laving over your exposed neck and shoulders. You tried to get your bearings but it was difficult to do when you didn't know where you were and had a giant lizard pummeling your insides.

For a moment, the beast stopped thrusting, adjusting the way it lay over you to rest its chin on your shoulder. The large muzzle of the creature left visible fangs and shot fear down your spine as you realized just how close those fangs were to your face. Somewhere your mind begged you to struggle, but you didn't want to anger the creature that seemed to want to mate you instead of eating you.

As it began thrusting again, that pressure returned with a vengeance inside of you, building and climbing higher with each movement. You were panting and letting out loud whines, gasping for each breath as it was forced back out of you.

When you finally reached that climax that the monster had been pushing you towards, you let out a hoarse moan that only spurred the beast on. Your body twitching and writhing with every following thrust as tears collected in your eyes from the continued stimulation. The beast let out a frightening hiss much like the percussive rumble of an alligator as it stiffened above you.

Heat splashed into your abused channel, spurting with surprising force inside of you as it filled you up. Even when you felt as if you couldn't possibly become any more stuffed, more poured into you and distended your soft stomach. You felt the way the beast softened inside of you, your head falling limp to the bed with an exhausted sigh.

The beast wasn't done yet, though. As you struggled to get your breathing under control, the creature stiffened and began slowly rocking its hips again. You had little energy in you to try and fight or stop the creature as you lay limply beneath it.

~~~~~~~~

Returning to consciousness was difficult when all you wanted was more rest, but your body was crying out for hydration of some kind. Your throat felt dry and stuck together, compelling you to wake and search for a drink. The first thing you saw was a table next to the bed you lay on. It had a cup of what seemed to be water, so you quickly drank it down, grateful for the soothing feeling on your raw throat.

"I see you're finally awake."

A deep and smooth voice startled you, making you jolt and pull the blankets closer to you in an instinctual desire to cover yourself. Standing in what looked like a doorway was a man with deep ebony hair that shined the faintest green in the light. He was lean and muscled which added to his intimidating presence. The thing that made you pause was the color of the man's eyes, a shining bright amber that overtook where the whites of his eyes were supposed to be.

"Wh-who-? Where-?"

"You are in my home- my fortress- and I am the master of this place, Chase Young. Many call me a prince of darkness or a monster, but you may call me your mate."

"You-you're the creature..."

"Technically a Drake. I do apologize for the... State... You found me in. It appears my instincts got the better of me and recognized you as a potential mate."

"Please, please let me go-"

"No. I have already claimed and marked you, you're not going anywhere. Better you get used to the idea now, because I refuse to let you slip away. I have clothes prepared for you at the bedside, feel free to dress- or not, I do like the view- and join me for breakfast. You must be starved by now."

#kiame-sama #yandere #x reader #yandere x reader #reader insert #tw yandere #yandere chase young #yandere xiaolin showdown #tw non con #tw noncon #tw exophilia #tw monsterfucking #tw kidnapping

568 notes · View notes

littlef4ng · 3 years ago

Photo

[$38 USD]

pt. 3 of my every rose has its thorns series

𝔬𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔟𝔯𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔥 is the cheekily named spike collar for those who might be a lil cottage core and goth. followed the advice of my story poll and added the vines hehe

~40 cm. made with vintage ceramic, glass, and stainless steel. to get the spikes to stand up, you’d have to close the choker as tight as comfortably possible — otherwise they’ll dangle. both options look great imo! you can see both ways here

feel free to purchase via ig dm, etsy, or depop. shipping and fees will be baked into my etsy / depop pricing btw! us shipping is $4.80 via ig dm, message me for international shipping

ig | etsy | depop

#goth #alternative fashion #fashion #punk #cottagecore #fairycore #floral #flower #rose #jewelry #choker #necklace #ceramic #glass #shop small #small business #etsy #depop

3 notes · View notes

wedreamedlove · 5 years ago

Text

Xu Mo - Character Study

Preserving this from Reddit. But the comments are always interesting, so I’m dropping the link here.

This post will include content up to Chapter 18. Plus some calls, dates, and ASMR in the CN server. I always quote from JP and CN (because I have major issues with Elex’s translation).

Also, this is an extremely long post. Last I checked it was about 7,500 words so get comfortable if you’re going to read this LOL.

BASICS

First, I don't think I'd be wrong in saying Xu Mo's character is the most polarizing out of the four men and I believe this is due in large part to cultural differences and how the localization handled that. Putting aside my constant harping about subtleties being dropped, I was enlightened by @sharinluna about an aspect I didn't consider, which is Xu Mo's "social class".

Face, social status, rank, and hierarchy are - and still is - very important in Chinese culture. Easy examples people can relate to are respecting elders and the prestige of being a doctor, banker, lawyer, etc. But I can't stress enough the reverence that is given to these "high" social statuses. How this applies to Xu Mo is that he comes from a lineage of literati that would place him as someone in an upper class status, in addition to his own achievements.

Xu Mo was born from a scholarly family. His parents were highly talented and leading researchers.

In the eyes of the public, Xu Mo is a young and remarkable neurologist and a guest professor at Lianyu University. He is serious and persistent towards his scientific research, which is how he's obtained extraordinary achievements. At 26 years old, he has already obtained achievements that most people wouldn't get in a lifetime. There is no other word better to describe him than "genius".

[CN Profile Translation]

The English definition of literati leads you to intellectuals, but this doesn't carry the weight and history of how literati, or basically scholar-officials, were people appointed by the emperor to carry out day-to-day duties and to help govern the country. I guess the equivalent would be a noble who carries out noblesse oblige. Cultured people with scholarly achievements were very respected in historical China and also acted as role models for the common people.

So, going back to Xu Mo, because we're in modern times and he doesn't have an overtly obvious title (to those not in his field of work) he just comes off as a gentle, unassuming, humble, scholar with an air of sophistication and professionalism from his background. Think of a noble, without any airs.

This is reflected in his polite and modest speech (I will be bringing an updated post on this over to Tumblr to go into more detail about modal particles; the important thing is that Xu Mo NEVER smirks unless he's Ares and even that could just be a cold smile). Not to mention all the descriptions about his elegance and refinement. Heck, he even has a Chinese tea ceremony set in his room, including the tools to make tea [CN "In His World" Event].

Xu Mo's classiness, for a lack of a better word, also emphasizes the purposeful contrast of seeing him do common, mundane things. Like watching cartoons to understand humans better [CN Profile]. It's like how Li Zeyan, with his more understandable poshness from his riches, would be contrasted with mundane things. But, if we were looking for another analogy, Xu Mo would be old elegance and Li Zeyan would be nouveau elegance.

Anyway, Xu Mo also has another trait given to him that's a classic in female-oriented Chinese media and that's being a "black belly; 腹黑". For those who are more familiar with Japanese, it's basically the same word as "haraguro; 腹黒".

Black bellies are people who act nice and unassuming on the outside, but they're sly and manipulative (and at times cruel) on the inside or in secret to other people.

Essentially, they're two-faced but while English has a negative connotation with this word it's normal and accepted in Asia (likely because of the concept of face). The majority of male leads in Chinese novels are all black bellies. BTW, the origin of the word comes from how you only notice their black belly after you're eaten up by them LOL.

So, how this works in female-oriented media is... well, there's many combinations. For example, they can be nice to everyone, including the heroine, but secretly vicious against those who hurt the heroine. Or they're nice in public, but show their sly cunning to the heroine. Mix it however you want! They also like to tease the heroine in all sorts of ways, like leading them into verbal traps to see them flustered.

There's some crossover with black bellies being abusive, cruel, or yandere towards their heroine, but it's not necessary for black bellies to be like that. Just think of these as being Venn diagram circles with overlap [example of a sweet black belly is Xiao Nai from the Chinese drama LoveO2O, also a novel].

Returning to the main topic, you can easily see how this applies to Xu Mo. He's nice and elegant... except for when he's not. It's how he can have this gentle and refined air, but then turn around and be a massive flirt and tease with the heroine (flashing his black belly). Then he goes and turns completely black when he's Ares LOL.

Now, after giving background on Xu Mo's character archetype, let's move onto my other sections.

MAN OF JUXTAPOSITIONS

I wanted to call this section "man of contradictions" at first, but then I thought that might mislead people. Basically, this is all about how Xu Mo is a man of dualities.

[Main Story 13-22] The scarred man describes Ares as being the only person who can be trusted in BS, and yet Ares doesn't hesitate to go against Hades and incapacitate him. I'd argue that this places a wrench in BS' operations, so there goes being the most trustworthy person in BS (although, granted, BS sounds like they're a writhing mess of people with their own thoughts and ideas about how it should be run).

Xu Mo is a gentle teacher to MC, patient and taking the time to explain concepts she doesn't understand or provide novel ideas to her; however, he also gives her the worst betrayal and you can almost call this the harshest of lessons.

For all his image of being an intellectual scholar, as I've mentioned in the previous section, Xu Mo is surprisingly "physical". [CN Archery Date] shows that he's ripped and knows a taxing sport like archery, and in [Main Story 16-22] he straight up kills the goons with ice shards (even if it's in a mental arena).

[Main Story 8-23 & 9] bombards you with light and shadow descriptions. Actually, this imagery follows Xu Mo everywhere but it's most prominent in these chapters. He's always standing at the intersection of light and shadow, or light shines down on one of his sides but casts the other in shadow.

[Main Story 9-14] I will be forever salty for Elex dropping the ball here, but Xu Mo's eyes are described to contain a sense of humanness and life. Then, in [Main Story 12-22] he is described to have an expression lacking any emotion and human warmth. Human descriptions contrasted with inhuman descriptions.

Mm, you just have to love delicious juxtapositions and how it emphasizes his duality of being both Xu Mo and Ares. Two sides of the same coin.

Once again, I didn't want to call these contradictions because I don't believe one of these negates the other. It's like how we code switch in different scenarios. You can be a nice person, but vicious when your bottom line is crossed.

These sides of Xu Mo don't overturn the core of his character or his through line: loving the MC, ruthlessly ambitious for the sake of his goals, and naturally gentle (shown in the way he treats animals and people not in the way of his goal).

But, if you do insist on seeing one side of these as lies, then Xu Mo once said:

"Besides, lies have just as much power as the truth. The true nature of things can be indirectly reflected in the world of lies [...] It is because these lies exist, that one can get closer to the truth."

[Main Story 12 Call: Truth and Fiction]

REVERSING "GOOD" IMAGERY

I haven't been quiet at all about how much I love the evocative imagery Xu Mo gets, but an interesting thing I've noticed is how "positive" imagery is twisted into "negative" imagery when it comes to him. It's brilliant.

[Main Story 13-8] MC leaves the building, after interviewing the elevator Evolver man with Xu Mo, and dazzling light shines down on her, yet she can't feel the slightest bit of warmth. This chapter literally sets up Xu Mo's reveal as Ares through positive imagery turned negative. Not to mention warmth disappears into coldness.

In [Midnight Date] there's a rope with thorns tightening around Xu Mo's heart. In [True Love Date] there is a delicate rope tightening around his heart. I will eat my shoe if this isn't a reference to the red string of fate that binds him and MC together. But, as you can see, it's causing him all the suffering in the world.

[Main Story 13-19] Iridescent, the pen, was given to MC and she ends up using it to threaten her own life. Not only is it Xu Mo's symbol of love (more on this later) but pens aren't supposed to be violent weapons. There's the saying that pens are mightier than the sword, because pens write down ideas that are supposed to convince people peacefully. So, a symbol of something non-physical and literary is now a physical weapon of violence and force.

[Main Story 8-23] Xu Mo tucks MC's hands back under the blanket when she's in the hospital, but MC describes a "cold sensation" touching her before she sees that it's his hands. So, Xu Mo has bad circulation or low temperature. Normally, in otome games, the men are supposed to have warm hands (encourages feelings of security, safety, etc.).

[Main Story 9-18] also talks about how Xu Mo's fingertips are freezing, but this is probably more because of the context of the scene.

To be honest, I'm iffy on the last two points about cold hands because it's a common description I see in Chinese novels, where the male lead is described with a cool temperature or cool breath. So, it sort of sounds like it can be a positive descriptor? Of course, there's also male leads who run hot to show how passionate they are LOL.

Or maybe cool descriptions are used to emphasize a character's rationality but when things get hot and heavy they start to burn in temperature and it's supposed to make you go "OOH! HE'S LOSING CONTROL!" or something.

In any case, Xu Mo being of cold temperature is a distinct thing because Gavin is generally described with warm temperatures (because he's a hotblooded military man). The only time I can recall Gavin having a cool description given to him is the tip of his nose in his birthday date, but come on the nose is the extremity of extremities!

Lastly, Xu Mo also needs a special mention for this point:

[Main Story 16-22] The opposite happens here with imagery reversion. Death, normally a frightening concept, is flipped to be a good thing. To escape Xu Mo's dream you need to die. Dying is another way to live.

SYMBOLISM

First, I think it's interesting to note that despite Xu Mo being a "villainous" character and having all this light and shadow imagery (metaphor for his inner conflict), he's ultimately described with light. He has spatial and solidifying light (?) powers that manifest as white light rather than dark shadows.

It's also cute that he shows his two sides with his WHITE lab coat or his BLACK trench coat.

Second, water is pretty much THE imagery to go to for enlightened, virtuous, and refined people. Heck, Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching, a fundamental text for philosophical and religious Taoism, connects water with 7 virtues:

Dwelling with the right location: water goes to the lowest point, thus a humble person should emulate this. Arrogant people always try to go to the top.

Feeling with great depth: truly virtuous people are like deep pools of water. You can't see everything about them at first, but as you get to know them it's like discovering a treasure and this should encourage you to cultivate depth in yourself too.

Giving with great kindness: rivers flow across the land nourishing everything in its way; once it's done its work it moves on without waiting for praise or recognition. This is the virtue of unconditional kindness.

Speaking with great integrity: water, when calm and undisturbed, reflects its surroundings perfectly and so should people reflect the truth with the same degree of accuracy.

Governing with great administration: water benefits everyone equally, because water doesn't pass judgment on anyone. Give everyone the same level of basic courtesy.

Handling with great capability: water has great versatility and nothing can block its way; it can flow to the left, right, under, over, etc. It's also not limited to just its regular form and can be steam or ice.

Moving with great timing: summer rains never fall in winter, and winter rains never fall in summer. Water demonstrates there is a time for everything and that everything can occur in its own time.

Remember how I said scholar-officials in historical China are basically like role models and nobles who help govern the people under the emperor with noblesse oblige? This is why scholar characters go hand in hand with water imagery, because it's supposed to emphasize their virtuousness.

So, because Xu Mo is a scholar-type character, the same goes for him. He has SO MUCH water imagery going on for him, and it carries the above weight behind it. I've probably missed some, but here's a list of the ones I can recall:

[Main Story 9-11] MC falls asleep on the bus and, as Xu Mo watches her, the emotions in his eyes are like swelling ocean tides at night.

[Main Story 9-14] MC's dream about Xu Mo has her falling into an ocean.

[Main Story 9-22] MC ends up in Xu Mo's memories about the accident that killed his parents and it's raining.

[Main Story 11-6] Xu Mo brings MC Chinese bellflowers and MC feels that they're fragile, as if the petals are thin ice that'll break if she touches them.

[Main Story 13-4] Xu Mo's voice is like the morning fog evaporating in the sunlight.

[Main Story 13-8] During their talk about MC wanting to continue her investigation, calm waves drift in Xu Mo's dark eyes.

[Main Story 13-19] This is tangentially related to Xu Mo because these descriptions apply to the MC, but it happens after the Ares reveal. She feels like she got pushed into an ice cave, she feels like she's drifting in an ocean, and when she thinks about Xu Mo her memories overwhelm her like a flood and she feels like she's going to drown.

[Main Story 16-16] Xu Mo gets to kill Hades' goons with a copied ice ability. The writers didn't have to give the goons an ice ability; they could have had metal powers, or fire powers, but nope it was water-related.

[The Promised Date] Xu Mo's eyes are like ocean tides at night. When he's abroad he experiences heart pains and finds his shirt drenched and stuck to his back, giving him the illusion that he's drowning.

Third, Xu Mo also has a lot of flower language going for him. Technically, the other guys have flowers and plants associated with them too (for example, Gavin with white lilies and gingko leaves), but I think Xu Mo gets more LOL.

[Main Story 9-14] Red spider lilies appear in MC's dream about Xu Mo. These mean sad memories, mutual longing, separation, graceful purity, beauty of death, endless love, a precursor to death, and a call to the netherworld. The sadness and mutual longing is because the flowers and leaves of spider lilies can never touch; meanwhile, their relation to death is because they bloom punctually around the autumn equinox when people sweep graves.

[Main Story 11-6] Xu Mo gives the MC Chinese bellflowers, which bloomed out of season, when she's at the hospital. These mean eternal love, sincerity, yearning, or hopeless love. The reason for this double meaning is because Chinese bellflowers represent happiness, but only some people can seize their happiness while others miss it, are unable to grasp it, or are unable to keep it.

[Blossom Event] Xu Mo gifts a gardenia to MC, which is called Garda. In Chinese, gardenias mean tenacious, eternal love, waiting for you for a lifetime, and our love.

[Blossom Date] Xu Mo and MC go look at peach blossoms together. Not only do they quote a poem all about a bride serving her clan, groom's clan, and her groom (including having abundant fruit if you know what I mean), peach blossoms themselves mean being a captive of love.

[Under the Mistletoe SSR] Mistletoe, duh. Normally, I'd look at Chinese flower language but they're clearly using the common meaning of mistletoe: love and enduring love to those who kiss under it. Plus, if you refuse a kiss beneath it then you'll get bad luck LOL.

[CN Promise You a Lifetime SSR] Xu Mo's wedding card has wisteria in the background. In China, it means intoxicating love, dependence, born for love and dying for love, obsessed with you, the happiest moment, and indulging in love.

[Golden Days SSR] Xu Mo's flower card, but I can't find a consensus on what the flowers are. Some people think its oleander but they only bloom in summer and fall when the card is about being in the springtime. Oleanders mean a curse and to watch out for danger though.

I personally think they're apple blossoms (blooms early spring and summer) and they mean "trap". Apple blossoms are so beautiful people want to eat them, but their body is poisonous. People represented by this flower look loyal and honest on the outside, but they're sharp and have a thorny tongue. Those who get too close risk being stabbed and only smart people will find their viciousness interesting LOL.

Come on, it's totally not a coincidence that all of Xu Mo's flower symbolism is just a neon sign about how in love he is with the MC. Eternal love is repeated like a billion times. The only odd one out is his flower card, but it still suits his character:

Under his elegant and gentle face, there hides an inexplicable dark side which is the most deadliest poison.

[CN Profile Translation]

Lastly, Xu Mo has a fox as his animal representative. Foxes are pretty much universally associated with being tricksters, masters of illusions, and cunning. It's amusing because, in Asian folklore, they also like to transform into beauties and seduce people to consume them. Sometimes, the nine-tailed fox is associated with auspiciousness though!

[Official CN Animal Figures] Xu Mo is a fox, Gavin is a dog, Victor is a cat, and Kiro is a bear.

[CN Dream Flower SSR] Xu Mo's West Moon card shows him as a fox demon and scholar.

[Main Story 9-14] Xu Mo quotes the fox's line from "The Little Prince" and MC imagines seeing a fox bounding through the wheat fields too.

I think people can see why foxes are so fitting for Xu Mo but I also want to add that, despite me going on about how virtuous scholars are, in order for scholars to survive the swamp of politics in court, these scholar-officials needed to be extremely sly and cunning and it's actually a good thing to be a "wily fox".

In fact, in Chinese novels, usually the honest and genuine characters are... not the main characters and they reach a tragic end or, if they are main characters, they have to be protected by other cunning leads because good-natured people cannot survive in a mortal world filled with greedy people and their materialistic desires. Laughs hollowly at how all my honest military men biases die horrible deaths or get ruined because of this blunt personality.

Hey, check it out, with Xu Mo's historical Qixi card, [CN Vermilion Lip SSR], and his West Moon card, there's two explicit references to how he's the scholar character.

STORIES OF YOU AND ME

Now, Xu Mo brings up three major stories throughout the game in various places.

First, there's "The Little Mermaid":

[The Little Mermaid ASMR] I was on the fence as to whether Xu Mo relates himself to the Prince or the Little Mermaid, but now I think he's the Little Mermaid. He's different from humans but longs for them and wants an eternal soul.

[Overseas Date] Here we learn that Xu Mo can't yet understand the Little Mermaid's selfless, brave, and devoted love (sorry, but you're way too insatiable, my dear) however he finds himself understanding her last choice. That he can continue loving someone despite the pain they bring him (the Little Mermaid's pain every time she uses her legs).

It's, uh, pretty somber that the version Xu Mo has in his head is the Andersen one where the Little Mermaid dies. He also ends the story there and doesn't add the part where she turns into a daughter of air and still has a chance to get a soul after 300 years to go to the Kingdom of God.

Second, there's "The Little Prince" and its a damn good reference. So, this book is actually MC's favorite book and it's about a little prince who raises a rose on his planet, B612, and falls in love with the rose. But he catches the rose in a lie and gets hurt and, even though they reconcile, he leaves the planet to go on a journey.

On the Little Prince's journey he meets all sorts of people with obsessions and learns life lessons through them, but the most important one he learns is how to love his rose. He crashes down to earth though and meets the person he tells his story to (thus creating this story), but before the Little Prince can return to his planet he gets bitten by a poisonous snake and that's it. The narrator likes to think the Little Prince made it back to his planet and rose though.

In [Sound of Silence SSR Call: The Little Prince] Xu Mo mentions how The Little Prince is MC's favorite book. He also compares MC directly to being the Little Prince and how she's growing like the Little Prince through her experiences. I have a crack theory that MLQC's story could actually mirror this somewhat, especially about MC learning the meaning of love and how that'll save the world LOL.

In [Sound of Silence SSR Call: Beautiful Moonlight] there's another mention to the Little Prince where Xu Mo asks if she can find B612, the Little Prince's home planet. They both hope the Little Prince made it back home.

In [Main Story 9-14], like I mentioned above, Xu Mo quotes the fox's line and it goes: "The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat".

However, let me explain the context and show the full quote. So, the Little Prince meets a fox in his journey and the fox tells the Little Prince to tame him to "establish ties":

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

[...]

"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the color of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat."

The Little Prince agrees and tames the fox. But when he has to leave the planet:

"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."

"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.

"Yes, that is so," said the fox.

"Then it has done you no good at all!"

"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."

[...]

"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."

"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."

"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

Isn't this conversation good? I remember reading the Little Prince a long time ago and found it super sad, and now that I'm re-visiting this story again thanks to Xu Mo... well, I understand it better but it's still melancholic LOL.

But, anyway, if we replace the Little Prince with MC and the fox with Xu Mo, this conversation is really interesting. See, the fox is indelibly marked by the Little Prince (like Xu Mo by the MC) and they have made this unique connection between them that will hurt both of them when it comes to the end.

However, this pain doesn't mean their experiences wasn't worth it and that it didn't mean anything. Like the fox says, now he has these memories of the Little Prince that makes life worth living. The fox, before he met the Little Prince, found his life boring and monotonous, but now things are given meaning when they didn't have it before.

On a totally random note, in [CN "In His World" Event] people have taken pictures of Xu Mo's shelves and now we can get an idea of his reading material. It ranges from literary classics (Ayn Rand, Oscar Wilde, Vladimir Nabokov, Charlotte Brontë, and lots of Chinese authors), to research papers (Genome-wide Polygenic Burden of Rare Deleterious Variants in Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy), to things like encyclopedias on flowers, etc.

It'd probably take you years to get through his reading materials LOL. The other guys also have books in their rooms, but I don't remember them clearly. I do know that Gavin has sci-fi books though! Totally not biased. But, I'm sorry, I don't really like reading sci-fi...

Third and last, the most referenced story throughout the game is probably the one Xu Mo made, "The Artist and the Butterfly". I feel like most of us know it by now, but I'll do a translation for those who haven't had the pleasure of getting [Drowning in Love SSR] and its two calls [Artist and Butterfly] and [The Only Color] and because Elex's version is riddled with errors.

Once upon a time, in a secluded castle, there lived an artist. The artist's paintings only had two colors: black and white. It wasn't because the artist loved these two colors, but because in his eyes there were only these two colors in the world.

The artist believed the world to be depressing, so all the other colors were meaningless. But, one day, a butterfly flew in front of him and the artist saw with shock that on the butterfly's wings were all sorts of beautiful colors he had never seen before. The fluttering of its wings made the colors even more lively and charming, and so the artist painted it for the entire day, never tiring.

But the sensitive artist was also afraid the butterfly would one day grow tired of being beside him, and so he thought about catching the butterfly and putting it in a glass jar. Like this, the butterfly would never be able to leave him.

Then, we move onto the conversation portion in [The Only Color]:

Xu Mo: What do you think of this story?

MC: Um... you can't laugh at me when I say this.

Xu Mo: I promise I won't.

MC: I feel like the artist is very relatable.

Xu Mo: ... Relatable?

MC: Mhm, although I don't understand his actions, I can see that he's really stifled and sad. Now, can you tell me what happens after?

Xu Mo: Actually, this is what happens after. Or rather, this story doesn't have an end.

MC: Huh?

Xu Mo: Are you disappointed?

MC: So, not every story has an ending...

Xu Mo: The artist continues to try and catch the butterfly, and even I don't know whether he caught it or not. If I see him again, I'll ask him for you.

MC: Turns out this is a real story?

Xu Mo: Yes.

MC: If you're able to meet that artist, you have to tell him this for me. That he actually doesn't love the butterfly, does he?

Xu Mo: Why do you not think the artist loves the butterfly? If you love someone, aren't you supposed to move heaven and earth to bind them to your side?

MC: But this is too selfish.

Xu Mo: Hah, yes, even I find it selfish. But if he doesn't do that, the artist will likely lose the butterfly. And then his life will be like how it was before; the whole world would just be black and white.

MC: If he really loves the butterfly, then he wouldn't want to see them suffer. Maybe I'm too simple, but for me genuine love is simply loving that person, as an individual, and I wouldn't need a relationship with them. I'd just want them to be happy.

Xu Mo: If you were this butterfly, and there was someone who wanted to confine you to their side so they could keep you together with them forever... would you be willing?

MC: No... I don't think I'd be willing.

Xu Mo: Indeed... exactly what I thought you would say...

MC: Xu Mo... I want to ask you...

Xu Mo: Mm?

MC: Is this story about you?

Xu Mo: I couldn't be the artist, and I definitely couldn't be the butterfly. But if I really did encounter the one and only color in my life, then I certainly wouldn't let them go.

MC: Why?

Xu Mo: Why?... I don't know why either... You don't need to dig to the bottom of everything.

MC: Xu Mo, I'm a bit sleepy all of a sudden...

Xu Mo: Sleep then. Don't be afraid, even if you have nightmares, I'll be here for you.

Gods, I'm going to be endlessly salty over Elex's butchering of these calls, but whatever. WHATEVER.

This is LITERALLY the story of Xu Mo and MC's relationship. And, with this, we are shuffled immediately into my next section.

COLORING EACH OTHER

In [New Light Date] Xu Mo asks "Can you teach me love?" and in [Main Story 5-6] he also asks "Then, will you change me? If we get along together."

The answer is a resounding YES. MC has changed him indelibly, like the tamed fox, and there is only one unique her in his world; he's left the same mark on her, making him the only unique Xu Mo in her world.

(Not to mention in his [CN 2nd Anniversary VIP message] to the players Xu Mo literally says "It's as if under your guidance I've learned how to love".)

In [Firefly Date] Xu Mo talks about how the lights of the fireflies are a danger sign to other creatures (because fireflies eat everything during their larvae form). Then in [Rainfall Date] he thinks the exact same words, that the colors he's seeing emerge into his world because of the MC are a DANGER SIGN but he cannot bring himself to care.

It is not metaphorical in [Rainfall Date]. He's colorblind!

The "Mo (墨)" in Xu Mo's name (许墨) was once his mother's favorite word. This word represents pen and ink, a literary family, and the black and white world in his eyes.

His world is black and white and only by your side can he see colors.

[CN Profile Translation]

Then in [Afternoon Date] there is this exchange:

MC: What do I look like in your eyes?

Xu Mo: ... Colored.

MC: Huh?

Xu Mo: In my eyes... you're full of colors.

So, now that we know MC literally brings color into his life, I'm going to bring back his pen, Iridescent, that he gives MC [Main Story 13-10]. It's a symbol of his love because there's a line that comes from a movie called "Flipped". The Chinese name for the movie "Flipped" is the same as the Chinese name of Xu Mo's [Lovestruck SSR].

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss... [...] But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”

Iridescent is how he sees MC. She literally brought the colors of a rainbow into his black and white world [Rainfall Date].

Now, when we think about his line in "The Artist and the Butterfly" we get... MAJOR ANGST. Because, contrary to his words about not letting the only color in his world go, he lets the MC go again and again and again:

He doesn't catch MC in [Main Story 13].

He saves MC from Hades in [Main Story 16] and then takes advantage of the dream erasing her memories, so she'll have no ties to him or BS (until the next time they meet on the field again, I guess).

Heck, to take this further, in [Memory Palace: The Night Before] Xu Mo traces his previously wounded eye and thinks about how he can barely remember MC's colors and he's going to lose it completely when they meet at the news conference. Then in [Main Story 16-22] MC sees his past all in black and white.

Xu Mo has given up on keeping her colors in his world...

On a side note, I also think he's giving up vividness in his world. In [Rainfall Date] it's implied that the cheerier MC is the brighter her colors are and, I assume, the colors in Xu Mo's world?

There's an intriguing fact in his [CN Profile Translation] too where it says "His sense of taste isn't too sensitive, but it's not completely absent either." What if that fades too when MC isn't around?

Papergames has also mentioned that Xu Mo has glasses he wears to help him see colors (so he can drive safely LOL) but we don't actually see him wear them much except for when he's doing scientific stuff. Perhaps this is a sign about how little he cares about seeing colors in his world if he can't see them naturally (MC-induced colors).

But, hold on, this is a section about how Xu Mo has equally changed MC (it's just, perhaps, more tragic and more obvious with Xu Mo because he only has MC, the sole color in his life, while she has three other guys just lost a friend, mentor, and love interest).

In [Blossom Date] there's an exchange where MC tells Xu Mo that, like how he's told her to take her time growing in front of him [Main Story 9-2], she wants him to take his time going through life. She's echoing his words (and teaching) and, in response, Xu Mo's eyes darken and he thinks about how he's "staining her purity in his colors".

In [CN Archery Date] Xu Mo teaches MC how to handle and shoot a bow and they end up having a mini competition where they both hit bull's eye and get a draw. He's given her one of skills (and a piece of him) again.

Xu Mo continuously gives MC things that he has never given anyone else:

In [Snowy Night Date] he reveals his actual birthday date to MC.

In [Hot Spring Date] Xu Mo reveals that he's never celebrated his birthdays like this, until now with her. Because they probably reminded him of his parents' accident.

In [CN Nightmare's End ASMR] Xu Mo barely remembers his childhood memories (or his real name RIP), and yet he doesn't hesitate to share these memories with MC.

Tangentially related, but I want to throw in here how Xu Mo and MC are described sometimes as having eyes only for each other. I'm sure there's more mentions, but I can only remember these two:

[Main Story 13-8] "Xu Mo didn't respond. He stared at me with a complicated look and I was the only one reflected in his eyes."

[True Love Date] "The girl, with her clear black eyes opened wide, stared at him. The one who was reflected in those eyes was him alone."

My romantic and poetic explanation here is that, because they have pieces of themselves in each other, they're drawn together like magnets!

RUNNING ON PARALLEL TRACKS

In addition to coloring each other with pieces of themselves, MC and Xu Mo are also quite synchronized. He still leaves her confused at times with his intellect, but she can give back pretty good. I will continue to quietly blame Elex for unflattering descriptions of the MC, especially after that call up there, WTF.

For example, [Blossom Date] has Xu Mo quoting a classic poem "Tao Yao" with stanzas 1+2, and MC follows with stanzas 5+6, only for Xu Mo to flirt with stanzas 11+12 (thanks to @love-p for this translation):

1 桃之夭夭 Fresh is the peach tree,

2 灼灼其華 vibrant does it bloom.

[...]

5 桃之夭夭 Fresh is the peach tree,

6 有蕡其実 abundant its fruit.

[...]

11 之子于帰 The betrothed comes home,

12 宜其家人 she serves the clan well.

Then, while Xu Mo doesn't say this unprompted, in [Main Story 13-15] he connects the writing on the wall to 1 Corinthians 13:12. "For now we see through a glass, darkly..."

Then in [Main Story 16-12] MC quotes 1 Corinthians 13:2 at him: "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

However, despite being able to follow up with each other like this, [Firefly Date] shows how Xu Mo and MC have philosophies that differ on a fundamental level, and this ultimately puts them on opposing sides.

Xu Mo believes in mistaken Darwinism, the strong survive and the weak perish, and he also upholds a strict utilitarian view about using people's lives for the greater good of humanity.

The progress of science is often accompanied by many failed experiments, and towards those failed experiments Xu Mo will feel regret. But at the same time he believes that it is a kind of honor to contribute to a better future for humankind.

[CN Profile Translation]

MC believes in helping people out, not just leaving them out to struggle on their own, and she respects and believes in the innate dignity of human life and choice.

We see in [Main Story 16-9] that Xu Mo and MC have another debate about their philosophies and it ends without a victor, again, but also them realizing that both of them wouldn't sacrifice the person they love (consolation prize LOL).

There's also an amazing moment in [Main story 16-12] where MC quotes something Xu Mo told her in [Main Story 13-17]: "Only those who have felt pain and despair can reach the truth of this world. So, even if you feel pain, there's no need to give up on what you want to do. Even if that source of light were to disappear, it would immediately regain its light."

It hurts because, what was a motivational speech for MC, is now used against Xu Mo. It further resolves MC about her principles, but the way she throws his words at him to hurt him like that... yikes. To the both of them, honestly, since Xu Mo wasn't playing nice at all there in assuming her hesitance about answering meant she would sacrifice her loved ones.

Anyway, we see that this understanding and knowing (coloring) of each other lets them hurt each other just as bad. I mentioned in a previous post about the [CN Archery Date] that it's interesting to see their relationship as a metaphorical draw. They take and give to each other, constantly, throughout the story and it shows that they're equals. Running to some place, but not being on the same track. We can only hope they're heading to the same place and that they won't branch off and go further and further away from each other (but he's a love interest, so it should be?? okay??).

On a side note, Xu Mo quotes "Graveyard by the Sea" in [Firefly Date] (I've linked an amazing English translation that comes with an analysis of the original French version).

TL;DR is that the poet realizes timelessness does not exist and that, because his mortality is ever looming, he must go out and accept the challenge of life (carpe diem!) because immortality might not lie beyond the grave. You only get this one chance in life and the future is uncertain, so do everything you can to achieve what you want to do.

This is actually another good reference to Xu Mo's ruthless ambition and why in [Blossom Date] MC wants him to rest and take his time moving forward slowly, much like how he tells her to take her time growing with him.

Uh, I realize I may have taken you guys off guard by suddenly bringing up ruthless ambition again but:

[Blossom Date Translation] Xu Mo reveals how much he worked his ass off when he was younger.

Xu Mo: Yes, I skipped grades.

Xu Mo said that casually, without any pride, as if it were someone else's business. But I was deeply impressed.

MC: You spent all your high school years studying?

Xu Mo: At that time, yes.

MC: Why?

Xu Mo: Silly, there aren't that many why's. It's the same as how you were when you were taking your entrance exams, there were things I needed to do.

[Main Story 13-22] "Ares had a smile cold enough to send chills through someone. The blood that flowed to his mouth made him stand out even more bewitchingly, like a flower. He raised his head and ambition roiled in eyes that were deeper and darker than twilight."

[2nd PV] Xu Mo has a line in Chinese that goes "我贪得无厌　想要你的全部" which I believe English translated as "I am insatiable, I want all of you" which is... um, sure. I mean it works! Perhaps it doesn't fully convey how it's like endless greed, the desire and want for more, never being satisfied, and always hungering. That is what insatiable means, but I don't think the word is used commonly enough for people to click onto all of that.

CONCLUSION

LORD, this is massive. Not including this conclusion, whoever has read down to this point has cleared around 7,500 words, so congratulations.

Anyway, obviously, this post isn't supposed to be all "this is the one and only true interpretation of Xu Mo's character" but I wanted to provide some background from a native (?) context that might have been overlooked, because I don't think scholar archetypes are as common in English and Japanese media (the second culture people are probably most familiar with if they're playing otome games?).

Like how you can point out "ah yes, the tsundere, the yandere, the megane, etc." in Japanese media, the scholar archetype is someone you could spot at a glance from a line up of Chinese characters. If I had to choose a similar type they're probably like megane characters... except their EQ and IQ are both high, so they're not cold, logical robots.

Coming back to a summary of all my points, Xu Mo is a complicated scholar archetype and the game also enjoys spicing this concept up with things that contrast sharply against it (the sexuality from his fox characteristics). He's gentle, refined, and knowledgeable, but also has a black belly that shows when he flirts and verbally traps the MC to fluster her (not to mention all his manipulations behind the scenes).

Every scene he appears in seems to say one thing, but show another, and his references make me want to cry when I end up digging too deep in them. Meanwhile, the silence between the lines of his scenes, words, and actions, scream so loudly with evocative and symbolic imagery.

Feel free to dislike him, but I don't think it can be denied that he's a very intricately written character, and that's what all the fun is about liking him and deciphering his raison d'être.

As an aside, I will acknowledge that I've skipped over other references that I couldn't fit into this post but there were things like the [Roman Holiday] movie he and MC watched in [Main Story 5-6] and the song he sings in [True Love Date], "When I Fall in Love", and its relation to [Sleepless in Seattle], perhaps? But @sharinluna has good posts on these already. I haven't watched any of these, so I won't bother to reveal my ignorance on them LOL.

Lastly, I just want to leave everyone with these two lines from Xu Mo, because it draws such a beautiful circle:

So, in his [2nd PV] he says "我贪得无厌" which I mentioned above was something like "I'm insatiably greedy".

Then, there's a call where he says "谢谢你、成全我的贪心，希望你可以相信，无论是过去，还是未来，能让我倾尽所有想要独占的，只有你一人" which translates to "Thank you, for fulfilling my greed. I hope you can believe that, regardless of whether it's in the past or future, the person who's made me want to exhaust all methods to monopolize them has only ever been you."

Such a beautiful full circle, right? You can imagine him saying this at the end of the game or at a wedding, right? EXCEPT IT CAME FROM A KFC COLLABORATION CALL. YES. KFC. I'm crying and I feel like my soul took a hit. It doesn't count... it doesn't count as canon material does it... I mean, he's not talking about the chicken, because this is in response to a confession you get to write as the player, BUT STILL. LOL.

(I secretly laugh at how English would handle that, since they gave him the "I am insatiable" line. "Thank you for satiating me"? HAHA).

Nah, perhaps the true circle is him asking in [New Light Date] if MC can teach him love and then telling us that we've taught him in love in the [2nd Anniversary VIP Message].

#mlqc #mlqc lucien #love and producer #mr love queen's choice #mlqc xu mo #love and produc(ing) meta

211 notes · View notes

hyena-frog · 4 years ago

Note

I'm calling a Blood Feud on House Lune. Btw I do think that House Lune will be extinct by the end if the series.

From your lips to God’s* ears!

I wouldn’t mind spitting blood in Lysander’s face for the blood feud declaration, that’s for sure.

“The blood of the Conquerors thins,” Alexandar drawls through the coms. (Dark Age, 108)

You love to see it.

We know from Dark Age that the “great” Gold houses are dying out. I thought it was an interesting detail that collectively they are called “the 200.” But some houses are more endangered than others. Which main players are critically endangered?

House Lune: Just Lysander left. Easy pickins. Was functionally extinct in the wild until the end of Dark Age. Damn.

House Bellona: Cassius and Julia. Basically, only Julia right now, while Cassius is off fighting the good fight. I don’t want Julia to die, though she is a thorn in the Republic’s side, but I would like Cassius to regain control of the house remnant.

House Grimmus: Atalantia and Ajax. If anyone from this house survives, I would prefer it be Ajax. But I don’t feel like Ajax would run a house very well.

House Valii-Rath: Apple and Tharsus. (I’m pretty sure their parents are dead by this point.) I’m interested to see if Tharsus grows a spine and opposes his brother. Not that he could ever win, but imagine the family drama!

House Augustus: Yes, I must include this one in the name of fairness. Only Virginia and Pax left. No, I’m not counting the Abomination. Obviously, this house will be fine. Right, Pierce?

House Arcos: Honestly, its status is a bit unclear. Yes, there have been several... important losses (😭) including the current Primus. But how many grandkids did Lorn have exactly? And how many are still alive? Plus, there are still a few daughters-in-law out there. I’ll be damned if Lysander tries to claim this house, blood relation or not. 🔪

House Raa: Not critically endangered but I would say, vulnerable. They’re dropping like flies, even though they still have many members left. And if Atlas has anything to say about it, they’ll be endangered soon.

House Telemanus: Also not endangered but I am alarmed by how many have died (or have given me a death scare) by now. Please stop that. 😰

I won’t go into Houses Carthii or Saud or anyone else because we don’t have a lot of specific information on those families.

We know from Rhone that House Lune’s infantrymen were split among other houses after the bloodline was presumed extinct. I wonder what would happen if every major Core (non-Republic) bloodline ended? Where would all those soldiers go? Not to mention the servants. 🤔

*Pierce Brown

#lysander au lune #red rising #dark age #iron gold trilogy #astreamikaelson13 #my post

15 notes · View notes

tigerkirby215 · 5 years ago

Text

5e Frank West build (Dead Rising)

(Screenshot of Dead Rising 4 - Game by Capcom)

“I’ve covered wars ya know.”

In an attempt to branch out my builds beyond D&D I had a look through my Steam library for other games with interesting characters. While most of the games I play have pretty broad characters (Killing Floor, XCOM, Void Bastards... btw play Void Bastards it’s good) I eventually came across Dead Rising and all I could think is... “Yes.”

Frank West! Forever charismatic journalist, amateur craftsman, minor wrestling star, major anti-government conspirator, and part-time zombie. For “just a normal dude” Frank is capable of some pretty extraordinary feats, going up against countless zombie hoards with nothing but his wits and the products you’d find at your local shopping center... Helps that he can drop kick all day long without getting tired.

GOALS

Anything’s a Weapon - The core appeal of Dead Rising is the ability to use anything you find as a weapon, which Frank obviously needs to do.

Duct Tape it or Die - While it was more of Chuck’s thing Frank borrowed the ability to craft Combo Weapons and does it quite well. And obviously the only reason he survived a day in Willamette was his ability to weaponize golf clubs, sandwich plates, and cartons of orange juice.

I am the Ultimate Best - Frank is no pushover in his own right with some WWE superstar smack-downs and the endurance to run a marathon without getting tired. Because the original Dead Rising was made before stamina meters were a thing.

RACE

Frank is amazingly just human, and while the ending of DR4 says otherwise we’ll stick with Variant Human for now. You get an increase in two ability scores of your choice: increase your Constitution and Intelligence. You also get a Skill of your choice and you should take Athletics to run through the entire mall all night long. You finally get a Feat: take Tavern Brawler for proficiency in Improvised weapons and some unarmed damage and increase your Constitution again. And take whatever language it really doesn’t matter.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - You need to be able to fight off a zombie trying to bite your face; being able to chuck them 10 yards is an added bonus.

14; CONSTITUTION - Frank takes a lot of damage in the Dead Rising games. Getting shot, run over, sliced up with a chainsaw, and receiving countless claw and teeth marks and still being able to march on takes a lot of hardiness.

13; INTELLIGENCE - Knowing how to attach chainsaws to a kayak paddle “safely” takes a certain degree of know-how, and you helped Isabella create a cure for zombism! But above all it’s a requirement to multiclass so...

12; DEXTERITY - Shrugging off a hoard of zombies trying to grab at you takes some evasive ability.

10; CHARISMA - Not extremely in-character (feel free to swap DEX and CHA if you want better roleplay but worse AC) but we unfortunately don’t need it for this build.

8; WISDOM - Jumping off a helicopter into a mall full of zombies wasn’t exactly the best choice, and I doubt I could call anyone who walks into a hardware store full of decapitated bodies “wise.”

BACKGROUND

Unfortunately there’s no Reporter background for 5e but thankfully Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion from Acquisitions Incorporated is pretty close to what we need. The main feature of Name Dropping will let everyone know that you’re Frank West, and that you’ve covered wars you know.

Replace the Performance proficiency with Insight but keep Perception to find the perfect shot. You also get two languages of your choice (pick whatever) and proficiency with a Disguise Kit to try on all sorts of clothes while surviving the zombie apocalypse.

(Artwork from Project X Zone - Owned by Capcom)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ARTIFICER 1

We’re going to start this build off as an Artificer to get the ability to craft things as soon as possible. You get two skills from the Artificer list: take Investigation for some investigative journalism and Medicine to know what brand of orange juice to drink to cure all that ails ya. You also get an artisan’s tool of your choice and Smith’s Tools would be what you use to make most of your Combo Weapons.

You also get Magical Tinkering which lets you pick up a grab bag of random stuff from various stores. You can touch a tiny, non-magical object with your tools as an action to give it a variety of effects that are listed in the ability’s description. The effect last indefinably but you can have a number of them equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Speaking of Intelligence modifier that’s what we use for our Spellcasting. You get two cantrips of your choice and while you’ll get the ability to swap them out later on start with Mending to duct tape any of your weapons if they’re going to break and Light to turn your camera’s light on. But feel free to choose whatever cantrips you think will help and since Artificer’s get a lot of choice with their spellcasting I’ll just list all the cantrips and how I’d reflavor them for Frank:

Acid Splash could be you throwing a bottle of something nasty at the zombies.

Create Bonfire could be a Molotov.

Dancing Lights could be a toy helicopter or something similar providing the light.

Firebolt is a gun.

Frostbite or Ray of Frost could be a combo weapon with a toy gun and a fire extinguisher, chilling your foes.

Guidance or Resistance is a fatherly mentor slap on the back for good luck. <3

Mage Hand could be a drone, or alternatively one of those grabbing-claw toys that Nintendo used to make. Similar idea with Thorn Whip.

Magic Stone... chuck some shit at the enemy like you do in MvC.

Message could be a walkie-talkie or a cell phone.

Poison Spray is bad don’t use it.

Prestidigitation is your grab bag of stuff from the toy store.

Shocking Grasp or Thunderclap could be you weaponizing your camera flash.

Spare the Dying is emergency medical care.

Can you tell I like Artificer? Because I really like Artificer. Anyways you also get two spells of your choice: Cure Wounds will let you or an ally guzzle some life-giving OJ and Catapult will let you grab something heavy and chuck it at a hoard! But much like with the cantrips Artificers are prepared spellcasters so you can choose your spells at the end of every long rest, giving you the ability to choose what weapons you want at the start of the day.

LEVEL 2 - BARBARIAN 1

Quickly bouncing over to Barbarian for two reasons. The first is to get Unarmored Defense equal to 10 + your Dexterity and your Constitution. We can still use Medium Armor (and I’d argue you probably should use that currently) but while the knight armor is a post-game unlock and you usually wear a leather jacket (leather armor) you can skip the padding and let your muscles protect you. The other reason however is for Martial weapon proficiency - you need to use everything you can find and Frank swings a katana as well as a baseball bat.

But you also get Rage which lets you scream up at the heavens about the government and get some work done. While raging you have advantage on Strength checks and saving throws (both of which are needed for grapples), do extra damage with strength weapons (including your fists from Tavern Brawler!), and resist bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. It lasts for 1 minute but ends early if you end a turn without attacking someone or getting hit. You can also end it as a bonus action which you might need to do because you can’t cast spells while it’s active, so no OJ while you smash faces. You can Rage twice before having to take a long rest.

LEVEL 3 - ARTIFICER 2

Back on the Artificer train we finally get our Combo Weapons, or rather our Artificer Infusions. You know 4 infusions and can have 2 active at a time. You can choose which infusions you want at the end of a long rest so pick-and-choose what you need to fight the local psychopath.

For your Known Infusions pick the following:

Enhanced Weapon lets you stick some knives on the end of a broom to make it do more damage.

An Enhanced Arcane Focus meanwhile lets you improve whatever fire-spitter someone might be using to make it spit a little more fire.

An Alchemy Jug lets you carry around a variety of drinks (or mayonnaise) to mix in a blender for some juices and cocktails.

And the Pole of Collapsing from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything can actually be used by you as a weapon effectively since you have improvised weapon proficiency from Tavern Brawler. A 10 foot quarter staff is nothing to scoff at, and you can do a good Zero impression!

Truthfully though Artificers have a huge list of items they can choose from and I’d suggest taking whatever infusions your team asks for that would help them. The strength of Artificer lies in its versatility, and while Frank’s mostly alone in Dead Rising don’t let the Survivors in your party go unarmed.

LEVEL 4 - ARTIFICER 3

3rd level Artificers get their Artificer Specialty and Alchemist is perfect for someone who makes combo cocktails as well as combo weapons.

Truthfully though the reason we’re going for Alchemist is because it’s the only one that doesn’t have a summon. The new Armorer subclass also works but that serves more for if you want to play as Exo-Suit Frank.

As an Alchemist you can craft an Experimental Elixir after a long rest with a set of Alchemist’s Supplies (which you also gain proficiency with.) You’ve got six possible cocktails to make: Healing is self-explanatory, Swiftness lets them run faster, Resilience makes them harder to hit, Boldness lets them hit a little harder, Flight lets them... fly (talk about fizzy lifting drinks!), and Transformation lets you get your zombie on with the Alter Self spell.

You get one after a long rest but you can craft another one by spending a spell slot of first level of higher. It’s up to DM’s interpretation if you can do this while raging but since it’s described that you make the elixir “magically” I’d argue against it. That, and you need some time with the blender to make juice.

Also on subject of spells you get Healing Word to shout some words of encouragement to your allies and Ray of Sickness to shoot them with the B.F.G and make them puke their guts out. You also get another spell slot and Grease lets you throw a bottle of shampoo on the floor to make your enemies slip and fall.

You also get The Right Tool for the Job which lets you quickly pull together any Artisan’s tools you might need. You need an hour to make the tools (which can be done over a rest) and they last until you use this feature again. Can’t find a maintenance closet? Just make the stuff on the fly!

LEVEL 5 - ARTIFICER 4

Grabbing an Ability Score Improvement or rather a Feat since that uneven Strength score is bugging me: take the Athlete feat with an increase to Strength so you can run after the truth or away from a hoard.

You can also prepare another spell like Identify, so you can now exactly what you’re taking pictures of.

LEVEL 6 - BARBARIAN 2

Now that we’ve got our combo weapons and our cocktails it’s time to learn some wrestling moves. Level 2 Barbarians get Reckless Attack, giving yourself Advantage on attacks with Strength weapons but giving the enemy Advantage to hit you. A piledriver might get the job done but it does leave you wide open.

You also get Danger Sense, giving you advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects you can see. Makes sense since you can dodge bullets if you see them coming but can still get outplayed by your protegee.

LEVEL 7 - BARBARIAN 3

3rd level Barbarians get their Primal Path and Path of the Totem Warrior is perfect for anyone who wants to bear hug their enemies. You get Spirit Seeker to cast the Beast Sense and Speak with Animals spells as rituals because this is meant to be the “naturalist” Barbarian but what we’re really here for is the Totem Spirit. You’re more than welcome to choose Bear like I know most people will but the most in-character option would be the spirit of the Eagle. Zombies have disadvantage to hit you if you run past them while raging and you can also Dash as a bonus action while raging, letting you run through a hoard of zombies and only suffer minimal damage. You can also Rage one more time before needing a long rest, adding up to 3 times total.

LEVEL 8 - BARBARIAN 4

4th level Barbarians get an Ability Score Improvement, and how about we finally get those wrestling moves? The Grappler feat gives you Advantage on attacks against enemies you grapple and lets you use your action to try to pin your opponent. If you do both you and the creature you’re grappling are restrained until the grapple ends.

LEVEL 9 - BARBARIAN 5

5th level Barbarians get an Extra Attack so you can combo two hits instead of one. You also get Fast Movement which increases your movement speed by 10 as long as you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor. The Megaman suit isn’t exactly aerodynamic...

LEVEL 10 - BARBARIAN 6

At level 6 Totem Warriors get Aspect of the Beast and the aspect of the Bear is perfect for anyone who wants to lift a zombie over their head and swing them around. Your carrying capacity for combo weapons is doubled and you have Advantage on Strength checks to push, pull, lift, or break objects. Technically this doesn’t include grappling and technically you can’t pick up people that you’ve grappled, but if you have a cool DM this would totally be the feature to let you chuck a zombie at another zombie. And an extra use of Rage (adding up to 4 times total) will definitely help with that zombie chucking.

(Artwork by Capcom)

LEVEL 11 - ARTIFICER 5

Now that we’ve got all the WWE we need it’s time to improve our combo weapons. 5th level Alchemists get Alchemical Savant which lets you add your Intelligence modifier to any spell that heals or does acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Speaking of which you now get access to second level spells, and the Alchemist list gives you Flaming Sphere which lets you kick a burning trash can at your enemies, and Melf’s Acid Arrow lets you chuck a Queen at an enemy’s face and have them sting them a bunch.

LEVEL 12 - ARTIFICER 6

6th level Artificers get Tool Expertise, letting you double your proficiency bonus with any tools you know how to use. You can also prepare another spell like Pyrotechnics, letting you pop firecrackers in a zombie’s face to either blind them or use the smoke to cover your escape from a psychopath. You can also make two Experimental Elixirs are the start of the day instead of one.

But most importantly you learn two new Infusions and the number of Infusions you can have up at a time increases by one: Radiant Weapon finally lets you weaponize your camera flash and use your reaction to try to blind someone that hits you. Cloak of Elvenkind meanwhile makes it easier for you to sneak around and take pictures of military men talking about covering up the zombie outbreak. The government; it’s always the government...

LEVEL 13 - ARTIFICER 7

7th level Artificers get Flash of Genius. If you or one of your journalism students are in a jam you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to an ability check or saving throw, and can do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. Speaking of which...

LEVEL 14 - ARTIFICER 8

8th level Artificers get another Ability Score Improvement and we’re not getting Intelligence and are instead getting Constitution for more health and better unarmored defense.

You can also prepare another spell and you can’t go wrong with Heat Metal. Get a barbecue lighter and stick it in a zombie’s face!

LEVEL 15 - ARTIFICER 9

At 9th level Alchemists get Restorative Reagents. You buff your juice mixing power so the drinks give temporary hitpoints equal to 2d6 + your intelligence modifier, and you also carry some Zombrex with you to cast Lesser Restoration a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. Lesser Restoration won’t cure a zombie infection but I’m sure it can delay it for 24 hours.

You also get 3rd level spell slots now and as an Alchemist you always have Gaseous Form and Mass Healing Word prepared... I have no reason why Frank can turn into a cloud of gas: is he a vampire? Is it nanomachines? Are we giving a regular guy the ability to cast spells? Yes.

LEVEL 16 - ARTIFICER 10

10th level Artificers get Magic Item Adept, letting them attune to 4 magic items at once and letting you craft common and uncommon magic items in a quarter of the time using a quarter of the gold.

But more importantly you get two more known Infusions (and one more prepared infusion) and it’s finally time to fix that Intelligence! The Headband of Intellect sets your Intelligence score to 19, and the Gauntlets of Ogre Power do the same to your Strength. It’s not perfect but you’ve always been rough around the edges.

You get another cantrip so I’d suggest grabbing Firebolt for a backup pistol, but with the Headband of Intellect on your head you can prepare three more spells!

Elemental Weapon will let you turn a weapon into a +1 weapon and make it deal an extra d4 acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage.

Haste lets you speed up your combos with some X-Factor.

And bouncing back to level 2: Rope Trick will let you open up a bathroom so you can save and take a break.

Note: If you’re starting at level 16 (for some reason) and want to give your character a better stat array an updated stat distribution will be posted after this build goes live.

(UMvC3 screenshot compilation by kiraDaidohji on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - ARTIFICER 11

At level 11 with Artificer you get access to a Spell Storing Item. When you finish a Long Rest you can touch a weapon or one of your infusions to put a spell of first or second level into it as long as it takes an action to cast, even if you don’t have the spell prepared. Whoever’s holding it can use their action to cast the spell using your spellcasting modifier, and if it requires concentration they concentrate on it instead of you. They can cast the spell a number of times equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (so 8 times if you’re wearing the Headband of Intellect.)

I’m not going to tell you what spell to put in the Spell Storing Item - look through the spell list yourself or search online for the best spell for the job. An Artificer’s strength is versatility and I can only do so much themeing without playing your character for you. (Pro tip though: Blur is god tier if you can give it to a Fighter or someone else with high AC who can concentrate on it.)

LEVEL 18 - ARTIFICER 12

12th level Artificers get another Ability Score improvement: cap off your Constitution for maximum hardiness, AC, and Constitution saves. Last thing you want is to lose concentration on a spell and then lose your liquor afterwards.

You can also prepare another spell such as Revivify to quickly stick a hot dog in someone’s mouth and bring them back from the dead.

LEVEL 19 - ARTIFICER 13

13th level Artificers get 4th level spell slots and Alchemists get Blight and Death Ward always prepared. Zombify an area, or alternatively stop an ally from going down to zombies. Or yourself: you going down to zombies would suck too.

LEVEL 20 - ARTIFICER 14

Our capstone is the 14th level of Artificer for Magic Item Savant, allowing you to attune to up to 5 magic items and use them regardless of any restrictions the item might have.

But most importantly you get more Infusions and it should be mentioned that you can replace old known Infusions when you level up: replace your Gauntlets of Ogre Power with a Belt of Hill Giant’s Strength which is objectively better in every way. You can also make Bracers of Defense to further increase your AC and... hell, why not a Ring of Protection too? But once again I have to recommend you listen to your party for what they want you to make: don’t hoard your Infusions or the OJ.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Won’t Stop until I’m Dead - For my first tank build on this blog Frank is a remarkably good tank. Maxed out Constitution with Barbarian levels means your health will easily go over 200, and Unarmored Defense combined with Bracers of Protection and a Ring of Protection can put your AC close to 20, and you can still wield a two-handed weapon.

You think you’re better than me? - You’re not the only one on the team who can be awesome with this build. You have a lot of utility spells and can help the team survive with your elixirs. Just remember the crafting recipes for juice.

Crislip's Home Saloon - You can use any weapon you get your hands on, including the kitchen sink. No matter the class or race restriction you can use a weapon. Even if you’re unarmed Tavern Brawler lets you grab whatever you find and make use of it, or resort to your fists if it comes to it.

CONS

Wrestling is Fake - Grappling isn’t exactly practical; neither are improvised weapons. A lot of the features that we grab are done entirely for the sake of roleplay, and you’d be far better off taking more practical Feats or more ASIs.

PP - This build is subpar until level 16 and only really reaches its true potential at level 20. While it’s great to theorycraft these types of builds I know that most campaigns don’t reach level 20.

Grrrrrrr - Rage is nice but it’s tough to use it in this build. Not only does it stop you from casting spells or concentrating but you’ll lose your rage if you don’t get hit or don’t hit someone else.

But we all start out somewhere kid. Fight the good fight, save the civilians, take good pictures, and maybe someday you’ll be in a war someone else covers. And be sure to drink healthy orange juice and pass up on the whisky - the last thing you want is to puke in the middle of a combo.

(Minecraft skin found on superminecraftskins.com)

#DnD 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dead rising #dead rising frank west #frank west #dnd multiclass #dnd artificer #dnd barbarian

6 notes · View notes

cbrownjc · 8 months ago

Note

On the bit about the core "skipping" Mekare in the show, if the show combines the Akasha and Amel threats, I agree. In fact, if the threats are combined, then I, personally, think that whomever died during the Amel threat will die during the combined threat of Akasha and Amel. Which, from the few things I do know about the Prince Lestat book, means some of the older Children of the Millennium vampires, at the very least, will die by the end.

Which actually has me thinking the show might change how someone like Santino died. Meaning they'll have it happen during the combined Akasha-Amel threat instead of how it happened toward the end of Blood and Gold. But that's just a speculation, for now, mostly built on me thinking that if we hear any of Marius' backstory from that book, it'll be something he tells to Daniel (and Armand), not Thorne. Thorne is the type of character an adaptation can easily cut, or just give a minor nod/appearance to in a different way. But I digress.

Anyway, if Makare ever takes the core within her from Akasha, it will only be for a short period of time, during the same season I would guess, before it passes on to Lestat. And I think it'll be toward the end of Season 5 when Lestat will finally get it.

Because, at the end of the day, I feel very much that this is what the first five seasons of the show are headed towards -- Lestat becoming the holder of the Sacred Core by the end of Season 5.

That is the major story arc of the show that has already been planned out and is being set up in these early seasons IMO, and why Rolin Jones said that Prince Lestat is a book they are drawing hugely from for the show.

So yes, I agree, RJ knows exactly where the story in the show is headed for at least the first five seasons of it IMO. And the story from the book Prince Lestat, which had him becoming the holder of the Sacred Core, is that story. So things like revisiting the fight from EP05 are not them trying to "fix" anything because of fandom outrage or whatever. They were always going to revisit that fight and had always planned to do so given how it was purposefully shot in Season 1, with only Claudia's POV given to us, the viewers, and no one else's.

Season 2 was always set to show us Louis' POV of that fight, which will give greater context to what happened upstairs . . . and IMO begin the process of setting up Amel. Louis won't know it's Amel and people who've never read the books won't know it's Amel either. But it will be a "seed" as Assad called it . . . a seed of things being planted now that will grow over time for the full story that is coming.

That's what we are seeing right now with Nicki's presence (and Marius' too because yes, I am firmly in the Justin Kirk is Marius camp). We'll be seeing everything regarding Nicki from Armand's POV because this is not only going to be a parallel made between Nicki and Louis and Armand's treatment/care of both, but because Nicki is also a seed that we'll see in ever greater bloom and context in Season 3 when we finally get Lestat's POV.

And yes, the only reason Gabrielle isn't in those scenes too is because they are from Armand's POV and Armand doesn't like nor care about Gabrielle. That's all. She will very much be there when those scenes between Armand and Lestat where we know she was present too are revised from Lestat's POV in Season 3.

So yes, the show has a very solid story plan for the first five seasons, I feel sure of. All to lead up to Lestat gaining the Sacred Core by the end, and that Amel has been being set up by the show since Season 1, for that very purpose. Things like this have all been about setting up major story arcs, not because they fear not getting another season or anything like that.

(AMC outright owning the rights to The Vampire Chronicles means the show is never going to easily get canceled anyway, which is why I can feel confident about all of this BTW.)

"Worried about the Nicki/TVL content" here for clarification. I apologize, that came off like I didn't want to see TVL/Nicki. I'm excited to see Louis' journey through Europe and very excited for the theatre des vampires. I'm also very excited to see Lestat's backstory, including Nicki's part in it. What I meant is I'm worried that the showrunner might have been worried they weren't getting a season 3 so they packed in TVL and Nicki into season 2 so audiences got the backstory for Louis, Armand, and the theatre and how that ties to Lestat because they didn't want to leave questions because they may not get a season 3.

I want them to take their time with each major plot point and i wondered if cramming so much in was a hint that there was not going to be a renewal. But your response to my first ask was reassuring. I just really need to see the entire story play out before they end the show and I panicked so much advertisement of TVL in season 2 was an indication that this would be the only time we see it. Does that make sense?

Also, what plot points or storylines do you think we will see in season 3 in addition to TVL because the show always has more than one book or storyline going?

Ah ok :) It does make sense, but I honestly wouldn't worry too much.

For example Rolin talked about Lestat and Gabrielle at the SDCC '22 panel and so far there is no hint of Gabrielle - which makes sense, because Armand does not particularly like her... he probably omits her in his retelling of what happened.

But I don't think Rolin is going to omit her :) ... pass on the possibility to ... dip into that mess, too^^

And Rolin has already talked about Lestat's turning (and it being the literal worst of all the vampires' turnings) in the podcast back then, too. TVL is why Rolin wanted to do the show.

So. I wouldn't worry too much. AMC is financially out of the woods, the modus operandi seems to be the same as last season, and they are ramping up promotion, they are still developing the other shows, too. They said they are in for the long run, and there was once talk of 10 seasons... now I am not optimistic enough to hope for that much *laughs*, but... I'd love it :)) Definitely. Supposedly Sam was signed for 5 seasons though (off the bat). We'll see.

As per story lines... well, I mean, they will need to keep Dubai fresh, so that will develop further, and then, of course, in Lestat's past there is a lot they can hook into as well.

Magnus shows up as a ghost in the later books, too, so who knows, they might explore that aspect already (and there maybe the origins of the Talamasca???) in some kind of fashion. It would serve to introduce Benedict and Rhoshamandes here, too, given the later arcs. Marius' arc, of course, though if the rumor re Justin Kirk holds then they are going towards Marius' story and TWMBK (and possibly QotD) in s4 and s5. Gabrielle could be introduced in Dubai, and maybe bring in Sevraine, I mean Fareed is already there, the ancient vampires are there already, somewhere, out of sight, but there is a lot of possibility :)

And, of course, if they actually bring in Fareed again (which might be needed, given Daniel's health status), then Seth cannot be that far, and through Seth we could get an introduction to Gregory and Mekare, and Maharet, and Khayman, and... whoever else.

The Dubai TL is mixed up already, and I for one love it, because it allows for so much.

For example the piano music in the show... I would have loved it if that had been a live stream, of Sybille playing (for example). You know? Little things.

Sam said that there would be (more/other) cameo's coming in s2, so... I fully expect there to be more vampires, probably only apparent to those who know^^. (Just like last time^^)

Also: by now I do think we will get yet another revisit of episode 5 in s3. From Lestat's POV.

Because there is something there that I have touched on, that @cbrownjc has touched on... namely that we will now get to that the fight was more an actual "fight" downstairs, but even more interestingly, we will in all likelihood see why the fight rekindled upstairs. And... here comes something Lestat says in episode 6 into play, namely: "I don't know what possessed me that night."

Now, anyone who has read the last books (which Rolin as stated takes from) knows that Amel's awakening is bloody, drawn to violence, and that he takes over sometimes. He also likes to be in Lestat.

If the basic structure of the fight stays as it is there has to be a reason why that fight rekindled upstairs, and why it continued then with such a drastic power-imbalance, and why Lestat went on about his "nature", something which I have always found weird.

However, if they are already setting up Amel... I have theorized before that they might combine Akasha and Amel, since the actual threats (the burnings) are quite similar and it would be too repetitive for the show.

IF they are, indeed, already setting up Amel, then we will see the "reason" why it all went shit in Louis' POV next season, and then get the personal account of what happened there in s3. Louis won't be able to make much sense of it yet, neither will Armand, nor Daniel, and not even Marius (in all likelihood). But as these lines have not been come into play yet (and this show does not waste lines) I fully expect them to come back.

And then, if Lestat recounts the possession that story line can segue into s4 and s5 of Akasha/Amel rising, they'll probably skip the "core" going to Mekare first, I think Lestat will take it directly, maybe with the threat of Rhoshamandes thrown in or after, depending.

As I said before, I think they know how they want to do the first 5 or so seasons, and this... this is how I think it might come together :))

Obviously this is the "rough cut" - the details will be the most interesting thing.

What did Louis say in the trailer?

"We should get every detail right."

Indeed.

#Interview with the Vampire #amc iwtv #iwtv #Lestat de Lioncourt #Amel #Sacred Core #iwtv Season 5 #iwtv Season 1 #iwtv Season 2 #vampire chronicles #the vampire chronicles #Prince Lestat #iwtv theory #iwtv story speculation #iwtv adaptation

42 notes · View notes

theonyxpath · 6 years ago

Link

That illo, by Andrew Trabbold for Shunned By the Moon, the Werewolf: The Forsaken Night Horrors book, btw, is how my brain is right now.

It’s high pollen time right now here in the Spring on Macungie Mountain, and every thought I need seems to require being pulled out of a cotton candy wadding around my brain.

I am a zombie, koo koo kachew!

So, bear with me on this MMN blog. I’m going to keep it a tad shorter than usual – hey, stop cheering – and there might be more mis-typing. Don’t worry, I’ll leave corrections on Pg XX.

V5 Chicago By Night art by Michael Gaydos

That’s the Fuzzy in our blog Title today, now here’s some of the Social part: the last couple three weeks, you may have noticed that we were doing some damage control on the missing errata for our Scion books.

I wrote updates here on where things had progressed each week so there’d be a source of info and a curated space for that info to be processed. A fair number of backers wanted more info, or wanted what they wanted right away, and we really we not in a position to answer anyone’s questions until the team could try and figure out what happened.

I asked for patience, and explained why with what info we had upfront, and there were a lot of people who stood up and let everyone know that how we were handling things made sense to them.

Giant thanks to all of you!

Now, what I wanted to explain is really for the benefit of the people who tried to post their thoughts/questions in the blog comments section during this time but didn’t see them come up. There were a few nasty comments, and a few inquiring comments, and I had reasons for blocking both.

For those of you who were asking questions, who just wanted more answers than I had to give, I’m sorry you were shut down. I posted the comment in the first blog’s comment section and reiterated that I wasn’t going to engage on further questions in order to spend our time finding out what happened, so I hope you understand what predicated that decision, but still, I hope you’ll try and comment further in the future.

For those who wanted to post angry, nasty, comments…that’s not going to fly here. It’s not about your emotions, it’s about how they are expressed and whether it’s fair to allow one person’s feelings to upset and drive off other posters. Nasty posts might feel good to the poster, but they are awful to read, particularly if the reader isn’t here for Scion, but for the Contagion Chronicle, for example.

And I know that nastiness has this effect because after almost every time we ban someone from the forums because of a nasty series of posts, I get private messages from forumites whose forum names I’ve never read before to thank me, and usually explaining that they were afraid to post to that forum because of the virulence of that banned poster.

So there’s that. We want our community to feel good interacting with us and the rest of the community, and will curate our social media spaces to try and enable that.

Shunned By The Moon art by Leo Albiero

From the serious to the ridiculous: this week I’ll be sitting down for an interview with Dixie and Eddy, I think, as Matthew is visiting the Queen for their monthly pow-wow. It’s in celebration of the One Year Anniversary of the Onyx Pathcast!

Why, it’s hard to believe that just a year ago, three bright-eyed and eager young podcasters came to me with a crazy idea – why couldn’t they do an Onyx Path focused one?

Why not indeed? In fact, they could! And it’s really, really good!

We’re so glad that folks have kept listening and supporting it, so I’m sure we’ll talk about that. If any of you have questions you’d like them to ask me – or you’d like me to ask them! – please pop the questions into the comments section below.

With that, I’m talking my pollen-addled brain and shuffling away. Somewhere in there, I’ll be musing all about our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Our next Kickstarter starting in a couple of weeks will be for Pirates of Pugmire!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Illustration by Charles Bates

On this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast the gang interviews John Burke, a man with a huge accent and writing talent to match: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

The Onyx Path News last week was broadcast live (which seemed to go down well with the viewers!) and can be found here: https://youtu.be/Qny9awhqVzc

Here’s episode six of our Contagion Chronicle actual play, as the protagonists stumble upon a Beshilu nest: https://youtu.be/ozp5TO3h5Lw

In case you missed it, the Story Told Podcast reached episode four of their Dragon-Blooded actual play: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/

The ever-wonderful Devil’s Luck Gaming have moved on to a Chronicles of Darkness story! Please do check them out: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming

Red Moon Roleplaying continue their Scarred Lands campaign, the Great Vilhaim Heist, run by Matthew Dawkins: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com/podcast

Occultists Anonymous’ Mage: The Awakening chronicle continues apace and can be found right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh4mWsf86RuXzrrY_oHyjU4DdtE4MNsv2

And here’s the Dramatic Failure Podcast‘s Geist: The Sin-Eaters chronicle for your dark enjoyment: https://dramaticfailure.podbean.com/

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here’s an update from the App devs:

We’ve been having trouble fixing the android bug that messes up the resolution for newer phones. I think we have a fix for that. It was also brought up that the store display is wrong on most tablet devices, so that is getting fixed too. That should all be soon!

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio 2: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can now order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we’ll be dealing out the Scarred Lands 5e Spell Cards!

CONVENTIONS

UK Games Expo: May 31st – June 2nd From the US comes Eddy Webb, Matt McElroy, and Rich Thomas to join with Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vann, John Burke, Chris Allen, and Klara Herbol! Gen Con: August 1st – August 4th Save Against Fear: Oct 12-14 GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Redlines

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Let The Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Blood Sea: Crimson Abyss for 5e (Scarred Lands)

TC: Aeon Ready Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Manuscript Approval:

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Editing:

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Indexing:

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Chicago By Night

They Came From Beneath the Sea!

EX3 Lunars

Hunter: The Vigil 2

Contagion Chronicle

VtR Spilled Blood – Contracted.

M20 Book of the Fallen

Dark Eras 2 – All sorted, I think.

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel – Mr Pride working on these right now.

Pirates of Pugmire – KS art contracted, sketches and finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant – KS art started contracting.

Scion Ready Made Characters – getting artist on these.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – With Josh.

Shunned By the Moon

Scion Jumpstart

Trinity Continuum Core – Index is in.

Proofing

The Realm

Book of Oblivion – Inputting last corrections.

Signs of Sorcery – Dev comments back to layout.

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams Novel

At Press

Scion Hero – Shipping to backers, PoD proof ordered.

Scion Origin – Shipping to backers, PoD proof ordered.

Scion Dice – Shipping to backers.

Scion Screen – Shipping to backers.

Fetch Quest – Waiting for PoD proofs.

In Media Res – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Geist 2e – PDF out to backers, gathering errata with new sheet.

Scarred Lands Spell Cards – On Sale this Wednesday.

Adventures for Curious Cats – PoD files uploaded.

Tales of Excellent Cats – PoD files uploaded.

Dragon-Blooded – Deluxe at printer. Signed off of Press Proofs.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – At printer.

Trinity Core and Aeon Screens – Files at printer.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE:

Yesterday was Cinco De Mayo. And the day before was May the Fourth be With You Day, and May 1st was May Day… so today, maybe we celebrate not celebrating.

#Onyx Path Publishing

1 note · View note