#ulpianus

[coolchulainn]

Ulpianus in the seaborn nest, acrylic on 24 x 17.5 cm canvas. I've been painting a bunch of stuff recently but I don't often have good lighting conditions to photograph it

itty bitty ulpipi closeup

[cerastes]

Skadi: “Captain, can I ask you something weird?”

Ulpianus:

Skadi: “I feel like I don’t really get along with Gladiia, and it can affect our teamwork adversely. What do you recommend, Captain?”

Ulpianus:

Skadi: “True, annoying as it may be, it’s probably better to just talk to her. On the other side of things, I feel like Laurentina… She’s not avoiding me, per se, but she does make sure to spend time with a lot of people, and I worry she’s annoyed by me.”

Ulpianus:

Skadi: “Well, yes… It’s true she’s not fragile anymore, she’s improved a lot since she was stuck in bed, I cannot help but worry, but she likely doesn’t want me to worry as much now that her body is, well, hers again. All this introspection got me hungry, though. I could go for some pizza now, but the line at the pizzeria is so long…”

Ulpianus:

Skadi: “You know? You’re right, you always know what to say, Captain!” *crashes right through three dozen people while sending them flying like bowling pins*

Laurentina, who just arrived, witnessing Skadi’s Orca Bowling Technique: “…And you just… Let her do that?”

Ulpianus, a single tear of joyous pride rolling down his rugged face:

[solusbane]

[nnk22k]

He's so cool.

[hunterfromtheabyss]

skadidi and ulpipi

[kaitzitt]

Swimming with Abyssal Hunters :3

[potettoe]

Abyssal Hunters

[99bowl]

le fishe doodles

[hanteeyo]

they shouldve put him in the collab

[mylulutolulu]

Ulpianus

[golurkart]

ulpianus

[cerastes]

I want to see the Skadi and Ulpipi interactions a lot, what we saw in Stultifera, for how brief it was (they were kind of in the middle of something very important and time sensitive), immediately told you a lot about them, but something that stuck out to me, subtle midst all the happenings, is that Skadi addresses Gladiia as "Gladiia" early on, and Gladiia corrects her by having her address her as "Captain Gladiia". Skadi does so from there on -- not super happy about it; Skadi in general has shown to be pretty unreceptive of leadership in general, not really caring much for Kal'tsit as well, nor following protocol as we've seen a number of times, and it's explicit in her Files that she's incredibly difficult to work with because she doesn't care to work with others and thus most other Operators don't like her much, that's without even getting into her reputation as the "Walking Catastrophe" -- and all's fine until they do find Ulpianus in the Stultifera, and from there on, Skadi goes back to referring to Gladiia without the 'captain' part. Seeing that Ulpianus was alive, Skadi didn't have to call Gladiia 'captain' anymore, because her actual captain, and the only authority figure we've seen Skadi actually acknowledge with the possible exception of Doctor (who is less a superior and more someone she really likes), was still alive and presumably back.

That alone, alongside Skadi's often forgotten actual personality -- stoic, melancholic, reserved, uncooperative, responsible, stubborn, assertive, brutish, caring -- tells you a lot about their relationship, even if it was brief. Skadi makes absolutely no effort to hide her opinions, what you see is, in a lot of ways, what you get, and she was very happy to see Ulpianus alive. The first thing he says to Skadi is "can you stop gawking already, we're in a battlefield, pay attention, fool" and Skadi basically goes "HELL YEAH, FUCKIN' A BABY" like, for the undeniable elegance she holds in certain ways, it's great to see her character is consistent even with her very first appearance in the very first event of the game, in which she was the star alongside Grani and Big Bob: She is rough, she is no-nonsense, she likes foregoing the flowery speech and going straight to the point, and if things can be said curtly and bluntly, then why go through the social ritual of cordiality? That's what Skadi is, and that's what Ulpianus showed to be in that brief interaction. Brash and blunt as he was, Skadi likes that. That's her Captain.

Which is super cool! Because in Laurentina, you can see a lot of Gladiia as well, you can very much see the impact Gladiia has had in Laurentina as a person, with Gladiia's emphasis in the arts and carrying oneself with a certain degree of elegance if not outright arrogance, something both Gladiia and Laurentina show far more pointedly than Skadi. Likewise, just from that small scene, you can see exactly how important her captain is to Skadi, because you can see how similar they are and how comfortable, how glad she is, even, to see him again, and even if he basically barked at her frame one, Skadi knows it's who he is, and how he acts, and that's what she likes. Blunt objects made into people, the two of them, I couldn't be happier.

[yildraws]

[exceptionally-stupid]

Lumen, as he witnesses a massive genetically altered dilf break into the new place he’s volunteering at, kill the guy who just tried to sell the world with a literal anchor, give him a quick therapy session, and tell him what a bright, kind young man he is: I-is it getting hot in here or is it just me?!

[svetyomi]

Doctor bringing them on a group date

[kharla-k]

I really liked Ulpianus in the recent Path of Life event, because outside of the John Bloodborne-ness, all of the cloak and dagger behavior and being as reserved as possible in Stultifera Navis was entirely justified with the demonstrations of Horatia and greater Aegir. One of his first actions back in Stultifera Navis, stating that the hunters should not return to the ailing Aegir, was also immediately justified when they get dragged into a spotlight, forgoing much of their initiative and drawing malicious attention. How much does he accomplish, by himself, because he works in the dark with no oversight? Somewhere midway through PoL we find out that Aegir hasn't stopped trying to create hunters, they've been trying, even despite the ethical concerns, but repeatedly failing. I believe is because Ulpianus as a key scientist kept an important part of the process to himself so that it couldn't take place without him, which is also immediately justified upon finding Aegirian artifacts and evidence of being lied to in the firstborn nest. That all pales in comparison to the end result of the waterway project (which is unexplained for the majority of the plot, worryingly), that needed the dormant nanomachines to be assimilated for it to succeed. This would have come at the cost of Milliarium's obliteration if not for the decisive actions of Jordi, Lucilla, and other members of the cast. This also means that not only was Blandus fallen, leadership above him were aware, and incorporating his naivety into their plans, if not taking direct steps themselves to usurp Milliarium and keep Blandus' sabotage under wraps.

I begin to understand, empathize, and now fully trust Ulpianus over Aegir when I find out that they were willing to desecrate a city of tens of thousands in what was only a gamble for success. Ulpianus, like Kal'tsit, is among the most innately aware of the arrogance and overconfidence of Aegir, and the danger that it represents.