#we can only keep native species here

[ceticalys]

What species is Herbie?

He is a Nephrurus levis pilbarensis, AKA Pilbara three-lined knob-tailed gecko, but in my experience nobody really distinguishes subspecies here and just calls all Nephrurus levis species smooth knob-taileds. :)

[tonythr]

We need to talk about the Pale King's foresight ability

Ok, I waited a very long time to make this post. The story of the Pale King is my favorite aspect of the whole narrative of Hollow Knight, and there's so much mystery surrounding it that I can't not think about it on a daily basis. There are a bunch of questions left unanswered, and I believe that most (if not all) answers were left in the game specifically so that players could interpret them the way they think is best. So I wanna see what interpretations ARE there and maybe pick one (or two. or three. or all of them. or maybe really just one.) I dunno. Anyway, the point is, this is probably gonna be a long one. Big shoutout to anyone who makes it all the way to the end.

Now, enough with the rambling. To the point.

It all starts with the mushrooms.

The part that started all this train of thought was this particular line.

Unlike other areas of the game, Fungal Wastes don't have a boss that correlates with the area's native species. The shrooms don't have a higher being they worship. They don't have a civilization. They don't have a Dreamer. All they have is this big old mushroom elder that sleeps eternally with this one thought in their mind. All this to say that this line here is *probably* hella important.

The lore tablets of the Wastes also echo it.

So keep this in mind: when the Wyrm, reincarnated as the Pale King, started building and expanding his Kingdom (it's safe to assume that he started doing that AFTER he turned into his bug form) and got to the part where he had to make an alliance with The Mushrooms, they agreed to be a part of Hallownest ONLY because they knew that the Pale King had an ability to predict the future. Remember, they looked down on all the bugs that weren't part of their mycelium-sharedSelf-mindUnited thing. They were perfectly happy with their way of life. They didn't need the Pale King's gift of mind. The only reason they agreed to accept his will was because of his foresight ability. They assumed that, since he can see what's going to happen in the future, he will protect them (along with the rest of his Kingdom) from any possible danger. And that was a smart decision.

And yet, it didn't work out. And not just for them. For the whole Kingdom.

The main question is why.

From the way the mushrooms talk about the Wyrm, we can assume that his foresight ability didn't quite suck, which is to say that he really COULD see a big part of what's going to happen. So basically, we have two possibilities:

A. The PK's foresight didn't allow him to see *too* far into the future. It had its limitations. Maybe he could see what was going to happen in an age from now, but he couldn't predict *everything*.

B. The PK's foresight could reach as far as all eternity, meaning he knew the 'Eternal Kingdom' was doomed to fail from the moment he started building it.

In any case, Elder Mushroom's words suggest that, at one point, PK actually KNEW his Kingdom was going to fail.

And, since the most important part of his story is his battle with the Radiance (like, what else would the Mushroom be talking about?), I think it means that he potentially knew that the Hollow Knight was going to fail, but created and Sealed it anyway. So, the question is:

If the Pale King could see that his plan of creating an empty vessel to seal the Radiance would inevitably fail, why did he go through with it in the first place?

Here's the first, most simple answer.

He knew that the Infection was inevitable, so he decided to postpone it indefinitely. Hit the snooze button, but make it last forever.

Actually, that's not even an answer. This is just a straight-up fact.

Hallownest is literally frozen in time.

(Actually, I think it's so frozen that sometimes it makes rocks levitate)

The Hollow Knight's sacrifice was made SPECIFICALLY so the inevitable arrival of the Infection could be set back for all eternity. That's why the game has a big leitmotif of night and day.

That's why the Radiance's main goal is for the Dawn to Break. Because she's the Sun, and what she's fighting against is an eternal night.

But now we're entering the mystery zone. There are two questions about PK's foresight ability that have to be answered in order to understand what's actually happening.

Question 1. Does freezing time also freeze the foresight? If the Kingdom is left in a stasis without a changing future, can PK still see past that stasis? Could he see when it would end? If so, could he see what will happen after it ends?

Question 2. Is Time actually predictable? Is there just one timeline where everything that happens was doomed to happen in the first place, OR are there infinite possibilities and some room for the free will? If so, can the future be changed if one knows what actions will have what consequences? And if so, are there things that are actually inevitable, no matter the choices?

Whatever the answers to both of those questions are, I want to emphasize this:

Those lines spoken by the Radiance, along with the Elder Mushroom's words about a demise unavoidable, as well as some other things I'll mention later, make me think that the Infection and the Radiance's rise to power is an event that was truly inevitable.

Here, it doesn't matter if the free will is real or not. Remember: in the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Radiance ranks higher than the Pale King. She is a candidate for a God of Gods title, the highest of the Higher Beings. So maybe PK could shape the future with his knowledge of it. Maybe his foresight actually protected his Kingdom by preventing some bad things that he, as a Pale Being, had power over. But the power of the Radiance was stronger than that. She had the strength to assert her dominating will in every possible timeline, so that, even with his foresight, the Wyrm couldn't do anything to stop the Dawn from Breaking. After all, it's the power of Nature itself - the day always inevitably comes to replace the night.

So that's the entire reason the King decided to use the Void in his battle with the Radiance. The Forgotten Light had the ability to conquer Fate. But the Void, in his own words, had the ability to deny Time itself.

So, even if the Infection was inevitable, the power of Void could either prevent it, postpone it, or straight-up defeat it. I think that the reason for this is that the Void possesses a will that is stronger than any Higher Being. The Night and Day can follow each other, but the force that represents the End itself is beyond that.

So, now we're gonna ask the REAL question.

With the Void being able to deny Time, could the Pale King see the future the Void's actions will bring?

And for that, I have two facts that suggest that PK, in fact, couldn't at least foresee SOME of the Void's choices.

The first one is the fact that the game has multiple endings.

Look into those eyes and tell me that they're looking at something that could have been predicted and prevented by a dead monarch, albeit a godly one. The existence of multiple endings tells us that free will IS real, at least for The Knight/The Shade Lord.

Oh and speaking of dead monarchs, here's the next fact.

That man is fucking dead.

The Pale King's whole deal was to last eternally, right? To build a life that would ensure his endless reign. To achieve immortality.

So if he could see what was going to happen after he let the Void into the picture, why would he still try that despite it clearly leading to his demise?

The nature of PK's death is mysterious, to say the least. He didn't just die of old age. He tried to run away, bringing his whole Palace along with him to the Dream World. He tried to run away from something - probably from the consequences of his own actions. But even that escape didn't save him from being killed. And what killed him was most definitely the Void.

The throne room is dark.

In fact, it's so dark that the Kinght has to pull out the lumafly lantern. The only other room in the entire White Palace where that happens is the workshop, where PK worked on creating the Kingsmoulds and the Wingsmoulds. The space is filled with black smoke and black particles - the same ones that are seen in the Abyss and many areas that are located above it. When the Kinght strikes the Pale King's body with the Nail, it sounds the same as striking a training dummy outside of Oro's hut, which is made out of a lifeless husk. It's like the Pale King's body was literally hollowed out.

The form that was given to the Void by the Pale King to create the Kingsmoulds guarding the throne room is lost here, implying that it gained some other will that was beyond the Pale King's control.

And again, the only other place we see something like that is the Palace Grounds in the waking world.

...Which are located just above the Void Sea. Also, the same smoke and particles surround the place, and black tentacle-like vines reach inside the body of the Kingsmould containing the Palace.

No need to doubt. It was definitely the Void that killed the Pale King.

But what does it mean?

Well, here's some important info about the Void. It is a manifestation of this world's regrets.

If you look deep enough, it makes a lot of sense for the Void to symbolize literal regret. The Shade is a manifestation of the Knight's regrets about what went wrong on its journey. The Void Sea in the Abyss is probably the regrets of the Ancient Civilization's dead bugs. And the Void that surrounds the Palace Grounds and the Pale King's throne room is a manifestation of his own regrets. That's why he couldn't escape from the Void even in the Dream World. Because you can't escape your own guilt, your own darkness, your own regret. That's also the reason why the Knight has the right to sit on the throne after striking down the Pale King: it's because, at that point, the Kinght is set on a path that includes facing its own regrets, accepting them and uniting them under its will. Something the Pale King failed to do.

But the question remains: what exactly were those regrets that the Pale King was running from and that ultimately killed him? I mean, of course, it's the whole deal with the vessels that he regretted, but I think there's more to that. I want to lay down a list of theories about his foresight. Each of them can also explain which specific regret got him the most.

Each theory would also change the interpretation of this famous line:

...Which is important. Obviously, this line refers to the Vessels being sacrificed in order to create a Pure one, but, depending on the possible range of PK's future vision, it can have an additional, deeper meaning. You'll see what I mean.

But first, there's some other issue here that needs to be addressed, that makes this whole discussion twice as complicated. It's all about this one line:

So, here's another fucking question. Does harnessing the Void by creating the Vessels and the Moulds make those creations a part of what the Pale King could see with his foresight ability?

There's some kind of scale here that varies from 'There are multiple endings that depend on that one Vessel's choice, so that means the Void is outside of the PK's ability to predict the future' to 'The Vessels and the Moulds are the Void that is harnessed by the Pale King, so his future vision applies to them as well; it's just that the Knight gains the power to choose the ending only when it takes control over its own Void by gaining the Void Heart'. So, what if the Pale King could foresee that the Knight would be able to defeat the Radiance in the dream world? What if he couldn't see the Knight's arrival at all? What if he COULD see it, but his vision only applied to the events of the Hollow Knight ending, the only one that doesn't include the Void Heart? What if even the Embrace the Void ending was visible to the Pale King after all, as one of many possibilities he didn't pay too much attention to?

But the Knight is one thing. What about the Hollow Knight? Was its failure a part of the future PK could see? Or, since THK is a Vessel too, its choices were off limits as well? What about the Kingsmoulds? Was the fact that they would succumb to the Void that was going to kill PK available for him?

None of these questions have a clear answer. Probably. Or maybe they do. But there are multiple explanations for what was really going on. I'll try to present them as a list of theories. Each of them will give us a different interpretation of the Pale King's foresight ability's true nature.

PK didn't know what the Void would do but decided to try using it anyway.

PK only saw that the Void would help the Hollow Knight seal the Radiance, but his vision was limited (either because it was limited by its nature (option A, see above), or because the stasis created by the void limited his abilities (question 1, see above)), and so he didn't see that the Hollow Knight would break.

PK knew the Hollow Knight was going to fail but doomed his Kingdom anyway.

PK only saw the timeline where the Knight seals the Radiance without killing her. Every other ending besides The Hollow Knight was beyond PK's foresight.

PK knew that there were multiple possibilities once the Pandora's box was opened, but he saw that one of those possibilities was the Void successfully sealing the Radiance and/or killing her, so he decided to roll the dice. So he could see that Dream No More was possible, but he didn't consider Embrace the Void.

Each of these theories holds some interesting interpretations. Let's take a closer look.

I'll use a timeline to mark the possible range of PK's vision for each theory:

Just to clear things out: when I talk about what PK could or couldn't see, I mean what he could or couldn't see while using his powers at any point before his death. It IS possible that he saw some things when it was already too late to do something. That's what I was talking about when discussing possibilities A and B above (so maybe he saw that THK would break before he even made the Vessels, or maybe he figured it out only after it got sealed). Every theory accounts for that. It's complicated. You know what? Nevermind this whole disclaimer. I'll get to it.

Theory 1. The Void neutralizes the future vision

Basically, what this means is that once the Void got into the picture, the Pale King could no longer use his powers in any meaningful way. The Void, being a will that denies Time, created too many different possibilities for the King to account for, yet he decided to go through with the Hollow Knight plan just because he didn't see any other option.

The line 'No cost too great' in this case might refer not only to the Vessels being sacrificed, but to PK's foresight ability itself. The cost is his future vision, sacrificed to a state of uncertainty that might or might not bring salvation.

If this theory is true, the Pale King's story is a story about a monarch who, in his efforts to save his Kingdom from a wild force of radiant nature, accidentally unleashed something far beyond anyone's control and paid for it not only with his main ability, but with his life as well. Both the Vessels' and the Abyss' actions couldn't have been predicted, and that's why PK accidentally allowed for the Hollow Knight to break and for the forces of the Abyss to overpower him with his regrets about the countless children he murdered.

The risk he took is his main regret.

The flaw of this theory is that, if it's true, it means that:

a) The Elder Mushroom was completely wrong about PK being able to foresee the second coming of the Infection.

b) Harnessing the Void doesn't do shit besides changing its form. Even while being contained inside a semi-sentient Vessel, its actions don't bend to the Pale King's will or his foresight ability.

All in all, this theory basically means that both Pale King's powers and his judgment sucked, and the whole collapse of Hallownest happened because he was incompetent, reckless and stupid.

(That's why I don't like it)

TL;DR: The Void does what it pleases regardless of the Pale King's future vision, and he was stupid for trying to use it.

Theory 2. The Hollow Knight's failure was beyond the Pale King's future vision

This is probably a very controversial one, but it does have some interesting implications. The point is that PK didn't see that the Hollow Knight would fail, and so he went through with the plan thinking it was flawless.

In this case, the Hollow Knight counts as a 'harnessed' part of the Void, so its actions up until its breaking were completely predictable. The Pale King saw that the Infection would be sealed successfully, and that a stasis would be created. He got what he wanted, but at some point (could be any point) he realized that he didn't know if anything was going to happen next.

That could happen for one of the two reasons:

The stasis created by the Pale King literally meant that the time was frozen, which meant that nothing relevant wasn't going to happen unless this stasis would somehow break. But, while inside this state of stasis, the Pale King himself couldn't see anything beyond that state. What future vision is there if there's no actual future?

The future vision was clouded by the Pale King's inevitable death. It's possible that, while looking into the future, PK couldn't see the Hollow Knight breaking simply because his future vision doesn't allow him to see beyond the moment of his own death.

Anyway, what this theory suggests is that the main thing the Pale King didn't or couldn't predict was his own death. Or maybe at some later point he saw it was coming and tried to run away from it by hiding his Palace, but the Void got him anyway. It happened because the Void that destroyed the Kingsmoulds' bodies and killed the Pale King was a force beyond anyone's control an beyond PK's foresight.

A major proof of that is the situation with this guy:

Notice how they apologize directly to the Pale King, and how the Void slowly took over their mind. This guy was a royal retainer, which means the King probably ordered them to keep the lighthouse running himself.

The question is, why did he take such a half-assed measure to keep a whole Sea of raw dark power at bay? It looks so stupid! Just one lighthouse for a whole unchecked Void Sea? And just ONE lighthouse keeper who couldn't even resist the Call of the Void? Why such carelessness?

The answer is right here. That was because the Pale King simply DID NOT KNOW what the Void Sea was actually capable of, because its power (unlike the power of the Void trapped inside the King's children's bodies) was beyond his foresight. Without a clear answer from his future vision, he figured that this Void might or might not be an issue and decided that he had more important stuff to deal with instead of even hiring a whole team to watch one lighthouse.

So, while he managed to reach his goal creating a stasis that would keep his Kingdom lasting eternally, there was one thing he didn't account for, and that was the vengeful wrath of the dark force he dared to use as his plaything. The lighthouse was turned off, and the Void soon started to rise up through the rocks of the Ancient Basin towards the White Palace. The King tried to run, hiding himself and his Palace inside the Dream World, but the Void seeped in easily, killing the monarch. After all, the Kingsmould that was used as a gate to the Palace was also made out of Void.

If this theory is true, then the line 'No cost too great' could refer not only to the Vessels, but also to himself. If he didn't know that the Hollow Knight would break, then he probably thought that his Kingdom WOULD last forever, and that even his own death wouldn't change that. So he sacrificed his own life, gave in to his regrets about everything bad he had done, but managed to save one glimmer of pride, thinking that, even though he killed a bunch of children and abused the Void, he still managed to deliver eternal happiness to all his subjects.

But the thing about this theory is that now we also need to explain why the Radiance broke free despite everything the Pale King thought he did. Here, this theory divides into two additional theories (I'm really sorry for this long-ass post):

Theory 2.1: The Radiance is like 'Nah, I'd win'

Basically, PK's plan to achieve eternal life for his Kingdom at the cost of his own life was actually good. There was no flaw in it, and it should've worked perfectly. But we know that the Radiance might be a being that is higher than PK on the power scale. So, just like the Void, her actions might be beyond what PK's foresight ability could help him see. PK did everything right (not morally), but the Radiance broke through anyway because she's just... that much better.

Theory 2.2: The death of the King is what triggered the whole thing

Going back to the Void's actions messing with the future the Pale King could predict, I say it's possible that his own death, caused by the Void, is what made the stasis wear off.

Think of it this way. The Hollow Knight contained the Infection, but that merely eliminates the possibility of a HIGHER FORCE enacting some sort of change. Preventing EVERYTHING ELSE from breaking the stasis is the job for the Pale King himself. But, once the Void (another higher force) kills him, there's no one that could keep the stasis running, and it just... ends. That gives the Radiance (as a force of change, opposed to a state of frozen time) an opportunity to break free.

Or maybe it was the Sealed Vessel that was affected by the Pale King's death. After all, we probably know what its only thought (the one that ruined everything) was:

So, the Pale King dies, the Hollow Knight senses that a familiar presence is starting to slip away, which makes the Vessel panic (or something like that), and the Radiance makes her move, infecting its mind.

OR it could be both of those things! Maybe the Hollow Knight's attachment to its father AND the Radiance's insane higher power both played a role in filling up the power vacuum that was left after PK died.

Anyway yeah, that's it for this theory. The only thing left to discuss is the new interpretation it gives us for the line spoken by the Elder Mushroom:

'A demise unavoidable', in this case, refers to the demise of the Pale King himself. He didn't necessarily foresee that his death would lead to the destruction of Hallownest, but at some point he might've figured out that the Void was coming to get him but decided to stick with his plan anyway. But then it raises the question of when and how the Elder Mushroom learned about the Pale King's demise, and why they assumed that he could see it coming. That's the main issue with this whole theory: it just doesn't explain how the Mushroom's line fits into all of this.

TL;DR: The Void killing the Pale King is the only thing that he couldn't foresee in the long run, and even if he could do that at some point, the consequences of his death AND/OR the Radiance's actions were beyond his control.

Theory 3. Self-fulfilling prophecy

Ok, so now we're on the theory that I personally consider the closest to canon, or at least the implications of canon that we have. This is also the one theory that brings (some kind of) consistency to this whole question. This is because it explains the earlier question of how the future vision actually works.

See, there's no way the Pale King actually knew that the Hollow Knight would break from the very start, right?

Why would he doom his Kingdom when all of his actions were meant to prevent that? In fact, that's exactly the question that the Elder Mushroom is asking.

"Pale Wyrm... What good to foresee a demise unavoidable?"

Well, the answer here is actually kinda simple this time.

He saw it coming, and he tried to postpone it.

This is the simplest explanation possible, because we already have all the proof right here on the table.

The King sees that the Infection will come, and that it is inevitable (the inevitability is the key part).

He knows that, when the predicted moment comes, the Radiance will return and wreck his shit. No matter the timeline, no matter the choice. The flow of Time itself inevitably leads to the Infection happening.

The only option is to use a force that is able to deny time itself. The solution is to use the Void to metaphysically freeze the very flow of Time itself. The plan is not to try to change what is meant to happen, but to create a stasis that makes it so that it never comes to it. The timer never reaches zero. The eternal snooze button.

The stasis, however, dampens the foresight ability. If there's no flow of Time, the King can't see what's going to happen.

[A little digression: For the purpose of proving this theory, let's say that the foresight ability works better the closer the observer is to the moment that is being observed.

For example, while looking into the future from a point in time before a big war, the observer CAN see that the war will end on a certain date, but only when that date comes closer to them can they see HOW the war will end, and WHO will end it, and any other detail.]

The stasis wears off because of the Radiance's power (like in theory 2.1).

The King is finally able to see the exact nature of the Infection breaking free. He sees that the Hollow Knight itself, the Vessel he personally created to be the only key to the Kingdom's salvation, will be the reason everything goes to hell.

Wracked with guilt and regret, he escapes to the dream realm before the break happens so that he can at least save himself and his palace.

The Void makes a move that the King could or couldn't foresee, killing him. He thinks about the 'no cost too great' philosophy one last time before realizing that it is, in fact, utter bullshit. He dies with a feeling of everything he built crumbling to dust and his core belief being proven faulty.

The Infection breaks free, having harnessed the Hollow Knight, as inevitable as always. With the King being dead, there's no power to uphold the time stasis, which becomes the final push. The Vessel breaks.

Only then the Kingdom sees the arrival of a void being that has the potential to actually change things from their set course. The Knight, being a part of the Void that was beyond the Pale King's future vision range, enacts an end of its own choosing.

This ties to the game's themes of determinism, and flashes out the Kinght's strength to break free from the fate's chains, empowering the player and making the whole plot twist with the final battle against the Radiance even more epic.

The monarch who justified killing his own children by his desire to prevent the higher will from destroying his artificially made Kingdom has succumbed to a force beyond his control, becoming a part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The chosen hair of its father's will becomes the reason why the inevitable finally happens. The only one who is free of obligations, desires and beliefs becomes the one to save the Kingdom once and for all, avenging the deaths of its kin. Beautiful.

And the Mushrooms who probably just didn't believe in the stasis from the start turned out to be right, smugly reminding us that it was always inevitable and PK couldn't do shit. There's no good in seeing a demise unavoidable, and it's foolish to make sacrifices to postpone it.

What the Pale King lacked was acceptance. The ability to embrace the true nature of things.

Something that is the main ability and the main character arc for the Knight, whose nature is to consume and to use its will to make even the darkest shadows become a part of it.

A little spoiler though: this theory has another variation that is even cooler. I'll leave it for the very end.

TL;DR: The King knew that the Infection was inevitable from the very start. He tried to postpone it. He failed, becoming a part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When he figured it out, it was already too late, so he fled and was then killed by the Void.

Theory 4. The Masterplan

Ok, so, while the previous theory was probably the one closest to the canon implications, there are still a couple of possibilities that make this WHOLE thought process worth the time spent on it, because the mere CHANCE of this one theory being true makes the whole game feel even more nuanced. It's not even necessarily correct, but it's not about that. Team Cherry made the lore surrounding the Pale King's foresight ability vague enough for us to feel it's POSSIBLE that the whole plot was predicted by him. And that's how this narrative works: it allows the players to come up with different interpretations of itself, never proving or disproving any of the theories that it inevitably creates inside our heads.

So anyway yeah, what if the Pale King knew that another Vessel would usurp the Hollow Knight? What if THAT was his plan all along?

So, let's discuss a very important question.

How was the Hollow Knight chosen among other vessels? Why did that one child become the Pure Vessel while millions of others were left behind?

Well, judging by these lines and by the Birthplace cutscene, the trial to be chosen as the Hollow Knight was to climb up from the Abyss.

But why? How does scaling a huge pit prove a vessel hollow, and devoid of thought? Is it about the strength? Is it about not caring about other siblings who fall down? Is it about controlling one's inner Void in order to not succumb to the regret of the whole situation? Is it something like a sperm and an egg thing? A bug thing? Maybe it's all of those things. Maybe it's none of them. One thing we can assume, though, is this:

The Knight also passed this trial. It could have become the Hollow Knight. The reason it didn't was because the Pale King didn't see it and the Hollow Knight didn't care about it.

But in the end, it was the same reason why the Kinght became a more worthy candidate.

Think about it this way. If the Void is what is needed to seal the Light, and if the Void is created and channeled through regrets and past pain, what could be a better fuel for it than a father's abandonment and a sibling's indifference? Passing the life's trial but losing a chance to live anyway creates the strongest darkness, and that darkness is the reason the Knight becomes the best Vessel possible to do this task.

But it's not the only trial the Knight had to pass in order to qualify for this role.

(Notice the phrasing used in the Quirrel comic - 'ascend to that fabled land')

We don't know how it happened (Team Cherry teased us once about revealing it), but the Knight not only escaped the Abyss through some other path, but managed to leave Hallownest and then come back, purified by the mind-wiping winds. That's what Hornet says about it, too - she specifically states that the Knight's resilience was born of two voids: the one that's outside of the Kingdom and the one that's below it.

And we also know that many other Vessels attempted the same thing.

So basically, had any of them been more successful at the quest the Knight did succeed at, the Kingdom could have had a greater, if not near-infinite, amount of replacements for the Sealed Vessel. One Knight takes the Infection inside of itself, holds it in until the Infection inevitably starts to break free, but then another Knight arrives, answering its sibling's call for help, and the cycle continues. Convenient, huh?

Sounds like a thing some very perceptive godlike monarch could come up with as a plan to save his Kingdom.

It could ALSO explain why there are SO MANY Vessels in the Abyss. Maybe it's not about the White Lady being crazy horny. Maybe it was a part of the plan (which included the White Lady being crazy horny) all along. A way to measure up to eternity by creating an amount of heirs that no one would be able to count. Yes, it IS finite, but with THIS many spare Vessels it wouldn't really matter.

That said, there ARE some flaws in this theory. First, there's no live Vessels in the Abyss, so the ones that survived the Pale King's trial probably either died or left the Abyss already. And it's likely that there weren't too many of those who escaped, so maybe there weren't enough vessels after all. But then again, it only takes one to save the Kingdom for multiple ages, so who knows how that would work.

Second, as far as we know, the Knight was the only one who had the potential to actually seal the Radiance once and for all. Letting weaker vessels try to usurp the Hollow Knight would mean risking the Kingdom. But then again, that's what Hornet was there for. On the other hand, even she was surprised with how the Knight was able to defeat her, so either she didn't know about the Masterplan, or it was never real in the first place, and the Knight IS the one unique Vessel who has the strength to save Hallownest for good.

Honestly, I'm inclined to agree with the latter assumption solely because of the narrative weight of the Birthplace cutscene. I mean, there was no other vessel that was in the same position as the Knight. No one else had that same experience of passing the Abyss trial just in time to see the first Hollow Knight walk away with its father, who then shut the door in their face.

But anyway, this theory is still pretty valid. If it's correct, it would mean that:

a) The 'No cost too great' line spoken by PK at the moment of his death basically means 'Whatever bitches, I may be dead but Hallownest WILL last eternally because I had those Vessels ALL FIGURED OUT, and there's SHIT you can do about it now!'

b) All who doubted PK's plan are proven wrong, and the Mushrooms' smugness is worth nothing.

c) The Pale King's future vision is fucking OP.

...Whiiiich yeah, makes the Pale King look like the coolest mastermind in all fiction, but at the same time takes away the tragedy of his whole story and the uniqueness of our dear beloved Ghost Knight. Still fun to think about it tho.

TL;DR: The King knew that the Hollow Knight would break, so he had every other possible Vessel in mind as a replacement. The new Vessel would be the one who survived the Abyss, escaped, left Hallownest, and returned at the call of the previous Vessel. With millions of Vessels born, the cycle could have been repeated so many times that it wouldn't matter when the Abyss would run out of Vessels.

Theory 5. The Masterplan but cooler

Now THAT's what I personally consider a big stretch.

See, for THAT theory to be correct, the Pale King should have known the EXACT moves the Knight (and only the Knight) would take in order to defeat the Radiance one way or another. He should have accounted for things such as:

The Knight being left in the Abyss in the exact way that it was; broken mentally by the chance that was taken away from it.

His own death.

The Knight arriving to Hallownest, passing all the tests, getting the Dreamnail, breaking the Dreamers' Seals.

The Knight becoming the new Sealed Vessel in at least two of the possible timelines.

The White Lady gifting the Knight her part of Kingsoul.

The Knight successfully entering the White Palace, finding the King's corpse, and taking the second half of Kingsoul.

The Knight returning to the Birthplace, getting the Void Heart and uniting the Void.

The Knight entering the Hollow Knight's dream with Hornet's help and actually killing the Radiance by making the Void consume it.

I think there's exactly a 0.00001% chance of that being the case. But hey, it's possible!

Actually, I don't believe that. It just doesn't feel like that's what the canon implications are about. And then again, if that theory is correct, why couldn't the King predict the Embrace the Void ending? And I do believe that SHADE LORD wasn't on ANYONE'S bingo card at all (except for maybe that one goth bug who gives us the Shade Cloak). Or did the King just decide to risk it all by defeating one God of Gods by creating another, much stronger one? I really don't think so.

I think the Void's will, as well as the Knight's, has the nature to defy any type of fate or future vision. And once the Knight gains the power of the Void Heart, the future of Hallownest is entirely in its hands, and its choice is now inherently outside of anyone's foresight.

TL;DR: The King predicted everything. Could he predict the Shade Lord though?

Theory 6 (the secret one). The 'human' factor

Ok, so, up until now, I discussed the possibilities the Pale King had with his future vision, and how said possibilities could influence his actions and the history of Hallownest as a whole, with the Self-fulfilling prophecy theory (of which this one will be an extension of) being the most plausible one. There's just one thing though. None of those theories really accounted for the possibility that, at some point, Pale King could've just not used his powers, or, more realistically, used them but chose to do something despite the information he got.

But why? What could possibly make him do that? The literal God of Mind, not being rational? Sounds like something that Team Cherry wouldn't fail to include in the game as an emphasized plot point. A lore piece so important must've been given some significant place, perhaps even locked behind some insane platforming gauntlet...

I swear, this one moment drives me crazy.

The Pure Vessel. The Sealed sacrifice. The Empty God. The Hollow Knight was created to be the one and only savior of Hallownest, of everything the Pale King worked so hard on. It was created not as an heir to its father's throne, not as his child, but as a tool to win a war that had been going on for ages. And we all know that it failed because it gained a mind, a will to live, a desire to crave happiness.

And this moment at the end of Path of Pain tells us exactly how it happened. The Pale King, being a god whose main power is to give bugs the ability to think, shared exactly one moment of pure fatherly affection with his empty creation. And that's all that was needed to plant the seeds of a mind-conquering disaster.

And right now I want to focus on the Pale King himself here. If you watch the cutscene, you'll notice that he is the first to turn his head towards the Hollow Knight. He was the one who initiated this moment.

And one might ask: why? Didn't he know that that could lead to the Vessel having a thought that was terminal for the whole plan? Couldn't he PREDICT that him showing even an ounce of affection towards this hollowed-out child would ruin everything he built? His whole Kingdom, his whole dream, his whole civilization? WAS HE STUPID?

But hear me out. What if what we're looking at here is not the Pale King messing up his entire career as a monarch, but him actually achieving the only thing that could satisfy him? Think about it. Who knows how much time he spent in his workshop trying to harness the Void. Millions of his children were left for dead, locked inside a horrible bottomless pit as bones and shadows. Three of the Kingdom's greatest bugs agreed to sacrifice their lives for the King's plan. All so he could achieve what he considered perfection. The impossible ideal. All the struggles of this Kingdom led to the creation of that one being. And when the Pale King knew he had succeeded, there was nothing left to strive for. Finally, he could allow himself to be satisfied. To forget about the greater good. To forget the never-ending battle. To live.

To love.

And maybe at that point he refused to use his future vision. Or maybe he knew that this would ruin everything. Maybe he always knew. For that moment, none of it mattered. The god of mind finally experienced something that had nothing to do with rationality. And once that happened, nothing else mattered anymore. No cost was too great for this one moment.

And so, nothing that happened after that mattered as well. The King's radiant enemy would soon take his Kingdom. His beloved Queen would go into exile. He himself would not be able to fight the regrets of his dark past and would soon cowardly flee from the waking realm, only to be killed on his throne by the very power he so foolishly used to achieve his goal. But at that point that goal didn't matter to him anymore. He was ready for the eternal Void, because he had already achieved the only thing worth achieving.

Too bad that meant he would doom millions (if not billions) of live creatures and make the only being he could actually love experience the cruelest torture unimaginable. Too bad that, when gods attempt to achieve a higher ideal, countless souls must suffer. Too bad that because of that one achievement everything Hallownest was had to end.

But everything ends at some point. That's one of the main themes of this game, and the idea that I believe is represented by the Void. The Knight arrives to reap the sins of its creator, witness secrets sealed, bring some hope to a ruined land, and enact the end of an era. Only a silent agent of change is there to witness the dark consequences of the Wyrm's quest for happiness.

Neat theory, right? Now guess which one is my favorite!

TL;DR: The Pale King realized that the act of loving his child is worth sacrificing everything he worked for, so, even knowing that sealing the No-More-Hollow Knight would doom Hallownest, he decided that his life has already peaked anyway and that there's no point in trying to do anything anymore. He knew that he was cooked though, so he fled and died only with the closest circle of family and friends to keep him company.

----

The post is over now. Big, bigger, yet bigger, the biggest thanks to anyone who genuinely made it through to the end. My grammar is probably flawed as fuck tho, because English is not my native language, so please cut me some slack in that regard. I hope what I was saying there was at least somewhat cohesive. I also hope that the more obscure bits of information I used (like cut dream dialogue) didn't throw anyone off the thought train. It's probably gonna be a big deal when I release this post, so I probably will be coming back to it. Any discussion, as well as disagreement, is always welcome! Please just let me know I didn't write all this for nothing lol. Thanks again!

TL;DR: Skill issue.

[pokemonshelterstories]

i'm a contest trainer, and i've got a ribombee, alolan raichu, and minccino who all get along really well.

theres a wild galarian ponyta that's been wandering my area, and i know it doesn't have a herd since my area doesn't typically have galarian ponyta, but we do have kantonian ponyta, who often travel in herds. im concerned since it seems like she's pretty injured, but I know ponyta can kick real hard so i don't want to freak her out when i approach.

i think she's hurt enough that i could catch her with a pokeball, but like i said, i don't want to freak her out.

i called the local rangers and the person who picked up the phone seemed really casual about this, saying that regional forms that aren't native to the area tend to die out(!?) and that its just nature taking its course(!?!?). i really want to help her because it hurts my heart to see any pokemon in pain, but is there any reason catching her would be bad? the plan probably wouldn't be to release her, since she's not a natural part of the niche here.

i have the resources to take care of her if i were to catch her, but i'm worried that she's going to upset my other pokemon. my raichu is on the smaller side (closer to 1'7") so the ponyta would become the largest pokemon in the household. would this cause a massive upset in my team?

(also i wouldn't be using her for contests, at least not until she's recovered from whatever injuries she has, so don't worry about that)

honestly, it's not unusual for us as rangers and rehabbers to let nature take its course on an injured pokemon that's still out in the wild. given that she's not a native variant, she's likely either an escapee or a released pokemon. an individual vagrant likely wont have any ecological impact, so we wouldn't need to remove her immediately. but capturing a pokemon for rehab (which we typically only do with native species/variants) or euthanasia (more likely what would happen here) takes time and resources, and it also removes resources from the natural ecosystem. if we grabbed every injured pokemon out there, things would fall apart pretty quickly! it sucks to think of a pokemon suffering, but injury and death are a normal part of life in the wild.

now, if you wanted to capture her to be your own pokemon, i don't see any issue with that in and of itself. she clearly doesn't have a social group she belongs to (i imagine some of her injuries are actually from a kantonian herd chasing her off; ponyta are a prey species and often wont tolerate a vagrant who might make them an easier target). but you're looking at a pretty tough time bringing her back to health if she is indeed healthy enough to save her, and you'd have to make sure you have access to pasture. you'd need to make sure you have the right environment to raise a ponyta in, which can be tricky if you don't already own farmland.

as far as social concerns....i don't see too many issues from your ribombee, since they're not terribly fearful and like helping injured pokemon with their pollen puffs. your minccino and raichu are more likely to be fearful of a larger pokemon, but could be slowly introduced. the main issue is that ponyta need interaction with conspecifics or at the very least pokemon that are of similar physiology/social structure to them. skiddo and mudbray are common companion pokemon outside of members of their own species. if you want to keep this ponyta, you need to be ready to also take in a buddy for her, which may be more than you're willing or able to do.

there's always the option to try and nurse her back to health with help from a vet and then rehome her as well. but at the end of the day, while i think the ranger you called should have given you a bit more of an explanation, they weren't wrong: letting this pokemon die naturally is not a bad thing to do.

[floaromaxtowns]

StS x Pokemon AU brainstorming stuff

Now I'll have to publicly share some flow of thoughts rambles, I've been accumulating for an year now.

Bless @ectogusher for listening to my rambles, and @doodlingwren for busting my door open to finally share what I got.

Excuse me as I talk in my notes as if these things were like a guide/romhack shit

All under read more bc it gets long c:

Here's the main skeleton of this whole deal-

Sanctuary = Its own region. No new fakemons, but it's a sizeable piece of land that has gathered up a wide variety of various species found across the globe. This worldwide thing also influences the type of trainers and people from all over the world going there. If we were to touch on the subject of game mechanics: There would be most of them (Mega evolutions, terastalise, Dynamax even Paradox pokemon forms) further showing how mysterious and mythical this region is.

PC - Seiya / Shoko Rivals - Seiya -> The other bronze boys / Shoko ->The other saintias

With Ikki being the Silver-esque type of rival, meanwhile Shiryu/Hyoga/Shun all follow the same line of friendly rival archetype. I still haven't thought that far on the Shoko route.

Other prominent NPCs:

Professor Shion: Former gym leader, he was once offered the champion title but refused it. Claiming that his passion was in research and studies, rather than the battlefield. Due to stepping down from battles, his friendship/relationship with Dohko has strained over time. Shion is the one who brought Mu to Sanctuary down the line.

Schoolkid Kiki: Catching Tutorial NPC. He can be usually found at the Pokemon School in Mu's city. He will inherit Mu's mantle down the line. The pokemon he uses in the tutorial is a Noibat;

League Chairwoman Saori Kido - With Julien Solo and Hades coming in as other seemingly "investors" on the project

Gym leaders: Most of these guys' aces aren't fully evolved, bc they chose to keep them like that. Yadda yadda friendship boosting their favorites.

Mu: Sinnoh - Dragon - Dragonair

Aldebaran: Hoenn - Ground - Rhydon

Saga/Kanon: Alola - Water - Gyarados (Saga)/Kingdra (Kanon)

Deathmask: Kalos - Dark - Murkrow

Aiolia: Sanctuary (native) - Electric - Electabuzz

Shaka: Kanto - Psychic - Alakazam

Dohko: Johto - Fighting - Mienshao

Milo: Unova - Bug - Volcarona

Elite fours:

Aiolos: Sanctuary - Fire - Charizard

Shura: Galar - Steel - Metagross

Camus: Sinnoh - Ice - ? (Either Froslass or Glaceon)

Aphrodite: Paldea - Poison - Roserade

Champion - ??? (the plot twist is that: the PC wouldn't fight the 3rd gym leader, bc Saga was pretending to be the champion. When he really wasn't chosen or appointed to that position)

Evil organisations: They definetely do exist, and they are obviously tied to the aforementioned Julien and Hades figures. But I still haven't thought that far.

Worldbuilding notes:

Muvians are similar to draconids (introduced in ORAS), a small tribe that originates from Sinnoh and has some deep connections and bonds to dragon types. Which means, any muvian = dragon type specialist or in the very least owns one. Muvians are also meant to have a foot in aura sensitivity (see characters like Lucario, Riley, etc.);

Sanctuary's League has a rampant corruption problem, as seen by what I mentioned about Saga. The two evil organisations are basically being pitched against one another, as smokescreen for the real problem. Their current champ is this sort of "elusive" figure. There hasn't been a proper champion in a long time. And yet, according to paperwork and the system, it states that the role is currently filled by someone. Anyone that isn't tied to Saga's schemes is left in the shadows, even those that allegedly should be the closest to him (Aiolos for SURE has no clue of what's going on. He's probably hiding or declared missing in action during the events, and only shows up when the time comes to challenge the E4).

There's a small timeline:

ND folks (a good few years into the past) -> Classic folks -> Omega folks (+20 years into the future)

In ND's setting we see how odd and hapharzadly the League was instated in the region. Which sets up the perfect grounds for Saga to exploit down the line;

Shion and Dohko are recently turned gym leader here. Mu comes onto the picture a good few years after ND's events; In a way, since Tenma would be the PC here and Alone his rival. It could be the Red vs Blue type of ordeal.

In Omega we'd see how the League is trying to remedy its reputation & amend for Saga's schemes, with an entirely new set of gym leaders and League members. + Former league members can still be found and fought in the post game, Silver/Gold style.

Individual notes:

Mu - Obligatory pokemon Aldemu food

Mu used to own a Gible and Alde once owned a Trapinch, at some point they traded pokemon. So now, Alde has a Garchomp in his personal team and Mu has a Flygon;

Mu's battle team against young trainers has a Swablu, which is used as a messenger to carry mail exchanges between him and Alde;

Mu LOVES pokemon dolls and has a huge collection of it. In the post-game: PC can find Mu and Alde on a date at the region's big mall, with them looking at a shop's display window. Mu gets mad at PC for ruining his date, but would give out his pokegear number;

Aldebaran -

Aldebaran gym's city is also where the pokemon day-care can be found. He may not run it, but he often helps out the elderly couple currently in charge of it;

In the post-game: After adding Mu's re-match call number. Alde can ba found on the route between his and Mu's towns, he was on his way to take a meal for him, and he also shares with PC that they bought the doll in the end

Saga/Kanon -

PC doesn't really get to fight for the 3rd gym badge. Rather, it's simply handed out by Kanon, who approaches them to talk about how the leader hasn't been seen in so long;

Saga's "fall from grace" comes from a humiliating match against Aiolos, originally fighting for the E4 member promotion which he lost. Despite the clear type advantage;

It's left implied that these two were meant to be gym leaders, the matches would have been double battles.

Deathmask -

DM gym's city houses a Game corner (Casino) and a contest hall. First sighting of an E4 member is Aphrodite, who introduces PC to them;

DM is a sore loser AND has no qualms with cheating against his challengers, if it means he gets to maintain his "streak". In the battle against PC he would use an overleveled Crawdaunt;

In the post-game: PC will get a hint from Shaka's radio talkshow mentioning DM's whereabouts, in the city's underground game corner;

DM's strength is everything philosophy = DM's entire personal team consists of very strong dark types with some form of 4x weakness;

DM is well in kahoots with Saga's schemes;

Aiolia - TBA I haven't thought anything for him c':

Shaka -

Shaka gym's city is meant to be the largest and the most advanced one (Saffron and Goldenrod cities style), it has the region's largest shop for expensive and important items. It also has a radio tower, which broadcasts various programs (professor talk, loterry ticket, poke flute, etc), Shaka hosts a talk show where he commentates on PC's progress, all while actively putting down/poking fun at his defeated colleagues. Under specific time slots, he will have a guest join him, which will be an exchange between the various league's members. But the most important one is where he will be joined by the region's "champion";

Shaka is a fan-favorite across several trainers in the region, with many NPCs commentating how much they love tuning in to hear him talk & so on;

Shaka is also well known for his psychci prowess (Sabrina style);

Shaka is also deeply involved in Saga's schemes;

Dohko -

Dohko gym's city also houses the pokéathlon. With Dohko going undefeated in all the challenges, until PC comes along;

Post-game: to get Dohko's number for rematches. PC has to visit Shion after obtaining a certain number of species then, take a mail key item to Dohko. And THEN they get Dohko's number. it's a love letter, an invitation for some tea at noon

Milo - TBA I haven't thought anything for him c':

And "unfortunately", that's all I got x)

I suppose this is a lot better than trying to find all my notes scattered around all over the place. Hope it makes sense or that in the very least, it's fun to read through.

RN I focused on the classic folks bc it's the one I've been working and thinking of for the longest time.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Like Real People Do

Pairing: Logan Howlett x Reader

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: necromancy kind of.

Genre: kinda fluff idk really

Summary: "Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips // We should just kiss like real people do" ~ Like Real People Do by Hozier

A/N: I was listening to this song and remembered that it was about a bog body falling in love with a woman that finds him and I thought 'this would work great with the deadpool & wolverine plot of Wolverine being dead' and now here we are

***

You trudge deeper into the forest, the bag you're carrying feels like it's getting heavier with each step, but you have to put this to bed once and for all and this is the only way to do it. Eventually you find a spot that feels right and you drop the bag off to the side, gripping your shovel tightly and pushing it into the solid ground. Those first couple of scoops are harder than the rest, the dirt beneath the topsoil moist and much more pliable. You dig and dig and dig until finally, after what feels like forever you think you're just about deep enough. One more push of your shovel and- you hit something. You hit something that makes a clink, like metal on metal. You frown in confusion. Metal? What did you hit? You wonder if it wouldn't be better to simply deposit the bag and forget about the mysterious clink sound but you can't help yourself. You have to know what on earth this deep in the ground is making that noise. You drop your shovel and switch to your hands, carefully moving the dirt around to uncover whatever it is you've stumbled upon. It's cold, duh- metal untouched under cold dirt would be, there's also a lot of it. The more you uncover the more there seems to be, a bunch of long metal pieces all laid out strangely. It's not until you've uncovered most of it that you realize it's a skeleton, or a model of a skeleton? It's made of metal which- skeletons are not, it also has claws attached to the joints in the hand, which humans usually do not have either. Who buries a model skeleton of something almost human? Who makes a metal model skeleton? You should leave it here. Whatever it is it has nothing to do with you, but you can't help yourself, you carefully take the skeleton out of its hole, keeping it intact takes great effort but you manage, propping it up against a tree as you finish what you came here for. You dump the contents of the bag you dragged out here into the hole, and then drop the bag, shoveling the dirt back over it as quickly as you can. Just before you shovel the last foot, you throw several plants into the dirt, something endangered along with several native species, and then you cover the hole all the way, packing the dirt as best you can. Once that's done, you turn to your model skeleton. It'll be kind of difficult to carry it out of here you imagine, but you just have to get it to your car, and there's pretty much no chance of you running into anyone out here at this time. So, you hoist the man-o-metal up, drape a humerus over your shoulder and drag the skeletal structure back the way you came. Going back feels shorter than getting there which is something you won't complain about and as you fold the skeleton into your backseat you mutter to yourself.

"I don't even know what I'm gonna do with you honestly. Are you a decor item or something?" You ask as if the thing will talk back to you. You silently drive home, music from your car speakers quietly filling the space. Each time you look in your mirror the skeleton spooks you, the whole way home. You decide when you get home that your decorative skeleton will go in your workshop. It'll add to the spooky vibe you like to bring to the space. At last, you can officially say you've buttoned up that business, those secrets left for dead buried deep in that forest.

~

You hear shuffling coming from your studio and your body tenses at the sound. You quickly and quietly grab your baseball bat from your closet before heading downstairs to find the source of the noise you're hearing. You sneak down and at the sight of movement, you swing the bat hard at the large figure in your basement workshop.

"Ouch!" The figure grunts and you flip on the lights.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?!" You yell.

"Who are you?" He frowns.

"Who am I?! Dude you're in my house!"

"And I shouldn't be." He says as if he's unsure.

"Of course not! How did you even get in here?!" You ask clutching your bat tightly.

"I'm not sure- I thought I was dead." His eyes narrow and he looks down at himself, confused.

"I'm sorry what?" You blink at him.

"Yeah no I was definitely dead. I distinctly remember dying. It's my last memory. Until- you dug me up."

"Dug you- wait a second the skeleton from the forest?!"

"What did you do?"

"What did I- nothing! I dug up a skeleton, stuck it in the car, brought it home and shoved it in my workshop and haven't touched it since! I had no idea it came from an actual person!"

"You found a fully intact skeleton buried in the earth, what could it possibly be?" Logan frowns.

"Hello! I don't know if you were aware of this mister whoever or- whatever you are but the average human skeleton isn't made of metal and equipped with claws the size of KATANAS! I thought it was some kind of Halloween decor or something!" You yell. This is insane, how did a metal skeleton become a living breathing person- maybe person.

"Halloween decor? Buried 8 feet underground?" He looks at you blankly.

"Unmarked! There was no headstone, no personal items, nothing to indicate it was anything more than some forgotten trinket!"You say.

"That's ridiculous." He shakes his head.

"Ridiculous is the strange humanoid that's appeared in my house from APPARENTLY the dead?!"

"Well what did you do to bring me back?" He asks.

"I didn't do ANYTHING I told you." You scoff.

"But this doesn't make any sense, if my regenerative abilities were gonna kick in that would've happened way earlier than now." He looks at his hands with confusion clear on his face.

"Regenerative- what ARE you!? Who are you!?"

"Logan." He says.

"I can't believe digging up a skeleton has made a man basically appear in my house." You shake your head.

"What were you even doing undigging graves anyhow?" Logan asks.

"That's not what I was doing." You say.

"What were you doing?"

"I can't tell you." You shake your head.

"But-"

"Trust me. Drop it." You cut him off.

"So- now what?" He asks.

"Do you have friends? Family? Someone I can turn you over to?" You ask.

"I- I don't remember." He frowns.

"You don't remember?" You narrow your eyes in confusion.

"I know that I died, and I remember you, and that's about it." He says.

"But you didn't know me, you don't know me."

"No I- I remember you unburying me."

"So you have no idea where you belong or who you know?" You frown.

"I- guess not." Logan says.

"Well what am I supposed to do with you then?!" You ask.

"I- I don't know." Logan says.

"Logan-"

"You are very pretty."

"W-what?" You blink at him.

"You're pretty." He shrugs.

"Uh- thank you." You frown.

"I wanna kiss you."

"Excuse me?" You gasp.

"I just- I have no memories and no solution to any of this but all I can think of is how nice it would be to kiss you." He sighs.

"Well- I also have no solution to any of this and while my memories are intact they will not help us with your situation so... okay. I guess." You step closer to him.

"I can kiss you?" He asks also moving towards you.

"Just once." You say. Logan gently cups your cheek and leans down, gently slotting his lips against yours. His lips are- not as rough as you'd expect, and they're very warm. The kiss is soft and easy, like he's not in any rush, but honestly with the whole lost memory thing you guess he really can't be in a rush.

"You taste sweet." He says when you finally pull away. "I wanna kiss you again."

"No way." You step back.

"Why? Did you not like it?"

"No that's not- wait that doesn't matter at all." You shake your head.

"I think it does." He nods.

"Logan you were a prop skeleton in my workshop for almost 2 weeks, memories or no you have to realize how strange this all is."

"Yeah- I guess it is a little odd."

"A lot. Take it back. We need a plan. We need- a minute to figure out what's going on here."

"Alright- can we leave the basement then?" Logan asks. You tilt your head at him.

"Yeah sure. We can leave the basement."  You say.

You have no idea what you're going to do with a skeleton come to life, or back to life? Whatever, you have no idea what you're going to do with him, but it seems that, at least for now, you're kind of stuck with him, although- you're not so sure that's a bad thing when you think about it.

***

[vodika-vibes]

would it be okay if i request something from the gentle care please? i was thinking "It's okay if you fall asleep." with shaak ti where the reader (gn please) is their padawan?

A Mother's Love

Summary: Master Shaak is the best Master you could have asked for. She’s so kind and so patient, and you want to be just like her when you grow up. But that’s still ages away.

Characters: Master Shaak Ti, Jedi Padawan! GN Reader

Word Count: 1070

Warnings: None

A/N: So, ngl, this almost ended up as an Order 66 fic, where Shaak is telling her padawan that it's okay to fall asleep after they were shot bt a clone, but that's a level of sadness I'm not prepared for today, so you get this instead.

Click HERE to join my taglist

You’re fairly certain that the planet you’re on is nothing but forest. And you’d think it was pretty, if not for the fact that you’ve been sneezing almost nonstop since landing nearly an hour ago.

At this point your nose is running, your eyes are watering, and your throat hurts.

All in all, you are a very miserable Padawan.

Another violent sneeze nearly sends you toppling backward, and it’s only your Master’s gentle touch on your shoulder that keeps you on your feet. You blink up at her through watery eyes, and she smiles kindly at you as she crouches so she’s closer to your level.

Gentle, yet calloused, fingers wipe a tear off your cheek. “You’re not having a good time at all, are you?”

“‘M sorry, Master,” You say as you wipe your nose with the sleeve of your robe.

“Nonsense, we had no way to know that you were going to be so allergic to those flowers,” She pulls a handkerchief from inside her robe and uses it to wipe your eyes, “It’s hardly your fault.”

“But I’m slowing us down,”

“Oh, my little one,” Master Shaak draws you closer and smooths her hand down your head, lightly moving your tiny padawan braid back behind your ear, “This is not a life or death mission, we’re just here to collect some data from the researchers who live here.” Her smile is kind, “We don’t send 10-year-olds on dangerous missions,”

Oh. That makes sense.

Master Shaak scans your face for a moment, and you can feel her gentle force-touch wash through your body. Someday you’re going to learn how to do that too, but you can’t do it yet.

“Hm, the reaction is getting worse,” She murmurs, “Your eyes are starting to swell. I bet it’s getting hard to see, isn’t it?”

You sneeze three times into your sleeve, “Yes, Master,” You reply, miserably.

“How’s your breathing?”

“It’s fine.”

“Alright, you must let me know if that changes,”

“Yes, Master.”

Master Shaak scoops you into her arms, and continues walking, “We’ll be at the camp shortly, Padawan. I’m sure they’ll have something to help you.” 

True to her words, less than fifteen minutes later she steps into a camp.

It’s not like any camp you’ve ever seen before. You expected canvas tents, or maybe a mobile home that wealthy people own, but this looks more like a temporary village than anything else.

A series of violent sneezes draws attention toward you and your Master, and you utter a miserable apology as a researcher hurries over to the pair of you. 

The man, a twi’lek wearing a stark white lab coat, takes a long look at you and nods, “Your Padawan appears to be allergic to the native flora, Master Jedi. We should have sent warning.”

“A warning?” Master Shaak asks as she lowers you back to the ground and hands you another cloth to wipe your eyes with.

“We’ve determined that human-based species have a 75% chance of having an allergic reaction to the native plants.”

Master Shaak’s eyes narrow, “And when was this determined?”

The Researcher has the grace to look ashamed, “A month ago, Master Jedi.”

You feel your Master release her annoyance into the force, and she sets her hand on your head, “Well, there’s nothing to be done for it now,” She says, her voice a little colder, “Is there someplace where my Padawan and I can wash the pollen off?”

“Yes, of course!” He gestures to a white building near the edge of the camp, “The showers are there. And I’ll get a dose of allergy medicine for the child.” He pauses, “And a mask.”

He hurries off as quickly as he can and Master Shaak guides you to the showers. She claims two showers near the end of the line, allowing you to take the one furthest from the entrance.

“Make sure you take your braid out as well,” She reminds you before she steps into her shower, “I’ll rebraid it later tonight.”

“Yes, Master,”

You step into the stall and look around. It’s decently sized, with an area separate from the actual shower. A place for you to store your clothes, you figure. There’s also a clean towel sitting folded on the bench, and a basket with shampoo, conditioner, and body soap.

By the time you finish showering, rush a brush through your hair, and pull on the clothes that haven’t been covered in pollen, Master Shaak has already finished and is waiting for you in the hall.

Everything is still a little blurry since your eyes are still swollen, but the sneezing has finally stopped. Master Shaak’s hand brushes over the top of your head, “I have some allergy medicine for you,” She says lightly, “It’s a liquid, so you don’t have to swallow a pill. I know that’s hard for you.”

She hands you a small cup and you scrunch up your nose but take the dose of medicine. The taste is foul enough that you shudder and you hear your Master laugh softly.

“Everyone is waiting for us around the campfire,” She continues, once she’s sure that you took all of the medicine, “Seems that that’s how they like to share their research at the end of the day.”

“So we’re staying for longer?”

“I’m afraid so,” Her hand moves to the back of your head, and she guides you out of the shower and over to the campfire.

Gracefully, she folds herself so she’s kneeling on a thick blanket on the ground, while you, much less gracefully, drop next to her, trying to mimic how she’s sitting.

You don’t quite pull it off, but warmth and pride radiate from her down your training bond.

As the adults around you start talking, you feel your eyelids grow heavy. You guess that the allergy medicine wasn’t non-drowsy.

You try to fight the sleepiness as much as you can, but it doesn’t take long before Master Shaak’s hand is resting on the top of your head. “It’s okay if you fall asleep,” She reassures you in a soft voice.And, slowly, she guides you so that your head is resting on her lap. She gently rubs your back while pushing warmth and comfort through your training bond, and you quickly sink into slumber, secure in the knowledge that none will harm you so long as Master Shaak is standing watch.

@imabeautifulbutterfly

@n0vqni

@bad4amficideas

@justiceandwar98

@mira-loves-star-wars

@tiredbi-peach

@dukeoftheblackstar

@trixie2023

@kimiheartblade

@padawancat97

@falconfeather23435

@etod

@bb8-99

@kiss-anon

@continous-mistakes

@yoitsjay

@liz-stat

@cc--2224

@adriennelenoir

@cdblake1565

@sweater-sloot

@heidnspeak

@wax-birds

@silly-starfish

@lonewolflupe

@maniacalbooper

[starcurtain]

Also from like a sociology pov like unlike our world the aeons are actual provable reality like there is proof gods exist so the concept that religions exist outside of that like with the avgin is so interesting?? Especially bc the aeons form by ascension but it's not through like. Human belief necessarily?? So gods ALSO exist? Alongside aeons? Also like the way the xianxhou's concept of "omg life species" is literally "cannot be killed" and not "lives for a long time" bc their "short life species" can live for insanely long amounts of time (like qq said only 400 years or soemthing like she was young) but also also considering that like the xianzhou doesn't have an orbital path like what even is their measure of "year" yknow like belabog DOES have (presumably) planetary rotation of some kind bc they have day/night cycles but do they have moons?? Penacony is perpetually floating in some kind of memory sea which is insane on a whole other level but like do native oenaconians have some kind of evolutionary advantage bc when you think about it if the entry into the dreamscape is through the dream pools it doesn't explain how the people of dreamflux entered unless they're somehow evolved to being able to do that but also how long ago was that bc it's implied that their actual bodies are probably too deteriorated to function in the real world at some point idr if you die in real life while dreaming in Penacony do you just get stuck there?? If memory can mix with reality the way it's implied in the second part of Penacony does that mean that a lot of people are actually just afterimages of who they used to be? Not to mention when we join the express march says we no longer need to eat and rest as much bc the trailblaze allows us to keep moving on or whatever so it fundamentally alters physiology to become a pathstrider?? Sorry for the uh babble I'm very sleep deprived but it's genuinely so interesting to think of the worldbuilding aah

It literally eats me up that Imbibitor Lunae is the "moon drinker" and they talk all about watching the moon while drinking their baijiu because I'm like "Why does Xianzhou Luofu even have a moon? Where are they getting a moon from? The moon is FAKE?!" 😂

You are asking all the real questions here!

It's so funny how much there is to think about when you really start applying the logic to it, and some stuff makes perfect sense but other stuff really doesn't.

I'm constantly falling down rabbit holes thinking about these things.

There's so much to chew on; I know the game can never get into all these tiny details but I honestly wish sometimes we'd just get some breather events that really focus on nothing but the worldbuilding elements to satisfy the sci-fi itch in my brain.

I guess we fans will just have to do the work ourselves!!

[masterjedilenawrites]

Hello there! I have a promt for you :)

What about TBB reacting to Omega getting her first period and/or the reader having a fear of needles but she needs a vaccination to travel to a planet?

Hello! I actually wrote a piece on Omega getting her first period and how her Batch brothers reacted. Read it here! 

I haven't written anything close to the second prompt though, so I can do that one!

TBB & Reader | 1.7k words

Content: fear of needles/trypanophobia and related symptoms, brief description of a deadly disease, Star Wars cursing, platonic but you could read more into the Hunter or Wrecker bits if you wanted (Tech or Crosshair too, tbh, they're not getting any more comforting than that lol)

To say you were panicking was an understatement. You were utterly and completely freaking out. And worse, you were trying desperately not to let your companions see it. You'd fought valiantly beside them for the better part of a year, never once shying away from the things that would make others quake in their boots. But now you were moments away from having to face your biggest fear, and if they saw what it was, they'd never stop teasing you for it.

So you stayed out of the way as they made their preparations for landing, keeping your trembling hands behind your back and your gaze fixed as steadily as possible on an invisible point on the wall ahead. Thankfully they didn't seem to notice or care that you weren't helping out. But you couldn't escape their attention forever.

"Alright, you're next!" Tech called your name as the last of his brothers left their perch in front of him. You'd been keeping Tech and his needles in your periphery, not wanting to fully look at any of them, but also wanting to keep an eye out in case one of them magically took flight and caught you by surprise.

"No thanks. I'll be fine," you tried to dismiss the plan as nonchalantly as possible. But even Hunter stopped his packing to cock an eyebrow at you.

"You'll be fine?" he asked with a disbelieving laugh, like you'd just said you had a third arm. "It's a disease, sweetheart. You can't shoot it out of the air. Vaccine's the only way to protect yourself."

"It's an airborne virus, to be specific," Tech clarified. "Deadly to any species other than the natives of this planet. But thankfully they've donated enough blood to the GAR to help develop an effective vaccination. It's the only way we can go down to help them against the droids that ravage their world."

You made the mistake of looking over at Tech just as he held up a syringe and flicked its side. Holy kriffing bantha shit, was that needle long and thick. It was like a kriffing pipe. It glinted in the lights of the ship, like it was winking at you. Mocking you. Your heart immediately started picking up its pace.

"I'll take my chances," you tried one last futile attempt at escape. Somehow you kept your voice steady, forcing a normal tone around the frog that had lodged itself your constricting throat. But then Crosshair spared a glance in your direction and the ruse unraveled.

"You're scared," Crosshair stated plainly. He probably saw the bead of sweat that had just formed at your hairline. Or maybe he could see the veins in your neck pulsing quicker than they should've.

"You'll take large boils, severe dehydration, and bloody vomit over a shot?" Echo asked. Wrecker paused along with him and now everyone's attention was focused on your first ever display of fear. Fantastic.

"Not to mention death," Wrecker pointed out. "That's the worst symptom."

"I don't know if it could be called a symptom so much as a consequence," Tech mused.

"A consequence no one in the ship will be facing, thank you," Hunter asserted, finally walking over to you. He placed a firm hand on your shoulder, but his next words were a bit softer. "It doesn't hurt that much. You'll be okay."

You supposed you were grateful they were taking a more questioning and supportive approach than one of teasing, but it still didn't rectify the problem of you needing to go through with this shot anyway.

"I'm not worried about the pain," you muttered. "It's the..."

Your eyes flicked over to where Tech was still holding that damned needle high and proud. A chill overcame you and you felt yourself blanching.

"Okay, okay," Hunter quickly moved his hand to grasp your arm in an effort to keep you upright. "How about you sit down first. We'll walk you through this one step at a time."

Hunter waved Wrecker over and the burly clone immediately came over and picked you up. You weren't cured from your phobia but you did find his embrace comforting. You continued to cling to him as he sat you down on the counter by Tech. He chuckled but didn't protest. He stood next to you and kept his arm securely around you.

"Okay," Hunter said soothingly. "Now let's find a distraction for you. Keep your thoughts on something else."

"Maybe Tech could tell us all about the difference between bacteria and viruses," Echo said sarcastically.

You missed the glare Tech gave in response, unable to even think about what he looked like for fear of picturing a needle in his hands as well.

"Or," Hunter butt in, sensing your need for a different kind of distraction. "Let's practice your knife skills. Here."

He pulled out one of his trusty vibro-knives and placed it in your hand. The hilt was cold against your skin, heavy in your grip. You tried to focus on those sensations instead, and it almost worked in keeping your attention, until a different kind of cold feeling hit your other arm and you freaked out all over again.

"It's only a numbing swab," Tech said with a tinge of annoyance.

"No. No, no, no." You were shaking your hand frantically, scooting yourself backwards on the counter to get as far away as possible. Wrecker's arm tightened around you, preventing you from moving. "Nope. I can't do this."

"Sure you can," Wrecker tried to reassure you, but to no avail. You trembled against his hold.

"No. No, I'll just sit this one out. Stay on the ship. You boys go without me."

Tech huffed again, having to re-explain information he'd already shared when you'd first gotten this mission. "That won't work. We'll still be exposed to the virus and bring it back to the ship with us. We'll have to undergo a whole decontamination process when we're back on Kamino, the ship, too. And then it's quarantine for a minimum of 72 hours...."

You weren't listening. Your face felt wet. Were you crying or just sweating? Hunter was trying to get you to focus back on the blade in your hand, but your fingers were shaking so bad you couldn't even hold it.

"Maybe we should just knock her out," Crosshair said. He'd kept himself out of the situation but now couldn't help himself. Your agitation was too amusing.

"We're not knocking her out," Hunter rolled his eyes before cooing your name. You begrudgingly looked over at him. "It's okay. Please just twirl the knife and don't think about anything else. It'll be over before you know it."

A sudden clatter came from Tech dropping the syringe and you could almost feel Hunter's blood start to boil in annoyance. Just when he kept getting you to a good place....

"Tech," he growled.

You cowered into Wrecker's arms again. This could not be happening.

"What?" Tech was saying. "It slipped."

"I don't want to do this," you moaned, maybe a tad dramatically. You shut your eyes tightly, and prayed that when you opened them again, you'd find this was just some horrible dream.

"Oh for kriff's sake," came Crosshair's voice. "Hold her down."

Wrecker's other hand seized your arm in such a way that you couldn't move it. But even so, it happened so quickly you couldn't process fast enough to keep up. He gripped your arm and then there was a tight pinch as something broke through your skin. By the time your brain caught up to what was happening, Crosshair was already pulling the needle back out, swift and smooth. Your eyes flew open and your mouth formed a silent scream, but there was nothing to panic about anymore. The syringe was back out of sight, and in its place was but a mere drop of blood ballooning on the surface of your skin. Echo quickly stepped in to fix a bandage over it.

And that was that.

"See? Not so bad," Wrecker said with a chuckle. He finally released his hold on you, making you whine a little at the loss of such a solid support. You still felt woozy, though you had to admit the panic was dissipating fast.

Hunter, however, was not getting over his feelings as easily. He scowled at both Tech and Crosshair, though the latter was already leaving the scene to return to packing his weapons kit.

"That was a lot of fuss over nothing," Tech said plainly, refusing to meet Hunter's gaze. "Now I just need my shot, and then we can land and get on with the mission."

"You know, Tech," you said, glad you were able to find your voice again and it not sound too embarrassingly faint. "It might help me to get over this fear if I gave you your shot."

"Ha ha, very funny," the goggled clone shook his head, but then looked up at you nervously to gauge if you were serious. The smirk in your lips combined with the fact your face still hadn't recovered its color was indication enough you were not serious at all, only trying to give him as much grief as he'd given you.

"I think Cross has proved he has the steadiest hand," Echo played along with a smirk of his own.

Tech seemed to consider the idea before scooping up all the supplies onto his tray and shuffling away. "I think I can manage to inject myself, thank you. ETA is five minutes. Chop chop."

You let out a tired laugh as Tech disappeared into the cockpit. The others slowly went into their landing positions as well. Except Hunter, who folded his arms and gave you a strange look.

"So. Needles, huh? I was wondering what your weakness would be."

The faintest of smiles played on his features, helping you settle further into your own relief.

"Thank you," you said in response.

"For what?"

"For not making fun of me... And helping me get through it. Or, at least trying."

Hunter uncrossed his arms and stepped forward so he was close enough to put his hand on your shoulder once more.

"We've got your back. Always."

Every Character Tag: @dangerousstrawberrypie, @justanothersadperson93, @arctrooper69, @sleepycreativewriter, @techie-bear, @theroguesully

Bad Batch Tag: @kaijusplotch, @rebel-finn, @lucyysthings, @marvel-starwars-nerd, @nekotaetae, @severalseashellsbytheseashore, @lackofhonor, @flowered-bicycles, @foodmoneyandcats, @nahoney22

✨Join A Tag List Here!✨

🍾 One Shots Master List | 🌙 Master List of Master Lists

[thenativetank]

VA Native Fish Hunting - 25

What a great day for some fishing! This is one of my favorite spots to spend a half hour knee-deep in swamp muck. Really, can't recommend it enough. Nothing new per se today but a couple of really neat finds.

Let's start on a high note. My very first search landed me this GORGEOUS Flier (Centrarchus macropterus). I hadn't caught any in close to 3 years, and even those were just tiny inch long fry. This beaut was much larger and extremely impressive. I would like to one day have some in my 125 gallon tank, but since that's not free today, back he went.

The next fish I caught was this Bluespotted Sunfish (Enneacanthus gloriosus). I love this fishing spot specifically because I can find these here, and in fact I caught maybe 5 BSSs today. Beautiful animals and highly recommend them for home keeping - definitely some of my favorite native fish!

This little guy is not as straightforward as the last two. It's a Lepomis spp but it could be a few different species. With the wavy body lines, I would guess Warmouth, but could also possibly be Pumkpinseed or Bluegill. Regardless, it was a neat find today as I don't see many Lepomis here often.

These Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holkbrooki) are what I came for today actually. I used to have a dozen in my 55 gallon tank but they only live for about 2 years and I'm down to my last 4. So I caught 8 more, including 3 males. I personally like them but they get kind of a bad rap regarding aggression in my opinion.

We also get a fair amount of crayfish in this area! Again, I'm not that knowledgeable about them, but I'm pretty sure it's a Cambarus spp. - maybe C. bartonii. Those seem to be common in my neck of the woods anyways.

The most common submerged plant here were these bladderworts - also a very fun inclusion for home tanks. They are carnivorous plants but do perfectly well without being fed live animals. The only real caveat is that they don't seem to like extended stays under direct light.

The other common plant here was this Spatterdock (Nuphar advena) which has spread quite a bit since I was last here earlier in the year. Much too big for home or pond usage honestly, but neat plants all the same.

[callistocalavarni]

Space Bounty Hunter dr

This post is going to be long cuz ive inserted pics that remind me of this dr... I just wanted a place were I can discribe and info dump about the places I have and am shifting to. I thought about starting a page on shifttok...but its tiktok.. and I don't like the people on there lol. They all have weird takes; ex; the constant hate on perma shifting. Not only that but they hold their opnions up like they are truth, everyone puts creators on a high horse and they are just insufferable. So instead im here, on a hopefully way more chill platform.. Anyway i'll stop yapping about shifttok and get on with the actual post.

I have a large amount of space dr's one of them being a bounty hunter reality with a metroid, sci-fi comic, farscape kinda of vibe to it. I'd also compare it to cowboy bepop.

All of my adventures take place in the milky way far far from earth. I'd say for earth its around the 1990s, I've scripted out time diliation when travling far because I just don't want to deal with it. Keep in mind some of the physics and logic is different from this reality. Earth is unware of any alien species, space travel and literally anything outside its solar system. Even with earth being oblivous to the intelligence out in space people still travel to the planet. And Its the way my grand-parents traveled out into the universe. The Neashe (na-shay) have helped and rescued people from earths many wars (without earths goverment knowing) promising them a new life in the aven section of the galaxy. Lazuo is the native planet to the naeshe. Being one of the most technologically advanced planets it exports the most weapons and ships among the star systems. It has the highest population including its moon ilumi. The naeshe are welcoming & peacefull species beliving in the search for life in the universe. The reason the Naeshe have not tried to contact the goverments of earth is because of the leaders constantly engaing in war. There is many other planets that I might mention so if its a word you don't know or you get confused its either a planet, its species, or some galatic goverment name.

For many years there has been an alliance between planets called "aven" the Adu word for friend. Adu is a water planet, its culture built on avation, exploring the depths and its diverse sea food. Since this alliance was formed interseller ships from all over travled to and from planets, exporting and importing goods of all kinds. Even though this guild was there to hold a title of saftey and peace it sprouted a problem. Space pirates, criminals, theifs, whatever you want to call them started to raid and attack these ships. Law enforcers failed to keep up with the rapid apperence of these pirates resulting in high rates of crime. Fed up with the persistent violence, people from all different cultures and planets volunteered to help capture these criminals. An association of bounty hunters was formed named space stalkers. Contractors from major companies started to pay space stalkers for their part, devolping a large influx of hunters. Being a space stalker is dangerous but since I have free rain in what I can script I find it fun.

companions

My name in most of my dr's is Callisto Calavarni and thats the name im going to use on this page.

My mother Estette Calavarni and father Castor Calavarni are alive and well in this dr. I know shocking... I didn't script a traumatic backstory, GASP!!!! They rasied me opposite of helicoptor parents, encouraging me to take risks and learn as much as I can about the world. My friends are Wesley Starkov an astrobiologist from the planet Kelzo. Anvi An, a female doctor who mostly works on hospital ships. And Niko lovell with a John Crichton personality from earth. I also have a pet! A fluffy tuxedo cat named Miso.

I have a deeper connection to Anvi than anyone else, we have been friends since the terrible twos lol. But I have more amusing stories with Wesley. I prefer to work alone as working with some hunters can be risky. I remember I needed help with a bounty and had told Wesley that I would give him half the check if he assisted me. Long story short the hunt didn't go as planned and I had to run to our vehicle and jump through the window like a loony tunes cartoon lol. I ended up kicking him in my uncoordinated climb through the window and he's never helped me with a bounty since -sob-

Thanks for reading, if I spelt anything wrong ignore, science is what im good at not english haha. This is my first post and im still new to tumblr so please ask me questions and tell me what kind of stuff you wanna hear about my dr's! Happy shifting!

[elbiotipo]

Do you think there’s any hope to save the planet? Like, whatsoever? Or are things just totally fucked forever? I’ve seen a lot of professionals (citation needed) saying everything is irreversibly fucked forever and we’re doomed

Not only there is hope, but things have changed in positive directions lately.

If you're concerned about climate change, recall that the initial expectations for climate change, during the Paris Agreement, with no intervention at all, were an increse of 4°C by 2100. This would have been virtually a collapse event for human civilization, as this would have meant catastrophic crop failures, violent changes in climate, deadly heatwaves, and more.

That is not the scenario we're heading towards to, however, because that is the scenario without any interventions at all, that is, the "business as usual, we keep burning coal" scenario. We no longer live in that sccenario at all. Coal plants have closed at a fast pace, while renewables are cheaper than ever in history. Virtually all of India's new electricity production, to give one example, are renewables, while China is thoughening, if inconsistently, its carbon zero targets, but renewable energy is so cheap that it does not make sense to invest in fossil fuels anymore. Current actions point to 2.7°C increase, but this means CURRENT actions. Further pledges reduce that to 2.1°C. Future technologies such as carbon sequestration, as well as the ol' reliable "planting trees" might even reverse climate change in the future. These are things that are happening right now.

If you're concerned about ecosystem degradation, ecosystems can recover VERY quickly when just left alone to recover. True, ecological succession is slow to recover biodiversity rich areas, but without human pressure, habitats recover surprisingly quickly. Animals are quicker to reproduce than humans in general, and while you do need to give a push, reintroducing species and rebuilding original vegetation cover, once that's done, the biomes that were there originally spread again. The key factor is how to do that while having a good relationship with the people who live in those areas. Coordination with native peoples and rural communities is key here.

If you're asking about the more political side of things, I subscribe to a historical materialist view of things. For me, the fall of capitalism is inevitable once states serve the working class. This will happen, eventually, because of the contradictions of capitalism and organized popular struggle (by many ways, not just one). I don't believe in the end of history. Capitalism will be only a phase in human history, and perhaps not even a long-lived one.

[shandit]

My Current Guesses on Legends: Z-A Starters

So with Pokemon Legends: Z-A being announced, since we now know from PLA that Pokemon will gain a special final evolution based on their new environment. I wanted to toss my hat into the ring of predictions for which 3 previous starters we're gonna get.

First off let me say which ones I'm sure we're not gonna get and why.

Gen 6 Starters

As with PLA, Gen 6's Starters will not be part of the starters in PLZA. More than likely, they will be caught in the wild just like the Gen 4 Starters were in PLA.

Gen 1 Starters

I think it's very safe to say the Gen 1 Starters are not going to be picked. But, let me explain my proper reasoning.

With the reintroduction of Mega Evolution, and the likely fact PLZA will have our Protag & Crew be the ones to discover Mega Evolution, it's very likely the Starters we get will gain Mega Forms. This said, It's very unlikely GameFreak will use Pokemon with existing Mega Forms, even if said mons get a regional form. Because of this, I can safely say Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur are not going to be on the roster, and same goes for...

Gen 3 Starters

Same thing here, with the fact these guys already have Mega Forms, I find it highly unlikely GF is going to give them both a new regional evo + a new Mega.

PLA Starters

This one's kind of a given. Pokemon isn't going to reuse any of the starters from PLA cause that would just be odd to keep giving starters other regional forms (That said I am sad at the loss of Mega Typhlosion :[ )

Gen 9 Starters

The simple answer to this is just, the Paldea trio are just, too new. While I don't think that entirely rules them out. I do think it makes them less likely to be chosen for the next mainline game.

Now with the obvious removals talked about, let's go down the line of who's left and talk about why or why not they're likely to be chosen.

Chikorita

I didn't originally have anything to say about Chikorita, since I felt their odds were snuffed out by the other grass types here, however upon doing some more research, specifically on Meganium, I learned the daylily (the flower theorized to be what Meganium's flower is based on) was actually brought to Europe around the late 1750's-early 1800's. And with France's Urbanization having occured around the mid 1800's (Which is the time period people are guessing PLZA will take place in) There actually is a good chance for Chikorita to be chosen as their plant actually fits with the location and time period! However I cannot think of what type changes would make sense for this, so I do have to dock some points for that.

Overall chances - 6/10

Totodile

Totodile sadly doesn't seem like a great fit for PLZA. It is essentially just what it is, a Crocodile. And, a quick google search will show you, that besides the barren ice land of Antarctica, Europe is the only continent to not natively have any form of Crocodile or Alligator. GameFreak would have to get very creative here with something of French history or folklore to make Feraligator work for this.

Overall Chances - 1/10

Turtwig

Now Turtwig is an interesting one. Not only is there the fact the extinct turtle species Torterra is based was discovered in North-West Europe (Though mostly Germany & Switzerland) but Torterra as a Pokemon has a lot of potential when it comes to regional forms, thanks in part to the tree on it's back. France's national tree is the Yew, specifically the European or Common Yew, it's an evergreen tree that sprouts red berries (these berries are also very poisonous, meaning we could get a change of typing here to Grass Poison). I could see a Kalosian Torterra having an Ancient Yew tree on their back sporting a great harvest of berries. But, potential put aside, I don't see Turtwig being here simply cause there's another Gen 4 starter that fits the bill of this game much, much more than them.

Overall Chances - 4/10

Chimchar

Chimchar is one I just can't vouch for out of the few fire types we have here. Their Sun Wukong relevance is way to impactful on who the mon is, and Sun Wukong, while being from a story of "Journey to the West" only went to India, and never actually went to the actual west of the world. I also once again have to toss them to the side because of the face there is one more Gen 4 Starter that only makes sense to be in this game, and it's not them.

Overall Chances - 1/10

Piplup

THIS, THIS RIGHT HERE IS A GUARANTEED PICK.

Piplup is absolutely going to be the Water Starter of PLZA, you cannot change my mind about this, and for those of you not in the know, I have one name that will explain why.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Empoleon, as obvious as their name is, is in fact based on the Ex-emperor of France, General Napoleon Bonaparte. And, if we go back to the prediction of PLZA taking place in the mid 1800's... Guess what historical events seemed to also take place in the mid 1800's. Oh you know, just THE NAPOLEONIC WARS!

Piplup is my only and 100% has to be there guess, it would be a crime if they were not the chosen starter for this game. I legit would actually be angry if GameFreak missed this opportunity. As for potential typings... Water-Dark "could" make sense since Dark Type is just Evil type in Japan, and Napoleon is an evil dude in history. But I think Water-Fighting is much more likely, with Empleon probably going to take on much less of an Emperor Penguin look, and more of General Bonaparte, give him the Hat GameFreak, it would look funny.

Overall Chances - 10/10

Snivy

Snivy is also pretty much a guaranteed pick, and this is just from the simple fact of Serperior. Who is (supposedly) based on King Louis XVI of France & other European aristocrats, and that the fleur-de-lis, aka the French insignia used by many Noble families is visible in their design... Honestly, along with Piplup I would be flat out shocked if Snivy was not the grass starter for PLZA, like I would be baffled at how much of a lost chance that would be. As for potential regional typing, I could see it being Grass Ghost to represent the death of the French Monarchy... But that's it for my brain lmao

Overall Chances - 10/10

Tepig

Tepig is an odd one. On one hand, Snivy being basically guaranteed makes me obviously think another Gen 5 pick isn't going to make it into this group, but on the other hand...

Nah, I got nothing. Tepig is based way too much Chinese Culture and the tale of Zhang Fei to really fit into French culture. Just like Chimchar's inspiration from Journey to The West, it would feel wrong to change Tepig for the exact same reasons.

Overall Chances - 1/10

Litten

This one was more of a wildcard pick here for me, simply cause none of the fire types left had any real connections to France like Water and Grass had, I just found the idea of a regional form for Incineroar to be interesting. Though I had no idea how they would change a professional wrestler into something more fitting for early 1800's France... THAT IS UNTIL I DID SOME RESEARCH BABY!

So French Wrestling is actually really interesting, while it started in the 1830's, their style of wrestling, titled Graeco-Roman, was invented by a soldier FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS! Not only that, but it's even named "Classic Wrestling" meaning there actually is a good chance for Incineroar to be based on this style of wrestling for their Regional form! What better thing for the Wrestler Starter to use what is to many people the first style of wrestling that was used in the First ever Olympics! As for typing, Fire Normal could make some sense... I just really don't want it to be Fire Fighting, I think a lot of people would be disappointed if it somehow got the infamous Fire Starter typing.

Overall Chances - 9/10

Popplio

What can I even say about Popplio? I mean I guess maybe the fact Sirens originate from Europen folklore? But even then it's mostly Greek origins for that. There's nothing really tying Popplio in to fit the bill here, they're outclassed by a certain penguin of french origins.

Overall Chances - 2/10

Grookey

I think the Galar Starters are going to be the hardest to even justify, really the only thing any of them have going for them is the fact they come from Galar, which is based on Great Britain, a country that was France's rival in the war to own the world.

However none of that has anything to do with Grookey, the drummer monkey really doesn't have anything to offer! Rillaboom could maybe play a different instrument, but I don't think going from a pair of drum sticks to a bugle is probably gonna work out well. Perhaps though I'm just not putting my mind into it well enough.

Overall Chances - 3/10

Scorbunny

Again, I've got nothing. Realistically I guess you could make a pun here and have Cinderace being a French foot soldier. Though French hares are a common animal, and rabbits in of themselves are abundant all across Europe. I'm just personally wondering what exactly they could do with the fella that makes them properly unique enough to earn that spot, and right now I just don't see it.

Overall Chances - 4/10

Sobble

Last but not least, We have Sobble. Now surprisingly, I could actually see them being used, Intellion is based on James Bond and 007, and being a spy, well French spies obviously existed, there's also the fact a spy can also be an assassin if need be. Water Poison Intellion that shoot poisoned bolts of water from fingertips, yeah that could work.

Issue here though you have to put Sobble up against the other water types here, and well... Piplup.

Overall Chances - 3/10

And that's it! So TL:DR for anyone not reading here are the rankings most likely to least likely by types

Grass :

1 Snivy

2 Chikorita

3 Turtwig

4 Grookey

Water

1 Piplup

2 Sobble

3 Popplio

4 Totodile

& Fire

1 Litten

2 Scorbunny

3 Tepig & Chimchar

Meaning the most likely Starters for PLZA are going to be

Snivy, Litten, and Piplup.

[seastarblue]

Tip of the World Tuesday!

For this Creators Club Tuesday—courtesy of @bardic-tales — I think I’ll talk about the languages used in my original world, Ardenia.

Note that I have not made whole new languages, as I think that’s a task I can’t really do, nor want to do, as it’s quite hard. I do have an idea on how they would sound, however, and I’ve expanded on that below.

Under the cut we go!

———

Human Languages:

Humans are the most common species in Ardenia, and they have the most languages traced back to them.

Firstly, there is Niali, spoken in all of Nialon and in Northern Reito. It sounds light and lilting— many small words that string together making the speaker sound like they talk quite fast.

Then, there is Reit, spoken in Reito and the Southern and Westen parts of Nialon. It’s similar to Niali—but it’s a bit slower, and gentler.

Then, Escarrian, spoken in Ecsarra, Northwest Qultaar, and small pockets of Nialon. It’s slow, deliberate, and packs quite the punch. It’s pretty musical, though.

There is Qut, spoken in Qultaar and Escarra, along with small pockets in Hlunlah and Reito. Unlike Escarrian, Qut is fast, like Niali, and gentle, like Reit. It’s got some weird sounds, though. They’ll know if you aren’t a native speaker.

Finally, there is Lunlish, spoken in Hlunlah. It didn’t really spread to the other nations. Their words are long, being able to stack on top of each other, which makes it quite hard to learn, especially if you add in their Very Complex writing system.

There are other languages, but they are not as widespread and typically only have a small number of native speakers.

Wishak—spoken in Axedomin—strong, short, clipped words.

Reitali—mix of Reit and Niali; spoken in small pockets of both countries

Crequt—mix of Qut and Escarrian; spoken in small pockets of both countries

Now let’s move on to nonhuman languages, shall we?

Fae Languages:

Firstly, there is Elvish, spoken by all Elves. There are some differences between different Elves and where they live, but most of the time they can understand each other. Like how English has different slang words and dialects. It has to be learned, however.

Secondly, we have Shalis, which have their own dialects between fairies, pixies, and nymphs. It’s not a spoken language, per se: instead it is felt within the speakers. It’s also the only language here that can be spoken at birth.

Thirdly, we have Diaus, spoken by Dragonbloods. There’s not that much to say about it. It sounds gravelly and quite rough.

Finally, we have Pruahlu, spoken by Clawborn (Tabaxi, Snakefolk, Firbolg, etc). Animals (most anyways) can understand the energy behind this language.

———

and I think that’s all? lmao would you believe me if I said I made all this up on the spot?

I’ll keep it, though. I think I cooked :3

[khaohomies]

Thinking about revisiting a world I used to have when I was in elementary school

So like when I was in elementary. I used to have this worldbuilding project me, my friends and some classmates did for fun. There’s this A guy who basically manage the world we were building and decided what can and cannot be added(Still keep contact with him). So basically most of us will get to manage and worldbuild our own sentient species;goverment, culture, biology, technology, military etc. and then we put them in the world and have them interact with the others. I dont really remembered much aside from the name “Carbill” but it was pretty detailed.

Before I join I was building another world with another B guy(who I’m also in contact with) it basically have a dragon semi sentient tribes and other made up creatures. A guy wants us to join too, and we did.

B guy didn’t made any sentient species of his own, but I did. It’s called “Hed-mao” (Literally means ‘hallucinating mushroom’ in Thais). I don’t quite remembered the other species except for the “listen” (made by the A guy himself). These guy would be native to the main planet and they do have quite a lot of conflict with eachother. There are like, 6 sentient species in that one planet alone and they’re in a pretty big war.

Now back to me and the B guy’s world. It’s called “Maso” me and him basically co-own it. It was largely inspired by httyd, warrior cats and things in that nature. At first there’s only the dragon that are the intelligent specie, but I eventually add an alien hyena and an alien lion because I got into lion king/lion guard. And since A guy’s species is space faring, he decided to have his specie observe and studied the planet. Being stupid kids that we were at the time, A guy decided to have Maso destroyed by make it strayed from orbit and become a rogue planet, thus killing the planet fauna. I was pretty upset at first but since worldbuilding an entire culture and ecosystem is fun, why not make another one?

So here it is, my second planet. Although this time it was just me who own it. The second planet were heavily inspired by the planet Hoth from star wars(I start to get into Star Wars around that time) and name it “Frostia”(yes, very creative). Unlike the first one though, it does not contain any sentient beings.

We would use hands to symbolize as our own species and roleplayed a lot using them. And when the thing we want to roleplay become too complicated to roleplay by hands and fingers we just resort to drawing. Now that I think about it, almost all of us that are in the worldbuilding circle are drawers. One guy really like to draw machinery parts, he’s a big Gundam fan and there’s like 3-4 persons that enjoy drawing dinosaurs and dragons (this include me)

I did revisit Hed-mao and Frostia once in a while during middle school. Gave Frostia a sentient species and wasn’t quite satisfied with it. I’m thinking about revisiting it again. (Old arts from 2021v)

[ranger-rai]

Interesting Species

Now I don't talk too often about some of the unusual species we have around Sinnoh because a lot of trainers would try to catch rare or unusual species.

We had to keep some of these a bit of a secret for a while because of how badly people would be trying to go out of their way for them. (Let's not forget the shiny Metagross situation)

However, I've seen plenty of responsible trainers here, so I don't see a problem in sharing some educational information from around Sinnoh.

Underground Bugs

Now it's not too irregular for bug types to spend time underground, but due to our Underground Hideouts, a lot of abandoned areas have been taken over by bug types that don't usually spend a lot of time underground.

Kricketune have taken over a small area that allows them to play music much louder. They love the acoustics.

We have found a difference in music and size, some surprising increases in power.

Their musical style seems to change as well, diversified by deeper sounds that can hit way harder.

However, they seem to have developed an intolerance to the sun, so we don't advise people trying to catch these guys.

Sea Ekans

One thing that a lot of trainers don't expect are land based pokemon that suddenly appear in water.

Although not native, some Ekans and Arbok seem to have taken to swimming near some lakes close to the Marsh.

Since the marsh is partially flooded, any viper like pokemon would need to adjust to the larger abundance of water in their hunting ground.

Ekans and Arbok have become a slightly more recurring sight on the Marsh shores, prompting some people to assume they are actually part water type, when they actually have just adapted to the environment pretty well.

Spiritual Fighters?

People know Lucario as being a powerful fighting type pokemon with mastery over Aura Manipulation. However, there is a deeper, spiritual side to fighting, which seems to be something a lot of fighting types have been practicing.

We have observed many roaming fighting types traveling to more sacred places in Sinnoh and practicing new fighting styles.

Out of respect for their training, I choose not to disclose where they would go, but I find this to be very impressive, and I wonder what might come from this.

These are only some of the unique pokemon behaviors I have seen, and some of these guys I do have regular interactions with.

The Ekans especially has become a reoccurring visitor, The Duke seems to find them a worthy opponent.

[saturnselkies]

This whole concept started in the Pawn Lovers server (thanks for the idea guys!) and I just went wild with it, so I have a personal setting to keep my weirdos in. :3

Pictured above: sci-fi themed Colette and Polaris and their fleet insignia and jacket badges. Lore under the cut:

Their home planet is nearly impossible to live in because the war created too many toxic deposits that only will ever be fully cleared in centuries. The last livable areas are considered the terrestrial capitals.

Most of their people live in space colonies guided by their Queens (aka captains) - their society is a weird mix of political ideologies. There isn't a single head of state, but for each colony (approx. 25% of the population live in each) there's a leader, who is also their captain. Since the society is matriarch-leaning words like "queen" are considered gender-neutral. Like how we leaned more into making masculine words the default, the feminine terms are the default here and more commonly used for everyone.

Polaris is not native to this society, she was brought in after her species was exterminated. She's not even full-blooded and considered defective and being the sole survivor makes a lot of people upset; she's seen as a waste for any true preservation of her people. A "feral" specimen. She doesn't give two shits. Same personality. She used to have wings, but she had them amputated in favor of becoming a pilot. They become a hindrance in space.

Colette's people are veeeeeery long-lived and psychically sensitive. Colette is still 200, but Polaris is older than DD2. She's around 85. She's technically immortal. They have two daughters; Sunbloom and Moonglow. They are considered princesses because they are the daughters of a fleet queen.

Purple, red, and gold are their main colors. The fleet is known as the Saturn Selkies and it's the colony with the most water-dwelling species and bodies of water - the conservation efforts of this sector are related to water resources and it's the fleet with the most authentic weather patterns. They sort of managed to recreate seasons. The leading scientist for it is one of Polaris' many women who got pregnant by her because she is still nasty. There isn't such a thing as nuclear family or parents in this society. If someone wants to get bred by a beautiful, feral dragon woman they can. And they will get child support from the governing body. That said, that scientist, she's called by the people as "Mother Nature". But her name is Gaia.

Different fleets have different aesthetics. The Saturn Selkies are ocean-themed with a big part also being botanical (mostly because Gaia loves gardens). The ocean areas range from tundra to tropics depending on the biomes. But the places where most people live have a four-season cycle and stable climate simulation.

Besides Polaris being Colette's pilot (mystics as they are called) she's also her first officer and the second-in-command. Making her Chief Commander Polaris or Grand Lady Polaris. Polaris' dragon species is part of a bigger tree, it's her particular branch that's extinct. They were known as opal dragons and their wings were designed to propel them underwater easily. Kinda like penguins. That's why the wings were pretty useless for Polaris - on top of being smaller than usual. Tundra/opal dragons are known for big manes and strong resistance to cold and poison. Considering a lot of the raw food found in the opal dragons' habitat are poisonous fish. She's also part Darkforge Dwarf (imagine a necromancer cult of dwarfs) and she was raised by that side of her lineage. <- Not good.

Colette is fully native to her fleet. She was born into a rather common family, but she inherited a reborn soul that gave her very strong psychically attuned powers. For most of her life, she specialized in medicine to help her people, but during the war, she served under a narrow-minded Queen who eroded a lot of her self-esteem by using her abilities to gain an unfair advantage. A lot of the things that happened caused her long-lasting trauma. Colette has only been a Queen/Captain for 15 years which is considered very recent.

Their naming conventions are also unusual as far as names go like: Colette of Libra Early, ♄|◇. Polaris of Pisces Late, ♄|𖤓.

They don't use numbers for days and months (although they understand it because it's a common language in the galaxy), each season is tied to a zodiac sign and that's the "birthday". Since there's no such thing as nuclear families in the Saturn Selkies, you don't get last names that indicate lineage. It shows your birth season, your fleet (saturn symbol), and your place of birth (each biome has a symbol). Polaris was born outside, but they still have symbols to represent nations, planets, and peoples. Their language uses a lot of symbology and metaphors.

In this setting, I wanted something that felt a little like the arisen but went in another direction. Certain people are inflicted with the condition that gives them a set of really unusual powers; basically when alternate realities converge, for a split second an individual is struck by the weight of mirror universes' cycles, re-arranging their core DNA and body functions - this is especially hard on a mortal body and it often makes their hearts stop.

They are declared dead because obviously, a lifeless body means a corpse - these individuals reappear three days after the fact (let's bastardize christian concepts) and with a glowing scar on their chest and palms (think of the stigmata) that resemblances nebulae in space. Generally, it looks like a cosmic pattern, like a fissure of the cosmos. These people can wormhole themselves without the aid of space tech and see echoes/ghosts of other worlds/universes. Think of like, seeing ghosts and spirits stuck in limbo, but they are wisps in the nether. They often see the things most people cannot see and can interact with them.

The opinions are mixed; some nations see it as a miracle and others as an omen. These people are considered semi-undead as their hearts do not work and what courses through their veins is of cosmic origin. Their skin is usually cool to the touch and their features feel a little unsettling. Not that they look dead, it's just you know something is wrong. Like you’ve just seen a little flicker of death. The reason this happens? Mostly unknown. This condition is called: awakening/awakened.

This part is mostly kink-centric: There is a breeding hierarchy in Polaris' former home planet (the space bitch necromancer dwarves) and they are pretty ritualistic about it. They select people from different species to procreate with their people so their genetic pool can be strengthened; you couldn't even truly tell the people on that planet are of dwarven origin because most inhabitants are so diverse and monster-looking. They still have some archaic beliefs; basically, only good specimens can breed. The children of poor mating are usually sterilized. Polaris was considered such and was put under the knife; except after becoming awakened, the whole thing reversed. And now she's gonna breed beautiful women who want the experience of a lifetime.

Polaris is both necro dwarven and opal dragon and dragons are especially interesting because their sex is not seen as binary and biologically there is a great amount of genital combination.

Polaris does not abide by any hierarchy because she cut her ties with her people (and she thinks it's stupid). Opal dragons also don't like necromancer dwarves, so it's not like her other species' half was welcoming. That said, she was raised with these people so her sex has a ritualistic, chosen-wife-to-be-bred vibe to it and she isn't shy about it. She's a little bit obsessed with the bridal look because it's largely associated with purity and she likes the idea of corrupting that. She's pretty depraved just like in dd2, if not more.

Small fun facts:

Polaris skin shimmers when it comes in contact with water (second drawing) and her colors become more intense and purple-ish. If she spends enough time in the ocean her hair turns fully white!

Polaris can hold her breath underwater for 2 hours.

Colette can't really minds, but she has a wild sixth sense. She can accurately read every situation to a scary degree.

Colette is the pinup poster girl of the Saturn Selkies. As strategically smart as she is beautiful. :3

This is all I got so far, but I'm excited about them!!!