#we'll call it an homage

[otterloreart]

These magical girls brought to you by: there are 7 goddamn colors in the rainbow and im sick of indigo erasure!!

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods and Clergy: Bhaal (OBSOLETE)

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | X | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

I did an updated and much longer version here; this one is significantly less detailed and lacking.

I'm in a Durge and Orin mood, so we're getting the full details on Bhaal and his priesthood now. Fun fact, did you know the Dark Urge couldn't even die without Daddy's permission?

Featuring:

Intro: Do you realise this cult is basically a crime syndicate supported by the rich and powerful?

Priests: Hierarchy. Responsibilities. Murder. I rather like the ceremonial regalia, personally.

Deathstalkers: Teleporting! Killing people with your mind! Unlimited ressurections courtesy of Bhaal!! And yet more crazy shit!

Bhaal: Kitten thinks of nothing but murder all day. Also mortal backstory and the Slayer is absolutely nothing like the games depict it

Right then, "Bhaal awaits thee," and blah.

"Make all folk fear Bhaal. Let your killings be especially elegant, or grisly, or seem easy so that those observing them are awed or terrified. Tell folk that gold proffered to the church can make the Lord of Murder overlook them for today." - Bhaal's Dogma

Unsurprisingly for an ex-assassin, Bhaal is the patron god of assassins. Assassins, mercenaries, bounty hunters who aren't bringing their quarry in alive and, presumably, executioners all tend to send a prayer to Bhaal for success. Faithful were called Bhaalyn in the East and Bhaalists in the West. As BG3 takes place in Western Faerûn we'll use the latter.

Amongst these assassin worshippers we find the oh-so healthy individuals for whom killing is more than a job. These killers who regard their murders as a "pastime and a duty" join the clergy.

That said, Bhaalists do not murder indiscriminately. The taking of another life is a holy act, a lot of thought and planning goes into both the kill itself as well as what impact the death may have upon the world. Once the target is slain, they are to smear the victim's blood over their hands and draw Bhaal's symbol by the body with it. If Bhaal is pleased then the blood will vanish.

Bhaal supports and encourages his followers attaining wealth and comfort (it's a good hook to draw them in, and it makes him look good if his followers are successful, and more importantly: money is power, provides a shield against repercussions when caught, and opens doors), and in exchange for their worship his priest-assassins receive the priest spells and administer to the lay worshippers, who benefit second-hand. The assassins have an easier time killing people and getting rich and Bhaal profits from more prayer and death. A win for everyone (who didn't die in the process).

Bhaalist temples historically have spent their time founding and sponsoring guilds of assassins and thieves, including infamous organisations such as the Shadow Thieves of Amn. These guilds survived their patron's death, and while they were mostly businesses throughout the years of Bhaal's death many still paid homage (although there was some confusion involving his replacement, Cyric) and have presumably resumed worship. There's a massive old temple still functioning over in Thay; the Tower of Swift Death, and the assassins work closely with the Red Wizards who rule the country.

Bhaalists have no tolerance for rival guilds and organisations not following Bhaal (which would make them independent of their control) and will eliminate them. They will also root out anybody in the area that will attempt to oppose or otherwise interfere in their business and ensure they have freedom to go about their jobs/worship.

Their other job is to ensure the church has a steady income. They terrorise the commoners into paying tithes in exchange for safety from being sacrificed this tenday (a protection racket, basically) while leaving "economically and socially important individuals live unharmed." I mean, the peasantry have far less enemies to assassinate and gold to spend, so. Plus the rich and powerful are brilliant at turning a blind eye to crime when it benefits them, as well as making sure the evidence never sees the light of day - know which side your bread is buttered on, and all. Baldur's Gate has no law against the worship of Bhaal. Why do you think the original temple exists, after all? Bhaalists actively seek out and sway such potential patrons who would be... amenable to sponsoring and protecting their technically-legal church and its not so-legal activities in exchange for their services.

Urban temples of Bhaal are usually dark, subterranean affairs built under the city streets, containing countless branching tombs that are home to the bodies of the clergy's victims - said victims are usually wandering around down there as restless undead.

-

Bhaal's clergy can be recognised as Bhaalists by their ceremonial robes - full body robes of black or deep purple with a deep cowl. The robes will be randomly and violently streaked with flashes of violet. Their entire face is fully obscured by a black veil, to both hide their identity and make it appear as though the hood is empty for the intimidation factor.

The leader of the church - and thus all of the temples - in a region is the High Primate/Primistress, who can be identified by a red belt/sash they wear over their robes and the fancy curved ceremonial dagger that marks them as a high ranking priest and a specialty priest known as a Deathstalker - more about them in a moment.

High Primates spent much of their time planning the proper strategies of manipulating nearby rulers, inhabitants, and organizations into the deeds and behaviour that the Bhaalyn desired.

The head of a single temple is a Primate or Primistress. The Primate is directly served by the First Deaths, who in turn can call upon a council of the nine most senior clergy; the Cowled Deaths. Below them were the regular priests, who were known collectively as the Deathdealers and are referred to by the title Slaying Hand. A Bhaalist rises in the ranks by hunting and ritually killing a target with nothing but their bare hands, which they will then report to a higher ranking priest who will confirm that they are being truthful. If they are then there's a party, and a ritual sacrifice is held to celebrate.

When on a job they dress in black - in the form that suits whatever their preferred method of killing in. Leather armour, mage robes, whatever.

Bhaalists pray to their god before sleep. In the temple the entire congregation comes together to pray in a formal ceremony called "Day's Farewell"). Bhaalists are also to pray before setting out on a murder.

Bhaalists only observe one holy day. It's the Feast of the Moon, a continent-wide holiday for honouring the dead and honouring one's ancestors. Bhaalists have their own spin on it where they remember dead Bhaalists and celebrate with stories of murder to honour them.

All Bhaalists are to commit a murder every tenday at midnight, should they be unable to fulfil this duty then they are to kill two people in place of the one who should've died that day. Before the victim dies, the murderer is to ensure that they know their killer and that they died as a sacrifice to the God of Death; "Bhaal awaits thee, Bhaal embraces thee, none escape Bhaal."

-

The specialty priests of Bhaal, those who dedicate their devotion and worship no god other than him, are the Deathstalkers.

One does not have to be a cleric to join the ranks, though the majority are. Rogues, rangers, barbarians and fighters are the most common, but all classes make an appearance (and most are multiclassed clerics)

To become a Deathstalker one must have murdered sixteen sapient creatures in sixteen different methods with sixteen different weapons. This presumably is also the rite of passage to becoming a member of the Brethren of the Keen Strike - an order of Bhaalist assassins to which all Deathstalkers belong.

Distressingly for people who aren't Bhaalist, Bhaal's Deathstalkers regained their Bhaalist abilities around 1372 DR, following the end of the Bhaalspawn Crisis, and resumed their duties, spreading death and terror in his name as they worked to bring him back to full power. The most popular argument for how the priests of a dead deity were getting their spells is that another god - likely Cyric, was granting them spells disguised as Bhaal. However, in the wake of the Bhaalspawn Crisis and the wave of fear felt towards Bhaal that resulted (which counts as prayer), the rumour mill became very fond of the idea that, despite how the crisis ended, Bhaal had still managed to resurrect at least some scrap of himself through that fear and the God of Murder was haunting the Realms once more.

The various abilities Bhaal gifts to his Deathstalkers include the following:

[From 3.5e] The ability to identify key weaknesses in a target by studying them for only a few moments, killing them in a single strike. They are also supernaturally good at stabbing people with their ceremonial daggers.

[3.5e] The ability to tap into the hatred of a person, stoking it into homicidal rage and direct it at another person who they will kill in a mindless bloody rage (also called the Urge to Slay, an ability Bhaal himself has)

[3.5e] Bhaal's own inability to just fucking stay dead - a Deathstalker Bhaal doesn't want dead will come back to life an hour after it is killed, with a single hit point left. During the time prior to resurrection they are an actual corpse.

[2e] They can point at a person, sending necrotic energy coursing through them and causing them significant damage, agony and possibly death.

[2e] They can inflict severe wounds on a person just by thinking it.

[2e] They can teleport! A Deathstalker can teleport themselves (and other people, if they're powerful enough) to the Throne of Blood and from there they can teleport to anywhere on Toril that isn't protected by warding magic. Bhaal won't do anything to protect Deathstalkers while they're in the Lower Planes - if you're strong enough to get yourself here, you're strong enough to get yourself out.

[2e] They can affect the emotions of those around them, reversing whatever emotions an individual is feeling towards them into its polar opposite.

[2e] They can accelerate the entropic aging process of objects.

-

Bhaal himself is "violent, cruel and hateful at all times." Being in the presence of the living fills him with an overwhelming urge to kill and destroy. He presents himself as either on the verge of a violent rampage or cold and ruthlessly calculating depending on which suits the occasion best. A Lawful Evil deity, his domain is the Throne of Blood in the first layer of the Lower Plane of Gehenna (Khalas), part of Bane's domain (Banehold). Hilariously, not a single Baldurs Gate game has got this right. BG2:SoA claimed it was the Hells, BG2:ToB changed to the Abyss and, for some reason, BG3 has put it in the Grey Wastes.

Bhaal served Bane, and was in turn served by Loviatar (goddess of pain) and Talona (goddess of disease).

His holy symbol is the Circle of Tears; clue in the name, it's a skull surrounded by teardrops of blood forming a circle.

Bhaal rarely manifested in avatar form. When he did, his main avatar in urban areas was the Slayer, which was not a four armed scaly monster:

"The Slayer look[s] like a corpse with a feral face, [bloodless] skin, and deep lacerations that endlessly [weep] black ichor that vanish[es] before it strikes anything."

It makes no noise at all when it moves. it can talk (its softly spoken and sounds creepy). It can levitate at will and summon floating daggers made of bone, that appeared and disappeared at will. They would cause any living flesh they hit to wither and die. Creatures slain this way would rise again as zombies under its control - or have its skeleton shattered into more bone daggers. Enough of these daggers form an area-of-effect; a wall made of a flurry of sharp shards of bone that would trap the soul of anyone they killed. Oh, yeah, and the Slayer can also inflict the overwhelming urge to murder everyone around you on the people around it.

Bhaal's other avatar was the Ravager, which was mostly an angry 30-foot tall giant with horns.

While in either avatar form, Bhaal also had the ability to create any form of undead loyal to him by touching a corpse (greater undead like vampires would be free once they'd completed whatever task he'd assigned them). He could also immediately destroy any undead, turning them to dust at a touch. Bhaal cannot be harmed by the undead.

Rather than using his avatars, Bhaal usually just manifested as a pair of flying undead hands that can shoot bone daggers at people. Or a laughing human skull trailing teardrops. Both these manifestations are capable of speech, casting darkness and driving everybody into a mindless bloodthirsty rampage - you might have noticed he really loves this trick.

He also invented his own undead monsters, the Harrla of Hate. Harrla are invisible creatures, which if you use magic to see them appear like human shaped wavering impressions. Guess what they do?? If you guessed "fill people with a sense of overpowering hatred and drive people into committing homicide" get yourself a fucking cookie!! (This isn't said anywhere in canon, but Bhaal has less imagination than a chunk of rock, I swear to god...)

According to one version of the story; in life Bhaal was a Netherese mortal wizard named Tharlagaunt Bale. He was one of a few hand picked by Jergal to bear a fragment of the god's divinity and raised from a young age to serve him (a Chosen, basically). Hilariously, one of the others was Karsus. These Chosen were promised godhood for their service as they set about performing a ritual to increase Jergal's waning power and make him one of the most powerful deities. Karsus chose to try and make himself a god instead and blew up the Weave, destroying Netheril and the plan and killing all of his coworkers except Bale.

Bale got a job as an assassin, changed the spelling to Bhaal and dropped his first name, teamed up with a bitter ex-slave with no name except the title "Bane of the Ancients" and a necromancer prince called Myrkul Bey al-Kursi.

His other backstory features him as Arabhal; the spymaster and chief assassin of the Netherese City of Rdiuz, and an ally of Bane. The two became unwitting paws of Jergal, who directed them through nightmares to do his bidding and slay various primordial divinities who threatened his plans.

Regardless of backstory, they all grabbed more divinity by killing an ancient god (also Bane's ex-master) and then he went knocking on his old boss' door for that godhood he was promised (Jergal at this point had embraced depression and just went "yeah, whatever, have it. Idgaf, I'm retiring." Or was manipulating them into becoming his divine pawns. There's more than one take on this story.) and Bhaal walked off the god of murder.

He learned of a prophecy predicting he would die when his stupid ex-travelling companions would decide to piss of Ao who would then kick all the gods out and make them mortal, and Bhaal then decided to sleep with what seems to be at least 25% of Faerûn to produce kids who would hold fragments of himself so that they could all fight to the death and he could resurrect himself afterwards. He was killed by the soon-to-be-god Cyric not far from Baldur's Gate during the Time of Troubles. Cyric proceeded to take his job, and there was a huge fight between Bhaalists who converted and those who didn't and the converts killed all the holdouts.

The rest of the backstory is basically just the original Baldur's Gate games.

[alicelufenia]

Lots of buzz about the expansion announcement but can I just say, I really enjoyed the "Annotated Endwalker" panel with Ishikawa and Yoshida where they went over their writing process and how they maintain consistent thematic callbacks and culturally significant statements across languages. It's a fascinating look at how much work goes into serial fiction like this, especially when it has to cross multiple language barriers and still evoke the same feelings, all while making homages to literally decades old content.

I was HOOTING for the Amon/G'raha parallels, that's something I hadn't noticed before. Likewise with the twins, their grandfather Louisoix, and their father Fourchenault.

And of course, I was so happy that they finally talked about Zenos in Endwalker and practically grabbed the fandom by the head and said "actually pay attention to what he says and does and apply critical thinking for once PLEASE! The words are HIGHLIGHTED on a stream broadcast to MILLIONS. You have NO EXCUSE NOW!" *SHAKES YOU SPITTING AND HISSING*

phew anyway, I also liked the analysis of Emet's lines, and how they were written with the impression that not only was he narrating from the Aetherial Sea, but Venat is just there too.

But maaan I gotta call them out for referencing the shortstory with Azem's unilateral volcano mission to save the grapes and failing to mention that

It

Was Never

About

The Grapes

Literally no one in the story believed that except Elidibus who is the young naïve one.

It's about Azem seeing value in the lives of those living in the shadow of the volcano while the rest of the Convocation did not. That's what makes them a hero in a world that doesn't even have a word for that yet.

Look I know the grapes are a meme and you're leaning in on it heavily but I guarantee you can tell us it's not about the grapes and we'll both appreciate that fact and still like the grapes! Your squapes merch sales won't slouch by just acknowledging that characters can say something without meaning it!

So yeah, I liked the panel.

[longwuzhere]

Some cool Easter eggs I caught watching My Adventures with Superman that I want to show to people so they can be in on it with comic book readers

My episode 2 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 3 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 4 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My episode 5 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 6 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 7 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here and here

My Episode 8 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 9 easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Episode 10 easter eggs and refences in My Adventures with Superman post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

(SPOILERS if you haven't seen the show yet):

Lois Lane has a cut out clip of Vicki Vale. Vicki Vale is a journalist in Gotham City. Her first appearance was in Batman #49 (1948) as seen in the panel here (W: Bill Finger, A: Lew Sayre and Bob Kane, I: Charles Paris, L: Ira Schnapp).

Looks like Jimmy is a fan of Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. Good video game taste.

Jimmy mentions a psychic starfish and the one starfish in the DC universe who is psychic is Starro the Conqueror, who's first appearance is in Brave and the Bold 28 (1960) (the cover art here is done by Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, and Ira Schnapp) and has the power to mind control people.

Lois, after barging into Perry White's office about a story, mentions Mt. Simonson. This is a neat name drop to Superman: The Man of Steel writer Louise Simonson, one of the nicest comic book writers you'll ever meet. She helped co-create John Henry Irons a.k.a Steel with artist of the Superman: The Man of Steel comic, Jon Bogdanove (really hope we get to see Irons in this show too).

Jon Bogdanove also gets a name drop here as does...

Dan Jurgen, comic book writer and artist on the Superman comic in the 90s (also one of my favorite Superman artists).

Now who are these kids that call themselves the Newskid Legion? Well, they are a VERY deep DC cut and reference to the Newsboy Legion back in the 1940s. The group was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, LEGENDARY comic book creators.

The page here is from Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #16 (1986) with the art by Jack Kirby and Karl Kesel. Most of the Newskid Legion is named after the Newsboy Legion members

Gabby and Big Words here share names with their Newsboy Legion counterparts as does Flip Johnson...

who shares names with Walter "Flip" Johnson here on the cover of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olson #137 (1971) which was done by Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, and Gaspar Saladino.

Patty, the cartoonist of the Newskid Legion homages this panel from Adventures of Superman #500 (1993) (W: Karl Kesel, P: Tom Grummet, I: Doug Hazelwood, C: Glenn Whitmore, L: Albert DeGuzman), the first appearance of Superboy, Conner Kent/ Kon-El.

But who is the one below that drawing? We'll his name is in Big Word's word puzzle, in the show. It's Jim Harper, the Guardian.

Jim Harper becomes the Newsboy Legion's legal guardian despite their causing trouble for him. The page here is from Star Spangled Comics #7, the Newsboy Legion and the Guardian's first appearance, by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Whitney Ellsworth. You might've seen the Guardian on the recent Young Justice cartoon.

When Lois, Clark, and Jimmy go investigate about the smuggled robots in Metropolis, Jimmy makes a reference to super intelligent gorillas in France. This is a subtle hint at Monsieur Mallah, the Doom Patrol villain who will be in the show along with his partner, the Brain. Both made their first appearance in Doom Patrol #86 (1964) .

The cover art here is done by Arnold Drake, Bob Brown, and Ira Schnapp.

Later in the episode we see Clark receive his powers and he is surrounded with electricity, giving off Superman Blue vibes when in the comics, Superman gained electricity powers and became Electric Blue Superman who's first appearance was in Superman #123 (1997) (cover art by Dan Jurgens, Joe Rubenstein, Patrick Martin, and Todd Klein.

Link to Episode 2 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 3 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 4 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 5 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 6 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 7 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here and here

Link to Episode 8 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 9 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

Link to Episode 10 of My Adventures with Superman Easter Eggs and references is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 1 post is here

My Easter eggs and references in My Adventures with Superman comic issue 2 post is here

My Easter eggs and references for My Adventures with Superman comic issue 3 post is here

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Superstars!

Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.

(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)

General thoughts

The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.

(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)

It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.

Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.

...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.

Nice little tweaks

Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.

You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game

Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore

The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select

This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone

You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails

And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash

And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning

Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.

Bosses

Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.

I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.

Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.

While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.

Emeralds and their powers

Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.

Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)

Battle Mode

I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:

...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.

The soundtrack...

(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.

As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.

Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.

But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:

When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...

Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.

Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.

What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:

To... this, in zone 7:

It's EXTREMELY jarring!

The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.

(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)

While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.

What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.

I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.

This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.

Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.

Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...

At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!

The postgame

Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.

Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.

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

SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

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The bonus scenario

Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.

But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.

...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.

Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:

The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.

The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...

Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.

Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.

It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.

The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.

After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.

...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess

Closing thoughts

I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.

I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!

Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries

[dailycass-cain]

Birds of Prey #12 brings the Cass action to the forefront!

It also gets me something I always wanted to see: Sophie Campbell drawing Cass. But it comes-- with a TWIST!!

We're nearing the end point of this arc, and we get the craziest issue yet of the world hoping. This time the Birds getting "toonnified".

And that is "the twist"

Since I first saw her work on IDW TMNT. I always wanted to see Sophie Campbell draw Cass. Well wish granted this issue. But it's an utterly adorable Cass.

Though, what shall we call this Cass version? Toon Cass? Cass Toon? No wait that one is taken. 🤪

Anyhoot, this toon world feels honestly the most fleshed out of them all. Like it felt there was this underlying unease with each world the Birds visited.

Here this is the first one that feels like a world onto itself. I wonder where this will go with the "final world" teased at the end.

Even though, last issue Cass was put on the back burner, this issue she gets A LOT of focus. So much so I believe this issue she has more dialogue than the prior ELEVEN issues!

Even with all this Cass, all the Birds get a moment this issue. Barda and Vixen get absolute banger moments this issue and their toon designs are just perfection. Likewise so does Sin, and even Babs. Everyone gets something this issue.

And it all starts with Cela walking out, and Cass following. Now I now there was A LOT of shippers jumping onto the two this issue.

So let's dissect the real bonding, and maybe-- it can go to be more?

Writer Kelly Thompson has touched on many dimensions to Cass in the series thus far. Here she digs into the core of Cass: compassion.

A few issues ago, we learned Cela's origins, and last issue put it on the back burner, but this issue we get the forefront as she knows the Birds reunited that time is almost up with her newfound companions and the hope of being free from this prison.

I think Cass can really relate to Cela. That she's stuck in this world, and really is trying to be good despite the world wanting otherwise. Not to mention losing A LOT of sisters?

It sounds FAMILAIR doesn't it?

think Cass relates a lot to Cela and is trying to break that ice with her being there for her. She can see how her body is screaming for someone to vent with.

And well... we get the scene between the two.

Now as to WHY people are jumping on this ship bandwagon so much? Well, when was the last time Cass had an honest to god love interest in the main DCU?

You could say Stephanie Brown (Batgirls 2021-2023). Or... Harper Row (2016).

But if we're going to her honest-to-goodness CONFIRMED she's interested in?

It was Sal from Batgirl Vol. 2 (2009).

It's been THAT long since Cassandra Cain had a CONFIRMED love interest.

I think fan interest in wanting Cass to get SOME loving is WHY we're at this point. The girl deserves it. Though personally I see ANOTHER option (if not Harper), who just happens to show up this issue too.

So I get WHY many shipping vibes are there for Cass/Cela.

But the rest of the issue is Cass coming up with a plan to FINALLY be free while also dealing with Maia problem too.

And here we get our SECOND bit of Cass in the issue.

This and a few other reaction images are so getting memed by us Cass fans. I know it.

But yeah it's a nice "character progression" from someone who told a "bad story" in #1 to now coming up with a good plan in #12.

And the plan even involves a homage to what Sophie Campbell is most famous for. 😁😁😁

You thought I wouldn't notice the streams crossed did ya? BUT I DID!

Birds of Prey #12 is an emotional ride but with a toony twist. It has such a glorious cute edge this issue. And this world with the Birds REALLY clicked. I've gone back to reading this issue more over than the prior bits of this arc.

I feel there's nothing more to say than I'm REALLY curious where this all goes next issue and how this will tie into the Spirit World?

I guess we'll see. Other than, I'm curious what your thoughts are on Cass/Cela?

And are you surprised it's been THAT LONG Cass had a love interest?

*this is me now waiting for comments*

[tyrantisterror]

No Small Feat Artwork Pt. 2 - Major NPCs

By request, I'm gonna show off some of the artwork for No Small Feat, a Midgaheim story my friends and I told through the TTRPG system Fabula Ultima. I drew a lot of characters and monsters for it, and my friends - in particular, @dragonzzilla, @scatha5, and @dinosaurana - helped line and color them so we'd have cute little sprites to use on our online battlemaps, which really helped sell the whole "we're playing an oldschool turn based RPG" vibe that Fabula Ultima's system is going for.

This batch is comprised of what I'm calling the Major NPCs - recurring non-player characters who had a big role in the campaign. Fabula Ultima has a Bond system that gives players a tangible benefit for getting invested in the story and characters they meet in the game, so I tried to structure it so they would have some character who they'd be inclined to form those bonds with so they could exploit that mechanic. I personally love it when a game gives a mechanical incentive to getting invested in its story, it just seems so intuitive and obvious for an RPG, and I wanted to do my best to make that mechanic work.

The first recurring NPC the party met was Leonie Ymbessil. Most of the characters in No Small Feat were designed to fit fairy tale archetyepes, and in Leonie's case, she's the Disobedient Girl - your Red Riding Hood/Goldilocks style young woman who is given sound advice that she promptly ignores, which draws her into peril as a result. There are disobedient boys in fairy tales too, but the way their stories play out tend to vary quite a bit - a disobedient girl will almost always be thrust into incredible danger that, if she even survives it, will leave her so traumatized that she never breaks a rule again, while disobedient boys get to rob giants through trickery and guile and become kings.

And while No Small Feat was a fairy tale homage by design, I also wanted it to be a bit of a subversion when it came to some tropes - Fairy Tales off the Rails, if you will. And one of my big secret goals was to see if I could convincingly buck convention and get my auidence/fellow storytellers on the disobedient girl's side, and help her make out like a bandit the way all the disobedient boys do.

Leonie began the story as the spendthrift daughter of a wealthy merchant, who was currently down on her luck because her father cut her off for being too careless with money and forced her to work in one of his shops to earn a living. But she also had a plan - namely, to marry some lonely rich bastard and live off his fortune. Though definitely greedy, Leonie is also incredibly charitable, often giving away ludicrous amounts of whatever wealth she gained in a particular arc to people who were needy or just glum - her spendthrift nature is partly a reflection of her desire to see other people happy and taken care of.

Eventually Leonie, like the PCs, became more formidable as the story went along, occasionally even acting as a temporary ally for a couple boss fights. She, uh, might have taken up my brain a bit. I have a lot of Leonie art that wasn't strictly necessary for the campaign, but was necessary for my happiness. Some of that art I can even show in public!

(there's even more of it, but we'll get to it when we cover another Major NPC)

The next Major NPC the heroes were introduced to was Sir George Garston I, who is essentially Midgaheim's take on Saint George. The most prolific dragonslayer of all time, George is an affable, down-to-earth gentleman who, at the beginning of the campaign, saw his duty as being the protection of mankind against vicious beasts. Our party was leery of him because, well, because they know I love dragons to death and that my Midgaheim setting is positively flooded with dragons who are Really Good Guys, so a guy whose whole deal is "he's killed a shitload of dragons" has to be bad news, right?

And, like, George definitely was not a perfect person at the beginning of the game - he views the conflicts between dragons and humans from the human side by default, never once questioning whether the dragons may be the wronged party from time to time. But he ultimately proved to be a person who wanted to help his fellow human beings, and one who did not delight in killing - dragonslaying, to him, was an ugly but necessary job, and when the story unfolded to the point where he could see how, sometimes, humans were the aggressors in these conflicts, George did shift his view, recognizing that dragons were living things who needed to be protected at times too. The nuances of living in a world where giant lizards are capable of abstract thought but rarely capable of expressing it in ways humans can understand.

George was also a sort of secretly sad individual, being blessed/cursed with a magically extended lifespan and a much slower aging process, which allowed him to not only outlive his wife by decades, but look far younger than he feels in the process, which was wreaking havoc on his psyche at the start of the campaign. Our heroes caught George in the first of what are likely many breakdowns in an immortal's life where they wonder why they still exist when everything they loved has passed. It's ok, the party got him what passes for therapy in a vaguely medieval fantasy land.

Our party had one more fabled hero to meet among the Major NPCs, and that was none other than the posterboy for Disobedient Boy heroes in Fairy Tales, Jack Giantslayer. Midgaheim goes with the "all the Jacks in Fairy Tales are the same Jack" approach, and the result was a neurotic, twitchy, easily startled mess of a ginger who my notes told me to "Try to channel Charlie Day as much as possible, even though you can't do a good Charlie Day impression." Oh, and he's blessed (cursed?) to be really good at killing ogres, even when he's not trying to - which our heroes found out when he tried to cause a distraction with his slingshot, only for his pebble to pingpong around until it hit a painting that fell off from just the right height and angle to decapitate the ogre butler they were trying to avoid.

Anyway he ended up dating Leonie fuck you it's my RPG I can indulge if I want

Our party had a few nonhuman helpers, too. The Phenex chick was rescued by them after they fended off a pissed and dying phenex, and provided them with a small but occasionally refreshed supply of ashes that could be used to bring a player back up from 0 HP mid-battle. They also met a bridled kelpie that, once freed, decided to help shepherd them around, giving them a fast travel option that was VERY useful given the... other travel mechanic this game had going on, which you'll find out in a later entry.

Some of our PCs needed an extra kick out the proverbial door in session 0. In Charles's case, he was led astray by Cassandra, a sphinx in Aesopton who lived on the outskirts of town and was always gloomy and aloof around others. Being burdened with the gift of prophecy, Cassandra had somewhat selfish motivations in leading Charles astray, as she knew he would not only be crucial in saving Engelsex from the crisis that was going on in the campaign, but would also be able to rescue her when she was kidnapped and placed into a menagerie sometime after Charles was lost. Charles didn't hold it against her, though, and the two ended up in a bit of a romance by the end of things.

For Montblanc and Edmund, though, I called upon another fairy tale archetype: the Wicked Witch. And I specifically grabbed one of the biggest from English folklore, albeit with a slight tweak to her name - Bleak Annis, infamous hag and boogeyman, cursed Charles to take on a bestial shape while gifting Montblanc a grimoire before tasking him to draw 100 beasts. She wasn't done there, either, showing up now and then to manipulate the rest of the party into finding the right clues and being in the right places at the right time to face the big threat, all while remaining ambiguous about her true intentions for most of the plot. She also served as the pokedex narrator for Montblanc's growing bestiary, which was fun for me to RP.

And that's our major recurring players! Well, except for the antagonists of course, but we'll cover them as we look at individual arcs from here on out.

[links-in-time]

Twilight Warriors

Chapter 1

This follows on from my fic 'Imposter'.

It's also me paying homage to @st0rmyskies. This is a love letter and prequel to their amazing fic 'Polyamorous Disaster Sky'. As well as their other work which I highly recommend.

I wanted to write my version of how I thought Warriors and Twilight's relationship got started before Sky became involved.

Anyway usual 🔞 warnings, enjoy 😊

"Shit! This is bad Twi!" Wars grunted, shifting Twi's slightly heavier body into a more comfortable position.

"It's not great but it's not terrible!" Twilight replied, tentatively poking at the arrow sticking out of his left shoulder.

"Stop doing that!" Wars smacked his hand away before Twilight could do any more damage.

"It's fine. I'll just pull it out and keep goin. Hand me a potion and I'll be right as rain," Twilight insisted. But his smile faded when he noticed Wars' stricken expression.

"What's wrong?"

"You mean other than the arrow in your shoulder? I haven't got any potions or fairies left. And if you're asking me then I'm guessing you don't either."

"Well, shit!"

"My sentiments exactly," Wars nodded.

He had managed to wrestle Twilight away from the battle in order to examine his wound. Having come up empty on healing items Wars was at a loss for what to do next. The blasted portal had spat them out in the middle of a monster camp. Enormous moblins from Wild's era surrounded them on all sides. He could still hear the others fighting for their lives not far away. Hopefully it wouldn't be long until they finished off the monsters and help would be on its way.

"We'll just have to wait for the others. One of them must have something to help. But I don't want to take that arrow out until they do." Wars insisted, trying to stay calm and level headed. Never mind that the man he had recently developed feelings for was bleeding in his arms.

"I'll be alright Cap," Twilight sighed, looking up at Wars with his lopsided grin which made Wars' knees weak. "I'm tougher than I look."

"Well you must be made of steel because you look pretty tough my friend." Wars chuckled.

His eyes kept flicking to the shaft embedded in Twi's shoulder. A million and one scenarios flashed through his mind. Not all of them bad, but only a handful of them had happy endings. His biggest concern was infection. Wars doubted moblins worried about keeping their weapons clean. The arrow head was likely dirty if not poisoned. Twilight hadn't shown any signs of poisoning, but he hadn't crossed it off the list just yet. A potion could heal most poison damage, but infections were tricky. They weren't always totally cleared up by magic, being a natural occurrence. He didn't understand why, that's just they way things worked sometimes.

"I'll be alright Wars, I've dealt with a lot worse trust me," Twi tried to assure him, gently rubbing Wars hand on his arm with his thumb.

It was a good long while before anyone came to find them. Four had a gash across his forehead, just below his head band. He was panting hard as he pushed through the brush towards them.

"I found them! They're here! Twi's hurt!" He yelled over his shoulder. "What happened? I saw you guys disappear earlier and assumed the worst." Four asked, as he dropped to his knees on the opposite side of Twilight to Wars.

"Got hit by an arrow. Can't move my left arm just now." Twilight explained plainly.

"Not good. I'll go get Hyrule. He was dealing with Wind but he should be done now."

Four sprung back to his feet and was away agin.

"Wait what happened to Wind?!" Wars called after him.

"You're such a mother cooco!" Twilight chuckled.

"Shut up you idiot," Wars huffed, no real feeling in his words.

"Aww, you always call me such sweet nicknames Cap."

"Alright now really do shut up. I'm not sure I want the others know about our little... whatever it is going on between us."

"Okay, no worries, I won't say anything," Twilight insisted and Wars could tell he wasn't teasing anymore.

Help in the form of Hyrule and Time came a few minutes later. Time held Twilight still while Wars pulled the arrow. An instant later Hyrule's healing magic flowed through Twilight's vains, stitching his skin back together. A small pink scar was all that remained just visible beneath Twilight's tunic.

"How'd you feel Twi?" Time asked, looking down at Twilight from where he sat above his head.

Twilight stared up at Time's upside down face and gave him a smile.

"Much better Old Man. Thanks Rulie, the rest of you okay?" Twilight sighed in reply.

"Everyone is mostly fine. After I fixed up Wind he claimed he spotted a village through his telescope, just up ahead on the road," Hyrule replied.

Wars thought the young hero looked exhausted. He always did after using his healing magic on so many people.

"Alright, we'll make for the village and hope we can find somewhere to stay and rest a while. Once we figure out who's era we're in we can come up with a better plan." Wars decided, his grip on Twilight's arm tightening slightly.

"Actually Four thinks it might be his, but he's not quite sure where the portal dropped us yet." Hyrule added.

"Alright, village it is," Time concluded, pushing himself to his feet with a groan. "Can you walk now Twi?"

"Yeah I'm good," Twilight insisted, gently easing Wars' hand off his arm. "Let's get moving."

The Chain moved slowly along the road Wind had found, towards the little houses off in the distance. Wars didn't walk directly beside Twilight, but he hovered near him, hardly allowing the Rancher out of his sight. He seemed fine. The chances of poison had dwindled to nothing. Maybe he was worrying needlessly. Still, he had dried smears of Twilight's blood on his hands. Wars curled his fists and tried to ignore it.

The village was small. So small in fact that there were no shops and no Inn. Time and Four spoke to a farmer who said he had a barn large enough to accommodate all of them. Four gave the old man what he thought was a generous handful of rupies and thanked him for his hospitality.

The barn was designed to house sheep and other livestock. Twilight instantly felt at home. The barn was drafty but it was the middle of summer and the breezes blowing through the cracks in the boards were pleasant. He smiled contently to himself and started unpacking his bedroll and his weapons to check a few things over.

"I don't think we're too far from my town," Four informed them.

As usual Wild's map was useless, just a fuzzy screen and only his inventory was available to him.

"We'll spend the night here then press on in the morning. These people don't seem to have been bothered by the monsters so far, I'd like to keep it that way," Time said to the others.

Wars washed his hands with the last of his water before handing it over to Sky to be filled with everyone else's.

"I'm going to go for a quick walk around the village, make sure we didn't miss any monsters back there," Wars announced.

He was already turning towards the door of the barn when he felt Twilight's hand grip his arm.

"I'll come with you. I could do with stretching my legs a bit more," he uttered, quickly letting go of Wars.

Together the pair left the barn and headed for the edge of the village. It really was small, just a collection of farm buildings and squat single story houses. Twilight spent a while saying hello to the flock of sheep out in one of the fields while Wars rolled his eyes.

Secretly though he found Twilight's way with animals both impressive and endearing. He had an amazing way with them. Like he could speak to them in their language, calm them with his natural kindness. Wars wondered if he'd ever used that soothing talent on any of his brothers.

They walked across the main road through the other end of the village in about fifteen minutes and rounded the corner back towards the barn.

"Did you see that?" Twilight asked suddenly, pointing off between two houses towards some trees.

"What?"

Wars was instantly on alert. His ears pricked for any sound ahead of them. He couldn't see whatever it was Twilight had spotted, but he trusted Twi's instincts. They were always odly accurate.

"I'm sure I saw somethin slip between those two buildings. Might have just been an animal, but we should check it out."

"Alright, I'll follow your lead," Wars replied, drawing his sword just in case.

Twilight and Warriors approached the two buildings, shoulders tensed and senses seaking out anything out of the ordinary. Wars attention drifted away from Twilight towards the trees nearby. Which is why when Twilight rounded on him and pinned Wars against one of the walls, he dropped his sword in surprise.

"Twi what are you...?!" He protested.

Twilight cut off Warriors question with his lips. Planting them firmly with all the pent up passion he had felt throughout the last few days. When he drew back for breath Wars was staring at him, eyebrow raised.

"You didn't see anything, did you?"

"I might have," Twilight replied coily. "We could always go and check. Or we could stay here."

To emphasise his point Twilight pressed his thigh between Wars' legs, putting pressure on his groin. Wars whimpered, a sound which drove Twilight forwards, like a predator taking advantage of its preys weakness. He met Wars' lips once more, kissing him while his hands went to the man's hips to push him roughly against the wall.

"Mmm," Wars moaned into Twilight's mouth, as he began rubbing himself against Twi's leg.

Twilight grinned, flashing his teeth before dipping his head down to kiss Wars' neck. Their clothing didn't allow for much skin to skin contact, but Twilight made up for it. His lips and teeth found the soft spot beneath Wars' jaw and gently nipped his skin, earning him a soft moan from the Captain. Twilight hummed to himself in satisfaction. Watching someone like Warriors wriggle under his touch was intoxicating.

"You okay?" Twi asked, as Wars shuddered at the touch of Twi's tongue on his ear.

"Oh yes," Wars breathed, his hands wrapped tightly around Twilight's shoulders. "Oh Twi!"

Twilight chuckled a little and Wars felt it pass between their chests, tightly pressed together. He let his head fall back against the wall of the building while Twi continued to suckle at the soft skin of his neck.

"We sh-should probably get back. The others will start to wonder where we are," Wars uttered, just about able to keep from stammering.

Twilight moaned softly against his ear.

"I don't want to go back."

"They'll get suspicious. And I don't fancy the tease fest I know Legend will give us if he found out. Come on Twi. You know I want to, but let's be at least a little sensible about this."

Twilight withdrew a little. He stopped pinning Wars against the wall quite so firmly. And he eased his leg out from between Wars' thighs.

"Okay, we'll be careful. When we're with the others everything can be normal. We'll just have to take every chance we can to be alone," Twilight finally relented.

Wars reached up and stroked Twilight's cheek.

"I might be making my perimeter sweeps a bit longer from now on then!"

***

Wild made a simple meal of grilled meat and vegetables for dinner, after which everyone went to sleep. All except for Time who sat on watch at the barn door. The night passed without incident. Watch shifts were exchanged until Legend passed by Twilight at the end of his shift. The older hero was wrapped up in his blanket as usual. But Legend noticed Twilight seemed to be shivering. It wasn't cold by any estimation, it had been quite a pleasant night. But Twilight was definitely shivering.

Concerned, Legend took a few steps closer and squatted down beside Twilight's head. He reached out and laid the back of his hand on Twi's forehead. It didn't take long for Legend to confirm what he suspected. Twi's skin was hot and slick with sweat. Legend grimaced and wiped his hand on his tunic.

"Dummy, went and got yourself a fever didn't you," Legend grumbled in a low tone.

He let out a long sigh and looked around for Time. He found him sleeping not far from the door and went to rouse him.

"Hey, Time," he said, shaking the man awake. "Twi's got a fever."

"Hmm, what?" Time replied groggily rubbing his good eye, as he tried to push himself up onto one arm.

"Twilight's got a temperature and he's shivering something fierce. I think his wound got infected and now he's got a fever," Legend explained.

As Time and Legend went to check on Twilight, the other boys began to stir. Hyrule and Warriors were quick to join Time and Legend by Twilight's side while the others gave them some space and started packing up their things.

"He's got a fever alright," Time confirmed, withdrawing his own hand from Twilight's head. "Twi, can you hear me? Are you awake?"

Twilight didn't respond so Time started gently rocking his shoulder.

"I was afraid this would happen. I should have taken the arrow out sooner," Wars sighed, shaking his head.

"He would have bled out if you'd done that," Legend remarked.

"Anything you can do Rulie?" Time asked, lifting his gaze to look at the traveller.

"I don't think so." Hyrule shook his head sadly. "He needs medicine, not potions or healing. They won't do anything for an infection like this. Good food and warmth should help with the fever, but yeah, medicine."

"I'll go see if anyone in the village has anything that could help," Legend announced, already getting to his feet.

"I'll come with you," Hyrule replied, following the Vet to the door.

It didn't take long for the two boys to come back from their search. The villagers had been sad to inform them that they only had medicine for their animals and a few small supplies for themselves. However there was a larger town nearby where they should be able to get what they needed.

"Sounds like my home town," Four remarked. "I could get us some lodging if we went there."

"Twi's not in any fit state to travel Smithy," Wars reminded him, a gentle hand laid on Twilight's shoulder. "I suggest we split up. Some of us go to town and get medicine for Twilight. Some of us stay with him here and do the best we can until the others get back."

"Sounds like a good plan," Sky agreed.

"I think Four, Legend, Wind and Sky should go to the town. Maybe you should go too Time. Hyrule should stay in case Twi gets worse and he can do anything. And maybe Wild, perhaps you could make him some soup?" Wars continued, addressing each of the boys as he spoke to them.

"That's a solid plan Captain, anyone have any other suggestions?" Time affirmed.

There weren't any objections to Warriors' plan, so the boys going to town finished packing up and left as quickly as they could. Four assured Wars that they would get there and back as soon as possible and not to worry.

Wild went to forrage for ingredients even had a pumpkin donated from one of the farmers. Wars was pleased to see Twilight finally open his eyes when Wild started cooking in one of his portable pots.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked softly, brushing some of Twilight's bangs out of his face.

"Like crap," he croaked, his voice thin and weak compared to the commanding tone he had used on Wars only the day before.

"Some of the others have gone to fetch you some medicine. Wild's cooking pumpkin soup." Wars explained.

"Smells good," Twilight remarked, following his nose towards the source of the delectable smells wafting from Wild's stove.

"I'm glad you haven't lost your appetite. Think you could sit up and drink some water?"

"Sure."

Warriors helped prop Twilight up against a bale of hay they had moved behind his bed roll. He groaned a little but mostly he just seemed exhausted.

"Are you warm enough?" Wars asked, his hand already on a spare blanket folded up beside him.

"I'm 'k for now," Twilight sighed, taking a deep breath.

Wars handed Twilight his canteen and carefully watched Twi taking slow sips. He was pleased to see him drink quite a bit before he handed it back. Not long after Wild arrived with two bowls of steaming soup.

"I tried to make it the way Sky said, but we didn't have all the right herbs. Tastes good though. Hope it helps," Wild informed them as he passed both bowls to Warriors.

"Thanks Wild, you and Hyrule alright?" Warriors replied, looking past Wild to where Hyrule sat reading.

"We're fine. Hyrule's a little fidgety, but fine," Wild smiled with a shrug.

"Okay. You don't have to stay in the barn by the way. If you two want to go explore that's fine. Just don't go too far. Try to keep the village in sight in case we need you." Wars urged, trying not to make it sound like an order.

"Sure, Hyrule wanted to go look for fairies so we'll go check out the woods nearby," Wild brightened, before turning back towards Hyrule.

The two young men quickly slurped up their soup before picking up their gear and disappearing out the barn doors. Meanwhile, Wars turned his attention back to Twilight.

"You ready for some soup?"

"You going to feed me like a child?" Twilight frowned.

"I don't have to. You wanna take the bowl?"

Twilight unfolded his hands from his blanket and carefully took the bowl from Wars' hands. It was warm and made him realise just how cold and clammy his hands were. Twilight swallowed the lump in his throat as he picked up the spoon and lifted it to his mouth. He spilt half of it down his chin before he swallowed the rest. It was still hot and he almost burnt his mouth. Twilight sighed and rested his hands in his lap, defeated.

"You want me to feed you?" Wars asked, this time without any hint of teasing.

"Alright," Twilight replied begrudgingly.

Wars picked up the bowl and the spoon and shuffled himself into a better sitting position. He scooped up another spoonful and gently blew on it before feeding it to Twilight.

"Tastes good," Twilight mumbled.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Wars remarked, loading up another spoonful.

"Yes Sir!" Twi chuckled, but there wasn't any fight in him.

His whole body seemed slumped and ragged, like the fever and exhaustion had seeped into his bones. Wars fought down his pity and continued to spoon feed Twilight. As he did, he couldn't help smile ever so slightly at the intimacy of the situation. Of course he was sorry that Twilight was ill, but there was a certain affection in what he was doing. He scraped the soup off Twilight's chin when he dribbled a little. He backed off when Twi seemed out of breath. And waited patiently when he needed a moment before he could eat any more.

Eventually Twilight said he'd had enough and couldn't stomach any more. Wars was pleased that he had consumed more than half the bowl and took it back to the pot to keep it warm in case Twi wanted more.

"Want me to feed you now?" Twi teased, wiggling his eyebrows a little.

"Ha ha. Very funny. I'd rather you not make a mess of my clothes thank you very much," Wars replied mockingly.

He picked up his own soup which wasn't quite tepid yet and quickly drained the bowl empty.

"Huh, that was good. I'd like to try the original recipe if we end up on Skyloft some day." Wars remarked, setting his bowl aside and taking a quick drink.

"I'd like to show you my home some day," Twilight sighed beside him.

"Yeah, what's your home like? You live in a place called Ordon right?"

"Yeah, I live in a tree house just-outside the village. Rusl helped build it when, when I was too old to stay with them anymore." Twilight explained, his eyelids growing heavy as he struggled to breathe between sentences.

"Sounds lovely. How about you get some rest and you can tell me more about it when you're feeling better Twi?" Wars said softly.

"Okay," Twi sighed, already slipping back down onto his bedroll.

Wars helped him a little and carefully wrapped Twilight in his blanket.

"You still warm enough?" He asked, gently pressing the backs of his fingers to Twilight's cheek.

"Bit cold," Twilight moaned, burying himself in his blanket up to his nose.

Wars nodded and unfolded the spare blanket, gently laying it over twilight and tucking it in around the edges.

"Better?"

Twilight just nodded, exhaustion already claiming his conciousness. Wars hummed in contentment, sitting back a little on his heels. He gazed down at Twilight's peaceful features. The markings on his face had always been a curiosity, but he never thought they detracted from his handsome features. Warriors had always been told he was good looking. Ever since he was a child he'd been told he'd be a heartbreaker. That never sat very well with him, and after Cia... Wars hadn't actively saught out any relationships.

There had been a few one night stands, some short term relationships that never went anywhere. People always seem to expect him to be one thing, the handsome hero. Whenever he tried to express there was more to himself than just that, people seemed to lose interest. Not Twilight. All the boys teased him for his good looks. Not with any real meanness, but even the other heroes had noticed Warriors' looks.

It seemed Twilight had noticed more about him than just his charming smile and his dazzling blue eyes. Maybe it was years of being adored for nothing more than his face that made him a little sceptical. But when Twilight looked at him it didn't feel like he was being appraised anymore. It felt like Twi was seeing him, really seeing HIM.

Imposter : Chap 2 >

[canmom]

Animation Night 184: Mars Express

Animation Night is baaaaaack from Annecy break!

And yeah, the last couple weeks of this blog have been pretty Annecy focused here on the canmom entertainment sphere. And tonight that will continue! For tonight we shall right a wrong! And that wrong is...

...that wrong is that I didn't get to see Mars Express at Annecy last year. @mendely did and I was super jelly, OK!

For real though, this was among the hottest tickets at Annecy last year, and despite queuing a bunch of hours, I didn't stand a chance to get in without a reservation. But what is it? Well, it's a scifi movie directed by Jérémie Périn. Who's Jérémie Périn?

Well, the true veterans may recall Animation Night 1, when I showed you a certain music video for a song called Fantasy by DyE...

...that's not gonna embed, is it? But if you know, you know. (If you don't know, it's the one where the teens break into the swimming pool to make out and such and then a bunch of them turn into tentacle monsters.)

So Jérémie Périn is the guy who directed that! He's also well known for directing Lastman, a crowdfunded action series in which a boxer battles a bunch of superpowered agents to try to protect a psychic girl, not that you'd gather any of that from this trailer...

and writing for Crisis Jung by Bobbypills - don't blink or you might miss the boob-growing henshin and the guy with a chainsaw dick...

And while Crisis Jung isn't primarily his project, we can still definitely trust that when Périn is at the wheel, we'll seem some incredibly stylish, anime-inflected drama and also some proper freaky imagery now and again.

Mars Express, however, is Périn's first foray into film rather than TV animation, building on the big success of Lastman - and a pretty high-effort foray at that, taking some five years to make. And by all accounts it kicks total ass.

But what's it about? Classic cyberpunk noir material: a detective and the android replica of her partner return to their home planet Mars after apprehending a robot hacker. But the hacker is released, and they're given a new mission - to work with this hacker and go down to a colony where, ostensibly, humans and androids live in harmony, and track down a guy who jailbreaks the androids from their artificial constraints. That sounds pretty shady already, right? But the dirty secrets are only beginning.

Mars Express definitely pays its homages to those classic 90s anime films and OVAs like Ghost in the Shell and Armitage III, as well as games like Another World for the Amiga, but by all accounts gives it a fresh approach, with grounded characters - protagonist Aline struggling with alcoholism, her reconstructed partner Carlos with his floating holographic head carrying the whole identity issue of being a robot clone who's been rejected by his original's wife - which anchors plenty of juicy scifi concepts like renting out your brain as a computer, or something called 'resonance' which is how robots do it. What does that mean? The review I'm reading left it at that! Guess we'll find out.

Like most European productions it brought together a long list of production companies and it's a little tricky to figure out which ones are actual animation houses, but the main company seems to be 'Everybody on Deck'. They previously worked with Périn on Lastman, but otherwise largely seem to have worked on live action films. However, the animation was split among a variety of studios.

We can at least say that it brought in French animators from across the shop, some even on this very website. (At least I seem to recall seeing people having posted about having worked on it, though if I search now I mostly find peoples' reviews of the film). It's animation leans realist, with naturalistic motion taking advantage of anime-style 3s and 2s to give it a weighty feeling, embedding its characters in detailed environments with strong colour design...

And if we want to know more than that, we're in luck, since there's a pretty substantial 16-part making-of series partly available on Catsuka's youtube, starting with episode 1 showing the development of the script, with Périn and co-writer Laurent Sarfati bouncing ideas off each other. Only two other episodes are available: episode 11 shows some of the voice recording, and episode 16, which talks about the actual animation, interviewing various animators and showing some shot breakdowns. The last of these is probably the most interesting (to animators), talking about how the film went about realising Périn's 'precise, clinical' realist style.

The team were evidently very conscious of this being, for France, a first of its kind - a French-animated thriller targeting adults, with big ambitions to become a landmark film in French animation, able to stand up against the best anime. I'm not sure it's actually the first - for example, Summit of the Gods is also a tense, French-animated thriller with a realist art style! - but it's definitely a genre where there are very few examples to compare, and the team's ambition comes across as absolutely genuine.

That's probably enough to go on! We'll definitely also check out some of Périn's other work tonight, but Mars Express is our main feature! Starting in about an hour and a half at 8pm UK time, at our usual place, twitch.tv/canmom! Hope to see you there!

[robotnik-mun]

Every Deltarune fan by this point has an idea of who the Knight could be. I think just about every theory under the sun has been expressed by this point, and even a few that aren't... mostly because the only concrete bit of information we have about the Knight is that they're a Lightner, if only because whoever they are, they can create Dark Worlds as only Lightners can... that we know of, anyway.

Otherwise we got nada. No hint of a motive, and any possible clues to who they are is conjecture at best.

I myself got a million ideas, but one I keep coming back to comes not from in-game info or hints, but from the very nature of Deltarune... and Undertale, for that matter.

See, as we all know, Deltarune is a spinoff/quasi-sequel to Undertale, though it doesn't quite fit either of those definitions.

Famously, Undertale is strongly inspired by the Earthbound games...

... and Deltarune in some ways is even closer, being a straight up RPG compared to Undertale. But besides that, Deltarune is something of an homage to classical JRPGS in general, including the none other than Final Fantasy.

Heck, our supposed antagonist is basically a boiled down version of Final Fantasy's very first villain- the corrupt knight Garland.

Heck, within the universe of Deltarune itself there seems to be its own version of FF, a game called Dragon Blazers, to say nothing of the small shoutouts you see to the series here and there.

However, Earthbound and Final Fantasy both have a shared plot element down the line, and this fact is the most consequential for Deltarune itself I feel, and hints strongly towards the potential nature of the Knight.

Now, while Garland was (ultimately) the main threat of the very first game, a Knight is ultimately a warrior a service into someone higher than themselves, to a liege of some sort. Symbolically, any antagonist who serves a bigger, badder antagonist is a 'Knight'- think Darth Vader to Emperor Palpatine.

This comparison is no coincidence, because both Earthbound AND Final Fantasy dipped its toes into this dynamic- via Golbez from Final Fantasy 4, and the Masked Man from Mother 3.

Golbez and The Masked Man are eventually revealed to be Theodor and Claus, respectively, the Long Lost Brothers of the games primary heroes.

And this is where things get interesting for Deltarune, and the Knight. Because we have three characters with a sibling whose absence looms over the plot...

Kris, Sans and Noelle alike have a sibling, one at college, one seemingly isolating himself in the house, and one lost under yet-to-be-determined circumstances...

Now obviously, we're too early to make any kind of real judgement call, and what we know is too scant and obscured to have a solid picture of who the Knight is and why they're doing what they're doing.

But given the influences of Deltarune? I got a pretty good pool of suspects that I'm pretty confident about, though in the end we're only going to know when the rest of the Deltarune gets here. I could be entirely wrong, and I kinda hope so... I've grown attached to the notion that the Knight is completely independent from anyone pre-established.

But we'll see.

[thenorthsource]

For the lovely @ottohight0wer who requested an Arnolf Karstark edit!

ADWD – Jon I

Arnolf Karstark was the late Lord Rickard's uncle. He had been made the castellan of Karhold when his nephew and his sons went south with Robb, and he had been the first to respond to King Stannis's call for homage, with a raven declaring his allegiance.

ADWD – Jon IV

“I am […] inclined to bestow Winterfell upon Arnolf Karstark. A good northman."

"A northman." Better a Karstark than a Bolton or a Greyjoy, Jon told himself, but the thought gave him little solace.

[…]

"Arnolf Karstark is an old man with a crooked back, and even in his youth he was never the fighter Lord Rickard was. The rigors of the campaign may well kill him."

[…] Arnolf Karstark writes that the storms have been fierce upon the narrow sea. […] I must consider White Harbor lost to me. […] I can only hope to win the north by battle.”

ADWD – Reek III

"Stannis must march or lose them … and being the careful commander that he is, he will summon all his friends and allies when he marches. He will summon Arnolf Karstark."

Ramsay licked his chapped lips. "And we'll have him."

ADWD – The Prince of Winterfell

Arnolf Karstark awaits only a sign from Lord Bolton before he turns his cloak […].

ADWD – Jon IX

"Your uncle … would that be Lord Arnolf?"

"He is no lord," Alys said scornfully. "My brother Harry is the rightful lord, and by law I am his heir. A daughter comes before an uncle. Uncle Arnolf is only castellan.”

[…] "Arnolf is rushing to Winterfell, 'tis true, but only so he might put his dagger in your king's back. He cast his lot with Roose Bolton long ago … for gold, the promise of a pardon, and poor Harry's head. Lord Stannis is marching to a slaughter."

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep1 Musings - Cezare Romulo: History through Visual Context in Ploiești, Romania (Pt2)

I am on the hunt for any and all information on AMC's OCs, The Vampire Daciana, and the Vampire Cezare Romulo.

In Part 1, I pointed out that Daciana was likely AMC's nod paying homage to the Dacians (aka Geto-Dacians or Daci, as the Greco-Romans knew them), the ancient Romanians of c. 10th century BC - 7th century AD, in the Transylvanian/Wallachian regions of the Carpathian Mountains.

In AR's TVC, vampires tend to reflect the era they lived/died in, preferring to wear their traditional clothes & surround themselves with antiques from their time period--like grave goods for the dead. However, from what I've found, there was nothing about Daciana's clothes/home indicating that she was an ancient Dacian (X).

(Granted, if she IS that old, then that definitely increases her odds of being an "Old God" that got caught in the Great Burning.... 👀)

Regardless, I wanna turn my attention to Cezare Romulo, cuz while I'm tentatively ruling out Daciana as being Dacian, I haven't dug into The Vampire Cezare yet. So here goes nothing!

Nomenclature

First thing that stood out to me is his name. Cezare's obvs Caesar, but I wonder if that's his name, or his title (like how the Latin caesar became kaiser in German & tsar in Russian).

In Oltenia (Wallachia) there are archaeological remains of a Roman-Dacian fort called Romula, dated to the 2nd century AD. I couldn't find much about it, so we'll just put a pin in that. Something way cooler is that according to Google Translate, Romulo means Romulus, in both Romanian & Italian. That's hella interesting, cuz Romulus was the founder of Rome (8th century BC), twin brother of Remus, whom he killed Cain vs Abel style to be the ruler. In some versions, Romulus "died" under VERY mysterious circumstances:

So for AMC's OC vampire to be named after two Romans (Caesar & Romulus) who were both incredibly violent & bloodthirsty rulers says a lot. Especially considering with how Daciana described him:

The Castle: Bears & Wolves (Totems & Crests)

Cezare killed a whole circus troupe traveling through Transylvania (Sibiu), and only spared their bear. I wondered why this was so noteworthy--vampires will kill anyone for food (or sport), esp. if they don't follow the creed about only killing Evil Doers (as Cezare obvs. didn't--unless he knew something about that troupe we don't...! 👀 Clowns ARE evil, after all 💀). Vamps don't tend to kill animals, unless they need to defend themselves--but aren't circus bears kept in cages or something? So why would it matter?

So I reckon that Daciana's point was actually that Cezare LIKED the bear, and probably KEPT it, as his pet.

Cuz look at his castle: the joint's filled with taxidermy.

I think some of these animals are bears and/or wolves (Romulus & Remus were raised by wolves in the woods....). And that tracks with what is known about the main Dacian animal, the wolf (or "Draco"/dragon), (X X X).

Sava, Cipriana. "Cultural heritage tourism--Dacian fortresses in the Orăştie area, Romania." MEFkon 2020 INNOVATION AS AN INITIATOR OF THE DEVELOPMENT. (2020): 290-311.

Strechie, Mădălina. "The Dacians, the Wolf Warriors." In International Conference Knowledge-Based Organization, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 367-373. 2017.

(ISTG when is AMC bringing AR's Wolf Gift books into the Immortals Universe--I need my werewolves already, gosh darnit!)

Cezare clearly felt a strong affinity for animals, especially bears.

Which isn't surprising, considering the life-death-rebirth symbolism of the bear in Romanian traditions like the Ursului (bear dances).

Trandafoiu, Ruxandra. "A Tale of Two (or# EverMore) Festivals: Electronic Music in a Transylvanian Town." Eastern European Popular Music in a Transnational Context: Beyond the Borders (2019): 213-237.

The Castle: Architecture

As for Cezare's castle ruins, I have no idea what's going on.

The most interesting thing was Cezare's final resting place in this catacomb-like structure, lying in a stone sarcophagus.

Like, there are Roman-era burials found across Romania, but Cezare having a STONE sarcophagus is interesting, cuz apparently Transylvania's Daco-Roman inhumations are more often brick:

As stone sarcophagi only became more popular around the 3rd-4th century AD

Cocis, Horatiu. "Some remarks on the Roman necropolises of Potaissa." Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology 2, no. 2 (2015).

Before largely falling out of favor/use by the 5th-6th century AD, except for clergy & royalty:

Maggio, Ariane. "Burial Practices in Europe." Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology (2018): 1-6.

So, does this possibly give us a date for him, approx 2nd-6th century AD? But how long was it until he died? (HOW did he even die?)

What about the rest of his castle? Like, the place is an utter ruin, and there's barely anything left of that dark AF exterior that I can use.

Is this a studio set, or was it filmed on location somewhere? IDFK. There's hundreds of Romanian archaeological sites--let alone Daco-Roman ones--it kinda reminds me of davas (fortresses/strongholds), (X X), if not for the masonry being different.

So yeah, I have no frikkin clue, y'all; this is all I've got, LOL. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Results? Inconclusive! Again! 😂😭

I don't know if AMC was deliberately implying that Cezare Romulo (or Daciana) had anything to do with the ancient Daco-Romans...but it's interesting to think about!

[crocronutart]

These eyes have had too much To drink again, tonight Black skies, we'll douse ourselves In high explosive lies Just give us war-worn I've been calling you all week for my shotgun

My submission for the @seasons-in-the-archives Halloween event!

Melanie King is one of my favorite characters in the series. Here's a vintage horror movie style poster, which pays homage to a poster for "The Shining" (1980)

[lee-sanghyeok]

Some thoughts on the trailer film: Mysterious 20!

Prior to the release of the trailer film, we only got the promo, in which we just got these shots:

An old blackberry laying in a puddle and counting to 20 in green lettering. Someone snatching it from the ground as they're running, with others running behind them. Myself and others speculated it would have to do with themes of time travel, references to the Matrix and Back To The Future given the title, "1999", and that the music would pay homage to 90s pop and hiphop.

Now we got the full trailer.

Immediately, it's clear that we're in the early 2000s. Woonhak is wearing an outfit that's 2000s-inspired, he's wearing old headphones. The website that Woonhak opens on the old Blackberry is clearly a Web 1.0 site.

The website is named "Twenty", which the trailer says stands for fear and hope. Looking at numerology, it claims that the number also symbolises balance, harmony, the promise of success, as well as fresh starts in terms of relationships.

On the website, you see in the sidebar 'Nietzsche', which is a crazy reference, but makes me believe they're going to allude to him in a certain way? Either say his name directly in a lyric, or quote him. One of his famous quotes is, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” In general, he's one of the Big Modern Thinkers of the Western world known for his radical takes on culture, religion, death, and so on.

The website changes again and this time we see "MONEY POWER GREED" in red and white right above the avatar, and "STOP LIVING PAY CHECK TO PAY CHECK" below. Do these pop-ups potentially hint at themes that'll be discussed in the EP? Who fucking knows!

The avatar talking to Woonhak calls the phone "this super laptop" which is weird since it's just a Blackberry. This once again enforces we're in the early 2000s where this is new and exciting, sort of like the advent of the smartphone.

Then we see Riwoo and Leehan playing with the Wii and with older box tv's behind them. The Wii came out in 2006 and they're playing in a video game store as opposed to at home, so we can assume it's legit 2006 and they're testing out the console.

The news anchor then reveals an IT company made sure a nineteen-year-old found the Blackberry. That's why it's Woonhak that found it and not one of the other members. Something about the age nineteen is important; it's asking us to pay attention.

What is so special about nineteen and the advent of becoming twenty? Is it the death of Teen Age? Is it about the turn of the century when people had anxieties about technology (aka Y2K) and thought all computers would stop working because the date has to descend from '99' to '00'?

"The countdown to twenty has begun," says the news anchor.

The tv that Sungho and Jaehyun are watching the news on is from 2002. The Wii got released in 2006. Woonhak is legit turning 20 this year.

This new concept and era of their music takes place in 2006, the year Woonhak was born.

Then all hell breaks loose. Other anonymous nineteen year olds try and steal the 'super laptop' from Woonhak as they all believe something incredible or marvelous will happen once the countdown hits 20. Then a news anchor calls the 'super laptop' a Pandora's Box, which is something that at first can be seen as a valuable present, but is something cursed in reality.

We can surmise that all the nineteen year old people want this super laptop because they believe it holds valuable information on how to become 20, on how to successfully start adulthood and be the best. That is has the answers of the universe. But the reality might be a lot more grim as adulthood is a lot more complex then some laptop can explain.

In the end, they're surrounded by the mob and caught by someone in a helicopter. Details on Sungho's car show us "20th Anniversary" and "Nice". Nice is one of the album versions we'll be getting!

When they're about to be attacked and the countdown is close to twenty, we see the boys surrounding and protecting Woonhak. They're all older than him and know what lies ahead, and so they must save him from the mob and from whatever this 'superlaptop' will do.

That's where the trailer ends.

So, as I've previously discussed with Allison, I think we were correct to think that this new era is about the Self. They've explored the idea of a relationship in their first trilogy, which was all about The Other Person. But now it's about themselves, about growing up, about age what it means to Come Of Age. About the anxieties of ending your teenage years, of what you're losing and can't return to, of what you're possibly gaining.

I think this album will be very introspective in a way that suits boynextdoor and their way of writing! It'll still be fun and fresh and loud and creative, but it'll focus on themselves as opposed to someone else.

Also! Fun little detail! This shot implies that Sungho can drive and, therefore, has a driver's license! Though time isn't linear in bonedo lore, they have grown and now can drive as opposed to in their song 'Serenade' wherein they made it explicitly clear they didn't have a license or a car!

That's all!

[atinyjules]

FLAMING HEARTS FT. LEE JENO

A/n: Yayy, My Hero Academia au with NCT DREAM! MHA is my whole literal childhood and teenage years, and so are the Dreamies! So what better way to pay homage than by mixing both together?!

Here it iss

The mini-masterlist for this series can be found here

Genre: Fantasy, mha au, hero au, fluff, romance

Pairings: Lee Jeno x Na Eunbi (fem oc)

Warnings: Strong language

Lee Jeno. UA's most promising student.

There really was no one like him. The teachers knew they found gold when he first entered the doors of UA. Jeno showcased excellent talent and determination since his first year up until now. Already in his final year at UA, Jeno was the man that everyone looked up to, especially the first years.

All the teachers were certain that he would have a bright future as a hero after his departure from UA. Everyone imagined Jeno's mind to be... well... Amazing. He was the top student, after all. But those were just a maybe. In reality, no one knew what went through his head. Did he think about grades and training every second? Or did he think about his future? Or did he think about absolutely nothing?

Everyone was curious what the top student, the ace of UA thought about.

Jeno thought about none of those things mentioned. At first, though... his mind was filled with grades, trying and expectations, and then it switched to something completely different. There was only one person who had been always running through his mind since his first year at UA.

Who was it, you ask?

It was the dark purple haired girl who was currently squabbling with her twin brother, two seats in front of Jeno.

Na Eunbi, class 3 A's princess who comes in first in terms of smartness and strength among the girls and the 4th in the whole class.

Jeno has liked her from the start. At first, he was academics and performance oriented until he met Eunbi, and suddenly, he wanted her to be in his life as a pivotal character. It was obvious why he liked her. She was just perfectand her flaws made her even more perfect in his eyes. She was kind-hearted but not naive. She knew how to differentiate right from wrong and respected everyone.

Jeno is a top student, but he set his goals straight. He wanted to become an amazing hero and a symbol of peace like All Might, but he wanted to do those things with Eunbi by his side.

"Jen, are you attending the party?" Jeno pulled himself out of his thoughts to look up at Eunbi, who shone like the sun.

"Which party?" He asked as she showed him the flier.

Class 3A's Slumber Party!

"The dorm party-of course you're attending, you're in the dorms as well." Eunbi said before pulling her hair in embarrassment making Jeno chuckle.

"It doesn't seem interesting, though..." Jeno trailed, making Jaemin push his sister aside and gasp before giving him an offended look.

"It is gonna be the PARTY OF THE SUMMER! Why, you ask? Because I'm planning the whole party and whether you like it or not, you're participating as well!" Jaemin exclaimed making him groan.

"No.." Jeno trailed before Eunbi smacked his arm.

"You have tooooo! It's our last year! Who knows, we might not even see each other after we all graduate! Let's make the best out of the remaining time we have left!" Eunbi exclaimed and gave Jeno a hopeful look.

Our last year...

"I guess I can make an exception.."

×××

Jeno's

It's our last year!

It was indeed our last year... and yet I couldn't bring myself to ask her out...

How is it that beating villains is easy, but asking out the girl I like is impossible? Why is it so hard? Why is expressing my feelings so hard?

Eunbi plans to go back to her hometown and start her own hero agency there, so there's no way we'll be meeting anytime soon...

"This is so frustrating!" I exclaimed before being hit by an eraser. Annoyed, I turned to look at Renjun who just chuckled.

"Just because I let you hang out in my bedroom doesn't mean I gave you the authority to attack me." I said making Renjun scoff.

"You're the one who called me to your bedroom. So... when are you asking her out on the date you planned two years ago?" Renjun asked making me groan.

"It's hard okay?" I said making him tsk.

"Keep using the same excuse, and 6 months will just fly away like a feather. You'll probably never see her again. Go ask her out before it's too late. Now is definitely not the time to say you're scared." Renjun said, making me look down. Although what he said was harsh... it's the truth... if I keep pushing it back, I might never get the chance to tell her my true feelings.

"What if she doesn't feel the same? She's... Eunbi. I'm way out of her league." I said, making Renjun sigh.

"You're not. You're perfect for her. How about you try to impress her?" Renjun said, making me scoff.

"How?" I asked.

"Do that thing you always do... but make it a heart." Renjun said, making me groan.

"Stupid floating flame hearts aren't good enough to impress Eunbi." I said, referring to the floating flame hearts I can make with the help of a fire lit glass of beer.

"Eunbi... you must think she wants extravagant gifts and big actions of love, but she's like any other girl. Give her a small flower, and she'll cherish it forever." Renjun said, making me look at my reflection in the mirror.

After a while, it was time for the dorm party or slumber party or whatever it was. While everyone was having fun, I looked around to find Eunbi, but when I couldn't I frowned a little.

Eunbi's

While everyone was having fun, I went out to get some snacks and ended up sitting outside the door to look at the stars. The stars were all visible today, so it caught my eye, and I ended up getting lost in the beauty of the night sky.

"The one who forced me ended up being the one not attending the party." I flinched and gasped before turning to see Jeno.

"Lee Jeno! Don't just creep up on me like that!" I said while clutching my chest, making him chuckle before sitting next to me amd looking at the sky.

"Too busy looking at the stars again?" He asked, making chuckle and nod.

"You know me too well." I said as we looked at the sky.

"Of course I do." Jeno said before I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Last year... time flies so fast, doesn't it?" I said, making Jeno look towards me.

"Too fast. But I'm sure we'll all cross paths... one day or the other..." Jeno said, making me look down.

"To be honest... it's sad. Sad to say goodbye and sad to leave UA. I didn't think I'd like it here at first, but then I met you and then the rest of our classmates and then suddenly... I wanted to see everyone every day." I said as a hand came up to hold mine.

"It's totally fine to not want to say goodbye. It's natural, but don't worry too much. Cause no matter how busy we might get... we're all gonna see each other again, eventually. We've been training and studying to become heroes together since the first year.

We fought together, we laughed together and we cried together... we did all those together as students and one day... we'll all do it again, but as pro heroes. So don't think too much about it." Jeno said, making my eyes glisten with tears as I pulled him in for a hug.

"Whenever I had a problem in life, I'd always lean towards my brother for support, but then I met you, and my whole life completely changed. Thank you for everything." I whispered, making him chuckle as he gave me a tight squeeze.

"Crying again? Classic Eunbi." He said, making me chuckle.

"Crying again? Classic Eunbi." Jeno said to me after we went to meet Jaemin in the hospital.

"I don't always cry!" I said even though tears were threatening to fall.

"I could show you a video of a puppy playing, and it'd make you cry-ha! You're already crying!" He laughed, pointing at me as I covered my face.

"I'm nott! I'm just! Emotional!" I sobbed making him laugh more.

Back then, and even now, Lee Jeno was someone I could be myself around Jaemin.

As I wiped my tears, I saw our surroundings light up , making me look up only to gasp at the sight in front of me. Flame hearts were floating around us. I turned to see Jeno producing the flame hearts from his lips.

"How?" I asked, totally surprised as he chuckled and blew a flame heart towards me.

"You like it?" He asked, making me nod and get up, looking at my surroundings in awe.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed as he made another big one.

One thing about Jeno is that he has actually learned how to control the intensity of his fire, so even if it makes contact with my face or any part of my body, it wouldn't hurt. That's how amazing he is.

Months went on, and soon enough, we had reached our graduation day. As my brother straightened my graduation cap for me, I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Even after three years, at last, I didn't have the courage to confess my feelings to Jeno. The past six months were... hectic. The fight with the League of Villains caused me to injure my arm... which was why I was attending my graduation with a fracture. Jaemin fractured his leg, and Jeno?

He was the one who sustained the most injuries and had been in a coma for 2 months. He's awake now, but he still needed to heal, so he wasn't attending today's program. What a bummer...

"There you are!" Me and Jaemin turned to see Renjun standing with crutches with his girlfriend Yuri from Class 3B supporting him slightly , greeting us with a bright smile.

"Renjun! Yuri!" I exclaimed as I hugged the two, Jaemin doing the same.

"How the fuck did you get here?" Jaemin asked making Renjun roll his eyes.

"I thought you weren't coming?" I said making him chuckle.

"You think I would finish 3 long years of studying and training without attending my own graduation?" He questioned, making us laugh as Yuri nodded.

"Exactly, and we aren't the only ones." Yuri said before looking behind me, making me widen my eyes as a flame heart floated in the air.

I turned around to see.

He sat on a wheelchair that was being pushed by Thirteen. My breathing quickened as tears dripped down my face. Still frozen in place, Jaemin pushed me slightly.

"Go to him." He said with a smile as my feet started moving.

With a chuckle, he stood up from the wheelchair, arms spread out as if, welcoming me towards his embrace.

"Jeno..." I trailed as I ran into his arms, his hands immediately wrapping around my body as I sobbed.

"I thought you weren't gonna make it..." I sobbed as he simply chuckled.

"And miss this special day? Never. Besides, I promised you, didn't I?" He said, making me nod as my tears dripped down my face.

"You can't die now! We haven't even graduated yet, idiot!" I cried as I sat on the battlefield by the bloodied Jeno's side.

"Why w-would I? L-Let's graduate together... after... a-all this is over..." He stuttered before coughing up blood as I held his hand.

"You better!" I exclaimed and sobbed, making him chuckle softly.

"I promise.."

Chuckling at the memory, I broke the hug to look at his face. His eyes were glistening as he pushed my cap up a little to press a kiss to my forehead.

"I hope you still remember the promise you made to me." Jeno said, making wipe my tears and chuckle before giving him a peck on the cheek.

"After you're healed! You're going out on a date with me!" I exclaimed while crying.

"Only if I remember." Jeno joked before making a pained expression after chuckling.

"Took you long enough."

I knoww 😭 it's a little confusing! But I'll upload more fics on them so that you can have can understand this more.

So, I plan on making this nct dream mha au into a little mini series. Each member gets their own fics (it could be multiple, definitely not gonna be just one for each member), its all connected somehow, but every fic is/can be a stand-alone.

I am probably not making any sense right now, but you'll see.

I hope y'all liked it, though! 🥹✨️

Likes and rebloggs are appreciated 💖 ✨️

[thejoyofseax]

Taking on a Protégée

I have now been a Pelican for slightly over a year. Apart from the polling on who else should be elevated, pretty much everything about being a peer is a matter of tradition and local expectation - very little is set down in writing. But one of the things that most peers do (and which I feel is most of if not the whole point of peerages) is take on specific students. For Pelicans, these are conventionally called protégé(e)s.

On November 18, AS 58 (2023 CE), at Ilchomórtas Coróineád Insulae Draconis, the Principality Crown Tourney, I took on Gabrielle of Dun in Mara as a dependent. We had a ceremony between court and feast, which was well attended by noble witnesses.

The image above shows the text of her indenture, which is derived directly from my own indenture with Genevieve la flechiere. The hand is my own pseudo-calligraphic scrawl, based on the cló gaelach - it's not authentically medieval, but for a working document in English which represents the Irish persona, it'll do. This was cut in two along a jagged line in the gap in the middle, and we each have one part. The seals on it already are marked with the House of Green ivy, and we'll add some Pelican seals in due course. The ceremony also included a reading of the lineage, which stretches back several generations to Merowald Sylveaston, knighted in AS VI.

Gabrielle and myself listening gravely to Master Agnes reading the lineage.

And the actual homage bit.

Gabrielle now has the yellow belt I wore for years, and once she has settled on her own arms, she'll add those above mine, Genevieve's, and the chequey pattern that represents Brand, Genevieve's pelican. I'm still not used to wearing a different belt, so seeing her now wearing "mine" is a bit strange. I reckon it'll settle in after a bit, though.

Gabrielle has already stepped up as Chatelaine for Dun in Mara, so her career is off to a good start. I'm extremely pleased with her.