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impinged · 20 days ago

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THE ISLAND TO THE NORTH.

a.k.a.: details on siffrin's home and its expungement

(also please forgive me in advance for how terrible this post will be i'm horrendous at meta/hc posts that aren't like... minor silly things. but with that, let's begin.)

Siffrin comes from an island to the north of Vaugarde, and that, dear viewer, is all we truly know about it.

Siffrin departed this location after 'running away' via his family's small boat, only to find that, when he attempted to row back... nothing was there. They then wound up in Vaugarde, washing ashore with no recollection of where he came from, his home, belief, language, and even name.

The reason for the strange occurrence is that the island to the north was suddenly forgotten by those that surround it one day. All it is truly remembered as now is, well, the island to the north. Any attempt to remember it can lead one to a raging headache, and particularly determined attempts to recall it can begin to physically harm you, and if you dare to try harder than that.... well!

Since practically all of Siffrin's core memories are tied to this country, they have wound up with near-total amnesia and a terrible memory. I think a lot of his forgetfulness stems from whatever the memory in question is having associations to when he was still on the island, so thus it is afflicted by this expungement. Additionally, due to the implied cultural exchange between Vaugarde and the island prior to its expungement, specific words or phrases they forget could also be a sort of loanword from the island's language.

What we do know, or learn, is that It possess a language that no one can read anymore (even Siffrin needs a specific item in-game to remember how to read it) and Siffrin, when speaking Vaugardian at least, has a notable, impossible-to-place accent. Additionally, we learn their exclamations of "stars" (and assumedly "blinding" as well, both used in this context as sort of swear word fillers lol) is actually in the language itself. We also catch a few vague descriptors and know whatever worship they took part in revolves around the Universe and the stars, of which the rest of the world does not seem to know about.

The collective forgetting of the island is very, very strong and manifests in several ways. An NPC in Dormont forgets she has a sister simply because she visited the island, and any attempts to recall her cause this NPC intense emotional distress. When memories like this are attempted to be recalled, often times it seems the mind almost 'resets' itself and regresses to a state prior to the inciting incident. A similar phenomenon happens to Siffrin, most notably upon telling the story of their running away. He is later able to bypass this unconscious response via repeated attempts to speak the country's name in front of the King, however this only results in his death.

Even what few records remain are impossible to truly read or even attempt to parse. This detail is important to me, as I'd like it to remain this way even in another world. I've touched on his connection to this island and desperation to remember it, but were they to find anything on it in Spirale, I'd like it to remain indescribable, so I will make continued conscious efforts to make it obscured/obfuscate it (just to torment him a little more y'know.) I hope, when applicable, my writing partners will do the same!

#headcanons.#hyping myself up trying to post this bc i feel like such a fool idk why meta posts do this to me #on one hand this info is important for general interactions about his home on the other watch me dance around spoilers #you will get to experience things like they were new i prommy pplease play the game my blorbo is from

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luminantrondo · 2 months ago

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How did Judith become so good at reading people?

Fun fact: Did you know Judith's flirting is actually one of many fronts she learned to put on when she was adapting to the "world below"?

Spoilers for Ryuutsukai/Silence of the Dragon Rider vol.2.

CW: attempted sexual assault.

Yeah, you read that 'cw' right.

Within the second part of the chapter 1 in the second volume of Ryuutsukai (like page 20-ish in the physical book), there's a scene where a young Judith (I'm estimating she's either 14 or 15, maybe a little older) is almost assaulted by a predatory son of a bitch.

To summarize part 1 of chapter 1, Judith and Ba'ul have made a name for themselves as the "Dragon Rider" due to them destroying Hermes blastia. The first chunk of pages is just exposition about barrier blastia that we already know, and Judith flies in on Ba'ul and does what needs to be done.

Part 2 of chapter 1 puts to use Judith's whole "gambling" thing she had going in the game itself. At a bar, she beats a man at cards, is accused of cheating, but before he can hurt her, Ba'ul barges in and breaks a hole in the roof, enabling her to escape. Then the Imperial Knights appear to arrest those in the bar for "illegal gambling."

I kiinda got a bit confused at this part since the scene changes and the only indication we have is a "Later" (like, for example, "2 days later" time skip). SO I'm assuming this took place shortly after the card game.

Judith struggles to read people and realizes she can't use the nageeg on humans. Furthermore, she doesn't want to use nageeg to read into their hearts after what happened when she read her father's heart.

spoilers for volume 1

For those that don't know, this was shortly after Hermes learned from Duke that his blastia was causing damage. Hermes, in a panic, frantically searches for ways to undo his mistakes, and it unwittingly puts distance between him and Judith. Not helped at the time is Judith still being in the Great Circle, a giant, empath-like hivemind that binds the Krityans together. Emotions are "shared" between one another, unlike with humans. If a Krityan feels an intense emotion, the Great Circle soothes them until the feeling is gone. So Judith, unknowingly, is also distancing herself from her dad.

One day, when Hermes comes home and passes out due to exhaustion, Judith uses her nageeg to read into his heart the same way she connected with Ba'ul. In doing so, she discovers the presence of "another daughter" that's "hiding" behind the Judith in Hermes' mind.

The heart-reading is a bit tricky to comprehend, but it's broken apart in categories. Hermes has his love for blastia, but above that, there's an overwhelming love for his daughter, Judith. But when Judith looks closer, she sees the second daughter. In the second novel, the second daughter is confirmed to be Rita Mordio.

(And before you ask, no, it is never confirmed if the relation between Judith and Rita is blood-related. However, context from the Rita novel (Blue Sky) hints that it may just be adoptive and Rita's biological father was a random NPC. In that Rita had no dad because her dad left, as she says in the game, but Hermes was a presence in her life when she was very young, further supported by the cut Negative Gate skit, which, btw, is in the novel.)

The discovery of Rita in her father's heart shocks Judith so bad that she's "pulled" from the Great Circle. So she now has all her emotions "back" and can feel things without being lulled into some eerie calm. Unfortunately, this incident shook Judith so hard that she's afraid to use the ability on humans again.

end spoilers for volume 1.

Unfortunately, being a 'wanderer' as the book so lightly puts it comes with its cons: Judith needs money to survive.

I always had the feeling it's because Vesperia is strictly PG-13, so it tends to skirt around what could be major adult themes. Like for example, Ragou keeping kids in his basement to "feed to monsters"? We all know if Vesperia was bumped up a rating what this is really substituting. In Judith's light novel, this one scene in particular kind of leans on the rating and tries to push it.

Some creep catches Judith wandering around and starts asking her weird questions like "Where are you from?" and what not. He tells her a way that she can make money. Big fucking guess what this 'method' is.

The following passage is taken directly from the novel. The translation is by me. If you can translate it "better" so the wording flows, be my guest:

不安はすぐに的中した。相手はジュディスを薄暗いところに連れ込み、その服に手をかけた。暗がりでよく分からなかったが、他にも何人かいるようだった。「大人しくしていればすぐ済むよ。ちゃんと払うもんも払ってやる。悪い話じゃないだろ。」 "Her fears were quickly proven right. He brought Judith to a dimly-lit area, then placed a hand on her clothes. She couldn't make them out in the dark, but there seemed to be other people in the room, too. 'If you're quiet and behave well, it'll be over quickly. I'll even pay you good. Not a bad deal, huh?'"

No, Judith does not get assaulted in this scene. The following sentence is "she wouldn't know until much later what happened", but this is referring to how she realized that she could have been raped.

Fortunately for Judith, she uses her nageeg, which pretty much gives her superhuman strength and reflexes. It's how she defeated the monsters that cornered her when she got Brionac. When she "comes to", her fist is bloody and all the men are lying in a heap on the floor.

And then Ba'ul bursts in to save her, because Judith still carries his horn. During her distress, she called out for Ba'ul.

Following this traumatic event, Judith uses her observation to read people. She realizes when to act meek, flirty, or have a poker face depending on who she's dealing with. She can tell what people really want from their subtle looks - especially men (the book's words, not mine) - and uses this to her advantage when she picks up the whole "wandering gambler" schtick.

So, like a certain other character, Judith wears a mask. Multiple masks, even. While I won't deny her flirty behavior with Yuri and Raven is out of genuine playfulness, it's definitely part of one of her many fronts, too. But by distracting them with a smirk and some pretty words, she can decipher what the other person really wants. It's a good thing Yuri and Raven are nothing like the guy who tried to take advantage of her.

I'd go on more rambling about this scene and how it negatively changed my opinion on two of her fandom pairings, but I don't think that's the point here.

tl;dr: Judith became good at reading people because she couldn't use the nageeg on people, so she had to rely on her instincts/observation skills to survive while she was on her own.

#tov judith #judith tov #tales of vesperia

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kirkewrites · 11 months ago

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looking for more rp partners on discord!! would absolutely love another small town mumu (multimuse) or two, extra info about me & what i'm looking for under the cut!

hiya, thanks for clickin!! my name is mo! i'm 28, she/her, and i'm in the PST timezone! i'm exclusively looking for rp partners who are at least 21+ please (but preferably closer to my age)! i write on discord only in a private rp server (with tupperbox!) i'll make for us!! i looove organization and will make us some character & ship categories, as well as a town worldbuilding section, i'll also keep track of things like the in-game calendar and timelines in reference to our threads!! once i get invested in an rp, i'm IN THERE in there

i write all genders, but i only write f/f, m/f, and nb ships! i'm looking for writing partners who are similar in enjoying and wanting to write all genders (and who have equal muse for all their characters regardless of gender) as i'm interested in exploring multiple ships and characters! i am also looking for a partner who likes to write a wide variety of ages, as I enjoy writing characters anywhere between the ages of 20s-50s! i prefer using & being opposite by faceclaims with resources from films & tv (i'm not interested in opposites such as sabrina carpenter, harry styles, madison beer, and the like)

i'd love an rp partner who loves to worldbuild, plot, write headcanons (or do little rp memes), share inspo stuff, and chat ooc! pinterest boards and playlists are a bonus! i really enjoy building a friendship with my rp partners as well as a fun, collaborative writing experience! i would absolutely LOVE to create a small town with a new partner and come up with its location, the names of shops and other places, some NPC names, maybe plot up some town lore & history, ect, and fill it up with a bunch of diverse characters and relationships we can continue to add on to over time! i'm interested in exploring relationships of all kinds, including romantic, platonic, familial, antagonistic, ect! for example, new budding romances, exes on good and/or bad terms, toxic exes or relationships, old high school sweethearts, best friends, friends who fell out or grew apart, close siblings, sibling rivals, and just other fun and/or complicated connections ahoy! i just love multi-muses and being able to write a living, breathing town filled with characters who can all freely interact with each other!

because i'd love a slowly expanding cast of characters (maybe start with 2-3 characters each and go from there?), it's very preferable to me that replies stay on the shorter side, as in one paragraph or less (unless the thread is really plot significant or intense/emotional! ik those can get away for us length-wise LOL) this way we can prioritize quality over quantity, and actually get to see relationships & plots evolve over time in many threads rather than spend weeks or months on a single thread and never actually get to all the good stuff we've plotted. in my experience, it's way more fun to have an evolving mumu where replies take maybe 5-10 minutes to write, and it also allows us to keep the progress of the rp going at a continual pace, which keeps it fun, exciting, and fresh!

i am happy to write smut when the relationship/thread calls for it, and i also enjoy nsfw headcanons alongside sfw ones! i'd say i prefer a 80/20 story to smut ratio. i am also comfortable with most dark or complicated themes, but this will probably be case by case basis. i'm looking for a soap opera inspired town mumu, basically! a good variety mix of drama & intrigue, angst & fluff, smut & sweetness, tragedy & other dark themes, ect, but nothing too intensely or consistently dark or taboo

i'd consider myself to be a pretty active rp partner for the most part (i'm in college plus i work sporadic hours as a private tutor) and when replies are on the shorter side, i can usually do at least one set of replies (if we are writing multiple threads at a time, i personally enjoy writing 2 at a time!) a day, but likely more, and i'm down for rapid-fire sessions as well when i can! i prefer my partner to have similar activity (it's difficult for me to stay invested in an rp when it mostly just consists of hcs & shared inspo, and when there is very little actual writing happening), though i don't at ALL want my partner to feel pressured to write replies!! it's just a hobby, not a jobby! things happen & life gets busy! but i really appreciate communication and transparency with rp friends! just lmk what's up and i'll do the same for you! and if you can't do replies for some reason, i'm always happy to just chat ooc or do some inspo chatting or plotting!!

this got so long, if you read all of it ily! if you have any questions or are interested in all this shit by me, please send me an IM!! or if you like or comment on this ad, i'll reach out to you! ty!! if i don't reach out it's because i found something in your guidelines that i don't think is compatible with this plot ad (usually has to do with desired reply length being multi-paragraph/novella, listed low activity, if the blog is heavily smut-centric, or rules state exclusively wanting to write one gender or kind of ship) but if your guidelines are out of date pls feel free to reach out anyway!!

#discord 1x1 #1x1 #discord rp #1x1 mumu

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umbracirrus · 9 months ago

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hey its anon again!!! i actually wanted to ask if you had any tips or thought processes behind how you write for balgruuf, more specifically in a romantic context i'm trying to write content for my own dragonborn x balgruuf pairing, but its hard to write it in a way that feels true to his character. the skyrim npc's are barebones ingame, and while balgruuf is definitely given more depth, we still mostly just see a friendly formal side. it's hard to write anything more personal without it feeling out of character. any help is appreciated! i love the way you write him (as i said in my last ask) and i'm drawing a blank

Hello again anon! :)

Specifically in a romantic context... Well, I like to portray him in a way that makes him come across as earnest and in a way gentle. He can most definitely be hot-headed and easily irritated, but when it matters, he cares deeply. When with somebody he truly cares about and loves, he talks in soft and low tones, smiles more - not like big goofy grins, but more like the sort where the corners of his lips just about turn up.

I also believe that he is someone who cares deeply, both in a personal and professional context - my personal headcanon is that he was married once, to the mother of Frothar and Dagny, and losing her, and not long after that losing Nelkir's mother too, makes him almost afraid of love and those sort of connections, so if, or when he finds himself in love he has actually felt that way for a while and those emotions are strong. For that matter, I think that in general Balgruuf feels emotions quite intensely, though he is good at keeping up the facade of calmness and neutrality unless he's angry.

He also feels like the sort of person who will do his best to communicate - he'll try to be honest and won't sugarcoat things, and will think very carefully with his words (he spends his entire day being careful with his words to not drag Whiterun into the war, he's basically a professional at this point - except for when he's angry as above). Part of his honesty means that he will let his partner know if he thinks that they have done something foolish or reckless, but he most certainly will express his relief if they get out unscathed. And that goes for his more private thoughts also, or the sorts of things that are private and should be kept between partners hehe.

Sometimes he'll say or do things which he thinks are for the best for him/his partner, but he will on occasion do something which is most certainly Not, most likely when he's tired or worn down or doesn't know what to do otherwise. But his heart is in the right place.

I also like to think that he appreciates little intimate gestures - both giving and receiving. He spends his days busy and keeping up appearances as Jarl, so little things like fingers brushing in passing, a hand on his shoulder (or vice versa) even if just for a moment, the briefest of kisses when he is working would be greatly appreciated and helps him feel more like a person than just a figure of authority. When in his downtime, an embrace which he can hold and maintain for a short while as his head rests on the other's head or shoulder is like a balm to all of his issues, especially after a long and tiring day.

He will also, in spite of how much of his time is taken up, make an effort to understand what his partner does and enjoys. For example, in my fics Balgruuf will eventually start to familiarise himself with a few things to do with alchemy because Elyse likes to do alchemy as a hobby, and will let her grow flowers which she uses in her alchemy on the Dragonsreach porch/on his balcony, possibly even try to tend to them himself if he has a moment here or there.

I hope this helps! This is the sort of path that I take when trying to write him in this sort of context. I don't know if I've covered everything but this is what I can think of going through a handful of my wips and writings.

I wish you lots of luck for your writing and thank you again for your kind words 💛

#meg is rambling #like this is just my interpretation of how he would act so idk if this is skewed to how I interpret his relationship with elyse in my fics #but i do hope this helps! i've literally just been skimming through my saved documents and going 'oooh! i'll add that' to this response :)

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dmagedgoods · 7 months ago

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for the KC ask game - 2, 17, 24 for Salvadore?

Thank you so much! 💕 Areelu is such an important topic for Salvadore. 24 Where do they come from in Golarion? Do they miss their homeland? How do they feel about their homeland, its politics and current state?

Salvadore comes from Absalom. While he developed a strong love for Drezen after a rough start with the city, Absalom will always feel like a second home to him. He especially misses the ocean, the harbor, and his estate.

While he agrees with the political fundamentals in Absalom, he always fought to gain influence in the Grand Council - before he had to flee to Mendev and became the Knight Commander - to improve the system and the lives of its people. His own family blocked his attempts wherever they could. Now he is more removed from it all but still has an eye on the developments in Absalom. 17 Which non-companion NPC do they really like?

Salvadore trusts Irabeth and Anevia enough to leave important tasks in their hands. He also started to strongly cherish Berenguer, Yaniel, Katair, Lariel, and especially Targona who always showed up to support him.

[Everything spoilery under the cut again.]

There was a special connection between Salvadore and Targona especially because he managed to clean her from the influence of the Abyss – and with this deed himself from every last doubt that he is in full control over his own powers too and truly transformed them into a force of light and goodness. He enjoyed listening to the storyteller and was highly interested in his story, knowledge, and learning from him. 2 How do they feel about Areelu Vorlesh? They are complicated or rather multifaceted. She fascinated him. Someone cherishing knowledge as highly as her, someone with her abilities, ambition and hunger for power …, as much as he despised her methods and what she did to the world, she also had a handful of traits he admired. Furthermore, she guided him, left him hints of something he was eager for: Pieces of the truth, pieces to climb higher and higher with, and he hunted them, deep down excited for what she had to give, interpreting her words, attempting to outsmart her without having the whole picture. All of it raised a question in his mind when her motives became clearer: If he was in her place, what wouldn’t he do to get back the one he loves most? Is he actually better because he hasn’t been tested in this way? Or would he stay true to his beliefs and principles even then? Stronger than her? Yes, he remembers the torture, yes eventually he got to know about her experiments with his soul. He shook it off – not the consequences; what he went through left harsh traces he still suffers from – but the obligation to admit any weakness in it. He was able to bear it and anything that happened only equipped him with new powers and – so much more importantly – put him in the position of rulership he always dreamed of and he would never have reached that easily without Areelu’s intervention. Where he stands, he stands because of her. How could he ever forget this fact? A magical being beyond comprehension, leader of the Fifth Crusade (eventually king), in a relationship with someone he loves more than his life, as much as he believes in his very own strengths and abilities, he’s not so delusional to think he would have accomplished all of this without Areelu’s plan. None of those thoughts ever kept him from viewing it as his first and most important duty to close the worldwound and stop further death and destruction. Just his emotions for Areelu, they aren’t as negative as they should be due to her terrible crimes. The moment she finally laid open all the rest, he almost was … hurt in a very abstract way, knowing now it never has been about him but her child instead when she guided him towards understanding. – The child she expected to take over and erase him. Well, it didn’t work, he stayed very much himself, as she admits too, and he feels intense relief about the fact, because it’s his worst fear to be controlled and changed in such a way. Well, in the end, he killed her, fulfilled his duty, closed the worldwound. He felt nothing but a vague sadness overshadowing the victory. (Luckily, he still got to fight Deskari and after this battle he fully realized the accomplishment.) Still, he owes Areelu a lot and that’s why he spoke for her in front of Pharasma when the time had come.

#pathfinder wotr #pathfinder: wrath of the righteous #pwotr #pwotr pals #pf wotr #knight commander salvadore #my ocs #oc: salvadore #tag games

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ignitedfms · 6 months ago

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+ 01 WANTED CONNECTION ADDED

BELIAL (our EMMA D’ARCY) is looking for their CREATOR. They’re an UTP HUMAN OR CYBORG, who look like UTP OR AISHWARYA RAI, DANAI GURIRA, SANDRA OH, OSCAR ISAAC, KE HUY QUAN OR JANELLE MONÁE MAXIMUM BONUS POINTS IF THEY HAVE GREEN EYES. You DO NOT need to approach the player.

SUICIDE MENTION TW: We're seeking a muse to play the sibling of an NPC who created LEVI (Belial's "sibling"). In a tragic twist of fate, your muse's sibling created LEVI to be the perfect specimen, only to become consumed by envy and self-doubt. Overwhelmed by the pressures of their own creation, they ultimately took their own life. Your Muse was left with their sibling's code, using it to craft Belial—a creation that, while perhaps not as flawless as LEVI, is their own masterpiece. This role offers a chance to delve into intense themes, exploring the sibling-like dynamics between LEVI and BELIAL that mirror your muses’ with their sibling, and the complex emotions of pride and disappointment your muse feels in regards to androids ( if at all! ). We're looking for maximum angst and rich storytelling opportunities to explore creator dynamics, sibling rivalry, guilt, god-complexes, and more. Join us to navigate a world of perfection and imperfection, where the boundaries between creator and creation blur. If you're interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out!

#openwc #new rp #scifi rp #literate rp #lsrp #crime rp #plot driven rp #fantasy rp #semi appless rp #city rp #mature rp #suicide mention tw

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dorematrix1 · 8 months ago

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The Thrilling World of Video Game Development

Video game development is a dynamic and creative field that combines art, storytelling, and technology to create engaging experiences for players. The process involves a diverse range of disciplines, including programming, design, art, audio, and testing, all working together to bring a game to life. This industry has grown exponentially over the past few decades, driven by advancements in technology and an ever-increasing demand for interactive entertainment.

The Process of Video Game Development

Concept and Planning: Every video game begins with an idea. This stage involves brainstorming and refining the game concept, defining the target audience, and outlining the core mechanics and features. A game design document (GDD) is often created to serve as a blueprint for the entire project.

Pre-Production: In this phase, developers create prototypes to test gameplay mechanics and gather feedback. They also establish the art style, design key characters and environments, and plan the technical architecture. This is a critical stage where the feasibility of the project is evaluated.

Production: This is the most intensive phase, where the game’s assets and code are developed. Artists create characters, environments, and animations, while programmers write the code that brings these elements to life. Designers work on levels, game mechanics, and user interfaces, ensuring everything is cohesive and engaging.

Testing: Quality assurance (QA) is vital to video game development. Testers play through the game repeatedly, identifying bugs, glitches, and balance issues. This feedback is used to make necessary adjustments and improvements.

Launch and Post-Release: Once the game is polished and ready, it is released to the public. However, development doesn’t stop here. Developers often release patches, updates, and downloadable content (DLC) to fix issues and keep players engaged.

The Role of Technology in Video Game Development

Technology plays a crucial role in video game development. Powerful game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine provide developers with tools to create complex and visually stunning games. These engines offer features like real-time rendering, physics simulations, and advanced lighting, which enhance the overall gaming experience.

The rise of mobile gaming has also significantly impacted the industry. With smartphones becoming increasingly powerful, mobile game development has become a lucrative field. Mobile games often reach a broader audience due to their accessibility and convenience.

The Art of Storytelling in Games

Storytelling is a vital component of many video games, offering players an immersive and emotional experience. Writers and narrative designers craft compelling plots and dialogues, creating characters that players can connect with. Games like “The Last of Us” and “Red Dead Redemption 2” are prime examples of how storytelling can elevate a game to a cinematic level.

The Future of Video Game Development

The future of video game development looks promising, with several trends shaping the industry. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are gaining traction, offering new ways for players to interact with games. These technologies provide immersive experiences that were once considered science fiction.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another area with immense potential. AI can be used to create smarter NPCs (non-player characters), dynamic game worlds, and personalized gaming experiences. Procedural generation, powered by AI, allows developers to create vast, unique game environments without manually designing each element.

Conclusion

Video game development is a fascinating blend of creativity, technology, and storytelling. It is a field that constantly evolves, driven by innovation and the desire to create memorable experiences for players. As technology advances and new trends emerge, the possibilities for what games can achieve are limitless. Whether you are a player, developer, or simply a fan of interactive entertainment, the world of video game development offers something for everyone.

#https://dorematrix.com/#dorematrix #service provider #digital marketing

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lladmie · 3 years ago

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Thoughts on Makoto's lack of agency in Yakuza 0

I don't want to delve too much into the female characters' portrayals in the Yakuza serie, as it is a can of worms many players already talked about. What I want to focus on is a critique I often read on Makoto Makimura specifically and her lack of agency in the game, which is both understandable and exaggerated to me, and now I'm going to explain why.

I personally think her lack of agency has little to do with what the fans often complain about: how women are treated in fiction, especially when said fiction is intended for a male audience. Sometimes people tend to forget that fictional stories are usually written with a specific goal or message in mind, and more often than not this has more to do with what the writer want to tell than what the writer think of their characters. Fictional characters are pawns, no matter how much we end up loving them, and the story of Yakuza 0 is so impactful and emotional also because Makoto has little to no agency, which, if you ask me, can be perceived simply as a clear-cut and functional choice from the developers.

We can say Yakuza 0 is a well-written story with a general good eye for details, despite the technical limits. In this aspect, Makoto's role is clearly built with a primary objective in mind: the palyer's desire to save her. Segments of gameplay where you have to run away keeping the hand of a NPC are common in games that want the player to feel a strong emotional attachment to the person they are carrying, and therefore protecting. [see ICO & many others]

(They also wanted to show us the romantic chemistry between her and Majima where the camera also focus heavily on their connected hands since the very beginning)

Later, moments like the Takoyaki date in chapter 16 have very much the same purpose. It reminds us of the moment we kept her hand through the streets of Sotenbori, but we aren't keeping her hand anymore and she falls, again and again, with us standing there, unable to do anything but watch. This is not only meant to show how respectful Majima is toward her and her desires, which is also important for the story (- let me do things on my own - god bless him), but also to make the player feel powerless and suffer through the impossibility to help her, protect her. Makoto later failure with the Dojima family is an extent of that feeling, which reaches its peak the moment she's shot—we failed, or didn't we? (Story-wise, it also makes sense for Makoto to fail as she knows nothing about the yakuza world and her feelings were blinding her more than her eyes ever did)

For all Yakuza 0, the player's first sentiment revolves around a simple concept: I Want To Protect Her. And that's the point of it. A deep, intense desire we're also meant to share with Majima (and later Kiryu) and that have a functionality in making us empathize with his role, his character and his motivations as well, and then love him even more.

On top of that, there is the fact that Makoto is blind and has a horrible past. Blindness is a big disability we are used to underestimate in media. Have you ever thought of how much you can do, realistically, as a blind person? There is no shame in letting others help you or act scared, despite our time and age tells us a woman is better if she's strong (what a lie, no person is better if they're strong). A sour note is maybe the ending, where Makoto actually never choose a normal life (though she didn't say she doesn't want it either) and was thrown into a man's hands despite her history suggests she probably needs a man that it's very far from normality to begin with—but that's also a message the game want to send us: she's not alone and she's probably going to live a "good life". Majima did it. The player did it. Emotionally, that was all the game was about.

Thus, overall, I think Makoto's role in Yakuza 0 is good as it is. She's a character I came to love deeply, whose weaknesses are among many other things my first source of interest and enjoynment when it comes to her. She's not a puppet either, or she wouldn't have asked for the Dojima lieutenants' heads, nor looked those punks in the eyes in the last cutscene (and she declared that she wanted to be strong herself, didn't she?). Her character writing isn't perfect, as there were many ways to write her much better or at least let us know what she was thinking in a much more direct way. However, I don't believe her lack of agency is necessarily a bad choice for her character, but more a choice directly related to what the game wanted to tell us and make us feel.

#makoto makimura #goro majima #yakuza 0 #rgg #ryu ga gotoku #龍が如く #majimako #also good how makoto and majima's developments are parallels #they live in fear until they just want to die #and then the awakening #majima's fears and weaknesses in y0 are so precious too #don't erase them

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troquantary · 4 years ago

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Edward Cullen: That Boy Ain’t Right

So I was doing a reread of @therealvinelle 's collection of Twilight metas, as one does, and in "Edward, Denial, and a Human Girlfriend" she mentions that she doesn't believe Edward is sane. I thought, "ha, yeah, he's definitely not," and also, "but wait, what does that mean exactly, please say more about that." But since she's already inundated with asks, I've decided to use my own head-muscle and explore this idea. (TL;DR: I start out more or less organized, synthesize some points Vinelle has made across several posts (and have hopefully linked to them all where relevant but please tell me if not), touch a little on narcissism, then take a hard left into the negative effects of being a telepath.)

Just a couple things to note at the outset, though. Theses have been written already (probably) about Edward as an abuser. Edward being insane doesn't negate that at all; he's definitely an asshole and just...a disaster of a human being. (I find it more funny than anything, but YMMV.) I'm also going to try to avoid talking specifically about mental illness and how it relates (or doesn't relate) to abusive behavior -- that's territory I'm not really equipped to discuss, like at all. My starting point is "Edward has a deeply warped perception of reality," not "Edward has X disorder."

So: deeply warped perception of reality. The evidence? Goes behind a cut, because my one character trait is Verbose.

Vinelle provides a great example of it in the post linked above, which I'll just quote because she does words good: "[Edward] keeps acting like his romance with Bella is a romantic tragedy, and all the cast of Twilight are actors on a stage making it as sublime as possible." Edward's the one to pursue Bella, but he does so with the full belief, from the very beginning, that it will never last; Bella will "outgrow" him, go on her human way, and he can spend the rest of eternity brooding magnificently over his too-short romantic bliss. [Insert premature ejaculation joke.] Turning her is never an option, even though Alice, Noted Psychic, says that romancing Bella will either end with her dead (exsanguinated) or dead (vampire).

This framing, where he's a dark anti-hero in love with -- but never tainting! -- the pure maiden and eventually leaving her in a grand, tragic sacrifice to preserve her soul? It's fucking bonkers. Bella isn't a person to him in this scenario. As Vinelle points out, Bella's never really a person to him at all; he falls in love with his own mental construct, cherry-picking from what he observes of her behavior and her responses to his 20 (thousand) Questions to convince himself that she is the ideal woman.

Bella's not the only one who gets the projection/cardboard-cutout treatment. Edward sees everything and everyone through a highly particular, personalized lens. He filters his entire reality, which we all do to an extent, but the thing with Edward is that he starts with his conclusions and then only pays attention to the evidence that supports those conclusions. Often that evidence consists of what he admits in New Moon are only "surface" thoughts -- but recognizing that limitation doesn't keep him from taking those thoughts as representative of what people are. Edward then becomes absolutely convinced by his own "reasoning" and won't be swayed from what he has decided is Objectively True. It's obvious with Bella; it's also painfully obvious with Rosalie. (Vinelle explains this and brings up Edward's raging Madonna/Whore complex in the same post, so refer to that again -- she's right.)

He also catastrophizes. Everything. Bella's just vibing in her room, rereading Wuthering Heights for the 87th time? She's gonna be hit by a meteor, better sneak into her room while she sleeps. Bella's going to the beach with the filthy mundanes their human classmates? She's gonna fall in the ocean. Jasper's cannibal pals are stopping by for a visit, but know not to hunt in the area? DISASTER, DEFCON 1, ALSO FUCK YOU JASPER FOR EVEN EXISTING IN MY AND BELLA'S SPHERE YOU UNSPEAKABLE BURDEN. Edward must believe that Bella is vulnerable and in near-constant peril, to support the reality he has created in which he is the villain turned protector and maybe?? hero??? (!!!) for his beloved. So when the actual, James-shaped danger arrives, he goes berserk, snarling and flipping his shit and generally not helping the situation. His fantasy demands that Bella remain human, so instead of doing the very thing Alice, Noted Psychic, assures him will neutralize the threat (and not just a threat to Bella, either, but to Bella's family and any other human James might decide to include in the "game"), he vetoes it immediately, no discussion. Bella Must Not Turn, and he sticks to those guns despite James nearly reducing her to ground beef, despite leaving Bella catatonic with depression (but human! success!) in New Moon, despite Aro's order and his family's vote and, let's not forget, Bella's clearly and repeatedly stated desire to be a vampire. It's going to happen. But he doesn't accept it until Renesmee busts out of Bella like the Kool-Aid man and the poor girl's heart finally, unequivocally stops.

Sane people don't behave this way. I don't want to slap labels on Edward, but I can't help but note that he comes across as highly narcissistic. He's the only real person in his universe, the lone player among us NPCs. That probably has a lot to do with him being frozen in the mindset and maturity of a seventeen-year-old boy, but I think it's also just...him, on some fundamental level. His failure to connect with others and recognize them as full, independent beings with their own wants and priorities isn't like Bella's failure -- she's badly depressed. Edward is...something else, and I get the sense that his sanity has been steadily deteriorating over time. And a cursory google of narcissistic traits turns up some familiar-looking stuff. He's self-loathing, yes, but also grandiose; he hates himself for the monster he is (and hates most vampires besides Esme and Carlisle for their monstrosity, too) but still feels superior to humans, to the extent that he felt entitled to human blood and resented Carlisle for depriving him of his "proper" diet. He eventually returns to Carlisle, but he's far from content -- the beginning of Midnight Sun finds him in a state of ennui, bored and dismissive of (if not outright disgusted by) everyone around him, that has apparently persisted for years and years. He doesn't play the piano, he doesn't compose, he doesn't enjoy anything...at least until Bella comes along and then he becomes obsessed to a disturbing degree with her and his new, romantic tragedy spin on reality.

[Next-day edit: I’m not sure where else to fit this in, but the way Edward casually contemplates violence against people who have, at best, mildly annoyed him is...chilling. I have a hard time writing off his strategizing how to murder the entire Biology class as a result of bloodlust -- it’s so calculated, nothing like the blackout state of thirst Emmett describes when he encountered his own “singer,” and that is probably the default for when a vampire is extremely thirsty. But even ignoring the Biology class incident, Edward still does things like consider, with disturbing frequency, how he might grievously injure or kill Mike Newton, all because...Edward considers him his romantic rival (despite Bella barely giving the kid the time of day). He thinks about slapping Mike through a wall, which might be an amusing slapstick image, except as a vampire Edward’s actually capable of turning this boy’s skeleton to a fine powder. So it’s, y’know, kind of sick when you think about it.

But even worse than that, when Bella tells Edward about how she flirted with Jacob to get at that sweet, sweet vampire lore, Edward chuckles and then, after dropping Bella home, flippantly observes that now that the treaty’s broken, why not genocide? I’m not even kidding, it’s right there in Midnight Sun; he seriously thinks about the fact that he’d be technically justified now in wiping out the entire tribe because a teenager tried to impress a girl with a spooky story. That is fucked. Remember, Edward was there with Carlisle when the treaty was first established. He knows how remarkable it is that they even came to a truce in the first place, that it was only ever possible because Carlisle is...well, Carlisle, and that it marks a pretty significant moment in supernatural history. He doesn’t care; he doesn’t respect it, or he’d never think something like “Ha ha, if I went and killed them all, I wouldn’t even be wrong. I mean, I won’t do it, but I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be wrong.”

Again: not the thought process or behavior of a sane person. (Or a person that respects life in general -- sorry Carlisle, big L.)]

Finally, whether he's a narcissist or not, I think the fact that Edward has constant, unavoidable access to everyone's thoughts is a powerful contributing factor to his instability. He can tune out the mental noise to an extent, but he can't stop it -- so he comes to rely on it like another sense. This causes issues with disconnect and lack of empathy, of course, but there's another facet to this shit diamond: he's basically experiencing a ceaseless flow of intrusive thoughts. His narration in Midnight Sun suggests that he "hears" the words people think, can "see" what they visualize in their mind's eye, and can sense the emotional "tone" and intensity of their thoughts. Therefore, perceiving Jasper's thirst through his thoughts makes Edward more aware of his own, "doubling" the discomfort. This would be a lot to deal with even from just his immediate coven members, but Edward gets all of this pouring into his head like a firehose on a day-to-day basis because the Cullens live right alongside humans. I know Meyerpires have galaxy brains or whatever, but that's a ton to process.

Besides the compounding effect on his own thirst when he "feels" the thirst of others, Meyer never suggests that Edward has difficulty separating his own thoughts from other people's; even when he was newly turned, he recognized Carlisle's "voice" in his head as Carlisle's. That would create a whole different host of issues around identity, but it looks like Edward's escaped that particular torment. However, I can easily imagine that what he does experience is just shy of unbearable nonetheless, with an eroding effect on his sanity over decades. He can't sleep to escape it; he's on a dishwater diet and probably (like the rest of his family) experiencing a perpetual, low-grade physical discomfort due to his thirst never being fully satisfied; and he's around far more people than is the norm for vampires -- even discounting all the humans, his own coven is unusually large -- meaning more noise.

Honestly, it would be weirder if he were all there, considering.

And even though I feel like I lost a sense of structure around where I started ranting about telepathy, I've written like 1.5k words about Edward fucking Cullen and I think that's enough for one post.

#twilight #twilight renaissance #twilight meta #edward cullen #i stared too long and the twilight abyss gazed back #long post #major credit due to therealvinelle for having basically all the ideas already #theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin too since they agree and build off each other's metas a lot #idk how people who write meta can just crank these posts out i've been here for two hours #edited to add stuff i forgot to mention about edward's disproportionately violent fantasies

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3starsquinn · 3 years ago

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[meta] What are your muses closest relationships, good and bad. And how do they define who your muse was, is, and will become?

Oh wow. What an incredible and loaded question. I’m going to answer this with an obnoxiously long break down because I don’t know when to shut up.

I’m going to start with characters still in the RP but may break out to talk a bit about some of the older relationships. Also putting under a read under because I saw Bex do it for Cass and that’s a smart idea.

TW: Mentions of emotional abuse and physical abuse, parents death mention

Ari - This was an obvious addition. He’s one of Rio’s earliest friends in town and definitely one of the people he’s felt closest to. As a ranger, befriending a werewolf is one of my first priorities for Rio as a character to show just how against his upbringing he was - and I couldn’t have asked for a better writing partner than Han <3. Ari and Rio have always cared so deeply about each other even during the periods that they were “fighting” or not talking and in a world where Rio has always considered love to be conditional it was so surprising for him to find out that Ari could be mad at him for lying but still care deeply for him at the same time. There is very little that he wouldn’t do for her at this point.

Kaden - Honestly, I think the way their relationship progressed surprised me just as much as it surprised Rio. I wrote Rio with the intention of him hating hunters of all kinds - disagreeing with just about every aspect of their “duty”. This has more to do with his own childhood than the actual hunter code but he has deemed the two interchangeable. But Kaden was one of those special cases (shout out to Adam, a friend of Rio’s that he definitely had a crush on and also Nic who was a hunter that stepped into a sort of fatherly role for Rio.). Rio wanted to hate Kaden so badly- but the more he got to know him the more he realized that he actually cared about the guy. I think Kaden more than anybody helped sort of start to separate his own experience with what hunters do and helped show him that maybe sometimes the hunters were doing the right thing. It definitely helps that Liz writes Kaden so phenomenally that even at Kaden’s worst you can always connect and feel for him because regardless he’s trying to do what he thinks is right.

Milo - A very important friendship to Rio that got cut too short too soon when I had to leave the group last year. They became fast friends who accepted all parts of each other - even the ugly parts that they didn’t necessarily like to share. Milo was the sort of friend that Rio felt completely comfortable with, which isn’t an easy relationship to accomplish with someone as anxious/timid/self-critical as Rio is. Jessie was such a pleasure to write with and a big reason why Rio and Milo clicked so quickly.

As for some previous characters that shaped Rio a lot:

Athena - Couldn’t not talk about his twin sister. When I first wrote Rio’s bio Athena was a one dimensional copy of her parents who would not have hesitated to kill her brother if her parents told him to. My IRL (but not actually) twin Emily offered to take her as an NPC and fleshed her out to be so incredible and the two really shaped each other. Rio spent most of his life hating Athena, but throughout it all it was obvious they cared for each other. I think they both drove each other to be better people - whether it was intentional or not.

Winston was a must add as Rio’s first romantic partner. Rio has a lot of intense intimacy issues - because of his upbringing and also because he is always trying to hide his scars. Winston (and their roommate Ricky) were the first people in town that Rio was ever comfortable enough to show those scars to and that says a lot. Winston was everything that Rio thought he would never be able to get because of his upbringing. They were patient, gentle and showed Rio unconditional love. Even now, long after their break up I think Rio still strives to be as good and kind as Winston was.

Blanche - His OG best friend - originally bonded by their dislike for his sister. I’m pretty sure this was his first friend he ever actually made in White Crest and was the kind of friend that would dye their hair multiple colors with you and break into your parents house with you (and steal their frying pan) and definitely put their life on the line for you (all three of these things did happen multiple times). At risk of repeating myself because really there was a whole crew that helped do this - but Blanche contributed in cracking that seemingly unbreakable shell that helped Rio become who he is and begin to break free from his parents' grasp.

Basically what it boils down to is that I’ve had some incredible writing partners that have helped me bring out plots/traits in Rio and I hope that I’ve been able to help do the same!

There are a lot of characters that have been important to Rio but this is already long as hell so thank you to everyone for writing with me <3

#meta anon #wickedsanon #emotional abuse tw #physical abuse tw #parental death mention tw #this is so long i'm so sorry

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ignitification · 4 years ago

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Midoriya Izuku - Green for Hope, Red for Burning Passion

I always asked myself why exactly Horikoshi has changed Midoriya's character design so drastically.

Indeed, we go from a character called Yamikumo who looks like a feral child with the bad habit of eating his nails off, and drinks more coffee than humanly possible to an anxious bunny who smiles awkwardly and does not know how to accept compliments.

To me, the difference is absolutely insane. Izuku's hair and eyes are uniform and reflect his character and surname. However, a thing that I find peculiar is how the dark (Black/Green) and the Red theme are a constant throughout particular tellings of his character.

The legendary red shoes are one of Deku's main features. It's part of his character. However, I just got to think why exactly (especially having an idea on why was green used for him) and I think that the answer might be very very banal. However, I do think that this is not the only reason.

First of all, there is the most simple reason which I could think of: Midoriya Izuku is described as plain. In my opinion, plain does not really define Midoriya but the concept of him being bland and capable of melting into background is fundamental to express him in the most little details (however, there are few things which inwardly contradict this description: first and foremost his freckles). But as it might be, and Midoriya is indeed considered not worthy look at for more than once (at least as described in the manga - which is also one of the reason why his design has been changed so much, as Yamikumo had literally zero chance to go unnoticed), it appears clear how this suppression of character, of wanting to relegate Mido to a background role is what instead pushes Izuku forward to make a bold choice of something like wearing red shoes. They are strikingly particular, and noticeable: which means that Midoriya is not happy about being an npc, but instead wants to be noticed and in some way stand out.

The second reason, which I mulled over if was relevant enough is All Might. A recurrent color in all All Might's costumes is Red (and Blue, which kind of reminds of Superman and the American Flag. A fact that I found interesting as well if how AM wears Blue, Yellow and Red while Midoriya wears Green and Red, and of course Blue and Yellow together form Green).

And finally the third and final reason (at least, for now) is that Red, as a colour reminds Deku of Kacchan (even if arguably, we see in the first panel of the manga how Izuku wore already his shoes so this might be false and instead it might refer to the fact that Red is Izuku’s favourite colour only), who we know he associates with victory. As the mental image of Kacchan, who was red eyes, is his substitute for him being able to stand proud, strong and capable to win, Izuku might want to express this strive to be strong.

But what do these two colours mean, stand alone ?

As for Green: this colour, in different cultures, is associated with "Hope" . I think here the main gist and general going is that Midoriya represents Hope for the Heroes, Hope for the Unwanted, the Broken and the Damned (the Villains). I talked about Izuku being a Symbol of the New Society here, but in short, with Izuku Midoriya being fundamentally associated to the colour green, I think Horikoshi wants to express two things: how Izuku never loses hope (to be a hero, to have a quirk, to be a friend to Katsuki who bullied him for years or Shouto who straight up challenged him even before getting to know him, to reach and to save everyone) and how he represents and spreads hope for others (Eri, Kouta, the same Todoroki and Katsuki).

Green indicates life, renewal, harmony and safety. Which, in this sense, points out Izuku's nature as a person and how he is bound to feel restless unless he provides comfort to everyone, and that desire to save desperately anyone who he can reach. Green is a calming and soothing colour. It also stands for prosperity, freshness and progress - which point out not only the conclusion of Deku being N1 Hero, but as well at him 'changing up' the society and becoming the Symbol of Hope and Change (on which I briefly touched upon here).

However, on a negative side it also stands for Greed (wanting to be a hero and follow AM steps even when he had a hard time adapting his body to his new quirk) and Envy (Bakugō first and foremost and the generally heroes and those who has time to wield their power properly). In this negative meaning of the colour, I think Izuku’s selfless nature comes to the surface even more: how he feels bound to feel negative emotions which spur his renewal and development (after all, he did unlock Black Whip after Monoma had insulted Bakugou), but at the same time use this emotion toward a bigger goal (him being mad at Shigaraki, but at the same time wanting to save him - I wrote about this too here).

Green, is, finally, the colour of the Heart chakra: an expression of how Midoriya puts everything before him, because his heart cannot take the selfishness of thinking of himself first, which also come hand in hand with his sacrificing nature and reminds of his name meaning and the association made with the number 9. Indeed, “Opening the Heart chakra allows a person to love more, empathise, and feel compassion” - which in short, stands for an externalisation of Mido’s personality.

On a shorter note, in Japan, the colour green represents youth, eternity, vitality and energy - which, in its own way is both a confirmation and a denial to other references made in Izuku’s character, such as his dangerous nature, him not being concentrated to live on for more than he is allowed to fulfil his duty (him being tied to number 9 and so on), and at the same time it reminds us of OfA, as it gains more power and energy and at his cheery, youthful persona.

As for Red, as the colour of Blood, it also stands to indicate '' Danger, Sacrifice, Courage" (which reconnects to his name's theory and numerology, of which I talked about here, in short).

In addition, red is usually used to professionally gain attention (it's hard to miss something so bright) and convey confidence. We know for a fact that Deku has been wearing red shoes since he was a kid (or at least, since he met Bakugō, which coincides with Izuku being four) and that despite being Quirkless, he always showed courage in standing out to people even when they thought of him as 'inferior' because on his unusual condition.

Among other negative meaning, there is an overflow of temper, anger, agitation, and overbearing, demanding and oppressive behaviours. As clear as day, these characteristics relate more to fiery Katsuki than Deku, but as stated before, Deku puts Katsuki as model and adapts his combat style to resemble Katsuki’s. So, this overflow of energy and action is a double-edged sword which affects both Katsuki and Izuku in different ways (and is mellowed out in Izuku’s character by his other soothing characteristics , but more on that later).

Also, Red, in Asia is a lucky colour which might (or not) hint at how, despite everything Izuku got his 'lucky' chance to inherit AM's power and follow his dream of becoming a hero. Particularly, in Japan this colour is associated and denotes strength, passion, self-sacrifice. A transmission of feeling as complex and empowering as the ones Deku fills while he is living his everyday life as a future hero, summed to his nature and inherited quirk.

Red is also a magical and religious color. It symbolized super-human heroism to the Greeks and is the color of the Christian crucifixion, which might be as meaningless as other things, but in this case it might greatly relate to the type of enormous power Izuku tries to reign in, and to the self sacrificing spirit which he proves again and again.

So far, the meanings of the colours which have been associated with Deku are in line with his name, his personality and even the storyline which has been drawed out.

Among other meanings red represents power, courage, energy, passion, and creates physical effects such as enhanced metabolism, enthusiasm, higher level of energy (which comes back to the initial reasons on why Deku chooses Red as a distinct colour for himself and his shoes).

The color red is linked to the most primitive physical, emotional, and financial needs of survival and self-preservation.

Finally is also the colour of leadership, determination and courage. So in short, the colours red, where it indicates energy, action and strong emotion-filled desires and aspirations, is also weak to overbearing aspects which transform empowerment into negative traits (which is what, in the end, is represented by Bakugou). It is also strong-willed and can give confidence to those who are shy or lacking in will power (the shoes in Deku’s case).

Red is the colour of the First (or Spine) Chakra and usually allows a person to be grounded and connect to universal energies, while Green is the link between spiritual and material.

What do these two colours mean in association with each other?

Onto how these two colours are related to each other, especially considering the premises made, we see that Red (life-giving properties, trust, belonging and violence) and Green (health, eternity, youth and greed) are not only opposites, but they complete and balance each other out. Indeed, to reign over emotions and actions, to red is usually added green which indeed is a pain-relieving patch for red’s intensity (the theory of Bakugou and Deku being two sides of the same coin are thriving).

Midoriya Izuku is an intense person. His personality allows him to balance out his power with a selfless nature, and while he himself is sweet and caring, his fiery eyes (and shoes) express for him his utmost sincere feelings, which deep down are very telling. As mentioned before, Izuku responds to Monoma when he insults Bakugou and makes a jab at how actually Bakugou is the one who ultimately terminated AM, by unlocking a new dangerous and powerful quirk, which is so powerful and fiery, and red in his intensity, that they need Shinsou’s intervention to actually calm him down.

Izuku is a overly protective person: he has forgiveness as a foremost characteristic and even if he does mention how he will not forgive Shigaraki for what he has done, on second though he realises that even a ‘monster’ like Shigaraki deserves to be saved, and therefore his other nature takes over.

Therefore, the coexistence of these factors, and his personality are probably at the origin of why Midoriya has had such a drastic make-over before becoming Midoriya Izuku, and why the colours of Red and Green are fundamental in the description which lets us have a full picture of Midoriya as an individual: something who is full of hope and energy, striving to express whisk power and passion while trying to concern only himself with the danger that comes with his mission to save everyone.

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catfishimages · 3 years ago

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im attacking you with 1 billion quastions from the dm ask: 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20, 24, 33, 36, 37

thank you alex for my life. i am chewing on chewing on these questions like a deer haunch

4 - do you have any noticeable dm mannerisms? anything you’ve picked up from ttrpg shows or other dungeon masters in your life? or common tropes, themes, or encounters that reappear across your games?

man i don’t even know, do i have any noticable dm mannerisms? i have definitely noticed myself aping brennan lee mulligan in terms of turns of phrase and stuff (”hell yeah. awesome.” parental figures calling children ��kiddo”) but like, if someone were to do an impression of me, what would they do?

6 - what is your least favorite part about running a game (if there is one)?

while being crazy, intensely rewarding, running a game takes a lot of emotional/mental energy. and sometimes that energy willl end up completely wasted cause players didn’t end up pursuing a thread you thought they would. which is totally inevitable and fine! but it does still drain you.

however the number one thing that really does suck the most is that you will sometimes have players that see/treat you as more of a function of the game, something that facilitates them having fun playing the game, rather than a person who is also playing the game and is also trying to have a good time, which. sucks. and being a dm is kind of inherently a supportive role, but there is this (unfortunately, pretty common) attitude among players of forgetting that the dm is also a player, and not just some sort of reactive game making engine.

11 - favorite npc(s) you’ve ever played?

probably the most rewarding thing about dming is eliciting an emotional reaction from your players, cause it means they’re connected to the story/their characters! so naturally this means that my favourite npcs are the ones that provoke Reactions in my players. a lot of the times, that reaction is laughter, those good good juicy emotions are really what i’m stabbing for.

i think my top two are both from my current ongoing motw campaign, doom mettle, (turned 1 year old a month or two ago.) two very different characters with a common thread: Kevin Diuretic is the 14 year old teen sidekick and employee of one of the pcs, and Martin Tantaleen, the ceo of the silicon valley-esque, vampirically owned farming company Nutricore. kevin’s starting motivation is to get involved in said pcs criminal activities, and he’s one of my favourites cause he’s 14 years old and the players are deeply protective of him and his safety. this makes him the perfect victim. the threat of him being in danger connects them to the stakes of the world, which means i can make them Feel Things. on the hard other end of the spectrum is martin tantaleen. the focus of one of the mysteries (what motw calls adventures,) was the party had descended into a secret underground nutricore facility in order to seal a hellmouth, but after being successful were then trapped underground by martin tantaleen. they then had to fight their way out, navigating the labyrinth of this facility, flee the pursuit of the nutricore private security forces and a mutated vampiric/angel hybrid monster (long story,) of martin’s creation, all while being mocked and tormented by martin tantaleen over the facility’s pa system. something about him really snagged something inside my players, and now they react to the barest implication of him like tigers in an enclosure in which someone has dropped a slab of raw meat.

i can’t really pretend to know exactly why these characters, specifically, my players latched onto. maybe it’s cause kevin diuretic has a voice like he’s constantly mid-voice crack and always about to cry, and he’s named. that. maybe the fact that martin was pretty untouchable to my players, with that element of him mocking them from a place of safety, where he could see them but they couldn’t see him, is what enraged them on that level. but something these characters do share, is improvisation. kevin was created wholesale because my player said there was a high schooler working for her and i had to come up with something on the fly, and while not improvised entirely, the decision to have martin watch the party and talk to them over the pa was a spur of the moment thing. for whatever reason it’s just something my brain did in that moment, and now it’s something i consider to be pretty central to his character, and is definitely a major part of why he gets such a rise from the party.

14 - place you wish the pc’s had spent more time in or a plot hook they didn’t follow?

to this day i’m actually still bitter (loving) about this one. so of my pcs got sent to hell (don’t worry about it, they’re fine.) and they ended up finding this bar in hell, called The Swimming Sorrow, which i’m embarrassingly proud of. and the bar was run by this pair of demons, two brothers, one of which was the bartender and the other would be playing music. (that one’s body was basically a giant bagpipes, with multiple arms and bongos and shit grown out of him,) and they’d trade the masks every day. which mask they were wearing would change their personality from upbeat and jovial to dreary and depressed, so on days when the music brother had the tragedy mask and the bartender brother had the comedy mask the bar would be completely empty, but the other days however, it’d be packed, cause nobody wants sad music playing when they’re miserable and a bartender who’s happier than they are.

jokes on my pcs tho they’re all going back to hell eventually even if they don’t know it yet

15 - what are your favorite battle memories? do you have a favorite villain/enemy/monster you’ve played?

the conquering son was a really fun villain, the whole persistence hunter, unstoppable michael myers thing ruled. and as far as battle memories, there was this bit where he stalked the party to one of their homes, and the session ended with him breaking in the door, and them all being cornered in the basement of that pcs house. (i can say that that was definitely my favourite end-of-session cliffhanger i’ve ever done.) their fight to get out, where they were so extremely on their back foot and disadvantaged, and then later their fight against him in an abandoned water treatment facility, on their terms, were two of my favourite battle memories of all time.

16 - is there something that you desperately want to run someday, be it a specific system, setting, module, campaign, npc, etc?

there are a few different systems that really seem interesting to me: mausritter seems very fun, it’s this high-lethality low fantasy game where you play as mice, ICON cause i’m abbadon’s bitch, and the stats system in kids on bikes looks real cool. but honestly while i am really interested in different game systems, the stuff that’s trying to burst out of me alien-style is more ideas for stories than specific systems. i’ve had this idea for a giant-hunting campaign, a la shadow of the colossus, and my doom mettle group is so incredibly creative and the characters they make rule so hard that i’d love to see what they’d do in the setting for the other campaign i’m running right now (the continent of Kahldera, the young world.) and given how much the genre’s a part of my core dna since childhood, i just gotta run a sci-fi campaign at some point.

20 - best/worst player-ism that stuck in a game (ex. getting a name wrong to the point that’s just what everyone says, whether on purpose or accident)?

honestly it probably happened more in the past but i can't think of anything off the top of my head. lmao i know this is lackluster but hey i can't write dissertations to answer all of these

24 - how long does preparing for a session usually take you? do you chronically under or overprepare?

under. on bad days those executives truly love to dysfunction until i exert a herculean amount of effort in order to have the bare minimum to run a game done. which, like, obviously that's rough but i really do think that "prepare less, react more" is something i hope new dms can learn.

however. because of The Brain I Have i'm never really not working on session prep (exageration.) i'm kinda always thinking about my campaigns, and sometimes i can get so involved in the adventure that i wildly overprepare the stuff i think is cool and interesting, even if usually most of it ends up getting tossed/awkwardly shoehorned in

33 - if you can, post your favorite comment/note/line from your game prep or gm notes made during a session

i wonder if my players can guess the corresponding game/mystery for each line

- “the light from the hellfire that bursts from seams in the earth, and flames produced by the heavy machinery is reflected by the hazy smoggy sky wrapping the planet.”

- “ the existence of a 10th plane is strato-theologically blasphemous”

- “He’s also a proficient hacker and investigator. He’s an asshole.”

- “gave Argos their powers/made Argos a nasty guygoyle.”

- “Drive: To do the coolest stunts.“

- “hogs are a collective vessel”

36 - how do you gear up to run a session? any pregame getting into character/setting moments?

in terms of notes prep, basically i’ll jot down any threads i want to make sure to remind the players of, like if i want to make sure they don’t forget it mainly. number one prep thing is making sure i’ve got the main stats that’re gonna be in play.

otherwise, if it’s an in-person session i go down my checklist (laptop, dm screen, paper notes, charger, dungeon tiles, speaker,) and if not i listen to that session’s theme track, set up my tabs on my two monitors, and make sure i’ve got smth to eat

37 - wildcard: any question you haven’t answered or received and want to!

funniest improvisation moment?

look without context this isn’t going to make much sense or be very funny but i think my funniest improvisation moment was Angry Andy’s Ammunition and Armaments Emporium.

#ask games #i left out the ones i already answered from sterling's ask #doom mettle #god.#i'm sorry i wrote a lot i love ttrpgs #also sorry this took so long i had like. work #15 i so clearly remember this moment where one of the party members fucked up a roll to track a monster that they knew #was somewhere in that building #and in motw you choose a negative side effect from a list if that happens #and knowing that they already had enough on their plate fighting the conquering son #him choosing "this draws immediate and unwelcome attention.”#the look he had where i knew which one he was going to choose #and he knew everyone else knew what he was going to choose...#god truly was alive in that moment #37. thank you bee. i love you. thank you for this gift

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kirkewrites · 11 months ago

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looking for more rp partners on discord!! would absolutely love another small town mumu (multimuse) or two, extra info about me & what i'm looking for under the cut!

i'd consider myself to be a pretty active rp partner for the most part (i'm in college plus i work sporadic hours as a private tutor) and when replies are on the shorter side, i can usually do at least one set of replies (if we are writing multiple threads at a time, i personally enjoy writing 2 at a time!) a day, but likely more, and i'm down for rapidfire sessions as well when i can! i prefer my partner to have similar activity (it's difficult for me to stay invested in an rp when it mostly just consists of hcs & shared inspo, and when there is very little actual writing happening), though i don't at ALL want my partner to feel pressured to write replies!! it's just a hobby, not a jobby! things happen & life gets busy! but i really appreciate communication and transparency with rp friends! just lmk what's up and i'll do the same for you! and if you can't do replies for some reason, i'm always happy to just chat ooc or do some inspo chatting or plotting!!

#discord 1x1 #1x1 #1x1 mumu #still looking! reposting for timezones + a lil more info #as if this massive ad needed any more 😭😭😂

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thecottageinthedark · 4 years ago

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Sorting Persona 4

Here again with another Sorting Hat Chats post! This one’s for Persona 4. Full disclaimer; this is based just on the game, not the anime. Also it’s behind a cut cause it is LONG. And has spoilers.

The system I’m using is explained here by @wisteria-lodge.

The Persona 4 MC, whose name is either Souji Seta or Yu Narukami depending on which supplemental materials you go by, is a really REALLY loud Badger secondary. His power is based on making Social Links with NPCs and shifting to become whatever they need-and also on patiently grinding to level up his attributes. And because he lives so much in this secondary-plus the fact that on a meta level he’s kind of a stand-in for the player-his Primary is hard to see.

But where it gets revealed in the end is the decisive moment when the ending you’re going to get is decided. The Investigation Team have discovered that Namatame’s been putting people into the TV, and thus are assuming he’s the murderer-and it’s become horribly personal, because one of the people he did that to was Nanako, and even though she’s been rescued, she’s deathly ill thanks to the TV World’s poison.

And now you-and the MC-have a choice. The IT are baying for Namatame’s blood, ready to kill. One Badger Primary method would be to appeal to the fact that he’s a person, you can’t just kill people….but nobody’s listening. Another would be to dehumanise him and say, he’s a murderer, he needs to die for the sake of everyone-going along with all the fury of the group. A Lion would lash out too-less because everyone’s doing it and more from their own gut feeling, but that would still lead to dead Namatame. A Snake might kill Namatame because he hurt Nanako...or, in the Golden remake, if they’ve done Adachi’s social link, they might cover for him. Either way, they’d be prioritising an inner circle member.

And all of those get you bad endings. Especially the Snake choice to cover for Adachi.

What gets the good ending, the happy ending where the MC is fulfilled and at peace, is to ignore all the emotion that’s running so high, and order everyone to step back and take time to think about whether the theory of Namatame being the killer makes sense. Pounce on the niggling little detail that doesn’t fit, and realise that the assumption everyone is labouring under isn’t true. And then prioritise the actual truth over personal loyalties or emotional reactions.

Bird Primary.

Because of course. This is a detective story. Your party are called both the Investigation Team and the Seekers of Truth. Even the title song hints at it; find the truth (Bird) by getting together with others (Badger).

Yosuke Hanamura’s a young, immature Snake Primary at game start, with the selfishness typical to that. His Shadow throws that back in his face, and he realises he doesn’t like being an asshole whose secret gut reaction to murders happening is ‘well at least I’m not bored anymore now something is happening in this dead-end town’.

So he does two things pretty much at the same time; he widens his inner circle to let in first Souji and then the rest of the IT, and he adds a model on top to let him care about things outside that circle. I think it’s a Lion model-a young Lion, just like his Snake, that edges into Glory Hound, but keeps hold of the idea that you should do certain things because they’re just right.

(It’s not based on the MC, though the MC is undoubtedly his most important person, who he even calls his partner. But then, as I said, the MC’s Bird is very quiet, so it’d be hard for Yosuke to perceive it well enough to mimic it. I think it’s actually based on Chie, who is after all the inner circle member he has known longest!)

And his secondary? Yosuke’s a support guy. He lifts his friends up. His family run Junes, and he leverages that connection to create a base location for the IT and secure a portal into the TV world that’s big enough to be usable. When Teddie comes to the human world, it’s Yosuke who gives him a place to stay. He’s a Badger secondary, and again, this makes perfect sense. The Lover sorting. No wonder so much of the fandom ships him with the MC.

Chie Satonaka is LOUD and BRASH and if you are a jerk she will KICK YOU IN THE FACE. She is so goddamn Lion Secondary, and utterly unapologetic about it.

Her primary, I think, is Lion again. The reason she has gotten possessive of Yukiko (as her Shadow calls her out on) isn’t that she wants Yukiko to be just hers-it’s that she wants to be Yukiko’s knight. Saving the princess is actually a textbook Lion cause. It lets her feel heroic and brave.

But that’s not good for either of them. Damsel in distress is a shitty role, one that doesn’t allow Yukiko to be strong and capable herself, and Chie pushing Yukiko into that role is really straining their relationship. It’s also something that Chie herself knows is wrong-that’s why her Shadow accuses her of it. (“I am a Shadow, the true self...”)

So instead Chie changes gears, because oh look a new Cause just popped up! Find the killer and bring them to justice! And on top of that, there’s always sexist prats to kick.

Yukiko Amagi models Badger Primary, because it’s expected of her. Running an inn is a really Badger kind of job. She also models Badger Secondary, for the same reasons. She feels this is who she’s meant to be; sweet, gentle, socially adept, community-focused and hard-working. The traditional Japanese ideal of womanhood.

But it chafes. The weight of societal expectations feels crushing. She doesn’t want to do stuff just because she’s meant to, because people think she should. She’s an Internal Primary, and needs to follow the voice of her own heart.

And where that heart leads her...is back to the Amagi Inn, except now she’s decided that she’s doing this for herself. She needed to feel that she could actually choose to not inherit the inn, before she could realise that she wanted to run it. She’s a Snake Primary, and the inn is important to her because it’s hers.

Her secondary...actually I get the feeling she’s like Toph Beifong of Avatar, a Snake who likes to spend most of her time in neutral. She is delightfully quirky and weird, and owns that, but she doesn’t charge like a Lion and she’s comfy with wearing masks when the situation calls for it.

Kanji Tatsumi panics at the idea that he might be gay, and caretakes like a boss, and that might look at first sight like a Double Badger who’s scared that he might be one of the people he’s used to dehumanising. His Shadow screams that it wants to be accepted...but what calms it is when Kanji himself accepts it, and says that this resolution is about being true to himself. Kanji’s a Double Lion who burnt his primary because being given shit for the feminine, queer-coded parts of himself made him lose faith in his internal compass, worrying that it was leading him somewhere that he viewed as bad. Internalised homophobia’s a bitch of a thing.

Accepting his Shadow is the start of Kanji healing his primary-letting go of shame for being an oddball and telling the world to go fuck itself if it thinks it can make him conform. He does model Badger Secondary-as I said, he caretakes like a boss-but that’s more a thing he does as a gift to others. When it comes to solving problems, he charges in swinging, ready to beat up anyone from biker gangs to otherworldly monsters.

Rise Kujikawa is a cheerful, shameless Snake Primary, loving and ambitious. She became an idol to make friends, and enjoys the fame it gets her. And when she needs to take a break for the sake of her mental health, she has no compunctions about doing so.

But she needed that break because the idol life was stressing her out-unsurprisingly, it’s a really intense life. And the particular problem she had was to do with the conflicting expectations the public has of celebrities. Perfection is demanded...but so is authenticity.

Rise realised that she was face-shifting as an integral part of her career, and this knowledge sent her into a tailspin. The fans don’t like the real Rise Kujikawa-they like Risette. But who is the real Rise Kujikawa? She doesn’t know! It’s frightening! What if she’s just made of smoke and mirrors? How does she find out what’s underneath?

And the answer she comes to is that there is no real Rise Kujikawa...which is the same as saying that there is no false one. Rise is Risette is Rise, it’s all just her, adapting to the context as she needs to. She’s a Badger Secondary, and the act of performance is the true self.

And for her, that’s a good answer-it brings her peace. But now we need to talk about Teddie.

Because just hearing Rise say ‘there’s no real me’ sends Teddie into a Shadow crisis right there.

He completely fucking loses it. He’s a denizen of the TV world-he’s been immune to it all this time, never manifesting a Shadow, but this is what breaks him. And that just screams Bird Lion. It’s his Buzz Lightyear moment-or rather his first Buzz Lightyear moment, because there are two. This is the first, and he survives it by retreating into his Secondary. It allows him to bring Shadow Teddie under control...but this isn’t sustainable. He’s realised something terrible and can’t avoid that knowledge indefinitely.

And soon enough he admits it to himself (and to the MC). He is a Shadow, that somehow became self-aware. His Truth was never true. He can’t handle it, he has no idea how to even exist, and he outright tells the MC that he intends to commit suicide.

He recovers, though-and he does so because the MC tells him Nanako survived. That’s the first thing that gives him a glimmer of hope, because his Truth already had some Snakey elements in there about chosen people and ambitions. He comes back from the brink, reshapes his system to centre those Snake principles, and returns to the side of his friends.

Lastly, Naoto Shirogane, our other queer-coded character. (I’m using she pronouns for the sake of canon here-but I’m a firm believer in nonbinary Naoto, for the record.) I think she’s a Bird secondary-the only one of those here, jeez. She’s just so analytical. She’s a rapid-fire Bird too, Detective Prince working on a case, squarely in the middle of her comfort zone. But push her out of it-into a normal teenager social situation, say-and watch her squirm!

She has a Bird Primary performance, too. But performance is the operative word here. She’s trying to look adult and smart and collected, in order to be taken seriously by the police officers she works with. And she is smart, mind you, but that’s not the why of her though it is the how. It’s not Naoto who goes ‘wait, let’s think about this, we need more information’ at the crucial point, but the MC, who really is a Bird Primary. Naoto was the one to suggest doing a little vigilante justice vis-a-vis murdering Namatame.

Her real Primary is Lion. Being a detective is a Cause for her, not a Truth, and she is blazingly certain of her own sense of what’s right-so much so that she doesn’t stop and check it against other people’s. And she inspires people! She doesn’t even mean to, and certainly doesn’t know why, but she is just so cool that people flock to her and admire her. ‘The Detective Prince’ is, when you think about it, a really Lion Bird kind of title!

Her Shadow has two issues with her. First, it harps on the gender angle. Hey, self, there’s that thing about your identity that you’ve been refusing to think about! You need to go poke at it! And then it breaks down into a scared child. Self, your performance is eating you alive. You need to do it, yes, the Cause demands it, but you also need to be able to stop sometimes and let yourself have emotions!

In short:

MC/Souji/Yu: Bird primary, Badger secondary

Yosuke: Snake primary, Badger secondary, models Lion primary

Chie: Lion primary, Lion secondary

Yukiko: Snake primary, Snake secondary, with Badger primary and secondary models that start out pretty unhealthy for her.

Kanji: Lion primary that starts out burnt and begins to unburn after his Shadow fight, Lion secondary. Models Badger secondary.

Rise: Snake primary, Badger secondary

Teddie: Bird primary, Lion secondary. Falls dramatically and recovers by shaping his system to be more Snakelike.

Naoto: Lion primary, Bird secondary, performs Bird primary

#persona 4 #sorting hat chats #harry potter

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