#gradient mapped this to hell and back sorry

[bioluminesced]

happy frodo friday heres a redraw of that sick ass mtg card art for him

#lotr #frodo baggins #frodo #lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #the two towers #the return of the king #tolkien #hobbits #gradient mapped this to hell and back sorry

[merlinemryspendragon]

Gif Coloring Tutorial

Requested by anon. Sorry for taking so long to post this!

This tutorial goes over how I color gifs, including tips for coloring dark scenes and scenes that are heavily filtered with a certain color (i.e blue scenes, yellow scenes, etc.).

We’ll be going from this:

To this:

Warning: This post is gonna be really long! (if the read more breaks blacklist “long post” or “usermerlin gif tutorial”)

*I’m using Photoshop CS5

1. Gif Making Basics (Note this part won’t include images since the anon specified coloring and avoiding noise I’m gonna focus on that)

First I take screencaps using Potplayer.

In PS I import the frames by selecting File --> Scripts --> “Load Multiple DICOM Files”

Once the images have loaded I go to the drop down menu on the animation window and select “Make frames from layers”. 

Then I crop my gif using the crop tool. I put all the layers into a group  (select all the layers and press ctrl + g (cmd + g if you’re using a Mac)

Now I sharpen my gif. I’ve created an action to speed up this process using user thepunisher’s action tutorial. I didn’t include the grouping of my layers in the action so that’s why I always group them before starting my action so that it works properly. My sharpening is pretty standard from what I’ve seen. I use smart sharpen: 

Now I can start coloring!

2. Basic Coloring

In this section, I’ll be going over a basic, but vibrant, coloring. When making adjustments you have to be careful not to increase brightness or vibrance too much or your gif will become grainier. Same goes with making changes to the colors. It’s better to have more layers with slight adjustments 

I always start by brightening up my gif. Sometimes I use curves to both brighten and adjust colors. For this particular gif I didn’t, but I use this adjustment often. User villainelle has a tutorial for using curves to color adjust here and so does user thepunisher here. They have slightly different approaches and I use either depending on the scene. I’ll also be explaining this adjustment more in the next section but I learned how to use it from them. 

Step 1:

For this gif, I just started with an Exposure adjustment layer. Exposure allows you to change the tones of your document. Gamma adjusts midtones, offset adjusts shadows, and exposure adjusts highlights. It’s really helpful with brightening up dark scenes or heavily shadowed scenes. I usually only adjust the midtones/gamma. Here are my settings:

I increased the Gamma to 1.12

Step 2:

I then use a Brightness/Contrast layer to adjust the highlights (you could also do this with Exposure but I find Brightness more manageable). At this point, I’m only increasing the brightness. I won’t increase or decrease the contrast bar. Here are my settings:

I increased the Brightness to 34

Step 3:

After adjusting the brightness, I want to bring back some depth (I’m probably using this word incorrectly tbh) to my gif by increasing the contrast before moving on to color correction and vibrancy.

To increase the contrast I use a black and white gradient map and set it to soft light. Then I lower the opacity between 10%-50%, depending on the scene.

You could also use Levels or Brightness/Contrast but I find the gradient map is easy to control while also making the gif more neutral. For this gif, I set the transparency to 10% but could go a little higher because the scene is naturally bright. All these adjustments are really about your personal preference. 

Step 4:

Now I can move on to the colors. For basic coloring I usually start by increasing the saturation. I use a Hue/Saturation layer because this way I can increase the saturation of everything. I feel like the Vibrance layer tends to just make the gif warmer rather than making the colors pop- and I have less control over individual colors. For this gif, I increased the saturation for all colors (”Master”) to 27:

Step 5:

After adjusting the vibrancy I move on to color adjustment. This can really vary based on preferences. I tend to prefer to make my gifs cooler in tone. I use Selective Color and Color Balance to manipulate the colors. 

I started by adding a Color Balance layer to adjust the colors on Aziraphale’s face:

I increased the Cyan to 4, the Magenta to 3, and the Blue to 1 to make the skin tones more neutral. I’m moving the bars toward the colors I want to add. So if my gif is too yellow I’d move it toward blue and if it’s too red I’d move it toward cyan. Also note that I only made changes to the midtones. If I wanted to make changes to the darker or lighter parts of this gif I’d alter the shadows or highlights but I usually only do that for rainbow gifsets. Typically, I prefer Selective Color to make more drastic color alterations so I have more control over the specific color I’m changing.

*Be careful when making these types of changes. You don’t want to make drastic changes to the natural undertones of a person’s skin. Same goes when you’re brightening your gif. You can easily whitewash if you’re not careful. User amorverus has a great tutorial on avoiding whitewashing in coloring here .*

I also wanted to brighten up the gif more after this so I added a curves layer :

Then I used Selective Color to decrease the yellow tones in the White background:

I decreased it by 26. I almost always do this for scenes with white backgrounds or large blocks of white.

Step 6:

After I make some color adjustments I adjust the brightness and contrast again. I always add another Curves layer to increase the brightness of the shadows by slightly lifting the line on the bottom left:

Then I use Levels to change the contrast of my tones. I usually increase the contrast by moving the left hand point slightly to the right:

After that I add another Curves layer, decreasing the shadow and increasing the highlights like this:

I feel like this adds some nice depth to my gif and brings out the colors more. The amount I decrease or increase the curve depends on the gif itself, so definitely play around with this. 

Step 7:

Now I go back to make some last color changes. I added another Selective Color layer and increased the Black on Whites:

Finally, I added another Selective Color layer adjusting the Whites again. I decreased the Yellow again and also increased the Cyan and Magenta to make the blue in the sky pop a little more:

I used a layer mask to erase this layer on Aziraphale so the change is only apparent on the sky.

Now I’m done! Here’s the same method on two other scenes:

And I uploaded the .psds (dl here) so you can take a closer look at what I did in Photoshop. Keep in mind that I don’t always follow these steps in the exact same order. Psd #3 features the curves color adjustment method and has some more adjustments. It really depends on the scene itself and the mood I’m in. Practicing a lot will build your familiarity with the different adjustments and hopefully boost your confidence in making your own coloring! 

3. Hard to Color Scenes

Blue/Yellow/Green/Red Scenes + Dark Scenes

These types of scenes can be hell to color but there are some techniques to help balance the colors so that you have something that’s easier to work with. 

For general dark scenes, adjusting the Exposure can be really helpful. Unfortunately increasing the Gamma or Exposure too much can make the gif grainy so be careful when using it. Consider using it in combination with Brightness/Contrast and Curves to avoid making drastic changes.

Another helpful adjustment layer is the curves layer. As the tutorials linked above explain, using the midtone or highlight dropper tool can help adjust the presence of red, green, and blue in your gif. Photoshop will balance against the color you select. 

Let’s take this scene for example:

This scene is really yellow. Using color balance or selective color to balance it out could help but given how yellow it is, you’d need to use a lot of these layers to gradually change the colors or you’d make your gif too grainy. Using Curves, we can adjust colors with less layers and hopefully introduce less grain (sometimes this type of adjustment can result in too drastic a change, so your gif becomes hella grainy so be careful). I used the midtone dropper around here:

And got this:

Here’s the Curves layer:

The shadows are a little more intense than they were to begin with but that’s easier to adjust. You could also keep messing around with the dropper so the scene doesn’t become darker. You could it make it slightly less yellow and then finish the rest with color balance and selective color. Either way, I’m satisfied with this so now I can continue coloring:

Here’s an example of a dark and blue scene:

Usually for darker scenes, I use the midtone dropper but that wasn’t resulting in a change I was happy with. I used the highlight dropper instead, clicking on the flecks of snow in the bottom right:

Here’s the Curves layer:

And here’s the final gif after coloring:

This method is great for making big changes to the lighting and colors of your gifs.

HQ GIF Tips:

Save Settings:

I save my gifs with Diffusion because I find that the dithering is usually less noticeable that way, so my gif looks smoother. Pattern can also look really nice though, depending on your coloring. Try out both and see which you prefer! Here are my settings:

Coloring:

Making drastic changes all at once can make your gifs grainier. Be careful not to change a color too much one one Selective Color or Color Balance layer. It’s better to make smaller changes over multiple layers. Same goes for increasing brightness and vibrance.

Source:

Use the highest quality video source you can. That’s an easy way to make HQ gifs. Blu Ray or DVD quality is better than Itunes for example and both of those will be better than clips from Youtube. If the file size is bigger that typically means there less compression so the quality will be better. If you can’t find larger sizes or you don’t have the space or time to save larger files, just make sure it’s at least 1080p. Keep in mind that now that gifs are converted to gifv, your gifs might look grainy or blurry when you post them even if they look fine when you save them. You can go back and mess with the coloring to see if this helps but otherwise there’s not much you can do about the conversion.

Those are all the tips I have for now! If anything doesn’t make sense or you have any questions please let me know.

#gif tutorial #coloring tutorial #photoshop help #long post #usermerlin gif tutorial #I hope this helps!! #sorry this got so long :( #please let me know if you still have any questions or if something doesn't make sense #I get all rambly #my current coloring is really a messy mix of all the tutorials I've ever seen #I'm gonna reblog this a couple of times to make sure it gets seen #I'm gonna go to sleep now lol

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

omg okay so i was totally ignorant but now i am enlightened because the brilliant @h00f sent me the booth video recording and im dying over it so here we goooo. i recorded it and uploaded the vid into davinci resolve so i could zoom in and also go through frame by frame.

tl;dr: so its all good its all good UM TYREEN’S TATTOOS WENT MISSING ON HER FOREARM AND THEN SHE SUCKED A MONSTER AND THEY REAPPEARED so it’s all good it’s all good im not having a crisis. im not. i thiiiiiiiiink we see the Vault of Promethea (the one with the cranes, but lilith also says “wherever the hunt for the vaults takes us” which throws me off a bit. still kinda think it’s promethea tho).

so not what i was expecting to be doing at 2:32 am but you know what? this is okay, borderlands gives me literally infinite energy

and new content? HOH BOY i am going to go so fucking in depth. hold onto ur horses. i was working on my mock intro to the game but this is so much better

UMM?? HOLY SIHT????

THAT’S THE SAME TILE AS THE ONE IN THE TEMPLE

I THOUGHT THIS WAS ON EDEN-6???

same tile on the wall on the right there

those guardian statues have staffs!!! that’s so rad, like the Watcher and shit, they also have less big necks?? or they might be bowing down. they look a lot more humanoid than the guardian/eridian statues im used to!!!

like as far as i can see they don’t have the butt spikes? maybe these are just super well preserved and thus not broken/spiky/cracked!! I do think the staffs are awesome! I know the Watcher carried one and so do some in TPS (I don’t recall seeing any in bl1 with staffs? im pretty sure they used their energy claw things) so maybe these are a higher tier of guardian than the ones we see in bl1? (which, if the Eridians wanted us to open Pandora’s vault as punishment for stealing fire the tech on Promethea, then that would make sense)

AND THE CRANES! and the buildings!!!!! is this Promethea’s vault? there’s something in the sky near the moon (?) so i thought maybe that was the asteroid belt but... it’s only condensed in one area..? 

it looks like a rocky place (you know, the quasmarian quarry Typhon mentions?!), i could see it, it looks super well-kept!!! my only problem?? it’s not underground/next to a cliff or anything. i guess it’s actually possible with those cranes and shit that it’s been excavated completely

i think we walk out of a temple here, which makes me think this is connected to the temple with all those monster dudes in it (also i can’t be the only one who thinks the blue sparkles on the statue on the far left makes it look like it has a shiny thicc butt. i CANNOT be the only one)

you know this one

well ACTUALLY in the We Are Mayhem trailer we DO see one of these guys!!! he’s on Maliwan’s side as the VHs are running across the bridge and im pretty sure that is Promethea!

IM PRETTY SURE

the neon lights and shit make me think it is in fact the city!!! maybe a part of the city that’s been totally overrun by Maliwan??

okay im certain this is promethea, those turrets we 100% see in the gameplay reveal trailer (below)

i thought i recognized that silhouette!

so unless maliwan is carting those demon dudes from a different planet to use in their army, I’m going to guess the huge ass temple was excavated from when Typhon found it (explaining the cranes and buildings) and Maliwan maybe took control with the CoV and somehow?? got control of those big demon boys. not quite sure tbh

OKAY SO THIS IS SO AWESOME ASDFGFHGJFK IM NERDING THE HELL OUT I LOVE ERIDIAN STUFF AAAA OKAY SORRY IM JUST ADSFSGFHYDJUK

AND THIS ONE LOOKS SO TINY?? I AAAA I KNOW IT’S NOT BUT??

THIS FEELS LIKE IT WOULD BE THE VAULT ON ATHENAS (IF THERE IS ONE) THOSE STAIRS (??) ARE GIVING ME THE VIBE. THERE IS UNFORTUNATELY NOT A LOT TO WORK OFF OF HERE, BUT THE PROJECTION THING IT’S DOING IS NEATO!! 

okay so this is either paint or light. and i can’t tell if that’s a person up there or a statue or something? I feel like i can’t almost see a cross or something so...

THEN IT CUTS TO THIS? AND HOLY STARGATE VIBES BATMAN I LOVE IT

i have a huuuuge feeling at least one of these Vaults is going to appear in like a cutscene of a flashback where Rhys and/or Fiona describe what happened at the end of Tales. The reason I’m bringing this up right now is because this Vault is just... in a void. There’s nothing around it except that gradient which is really bizarre to me.

JUST

ALL OF THIS

HOLY HELL THAT LOOKS LIKE A FORTRESS IN THE BACKGROUND MAYBE THAT’S WHERE THE TWINS ‘LIVE’? I IMAGINE THEY HAVE SOME SORT OF PLACE TO SLEEP AT THE VERY LEAST

it has the mouthpiece shape on the top up there? although i guess that could also be a VERY crude statue of someone raising their hands to the sky?? but it looks like the mouthpiece symbol. 

another shot of the HBC

intro to the rc

what i am assuming is the back area of the RC? but uh... given what we saw above, maybe this is in their fortress area???? imagine lilith teleports away because the twins stole the key from us and we have to sprint to their fortress base and when we get there it opens into a cutscene and Lilith is crawling on the ground away from them

mhmhmhmhmhmmm

heyo look at those shapes and colors on the left there. you know exactly what im gonna say

im gonna say it anyway

inhale atlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlasatlas

okay i think i got it out of my system

it could also be dahl architecture (because it looks very very similar to the RC) painted with the colors of the CoV. Could also be that. 

i do think it’s interesting because this is almost the exact same shot as this!!

which means this is here

and i can 100% see this being in their fortress (???) and not the RC. The RC has that huge area in the back we don’t explore yet, so it could be there but... now I’m thinking... what if that’s just so we find the clue that the sun smashers gave the key to the twins in the HBC? Like i know i said the room Shiv comes out of is gonna be it but... maybe the whole area is just for quest stuff? or there’s a loot room or smth. idk. it’s good to keep ur mind open to alternative possibilities, is all

we get to learn what color Tyreen’s power actually is! ... I think? I’m pretty sure. like im hopeful this happens before she steals Lily’s powers...? but?? anyway although the vid is washed out, if we look at the shot from the dev trailer, it seems to be purple/red. I thought it was straight red, but guess not. Unless this IS after she stole Lily’s powers and that’s why she’s looking at it like that LMAO. i don’t know!!

Troy with a little robot buddy! Did he build that?! it’s adorable! it reminds me of the one in the RC but without a snake body. I wonder if his body mods/arm/neural implants let him control it. that’d be so rad

... why did the background start glowing???

ty in the hbc!!!

same shot with troy. i think this is the same cutscene as the reveal trailer one (VS the Calypso Twins) just at a slightly different angle/animation

oh shit is that a demon boy in the background? i think it might be

definitely looks like the temple area!! those spikes look like they could’ve been part of one’s wings, you can even see the thin skin bit stretched out on the left next to tyreen. also... is that an eyeball on the part in the middle there? that’s horrifying. no thank you.

so far, literally the closest we see Troy near one. This is 100% after he shed the monster skin like a snake. ... I’m kidding. mostly.

also i can’t believe my art of the twins giving the rock on symbol is actually legit. i posted that literally the morning before their personalities were revealed in the demo, im so happy

if this is not the video we see in Shiv’s room I’m gonna be so disappointed. is that a sword behind the box? Also i think i understand why the Map Machine Broke now. I am under the assumption this happens before they steal lily’s powers, but it’s entirely possible it’s after! this looks like the area they steal them in, so maybe lily sees it on live stream and is like “NOPE FUCK THIS” and teleports in to steal it. that’d be really interesting... still hoping they steal her tats after the HBC tho. im gon b really upset if they dont lol (not really, because it’s fucking bl3, but like... why would u then go put the map with mouthpiece... why...)

troy has his tattoos here! that or his skin has been peeled off and he’s losing a lot of blood. let’s say he has his tattoos so i can sleep tonight :)

cuts to him catching the key? almost want to say this is a different scene entirely than the previous one. same area, probably though

hmhmhmhmhm the fortress (?????) doesn’t seem to be connected to a rock wall at all (it’s elevated on like a plateau) so you know what, maybe this IS in the RC afterall!

fuckin mlg over here

oh it stops glowing again. you know maybe its on like a timer/pulsing or something. maybe that’s not important lol

back at the monster. why does tyreen look nervous/in pain? AND WHERE DID HER FOREARM TATTOOS GO???

OH MY GOD

THEY ONLY START REAPPEARING AFTER SHE DOES THE SUCK ON SOMETHING BELOW HER

WAIT HOLD UP

 UMM 

wTF???

i think that’s the horn or part of the monster they were sitting on/had killed???

holy shit. are tyreen’s tattoos/powers temporary and she has to continuously suck the life force out of stuff to keep them going??????? maybe stronger stuff = longer battery life??? holy shit.

troy in jakobs manor! explains the psychos with tv heads being hung everywhere

i was about to say this was the HBC but its not. ‘HOLY CHILDREN’ maybe this is where the VHs are walking forward with the giant spike head behind them. you know, this area?

altho that would be the outside of it. ACTUALLY maybe this is the entrance to the fort?? the walls like like castle walls lol

what in the holy fuck is that thing??

it looks like a fucking dragon??? sitting on a wire ball?

where the heck is this? in the temple area maybe? i don’t ever remember the floors glowing, but they do look similar. 

oh and the twins shake forearms again. maybe Tyreen is giving Troy half her powers or something and whenever she does her tattoos start to disappear so she has to suck more energy from other stuff to keep them present??

to this shot, so it’s a possibility. maybe they figured out how to “activate” stuff or something! And i am kinda thinking this is on Promethea now because of the Vault being similar? and the big demon boys appearing. but again like... the Eridians were kinda EVERYWHERE so it’s hard to say for certain even if the architecture looks similar. of course it would, they were goddamn everywhere. still curious as to why Little Blue gets that book, though. is it typhon’s book? a siren’s book? a researcher’s book? one of her ancestor’s books? i don’t know! lol

another shot of this. is this actually a vault???? it seems small and tbh the vaults are usually like... not shaped/designed like this? maybe it’s a statue. idk this feels wrong saying it’s a Vault. it doesn’t even have the inscriptions. maybe the academic district on athenas has a statue of a vault bc they’ve got a bunch of weird shit like Amara’s tattoos on a building and a vault symbol for a door so why the heck not this too lmao

the circus area with the ferris wheel! im so excited for this area. hype hype. it looks like it’s next to the motorcade. maybe this is where the big face arena place with pain and terror is, too!!! i could see the whole arena type deal being in a giant red circus tent

oooo where the fuck is this?? im interested. my first thought was a spaceship bc of the machinery (?) in the back but... maybe not?

maybe some part of the CoV spaces we’ve already seen? the railing in the back makes me think so.

back in the HBC!

space shot of Promethea (the asteroid belt and city lights)

it was at this point in the vid i started crying (like for real lol)

god im so ready for this game

Sanc-III!

colors check out 

im still wondering where that blue ship is...

they have totally different paint designs and the blue one is on the cover art as well!!! what is UP with that gearbox?!

anyway, this is TAKE OFF and also a nice shot of Elpis in the background. the crackening lava seems to have died down over 7 or so years. good for her.

“Pandora”. i love the sky, holy shit that’s gorgeous. what’s in the sky there by the moon? i don’t know! maybe sanc-iii actually DOES have a cloaking device. damn, i was kidding, but that’d be amazing

eden-6! with the jakobs manor in the background. this looks vvvv similar if not the same area we got the moze gameplay in

Promethea!!!!!!! wow this place is gorgeous holy shit

as this shot appears lily says “wherever the hunt for the Vaults takes us” which is likely implying this isn’t promethea. athenas, then? It’s possible, we see Maliwan has occupied at LEAST the academic district so i could see them excavating a Vault.

THERE’S A BIRD where do we see birds??? on eden-6, but this 100% does not look like eden-6 to me... it would explain the temple, though....... because tannis has the floor tile in her office the same time she’s crawling around inside a dino so... maybe???

we’ll have to see! I kinda hope it’s promethea, seeing large buildings and cranes and shit would only really fit my views of Promethea and Pandora.... the whole area is giving off weird blue sparkly effects, maybe it has been teleported or summoned or something? i don’t really know what’s up with that tbh.

it cuts off on this shot

wondering if this is like a character selection screen or smth it reminds me of the persona “press start” screens haha

also the art in the background is pretty rad. anyway that’s all for now folks

im gonna go pass out now, it’s 4:12 in the am. gnight

edit: i got my acronyms for the hbc and rc messed up bc i am a v tired.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #oh man oh me oh my #panel breakdown #the calypso twins #tyreen calypso #has anyone else noticed that about her tattoos yet? #i was busy working on my mock opening so all i got was the message then ran to do this asap lol #i would just like someone to tell me if im crazy or not #because i swear she doesn't have tattoos on her forearm #and then they appear #after she starts using her powers

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Laundry Day

(Story Post)

Nathan had really started to appreciate the weekends again. With work all week and having numerous appointments throughout as well, Nathan felt like he just couldn't keep up. With the twins on his bladder, he could barely stay still for an hour, and every little task he'd taken for granted he now felt like he had to muster extra energy to do. All he wanted was to sleep in and have his feet rubbed but there was always something to do. When Saturday came around, he let himself sleep in a tiny bit, but then he was up and getting to his errands. Taking a shower was a whole new thing now. His body felt completely different every single day and his stomach had grown so much that he'd lost sight of himself in the lower region. He washed himself as best he could but frankly he felt like admitting himself to a retirement home just for the sponge baths. Since he was on a wolfless weekend though, he at least had the luxury of using his own bathroom at home. While he appreciated APID having little en-suite bathrooms, they were quite small and not very homely. What he did prefer at APID though was the lack of stairs. Hobbling up and down his grandmother's staircase was so taxing now with his extra weight. He had to plan for every trip, think about what he was bringing up or down with, whether he needed the bathroom or not, whether he needed to bring food or water with him. When he started doing laundry, he cursed the house for having the washer and dryer all the way downstairs in the kitchen.

While he was carrying his laundry bag down the stairs, and struggling at it, his doorbell rang. He groaned and just finished his hobbling before dropping the bag and making his way to the door. He had a feeling it was just solicitors so he didn't bother calling out that he was coming and instead used a window to peek at his visitor. To his surprise, there was a big black umbrella blocking his view, despite it being a very bright day outside. “Who in the world...” He opened the door to find Nari standing there in sunglasses and gloves with the umbrella over him. He turned to look up at Nathan and smiled. “Hello.” “Uh, hey. What are doing here?” Nathan asked. “Well, since our first conversation, I intended to speak with you about your lycanthropy, but I've been quite busy with school,” Nari said. “Now I figure I can help you a little.” “Oh.” Nathan looked around. “How did you get my address?” “From Dax,” Nari stated. “Oh… Okay.” Nathan opened the door more and walked back towards his clothes. “I was just doing laundry... But I have time if you'd like to help.” Nari just stood there as if waiting for something. Nathan grabbed his laundry bag and hoisted it over his shoulder, looking back at Nari curiously. “Are you coming in?” Nari frowned. “You have to invite me.” “The door's wide open,” Nathan said. “Invite me in properly!” Nari demanded. “I'm a vampire!” “Oh. That's a thing?” Nathan scratched his neck. “Please, come in?” Nari heaved a sigh and crossed the threshold. He closed the door then his umbrella and placed it in the corner. “I hate asking to be invited. Don't make me do it again.” “Jeez. I'm sorry. I didn’t know,” Nathan said. “Not to mention, you could have called ahead to say you're coming.” Nari just shrugged. “So, you're pregnant, right?” Nathan sighed and side eyed Nari. “Would you feel bad if I said no?” “Not really,” Nari said. “It wouldn't be my fault you gained weight.” “Yes, I'm pregnant,” Nathan groaned before carrying his bag into the kitchen. “Don't you think you shouldn't be exerting yourself like that in that condition?” Nari asked, as he took off his sunglasses and removed his gloves. “I need clean clothes,” Nathan stated, dropping the bag on the kitchen floor. Instead of bending over, he decided to sit completely on the floor to start sorting his colours. Nari huffed. “You should be having someone else do that for you.” “You're the only other person here,” Nathan said. “Would you like to do my laundry?” “I suppose I can help...” Nari said going over and helping him sort. “But I suppose if I'm going to be touching your underwear, we should consider each other friends.” Nathan let out a small chuckle. “I guess.” “Good, because Mr. Cassidy is so long to say,” Nari stated. “I've always preferred Nathan,” Nathan said. “You just refused to say it.” “We're co-workers and it isn't very professional to use each other's given names unless we’re closer than that,” Nari said. “If you say so,” Nathan said. “I don't really think it's a big deal.” “Young people are like that...” Nari said. “You say that like you're a senior,” Nathan said. “I was born in 1893.” “Holy shit!” Nathan dropped the pants he was checking the pockets of and looked at Nari, searching his face for any evidence of age. “You're older than my grandma! But you look younger than me!” Nari didn’t look amused. “Yes.” “Okay, okay. So wait,” Nathan said. “Were you there when Dr. King was shot?” “Why would I be there? I'm Korean!” Nari scoffed. “I didn’t come over here until the 90s. No stupid questions like that.” “You're over a hundred years old!” Nathan exclaimed. “You've lived through two turns of the century!” “These are obvious observations. Please stop.” “Both World Wars. What was that like?” “Listen,” Nari said, becoming irate. “I don't talk about that past. I'm am Nari. Nari didn’t go through that. Nari is a millennial.” Nathan scratched the back of his neck. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to touch a sore spot.” Nari was just quiet and kept sorting Nathan's colours. He scrunched his nose after a while. “Where is the father anyway? Why isn't he doing your laundry?” Nathan could've only hoped this wouldn't come up. “He's not in the picture.” “Why not?” “He's dead.” “Oh...” Nari paused for a moment. “I'm sorry...” “It's fine...” Nathan said. “He's better off that way...” “Did you kill him?” Nari asked. “No! What the hell?” Nathan exclaimed. “Sorry, you made it sound like you wanted him to be dead,” Nari said. “No! I mean, I hated him but I didn’t want him dead,” Nathan explained. “He was a piece of shit.” “Then why did you have sex with him?” Nathan grit his teeth. “I wasn't in control...” “Ah. Drunk sex.” “No. I was the wolf.” “Oh...” Nari thought for a moment. “So he liked...animals?” “He was also transformed.” “Another werewolf?” “Bear.” “Oh.” Nathan continued sorting through his clothes. “I'm always a little lost as to how to sort my colours... I usually just put a lot of greens, greys, browns and oranges together in one pile... How do you sort yours?” “...I don't really wear a lot of different colours...” Nari said. “Just... Black, white, grey, and red.” “Is that a vampire thing?” Nathan asked. “The whole...monochrome funeral aesthetic?” Nari shook his head. “That's a European vampire thing.” “But you're doing it.” “I'm not. I just like those colours,” Nari said. Nathan looked at Nari and how he dressed that day. He was in black skinny jeans with a white belt and a sweater in gradient from white to grey. His hair was clearly died red and it appeared he was wearing a little bit of eyeliner. Nathan snapped his fingers. “I got it. You're going for the K-Pop look.” Nari would’ve blushed if he had any good blood in his cheeks. “I am not!” “Which is your favourite? BTS?” “K-Pop is a toxic industry selling the youth of their performers,” Nari huffed. “I'd never idolise that behaviour.” “Uh huh... I personally like Blackpink.” “Blackpink is good...” Nathan chuckled as he emptied another pair of pants. To his surprise, there actually was something in the pockets, other than a couple cents and lint. It was the NATE letter. “What's that?” Nari asked, observing Nathan holding it like it was radioactive. “...A letter,” Nathan said, rubbing his fingers over it. “From the father.” “You haven't opened it yet?” “No...” Nari shrugged. “Open it.” “I was saving it.” “Either open it or throw it out,” Nari said. “No good ever came from an unopened letter.” Nathan looked at Nari and decided to take his one hundred year old wisdom. “Okay...” He broke the seal with his thumb and took out the awaiting letter inside. Nari straightened his back as he watched and waited for Nathan to read through the letter in his head. He could tell he was a little confused by the contents. “So, what's it about?” “...It's a map,” Nathan said. “Mostly...” “A map?” Nari asked. Nathan paused, unsure as to whether or not to trust Nari. The beginning of the letter was very clear about not sharing the contents with APID, but if this was truly important, Kent would have never left it in the hands of APID. Not to mention Nari was just a teacher at APID E. He wasn't likely one of the people Kent feared. “Can I trust you?” Nathan asked. Nari blinked. “Of course. I have secrets from the 1920s that I've kept all this time.” “...” Nathan looked down at the page. “It's a handwritten map... Do you want to go for a walk with me?” Nari blinked. He looked out the window and then to his watch. “...Sure. Just, hold on.” He pulled out a tube of sunscreen and started applying it very generously to his skin. “So that's actually a thing?” Nathan asked, folding up the letter again. “The sun burns you?” “Yes. Frankly, it's the worst part of being a vampire,” Nari stated, rubbing a lot of sunscreen into his neck. “It's not like... ‘AH! SUNLIGHT! POOF!’, but it hurts...” Nathan nodded slowly. He pocketed the letter and got up to go put proper pants on and get a jacket. “You said you came to help me. With what was that supposed to be? “Oh. Werewolf history I suppose,” Nari said as he pulled his gloves back on. “There's a reason werewolves and vampires are always at odds in human narratives despite being extraordinarily different entities.” “What's that?” “Well, first you need to understand where vampires came from,” Nari said. “Their power is believed to have been passed down by an ancient being. Early vampires were extremely strong with a multitude of abilities but as newer and newer people are being turned, they've lost many abilities.” “What abilities?” Nathan asked. “Well to name a few, there's transformation, flight, turning others, reproduction...” Nari shrugged. “Many new vampires have only the negative side effects of being a vampire. Burning in the sun, needing iron supplements, cold skin, pale features...” “But you have immortality, right?” Nathan asked. “I wouldn't call that an ability so much as a curse,” Nari said. “Okay... But vampires are immortal, right?” Nathan said. “So wouldn't all the ones with those abilities still be here?” “Well vampires can't age so they can't die of natural causes,” Nari explained. “But they can be killed. And this comes to my point. Vampires and werewolves and other beings alike have been hunted by humans throughout history, with an intent to eradicate them. When werewolves started to appear, vampires took pity on them and used to aid them with their transformations and keeping them hidden. Werewolves were clearly weaker in abilities but stronger in pure strength, and proved useful when fighting off hunters. However, in Victorian Europe, there was a call to exterminate all vampires once and for all. To save themselves from similar slaughter, many werewolves gave up their vampire comrades locations. 90% of the vampire population in Europe was wiped out within a decade because of the betrayal of the werewolves.” “...Oh...” Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. “Then why do you want to be my friend?” Nari shrugged. “I'm not European. I kind of hate vampires anyway. And all that was a long time ago. Why should I be worried about you?” “You shouldn't. At least, not betrayal-wise,” Nathan said. “I'm still...well, dangerous.” Nari rolled his eyes. “You're not dangerous. If you were, you wouldn't have your job.” He picked up his umbrella from the corner. “Where are we going, anyway?” Nathan bit his lip and pulled out the letter again. “Into the woods.”

#lore #mpreg #Nathan #Nari #vampire #werewolf

[alchemisland]

The Moors Mutt III

‘Her sort.’ I corrected, ‘I'm not aristocratic. I'll probably get a hundred bob from this, of which most must go on sundries. You're a presumptuous sort, you know.’

‘Believe you're not the first to note so. Her sort, I stand corrected. I don't subscribe to this theory. Me personally, I think it came from hell, or was always here. One thing's for certain, it all started when they shifted the old cairn.’

‘You say you have seen it? As I see you now, or as one sees the stars so distant and erroneously assumes all knowledge is had in the mere observing.’

‘As I stand before you.’ Lar gestured to his stained apron, which presently he removed and hung on a hook overhead. He nodded to the barfly, who stumbled from his seat and shot the bolt across the lock, an angry black mechanism like a bas-relief, which clanked against the timber as he let it fall. ‘It were three year ago now. The old witch had a calf issue. Hennigan took the job. Turned out more complicated than the initial report, breached birth. Needing a firm hand, he gave a call, Ferg and I’ Fergus grunted his acknowledgments behind, ‘up we went. It was two or three hours later than it is now, similarly cold with a waning moon. All the heather burned like fire in the dark. Now, them grounds are sprawling. One can easily get lost without a map, a guide or someone knowing. We took Fergus there for our North star. He painted the extension and is resultantly familiar with the lay. Now, are you familiar with the property or its surroundings?’

‘I am not. This will be my first, likely last, visit. Need I know?’

‘It'd help to paint a picture is all. Let me see how to explain.’ Though he stood stock still, his eyes scanned the bar for diorama props, settling on two mugs, two different coloured teatowels and a damp scouring rag, which he began quickly assembling. When at last the craftsman left his work, both mugs sat, as the heavy headed do, lips facing downward, and a set of dice procured from a hidden alcove beneath the sink placed on either mesa. ‘Now’ the barman said, drawing his sleeves to the elbow.

Fergus the mapminded lurched from his chair, rising from its cushioned cage like a zombie from a ziggurat, one leg trailing behind him in the fashion of a gothic manservant. He came to stand beside me. Our eyes observed the same setpieces but his face betrayed little comprehension. Though his jaw was chiselled and little slack, his mouth hung open permanently. Resultantly, his breath came loud, laboured too; as if passing a resin of phlegm lacquering his inner chest, until finally passing what muddied stumps were left him with whistle.

He placed an enormous hand on my shoulder. Such space was permitted between his splayed fingers that a grand carriage, or ten legions abreast might find passage unmolested through. His knuckles bulged and protruded unnaturally, evidence of labour, something harder than masonry or smithcraft. Mayhaps, I thought, in life's spring he had been a soldier man overseas, though I could imagine no circumstance which should mutilate his knuckles so.

I stared hard to his hand. He never looked to me, instead scientifically fixated on the dice, seemingly unaware they would not move unbidden. I coughed, first mannerly then more harshly, thinking to approach cautiously lest my assumption prove provident, that he had lost his sound during foreign campaigns, of whose spoils we all were beneficiaries, and appear disrespectful. Despite a fair crack, I still could not steal his attention.

‘Don't mind him.’ Lar said. He spoke softly in the presence of his friend, observing his movements closely, ready to interject with a steadying hand or a warning to the cruelly curious. I wondered were they brothers. They bore little resemblance, though stranger things I had heard; sailor stories of dog headed men, patagonian giants to whom the looming hills were mere easy gradients to better observe the majesty of their kingdoms. Lar took Fergus’ wrist and pressed gently, disturbing the folds of his motheaten jacket. They shared a moment I could but observe, radiating warmth and glad tidings in a wordless wave. What else but ask.

‘I mean not to speak too boldly, and lash me with spite if I transgress overmuch, but I must know or I should forever wonder, are you kin?’

Fergus shared Lar's laugh with the same look of bemused ignorance, merely feigning comprehension, like a puppy yapping along with his jovial masters. Cruelly I compare the man to a dog only to highlight his virtuous qualities of loyalty and naivity, meekness despite fearsome appearance.

‘You hear that? Fancy man reckons we're brothers. Probly thinks we're all related down this end, and not in a godly way.’ Lar laughed, his viking bellow resounding.

He turned back, releasing his grip. He spoke several octaves lower and more gruffly still, momentarily miming offence at my observation. I went to apologize and explain more clearly no hidden subtext was intended, that I had a great sympathy for rural pleights which many urbanites were ignorant of, but he waved to indicate all was taken as delivered.

‘We are not, brothers. Close friends. Known Fergus here my whole life. Used to be a keen cookie too, once upon a forever ago. Loved languages, Welsh mostly. Pugilism he loved more. One passion consumed the other, as anything burning so intensely inevitably requires cannibalisation to sustain itself. Took one knock too many, stole his wits in an instant. A left hook across the bar sent him erstwhile. Twenty five minutes he was on the shores of night, learning the landscape of the dreamworlds, while we fanned his rigid form, wet his brow and whispered familiar names in his ear. When at last he woke a part of him was left forever in that place. I like to think, boyishly perhaps, it awaits him upon leaving this plain of lousy strife, like the belongings awaiting a homeward jailbird, the raiment of a lost lifetime, another man's cloak. Not for him. He'll slide right into it, fit like a tailored piece, and all of eternity to speak his mind. Not in this life though.’

Tears welled in his eyes. His lips curled. Thinking to save embarrassment, I took the reins, ‘Think nothing of your emotions, man. We each have them. Doubtless I will shed a tear or two up in the old witch's place. Another life awaits, that much is sure. Grander than this. I'm sure he made a fine man. Built like a gladiator. I am sorry to have dredged unpleasantness. I meant only to satisfy my own selfish curiosity. Forgive me. Please, continue your demonstration.’

‘I will at that.’ He placed a finger on either die, holding them in place. ‘This is us, or whoever, they are merely narrative vessels. From the highest floor of the house’ he intimated toward the glasses ‘one can cast their eye across the entire holding, which encompasses so wide an area that from a high vantage one can see distinct variations in the landscape, as if peering through the clouds at the many worlds. Over here’ his hand moved to the green teatowel, ‘neat lawns, yawning pastures, curated blooms and caged trees that grow in strange shapes, reposed like marbled athletes frozen in the throes of competition.’

His hand shifted toward a dunn rag, more stained. ‘Bogs and mire are found here. Bubbling pools wait underfoot. Miasma poisons the air. Waters glow green and flow heavy, viscous. And only a line between them. Late at night it's easy to stray off the pasture, when the cloud is thick and no navigable cluster makes its presence known, what to stop east becoming west, or north south, and soon the blighted marshes appear sudden as a considered blade.’

Only the scouring rag remained, parallel to the towels on the opposite side of the upturned glasses, which he glided toward. Fergus and I followed his movement, identically curious despite his presumed familiarity with the tale. Perhaps his malady was one of retentive failure, each telling being as the first. ‘Last, the stone hills. That's where they dragged the cairn from. Hills formed over an abandoned quarry, where the megalith was hewn. Hard stone juts through soil between tough clumps of windblown reeds. Every step brings new danger. Men tumble to their death, or fall through grass-covered air pockets that lead to the stomach of the world. This is where the beastfolk say the beast waits, dark and terrible. Besides the stories, a written record from 1817, penned by one of the cottage’s former owners, describes a similar creature tormenting his labourers during the grass planting phase of the land reclamation. Hunters came in fevered droves with modified rifles and curious cages, ransacking the animal population in their goldlust. No fox, badger or wayward vole arrived since. The beast remained uncaptured, often entering a period of stasis during the hunts, in which men in angry hundreds fanned the brush and read the stone, bone casters plied their false arcana, trappers and army men employed their government issue techniques, and of course legions of eager aristocrats came ahorse with half-starved muts. Not a hare they found. Not a footprint or a fang fragment. Not a drop of blood. Since, we don't go there. Only Fergus and myself really, on official business like.’

Though his revel ended I urged him continue, any scrap of folklore no matter how fanciful. Anything to satiate my curiosity. Many accomplices knowing my penchant for paranormalia brought newspaper clippings or half-remembered pub anecdotes to my attention, rumours of hellhounds and haunted dolls, of colossal squid hidden in the caves of England’s lakes. Such cases I had investigated and found most spurious or circumstantial, the imaginings of bumkins and ingrates. This was meatier. A written record was a first for my hobby, by an educated man no less. If you can't trust an expert, you might as well spend your anxiety asking a potato for advice.

‘Tell me of your own experience.’

Lar fingered the green flannel, humming apprehensively. Seeing his dismay I reached to embrace his hand reassuringly. He recoiled. After several hurried breaths spent apologising, he cupped my hand. I felt warmth and great stillness.

‘I do not mean to cause duress. If tis too much only say.’

‘I mean to tell you’ Lar said, the thumb and forefinger spanning his brow casting a pyramidal shadow to his chin, which for a moment, in the sickly light of a sagging candle, resembled a mask of raven black and powdered white, some chequered horror. How hard his face seemed with every contour bolded, ‘only I need a drink first. You'll join me? You will.’ he said, answering his own question.

As Bacchus preferred, the glasses were turned upward, with mouths agape yawning for pungent potables. He poured the ambrosia from a dusty jug that more resembled an artefact pulled from the ancient sands than any modern accessory. How it bubbled, like burning flesh, brown as river rock, and how it tumbled easy, settled sleepily and carted you gently home.

‘What drink is this? A fine ale.’ I declared.

The barman tapped his nose and winked, shifting from the shadows, ‘Family secret.’

He drained his own before holding it over his lolling tongue to catch the drops.

‘It were one night. Ferg was there, much as he is now and in similar plight. We'd been called out on account of strange noises from the wood near the worker's cottage. Said they wouldn't work unless we sorted it, and the ones that did show up were so knackered from their crying all night they couldn't muster a smile, let alone drag a rake or control the wild flock. Since childhood we had been told tales of the beast, not to stray on the cairn field at night, lest our bones fill the hidden caves. Unrelatedly we took our rifles, as we would on any mission. We never expected to have an encounter. The worker's accommodation is on the west side, in the shadow of the stone hills, which rises sort of like a fanning lizards ruff along the village's neck, permitting no entry from that direction without the right equipment, even then it's weather dependent. Thinking the beast likely kept to higher ground, not the lower fells which previous search parties sundered in tramping, we came down from the high road proper, curving around the side of the riven crown.'

'It emerged from a nearby copse of trees, far enough that it couldn’t swipe or charge, yet close enough to note every horrible inch. It walked like a horse, on four legs too gangly for its muscular torso so that it appeared strange. Apelike, it loped about the treeline, sticking to the shadows to conceal its dread presence, but those limbs strengthened in the heavy blackness, taking them for a robe. In walking, its front paws, or possibly it was supported by bailed fists, propelled the bulk of its cumbersome form, while the rear set, less lengthy and with knees closer to the ground, dug channels in the dirt. Picture the form of a rabbit reversed, large legs occupying most of its girth as it curls inward. In motion it stretched far enough for its belly to arch, which appeared spun of lighter felt, ashen in the scant moonlight, but close it bundled itself to an imperceptible orb of shadow.'

'Unbeknownst we watched it watching, green eyes like blazing protostars probing for movement, and well it knew or was bidden to choose this site for hunting, one of only two wells being located at a nearby spring. The full anger of this flow can be heard through the rock if one presses at the right spot, the blood of the world coursing, raised to anger if the hiss is any indication.'

'In a flash then it was gone, away into the night without sound, shoed satin. It never walked bipedally, or lurched to attack the groups in twos or threes which passed water-laden, displaying some cunning, or the selfish preservation instinct gifted to even the most basic organisms.’

#Writing #Wattpad #Writers #Creative writing #Shorts #Short story #Horror story #Horror writers #Horror #Am writing #Am editing #Writblr #Library of shadows #Beast #Monster #Tumblr writers #Authors #Aspiring #First of the year #Tbc #Serialised #Series #Horror series #Hellhound #Devil dog #Canine #Spooky #Creepy #Cerberus

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

Maya?? Maya!!

also Athenas lmao

finally i am free to work on this

boy i sure hope we don’t get more info soon *squints at Amara’s character trailer just around the corner*

tl;dr: athenas. wow. uhhh temple areas with the weird vault-shaped statue things might be a teleportation hub or something like a Stargate cuz, uh… they’re probably not Vaults. i mean. given what we know maybe they are Vaults but not like vaults with important stuff inside, just teleportation vaults. you know what im trying to say? i mean it’s not like the eridians had any spaceships we’ve seen. but they had to get around somehow. 

also it’s possible the big temple area we see is on Athenas, is in that giant fucking pyramid in the background that i completely and totally did not notice for the longest time. 

i also discuss Maya and her thoughtlock skill (if she gets her powers taken away from her) and if she’s gonna die or not. because she’s got the Cloud Kill legendary (’oh noo she ded’), an apprentice (let’s be real, the cliches aren’t looking great), and she seems to working beside rampagers in that giant temple area (also another reason i think it’s on athenas) and tbh i didn’t see her tattoos in either of those shots (but that could be cuz she’s so smoll). so that’s cool. 

oh also the order of the impending storm was probably pretty respectable back in the day, since they can track sirens (maya’s assassin in son of crawmerax), and maybe that’s how maya figured out ava was gonna be a siren even tho she hasn’t manifested her powers yet. and Maya’s probably unearthing all this buried Siren/Vault knowledge and bringing the Academic District back into power while also protecting the Order from Maliwan. who’s still v sus.

wow we have a lot to go over

so to start, im taking a wild guess and saying the temple is on Athenas. why? because we really haven’t gotten a lot of looks at either of those areas too much (compared to promethea and eden-6) and the architecture lines up to me. 

also i, an idiot, was all like ‘mannnn Athenas is super mountainy, that’s wild. love it’ and neglected to realize there’s literally a giant fucking pyramid in the background of a lot of shots

on the right

behind the tower

to the right of ava

on the left

so i feel really dumb right now for not noticing this sooner and writing it off as a mountain. It's literally the fuckin Vault symbol like. ~triangles~. i played skyrim i should know what mountains look like when they’re not 1 polygon

either way, if that’s not at least part of the temple, it’s definitely important. somehow.

but let’s talk about the temple. the parts we know.

let’s try to look out the windows of this wild place

see cause this looks like inside a mountain

so my first instinct was eden-6 because we see a volcano on there

i mean im under the assumption this is eden-6???

bc all the plants match up

… maybe there’s more than one temple?

oh god i don’t wanna separate these by temple that’s going to be IMPOSSIBLE

but yeah i guess it’s possible there’s one on Eden-6 and one on Athenas… dear god…

but yeah my first instinct for that was ‘inside a volcano’

possible mountain on the left there

very rocky all around. im assuming this is underground or smth?

it feels like we’re underground

so maybe it’s a thing where it just keeps going further down. iunno.

it’s hard to place exactly where this is going to be because of the whole ‘underground’ thing

the part that’s throwing me off the most is this

because this looks like Pandora bc of Elpis and the rocks

and it looks like we’re walking outside a temple with the same friggen tiles on the floor, which means it is possible that this is The Temple, but you think we’d know about a giant-ass temple just on pandora. especially with the big dig site

but then we see a super similar dig site (supposedly on promethea). so what the HELL

im almost inclined to believe this is some sort of Eridian teleportation system. i know, i know, we have Sanctuary-III so it’s pointless. but… will we always have Sanc-III throughout the story? yada yada orange/gray -> blue/yellow/red markings. you get the dealio by now.

to

when taken by the cult or smth.

idk it’s possible we won’t have sanc-III for the entire game (just like normal sanctuary in bl2, in that we’ll get it back eventually (or ill kill someone for taking my room decorations)) and then we’ll have to use this wicked eridian tech to move between planets with these gateways. sort of like a stargate…

this thing is a stargate. I’ll call back to this in a hot second.

what kinda shit am i tripping on? i don’t really know. but given how it seems like these temples could be on ANY of the planets we see, im trying to figure out wtf the connection could be.

and give me this: we have never actually seen an eridian spacecraft, but we know they’ve traveled across the galaxy, putting vaults on different places. how in the fuck could they have done that if, you know, they didn’t have spaceships to travel through… space? 

well we know they have the power of teleportation down pat. i mean down so hard they were able to create a ‘teleportation gland’ that allowed a giant vault monster to teleport at will. (now im wondering if lilith has one… hm.) 

this blue thing (which… is the same color as siren stuff. okay. im sorry. i won’t get off topic this time. but it’s stewing in my gray matter)

and given that we know all the (okay, we only know for certain some) vaults open up into this other dimension (space place), would it be so hard to believe that they’re created links between planets using this dimension? i just… something isn’t right here and this seems like the most logical solution. 

take a look at Eleseer. look at all those holograms of labeled planets. of galaxies and stars in the distance. it’s possible eleseer is like the Hub for this teleportation system (explaining why it’s always open) and explaining why it’s got all those weird planet holograms sitting around. could also explain why Moon = Key.

These aren’t Vaults, they wouldn’t show up on the Vault Map- explaining why we never saw this one on Pandora- these are like… gateways or something, iunno. name pending until sept. 13th i guess.

so why tf am i going off about this on a post about maya and athenas?

because i think athenas has a gateway in it too

yeah you should recognize that thing in the background!

that’s this place!!! from the behind closed doors demo!!

and it still

doesn’t look like a vault to me

it’s intact (also it looks like stairs…). all the Vaults we’ve seen are 100% not intact. they’re all chunky and in pieces (we’re gonna ignore eleseer and uhhhh all that business right now, but even thinking about how the sentinel tried to emulate a vault by spawning it in chunks and THEN assembling it)

chunky

im just saying there has to be a reason these vault-like shapes are intact. they’re either just statues/monuments or they have a purpose.

so why tf am i convinced they have a purpose?

bc we’ve seen one light up

taken straight from the void itself (seriously it’s like a gradient back there. which is weird.)

so there’s gotta be a reason it does this right? and if it’s not a Vault, because it’s on Pandora and the Crimson Raiders would have seen it on the Vault Map, then what the fuck is it?

welllllllll i just don’t know. but my best guess right now is some sort of teleportation system to travel between planets. if there are ‘temples’ on every planet then it would make sense that there is some way for eridians to travel btwn them. 

personally i think there’s one on eden-6 (maybe in that volcano area??) and one on Athenas (cause we really haven’t seen a lot of athenas yet and… i dunno i just have a feeling). and there’s apparently one on Pandora (given we see it with elpis in the background) and possibly one on Promethea. i don’t know what that instagram video was trying to imply. i don’t wanna think too hard about it right now my brain hurts enough already as it is.

but uhhh i was gonna talk more about athenas than this

i promise this is gonna lead into maya

the academic district, with a Vault symbol on the door, to boot.

so this place is really interesting to me for a lot of reasons.

1. that vault symbol on the door

2. they’re flying flags with the vault symbol on it

3. giant pyramid in the back

it’s staggeringly huge

4. they have siren tattoos on the building in the back there. specifically, amara’s tattoos

yeah. maybe this is Partali? a smaller area on Athenas, like Meridian is a city on Promethea, and this is Amara’s way of tagging her presence/an area under her protection as the Tiger

more shots of Athenas from the amd horizons e3 stream

it’s a very pretty planet

so if anything, this is the place we’re going to go to learn about Sirens.

and i don’t know how much the Order of the Impending Storm actually KNOWS about Sirens, because all we know about them from maya’s backstory is that they were assholes and using maya to keep the people scared and giving them money

also that they knew how to track sirens

that’s probably important…

“Maya, you’ll like this next dude. He’s a Siren tracker named Mordo Sophis, Father of Brother Stephen Sophis, that dude you ganked back on Athenas. And boy, oh boy, is he just itching for vengeance.”

who isn’t, mr. mordo, sir? get in line

anyway apparently the Order knows how to track Sirens. Which could explain how Maya has a Siren apprentice when Ava uhhh apparently hasn’t manifested her powers (or tattoos) yet. might also explain how they got their hands on Maya when she was a baby. cuz yeah… i got the feeling they stole her and killed her parents… just a feeling.

y’know if tannis didn’t kill that siren tracker dude maybe she could’ve learned something from him first. that could’ve been interesting.

anyway, idk. maybe at one point the Order was respectable and, like, didn’t force people into giving them money by using sirens as a scare tactic. 

it looks like they have/had an academic district (which im sure maya is helping cultivate) focused on Sirens/Vaults.

and there’s a lot of importance on books this game

seriously

apparently

there’s

a

lot.

but let’s get back to this in a minute, because i do wanna talk about the name of the Order.

it’s full name is the Order of the Impending Storm.

I know while writing bl2 they probably didn’t know that they were gonna be building towards a war in tps, but it’s still interesting that they decided to bring them back into play now. because they 100% could have just left them as a background monastery that Maya came from and have maya refuse to return/start her own organization. but they made her specifically return there.

so does their name have significance now? i’d be willing to bet a yes. I mean, war is coming. Impending Storm sounds like it’d be a pretty fitting name for an organization that knew this. Especially because according to Maya’s cosplay guide, they worshipped her like a God (seriously lol are all Sirens worshipped as minor deities? most people know Sirens are Sirens right? like just people with magic powers..? hmmm)

And if Maya returned to learn more about Sirens, then isn’t it implied that the Order did, in fact, know more about Sirens than Maya did? hell, maybe even Tannis…

especially if the temple or eridian ruins are nearby. Say… In this giant pyramid…

so this doesn’t fit in with the aesthetic of Athenas at all. it’s almost like those are caution colors on the bottom strip there. warning you to not go inside. i don’t know if this was built by the eridians or by whoever is on Athenas to keep whatever’s inside… inside (cough Rampagers cough)

either way that pyramid is FUCKING HUGE

seriously, just compared to the academic district, it’s insanely big (that is the BASE in the background)

also guess who just realized this would be a hilarious joke by gearbox

to have pyramids built by ancient aliens. oh, you.

also, side note, there’s a crew challenge for moxxi in the academic district

i just have no idea how we’re getting up there…

oh but the Order. yeah i get the feeling they know A LOT about Sirens/Eridians. maybe even what’s about to go down. but maybe a majority of that was lost in the archives when some corrupts assholes came into power. and now Maya returned and is slowly but surely unarchiving everything we need to know about Sirens.

perhapith this book has some Siren-y knowledge within it? from someone who went into the temple on Athenas and… never came back out.

and I would bet Maya is waging war against Maliwan at the same time as she’s uncovering all this buried info (protecting the Order) because Maliwan is trying to get this info as well. 

Seriously, anyone else notice Maliwan is SPREADING?? They’re not just on Promethea. they’re on Eden-6. They’re on Athenas. They’re even fuckin on Pandora in some trailers (although I would not trust any trailer with roses at this point. something’s really fucky. I will make a seperate post about that i think, once we get Amara’s and Fl4k’s trailers). I’m really suspicious that Maliwan has either joined the cult, or they’re going to become the main villains. which, y’know, given corporations are the big bad in borderlands always… that seems about right.

I wouldn’t even be surprised if Maya/the Order knows something about the Children of the Vault. Given that one pic of her holding a book with the CoV symbol on it.

that she seems to be passing on to Ava

I dunno. I don’t think Children of the Vault is a name that the cultists/Calypsos just HAPPENED to come up with. And I still don’t think that the broadcast easter egg is from the Calypsos. it doesn’t make sense. I know I went over this in-depth in the Promethea post but god damn it im going to do it again because i feel so strongly about this.

i feel like the cult stumbled upon this name and decided to adopt it as their own. or tried revive an old cult with the same name. and if they didn’t, why in the hell does the message say ‘Do Not Open the Vaults’? How do the twins know about Tannis by name?

i mean, okay, granted we don’t know exactly how she fixed the Vault Map and it could be that the twins know how she did it. Because I still haven’t been able to place that one shot of them walking outside the Recruitment Center 

this one

and we know tannis fixes (??) the Vault Map in the recruitment center, so, maybe they saw it happen or there’s some sort of record in the vault map? that shows her fixing it and when they get to Promethea they send out that message?

i meannn she seems pretty surprised it’s functioning, herself.

so maybe they come while/after tannis fixes the key/map to get it back and Lilith like alright everyone let’s book it to Ellie’s garage with the Map. she’ll help us get to Sanc-III.

and in that they see that she’s able to fix it (possibly with weird Siren/Destroyer/Slag/pickurpoison powers) and that’s how they know Tannis is not what she seems.

and maybe the twins just don’t want their cultists opening the vaults because they want to be the ones to open it.

Sure

BUT that’s boring sauce to theorize about because it’s all just there. I’m still partial to the idea that Children of the Vault is actually referring to Sirens tho. It would explain why Maya has a book with the symbol for the CoV on it and is offering it to Ava. Because why would Ava need a book about the Calypsos? who would WRITE a book about the Calypsos?? and make it look THAT old? like… c’mon.

At the very least, it’s an old name for a cult that got revived by the Calypso twins.

At the most, it’s the name for Sirens.

Or it’s the symbol for the Order of the Impending Storm, back when they were respectable. tho you think we’d see maya wearing the symbol somewhere in bl2, so maybe not. unless she took it off her clothes because they had her try to kill unarmed civilians.

I mean, why is the cult’s symbol the Vault symbol upside down, anyway? We know that the symbol for the Vaults in Eridian is the upside-down V in a circle, because Tannis tells us so in bl1. So why would a cult of people who believe the Vaults to be their birthright go around slapping what is essentially the opposite symbol everywhere?

i personally wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the symbol for Siren or something, given how closely intertwined they both seem to be to that alternate dimension.

regardless. let’s keep going

so let’s talk about Maya’s fate in BL3. Is she gonna die? is she not gonna die? i dunno. let’s discuss.

i personally would not be surprised if she does, but i’d be a little disappointed regardless. if any Siren is gonna die… Lilith is going to finish her character arc this game. not that I want her to die, but still. I get that they gotta keep the Siren cycle going.

sooo one big point in the ‘maya dies’ category:

“Oh noo she ded” i mean. that’s just mean, gearbox. 

of course we don’t know if that’s talking specifically about Maya, could be talking about Tyreen, or a miniboss, or something. but i do think it’s interesting that it’s on maya’s legendary. plus uhhh given we had a death out of Roland in BL2, and in TPS 2 of those VHs died as well, I think it’s a given at least one BL2 VH isn’t gonna live to see the end of 3. as much as that actually physically pains me to type. 

And… to tip the scales further to Maya, Zer0 has crew challenges, which probably means they won’t be biting the dust anytime soon, unless you wanna completely ruin doing all the crew challenges by beating the game before doing the assassination quests. which doesn’t seem like something they’re keen on doing, if Roland giving out side quests had anything to say about it. Of course there’s always the argument that someone will take over Zer0′s crew challenges if they die, but… who would? Rhys? maybe. i get the feeling he might be too busy with Atlas though. Lorelei..? … i don’t know her well enough to make a statement on that.

taken from K6′s awesome legendary loot vid

Back to the legendary. we know it’s hers based off the name ‘Cloud Kill’, which is one of her best skills (after the buff lol). It’s a corrosive only Maliwan smg (as far as i can tell. it doesn’t look like there’s the option to swap elements. so it’s cool to know uniques might throw out their manufacturer’s alternate firing modes). i’m gonna take a guess and say it mimics cloud kill by spawning a cloud on top of enemies that are shot with it. that could clean out an entire room in seconds, especially on Amara with Phasegrasp.

anyway i got more

so Ava is Maya’s apprentice, hmmmm?

well i dunno about you guys but whenever a character gets an apprentice/kid/whatever, it’s not good news for the character. and given that borderlands definitely doesn’t need children to keep the premise fresh, I’m a bit worried for Maya.

Ava must be important to the main story, or they could’ve taken her out or put Gaige in. The devs themselves said they only wanted to bring in characters that they knew had significant importance to the plot and so that characters wouldn’t feel shoehorned in.

so there’s a few ways things can go down with Ava, using apprentice stereotypes:

1) She takes over after Maya dies/has her powers stolen/is brainwashed and helps us bring Maya back by proving herself using the stuff she learned from Maya (or, the stuff she taught herself that Maya said wasn’t important)

1b) she inherits Maya’s powers and Maya trains her in the way of Phaselock

possibly maya handing over her class mod or smth

2) she’s evil and the cult is using her to get info and secretly hates maya or whatever

Given Ava is like… 12… I wanna believe she’s not evil. of course we don’t actually know if she’s 12 cause apparently the Siren lore got messed up knowing Angel had her powers manifest at 5. but that’s not canon until mentioned in-game, so fuck it: let’s believe Ava is 12 and not evil and is just Maya’s kickass Siren apprentice.

The apprentice Maya was able to find because the Order knew how to track Sirens/determine if someone is going to exhibit Siren powers.

yes, let’s go with that.

So… what’s gonna happen to Maya, then?

I personally believe she’s going to have her powers stolen and used against her. One major part of her powers is that she’s able to ‘Thoughtlock’, which basically brainwashes an enemy to fight for her.

That sounds like it would be insanely powerful in the hands of the Calypso twins, especially since Maya has gotten more powerful since bl2, and tbh I can’t see them wanting to pass it up. Of course it could also be story-breaking, but let’s say they can only have one person ever Thoughtlock-ed at a time and suddenly it’s a lot less troublesome.

so this scene makes me do a big thonk

(also, another reason im thinking this temple area is on Athenas is bc Maya’s there! plus there are triangles everywhere. Triangles… pyramids… iunno. just spitballing)

also idk if this is just cause she’s super teeny-tiny buuuut

im worried i can’t see maya’s tattoos

she’s also entirely focused on the player instead of… oh, idk, the giant rampager right next to her

and idk it looks almost like she’s holding a gun and aiming it at us?

which hey, i wouldn’t jump to conclusions right away because she does have a skill that allows her to heal allies by shooting them

but also… if she doesn’t have her siren powers, then that’d just be like… regular shooting, wouldn’t it? and if she DOES have her Siren powers, why in the hell is she not using them on the giant monster right next to her???

we see her again in the background of this shot

again… tattoos not 100% clear.

she also seems to be taking radiation damage from the rampager! which is good. but also she doesn’t seem to care that much about it.

we can also see her gun here

sorry it was kinda being obscured by the youtube progress bar

but uhhh it’s not looking good.

boy i really hope Maya doesn’t die

we also know it was hinted that Krieg might be making a return! from his voice actor’s twitter:

tho, he also soon made a tweet after that was all like “this doesn’t confirm nor deny that krieg is returning” which, yeah i get that.

either way, if Krieg is coming back, it’d be interesting to see what goes down with him, especially if Maya dies. or even if Maya’s ‘just’ in trouble, I could see him going absolutely apeshit.

maybe krieg will sacrifice himself to save maya, somehow. maybe he’s have a moment of pure lucidity and save her. maybe she’ll die and he’ll lose his mind and become a boss battle. maybe she’ll save him and they’ll live happily ever after ;w; who knows~

maybe ava will have heard about Krieg through Maya and will go to get him to try and help save her. that’d be really interesting to see- krieg smashing through a wall with Ava riding on his shoulder lol

anyway, holy shit im exhausted. i gotta wrap this up because it’s like 1am and i’ve been working on this post for like… 3 days straight now. ech.

if maya does die, it would be interesting to see is Ava inherits her powers after we kill the Calypsos. like, would the powers try to go back to their original host? would they see she’s dead and just find another Siren to give the powers to? i wonder if maya dying/being about to die would be enough of a traumatic experience for ava to unlock her siren powers.

ohh it’d be cool if Ava unlocked her siren powers and used them to save Maya from the cult/brainwashing/whatves

alright. im tired lmao

good night.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #maya #ava #the order of the impending storm