#i love when situations and people become stories and gods and legends and then you get a flashback and its like no. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lyrakeaton · 3 months

Text

Chronicling The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - The Final Entry

Gosh, what a game huh?

I'm not even sure where I want to begin with this. The Final Entry. I have so much to say. So much I've been thinking about throughout this wonderful little game. Where do I even start?

Well, I suppose I'll start off by saying that I had a very wonderful time with this game. It's my first time playing a game with the secondary intent to analyze and write down my thoughts here on my blog. It's been a delight to do so, and I'm looking forward to analyzing other games in this manner going forward.

As for my thoughts on Twilight Princess: I think it's an excellent game, with a lot of heart and a commendable focus on story and emotional connections. This game has dealt me a few sour blows that stick out like an ugly blemish on an otherwise spotless surface. But those blemishes in turn give contrast to just how competent the rest of the game really was.

In fact, that's what I would love to call this game more than anything else. Competent. It was made by people who knew what they were doing, and were fucking excellent at doing it. It shows how much heart the people involved put into this title, despite how under cooked and rushed it felt at a few moments.

One of my favorite moments in the ending part of this game, which is also one of the clearest signs of how this game was developed, is what you see above.

Your allies come in to save you from a sticky situation. It's a lovely moment, showing the care and respect that these characters have fostered for you, after all the time you've spent working together for this common goal.

And yet, it also shows off how much this game wanted to do, but couldn't. What it tried to say, and what it left unsaid.

Because these people just show up. You don't tell them when or where you're going, and neither do they show up later to help you. They show up for this scripted event where they get to save you from a menial threat, so that they can show their appreciation for Link always having their backs. It leaves me wanting a bit more, and wondering what potentially was planned before or after.

And these moments aren't rare. There are many moments, that become more frequent as the game progresses, where it feels like the developers had more to say or do, but didn't have the time to implement it.

And I think no point shows this better than the presence of Ganondorf, and Midna's true form.

Ganondorf is name dropped once in the story, but isn't elaborated upon. Later, he shows up in this weird, incorporeal form, which Zant interprets as a god. This spectre then combines into Zant(?) to take over him as a sort of puppet. As such, Zant is kind of just thrown aside so that the player can have their badass final boss against Ganondorf. I was honestly a bit disappointed.

But not necessarily because it was yet another Ganondorf ending. But because there was so much more room to explore Zant and his relationship with Ganondorf, that I really wanted to see.

I think another sign of this was Midna's true form. Her true form was first shown in a cutscene, right before the second to last dungeon of the game. Before this, we have never even heard of Midna being anything but the imp we've known since the start of the game. And it makes me wonder a lot about what the developers wanted for Midna. Did they always intend for her to be this humanoid form? Or is their vision of Midna actually the imp we spend the whole game connecting with?

I ask this because Midna's imp form appears later in Hyrule Warriors alongside her true form, which makes me wonder if the devs couldn't decide which form they liked more. It's a bit of a weird moment for me because I love imp Midna a lot, but never got to see or interact with her true form self until after the journey was over.

What's more, Midna then destroys the Mirror of Twilight. This moment made no sense to me at all. I couldn't justify it, or understand how Midna would justify it. Why would she do this? Zelda just made a small speech about how their worlds are two sides of the same coin. Midna then says that as long as the Mirror exists, they may meet again, only to say "see you later" before destroying the mirror.

I understand this was likely thought of from the start, as Midna establishes that Zant could only fragment the mirror due to his incomplete power. But Midna, having regained her true power, is the only one capable of utterly destroying it. What I really wish though, is for the game to have explored why she feels the need to do this, because I think it would serve the game better if it were spelled out. It's a genuinely sad moment! I'll never get to see Midna again! Why is the credits continuing with the triumphant music!

It hurts, man. But it does make sense, after I thought about it. Because the mirror was what allowed the Twili to escape into the Light World and cause havoc, so, by destroying the mirror, that connection is severed, forever. No more evil forces invading each others worlds, causing problems.

Which makes Midna's words all the more tear-jerking. 'Cause she won't see us later. She'll never get to see us again. But she doesn't have the heart to say goodbye. So she says she'll "see us later."

I'm not sure how to feel. I think I feel sad, and a smidgen disappointed. I mean, all this time, we've been fighting to help Midna restore peace to her realm, and to prevent Ganondorf/Zant from wreaking havoc on the Light World. And then, only for Midna to get the reward she deserves so much, and yet she doesn't get what she seems to actually want, which is to stay with Link. She cries, knowing she'll never see him again.

I think that right there shows the beauty and magic of this game. No other Zelda game has grabbed a hold of me with its story, its characters quite like this. I felt emotionally invested throughout, and I truly wanted to make good for this world, and to help Midna. It even feels selfish to say that I wish she could have stayed an imp and gone on more adventures with Link. But I think narratively, it is not only perfect this way, but it also couldn't end any other way.

Because not all stories should end completely happy. I think it does a bigger service to showcase how meaningful these emotional connections truly are by taking something from us in this way, than it does if everything ended like a story book.

It hurts, because we care.

This is the best outcome, where everyone can be happy, with the clear exception of Midna's and Links relationship to each other. That meant something, which is made all the more clear because of them never getting to see each other.

In closing...

More than anything, I wish this game had a bit more time to fill in the empty rows before and after some of its more significant beats. But still, I am so grateful that what is here was fantastic from beginning to end. And I'm glad that regardless of what was lost before the print to disc, what was left was something forming a beautiful and complete whole. A whole that I love with my whole heart. Wholeheartedly.

Thank you Shiggy Miyamiggy for this wonderful game. Please don't shy away from this kind of narrative and emotional focus when making future Zelda titles. I want to cry when it's all over, they way Twilight Princess made me. What you've got here is truly special, and I'm so very glad I got to experience it.

#zelda: twilight princess #tloz: twilight princess #the legend of zelda: twilight princess #TLOZ:TP Journal #the legend of zelda #twilight princess #lyraposting #midna #midnaposting #link #zelda #zant #ganondorf

23 notes · View notes

skyloftian-nutcase · 2 years

Text

Things I’ve observed/love about Linked Universe

Sky, my precious beloved Sky, he is the absolute soul of this group, and it’s not in an obvious way, which is what makes it so great. Sky is a quiet, sincere, caring person - he is not an overwhelming presence in the Chain. He looks out for his teammates, he cheers people up (when Legend teases Wind about his mask, Sky pipes in with “I think it’s cool,” to cheer him up), as soon as someone is hurt Sky is literally the first person to help them. E.g. when Time is hurt, Sky goes to him first. When Wild is hurt, Sky helps protect him and Wind. When Twilight is hurt, Sky helps Warriors protect him. He tries to reassure Twilight that the attack wasn’t his fault when they’re ambushed, he takes the heat away from Legend’s Pink Hair Disaster when Warriors and Hyrule tease him about being slow (which has to sting given his journey, but he doesn’t show it, he just rolls with the punches). He’s always seemingly in the background but he is always present, always piping up or hopping in when someone seems to need help, and I love that for him. He’s the first hero, the original, the one who started it all, and it’s just perfect that he looks out for everyone in his quiet manner. I’d love for a story where Sky is hurt or goes missing and the Chain suddenly realizes how much warmth he brought to the group now that he isn’t there. Or I’d love to see the Chain realize that this fluffy bird loving sleepyhead actually has a core of molten magma and is a feral god slaying sass master. Characters who are capable of destroying worlds but choose to be kind, sweet, and unassuming instead are just my favorite.

Time, I love how he’s obviously the leader of the group but I can 100% guarantee it was not something he actually decided, he just started doing his thing and is used to traveling on his own and making decisions (as Jojo pointed out, he’s used to being decisive because he’s dealt with time travel) and the entire Chain just silently agreed “he’s ancient and acts like he knows what he’s doing, he’s the leader.” Time probably didn’t even realize it until a few weeks into their journey and was like “crap when I did become the Dad how do I deal with eight insane children.”

Twilight, Lord, where do I even start with this ranch hand, his protectiveness and Big Brother Energy is everything. Also, he is awesome as a wolf, and after seeing how he was treated as a monster by his loved ones in his game, I understand why he hides his ability from the Chain; poor thing is probably scared they’ll be afraid of him or hate him and that must hurt. I adore his relationship with Wild and with Time, and I really enjoy seeing him look out for his other brothers too, like when he got irritated at Legend for snarking Sky (joke’s on him, Sky is the King of Sass). He is so eager to prove himself to Time it hurts. I hope he doesn’t die. T_T HE CAN’T DIE, JOJO, HE’S AN OLD WOLF WHEN HE HELPS WILD, DON’T CAUSE A PARADOX DANG IT.

Legend truly is a legend, like he is so amazing and layered. I love his sassy defensive shell, I love how he is both Tired of adventuring but couldn’t imagine not doing it, like this kid is clearly hooked to adventuring (as much as I love the fancition about him being like NOPE when the Chain initially finds him, I 100% believe he’d actually be exasperatedly saying “this would happen, wouldn’t it” but secretly be pretty intrigued/excited at the prospect), he’s just traumatized from the whole Marin situation. I also love how he steps in as de facto leader to protect his family when Time, Warriors, and Twilight aren’t there. And one of my favorite moments with Legend was when Wild got hurt and Legend was immediately like OMG HE’S DEAD like chill, honey, Legend is such a drama queen. XD

Hyrule is such a precious bean and I want to hug him so badly like oh you sweet child why do you think little of yourself SOMEONE SHOWER THIS BOY IN PRAISES AND ACCOLADES. I also find it interesting how he has this duality to him, like he looks at the others and says “I’m not a hero like you guys” but when surrounded by enemies he just smiles maniacally and says “TIME TO BURN EVERYTHING” like... guys, Wild isn’t the arsonist of this group, Hyrule is.

Wild is wonderful in all his angst, but my favorite aspect of him is when he gets to be a goof and show his, well, wild side. Him and Hyrule are such an underrated pair, like we need more of their insane gremlin energy together. Send them into a cave and see what happens, Time, just don’t be surprised when the whole mountain shudders and collapses on top of them because Wild set off too many bombs and Hyrule swore the exit was this way but maybe it actually wasn’t. (Twilight had to go digging through the rubble and was not happy while Sky paces frantically at the camp being held back by Legend, who is saying stop being an idiot, Wolfie will find him you don’t have the stamina to dig through an entire mountain and Time is just sitting in a corner silently fuming and waiting to give Wild and Hyrule The Look when they get back while Warriors takes charge of the group because Time can’t be bothered with this BS for the rest of the night)

Warriors I honestly love his charisma and he definitely hides a lot of hurt and trauma under it. Like he’s a soldier, he’s fought in a giant war, clearly he’s going to have baggage, but unlike others (Legend or Wild) who make it obvious, he just acts as the teasing or caring big brother and handles it like a somewhat functional adult, which, as much as I love angst, is a nice change. I’d be interested to see his experiences get addressed at some point, but in the meantime, you keep being a seemingly stable rock for others to lean on, Warriors. *salutes* Also I love how affectionate and loving he is with the youngest heroes like Hyrule and Wind.

Wind just has so much energy to him, he is a delight. So cute, never let your little light stop shining, kiddo. He has a lot of heart and determination, and I love that he is competent and really doesn’t need the amount of babysitting the others try to force on him, but he is still very much a kid. Like unlike Time, who was likely a very quiet, solitary, and mature kid after his adventure, Wind is just so boisterous and has that childlike energy, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that he is still a good fighter.

EDIT! Four is definitely the one I know the least about, but I’ve been looking into him some more and noticed that he is someone who is a mature person and I feel like he wants to prove that he is an adult - like he’s go ta natural maturity to him but he gets offended easily when called a kid by an elder. He’s patient with younger heroes, loves to tell stories (don’t tell me he doesn’t, he was being super dramatic in telling his octorok story), but my favorite thing about him is that the reason he is so even keeled is because the poor kid has FOUR PEOPLE SCREAMING in his head at any given time. Like yeah, I’d be the zen person in the corner constantly meditating too if I had to deal with that. He’s also very observant, he figured out Twilight’s secret before almost anybody else. My favorite thing about him is that the instant he split, Red started having a complete meltdown even though the entire point was to prevent Wild from having a meltdown over the same thing. I can’t stop laughing at that comic, honestly. I think Four has spent this entire journey just watching the others with a running commentary in his head and I really need someone to write that, like imagine when Wild got hurt and it goes something like:

Red: Oh no! He’s hurt, we have to help him!

Green: The Sailor and Sky have him! We have to focus!

Blue: HAHA WHAT A MORON, GET WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR BREAKING SO MANY SWORDS, DUMBASS

Vio: This isn’t productive, we need to focus--

Blue: MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST USE YOURSELF AS A SHIELD MORE OFTEN SO YOU DON’T BREAK THOSE TOO

Vio: BLUE FOR THE LOVE OF HYLIA

Red: OMG THE CHAMPION IS GONNA DIE

Green: *sighs* We’re screwed.

#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu sky #lu time #lu twilight #lu wild #lu hyrule #lu warriors #lu wind #lu legend #lu four

534 notes · View notes

laughingsour · 7 months

Text

Wind’s father figures.

Okay, this is definitely one fic I gotta write when I finish my current one for One Piece:

Before meeting the Chain, Wind has had a total of three people he's considered his dad.

Everyone talks about Linebeck and how he's Wind dad even if he won't admit it, so for now I'll leave him be and focus on the other two.

-First it was his birth father that tragically died when he was 5. He was a famous cartographer from whom Wind inherited his love for the sea and navigation skills.

-Wind's father would tell him the legend of the Hero of Time himself and other stories about his journeys across the Great Sea while they would both stare longingly at the waves.

-When Wind was born, he stopped sailing for some time because he was afriad of leaving his family alone if something happened to him. But when Wind's mother got pregnant with Aryll, the family was suddenly in need of more money.

-It was then that someone offered Wind's father a huge sum for drawing a map to locate the infamous ghost ship of the Great Sea. He took the job because the money would be enough for the family, but he'd have to lie to say he wasn't happy to get back on the waves one more time.

-Wind's father was able to complete the map and even discovered what was the supposed treasure in it's cargo. But before he could tell anyone, he mysteriously died and his map dissappeared.

-Since the map was nowhere to be found, the rich man who commissioned him refused to pay his familiy. This is one of the reasons Wind started to embrace the pirate's life while sailing the Great Sea.

-Wind's mom died when she gave birth to Aryll and so her two children were left to be raised by their grandma.

-During Wind Waker, Wind bonds with the King of Red Lions/King Daphnes

-I imagine King Daphnes as an opposite to King Roahm, but just as tragic and unintentionally harmfull. While Roahm didn't make sure to let Zelda know that he was in her corner, Daphnes innocently put too much pressure in Wind by remaining supportive, but still placing all his hopes in him.

-Think of Shifu's line to Tai Lung in Kung Fu Panda, "I loved you too much to realize what I was turning you into. I'm sorry."

-King Daphnes is not only is the first to believe that Wind has the makings of a Hero, he remains his biggest supporter through their journey.

-King Daphnes is the one who teaches Wind how to navigate and sail and Wind is ecstatic to find out he inherited his father's skills as a natural navigator and cartographer.

-He also encourages Wind to explore the Great Sea as he's wanted to his entire life, on the basis that it'll help him become strong enough to face Ganondorf. More importantly though, Daphnes just wants Wind to be as much of a kid as he can be in their situation.

-It's not long before they start to see each other as father and son. Daphnes tells him that, even if the gods thought otherwise, to him he would always be as brave and heroic as any old legend and that he's proud no matter what happens.

-This does become a problem because Daphnes has such belief and pride in Wind that he fails to realize in how much danger he's dragging his boy into. A brave boy, yes. But still a boy who shouldn't have to fight a man's battle.

-Because of that, he never stops to think about persuading Wind to stop and let an adult handle it. Wind would've refused of course, but that conversation between them never happens.

-It's not until Wind's friends start to be chosen one by one to fullfill their duties as Princess and Sages that Wind starts to question Daphnes and the kingdom's importance.

-Makar becoming a Sage is the last straw for Wind and he and Daphnes have a terrible disagreement. In the end, Wind tells Daphnes that he'll keep fighting to save his friends but that he was a fool for getting attached to someone who's just using him.

-That serves as a wake-up call to Daphnes to what he's doing and he starts to wonder if this world would be better off without Hyrule.

-Wind not only discovers his father's ghost ship map but also manages to hunt the ship down and recover the treasure aboard: A piece of the Triforce. He still doesn't find out what truly happened to his father but he's glad that his final work wasn't for nothing in the end.

-His expirience aboard the ship leaves him very shaken, but he still refuses to speak or listen to Daphnes unless necessary.

-When Wind gets appointed as the new Hero Spirit before descending to Hyrule again, Wind no longer feels as excited as he thought he would be in that moment.

-When Daphnes wishes for Hyrule to be drowned, part of him wants to come with Wind to keep raising his boy, if he'll have him. But the other is too weighted down by regret over failing his kingdom before and his son in the present.

-To this day, Wind is still guilt-ridden over saying Daphnes never cared for him. He'd give anything to be able to take it back.

-Wind is very much aware that Daphnes put him and his loved ones in danger and he's conflicted on why he chose to stay to drown. But he can't find it in him to stop missing the King or loving him.

#legend of zelda #linked universe #lu wind #King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule #king of red lions #wind waker

31 notes · View notes

weirdo-autumn · 3 months

Text

It's time to make a long ahh post on my OC just because

(This is going to be extremely long so be prepared-)

Nao Nishi (尚二死), pronouns are she/they

they had a bit of a difference appearance, somewhat longer hair and an eye patch

They were more quiet, collected. While she still is, it was much more back then

They don't really care about what anyone says anymore- it's always the same insults repeated over and over again and she just got tired of it all

They love their parents dearly, along with present friends

Lonely as heck but hey, they didn't mind

...okay she did but just a LITTLEEE bit

They were the quiet kid in class, just doing she own thing

But if someone, such as a teacher, would talk to them- she would play a cheerful persona who acted like nothing was wrong

They have *such* a high love for samurai and warriors and japanese history and urban legends and all that- that's why they have her katana- that they got from their parents, hand-made

Also love scary stories

One time she wrote their own for a class assignment and they got an A

The best mark they ever got in her life, usually it's average

They also enjoy things like simply sitting around and listening to the sounds of wherever she is, like in a park, listening silently to the winds and possibly other people around doing whatever

They didn't enjoy talking with people much, because. yeah.

But now, they could talk all day but get embarrassed about it because god did she really talk this much

They have a love/hate for coffee

Things they really hate aren't much but- wasps, loud sounds/noises, getting sick, causing attention on herself, lying about anything to family/friends you know nothing special especially when they're forced to in a situation anyway-

Just two years ago, they lived in Japan with their parents- Liam and Nirako (韮高) ((designs in work)).

Back then, with somewhat longer hair, Nao never had their mask but an eye patch to cover her blind eye that they were born with, and because of that, it caused the people around her to be judged, mocked, and looked down upon.

Some of this madness was spread to their family but everyone's eyes were on and only on Nao.

Which was the absolute worst. But, they somehow managed to keep herself together- those were just complete strangers that didn't know a THING about them or her family, sure it hurt but those words meant practically nothing.

In school it was practically the same, whispers going around, laughter, mockery, same old same old. It was boring. And annoying.

But when someone with the name of Uso Akane (嘘茜) came by,

" say... wanna become friends ? " he displayed a grin on his energetic face.

That smile.

That darn smile.

It made them sick.

Was it some joke? Some sick prank?

This entire time they've dealt with being alone but suddenly this guy shows up like nothing such a happy figure, does he really think she would fall for this?

" i don't think you're a bad person- " cut the crap, they aren't that stupid.

Everyone has talked about her.

Everyone thinks they're disgusting. A creepy little freak.

Why would anyone want to be friends with someone like that?

" everyone thinks and speaks on what they believe, but I believe you're actually kinda cool. This world judges people too much just for something simple as your eye. " he said, moving his hands in various ways to express more.

...

" you don't deserve that treatment, not one bit of it. "

" so, i'll ask again... " then, he stuck out his hand.

" can we be friends ? "

...

Why did he seem so desperate for a 'yes'?

That's what ticked Nao off the most.

They didn't know anymore if it was all a joke, a prank, or... nothing.

But... it could be...

" ...... fine. "

They wish she said 'no'.

They wanted to slap, hit, punch herself but. They chose this path.

She was just sick of being alone.

That friendship was all a lie yet thet stayed in that spot for so long.

His name is clearly a clue but NOPE. Apparently not.

Nao slid down to the ground, hugging their knees as they couldn't do anything but sit there as they overheard the familiar and other voices inside the classroom.

Go on and on and on and on about their disgusting, annoying, worthless, inhumane presence. A waste a space.

The complete usual for her, really.

It was gonna happen anyway.

And every single person was going to get a piece of their mind.

....... *click*

A year later, everything was back to normal.

Sort of.

Now, their hair is cut short.

Still the same old whispering and talking and mocking but it was less this time around.

Probably because of an 'incidence' that happened just a year back.

No idea what I'm talking about well-

Uso got outed.

By the half-sighted child herself.

Basically, Nao had hid as well as they could and with a tape recorder she bought, recorded every single time they were talked behind her back.

Ended up getting a recording of Uso hitting them across her face and that moment made everything so much better for them once everything came out.

She had kept it all inside.

So many emotions locked in.

They didn't even tell her parents, as too not worry the two more. They... had their own things to deal with after all.

Nao thought it was weird that not a single person found out but, maybe their fake little persona works in ways that even she doesn't know.

A happy, cheerful, just as energetic kid, as every other child.

But she hated it.

Their parents too.

It wasn't them but a mere, hollow, fake as plastic doll.

That no one but their parents truly loved.

Well, at least their dad did.

Nao never once wanted to act like that thing around their dad.

Her parents ended up divorcing, now it's just them and dad.

It was upsetting, but things like this happen- it's life.

Arguments are a part of that life too.

But doing to either of them would make them hate herself more.

But aside from all the baggage, this time around, they've been a bit more confident about herself, like, they simply don't care anymore.

She took off their eye patch ever since school ended, ever since she got up on that stage and gave it their all to the graduating students of their student- that was something for everyone to remember, especially by all the clapping and loud cheering by some people that made an impact on their school life it- it was something.

Those people will certainly never be forgotten, those two students and their teacher.

Nao didn't know whether to call them friends or simply acquaintances but they did mean a lot anyway.

Asahi Sakura had been there from the start- practically glued onto them, while it was annoying, she was genuine the entire time, even though she had to lie between her teeth with the others.

" gosh you're SO COOL!!! " she would squeal in utter amazement.

Then there was Hajimi Matsuno, the one who was the first to find out about what Nao was doing and how they really were.

" you're... something, all right... " he muttered as a nervous, breathless chuckle came out.

Their teacher, Osuka Akane, a kind-hearted women who treated Nao like any other person- with her warm smile and words.

" i may not know what you feel like, but you have every right to feel this anger inside. " she spoke softly, grasping the now broken racket from their hands.

It was the best Nao ever felt in their life, and it was even better to see and hear their dad to be so proud and happier himself.

So things were going well, even better as Nao didn't give a care in the world and acted more cheerful and upbeat- no longer faking it.

And soon, they both would be moving across the country- somewhere where they could move on and live a good future, with new people in their lives- make friends maybe even meet old ones

And certainly, Nao made those few friends.

...And a crush too. But I bet you know that bit already.

#oc lore #original character #hehehehehe #this took so long #i love my oc #i love them #i don't know what else to tag #i am going insane #my art #wolfboy and the everything factory oc #ah yes tags #oc

9 notes · View notes

castleaudios · 1 year

Note

Hello there! First off: Thanks for creating such enterteining content and answering our questions Aand here we go my own questions:

1)Can you become a vampire trough blood transfusion? Or wielder/shifter via organ transplantation? 2)Can you tell us about origin of the shifters or myths connected to that? 3)Are there any unintelligent/primal magical creatures in the Castleverse? (I imagine Abby would love that) 4)Are there any magic specific religion? e.g. cult of vampires or blood mages screaming "Blood for the BLOOD GOD" in the middle of the forest at 1 a.m or people who worship Oracles? 5)Does the magical society/government have some sort of OP commando or termination team for magical beings that are too bad or too dangerous? 6)Are there some parts of mundane non-wielder government, which knows about magic? 7)During history of mankind…Were there some famous magic beings which earn title of legends or even have their name written in non-magical history books? Like some Ancient shifter-warmonger, evil vampire overlord or famous scientist who was actually a healing mage? 8)Which of our beloved wolf shifters has a strongest bond with their wolf side, like did someone start shifting early than is common or is feeling more comfortable in their wolf form than in their bipedal form? 9)Does Ranger have a shotgun under their bed? 10)Do Rachelle and Doll live on the other side of Glenwood from Celine or are they basically neighbors and Rachelle has that comic-villain sinister stare at Celine´s mansion every time when she go to take out the trash? 11) What is Abby and Rose's favorite genre of music? Thank you for your answers and have a great day!

Thank you for answers and have a great day!

1- Whenever blood leaves the body, there is only a limited amount of time before the magic in the blood evaporates away, so when blood goes through the long process of a transfusion and even through simples blood donation, magic cannot pass from one person to another. However, under very specific circumstances, the transfer of magic would be possible.

2- The origin of any kind of shifters is muddy at best, but there used to be myths that wolf shifters were descended from hellhounds. The myth lost favor in recent generations, but it still lingers around and gets brought up from time to time.

3- Yes, there are! But we'll leave that under the spoilers folder for now

4- In modern days, there are few groups that so unified that they could be considered a cult. The last monolith of magical religion was the Endax Coven, nearly 600 years ago.

5- There are designated units for nullifying threats within the magical community

6- Technically yes, if there are situations where the non-wielder governments need to be informed of certain threats, then there are people in place who have access to that power, but the line from wielder to non is covered in so much red tape that the threats are never tied back to magic.

7- The wielder world has done it's best to stay out of non-wielder history, even at the risk of losing the glory.

8- Simon definitely had a much deeper bond with his wolf form, he always encouraged people in the pack to shift, even when it went against Alexander's wishes. During the summer he'll spend most of his free time lounging around in his wolf form, it's just cozier like that.

9- Maybe not under their bed but they've certainly got one tucked away in their house and one in their truck.

10- Rachelle and Doll are in a completely different city, miles away from Glenwood. As far as they know, Glenwood doesn't even exist. Their story is separate for now.

11- Rose likes old 60-70's music while Abby loves her lo-fi playlists

#kurairasen #castlereplies

26 notes · View notes

cloudninetonine · 1 year

Note

Reuniting with the ACTUAL og chain is gonna be so traumatic for Player. Like she's been running from versions of them that have actively killed for Player and tried to kill Player. There was likely a lot of emotional manipulation with the yans and the villain chain likely isolated Player up in that castle for a fucking age. Not only that but their morals are all skewed because they've been assisted by Ganons, who are good in two worlds and horrifically bad in the original. Player probs has some pretty extreme trust and paranoia issues coz the fact they come from a different universe where the Links were nice and good would have been used to their counterparts to lure Player back to them if they ever found out.

They wouldn't be able to tell if the real chain is the real chain because their paranoia is constantly poking at them that they'll be taken back to that castle again at any moment. Player wouldn't sleep thinking they'd get kidnapped, wouldn't eat thinking their food was poisoned, and would be on a very obvious high alert, so much so that they wouldn't want any of the boys to touch them even for help with tasks or fighting, healing an injury, or even just on accident, much to Wild and Hyrule's dismay. They're constantly in survival mode and has probably pulled a blade on one of them before.

And the Chain would be super concerned because Player used to be so bubbly when they found their spark and would be very openly affectionate to the people that allowed it. Probably worsening it is the fact they just suddenly left for months.

Imagine if Legend starts to become actively upset and it worsens his hatred for the Player coz he's had to witness how his brothers have begun to crumble under the worry and pressure of losing their guide for the god knows how many'th time. But Player learned to take this as disguised worry and their anxieties reject the notion that this is their chain because Legend shouldn't like them. But in reality, he despises them for leaving so suddenly and for no reason and letting his family fall because of it, not knowing the actual story behind Player being sent to a different world because they're so tight-lipped from their lack of trust. But it's just a horrible cycle that makes their distrust in each other worse and worse and worse. Lots of damaged relationships and mediation and compromise before Player either finally gives up or they decide that they don't want to live like this and learn to accept their situation and thr horridness of the nagging feeling in their brain that doesn't ever go away.

Doesn't matter either way because the men whose faces they'd come to love and cherish had suddenly become a sight of terrors from being so heavily traumatized. The road to recovery is paved with first learning to kick back off of survival mode, but thats pretty hard to know when there's very few of the chain who were ever able to. So many troubled for our poor Player.

Russ you're completely right.

It will be shown later in the au of course but despite how Player is relaxed now they're still not well mentally and seeing even a glimpse of one of the boys is gonna send them tumbling.

Trust me, once I settled all the Dadons I will try my hand at the angst train.

Also, Russ, this analysis is beautiful, thank you.

#cloud answers

39 notes · View notes

autumnslance · 1 year

Text

This Home Wrested Forth

((My piece for the Blackest Night @drkzine with lovely original art by @cassigator!

Sidurgu & Rielle go to Gridania and find an unexpected familiar face, who asks the Dark Knight to provide the sort of justice only he can. DRK & WHM story completion, Sid's 2nd person POV. Below the cut for those who prefer Tumblr to Ao3.))

Your clan fled the Empire, crossing Ilsabard in search of homelike climes. Aldenard was safe—for now. Even so, the tribe moved often, looking for a place to settle. Every time, you hoped you had found a place to call home.

Later, you think the Fury has a vicious sense of humor.

You were a child; you tended the goats and played with your friends, games that often ended in blood and bruises, for Xaela play rough to prepare for a hard world.

Coerthas had the right sort of mountains and meadows. It was also in a never-ending war with dragons—not legends, but flesh and blood creatures of intellect and fire. Auri horns and scales set your clan apart. From the insults hurled by cursing adults keeping their children away, they thought you were draconic heretics as well.

Knights came, but Xaela are made for war, as your eastern cousins upon the Steppe say. Sometimes you wonder why your people fled west.

You wonder when you dream of the knights’ return, of burning homes and rivers of blood. You stumbled over your favorite goat, its throat slashed, square eyes blank, as a knight dragged you by the hair to join your parents for execution.

“Look away,” Mother begged. But you couldn’t.

Not until it was your turn to face the sword that never came, and instead a man in black armor offered you a new Path.

Rielle is the family you have now, a pesky little sister, though you dare not say it aloud. Fray taught her conjury before his death, and she took to it like breathing. The trials you faced together made her learn quickly, but she wants a proper education, as Fray once did.

You grumble all the way to muggy Gridania. Once you might have found it a pleasant climate, but those days are long gone and you’re wearing full plate.

It’s not your first visit, and this situation is less fraught. Rielle is introduced to other students; a young Padjal, a Hyur adolescent who can hear the Elementals, and—

“Alaqa?”

In your hazy memories, there is a serious girl with pale hair against dark skin, bark-brown eyes often disapproving. Delicate, everyone said; her magical gifts left her ill-suited to be a warrior. Yet she could be cajoled into raucous play and emerge triumphant in her own way.

The serious child survived the slaughter, becoming a quiet woman who smells of moss, with dirt under her nails and conjury in her touch. Her magic tastes like windswept plains and a wildflower whose name escapes recollection. She blinks, similar confusion giving way to elated relief.

“The Matron Herself must have sent you, Sidurgu,” Alaqa says. You worship Halone, so it’s no surprise she venerates Gridania’s patron. You can’t recall your clan’s religion, so why not adopt the gods whose lands adopted you?

The girls get acquainted, laughing at another table. You and Alaqa speak haltingly in your childhood language, tasting the rust in every syllable, each word further opening the creaking gates of memory.

“I spent enough time in Coerthas to know what you are,” she says. “You can help.”

You scowl into your ale. Immediately after finding one another, she wants a favor.

Hearers stand between the people and the Elementals, interpreting nature’s whispers into proclamations. Gridanians understand from their earliest years sustainable practices that keep their Woods in harmonic balance. Newcomers must rely on permission from Hearers to determine if they can integrate into the weave of man and nature.

“While the Greenwrath is a concern, mostly the Elementals don’t care,” Alaqa explains. “Not when it comes to people's daily lives. Elementals don’t experience the world as we do, and they don’t ‘speak’ in words. Hence the Hearers.”

You see where this is going. You’ve seen it among clergy that abuse commoners, among the knights that slaughtered your clan and hunted Rielle. “And some hear what they want, or simply make up what they will, and people can only take them at their word.”

Alaqa nods. “I believe this is happening now to the Ala Mhigans in Quarrymill. Since the liberation of Gyr Abania, there’s been a push to ‘send them home’, nevermind many have been here for over twenty years. Their children are forestborn; the Twelveswood is their home.”

A Hearer using his privileged position to force refugees out. Not the visceral violence of the knights, but violence all the same on people who have suffered enough, who have found a home despite all odds.

A familiar rage boils in your chest, a furious howl rising from the abyss.

Justice is needed everywhere.

Alaqa’s rare smile is fierce, seeing your answer before you speak.

Most of Quarrymill’s townsfolk are native Gridanians—primarily Midlanders, Elezen, Miqo’te, a handful of Lalafell—but a few Highlanders and Hellsguard live in their own small district.

It’s humid, insects buzz about your head, and your boots are muddy. You’ve never yearned more for Ishgard’s icy stone streets. You follow Sylphie as she tends to people in the hamlet. She asks after their health, if they’ve enough to eat. Questions receive brief replies at best; the forest-dwellers are an insular lot. For most, life moves normally, though they mention the Wailers have been giving them a harder time about hunting and harvesting, after Hearer Bannon’s claims that the Elementals are concerned about the Ala Mhigan presence.

The Hearer in question is speaking with a woman, a small child clinging to her skirts. Bannon’s standing too close for propriety, especially with how she’s trying not to step away. He’s perhaps only slightly older than yourself and smiles unkindly as you walk up. She looks down.

“Is everything all right, Greda?” Sylphie asks.

“We were simply speaking about the recent difficulties,” Bannon says. He is fair-skinned and flinty-eyed. “I was offering Mistress Greda guidance on how she may appease the Elementals.”

“Looked like badgering to me.” You cross your arms.

“You are a visitor here,” Bannon says. “You cannot be expected to understand the delicate balance we must maintain at the Elementals’ behest, lest disaster fall.”

“Any gods who threaten their own people aren’t worthy of veneration.”

By necessity, you’ve learned to quickly pick out the righteous from the rotten among priests and knights. This conjurer isn’t difficult to understand. He’s just like some clergy back home. Under your glower, the Midlander’s false smile fails, expression growing thunderous.

“I suggest you make your visit brief, lest such views bring the Greenwrath upon you and yours,” Bannon turns to Sylphie. “Have care with whom you mingle, young lady. ‘Tis easy for such influences to drown out Nature’s voice.”

“I listen carefully,” Sylphie responds coolly.

Greda doesn’t relax even after Bannon leaves. “You needn’t get involved.”

“Someone must. What did he want with you?” You ask.

She looks away. This too you recognize; she’s been made to feel shamed and afraid. You’ve seen it often in the Brume, and familiar anger coils in your gut again. “He says my late husband’s actions are part of the trouble. He… joined the Griffin, you see…”

Sylphie frowns. “While the events at Baelsar’s Wall did cause a stir, why would one rebel’s actions matter more than the Griffin’s?”

You study Greda. A Highlander in her early twenties, shapely, with warm brown skin and dark gold hair.

“That’s his offer? The supposedly upset Elementals will allow you to stay in the forest if you but agree to his suggestion?”

Her head snaps up, cheeks darkening further as she trembles. Sylphie looks confused. “I…I didn’t,” Greda stammers. Tears well in her green eyes. “I can’t be the reason everyone suffers, but I won’t…”

“No. You won’t. And you aren’t—it’s that bastard. I’ve seen enough.”

You walk away, Sylphie hurrying to keep up. “What’s that supposed to mean? Sid? Oh, no wonder Rielle calls you—”

“Don’t.” Gods, you can’t have her calling you a chocobo’s arse too. “Let’s find the others.”

You pause to watch Rielle and Gatty. They’re sitting on the upper walkway built into the town’s palisade, legs dangling as they chat and share lunch. Sylphie joins them, distracted by their enthusiasm and her own youth.

“They’re having fun,” Alaqa says, joining you.

“While they can.” Your life isn’t easy and Rielle remains in it by choice. These moments when she can be the girl she is, with others her age, are rare.

Your duty is going to take that from her. Again.

“Bannon’s supposedly intervening with the supposedly upset Elementals to take advantage of people.”

Alaqa frowns. “If we could prove this corruption of his office to Brother E-Una…”

“You wouldn’t have asked for my aid if you could. Take Sylphie and Gatty back to the city. I’ll need Rielle’s help.”

“What are you going to do?”

You grin. “What I do best. Justice demands no less.”

It doesn’t take long to bait Bannon. Loitering outside Greda’s house while he makes his rounds, followed by accepting a simple adventurer’s job into the woods, soon has you surrounded by the Hearer and six young men from town. You sigh, realizing they’re all Ala Mhigans.

“Promising them lenience from the Elementals if they get rid of the annoying foreigner?”

Bannon sneers. “You are a blight on our Woods. The Elementals will recognize their…dedication.”

Their sacrifice. He’s hoping you murder these boys if they don’t overwhelm you. You draw your blade and shrug. You can try not to kill them.

Though you might have to, as Bannon goes for Rielle. He doesn’t expect her to be battle-tempered, to counter his command of the elements, drawing on those same forces with expertise beyond her years. She’s fought alongside the Warrior of Light, and it shows. Your friend would be proud.

Meanwhile, you are making a fool of yourself. If Ompagne were here, he’d be scolding and laughing. Two youths dash in close under your blade to take you with their fists. Two use lances to match your greatsword’s reach. Two others keep distant with short bows.

They grew up in these woods and are desperate to stay in their home, to fight the perceived threat.

Focus, Sid. Rielle can manage.

You roar, body checking one pugilist into the other, smacks from your gauntlets leaving them dazed, though it earns you a decent blow from a lance.

There’s a shout to the side; Rielle deflects Bannon’s earth spell into an archer, breaking his bow and leaving him nursing bruised limbs. You grin, knowing you look feral, rounding on the lancers. They falter as bloody rage swirls around you. They are not hardened warriors; you remember that as you break their spears and strike with the flat of your blade, cracking ribs.

The last archer stands his ground, Halone bless, though his nervous aim is poor. He doesn’t expect your leap to his position, for you to grab the bow and backhand him with it before flinging it aside.

A strong wind nearly bowls you over.

Rielle shrieks.

Fury colors your vision, the abyss howling against your horns. Bannon dashes into the trees. Rielle tumbles to a stop at the far end of the clearing.

Gatty is already there, magic in her hands. “She’ll be all right,” she calls.

“This way!” Sylphie shouts from the treeline behind you, in the direction Bannon ran.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

She shrugs and points, frowning. “Alaqa went that way.”

“Take care of Rielle and these boys.” You plunge into the forest.

No underbrush catches your armor, no roots trip your feet. Perhaps you’ll ask the girls about that later.

You think you’ve gone a quartermalm when you find Bannon ensnared in spiny vines, Alaqa nearby with hands clenched.

“How dare you, you filthy outsiders!” Bannon snarls.

“How dare you,” she replies. “Falsifying the Elementals’ whispers for your own gain, coercing desperate people.”

“I am a child of the Wood!” He shouts. “I Hear the Will of the Forest!”

“What does the Forest say now?” You ask as you stalk nearer, blade drawn.

He swallows, trembling. Like any other false priest. “Th-the Greenwrath will strike you down!”

“Perhaps,” Alaqa answers. “If the gods decree, so be it.” She looks at you, eyes clear and cold. “But I will not abide a man to drive us from our home. Not again.”

You remember playing with your friends. You remember the goats, your father’s laughter, your mother’s songs.

You remember the burning homes, the blood, the knight’s grip on your hair and your parents’ pleas. You remember Ompagne ending the violence; too late for most, but not for you and her.

Your blade is swift, and more merciful than the Hearer deserves.

You leave the Archer’s Guild after a few bells. You didn’t think you had warranted the Bowlord’s attention, but someone convinced not only E-Sumi-Yan to vouch for you, but the Warrior of Light as well.

The second was less surprising than the first; family looks out for each other, and timing has ever been that hero’s forte.

Rielle is waiting with Alaqa, Sylphie, and Gatty. “It went,” you say before they can ask. “While the Elementals seem silent about Bannon, Lewin still wants me out of his Woods.”

“They’re silent on the matter of the Ala Mhigans too,” Sylphie says. “The Fane’s sending someone new to tend to Quarrymill. Hopefully, they’re more honest.”

“If they aren’t, you can always mention it in your letters.” The ferocity behind Rielle’s grin is familiar; you’re not sure to be proud or worried she’s picking up your habits.

“Or don’t, as it’s too damned hot and muggy in this forest.”

The girls giggle at your growling. Alaqa shakes her head, amusement in her eyes if not on her lips. “With so much more for Rielle to learn, we're sorry to see you leave so soon. Our own fault...”

“More that bully’s,” Rielle answers. “Perhaps you can visit us!”

You groan, thinking of the trouble this group could get up to in Ishgard. The girls laugh all the way to the Carline Canopy. There’s time to try those famous eel pies before catching the airship.

Goodbyes are said, promises to write made. Your duty is taking Rielle from her friends and education, even as you both want to return to your cold, stony city.

Funny how much you’ve missed it.

Alaqa catches your arm and pulls you down to brush her horn along your own. In the tongue of your childhood, she says, “Thank you.”

You straighten, nod, and hope your stoic expression holds, though Rielle’s face tells you it hasn’t. “I did my duty,” you answer in kind. “You’re welcome.”

Rielle leans halfway over the rail to wave as the airship pulls away. You hold the back of her tunic and watch until the trees obscure the view of your friends. Appropriate, somehow; Alaqa and the Ala Mhigans found a home in these woods, while you return to where you found your home.

So long as you can fight, no one will take that from you.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Lyn Writing #Dark Knight #Blackest Night #Gridania #Ala Mhigans #Sidurgu Orl #Alaqa #Rielle de Caulignont #Sylphie Webb #Gatty Orwell #Conjurers #White Mage #others art

46 notes · View notes

a-d-nox · 2 years

Note

Please tell us about the asteroid Hephaestus. (2212) Thank you.

hephaestus, god of fire and forges (2212)

Hephaestus is the son of Zeus and Hera. He is often described as the least flattering of the gods: ugly, deformed, brutish, etc. Whether he was born that way or was made to become that way is unclear - some say Zeus threw Hephaestus from Olympus to his mother, Rhea, on earth. In some versions, he is solely Hera's son. Similar to the story told in the Flora myth post - instead of Juno having Mars in Roman myth, it is Hera having Hephaestus in Greek myth. In this version, Hera throws him out of Olympus after seeing how ugly deformed he was and Thetis and Eurynome raise him after discovering him severely injured. Hephaestus plots his revenge against his parents in either version by crafting gold thrones - when Hera sat on the throne she became tied to the seat and was only released when Hephaestus got drunk with Dionysus. Hephaestus is made to stay amongst the gods in Olympus based on his incredible abilities to create. He created the bronze man of Crete, supposedly the first woman Pandora, a famous shield for Thetis which would later become Achilles's, Peleus's sword, Agamemnon's scepter, etc. If you can think it, Hephaestus can make it. As we know he is the husband to the goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, who often was disloyal to him. In some versions, he said that he would only release Hera from the golden throne if he married Aphrodite - which is the reason they are married then. Of course, Aphrodite's rejection of him anyway for not being to her standards and the non-ideal situation that is arranged marriage. Resulting in him finding love elsewhere; many of his children became creators or kings. There is a myth in which he forces himself on Athena and she pushes him off just as he is about to finish - which caused the god’s semen to fall down to earth or Gaea. This union results in a famous king of Athens - Erichthonius. IN MY OPINION Hephaistos in your chart represents a) where you may face a lot of rejection, b) where you are a creator, c) where you get your justice for those who have wronged you, d) where you may receive a life long injury, and/or e) where feminine people despise you.

bruh idk how to feel about a 7h hephaistos at 11° in libra? like not a sextile venus and pluto OR a jupiter and uranus trine :((( i rather not contemplate what that means lol. it smells a lot like a betrayal…

i encourage you to look into the aspects of hephaistos along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of hephaistos AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede hephaistos!

OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS: zeus (5731 / h42), athene (881), pallas (2), gaea (1184), hera (103), rhea (577), thetis (17), eurynome (79), pandora (55), achilles (588), dionysus (3671), agamemnon (911), peleus (11311), aphrodite (1388), and erichthonios (9430)!

like what you read? leave a tip and state what post it is for! please use my “suggest a post topic” button if you want to see a specific post or mythical asteroid next!

click here for the masterlist

click here for more greek myths & legends

want a personal reading? click here to check out my reading options and prices!

63 notes · View notes

claire-starsword · 1 year

Text

Shining Wisdom Guide Translation

While I take a break from the SF1 guide book let’s take a look on stuff from other games. I did not find scans of Shining Wisdom stuff online but someone on deviantart kindly sent me these. So let’s go, starting with a prologue of the game:

The small country of Odegan, at the northern part of the Parmecia continent. Surrounded by mountains and ocean in all directions, this country has lived a long time of peace, without invasions from other countries or natural disasters. But, there's a legend told in this land since ancient times.

A long time ago, when the gods still lived alongside humans in the land, an evil giant was born in the depths of the Demon World. Calling himself "Surt", the giant who carried this dark blood began spreading disaster through the once peaceful land. The gods who watched upon this grave situation used the power of the four spirits -the Earth Djinn, Water Djinn, Fire Djinn and Wind Djinn- and sealed Surt in the Demon World. However, even as Surt was being sealed, the giant retaliated to take control of the four djinns' minds. As their last resort to prevent destruction, the gods sealed the four djinns in labyrinths deep under the earth at various places around Odegan.

And thus time went by. Surt's name became just something to scare children who don't obey their parents, and the true terror of the giant was long forgotten.

One day, deep in the night when only the night guard should be awake, the king of Odegan and the minister were in a room deep within Odegan's castle, in an unusual discussion of the country's situation. Their discussion was about the surviving devils of the war at South Parmecia, which were said to have secretly slipped into Odegan. For now, they concluded they couldn't be planning anything big with their little country, and thus settled their talk. Suddenly, as if dripping from beyond the wall, a single shadow appeared! That shadow was the rumored devil, the dark elf Pazort. Turning to the terrified king and minister, Pazort flashed a shrewd smile and began to speak. He had cast a sleeping curse on the king's only daughter, Satera. He would only dispel the curse if given the Djinn Orbs in the hidden royal treasury, and after the following words he disappeared:

"Listen well, this shouldn't reach anyone else's ears! Especially of those hobbits from the west. If you say a single word the princess will... Ohoho, I'm sure you understand..."

At last that evil presence was gone, leaving only the silence, and the standing king and minister that wouldn't dare say a thing. The next day, Princess Satera did not open her eyes and continued to sleep, and the people of the city began to question things as the guard patrol suddenly became harsher. And thus the story begins...

The name Surt comes from a giant in norse mythology.

Next on are some short character bios.

Protagonist - Mars

The only son of the hero Giles who saved Odegan from a dragon ten years ago. He was raised by his grandparents who were a bit overprotective, but is sure to become a great soldier serving the castle of Odegan through this journey. He's still only halfway there, but is a lively young man with hero blood in his veins.

not sure what part of "go grandson ram yourself into some monsters!" is overprotective but you do you, guide book

Princess Satera [aka prepare for one whole paragraph of pure misogyny]

The only daughter of the king of Odegan, beloved by the citizens, and the love interest in this story. She's targeted by the dark elf Pazort at the start of the story, but when a girl in that age goes around showing that much skin, it's natural that not just Pazort would be making a move.

[every word of that hurt as it came from my fingers i legit did not want to translate that lmao, but someone would ask where Satera's part was anyway, also there's no hiding that this series was garbage to their girls anyway]

King of Odegan

An unusually gentle king, but still from the noble line that has ruled this country for generations. However, his beloved daughter, Princess Satera, is his weak spot, and at times he's just a doting parent.

Minister

An advisor to the unreliable king of Odegan, he's a bit hard to please. Lately, plenty of incidents keep happening in the country, so it seems his troubles have no end.

Kaipa

A good friend of Mars's father, Giles, and the captain of the guard, aiding the king of Odegan along with the minister. Also Mars' direct superior.

Alfred

A new soldier who has still been around for a little longer than Mars. To be frank, he has only a minor role, but gives some advice at the beginning.

Fairy

A fairy that supports Mars from behind the scenes by the orders of the sage Ishaha Kat. From her devotion, you can feel she's not doing it just as her duty.

Big note here: the european version romanized the sage's name as Ishaha Cut, and I don't blame them as it's as good as any other adaptation without further context. However I found the context. While I haven't played Shining Force 3, Ishahakat seems to show up there and Camelot themselves gave this romanization, because read backwards it becomes "Takahashi", the surname of Hiroyuki Takahashi, producer of most classic Shining games (with only Final Conflict being produced by his brother, Shugo Takahashi, who also worked in the other games).

With that said, unlike SF3, Shining Wisdom does put a space in the name, so I reflected that in the translation as well.

Hobbits

A kind tribe of half-fairies who live within the forest of the western region. Knowing of the incident at Odegan's castle, they went out of their way to check on the situation.

This is the first time I see some attempt on defining what hobbits are in this setting, and they do have pointy ears like fairies, but didn't in previous games so I doubt this was always the intention. I'm gonna go off-topic a bit here to ramble on Shining's hobbits and dwarves. Here's a wack line from the game itself:

"Cultural exchanges of the hobbit tribe! Our friends who crossed over to Granseal Island might have become Mithril craftsmen."

This seems to be a reference to the Mithril diggers/craftsmen from SF2. Which are very clearly referred to as dwarves in that game. Also Granseal was the name of the kingdom, the island is just Grans. This whole line is a mess. It is possible that they meant "cultural exchanges" with dwarves, but since dwarves aren't mentioned anywhere in this game it doesn't really come across that way. Besides, several characters of previous games are inconsistently labelled as hobbit or dwarf through different manuals/guides. So my general point: don't think too hard about these races in the Shining series. They did not care much.

Back to the guide:

Elves

A couple of elves who seem to be acquaintances of the hobbits, but seem to be hiding some secret as well. They don't seem to be a couple in the romantic sense though...

I don't know what hurts more, the fact that they aren't mentioned by name or having to see what they did to Kazin's hair up close. Oh yeah Sarah doesn't even get a picture. Hooray.

As for the "hiding a secret" part? Yeah I don't know what's that about either! I don't remember a single part of the game where they aren't acting together with the hobbits. They do act a bit suspicious at the beginning of the game but that's it.

Might as well take this moment to mention something I learned from this guide and haven't seen in any playthroughs so far: there is a very easy to miss scene with these two at the start of the game. After talking to them at the castle gates, if you return to the city's inn and talk to the owner, you can see Sarah and Kazin returning to their room there. Go up the stairs and the rooms will all be locked but you can overhear them talking, and as you leave the inn they'll comment on Mars, which I guess is when Kazin decides to leave Mars with the vigilance amulet or whatever it's called. None of that really matters to the plot in the end, but it's a pretty hidden scene so I figured i'd mention it.

Pazort

The dark elf mage working day and night in the shadows to revive Surt, with an elite four under his command. His magical power is said to be one of the greatest in Parmecia,, and is very sure of himself. Perhaps because of that, he leaves plenty of opportunities for Mars to exploit against him.

Canonically incompetent lmao

If you follow more japanese series you might be familiar with the term 四天王 (shitennou) used here, which translates literally to "four heavenly kings" and is frequently used to give some flair to groups of four characters (I'm fairly sure the SF2 and SFCD antagonists are referred to with it as well). I borrowed Pokemon's “elite four” translation instead because it's better than referring to a group of devils as heavenly and leading everyone to overthink what's just a regular flair in japanese games.

Nuug

One of Pazort's elite four with a peculiar appearance. Unlike what you'd expect from his huge body, he's skilled in aerial battles. He seems to worship Karry like a goddess.

Karry

A sexy dark elf woman. The only woman in Pazort's elite four. In contrast to that beauty of hers, she spins around an iron ball with huge strength. Also known as the Wrecking Ball Woman.

[Her nickname in japanese is "female ブンブン丸 (bunbunmaru)", which in this context seems to be a nickname for baseball players with strong swings. I don't know enough about baseball to know if there's an english equivalent and Home Run Woman didn't sound good at all, so I gave up on the baseball and just picked what's a way more obvious nickname to me. It took all of my strength to not just call her Batterwitch. Except I'm mentioning it here so actually i have no strength.]

Banbo

An elite four with a plump body resembling a frog. He talks with a lighthearted tone, and is skilled in magic to control people. However, when in places without water his magical power is halved.

Gueid

With muscles atypical of a dark elf and a frightening iron mask, he stands out the most among the elite four. Such grandiosity is befitting of the title "Living Volcano".

The literal translation of his nickname is "walking pyroclastic flow", except that's way too long in english to flow like a proper nickname.

The rest of the guide isn’t too interesting. There’s an item and spell that i’ll be posting separately later because the text isn’t important, but Mars’ pictures are adorable and deserve their own post. Then there’s dungeon maps which, I guess I could post if anyone cares, but it’s not worth translating, as they only give hints to some puzzles instead of a complete explanation. The most interesting hint is the Sarah and Kazin event at the inn which I’ve already talked about.

Perhaps it is also worth mentioning that they divide the game in three chapters, despite there being no such division in the game itself. So if you’re curious they are:

Chapter 1: The Kidnapped Princess Satera (from the start of the game to Karry stealing the orbs)

Chapter 2: The Freed Four Djinns (the first three elemental dungeons)

Chapter 3: Seeking the Shining Sword (from freeing the hobbits to the end of the game)

At the end of each part of the guide there are sections by the Fairy giving some extra tips or trivia. None of them matter much but I know people would be mad if I didn’t translate the third one:

The Fairy's Advice Corner

Part 3 ~ Behind the setting of "Wisdom"

When you travel around the world for work (?), you'll meet many other countries besides Odegan, with their own incidents and troubles. Let's take a break in this harsh journey to breathe, and talk about those other countries as well.

What are the connections with other times of the "Shining" series?

This incident with Pazort is big trouble indeed. But, if you take a look at this big wide world, plenty of other huge events have happened as well.

For example, not too long ago, in the western region of this very continent of Parmecia, there was a war against the devil army led by the demon king Zeon (Shining Force II), the elves Kazin and Sarah played a big part in it. And the tribe led by relatives of those hobbits have also helped human armies time and time again it seems. Besides that, from what Master Ishaha Kat’s crystal ball showed me of the future, a grave incident will happen in the country of Thornwood that has just been founded (Shining in the Darkness). Perhaps you've heard something about that as well.

Thornwood is called ストームサング (Stormsang, yes “sang” not “song”, this might be in some language i'm not recognizing) in the japanese version, no clue why it was changed but i kept the change so more people could recognize it.

Zeon's name is mispelled as Zenon in this page, but it's correct in game.

Let's continue the hobbit discourse. The word i've been translating as tribe so far, 一族, is kind of ambiguous and could be referring to the whole race, not just a tribe. So that line might be saying that hobbits of other games are related to these guys, or it is just the world's most generic comment of "hey the other games had the hobbit race too". Either way is a very vague comment.

Shining in the Darkness

-The first installment of the Shining series. You can read about its setting, the kingdom of Thornwood, in a bookshelf.

Or you can read about it right here because this post is already gigantic but i can always make it worse with my collection of 500+ screenshots:

"A rising nation, the rich country of Thornwood! This country has been quickly standing out and is a thriving spot of cultural mingling between species."

Shining Force II

-Kazin and Sarah first debutted in Shining Force II. Kazin was a mage and Sarah a priest.

"The war on Western Parmecia! A battle between the Demon World army seeking to revive one of the three demon lords, Zeon, and the Granseal army led by Bowie."

-The war heard of here is the story of Force II.

-The great enemy in Force II, Oddeye. There seems to be some link between him and Pazort...?

Finally, only at the very last of these sections did they decide to actually have fun with the Fairy's narration instead of just writing out tips, so it's worth putting it here too:

The Fairy's Advice Corner

Part 5 ~ Secrets of Equippable Items

Found in one of the secret rooms in the overworld, the legendary off-road car "Toydona USA". The truth is, there's an unbelievable secret about this car. My advice corner has some valuable information, just for you~

Become swift as the wind! The Time Attack mode was found!!

Breaking news, breaking news! I'm sure you've got the ancient off-road car "Toydona USA", right? With that car, it seems you can go have fun in a car race. Uh? How do you get there? Uhhh, you see... Oh my, I'm sorry. I left Gudo Valley in kind of a hurry, and completely forgot the way to that race. First of all, I guess you have to get on the Toydona, and talk to someone somewhere... I really don't remember, ahahahaha. Well, let's put that aside. Anyway, they say that if you get a good time on that race, you'll be given a wonderful prize. Shouldn't you try the challenge at least once?

-Having the Small Orb would make running easier...

-If you manage three laps in this course in less than 1 minutes and 30 seconds, you'll get a certain item.

With the Monkey Suit and the ****** Orb...?

Hey hey, more breaking news! In the main hall of Odegan's castle, they said a giant monkey appeared out of nowhere!! Oh, the minister and Sir Kaipa were super flustered, and the king passed out foaming at the mouth. Princess Satera had her eyes down and her shoulders trembling so much... She must have been in shock. Oh? You're trembling just the same... Are you laughing!? Eeh? You mean that giant monkey was your doing, and Princess Satera knew? That was way too far for a prank, go apologize to His Majesty right now!! Huuh, you're saying it wasn't on purpose? You mixed up the Monkey Suit and... hmm, hmm... and equipping both at the same time by mistake you ended up turning into a giant. From here on, be more careful, alright?

#shining series #shining wisdom #shining wisdom guide book #sw mars #sw karry #sw pazort #sw banbo #sw nuug #sw gueid #sw gudo fairy #sw satera #long post #reeeeally long post but i didn't feel like breaking it into several posts

6 notes · View notes

melishade · 2 years

Text

Attack on Prime Halloween Anthology: Candyman

Main Story

Frankenstein

“Wait, this one is pretty recent?” Armin asked in confusion, “What about all the other ones?”

“The other stories that I have mentioned have been passed down for generations,” Optimus explained, “Those stories have some sort of variation. Because this one is pretty recent, there is no confirmed retelling or variation to this story. This story was created about 20 years ago in Earth’s timeline. Although the origins of this urban legend mirror the stories I’ve mentioned before.”

“How bad will this one be?” Jean asked.

Optimus thought it over. “You will judge for yourselves.”

“Oh god,” Connie moaned.

Optimus turned his attention to the fire. “A long time ago, a black man named Daniel Robitaille was born the son of a slave. As he got older, he created a name for himself as an artist and traveled the country, to paint portraits for the rich and elite. One day, he was commissioned to paint the portrait of a young, white woman. And over time, the had committed a forbidden act of their time: they had fallen in love.

The woman had become pregnant with Daniel’s child. When she had told her father about it, he had gathered a lynch mob to hunt him down. They had beaten him and tortured him. They had cut off the hand he had used to make his art, and replaced it with a rusted, crooked hook. They had taken the honeycomb from a beehive and smeared it across his body, attracting the bees and causing them to sting him. The mob then took Daniel’s body and burned it on a pyre before spreading the ashes across the land.

Due to the injustice Daniel had suffered, his spirit had returned to the land of the living as The Candyman. His hand was forever replaced by the hook forcefully attached to his body. His ribcage now harbored the beehive that had stung him to near death so many years ago. For those who do not believe in the existence of the Candyman, one can invoke his spirit by facing a mirror and repeat the name, Candyman, five times. But be warned, invoking this name will result in your own brutal death at his hand. Those who invoke his name, are those who doubt his name. A name grants power above all else.

For I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom. Without these things, I am nothing. So now, I must shed innocent blood.

So beware invoking the name of the Candyman.”

“...who the fuck would be stupid enough to call out someone’s name that can kill you?” Levi demanded.

“There are those who doubt his name, and the Candyman does not desire his name to be tarnished,” Optimus declared, “A name is very powerful in this situation. People fear the Candyman because he is supposedly real, but his real power comes from people believing his name and invoking it. It is a negative feedback loop that ends in death.”

“Why does it need to be five times?” Hanji asked, “Why not three?”

“That is something that was never clarified,” Optimus admitted.

“But...he was in love,” Mikasa spoke up, “He was killed for being in love? What was so wrong with that?”

A grim expression formed on Optimus’ face. “Earth is not immune to the many forms of discrimination that have plagued your world and Cybertron. You all face discrimination because of the power in your blood. Cybertronians before the was faced discrimination based on their caste system. Racial discrimination is what is most common on Earth. If you were born with a fair skin color, you were more likely to be treated fairly and given better opportunities. If you were born with a darker skin color, you were more likely to face harsher treatments. Throughout history, people of this skin color faced many horrors. Many have been kidnapped from their homes, their countries burned to the ground. They were sold as slaves and brutally beaten and violated. They have been hanged for not showing proper respect to people of lighter skin color. They have face segregation, and have been barred from receiving the same treatment as their other. Even though times on Earth have changed over the years, this group of people has been continually marginalized and discriminated against.”

“So he was killed like an animal because he was seen as an animal,” Eren concluded, “One that tried to defy his place in the society he was born in.”

“But...they can’t turn into monsters,” Armin spoke, “They are just people. Just like Onyankopon! Onyankopon would be treated unfairly there because of his skin?! That doesn’t make sense!”

“People fear what they do not understand,” Optimus proclaimed, “When people do show, they end up vilifying it. This vilification of an unknown does nothing more than create the villain that they fear. It creates nothing more than a monster. Daniel was killed because he was black, and being so made him the villain.”

The Survey Corps were horrified at this. They were not horrified at the prospect of a monster that could be avoided by not saying it’s name. No. They were horrified by the fact that this fear of the unknown, this unjustly hatred of others, and their vilification, was inescapable. And if it wasn’t because they had the ability to turn into monsters, it would be because of something as simple as skin.

And it was both terrifying and heartbreaking.

(I just want to make a note for those who don’t know. TFP Dreadwing is voiced by the iconic Tony Todd, aka, the original Candyman in 1992. I mean seriously: what the hell was the budget on that so to get fucking TONY TODD?!)

youtube

17 notes · View notes

surrealsunday · 2 years

Note

Hey, I'm the anon who had started watchin Kinnporsche :) Hope you don't mind me venting about it again lol . But anyway, I'm on episode 5, and I just wanted to say I didn't expect it to be so cute? Like the first kiss scene was so fucking sweet (and the soundtrack aawww!) and Kinn was pining like an idiot and it made him seem like an actual regular human being for the first time? And I like that Porsche kind of force him to act like that since Kinn is probably not used to talk to people in a normal, and not in a they-are-useful-to-me, way. Also I've got to drop hats to Porsche. No matter what he says, he was born to be into these Mafia World. I mean he gets hired by a Big Maffia Boss who threatened to destroy his bar and the first thing he does is make silly pranks on him, get drunk during an important meeting, and make said Mafia Boss's brother watch porn, only to not only not be instantly murdered but actually getting a sweet kiss and two Big Mafia Bosses fighting for his attention? Legends only XD Not that I blame Kinn, Porsche is definitely an adorable little shit ^^ Also the fight scene at the end of episode 5 when Kinnporsche was so cool! (and the song Porsch's little brother wrote about him was so sweet but also so sad poor little boy is still the only one in the dark it's gonna be a shock when he's gonna learn the whole truth I bet :( )

Omg omg omg I love that you came back to tell me your thoughts 🤗. This is like reliving the show with you! So please, come vent any and all the time!!!

Yes!!! The show honestly inserted so much softness into a story that could have been so much more jarring and brutal? With Kinn especially, one of my fave things is how this badass, powerful, arrogant mafia boss becomes the softest marshmallow when it comes to Porsche 🥹. It does make Kinn seem incredibly human and sweet. The way he pines and the teenager way he goes about trying to figure out if Porsche has a gf or would like him akdjfaldkfj. God, it's so good. But they keep those core traits of his character as well. He is still capable of lashing out, of being cruel, of letting jealousy get the better of him. They really effectively made him very layered from the start and I loved that.

And one of the best things is what you mention - that Porsche treats Kinn like any other guy. It's just Kinn to Porsche. Even from the beginning when that Kinn was seriously pissing Porsche off lol. Still, Porsche refused to back down or see himself as 'less than'. And that ability to meet Kinn where he 'lived' was for sure vital to establishing them as equals in a situation with an uneven power structure.

Your interpretation of ep 2 is great. I love that you see Porsche as being a complete shit as him proving that he has the balls to belong in this world lolol. He really doesn't flinch easily, it is true. And the result being, "not only not be instantly murdered but actually getting a sweet kiss and two Big Mafia Bosses fighting for his attention? Legends only XD" omg it's so true hahahahahah. Porsche really is iconic.

And now you're headed for the most iconic ep. Episode 6 is everyone's baby. God, it's so good 😭. And yes, you'll get your angst with baby Chay too. Poor bub. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!! ❤️❤️❤️

#KinnPorsche #KP first watch anon

6 notes · View notes

chorusfm · 1 year

Text

Chloe Jane – “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)” (Video Premiere)

Today I’m so excited to introduce everyone to Chloe Jane, a pop singer/songwriter who has all the makings of a star. On her latest single and music video for “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia),” Chloe Jane takes the best of a bad situation in a relationship, and pens a majestic pop single. Chloe shared, “‘No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)’ is about losing patience with someone in a relationship. I gave someone so much of my time and energy and all I got in return was gaslighting and them lying to me. Eventually, I came to my senses and said ‘I gotta go, I don’t have patience for you this time.'” I was also able to cath up with this talented artist for a brief interview below. Can you describe your newest single “No Patience” thematically? Did its story come together with reference to anything you’ve experienced personally? I wrote “No Patience (No Tengo Paciencia)” after being in a relationship with a guy that was playing games with me and not treating me with respect. After a while of him not putting in enough effort to spend time together or even call or text me back, I lost patience for him. I backed off and told him that I’m not interested in not being one of his priorities. You noted that, musically, this track speaks to your love for Latin music and its impact on your life. That said, how did you go about drawing inspiration from that genre’s roots when creating this new single? My parents met in Ibiza, Spain and I grew up there when I was younger and still go back every Summer. Spanish culture and Latin music has been a big inspiration to me as an artist and in my music. I grew up listening to artists like Marc Anthony, Shakira, Maná, Jennifer Lopez and they inspired my music taste and songwriting. I also took Latin Ballroom dancing classes since I was 7 in New York and love dancing Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Salsa, Paso doble. So singing and performing Latin music has come very naturally for me and I can’t wait to share it with the world. The music video for this track was shot in Ibiza, which is quite special — can you describe the process behind-the-scenes, from concept to the final outcome? The music video was shot last summer in Ibiza, Spain. It was important to me to shoot it there because the island is a big part of my life and story as an artist. My intention for the music video was to show the beauty of the island. When most people think of Ibiza, they think of all the parties and nightclubs, but the natural beauty of the island is amazing, the beaches, scenery, turquoise water. We shot one of the scenes in front of the magical rock, Es Vedrá, which is right off the mainland and you can only see it by hiking a certain dusty path or by boat. Legend has it that Es Vedrá holds all the magic energy on the island and that is why people can go days without sleeping or don’t want to leave. We shot the dinner scene at my god father’s house in Salinas, which is where my parents met over 20 years ago. I love the island so much, and it is such a special place to me, so it only felt right to do the video for my debut Spanglish song there. --- Please consider becoming a member so we can keep bringing you stories like this one. ◎ https://chorus.fm/features/chloe-jane-no-patience-no-tengo-paciencia-video-premiere/

0 notes

l-1-z-a · 1 year

Text

Where 2012, Will Wright, "Gaming Reality" [Apr 25, 2012]

Our conception of modern interactive games has typically been as fantasy escapism. These are worlds we go into to get a break from our normal, everyday lives. In these microcosms we can be a wizard, a space marine or rule a simulated kingdom. But what if games took a different perspective? What if games were designed to engage you more deeply in your personal reality rather than just distracted you from it?

We're at a point now where our ubiquitous technology can build an amazing situational awareness of each of us, if we let it. From that awareness we open the possibility of a new lens on our world, a whole new sense in a way. I'd like to talk about what going down this path might look like from my point of view.

Will Wright

Stupid Fun Club

Will Wright, widely acknowledged for creating the simulation video game genre, is the creator of SimCityTM and The Sims, and unveiled the highly anticipated SporeTM in September 2008. The Sims franchise has now sold over 100 Million units around the world. A true gaming industry legend as a result of his pioneering contributions to video games, Wright has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and honors. Rolling Stone named Will Wright "One of the 100 People who are Changing America," in March 2009, placing him among artists, leaders, scientists, and policymakers who are "fighting every day to show us what is possible." In 2008, Will received the first-ever Gamer God Award at the Spike Video Game Awards as a testament to his revolutionary work. In 2007, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized an individual in the Video Game Industry for the first time when it named Wright a fellow. He also received the Producers Guild of America Vanguard Award that same year.

youtube

Subtitles of the presentation:

Hi everybody. So, basically I have been making games for a number of years, a lot of games I work on tend to be recreations of some form of reality. Sim City was one the very first ones. I love games, because games really, actually collapse all these different design fields into one thing.

I think it is probably the most interesting design object there is. You know, you get aspects of environmental design, aesthetics, functional, psychological, story telling, all these really are aspects of interactive design and game design, the stuff that we're kind of doing here. Now in games, there is kind of this presumption that reality sucks and we want to get away from it, right?

So a lot of games are really about escapism, how do we put you into this fantastical environment that you can't experience in real life. And there's also been this presumption in games, that really, the more we can draw the user into this kind of counterfeit world, capture all their attention, the more immersive that game is, the better.

And so, when people would describe the ultimate game, it was like, "Oh, I'm totally immersed in this thing and I'm living in some alternate reality." Star Trek actually had this vision of the holodeck, this world that you would go into when you can recreate any reality, while you're in the holodeck, but it wasn't real.

And games also, they kind of take reality in an interesting way. They take it and they remove details from it. They abstract it. This is the same way a map does. As you remove detail from a map, it actually gets more value to you, depending on if the map matches your purpose or not. The game's pretty much like a caricature reality in an interactive sense.

Now, different games, take the City for instance, can give you very different views of a city , whether it's something like Civilization or Grand Theft Auto. They're all at different levels, but each one of these represents a very particular abstraction of the concept of a city.

Not only that, but these become like these little worlds for your imagination to roam around in. Basically, story-telling occurs by the player doing things in these worlds. So, in some sense I think storytelling and gaming are kind of opposite sides of the same coin. Storytelling is somebody else kind of bringing you through an experience.

Games are an open world in which you go in and do whatever you want to do. Robert Louis Stevenson, when he wrote "Treasure Island," the first thing he did is he drew this map of a really cool island. And he sat there and stared at this map for about a week, just kind of imagining all the adventures that could occur on this map.

And so really this is a tool for his imagination. And from that came the story of Treasure Island that he wrote afterwards.

Now in gaming there's been this explosion of platforms.

You know, we started out with kinda consoles and PC's, then moving the portable devices. Now we're getting this huge kind of plethora of platforms out there, a lot of them mobile and social.

Now we talk about platforms. As a game designer, I think not just in terms of the technological platform, the hardware that we're running on, but there are also things like a cultural platform, you know, where is somebody playing this game, what culture they're raised in, what's the psychology of that person?

We have to kind of imagine that each one of these is a different form of platform that we're designing these experiences for. They comes in wide varieties, each one of these. Demographically, there might be something for younger kids, for women, for young boys. You can take any one slice out of this.

You can say for instance, PCs in Germany and little girls and say okay that is the intersection of a particular platform set, you know, which would seem like a very small set. If you actually go to Germany and look at the PC stores and see what they have for small girls, it turns out it is all about horses, lots and lots and lots of horse games.

These are all in the market. So even a very small intersection of that platform, can be very, very deeply mined. Now some of the really popular forms of entertainment that we see, really try to cast a wide net across all these groups, if you really are trying to capture everything. And occasionally somebody does that successfully.

And it's kinda interesting when you look at Avatar after it was released. Everybody thought it was about them, the native people up in Canada or the people in China, they all thought it was about, displacing these indigenous species or tribes. But if you do entertainment very well, people can kind of read their own kind of culture into it, their own demographic, their own back story.

But again, games really up to now have been primarily about escapism. How do we get away from reality? Star Trek, you know, while it have the concept of the holodeck, also had other kind of cool tools and technologies, the phasers, the communicators. But really my favorite device in Star Trek was always the tricorder.

You could land on the surface of a planet and you could scan, they could scan it for life forms or anything. It was this amazing kind of tool of awareness that they could use and I remember having a model of one of these as a kid. And now it turns out that I have one of these in my pocket for the most part.

When I think about what I can do with my iPhone, it's just extraordinary and not only that but everyone else has one as well. I mean, we are living in a world now where we carry this technology in our pockets that as a designer just astounds me. I can't even really comprehend what we could do with this technology.

Now when computers first came out, they were pretty lame. I actually started designing computer games way back when we were down at kind of the bit level writing assembly code and stuff like that. And, you know, it was all about the limitations of the machine. We were always hitting the limitations of the hardware, technology.

And as a designer nowadays, I don't feel like there's any meaningful limitation that I have. The amount of technology that used to be applied to NORAD, tracking incoming missiles, is basically now in my pocket, helping me find frappuccinos. Actually quite a bit more technology than NORAD had back then.

Now when we look at the convergence of these things, basically free data storage, amazing communication networks and just pretty much extraordinary processing in these little devices, I think really the thing that interests me the most, is the fact that these sets of technologies can drive us toward developing a very deep awareness of our personal state.

Understanding us. Parsing our own situation and then kind of orienting the entertainment activities toward that. So whereas gaming has primarily up to this point been about simulating parts of reality, now I think it's moving toward the idea that maybe we can start parsing actual reality, and incorporating that into our play experiences.

So starting with the perceptual side of this, the way you see things, can really influence the way you think about things. These are tilt shift images. These are actually photographs, that you've probably seen before, this style. But when you look at it, it basically makes reality look like a toy.

And just your initial thought, when I look at these pictures, I want to reach in and touch these things and play with them. So just changing my perception of the reality puts me in a different mindset about what I can do, the verbs that I can apply to that reality. And that's something that, we have the opportunity to do right now, whether we're using headsets of just holding up our cell phone.

But the idea that we can blend, these realities between what we are doing kind of on the virtual side and the real side, opens a lot of interesting possibilities. We'd kind of thought that in the future there would be these super-intelligent robots. They might be nice. They might be mean.

But it was all about artificial intelligence. But what we're finding, really, is the most powerful technologies of blending of the two. It's how do we take, you know, the best aspects of human intelligence, and mesh it with the power that we get from our technology and the blending of those two things is really what makes Google work. It's really mining and distilling human intelligence and then redistributing it.

There's no super AI over at Google figuring out how to write the search results. But once we have that, once we're able to kind of mesh these things with our own reality, we'll be able to track things in different ways. We'll see the world differently and now there's some issues with the amount of data that we can be getting.

We are already awash in data, right? And this obviously can be brought to extraordinary degrees of irritation. But on the other hand, we're very comfortable now looking to our television screens and seeing these blended realities in front of us. We're even seeing things taken from games. This is actually a racing game and this is actually a real race on television where the language of interactivity, the language of these virtual worlds, is starting to be used to parse reality and help us understand it in a more clear way.

Now within our brain and our intelligence, we have a number of different kind of ways of thinking about the world, different kind of subsystems of our intelligence. Each one of these, you know, is really an aspect of the way we think and the way we see the world. As organisms we basically have this fundamental problem, is that the world's out there, we're back here, we interact with this thing and we have to survive in the world.

What happens is we take data in through our senses, process it in our brain, decide what to do now. In some sense, we're holding these elaborate models of the world in our brain that we're running, we're simulating the world, and choosing our actions based upon that simulation. We have a fundamental issue here, which is that we have this limited bubble of experience.

You know, we can only have so many experiences in our lifetime that we have to build these models from and we're abstracting from that data. We've found through evolution actually, two ways to get more data to build more elaborate models of the world. One is to have toy experiences a little counterfeit experiences.

The other one is to learn from the experience of others. When somebody tells you a story, you can actually learn from that story, incorporate it into your model of the world to make your model more accurate based upon that data that you got from somebody else. So over time, we have come to call one of these things play and the other one storytelling.

These are both fundamentally educational technologies, that allow us to build more elaborate models of the world around us by supplanting our limited experience with other experiences. Now as we start moving from the virtual to the real, especially in terms of entertainment, it opens really cool possibilities.

I had kind of an epiphany about a year ago, I was in Burbank and I was an hour early for a meeting and I was standing on a street corner kinda bored, didn't know what to do, and I looked down the street and I saw this old like Shoney's Big Boy sign and I thought, oh that's cool and I walked down there just for the hell of it.

And I walked down there and there was this parking lot at the Shoney's, full of really cool old cars and old guys sitting out on lawnchairs and stuff, and it turned out that they would meet there last friday of every month and they were just car nuts and I had a great time. I love cars and so I spent the next hour talking to these guys about their cars and later it kind of occurred to me that you know this is a situation that was near me that really matched my interest that I was just unaware of.

It just kind of happenstance that I just happened to walk down there and meet these guys. But I was imagining that really when I think about my life I am probably surrounded with possibilities all the time like that, that I am just unware of. And that is something if there was a system that we could imagine that understood me enough and the world around me enough.

It could open these possibilities to me. You know, really, the point of it being, can we make games that get me more engaged in reality, rather than just distract me from it? So I kind of started thinking down that path. Really it's about situational awareness. I think that we all have a very limited set, awareness of the things around us, opportunities things we might do, experiences we might have.

So really we have the world state, in many dimensions and my personal state. And could a system basically open and expose these possibilities to me over time. So I started thinking about the idea of proximity. Typically we think about proximity in terms of space, if there's something near me, there's value in me knowing about it, good or bad.

If it's far away, it's of less value. But there are other types of proximity. There's, temporal proximity. How close is to me in time. Social proximity. You know, is this somebody I know, a friend of a friend, etc. or a stranger? Conceptual proximity. Is this something that matches my interest, something I want to do.

So each one of these ones, you can probably think of fifty dimensions like this, that all involve proximity to me, across this kind of wide space. As they get closer to me, there is a value gradient. Across each one of these dimensions, the closer it is to me the more value it has to me. In particular If we look at like the spatial dimension. We live in these spaces that are very specialized and we move through these every day, whether it's in a city or out in the country or wherever. They're specialized in terms of what we do in them, how we spend our time, there is actually a crossover between kind of our time specialization and the actual space. What's interesting with specialization is it is driven by networks in general, and this is true of almost any complex system, whether you're talking about a city, or a microorganism, or anything, what happens is that once there's a communication system opened to build networks.

In the case of us, our bodies, it was the neuron, the neural cell, basically allowed multi-cellular organisms to form. it allowed our bodies to specialize all these different organs. Roads, of course, allowed large cities to grow and then to specialize their areas and districts. And of course, computer networks allowed specialization of, kind of, conceptual space and interests that we go to on the web.

Time, we specialize in a similar way. We kind of segment our time. We are familiar with the idea of having calendars and having daily routines where we, kind of, do the same thing in these certain time slots. Sometimes we even map these, you know, time specializations to spatial. This is the famous Minard graph of Napoleon's march into Russia.

Social, you know, we basically have this idea of social specialization, social groups. When we see somebody, we put them into a category. It's a friend, family, acquaintance, etc. Some areas have very deep, very elaborate specialization. High school and middle school are one of the prime examples, but in our heads we have this map, of what group do I belong to?

Why do I belong to it? Do I want to move to a different group? So, this is another gradient that we kind of move within a social space. And the conceptual, that gets very wide. So many different things that we can be kinda be interested in, want to pursue, want to work in, etc. One of the things I used to do, actually a lot in terms of mapping residual space before the internet, is I would go to newsstands and I would look at all the weird magazines.

And each one of these magazines represented some kind of small group of people that were into that thing. And it was amazing the kind of magazines you find. These are actually all real magazines, by the way. But, it was interesting to me that there was enough people that were interested in that particular slice, conceptual slice to actually support a magazine. Now of course, when the Usenet came around, you know, kind of pre-Interent, it exploded.

You know, now there was really no threshold. You could have a group of ten people. And so it became a very fractal kind of affair in terms of how these groups would nest themselves. Now everybody in some sense triangulates themselves, against kind of where they live, where they work, things that they're into, brands that they buy.

In some sense these become almost communities, especially nowadays. You're able to meet people without regard to where they live. And basically you can kind of become a member of all these internet communities. They are like these kind of hive minds that we are all simultaneously a member of several of these.

We basically act as a neuron in all these brains. And these things are always competing for us. You know, it's almost like Frat Rush where they're saying, "Come join us! Come join us!" And they're trying to prove their value to us. There was this kind of concept in urban planning, for a long long time, classic economics, that people were competing for land, and that was really what drove land values, and specialization, and the structure of cities.

At some point they reversed it, and they kind of came up with the idea of human ecology, which is, what if instead of people competing for the land, we think of it as the land competing for people. And you think about home owners' associations, neighborhoods, whatever, basically trying to pull in the right people so that they kind of up the values.

So really it is land competing for the people. The internet phenomena, the communities we see on the net, are very much like that. It is very Darwinian but they're basically pulling in mind share. They're trying to get mimetic processing power so that people come in and participate in these communities.

But they are very much like hive minds, the way they behave, the way they think and they're nested. You can imagine a movie website. Basically within that movie website there will be all these kind of subcategories. But within any subcategory there will be sub-subcategories and it goes down and down and these things converse.

These kinds of hive minds converse at every different level. They might have a discussion as to where is a particular television show? Is it fantasy or sci-fi or who would win in a battle between a Borg death cube and an Imperial star destroyer These are the kind of things that these hives talk about.

They have arguments about these things. There's a very interesting fractal nested behavior. Also, these communities are voracious in terms of the amount of content that they can send and as entertainers designing games, TV shows, whatever, we have to understand that we need to, kind of, turn it around so they're actually creating a lot of the content and they have the opportunity and the tools.

They can create tremendous amounts of content. And so, that's one of the things that we have really lean into on the game side. At the same time, unlike real cities, these are almost like giant squatter cities, where overnight a million people can show up if you have a successful community, but you know, just as easily overnight, they all have jet packs and they can disappear and go somewhere else.

So these things are very, very fluid and transient relative to real cities As we look at real cities, as we start moving entertainment into space, it's kind of interesting. Look at the structure of cities, the spaces we live in right now, as I mentioned Before the kind of prevailing theory used to be, that the closer you were to the center of the city, the higher the rent was, because it was worth more.

In actually different forms of land use, commercial, industrial, and residential, would value that land at differing slopes. Therefore, commercial retail would typically value the center of a city more highly so they would pay the most, therefore your city centers are mostly commercial districts, residential, industrial etc.

So there have been these kind of classic economic theories about the way cities are structured more recently in last thirty For forty years, urban geographers and urban planners have looked more at perceptual interpretations. How do people think about the spaces that they live in? Kevin Lynch was one of the first people to really go down this path.

He would have people draw pictures of where they lived. The cities, neighborhoods, etc, they would try to draw them to scale. But they would be just do hand drawn things. And he would actually start collecting lots and lots of these maps and abtracting them up. And he found that these people were distorting in interesting ways.

He found that there were five central things that people would think about the spaces that they move through. Paths, basically the conduits, the roads, streets, sidewalks. The edges, where the city really kind of changed from one character to another. Districts, they really had some very identifiable kind of identity to them.

Nodes where paths would typically connect, intersect, where choices would be made and landmarks. And they would actually build their image of the city against these five things. And that was the way they thought about cities. There's been a lot more work, kind of down this path where people have done maps. This is kind of an interesting smell-texture-sound map that somebody did, walking around an area, I think, in Washington.

And basically this is really more how we experience the environments that we move through. And this is the type of thing that I think that we really want to start thinking about how we build more maps of. There's another project a guy named Christian Nold did this thing where he had people wearing biometric devices, basically to measure heart beat, anxiety level, etc., and had them move through the city.

You see this big spike here actually a very busy intersection. He was basically trying to build a map of the emotional response that people had to this environment. He collected a very large data set and actually printed out maps of certain areas in England. using this. This is the kind of data we can collect.

The other side of this is really the user, the people that we're dealing with, especially in terms of entertainment. What I am really interested in is they way people think, what they are interested in, what makes them tick. When you look at the amount of activity that somebody spends on their device, their cellphone, whatever.

We can actually distill a lot of stuff from that. We have done that a lot of that in games. We can understand the users move, what they want to do, how they are feeling at the time. In online games we can actually kind of look at these graphs and figure out what kind of person it is that's playing the game.

But really I think that in the future, the direction I'm heading towards and I'm very interested in, is how do we distill a model of the user. How do we perceive exactly who this person is and build a very unique experience between that person and the environment they live in. And I think, basically the mobile technology that we have now has removed most of the barriers to this and now it's more about kind of digging into teaching our computers to understand our players.

And that's it. Thank you.

#Will Wright #where #where 2012 #Youtube

1 note · View note

underatedcharactersunite · 3 years

Text

The Iron Queen

Summary - The Iron Queen is a legend, a myth even. However, Ivar the Boneless wants to prove her existance. When he does, it's almost as if Fate brings them together, so the two of them can become legendary together....

Pairing - Ivar the Boneless x Female Reader

WordCount - 2, 919

Warnings - Angst, mentions of upcoming battles.

For @youbloodymadgenius 1K Writing Challenge. Congratulations! »»————-　♔　————-««

Before the Iron Queen became to be, she was a legendary warrior Princess. She was a ruthless and tactful warrior in every sense of the word. There was no weapon she couldn't master, sword, shield, bow and arrow, axe or spear. She could use it all and use them well. In many minds, she was the perfect warrior, a combination of talent and intelligence. Y/N was loved among the warriors alike.

However, that all changed when Y/N became the Iron Queen of Mountmead. Unlike the other Kings, Y/N's Father final wish was to abolish their eldest law. From this day forth, until the end of time, whether the firstborn child is a son or daughter, they would be heir to the throne. Y/N's Father adapted the law to give his only daughter and child the throne.

This angered the surrounding Kings and Lords. Their ideologies were simple. a woman was not fit to rule. A woman was far too emotional to make rational decisions. They were unfit to lead armies and clueless in battle strategy, so the death of the King of Mountmead brought the potential to expand their lands despite the crowing of a new Queen. They had no respect or loyalty to her. They saw Y/N as a weak and passive woman, but they didn't realise how wrong they were.

Within the first several months of her coronation, Y/N and her army encountered six different battles. In every battle, Y/N was there leading her army to defeat the enemies that threatened her people. She refused to be seen as weak.

These battles created and enforced the Queen. She was to be cool and calculating, skilled and intellectual. Y/N made certain she surrounded herself with her closest and loyal advisors. Ser Favian was the head of her Queensguard. He'd also been the head of her Father's Kingsguard. A man who had been there from the day her Father was coronated. Secondly, there was Ser Conadus, head of her army and key battle Strategist. Ser Conadus was also her loyal confidant. After all, he'd been there for every major milestone in her life. There was no circumstance or situation Y/N couldn't speak to Ser Conadus about.

As Ferocious as Y/N was on the battlefield, she still maintained kindness in her heart. She often walked the streets, discussing the issues that were arising and how they could be solved. Y/N was able to provide reassurance to her people. Y/N made time in her day as frequently as possible to see people, to converse with traders. She kept a brave face for them all.

Hidden behind that brave face laid the devasting truth. Life as her people knew it was threatened. The surrounding Lords and Kings made a collective decision to bring their armies together to create an army of the thousands. While the Great Army of Mountmead was no easy defeat. Their numbers were no-where near as large. Y/N didn't know how to solve their issues. Repeatedly, she reached out to offer a truce to the other Lords and Kings, but it was no luck. They all desired Mountmead for themselves and they believed they were going to take it from the Iron Queen. They shared no resources and implemented laws in their Kingdoms. If any person was caught trading with the Iron Queen or any member of Mountmead, they were executed without question. This restricted the Iron Queen to land. No boats, to sail in search of allies. They were stuck. All of them in mortal danger.

Unbeknownst, to Y/N someone, had been looking for her. As fate would have it, the idea of a legendary warrior Princess turned Queen had become a legendary story. It had spread through many Kingdoms and lands with several different variations. Most believed these tales of the Iron Queen to be nothing more than that, tales.

Except one, Ivar the Boneless believed different. Ivar believed the Iron Queen, Y/N of Mountmead, existed and, he was determined to find her. In the beginning, Ivar had no idea where to begin his search, so he sent scouts to the North, South, East and West. When they returned, they came up empty. However, Ivar refused to give in. Ivar proceeded to continue to send his Scouts out each time, further and in different directions. Each time they came up without sight of the Iron Queen.

This continued until one trip the scouts returned to Kattegat with news of the discovery. His latest scouting mission had been a success. With this new information, Ivar knew hr needed to act quickly. Instructing the scouts to gather his brothers into the Great Hall, he sat down and waited for them to arrive. Ivar waited and waited for his brothers when they finally walked in.

"How do I always arrive before you?" Ivar questioned as all of his brothers took their seats.

"Because you decided to meet us here Ivar." Ubbe retorted as he paid attention to his youngest brother.

"Ivar, why have you gathered us here?" Bjorn questioned.

"Because I have found the Iron Queen."

"Your lying!" Sigurd yelled as Ivar smirked. Ivar didn't mind being underestimated. Sigurd was only jealous, he hadn't been able to do it.

"Why would I lie, Sigurd? My scouts have drawn a map to her Kingdom, and I wish to go visit her because she is in terrible danger?"

"Is she as beautiful as they say she is?" Hvitserk questioned. All of his brothers turned to look at him.

"Ivar informs us the Iron Queen is in danger, and that is the first question you have, Hvitserk." Sigurd responds as Hvitserk shrugs."

"A man has to know these things, Sigurd."

"Yes, the Iron Queen is more beautiful than she's described as. However, if someone doesn't help her, then no-one is going to see her beauty in person."

"Why is she in danger? Ubbe questioned as he poured a horn of mead, taking a large sip.

"The surrounding Lords and Kings do not respect her as Queen. When they're from, they believe women are unable to lead and participate in the battle. Although Y/N has been in more battles than most of the surrounding Kings and Lords."

"You say she's been in many battles, so why is she in danger?"

"Because Ubbe, the surrounding Lords and Kings have grouped to create one large army. According to the scouts, the Iron Queen has a decent sized army, but not one large enough to defeat them."

"What's in it for us?" Why should we help a stranger?"

"Isn't it obvious, Bjorn? We go to the Iron Queen, offer ourselves as an ally in exchange for the first selection of any the lands we conquer."

"That seems to be a fair trade. Whatever lands we take can be used as a new settlement and a base for further exploration. I say we go."

"Thank you Hvitserk. Anyone else?"

"I am coming with you," Sigurd responds to Ivar's surprise.

"I will come just to keep an eye on all three of you. Perhaps we should extend the offer to Harald and Halfdan. They could be useful to us."

"That is a good idea, Ubbe. What says you, Bjorn?"

"I shall stay here, make sure Kattegat remains running smoothly. If the God's desire us to meet, it shall be."

That night the sons of Ragnar began to create plans to set sail to Mountmead and the Iron Queen. They set sail with a small part of their army, with the plan that more men would follow days later. Help was coming to the Iron Queen and she didn't even know it.

»»————-　♔　————-««

Y/n had been in meetings all morning, they'd already attempted to plan out their defence attacks, but there was always a weak spot in their armour. There was no use, they simply needed more men. Men they didn't have.

"My Queen, we will figure it out. They haven't beaten us yet." One of the small council commented as Y/N examined the map once more.

"What we need is a miracle. Unfortunately, they don't happen often and early enough" It was as if someone was listening to her desires as Ser Favian came bursting through the door.

"My Queen, men have arrived on the shore. They hold no banner or sail. They don't appear to be apart of any of the surrounding threats."

"Lord Pollack, will you continue to lead this meeting in my absence. Ser Conadus will you accompany me to the Thron, Ser Favian will you gather some of the Queensguard to watch the remaining men. Bring the leaders to the throne room."

"Yes, of course, My Queen." They nodded and bowed respectfully as Y/N already stepped away from the meeting with Ser Conadus flanked her as she feared the worst.

"Nicholas, I don't think I can deal with any further setbacks. We're already at war on land, we can't compete with threats from the ocean as well."

"Relax my dear. ;Perhaps this is a beneficial meeting. You need to keep calm, just because we're at war doesn't mean everyone's a threat. Remember, your lessons." As the large, solid oak doors opened, someone announced the Iron Queen as she raised her head high, removing any emotion in her mind and gaze.

Although Y/N's attention was already directed towards one of the men in front of her. All of the men had knelt except one."

"I told you to kneel." Ser Favian attempted to force the man onto his knees, but Y/N noticed the glimmer of the buckle her pace quickened.

"Ser Favian, can you not see the restraints on his legs . Since when did we treat our guests so poorly." Ser Favian backed away immediately kneeling.

"I'm sorry, forgive Ser Favian it was a simple misunderstanding." Noticing a chair in the corner, Y/N walked over and picked up the chair and brought it up towards the man, placing it behind him.

That's when Y/N caught the first proper glimpse of the man. The piercing blue eyes, the muscular arms, his smirk etched onto his face as he observed your expression scan all over him. You hadn't glanced at his brothers, Harald or Halfdan or Floki. Just him.

Ivar was just as mesmerised by her as she was him. Y/N was just as beautiful as his scouts had told him she was. She was both assertive and confident. Ivar wanted to know her and no-one was going to stop him from getting what he know desired the most.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, My Queen. My name is Ivar the Boneless, these are my brothers, as well as Harald Finehair, Halfdan the Black and Floki. We are here to offer our services." Ivar confidently took ahold of Y/N's hand without, hesitating brought her knuckles up and brushed his lips against them. Ivar did not miss the way her eyes widened in shock, momentarily before her composure regained.

"Y/N lowered her head as she stepped back towards the steps to her throne once she was seated, she called for everyone to raise as she once more looked towards Ivar the Boneless.

"You wish to offer your services to me, and the Kingdom of Mountmead, why?"

"I believe together we could be an unstoppable force. We have all heard of your battles and the current threat that you have surrounding you. My Queen, we have the numbers you need." Tuning to Ser Conadus, Y/N examined his gaze as she attempted to read his expression.

"What would you receive in return for your men?"

"First choice of any land that is gained in the result of war." Truth be told, Y/N was beginning to run out of strategic options and perhaps Ivar and the rest of them was her only hope.

"I accept your terms Ivar the Boneless. Ser Favian will see that the rest of the men are given a warm place to sleep. Ser Conadus, would you see that Ivar the Boneless and the rest of his party settle in well."

"Wait my Queen, I have a gift for you." One of Ivar's brothers, called someone forward as they laid a box onto the ground, standing Y/N walked down the stairs as two of Y/N's guard lifted the lid. In the box, it appeared to be a shield with bright colours painted on it.

"Thank you-"

"Hvitserk, my Queen." Smiling, Y/N could already tell that Hvitserk that was the most mischievous out of all of the brothers.

"Thank you Hvitserk." Once more, another brother stepped forward, this time he insisted on carrying the box towards the Iron Queen. Once the lid was lifted it, it revealed a strange looking instrument.

“I an teach you to play it, if you’d like my Queen.”

“Thank you, that would be lovely-”

“Sigurd, my Queen.”

“Thank you, Sigurd.”

“My Queen, I have one last gift for you. Unfortunately, it does not fit through the castle walls.” Ivar’s voice broke Y/N’s concentration and soon the two of them were accompanied by Ser Conadus and Floki. As Y/N continued to walk silently, Y/N kept pace with Ivar as the two appeared to be heading to the docks.

“Your Grace, why are people so threatened by a woman?” Floki questioned as Y/N turned towards Floki.

“In these parts, a woman is believed to be unable to rule. Women are unable to rule because they believe they are unable to think clearly or learn the ways of War. According to them, they shouldn’t have to fight to take my Kingdom, I should bow and give it to them,”

“We can’t let that happened now can we. Don’t worry Iron Wueen, we will bring them to their knees.” The four of them stepped onto the docks, Y/N glanced around them, wondering what it could be.

“Turn around my Queen.” Turning around, there was a boat. It was unlike any boat Y/N had seen before stepping closer, was her gift on the boat?

“What do you think my Queen?” Ivar questioned as Y/N was still unsure what Ivar had given her. Then it dawned on her.

“The boat, it’s mine. I couldn’t possibly except it.”

“Why not? The other boat builders refuse to build you a boat so Floki build you a boat. It could be one of many perhaps, if you so desired.”

“I wouldn’t know the first thing about sailing or running a boat.”

“Don’t worry. we can show you, your Grace/” Floki replied as the wind blew while the flag gushed in the wind.

“Thank you, both of you. You have no idea how important and appreciated this is for me and my Kingdom.”

“You are more than welcome. I believe this is a start to a beautiful relationship.”

»»————-　♔　————-««

The next few days, were manic, as new voices gave new insight and strategies. Their culture was vastly different from Y/N’s, they’re war and battle strategies gave Y/N a unique way of seeing the up and coming battle.

One thing that Y/N noticed immediately was the high intensity of the sons of Ragnar sibling rivalry, specifically between Ivar and Sigurd.

Each time she began a discussion with either one of them, she could practically feel the glares at the back of her head. It only proved her point, they were always trying to compete with one another.

One morning in particular, Y/N had broken her fast early so she could take a peaceful morning walk, before chaos ensured.

What should have been a peaceful walk turned into Sigurd following her around discussing how terrible his younger brother was/ Y/N kept quiet while she listened to Sigurd go on about how vicious his brother was. According to Sigurd, Ivar was a monster who had no right to be in her company. Sigurd told her to listen to his words carefully.

Y/N had listened to his words closely, except she’d drawn a completely different conclusion. It was clear to Y/N that Ivar did have his fair share of problems, he was often angry and nearly always had a sombre attitude. Except Y/N was able to dig through the initial layer and realise how much more there was to him.

While Y/N had appreciated Sigurd’s advice, she’d informed him that she could make her own judgement on Ivar and the rest of them. When her and Sigurd parted ways, he warned her once more.

»»————-　♔　————-««

Later that night as Y.N headed to her chambers, tired from yet another day of back to back small council meetings and war strategy meetings. Y/N had grown tired and in desperate need of sleep.

Y/N should have known that nothing was ever that simple as she was walking past Ivar’s room, she heard a commotion. Barging through the door, she became quickly aware that Ivar was one the floor in some form of distress.”

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t need your help!” Ivar snapped, however, the Iron Queen knelt onto the ground beside him.”

“Okay, then I shall sit with you then.”

“Wouldn’t you rather spend time with my brother, Sigurd” Y/N rolled her eyes sitting down on the floor, she stretched her legs so they were diagonally with each other.

“I gather you never heard the end of the conversation. If you had you would have heard myself inform Sigurd that I am capable of making my own decisions. For sometime now Ivar you had my curiosity but now you have my attention” Ivar smirked, this conversation was about to get interesting.

#youbloodymadgenuis1kcelebration #Ivar the Boneless imagines #Ivar the boneless imagine #Vikings imagines #Vikings imagine #Ivar the boneless oneshot #Ivar the Boneless one shot #Vikings one shot #Vikings oneshot #Ivar imagines #Ivar imagine #Ivar one shot #Ivar oneshot #Ivar the boneless x Reader

333 notes · View notes

thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 3 years

Note

Just read your paranoid Bella post (it was awesome) and what stood out to me is that in these kinds of AUs the Quiletes seem to be kinda left out. If I recall, Billie actively tried to warn Bella that Cullens are bad news and even argued w Charlie about that. How do you think a scenario with Bella who’s not interested in Edward and instead rekindles her childhood friendship w Jacob from the get go (mb befriends Leah too? and is known as ‘the kid w her own company outside of school’) could go?

The post anon is referencing.

I guess I can answer this earlier than I would normally. Sometimes it's good to shuffle the posts around!

Why No Quileute?

Many of the AUs people ask about center around either the Twilight period (something about Bella is significantly different before Twilight begins), the New Moon period (New Moon changes in such a significant manner that Eclipse never happens), or very rarely the post Breaking Dawn period (Bella's off prancing in the woods and Jake is just kind of there).

With the first two especially the circumstances make it unlikely Bella will significantly cross paths with Jake let alone discover the secret of the wolves and meet the rest of the Tribe.

What Do You Mean Bella Might Not Find Out?!

Remember, Jake was not Bella's childhood friend, that was his older sisters. When Bella stops visiting Forks Jake, only a few years younger, seemed like light years younger than Bella Swan. He was not on her radar at all and was that annoying kid brother.

Even as a teenager, Bella's clearly bothered by the age gap between them, seeing it as much larger than it really is.

In the beginning of Twilight she's pleased to see Jake, is willing to flirt with him for information, but she's not at all interested. She only seeks him out in New Moon to work on the motorcycles with him as free labor. From that, the friendship we see through the rest of the series grows.

Before that, though, Billy was more on Bella's radar than Jake ever was. And Billy in canon is Bella's slight enemy as he tries to warn her away from Edward the vampire. Well, Bella certainly knows more than him! So, there, Billy!

As for the wolves themselves, they didn't want to tell Bella, Sam had Jake cut all ties. By happenstance Jake had happened to tell Bella this story and he happens to be able to jog her memory. Had that not happened, she would have assumed he left her just as Edward did and sunk even deeper into depression.

Likely, Charlie would have sent her to live with her mother.

She would never find out the mysteries of the "bears" in the woods, would never meet all the members of the tribe, would never truly develop her deep friendship with Jacob, and she and the Quileute would simply not cross paths.

Bella and the tribe very easily could have been ships passing in the night.

Why No Quileute in Paranoid Bella AU?

Now, this is a Bella who does not want to be with Edward but she's also a paranoid, terrified, wreck. Edward is sneaking into her room every night before Bella gets to First Beach

I imagine she likely does not go to the beach, or if she does, pointedly does not ask anyone about Edward. NOPE, SHE KNOWS NOTHING. Because for all she knows, Edward is hiding somewhere in the bushes watching her.

He, after all, has dropped hints that he knows everything that happens to her.

Bella doesn't know about the treaty at this point and that Edward cannot physically go to La Push.

When Billy gives her cryptic hints, she probably gives him deer in the headlights looks and debates scribbling "SAVE ME" on a sheet of paper, but for all she knows Billy is a human and stands no chance against Edward. In that moment, Edward is right outside her house, in his car, listening to every word.

If Bella tells Billy to get her the fuck out, she might very well be condemning him to be eaten.

"AHAHAHAHAHA BILLY, I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND. SO MUCH."

When Billy sends Jake to Prom, Bella is in Edward's arms, right at that moment. Worse, unlike Billy, Jake does think this is ridiculous and is utterly mortified at interrupting her date like this.

Bella wants to cry.

"AHAHAHAHA, JAKE, I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND. SO MUCH."

Point being though, Edward doesn't tell Bella about the wolves, and she likely doesn't know about them from the beach. So to her, the Quileutes are just humans who seem to know what she knows. Edward likely never expands on this as he never has to in this universe. So he also never explains things like the treaty. This means they are just normal people who stand no better chance against Edward than she does. She can't go running to them for sanctuary, screaming, and potentially have Edward eat the entire tribe as he would have Biology class.

Just as she wouldn't put her mother or Charlie in danger, Paranoid Bella will not knowingly endanger the tribe.

Paranoid Bella Rekindles Her Friendship with Jake (and Leah Comes Along for the Ride)

Let's say Bella does go to First Beach and notes that Edward says he can't make it for whatever reason. Bella's not sure she believes this but he does seem unnaturally disappointed.

Sam drops his "The Cullens aren't welcome here" ominous line and Bella stares at him long and hard. He seems to know something, might even know the same something she knows, in the first timeline she likely decides it's not worth the risk of Edward overhearing them.

In this one though... this may be her only chance to gather information.

Sam is intimidating and scary looking (which is too bad as he's the one who could actually do something in this situation). So she resorts to her "bad flirting with Jake" plan.

Once again, it works, but this time Bella's soul dies inside.

Oh yeah, the Cullens are vampires and eat people (Bella knew it, SHE KNEW IT) but Jake thinks it's all superstitious nonsense. The only way he has heard of to kill them are noble werewolf spirit warriors from the tribe. But they have the treaty with the Cullens because they don't eat people on purpose (Bella cries inside).

No, Jake's never heard of anyone being an actual spirit warrior, don't be stupid, Bella. It's just an old legend.

Bella leaves the beach miserable.

The Quileute Tribe clearly knows but it seems like there's nothing they can do about it either.

BuT EdWArD's StIll In HeR RoOm aT NiGHt!

Bella decides it's worth the risk.

She drives to Billy's, watching for Edward tailgating her at every moment, but sees no sign of him (thank god). Luckily for her, in this early Twilight period, Edward was trying to pretend not to be a lunatic. So he wasn't running down her car yet like he was in Eclipse.

He's very unhappy she's visiting land he cannot go on but will pretend everything's fine. THIS IS FINE. SHE COULD BE EATEN BY BEARS BUT THIS IS FINE.

Bella confesses to Billy that Edward Cullen, the vampire, is sneaking into her bedroom at night to watch her sleep and she is certain he will try to eat her.

This was not what Billy had hoped or expected to hear from Bella Swan.

Those demonic motherfuckers.

Billy likely debates calling Carlisle, the head of the coven (who genuinely would be appalled by all of this), but he doesn't trust any of these people. He assumes Edward is grooming Bella to be Dracula's Bride (he is) and that this is just a thing vampires do (it's not).

But the Tribe cannot go to war with the Cullens.

They have only one wolf at this point, Sam, who is at this point still a teenager and untried in combat. He would be fighting seven vampires alone, they would be condemning him, and the tribe itself to a massacre.

However, that they haven't come after Bella yet is perhaps a good sign. The Cullens may not want to break the treaty either (Billy doesn't realize it's just Edward out there who wants to break it).

So here's what they'll do, Bella will "rekindle" her friendship with Jacob. She'll come over every single day, immediately after school with no exceptions, and will live at their house every weekend.

No exceptions.

The Cullens cannot enter Quileute land and, if they do... Well then, I guess they prepare for war.

Jake is ecstatic, though weirded out, as Bella suddenly practically lives at his house. They get along very well and soon their friendship is formed. Jake keeps trying to date her though and Bella's not very interested.

As for Leah... Sorry anon, but Leah is at the most miserable point in her miserable life. She's been dumped by Sam for her cousin and she has no idea why this has happened and Sam offers no explanations. She's a ball of rage and misery and has no time for Jacob Black's jittery girlfriend from Forks.

Meanwhile Edward is becoming annoyed.

He accepts the explanation that Bella and Jake are childhood friends, that she knew his sisters growing up, and that they've struck up their friendship again but... He doesn't like it.

He goes from imagining Mike Newton's head exploding to Jacob Black's head exploding.

Every day he curses that treaty and thinks it's so damn convenient that Bella keeps running off to the one place he can't follow.

He sits and he seethes.

...

And I stop here.

Wherever this path leads, anon, it is not one we should follow.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #twilight quileute #bella swan #jacob black #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #billy black #sam uley #leah clearwater #meta #headcanon #opinion

281 notes · View notes