#lore analysis

[halfagone]

Kryptonians and Ectoplasm

I have... SuperPham thoughts. I mentioned this on Discord the other day, and it went somewhere along the lines of this:

In an AU where Danny is biologically Lois and Clark's son, that means the radiation of the portal turning on, killing him, and bringing him back to life is likely a concentrated version of how Clark came back to life due to exposure to enough ultraviolet rays or ion radiation. He essentially has the ability to photosynthesize like a flower, and in this essay I will-

And well, that's all I had at the time. So here's the essay:

The Ghost Zone could very easily be translated to the Phantom Zone in the crossover. However, in many main forms of DC media, Kryptonians such as Dru-Zod and his allies were sent to the Phantom Zone as a punishment for their crimes, effectively cutting them off from their powers. Which means it's likely not ectoplasm that's substituting for the ultraviolet rays of a yellow star, but the process of opening the portal.

Even if looking beyond a half-Kryptonian Danny AU, there can be a lot of applications to this. And taking a look at Superman lore gives some clues to how we can further integrate this into DPxDC.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not a scientist, be it physicist or biologist. This brain child was born from pure imagination and unlimited access to scientific articles.

For those that might be less familiar with this timeline, the period in which Superman dies and is seen replaced by four other Superman (one of which is Superboy, or Kon-El, the clone to Kal-El and Lex Luthor) is known as "Reign of the Supermen" and consists of a number of comics.

I won't get into the specifics of all these Supermen, but Clark comes back to life after roughly six months. [Taken from the DCAMU movie "Reign of the Supermen", in which the prologue reveals that the battle to the death between Superman and Doomsday was 6 months ago.]

So it took roughly 6 months for Clark to fully recover. Yet for Danny it took, probably, 5 seconds for the whole thing to be said and done. Which could possibly explain why he's so powerful, beyond the mixture of ectoplasm in his system for this AU.

On the other, other hand, there are many headcanons surrounding how ectoplasm functions on a more scientific standpoint. One of my personal headcanons is that ectoplasm feeds on the electromagnetic waves that humans emit through emotions. The stronger the emotion, the more ectoplasm pools together. Hence, when a person dies, all that ectoplasm pooling together and imprinting on said ectoplasm creates a ghost. [This headcanon is first discussed in chapter 28 of LL's Ascent.]

But we've already established that Kryptonians can be revived through ion radiation. So what is ion radiation? In simple terms, ion radiation is "a type of energy released by atoms that travels in the form of electromagnetic waves (gamma or X-rays) or particles (neutrons, beta or alpha)." But... didn't we just say that ectoplasm likely isn't the reason Superman came back to life? Especially since the Phantom Zone hampers Kryptonians' powers?

That is very true, and if you think about it, this would mean ectoplasm and Kryptonian biology exhibit a lot of the same characteristics. What would be the difference then? Ectoplasm retains the electromagnetic waves, hence how it maintains ghosts' personalities and memories.

However, hampering with these electromagnetic waves could explain why ghosts lose themselves over time, and might give headway to how anti-ecto weapons harm ghosts. But that is a topic that requires more research, and will have to be left for another day.

So ectoplasm retains electromagnetic waves, what about Kryptonians? They can't do the same. Once they are cut off from sunlight, or any form of ultraviolet rays, their powers go with it. Common headcanons for ghosts determine that they can go for some time without continually feeding on ectoplasm, although they gradually grow weaker the longer they go without a source.

But ectoplasm does not emit electromagnetic waves of their own. Perhaps ghosts could filter their ectoplasm and make this possible, maybe that's how they give people the creeps when they intrude on their territory. But otherwise, plain old ectoplasm won't do this. But do you know who does emit electromagnetic waves, according to this logic?

Kryptonians do.

Their emotions emit these waves, and when traveling to the Phantom/Ghost Zone, that would mean all the ectoplasm around them would feed on their emotions. Unfortunately, there is no source of sunlight in the Ghost Zone, which means not only are they cut off from a main source of nutrition, they are constantly being leeched off on from ectoplasm.

This could mean that going to the Ghost Zone, for a Kryptonian, might just be a death sentence. Which makes Dru-Zod's exile to the Phantom/Ghost Zone that much more grim and cruel. We know from the Flashpoint Paradox timeline that Kryptonians will slowly wither away and quite possibly die without any source of ultraviolet rays.

So what would this mean for a half-Kryptonian Danny AU? Well for one, it would explain why Danny is so powerful. His dual nature as half-Kryptonian and a halfa means that all the weaknesses he has from his Kryptonian biology is canceled out by his nature as a halfa, and vice versa.

This wouldn't entirely strip Danny of weaknesses. In some ways it could even compound his weaknesses depending on what's used against him.

Yet it's still something very interesting and tasty to think about. And provides a lot of possibilities for future plot points or alternate universes.

#dpxdc #dpxdc headcanon #dpxdc au #superpham #halfagone rambles #lore analysis #with yours truly :D #long post

[acesw]

UTTU Part 1: The Magazine

Welcome back to A.D. doing mega lore posting because good god this will never get old. But anyways, this post will be about UTTU and not only about their magazine, but also about their Flash Gathering. (This also counts as my birthday gift for Sonetto since she likes being info-dumped, probably. Happy Birthday Sonetto!)

“Standing in the shadow, we tell all the stories which were once unknown, like a weaver in silence, or a moth light trap in the dark night.” - Pandora Wilson, UTTU Journalist

First, who even is UTTU?

UTTU Magazine is an arcanist magazine organization that releases stories about notable arcanists. According to Blonney, they are "the greatest fashion and arcanist information magazine." They operate globally as well as privately, going so far as to hide the physical identities of their reporters and their main headquarters.

There’s not a lot of things known about how UTTU works, but what we do have is information about their magazine and their Flash Gathering event, which we can start off from there. But first, what does the name mean?

The name ‘Uttu’ comes from the Mesopotamian goddess of the same name, one of Sumerian origin. She was associated with weaving (and spiders but the claim of Uttu being envisioned as a spider is limited).

They sell their magazines in the form of seasonal subscriptions, advising to only purchase the subscription and not much else. From there, they create the articles and send out monthly updates.

UTTU also hosts “Flash Gatherings” for the game’s events as a reading club, where the arcanists are invited to see the UTTU market situated in the area of where the in-game event takes place; they can read the Flash Journal and FLASH:FAME, obtain FAME cards from retails, and get rewards. I’ll get into this in Part 2.

First, we'll explore the magazine since there's so much questions surrounding them.

UTTU Magazine

Of course, the magazine is the main brand of the organization. The magazine has properties in which only arcanists are able to read it (speculation), and it has a scheduled self-update to release new articles/artworks.

The reason why we are able to see such a large amount of information is because from what can be told, Vertin is an avid collector of this media, even being titled “Top Collector” in the introduction of the Green Lake Flash Gathering.

Anyway, the magazine has a very interesting way of how it works, and they even have their own reading guide, including instructions of how to manage the magazine and activate the self-update.

Reader’s Guide and Self-Updating system

Welcome to UTTU. This is a magazine.

Don’t skip this page. Unlike those useless prefaces filled with boring platitudes, this one is important.

1. Don't doubt the truth of UTTU. We only tell true stories that happened to real arcanists.

2. You only need one copy of UTTU. After you make the seasonal subscription, the copy will update itself on 15th every month.

3. Whenever the copy updates itself, please place it below a cupboard or the firewood in a fireplace, but do not leave any fire or light. Then step back to 8.8 feet away and wait for 10-15 minutes. It is normal to hear the sounds of sewing and crawling during the update.

4. Don't be confused about the interviews of the artworks. Please note that anything can be an artwork: they can be alive, or dead. Whoever has a story to tell can be deemed an artwork.

5. You might smell a fine aroma from the pages while reading an interview. This is normal.

6. Do not be shocked by live photographs, and do not let any of them come in contact with dark coffee or matches.

8. Keep UTTU away from fire. This is an arcanum magazine and is definitely not fireproof.

9. Although it's not fireproof, UTTU is waterproof, but please do not soak it in water for too long. If you do so by mistake, please prepare enough insect repellent.

10. Don't ask where article 7 is. (lmao)

11. If you see any ads about nightmare recycle on the attached pages, do not call the number on it or make any attempt to catch those monsters. If your children report strange goings-on to you, comfort them with one extra milk candy before bedtime.

12. Try to enjoy reading UTTU.

The way one could get the magazine is buying a seasonal subscription, and upon receiving it you’d have to take care of it regularly since it is delicate. When updating, you put it in a place where you’d most commonly find spiders. That way, these arcane weavers can multiply and add to the tapestry. Additionally, this magazine seems to be a live and interactive type of media, which does explain the “live photographs” and the spiders.

Magazine Contents

Now, what are the contents of the UTTU Magazine?

First, we look at our Role Atlas. Yes, the Role Atlas is involved in this too.

There are categories of our roster that classify them by what they are: Beyond, awakened, arcanist, mixed, and infected. Now, what are each of these?

Beyond: an Arcanist with unexplainable origins not found within Arcanum (Ex: Voyager and aliEn T are aliens born of supernatural causes rather than arcanum. Jessica is a hybrid species of a deer woman (a spirit in Native American myth) and a changeling (a supernatural creature in European folklore) )

Awakened: an Arcanist who was once an object and has been given sentience one way or another (Ex: Sputnik was a regular space probe as the real Sputnik 1 who gained sentience when entering orbit).

Arcanist: A general term for those who are born with a different physiology that makes them able to sense and use arcanum, this is not limited only to human arcanists. (Ex: Door was born of arcanum on Earth and was always sentient thus is not a Beyond nor Awakened arcanist)

Mixed: People who both have the genetics or blood of a Human and an Arcanist. (Ex: Pavia and Satsuki were implied to be born of a human and an arcanist)

Infected: Currently unknown, no arcanists within this category.

They also have a “Bound Volume”, which serves as a gallery collection of arcanists that Vertin has and has not met. Those she (and we) haven't met will be obscured.

The “Artwork”

Artworks in this game are basically the arcanists that UTTU chooses to write about. As long as there is one to tell, they will conduct an interview and report on it. For each artwork they contain: Exhibition details, Item Collection, and Story/Interview.

First, the cover. Made by my friend and fellow lore chat dweller Rabies En., this is what can be made out of what each part of the exhibition details mean:

And of course, the “Completion” date is their birthday.

When it comes to describing their inspiration, it tends to be left on a vague note and left for speculation. While concluding that the first half is the title of the arcanist’s afflatus, the second half has left most people confused. My speculation is that this latter half is something that is related to their job, hobby, skill, or interest.

For example, Balloon Party’s inspiration is quite straightforward: “Remains of a Rock Formation [Mineral] Bones Balloon.” It directly showcases her afflatus and what she is inspired by, which also goes hand in hand as to what her arcane skill is. Meanwhile, Sonetto’s is more vague and unique: “Trained Loyal Dogs [Mineral] Foreign Affairs.” These reflect her upbringing and main interest respectively. With this theory, I concluded that the afflatus and inspiration boost one’s arcanist’s medium, which in turn helps fuel their arcane skill.

Second, the items. All arcanists have a section that lists personal items that closely pertain to their character, usually, these things would be visible on their person. The author analyzes them and relates them to their story and character. And depending on the item, they are priced by clear drops.

Additionally, if a character has a garment that isn't their I2 (e.g. event garments), they will have a special section for a new set of items. (Ex. Sonetto's Parade Anthem garment isn't exactly her I2 outfit, thus she has another set of items that relate to the uniform.)

Lastly, the Story and Interview; Each and every arcanist is interviewed by Pandora Wilson, another fellow arcanist and one whose face is obscured to the world other than a pair of lips.

The first story is a retelling of their background and upbringing, the second is a story about their daily life or lifestyle, and the third is a transcripted segment of their interview. The interview segments usually starts with Pandora greeting and/or asking a few questions towards the interviewee, but occasionally they also include the end of these interviews.

They highlight parts that make the interviewee unique; It exhibits their distinction, their personality, and most importantly, their overall character and the life they lead. These help us learn about the arcanists in a more deeper level the more we bond with them, as well as learning about the world they live in considering how all of them come from different times.

Now, our magazine analysis ends here. Feel free to ask questions and Part 2 is linked below!

Part 2: The Flash Gathering

#reverse 1999 #uttu #lore analysis #say thank you to rabies en for the exhibition guide #heavy sonetto mentioning cause we love her

[getvalentined]

Differentiating the "Black Robes"

For folks who didn't catch it on their own playthrough or (or watch-through) of FF7 Rebirth, here's a quick breakdown of the apparent nature of the people in black robes seen throughout both this game, and previously in Remake.

This differs from OG canon, where everyone in a black robe was a Sephiroth Copy, but in the FF7R timeline they appear to be broken into three "types."

SPOILERS BELOW — READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

NO NUMBER TATTOO means this is a G-type SOLDIER suffering from degradation. These people are terminally ill. Degradation sets in within five years of enhancement [see Note 1 below], and accelerates very quickly without aggressive treatment.

Known G-type SOLDIERs: Roche, Azul, Rosso, and Shelke Rui. Population: over 100.

A ONE- OR TWO-DIGIT NUMBER TATTOO indicates S-type SOLDIERs in the throes of Reunion. These people are not terminally ill, based on dev comments confirming that S-type SOLDIERs don't degrade, but they have a cellular leash that is being constantly yanked on by Sephiroth/Jenova. Without Reunion taking place, most of them would presumably live long, fairly healthy lives. [See Note 2 below.]

Known S-type SOLDIERs: Zack Fair, Kunsel, Luxiere, and Broden. Population: presumed fewer than 100.

A TATTOO STARTING WITH "SC" confirms these people are successful Sephiroth Copies. Failures do not receive a tattoo. They may or may not be terminally ill, contingent upon which type of SOLDIER they were prior to the procedure to make them into a Copy, and the leash on their own cellular makeup is much stricter, much more direct, and gives them a clearer concept of where to go and what to do.

Known Sephiroth Copies: Roche (successful), Zack Fair (declared failure), and Cloud Strife (declared failure). Population: 4 subjects in total, plus 2 known failures.

Tattoos don't seem to be applied at the time of enhancement, since none of the SOLDIERs in Crisis Core have them, but it's possible that early inductees like Broden were marked when they survived the treatments; this seems likely, as Broden's tattoo is in a slightly different typeface than the tattoos of others in his "type."

I didn't include Sephiroth, Genesis or Angeal under known members of their given types, as they were never normal humans and were not enhanced using one method or the other as teens or young adults. Those who are Jenova babies from birth don't count. I also didn't include two members of DeepGround due to the fact that they canonically cannot actually be G-type SOLDIERs based on the lore of how the two of them were made and how they function in general; they may be G-type on paper, but they are not G-type for the purposes of this analysis.

Lastly, I'll admit that this breakdown may appear to be slightly inconsistent during gameplay, but this seems to be due only to the reuse of models between black robed individuals, presumably to take stress off the dev team. I'm fine with this, obviously, no crunch is good crunch. As far as I can tell it's pretty consistent in full cutscenes, though, so I'm sticking with it until the third game proves me wrong.

—

NOTE 1: The timeframe for degradation is based on Roche suffering from the condition prior to his becoming a Sephiroth Copy, which is visible in the fact that he has a handful of incongruously pale streaks through his hair prior to the procedure; an attempt to cure this is presumably the reason he volunteered to work with Hojo in the first place.

According to the Remake Ultimania, Roche joined SOLDIER after the Nibelheim Incident, so he's only been in the program for five years at the most; this timeframe also allows us to recognize S-type SOLDIERs, as they've been in the program for significantly longer with no known ill effects (e.g.: Kunsel has been in the program since at least 2000, but is mentioned by name and indicated to be at headquarters in Remake, showing that he's still on active duty in 0007; this wouldn't be the case if he were suffering from degradation, so he can't be a G-type.)

NOTE 2: The capacity of S-type SOLDIERs to live fairly normal lives with minimal major health issues is proven by the existence of Broden, who identifies himself as a SOLDIER but was certainly part of Project 0; he and Mildred left home as teenagers and wound up with Shinra, but Mildred doesn't know the name of the project into which he was conscripted, only that it was "top secret."

Combined with the apparent age of both characters in-game, this indicates that Broden took part in the project before SOLDIER was even SOLDIER, putting him as one of its earliest successful operatives, probably enhanced sometime between 1983 and 1985 based on the timeline provided in the First SOLDIER Battle Royale opening cutscene—hence why his number is the lowest shown on a person in a black robe in the entire game. This puts him in his forties at the youngest during the Crisis, and he functions just fine (albeit with some other issues we can assume were caused by the enhancement procedure being imperfect at the time of his enlistment) until Reunion starts to call him toward the end of 0007.

#fandom ramble #lore analysis #ff7 rebirth spoilers #final fantasy 7 rebirth #ff7 rebirth #ff7rb #ff7r #innkeeper broden #broden ff7 #soldier third class roche #roche ff7 #jenova project #project 0 #soldier ff7

[mysticfoxdesigns]

Hi

Shared the essay I did for college about the Decepticons.

I initially was sharing the Word doc but got tired of that. So here it is on AO3

#mystic chaos #mysticfox rambles #tfp #transformers prime #lore analysis #transformers lore #maccadams #maccadam #megatron #optimus prime #megatronus #tfp orion pax #my prof just watched me autism over this #he didn't question much #I got a 95 on it though

[thesockghost]

Astral body lore that I have gathered from vague things that Castor and Pollux have said. First created on 2/15/2024

1. If Castor or Pollux dies, then the other dies as well.

From what Pollux said in the episode ‘Castor CONFRONTS Stitchwraith?! in VRCHAT’, and I quote: “cuz if you die then I die, and I don’t want to die.”. This brings in the question of whether or not if one of them just gets hurt, does that mean that the pain/injury gets translated to the other twin as well? Or does it just transfer over when the other twin dies?

2. If an astral body dies, then they do not truly die, they just respawn.

From what (Castor? Gemini? Idk) said in the episode ‘Lunar is FLUSTERED around Gemini in VRChat’. Some of the astral body’s have died. But that brings in the question of why Pollux is so scared of dying if they just respawn? I asked this question in the comments and someone pointed out that they might lose their memories if they die (thx for that btw if your reading this :), but there’s also the possibility that it’s just extremely painful for them to regenerate.

3. If Castor and Pollux are separated from each other for a long period of time, they will die.

From both the episodes ‘Earth Learns LUNAR'S DARK SECRET?!? IN VRCHAT’ [the episode of which the Gemini twins first appeared] and ‘Lunar Needs Castors HELP in VRCHAT’. This is very self explanatory, the only question or note I have on this part is how long does it take for them to start dying? Like a day or 2 I’m guessing? Idk man I just work here.

4. The astral body’s like things to be on schedule/Pisces and sagittarius are more kind than the other astral’s (?)

In the episode ‘Castor and Pollux's PLAN for LUNAR?! in VRCHAT’ Castor and Pollux said this: “everyone’s getting angry! I mean- they like things to be punctual! They like things on their own timetable.” “Those two are very awful about it.” (Note: in this scene the twins are complaining about how the other astrals are rushing them on find out if lunar’s a threat or not, and their complaining about Leo and taurus in particular.) *sigh* “Pisces and Sagittarius are likely doing their own thing.”. I looked up what the personalities of Pisces and Sagittarius, and they generally seem like they’d probably be more nice (if google is correct), and I might be jumping to conclusions on this one, but I think that they might be friends, due to the way that castor mentioned them together, and google says that they have a very high friendship potential.

5. The really fucking weird system of how Gemini works.

In the episode ‘Earth Learns LUNAR'S DARK SECRET?!? IN VRCHAT’, apparently the original plan that Castor and Pollux had for wandering around earth, was to turn into Gemini so they would look slightly less strange because their Gemini form looks more human. And during that part of their conversation, Pollux says: “when we have to do work, you can take over!”, and in the episode ‘Lunar DATES Gemini in VRCHAT’ castor decides to take a nap while Pollux and lunar hang out. But in a previous episode (I forget which lol) Castor said that they don’t sleep??? Does that mean that Castor just doesn’t like to usually sleep??? Whatever, that part at least makes more sense than what I’m about to say next, since it seems like at least they kinda have what sun and moon had when they shared the same body. But in the latest episode ‘Earth and Monty's SURPRISE DOUBLE DATE with Lunar and Gemini!’ They say something along the lines of “when we’re Gemini, we are one. Whatever one likes, the other one likes as well.”. SO UHHH, I kinda remember Castor mentioned at one point when they were talking about their Gemini form “when we’re like that I want to do my job less…” so like- how does the personality bleed system work???? Because whenever they’re Gemini, it seems like Pollux is just the exact same as she usually is. SO IS IT ONLY CASTOR WHO GETS A PERSONALTY???? I mean I guess we wouldn’t really know the difference since we never really get any info on his likes and dislikes in the show, BUT POLLUX IS JUST NORMAL!!! HOW DOES THIS WORK????

Side notes: it’s also been demonstrated that in the episode ‘Lunar is FLUSTERED around Gemini in VRChat’, they share a headspace, and actively have conversations in their head when they’re Gemini. Also it’s kinda confusing because sometimes it seems like they slip into one person for a second, but then go back to being two different people. So is Gemini (the person) real??? Or am I just verbally hallucinating???? Also I’m not going to go into this in detail, but…..wtf is Gemini’s gender??? Because castor takes on a more masculine form and uses he/they and Pollux takes on a feminine form and uses she/they, So what’s up with Gemini??? I mean they obviously use they/them because they’re literally 2 fucking people, but flag wise, what is their gender??? Nonbinary? Trans? Gender-fluid? Bigender??? WHAT IS IT SHEEPOLE????

Update: 2/18/2024

6. Taurus, Leo, and Libra, destroy planets.

Once again this section pretty much explains itself. Mentioned in the current latest episode of S.A.M.S ‘ECLIPSE is CONFRONTED in VRCHAT’, my assumption of why this is, is because the astrals (from what we know) are all about protecting the laws of the universe, and because all things must eventually come to an end. So my theory is that some of the astrals must destroy planets to keep the balance of life and death, and kill old planets to make way for new ones (sorry that this section is poorly worded, I just don’t know how else to explain it lol.)

7. The antimatter is sentient (?)

Once again mentioned in the episode ‘ECLIPSE is CONFRONTED in VRCHAT’, castor mentioned how there are “anti constellations” (which the way castor said it makes sounds like the beginning of the plot of a really shitty marvel movie, but that’s besides the point), aka the antimatter and also not are not his kin. And also mentioned how the wither storms are like demented children of the antimatter. And I quote “did you think when you made negative star power, there’s no such thing as a negative constellation? One that draws on that power? One that wants to bring the end?” “I thought that was the damn storm?!?” “It is. The storm is…sort of like its child. It chooses to foster.” Which the way castor explained it didn’t make them sound like an unstoppable force, more like an unstoppable person (if that makes sense).

Update: 04-23-2024

As of writing this, the lovely Gemini twins have made a brief appearance in the current latest episode ‘Gemini SENDS A MESSAGE in VRChat’ and have brought a small bit of new lore with them :)

8. The astrals have their own unique culture and manners

Mentioned in the current latest episode as of writing this: ‘Gemini SENDS A MESSAGE in VRChat’, Gemini mentions that the stars have their own etiquette, but never really gave any context beyond that since they thought if they told lunar, then it would break his mind, WHICH IS COMPLETELY UNFAIR. BESTIE I DO NOT CARE IF IT MAKES ME INSANE, IN CASE YOU COULDNT TELL FROM ME WRITING THIS ENTIRE ESSY, THE ADDED INFORMATION WILL ONLY MAKE MY HYPERFIXATION STRONGER. *cough cough* so anyways yeah this section is basically just a place holder till we get more info on their culture.

Honorable mentions that I think are too small of facts/too obvious to get their own sections:

Since the astral body’s are made out of light (mentioned multiple times throughout the show, but I think the first mention is in ‘EARTH and POLLUX Become BEST FRIENDS?! In VRCHAT’) they can move through walls and most physical structures and surfaces.

(Updated 03-11-2024. got a bit distracted so this update is 2 weeks late from when the episode with this info was first released.) The astrals can for some reason not be seen by colorblind creatures??? Mentioned in the episode ’Lunar Is FRIEND ZONED! in VRChat’, because there was a deer standing near lunar and Gemini said “it must be comfortable in your presence” and when lunar asked why they didn’t care about Gemini, with which they responded with “no we are more or less invisible to them. See?” Then they started to run around the deer. And when asked why by lunar they replied with “most animals on your planet are colorblind. We are light. If light can’t reflect the way it’s meant to, then we kinda just come off as invisible.” WHICH MAKES NO F*CKING SENSE AT ALL!!! Cuz like yes. they wouldn’t be able to see them in their full glory, but if an animal were to look at them they’d at least see a glowing figure towering above them!!! So yea, it was probably just a bit to explain why a deer would be standing so close to them, but it still makes no sense.

Castor and Pollux take on the left brain and right brain atriabuts of a human being. Castor taking the left, while Pollux takes the right.

The astral body’s can naturally produce star power without creating any anti matter. (Mentioned in the episode ‘Moon is THREATENED by GEMINI?! in VRCHAT’ I think.)

The astral body’s are actively fighting the anti matter (somehow).

I’m a bit unsure about this part, but there might be an actual space court where lunar’s trial is currently taking place. once again mentioned in the episode ‘Gemini SENDS A MESSAGE in VRChat’……… what-

And lastly, and probably the most obvious of all, the astral body’s do not need to eat or sleep, since the astral body’s are made of light.

Will update if any new information pops up! Please tell me if I missed anything!

#and before y’all come after me for saying that the Gemini twins use he/they and she/they pronouns #they are eldridge shapeshifting (essentially) gods. #I don’t think it’s too bold of an assumption that they don’t have a very stable gender identity. #also literally the only times that I’ve ever heard anyone in the series use anything but they/them pronouns for them #is when the twins themselves call each other brother and sister. #but then again I’m just some kid in a ghost costume with socks who is insane enough to pay close attention to ever little thing that #2 fictional characters have said for more then 50 episodes of a fucking VRchat rolplaying show #so take whatever I have to say with a grain of salt. #sun and moon show lunar #sun and moon show spoilers #sun and moon show #lunar and earth show lunar #lunar and earth show pollux #lunar and earth show #lunar and earth show castor #lore analysis #Update: 04-23-2024 y’all’s favorite batshit crazy grandpa has figured out how to link all of the mentioned episodes :) #wow I know I’m so tec savvy

[kishiskolaash]

Jhin is Actually Kinda Good pt. 1

Now that I caught your attention I thought that I'd make a giant thread about the Zed comic, what I've gleaned - I'm going to talk about Jhin mostly, what may be his main goal and about his character design! It's going to be full of wild guesses but if any is true... Lore and Ionia fans are in for a treat.

Let's start with my Artistic Spirit theory, how Hwei's ability names, Disaster, Serenity and Torment are the three state of artistic mindset. However these names indicate that they went wrong, and I predict that once they were Inspiration, Clarity and Empathy.

Inspiration is tied to acting and theater; Clarity is tied to music and community; Empathy is painting and showing - think of it as in Activity: acting, talking and drawing. But in the big picture, these three are the Ionian version of the media.

I will continue to call them the Media Spirits. Now their names indicate that they got twisted, and we have to think about the why, when and how, and at what event were they twisted/muted - and I think Jhin is trying to show what happened in the comic, in his own fucked up way. 

Each of the three Ionian artists match with these Media spirits, Jhin being Disaster/Inspiration, Sona is Serenity/Clarity and Hwei is Torment/Empathy. One is a psychopath, one is abroad and mute, and one was a shut in with depression... This could indicate the state of Ionians, even before the war started.

And so we should read the Zed comic with this in mind - knowing that Zed is an unreliable narrator, who lies all the time. He lies right on the first page, saying he killed Kusho, who was alive until the end of the comic. Then we have to look at Jhin's "art installations" as indications what Kusho may have done.

Because Master Kusho is the worst thing that could happen to Ionia - he wanted civil war, with the motto of "there is no greater power than the ability to kill". But due to Jhin's machinations, Zed realised his true intention and finally killed him.

About Jhin's machinations. We have to realise that by being the Worst, Jhin is serving the greater good, or the balance - Shen, as he became the Eye, somehow realised this and forbids Zed to kill him. Bc I think if Jhin died, it would be disastrous in some way😂

Let's take a look what Jhin did for the balance. The latest, he inspired Hwei to go out and realise his potential as Empathy, which is a pretty big feat. Before that, Jhin liberated the city of Quayanvi, this is shown by his LoR cards - Jhin did a reenactment of how the Noxians took over the city.

They first did a surveillance, and then came the sweet talk, the mind control and then total control. These four steps are symbolised by the bird, the clawed gauntlet and the two types of flower. Jhin, with this guerilla attack, sacrificing only a priestess, managed to take over.

In the Zed comic, Akali also learns that he stopped the weapon inflow from Zaun to Ionia. With this and Kusho being dead, that's 4 events he directed that made sure Ionia becomes a better place. Which is immense, and may not sound like Jhin at all - and YET these are the things he aimed to do and achieved.

I'd take a look at one of his LoR followers, the Maker - her design is one of my ultimate favorites, because she's this old forest witch but also she looks like a guardian spirit tree. She makes the weapon design but it's Jhin's magic which gives them power. 

And Jhin's using Spirit magic, which is really unique, only Karma and Vastayans that have this sort of magic. The proof here is in the comic; his magic is similar to that kid Zed mentions having Vastayan magic. So Jhin is on the Spirits' side as a human lol

Now how the heck is Jhin using Vastayan magic? I only have a wild guess, and that is that he was made into this. It has to do with the scalpel and spirit sword Zed and Kusho has. What if they did a Demacia, as in splicing human kids with a Vastayan spirits? It would be really interesting lorewise IMHO

Let me talk about shadow magic, which may be corrupted Spirit magic. Much like how the Black Mist came to exist, something horrible must've happened in Ionia, as in a huge amount of human suffering has been released. I think this is what Jhin tries to act out and implements even on his own costume.

Let's take a look at his character design - with his winglike cloak, and birdlike boots, he's dressed like a Vastayan. He wears black, skintight leather that could easily pass as him being covered in shadow ichor. He also wears a porcelain mask that is similar what the Kinkou has worn some time.

So... This makes him look like a weird "chimera" person, who's half Vastaya covered in muck and half a Kinkou student. This is my presumption, but if this is what's implied by his design… oh that would be a great story beat.

By the way, if he's a man with Vastayan magic, he gains the thickest plot armor one can have - the local authorities think him he's demon or Vastaya(so he doesn't get chased down like Yasuo), but then the Kinkou can't kill him because he's just a guy Kekw

Jhin was also called the Golden Demon, but he has no connection to that name whatsoever - Zed very much does, tho. His mask has golden horns, red eyes and a skull motif goming on. And I think this mask was made by Jhin becase it also resembles a dick with that random hole😭😂

#zed #jhin #comic #lore analysis

[itsflowerdomethings]

c!tubbos desperation to try and get tommy to stay to reconsider. his small pleas. "how is this fair?" him wanting to find another way.

vs

c!tommys quite resolution. his acceptance. his determination that this is right and what needs to happen.

does it remind you of something?

it should.

this eerily echos the first dosc finale. back in January 2021. but the roles are flipped. and isn't that just poeticly sad? except, it's different.

back in the first disc finale, tubbo had a sad acceptance. he was at the end of his rope. and didn't honestly care what happened to him because he had so many things happen to him at that point and he was DONE. he would've done anything just to help it end.

yet now he's found hope. and he's done with the fighting. throughout all of this, he didn't want to do it. he never wanted to do it. yet he did. cause he trusted tommy. he cares about him

you see tommy though... back at the first disc finale... he didn't want to lose. he had so much hope reinstalled back in him after escaping dream. he wanted to see him punished. he wanted all the conflict to end

AND HE STILL DOES.

except, he realized that all his other attempts never worked. and due to how his character is, he is selfless. and he's still of desperate for it to end. that he has accepted that he will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

it's so terrible. they constantly echo each other and they're so connected

fuck c!dream

#tommyinnit #tubbo #dream #punz #dsmp #dream smp #lore analysis #lore discussion #live blogging #dreamwastaken

[lisa972kdlz]

(Translated from french, sorry if there are any syntax or vocabulary errors. I'll publish the French version shortly afterwards, enjoy your reading!)

Interuniverse portals :

Have you ever wondered how the characters in the Undertale multiverse move from one alternative universe to one other?

Depending on the stories, comics and headcanons, the possibility of access to the AU's is very relative. There is no creator of the Undertale Multiverse, so there is no canon regarding the links that can be made between universes. A number of paths have been observed; firstly, with specific and precise ways:

Through the gates of the Omega Timeline (which is fairly limited, you can't travel anywhere other than your own universe (I think, it's not very clear, so tell me if you're sure of anything)),

Through scientific machines, programmed by Gaster most of the time, as in Chancetale with the plans taken over by Ace and Alphys,

Through characters with the ability to create portals or teleport naturally, like Dream or Nightmare.

Secondly, the paths... Without any explanation. In some stories, the characters can travel from AU to AU without questioning, without rules, without precision, we just know it's possible. Secret passages, teleportations, etc., you can imagine what you want but it will never be mentioned. Frankly, I only agree when it's for One-Shot or crazy stories with no stakes, because... Trying to find logic in everything is my hobby, you'll have to get used to it ＼(☆▽☆)／

But the most interesting way comes from characters who can directly open portals/teleport, such as Ace, Color, Error or Fresh, in the context where this is considered a special power –There are plenty of others, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with–. It raises a lot of questions, especially when Ace gets this ability overnight, even though his creator seems rather thoughtful about consistency. The only solution in line would be his ability to break the fourth wall where he could jump from frame to frame... But that's not what he does, he teleports or creates a portal. But how? Why does he do this? Why all of a sudden?

I thought and thought, and then I found a correlation between these characters that might turn out to be causation.

They are all Outer-Characters. In other words, characters from outside reality, with no AU, no world to merge their codes with.

Ace's universe was destroyed by Error and no longer exists.

Color has been erased from his reality, as has Gaster, so his code has become detached.

Error has been literally expelled into the Anti-void and transformed into a glitch creature (more on that later).

Fresh is a parasite without a maternal universe, so we're not sure where he came from, but in any case, as there is no official Underfresh, we're sure he doesn't belong to any universe.

Like free electrons (free spirit) passing from one current to another, exiled between the blocks that shape universes, no longer possessing a fixed point, they benefit from a freedom of movement that the others don't have. Out of space, and for some (Core!Frisk, Gaster), even out of time.

So, they have a fairly close relationship with the Multiverse, their codes aren't 'stuck' to blocks, and that allows them to zigzag between the AU's. But how?

Simply considering that the AU's are themselves interconnected. The Undertale Multiverse is a web. Timelines that eventually break away to become AU's in their own right (Aftertale, Dusttale, Horrortale), concepts that are similar (Underswap, Storyshift), and even the most distant ones, they are all connected to each other. And it is from this point of view that I propose the theory of gaps.

There are thories in our world to the effect that cracks in reality exist and sometimes allow strange things to enter from other dimensions... Extraordinary creatures, curses... And mystical places with high concentrations of weirdness like the Bermuda Triangle would be just such places. Abracadabrious for our world, but in the world of fiction, why not? Cracks... After all, what story is perfect? What lore is flawless? What game doesn't have any bugs? These anomalies, these little mistakes that we make, would form cracks that it would be possible to open in a portal dimension. The Outer-Characters, by virtue of their nature as free electrons, would be more sensitive to these cracks and would be better able to spot and exploit them. On the other hand, not only are these rifts not found everywhere, but some of them are anomalies beyond our perception of reality, and would have their own place in space-time. This means that they could be present for a certain period of time and then disappear, or only be available in a specific place at a certain time on a certain day. We could also imagine that some universes are more 'closed' and inaccessible than others... (I personally give this to Multiverses/AU's, AU's that brings together the main characters of the Multiverse like Vampireverse, Empireverse, Minuscultale, AU Schools, etc.) That way, we can easily invent stories where the protagonists are confronted with constraints of time and space that prevent them from running away at the drop of a hat!

Script excuses offered by the house, don't thank me (☞◖■ᴥ■◗)⁠☞✨✨ !

It's a pretty big deal, and there's a lot involved... Let's see...

So, does that mean that, for example, all the inhabitants of the Omega Timeline whose AU's have been destroyed by Error would be able to open breaches as they please?

Well... Yes, technically. But you can think of hundreds of reasons why they wouldn't. Opening a breach requires training and experience, it's risky, dangerous, leads to errors of course or coordinates, or then they simply don't know they can do it. Just because you technically have the human capacity to do back somersault doesn't necessarily mean you're bound to do it.

And Geno, is he an Outer-Character? Mmmh... Good question. Technically he's stuck in the Save screen, which doesn't mean he's been kicked out of his AU. More from his Timeline, but that doesn't make him an Outer-Character either.

For Ink, it's quite interesting, there are several possibilities. His AU technically exists, it's just incomplete and forgotten all about. However, he could be an Outer-Character due to the fact that he erased himself when he tore his soul apart, or, given that he seems to open special portals instead and that he also teleports in ink, because that's part of his powers acquired from the Creator via "magic paint", after all some versions say that he can't open a portal without his paintbrush. Personally, I prefer this, because if we subscribe to the theory that he still has a soul (the goppy blue soul in the illustration of "Broken Truce"), but that it's detached from his body, that would solve the paradox.

Unless he's fully an Outer-Character because Error destroyed his AU a long time ago, that's quite possible too.

As for the characters who usually travel between AU's, like the Postman (Post!Sans) or UnderEat's Sans, or even Death sometimes, there are two hypotheses: either they've simply learned to open cracks even without being Outer-Characters (because I think it's possible, you just have to be very talented, very sensitive and very determined), or they have this ability by the very principle of their existence. The Postman and UnderEat!Sans were created TO link the AU's (I don't even know if the Postman has his own universe, actually), whereas Death... Well, it depends, because I've never been able to work out whether his "Grim Reaper influence" was just specific to his AU or whether it extended across the Multiverse. If it's specific to his AU technically he shouldn't have that privilege. But if the gods of Reapertale, whether it's him, Toriel, Papyrus, Gaster or Asgore, are looking after the whole Multiverse, then it makes sense that they should all be able to travel between AU's as they see fit.

What about the others? Well, in my opinion they're just not capable of opening breaches, and characters like Sans, Red or Blue shouldn't have this ability. Least of all those who have no knowledge of universes. Because if anyone could do it, it would still be a big, big mess. Even, scenaristically, it would be a bit annoying if everyone could go where they wanted when they wanted and get away just the same. But that's just my interpretation of things.

But it's not over yet! Let's extrapolate a little. Can we link, in Undertale's Multiverse, this story of cracks and links to something we know? Is there a dimension where all the AU's meet at the same centre? A dimension to be the Core?

Huh?

Of course yes !

I'm obviously talking about the Doodlesph– the Anti-Void.

What really is the Anti-Void? We've never had an exact definition by Crayon Queen. We know it's a mysterious white nothingness where Geno landed when a Determination experiment went wrong. It's called the Anti-Void because the color is white and not black like the Void.... But that's all. And that's not cool, because white Voids are a dime a dozen. Most of the time, they're empty AU's with nothing left, Chancetale, for example. Empty AU's, but not destroyed, because in Undertale during the Genocide route, we know that when you destroy the world there's nothing left, it's the Void. Black, cold, silent. The Void is the darkness that makes up the stars in the sky, the absolute vacuum.

We can deduce from this that these empty, white AU's are more likely to be the result of an AU that is dead of content, but still present, like X-tale or ___tale (this is contradictory with Chancetale, which is destroyed, totally destroyed, but it's normal to have a few contradictions when you're talking about a world created by hundreds of different people). What's certain is that the Anti-Void doesn't fall into this category. It's not an empty shell. It's something else. You can see it in what it does to its tenants, literally turning them into amnesiac, deranged glitches. You can see it in the window that Error opens up, leading into his old memories. You can see it when you realise that it's a way, after a while, of hearing the voice of the Creators.

The Anti-Void is the exact opposite of the Void: it's the Whole, the Link where every path crosses. After all, how many characters have accidentally ended up there? Let's not talk about the hundreds of x-reader stories where the protagonist ends up in the Anti-Void by chance after some twists and turns 😂 and let's go instead to what happened to Geno, or to Ace's machine whose first destination it was. Just look at how Error has learnt to use the rifts... Each time he goes through the Anti-Void FIRST before opening a portal from one AU to another. It's the Central Station for crossings between dimensions. I'd even go so far as to say that it's an OBLIGATORY passage. Each AU is connected to another VIA the Anti-Void. Let's just say that most people take the shortcut instinctively.

But why would the Core be the Anti-Void and not the Doodlesphere? Yet it's a dimension that seems much better suited to this role...

Well... One doesn't preclude the other.

In fact, the Doodlesphere and the Anti-Void are closely linked. I've noticed that there are often two accessible points of view in the Multiverse: the "Code Part" (the Player, the algorithms, glitches and bugs, such as Error, Fatal, Glitchtale, etc.) and the "Spiritual Part (thought, faith, emotions, the Creators, Ink, Faith, Dreamtale, etc.). What if the Anti-Void was the coded Core of the Multiverse while the Doodlesphere was the spiritual Core? The technology part and the magic part?

Because there's the computer web and the painter's canvas 🤣 !

Mhrm-... my humblest apologies :'> (does this joke work in English?)

(Hay, no, shit, it's no "toile" and "toile". Well, now you'll know that the web and the canvas are the same word in french! "Toile d'araignée" and "Toile pour peindre")

Isn't it a strange coincidence that the two greatest enemies of the Multiverse, with similar pasts, should live in two habitats that resemble and complement each other?

The web... Ironic, really, that its tenant is a skeleton who wields wires...

Error is reality's homeless man par excellence, it's in his thematic and his design; alone in the middle of the Whole, it's quite perfect to describe him and understand his character. So it's no surprise that he's probably the most capable of spotting rifts in the Multiverse. He can pretty much do it wherever he wants whenever he wants, to say the least! (Which is why I think it's breakable, the fact that Corrupted finds Error canonically useless when he's precisely THE guy who can open to him the doors to all the AU's he wants, even the positive ones) After all, Error's been trapped within the Anti-Void for an indeterminate amount of time. Canonically, after a certain time spent in thos dimension, anyone can become an "error". No wonder, if you admit that it's the agglomeration of all the codes in the Multiverse! After a while, anything coded ends up jumping left and right, stopping and starting, dispersing and dismantling!

Partially ?

Entierly ?

After a while, would Error just disappear by dint of living in the Anti-void?

Would he suffer less memory loss if he stopped going there?

Er... take your pick. ¯(°_o)/¯ I don't really like the idea of dissolving entirely in Anti-Void, but why not?

Hang on, hang on... If the rifts are spatio-temporally related, and the Anti-Void is an amalgamation of all these dimensions, and Error was able to create a window to his past in his comic, then would Error be able to travel through time???

Uh..............uuh... (＠_＠;) it's true that CQ has already mentioned the hypothesis that there could be several Error at the same time, but...uh....I...

I dunno (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

Dunno...

Maybe not, or at least nobody except Error, given that if they are detached from space, they are not necessarily detached from time? Maybe he can just look at it, but not enter it? Is he even aware of it?

But then... Could he still see any future and past? Or only what concerns him?

I

Don't

Fucking know.

I didn't get that far xD

But hey, that's not a bad start, is it?

(If you have any theories, headcanons or even if you've spotted any inconsistencies in what I've said, don't hesitate to let me know. It's a headcanon, but it's not perfect, so I'd like to tweak it as much as possible :3

So long!)

#undertale au #undertale #undertale multiverse #error sans #anti-void #void #doodle sphere #theories #theory #analysis #character analysis #lore analysis #breaches #interuniverse portals #Outer-Character #out-character #anti-void analysis #crayon queen

[bedtimegiraffe]

The Temple of Light Chose an Interesting Secret to Keep

I think we can say decisively that it isn't common knowledge that using Light magic drains your life.

Your character doesn't know that, but no one follows the Light in Riverbend.

And Imtura doesn't know that, but orc mages are 1 in 10,000. And they worship the Elements, so even if she knew magic shortened your life, she wouldn't necessarily attribute that to using Light.

But Mal also doesn't know. Mal, who grew up in Whitetower and makes it his business to know everybody's motivation and secrets as much as possible. Even if he doesn't like or trust the Temple, if the average person had any idea that their use of magic drained their lifeforce, Mal would know. I'm inclined to think Mal would know if it were even possible for him to know.

So... why keep it a secret?

It seems like a great way to drum up sympathy and make yourselves look even more pious. 'Look at us selflessly giving up our lives to help you unfortunate people.'

Theory 1: Given that the Temple forcibly takes children from their homes, people might get even more upset about it if they knew the kids would be trading their lives away to do magic.

Theory 2: The Temple doesn't want people asking why their most prominent priests lived to an old age.

Solerne is not a young man. It could be that using magic makes you look older as well, but I'm inclined to think it doesn't. 1) That seems like a thing people would notice and comment on. 2) Nia uses a huge amount of Light during and between books and she's as baby faced as ever (assuming the corruption isn't shielding her from the effects somehow).

So how is the head priest living to a ripe old age when he should theoretically be using more Light than anyone?

Well... we learn the answer to that toward the end of book 1. It's all the sacrifices.

Solerne says they started looking through the ancient scrolls when they got word about the Shards from Nia. He implies that's how they know how much Light it will cost to cleanse the Shards.

But they did already have a sacrificial pit like, ready to go. Which very much suggests that for any significant use of magic, the priests are pulling light from prisoners.

So I'm inclined to think the human Temple of Light intentionally hid and misdirected regarding the cost of Light magic so no one would think to ask how they're all living so long.

#More theories? I'd love to hear them! #Nia- teaching MC magic and not telling them about the life drain is truly one of the only bad things you've ever done #I will try and make things make sense in-universe rather than citing writing choices 100% of the time #choices bolas #blades of light and shadow #blades of light and shadow 2 #nia ellarious #Light magic #Lore analysis

[shantalangel]

It is very interesting that such, in theory, mentally powerful and stable creature (with all its physical strength, and perfect body), like Plant, turned out to have such a fragile psyche - I mean Vash in his childhood (incident with Tesla).

Any living being will first of all fight for it's life, will do everything to survive; Nai's reaction in this case is natural and logical - he begins to look for a way to kill humans on the ship to save himself and brother. But in contrast, the first and only instinctive reaction of Vash, who found himself in the face of serious danger (which he thought was real) is to kill himself. Not attack, not try to somehow extort from humans his right to life, not even hide somethere, but die. He instantly fell into last stage of depression. And this despite the fact that humans had not offended him before, that the twins saw only Rem's love. But as soon as Vash sees Tesla torn to pieces (it is not even known at that time by whom), he immediately perceives Rem as a threat among other people, and after injuring her, experiences euphoria from this for a split second.

Really creepy to think about this. What goes on in the head of poor angel boy?

P. S. Although yes, for a child of any race to see a mangled corpse of his age, is, of course, an occasion to break his mind.

#trigun #trigun 2023 #trigun analysis #vash the stampede #lore analysis #Trigun Maximum #trimax #trigun manga

[meibaestars]

Ok taking a break from TADC and going back to Overwatch lore, here's something I've wanted to talk about for a while.

Antarctic Peninsula Labs map, yeah?

This is the symbol on the blue side, aka the cryonics side.

It's also Mei's ultimate symbol.

Now look at this:

This is the symbol on the green side. Which is hydroponics lab.

I can't find this symbol anywhere else- though, it looks like something of Null Sector, which considering my favorite theory that Null Sector was involved in the deaths of the E:A team, is a DARKKK hint. Also, here's everyone's specialty in E:A:

Mei: Climatology

Oparah: Cryonics

Torres: Cryonics

Arrhenius: Climatology

MacReady: Engineering

Adams: Researcher

Notice that NONE of them specialize in hydroponics. However, that may go hand in hand with, say Climatology, but still. They might all work on it, but they don't specialize in it.

I keep wondering if it could be a hint at a hero in the future, based solely on the fact the other symbol is Mei's ult. It just absolutely baffles me- and I hope to GOD Blizzard isn't just being lazy but, knowing them they probably aren't and there's some significance behind this.

And before I go, Another thing I noticed:

This is a symbol on the blue team spawn, aka the cryonics research lab.

I can't find either of these symbols or any discussion about them anywhere. Anyone have some ideas abt them? (i wrote this when sleepy so I may have more to add onto it later)

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #overwatch lore #mei ling zhou #overwatch mei #mei overwatch #lore analysis #overwatch antarctica #antarctic peninsula

[the-arctic-commune]

Belief and Activism in Media

Or, why Technoblade is the villain.

Before we get started, I want to acknowledge my debts. I owe the seed of this post to.... someone. Probably at least a year and a half ago, a post in Techno’s tags about this topic is what got me thinking about it. I particularly owe that poster for linking this wonderful article [x], which dives into the topic with more detail and broader scope. I highly recommend reading it if you’re interested. However, that was, as I say, many months ago, and I have no idea who the poster was. So if this topic seems familiar to you, please let me know so I can give credit where it’s due!

Now, let’s set the stage. I brought this up in relation to the Red Festival. In particular to the climax of the Festival, in which Technoblade, under threat by Schlatt and his administration, was forced to kill his ally Tubbo.

This was, shall we say.... controversial.

Both within the server and without. Tommy fought with Techno over the murder/execution multiple times (strangely, perhaps, Tommy was much more distraught than Tubbo in the immediate aftermath, but that’s a different post), and it was still being brought up as late as the “Rescuing Michael” streams, when Technoblade apologized to Tubbo for the incident. The fandom, meanwhile, has spilled a great deal of ink discussing whether this was an acceptable or even justified action on Technoblade’s part.

In relation to this incident, and more broadly to the often-controversial actions of Technoblade and his fellow anarchists on the server, I think there’s a very interesting way to understand why many people were (/are) so vehemently adamant that Techno made the wrong decision.

Anarchy, you see, is villain-coded.

(This post is going to be heavily discussing mainstream media in the US, particularly media produced by Hollywood, Disney, and related giants. If you go to smaller producers or other cultures, you will certainly find plenty of counter-examples to what I’m about to say, but hopefully we can all agree that Hollywood has a big impact on what many English speaking audiences expect from stories and media, and that this is a big portion of the Dream SMP audience.)

.

Part 1: Activism Is Evil

The article I linked above is “Outlaw Kings and Rebellion Chic,” by Alister MacQuarrie for the New Socialist on March 27, 2019. It discusses the phenomenon of the non-ideological hero.

Mainstream media loves rebellion, but it doesn’t want to discuss why we rebel. Heroes rarely have a defined cause, ideology, or even plan for the future once tyranny is overthrown. Instead their motivations are vague notions of “freedom” and “justice,” defined mostly by how the villain is preventing them, and their greatest victory is a promise of return to “normalcy,” a presumably-democratic and prosperous society but we don’t have to get into the details.

Villains, in contrast, often do have a defined ideology. In common storytelling wisdom, heroes only react; it’s the villains who provoke them by acting, and thus the villains who need a cause to fight for or an ideology to drive them.

Ideology, then - the simple fact of having beliefs about the society and politics around you - becomes a feature of villains, while heroes promote an artificially constructed non-ideology, a vague liberal-centrist position which licenses reaction but not action and tolerates change only insofar as it doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable.

You see this in the trope of the activist who goes too far - a side character who the hero must prevent from causing harm, because they care too much about their cause and, depending on the story, may be willing to sacrifice life or morality to get it. You also see it more prominently in the trope of the villain who has a completely rational reason to want to tear the system down - and also is totally ok with murdering babies and kicking dogs, so the story doesn’t have to engage with their philosophy and it’s fine to just kill ‘em and leave things the way they are. To “engage” with current activist movements, issues of climate change are filtered through the ecoterrorist; issues of racial justice are filtered through the extremist or separatist; and so on and so forth.

“The Legend of Korra” is possibly the most absurd example of this trope in popular media. Multiple season villains in this TV show are activists whose ideology is then twisted into cartoonish evil in order to avoid actually engaging with the critiques they present.

The Season 1 villain is Amon, leader of the Equalist movement. He and his followers critique their society’s prioritization of benders (in-universe magic users); benders preferentially control the government and military and even, due to their unique skills, have access to job opportunities that non-benders are barred from. This leads to non-benders having little say in society and being more likely to live in poverty; the Equalists want to change this.

Also they commit multiple acts of terrorism and kidnap benders to forcibly strip them of their powers. And Amon is actually secretly a water bender which means he’s a hypocrite and we don’t have to listen to him anyways. The Equalists are defeated and the problem of non-bender inequality is never mentioned again.

Season 3 introduces Zaheer and his fellow anarchists. They fight for freedom and wish to tear down the governments of their world; they assassinate at least one major world leader. Also they want to brutally torture the protagonist Korra to death. For, uh, reasons. Anarchy! Once they’re defeated discussions of freedom and tyranny are completely dropped; oppressive empires are good because anarchists are worse.

So hopefully you see what I mean. In mainstream media, belief and activism are the domain of villains, and thus they are villainized.

A character who comes onscreen speaking of tyranny and revolution is not to be trusted. If someone cares enough about their ideology to become an activist and fight for it, they’re almost certainly the bad guy.

And, to the vague change-averse liberalism that Hollywood likes to project, few ideologies are quite so ideological as that of the radical anarchist.

.

Part 2: Compromise Is Never An Option

Ok, so you can probably see the seeds of what I’m arguing here, but there is one slightly tangential point that’s important to bring in. Because there are things that the “non-ideological” hero is allowed to fight for: life and friendship.

These are usually supposed to be the highest priorities of the hero, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing! Heroes fight to keep people safe, especially their friends, and they don’t compromise. One for all and all for one; we don’t trade lives.

No matter how hopeless the odds, heroes are supposed to keep fighting, and they must refuse to sacrifice for their victory (unless it’s self-sacrifice, which is usually ok). This is what motivates them in absence of any more sophisticated ideology; the villain kills or threatens people, so the hero defends them.

In “Star Trek,” Spock repeatedly insists on the Vulcan adage that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This is treated as cold and alien, and is something he’s supposed to give up as he learns to value and rely on his friends. It’s all right when it’s self-sacrifice (Spock subjects himself to lethal radiation to save the ship), but it’s not all right when it sacrifices others (the rest of the crew rejects Spock’s concerns when they decide to risk their entire ship for the sake of a few crew members).

In “Star Wars,” Lando Calrissian betrays the heroes to Darth Vader. He does this because he’s responsible for an entire city. Darth Vader and his Empire have threatened Cloud City if he doesn’t comply, and they are far too powerful for Cloud City to fight off on its own. Lando can betray his friends, or he can let millions of his citizens die. The choice, though hard, seems obvious, but the narrative still treats it as an unconscionable betrayal. It’s only once he seems to truly regret his actions - and thus to, at least tacitly, admit that he should have let his city die rather than betray his friends - that he can be redeemed.

So: heroes don’t sacrifice, and they don’t compromise. They’re supposed to always keep fighting, no matter the odds. After all, they’re in a story. Victory will come, no matter how improbable.

Right?

.

Part 3: Technoblade’s an Anarchist

When he first logged onto the Dream SMP, Techno (IRL) had a plan. He needed a way to fit himself into the narrative, distinguish his character, and explain his presence in the story. So he decided that he would play an anarchist, someone who had come to support his friends in their fight against Manburg’s tyranny.

This started out as a pretty media-typical portrayal of anarchy as an unprincipled “the strong survive” approach (see his pitch to BBH), but quickly evolved into an actual, principled, self-consistent ideology, as IRL Technoblade seems to have taken an interest in the philosophy.

Genuinely, Technoblade’s portrayal is probably one of the best depictions of anarchist politics I’ve ever seen in popular media. But most people’s expectations are based on the caricature of the philosophy that is usually presented, and the one he started with.

So I argue that many people were simply primed to assume that Techno was, narratively speaking, a bad guy. He wasn’t solely fighting for Wilbur or Tommy - he was fighting for their cause. He had beliefs to fight for outside of his loyalty. And in the tropes of popular media, that made him suspicious.

(Of course, in one sense this is correct! He did end up abandoning the Pogtopians when their victory put them in power, and thus in conflict with his ideals.)

At the Red Festival, killing Tubbo a was an indefensible act not because killing in general is wrong (that would be pacifism and thus ideological and suspicious), but because it wasn’t the act of a hero. A hero would have found a different way. No one ever seems to be able to say what that “different way” should have actually been, but it doesn’t matter: our sense of narrative justice says that there must have been one because it’s what a hero would do. It doesn’t matter that, in-character, Technoblade has no idea he’s a hero; he should operate like one, and he’ll make an incredible last-minute escape because that’s how stories go. How the story does go is replaced with how the story should go. Never mind that in MCRP a single misclick could completely upend such a story.

.

So Technoblade gets double strikes. First, he’s an “activist,” which is narratively suspicious. Second, he doesn’t operate as a hero (at least early on), placing no trust in deus ex machina to save him and his friends.

In the language of narrative tropes, Technoblade is “villain-coded,” especially prior to his “retirement arc.” His actions at the Red Festival are particularly villainous, both because he, essentially, gives up and because he expects his friends to share his dedication to their cause.

That makes it quite easy to end the analysis with Techno as the bad guy!

.

To be clear, though it’s probably been clear throughout, I’ll end by saying that this isn’t a perspective I agree with. The media’s vilification of activism is something I greatly dislike. Technoblade as a hero with a radical cause is an enormous part of why I liked his DSMP story so much.

#dream smp #words #lore analysis #technoblade #I finally wrote it folks hope it makes sense.

[acesw]

The School System of SPDM

The School Primary Defense of Mankind is a private institution where every few years, they take in orphaned arcanists around the world to train them for the purpose of becoming members of the Foundation. Many of the graduates go into the military/investigative sector of the Foundation and a handful are assigned to offices, given positions in headquarters and in rare cases accepted by the political councils. There is also a chance to work at Laplace, but thus far, Mesmer Jr. is the only one who had been placed there because of her lineage.

Not much is known about how the school works, but I will be mapping out as much information as I can find about the school, and make sure its organized as possible.

Disclaimer: This is solely based on Chapter 3, Green Lake, and the characters we have thus far who were students at SPDM. The only graduates we have are Horropedia (oldest graduate), Sonetto, Mesmer Jr., Vertin, and Matilda (youngest graduate of the group). I'll be referring to them as the "Foundation Kids", since the name sounds fitting enough. There are going to be spoilers for Chapter 3 and the characters' stories, so tread carefully.

Additionally, I'm going to be rarely using images because I really do not want to go into the effort of making screenshots after screenshots right now.

So buckle up and get ready for a big wall of paragraphs and sentences.

Known Staff Roles of the School

Principal - The head that manages the affairs of the school and responsible for all the matters that happen within. The current principal as of chapter 3 is Richard. Instructors - Their main purpose is to teach students varying subjects, a few that can be named are biology, music, potions, and arcane history School Physician - The person that takes care of the overall health of the students. It can be assumed that there are two per semester, since Tooth Fairy in particular would only stay in the school as its physician for half a year. Janitors - Of course, people that clean up areas in the school, and they have the freedom to interact with the children. Some are referred to as uncles and aunts I'd assume. Monitor Assistants - Students or Student Graduates that choose to help monitor the students of the school as a means to train them for instructor roles. Matilda is the only known monitor assistant so far. Monitor Students - Students that are given the role to monitor their peers. There seems to be a head role given to the school's high-achieving students like Sonetto. They are changed routinely every day and can increase/decrease depending on the necessity.

Level System and Enrollment

Of course, a school would not exist without its level system. The SPDM has a curriculum in place that sections off the varying different age groups of the orphaned arcanists after taking them in. The average range of the arcanists they take in are between a few months to 4 years old at its possible max.

The youngest student that had arrived in the school is Vertin at 1 month old, while Matilda is the oldest known student that had willingly enrolled at around 6 to 7 years old. This means that enrolling at the school is possible if the arcanist family is known to the Foundation. (For our Foundation kids, Sonetto and Vertin are the only ones to have been adopted into the school, whereas the other three have family or at least a guardian prior to enrollment)

The age of which arcanists graduate from the school seem to vary, in which Vertin, Sonetto, Matilda, and Mesmer Jr. had graduated at 13-15 years old. Whereas Horropedia, claimed to have been "several grades above" the group when the breakaway incident had happened. He's estimated to have been 17 at the time of the incident, while the rest of the group were around 10-12. This makes the information conflicting at first glance.

But of course, figuring out this level system would be rather helpful. This would be considered as a K-10 or K-13 curriculum, and it seems that the students can be categorized by as "Academic Year # Semester #".

Nursery & Kindergarten (1-5 years) - Where new baby and orphaned arcanists who were taken in by the school are raised in the first few years at the school.

Early Stage (5-10 years) - Young arcanists start their academic journey in the school, where they learn about the world around them while being isolated from the outside. They also begin their physical/arcanum training as a means to strengthen them whilst their afflatus and arcane skills slowly develop and awaken over time.

Late Stage (10-12 years) - The age of which arcanists begin to awaken their arcane skill. They are given the materials and training to develop their arcane skills and are slowly introduced to the world around them, being shown the opportunities they could take based on their skillset and possibly being invited to explore the work environment. (Its also in this stage that the students have a change in uniform.)

Work Immersion & Graduation (12-15 years) - The arcanists will begin to do work immersion in the fields they choose to specialize in, to familiarize themselves in the environment and even make their placements in these fields early on. Eventually, they graduate and go into official work for their sectors within the Foundation.

Higher Education (15-18 years) - Student graduates who might choose to seek higher education as a means to train for more skilled positions in their line of work. This can give them more opportunities and guidance on their first few years of work.

Rules and Education

"May the peace be with us. May the peace be with mankind." The school's main pursuit for its students are some philosophers' exhortation: "Heritage, Honor, Rationality, Responsibility"

The education in SPDM is rigorous, and goes in depth about many of the topics at hand and also putting their students through difficult trainings to ensure that they are at their best physique and readied skills. They tend to be strict, and would have a consistent flow of tests to ensure every student studies well.

Their rules are also just as meticulous, wanting to make sure that their students' conscience and goals stay close to the ideologies of the school and the Foundation. Going from disallowing them from artistic/literary media that is "not advocated or approved by" the Foundation, treating outside attachments as "meaningless", and teaching students that they are meant to sacrifice themselves for the safety of mankind.

The school has a Student Handbook that goes through these rules and guidelines. The main idea and rule that the school imposes is to pay no heed to the world outside, as creating an attachment would only bring harm and regret. They are to focus on training themselves to serve their mission towards pursuing peace and order in the guidance of the Foundation until death, since all of the students are taught that they would die martyrs for the cause.

"To live is to lose things around us until the day we lose life itself to death. That's why we should only focus on the supreme missions." - Sonetto, Frogs and Toffee (3-2)

Some of these rules include the standard things (no skipping classes, no in-fighting) while also having rules such as no mass gatherings, conspiration against the school, acquiring and keeping contraband, leaving school grounds, etc. However, there are some liberties that are taken, such as having freedom with hairstyles, free use of arcane skills, etc.

Interestingly, one of the rules is that discussion about the "Storm" is forbidden. Its also forbidden to go out when its raining, and discouraged to discuss any incident that had occurred within the school.

There are routinely inspections that are carried out to make sure no rules are being broken, such as dorm checks and head counting. Monitor staff are also in place to ensure there is order among the students, and as mentioned previously, the school would have a head student monitor that would cooperate with the respective school monitor and monitor assistant. If strict supervision is required for any reason, the Foundation will step in and arrange to deploy their own units or Zeno recruits from the academy. (Like in the case of the Manus Vindictae's olitiaus having to be scouted out by Zeno recruits like Lilya)

Punishments

Punishments are of course, carried out based on the rule that is broken. Normally, these punishments wouldn't be so harsh (it just so happened our little troublemaker just actively likes to break major rules). The most normal of the punishments that have been given out so far is a timeout and confiscation of contraband. Of course, there is the more…extreme side.

With the little shit I mean Vertin having this tendency to break rules, one of the punishments we see her go through is isolation. There is a guardhouse in the school's campus where students who break major rules stay in it for a specific amount of time based on what rule is broken. The most merciful would be only a mention of the "Storm" (1 day with no food/water), the worst of it is mass gathering and what can be classified as rebellion (2 weeks with no food/water).

Campus

We currently have a complete map of the school thanks to chapter 3 and the manus. The school is walled off and has watchtowers to ensure that there are no outsiders (and of course, escapees). There seems to be air raid tunnels beneath the schools as well, why they were built in besides its main purpose is not known, but as we know it has been rarely used. In these air raid tunnels we find that there are also blast doors that border between the tunnels and the watchtowers.

There are no labels on where the guardhouses are, but they are of course meant to discipline the students. There are critters and tools at the kids' disposal, to mostly alleviate immediate problems. The guardhouse is checked regularly, and is cleaned up weekly. Though, some messages left behind by previous dwellers are left as is for the next to help guide them through.

George the Oak is a tree possibly situatied near the lake on the map, and is known to be a famous tree for the kids because of its age and its size. There, they can go in the tree hollow or even just sit under the giant leaves. Either way, it looks to be like a nice spot to go to for the students when they have free time. Sad it got cautioned off after the parade incident.

Employees from the Foundation headquarters have the freedom to enter the school campus and visit the facilities as they'd like, as we see with Constantine and Druvis meeting in the library, and Madam Z and Katz meeting in the sports field in chapter 4.

Lastly, the school is most likely situated next to the official headquarters building, and there is a town that is near the school since there was a time where Vertin and Sonetto went to watch an outsider parade from a distance.

Events

There are 3 important events for SPDM: The Annual Evaluation, Parade Ceremony, and the Graduation of Year 10 & Higher Education students.

The Annual Evaluation is where they evaluate the overall performance of their students, and rank them based on the evaluation. -Sonetto and Matilda had made it to the rankings prior to or during the 4th Year of the Storm. Sonetto made her way to rank 1, while Matilda had achieved rank 3.

The Annual Parade is to showcase the school's best image and boost morale, and with it, the school selects their best students to participate in a three-month intense training. Through this they would become the school's honor guard and represent the students in the best way possible. Before this, a pre-parade ceremony is held out to help practice and for the principal to send his regards/support to the students. -As again, one of the most outstanding students, Sonetto's "Parade Anthem" garment seems to be the honor guard uniform that she had been given, signaling that she was one of the chosen students for the training course.

And lastly, Graduation. Of course, the main focus here would be the year 10 students of SPDM; who officially become workers for the Foundation. We're not really sure how this ceremony happens, but it can be thought that the students will be given the choice to choose their paths immediately after the ceremony, or, it would be assigned to them.

Vertin and Mesmer Jr. are excluded from the choice/allocation, as they were both put into roles early on for special circumstances. For Vertin it was because she became the Timekeeper after the breakaway incident, and for Mesmer she had been put into the role of working in Laplace because of her lineage and heritage.

While Sonetto seemed to have chosen to be a field investigator, Matilda was assigned to her role as a Monitor Assistant.

Horropedia on the other hand seems to have sought out higher education since he stayed in the Foundation a bit longer than others, and thus graduated with such an honor. This made him able to start working in the external inspection unit as it seems.

Other notes on the Foundation kids before ending this megapost:

Sonetto has proven to be the most outstanding graduate of SPDM, and has been rewarded medals (i.e. Merit Medal of Session Eight) and even a ceremony stick because of her role as an honor guard.

Its very likely that Vertin was isolated from the rest of the students to train her for her role as the Timekeeper. Besides that, she is one of the most unique students of the school.

Mesmer Jr. had been assigned to work in Laplace's Rehabilitation Center at 12 years old, making her the youngest person to have started work among the five.

Besides Sonetto, Matilda has technically not seen her former classmates since graduation, and possibly has not seen Vertin for an even longer time.

Horropedia is the only person who had stayed in SPDM past the assumed graduating age, which makes me believe that he had received higher education or was held back by troublemaking…I can see both possibilities.

Overall, these are the observations that I was able to rule out. There are still some things that I might not have considered or taken to account yet, but that's just because I can't really tell if it can be added here + I wrote this at 5 am. SPDM's school system is a bit screwed because of the punishments and everything, but this entire guide feels like it can be comprehended better.

Thanks for reading to the bottom of this post. I'm open to answer questions as well as add into/fix the information here!

#reverse 1999 #vertin #sonetto #matilda bouanich #mesmer jr. #horropedia #spdm #lore analysis #vertin and mesmer need therapy for going through all that #the ring would've been a good field investigator just saying #isabella would have gone to work in one of the offices #man the storm and plot really said “no” #wdym horropedia had his horror-themed magazines confiscated??? #give them back to him !

[10piecechickenmcnugget]

Hello yes what is the wither rose symbolism :)

indigo ily /p (context)

Ok SO from what we know about wc!scott lore, he’s a necromancer who’s specifically trying to revive a particular person, but atm he can only create mindless undead minions who die again within minutes (which is not ideal)

he isn’t able to do a whole lot of magic (loser knows like one spell), and the more he does the more “decay” spreads around the area he cast the spell in

he can’t afford a “real staff” so he picked up and random stick and somehow summoned a house (plot device idk man just roll with it), but the decay set in in a wide area instantly instead of slowly spreading over time

-(sidenote, this is probably because his typical undead summoning spell is a lot smaller and easier, so it takes less power and therefore makes less decay, whereas summoning a whole ass house is something he’s never done before and takes way more effort/power)-

he’s also mentioned flowers a lot, and is currently collecting black and eerie flowers to fit his aesthetic but that’s boring so I’m making lore based on 1 singular 22 minute video

Withering is already a large part of his character, as that is what happens to his minions after he summons them, even their death message says “minion withered away” and he’s said that himself in-character

so taking all of this, and my inability to make a single mcyt character a normal human, what if Scott was part wither rose?

if you look at my design (I linked it) he has a couple straight up growing from him, so before lore really kicks off I’m headcanoning that he’s part wither rose, which is why his magic revolves around death, why it’s hard for him to make it work properly (the decaying part of the wither rose thing affects it), and why all the plants and other natural life around him dies when he uses it

so either my adhd meds wore off (they definitely did) or I’m onto something here

#I have way too many thoughts #I was fucking shaking while drawing that #mcyt #wcsmp #wcsmp fanart #wcsmp scott #wc!scott #witchcraft smp #witchcraft scott #witchcraft smp fanart #witchcraft smp spoilers #witch!scott #lore #wcsmp lore #lore analysis #character analysis #Hi Scott I know you’re on this hellsite. Probably seeing this. Hi. #scott smajor #smajor #smajor1995 #dangthatsalongname #long ass post #10piecetalks

[brieandbrioche]

today’s 2am drdt analysis: j

ok so honestly i don’t see a lot of j lore discussion. but let’s go back to the ftes where she and arei hung out (read: arei annoyed her) and she mentioned that she didn’t like girly things/was not like other girls

first of all, we all had this phase. don’t shame her.

second of all, her lore with her family (chapter 2 episode 1-3 im assuming i don’t want to go back and find it) pointed out that her mother always tried to force her to do famous stuff like go to galas and rich people stuff, and based on what we know about her mother, j was probably forced to wear dresses and feminine type stuff. and she hated that. so it’s kind of understandable why she would reject that - i think she would associate feminine stuff with her mom, and we know how she feels about her mom, so i think it’s reflecting off of that

allllssssooooo, she mentioned her brother briefly and said that he was always left alone and her mom only really focused on her, so she might associate being a guy/masculinity more with freedom than she might with being a girl/femininity.

i do actually think she’s a complex character who doesn’t get enough lore discussion and she’s pretty cool

ok good night apparently it’s almost 4am wtf when did it get this late it was literally 2:50 like five minute ago it is NOT 3:39 shut up

#wish me luck on my first soccer game of the season tomorrow #drdt #j rosales #j moreno #drdt j #danganronpa despair time #lore #lore analysis #im going to bed i have a debate and a soccer game and a test tomorrow im tired

[softbeanofexistentialcrisis]

raccoon ctommy this, possum ctommy that yes

but consider: butterfly c!tommy and spider c!dream

#cdream #c!tommy #dream smp #tommyinnit #c! discduo #in all honestly i did not mean for this to become a webweave when i made this first but #yeah. #anyways #lore analysis