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eoleolhan-a · 4 years

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Okay it’s Monster Prom headcanon time for Jin! Get ready for some Hell headcanons and a little bit of tension with canon because in this house we kill and devour canon when it is convenient. This thing is LONG (approx 2150 words) so buckle up and Happy Halloween!

Jin is an incubus, a sort of “breed” of demon. They aren’t a separate species than the typical demons we know (aka Damien and Dahlia) but they do have some significant differences in terms of phenotypes/physical features, as well as culture and language. They are a minority group both in the numerical and sociological sense when it comes to Hell’s demographic breakdown. Most of them live in the 2nd Circle of Hell, where the lustful are sent for their eternal damnation in Dante’s Inferno.

Linguistically incubus refers to male demons of this breed of demons, while female demons of the breed are called succubus. There is, however, a gender neutral term in their culture that is used to refer to nonbinary individuals: neccubi (plural) or neccubus (singular). Altogether they’re often referred to as ‘Cubi (pronounced like cube-eye) or ‘Cubi demons in Hell. Their culture and language is called Cubiaen (cube-eye-in), and sometimes the region is referred to as Cubia (cube-eye-ah) but typically by those who live there rather than the rest of Hell. Most ‘Cubi speak their own native language and the dominant language of Hell; bilingualism is a common and expected trait tied to their strong central government’s education initiatives, but more on that later.

'Cubi have some specifics that differentiate them from other demons. Regardless of sex they have the same average height (around 5′6″) and don’t typically have much body hair beyond underarms and the pubic region, or grow facial hair. Their colours are typically a bit more muted compared to other demons; instead of being red, blue, purple, what have you, they would be more on the pink, perwinkle, lavender, mauve side of the colour spectrum and are usually a little less vivid/deep in colour. Their horns tend to have more an obvious curve to them, their ears are usually a bit longer/stick out more prominently, and they often have rounded ends on their tail tips making them look more like hears or spades. There are always exceptions, but these are the most common and noticeable traits among 'Cubi (mostly those that are not related to other demons in their immediate lineage).

In terms of powers and proclivities, these are usually sexual but not exclusively sexual. They feed off of sexual energy as it is the impetus for creating life; the easiest targets are humans. Usually, a ‘Cubi demon will act like a sort of horny sandman. They can feed off of wet dreams, basically, by tapping into dream realms and siphoning the sexual energy created by these types of dreams. They can also just plain old have sex with humans, but this can be difficult. They are not prone to sexual assault any more than any other being; consent is what makes the energy sexual, after all. The more into it their feeding source/partner is, the more they get out of it. They can get sexual energy from other demons or monsters but it tends to be more difficult for them with less of a return. Feeding on this energy keeps them youthful, helps them live longer, and makes them stronger physically which helps keep them protected from the harsh climate of the 2nd Circle and also allows them to recover from wounds more easily. For the target of this feeding, the symptoms are typically lethargy, headaches, muscle aches, and lack of sex drive for about a day, sometimes more, after the encounter. It’s comparable to a hangover or a mild cold and typically won’t last longer than a week and is not usually lethal. Generally, ‘Cubi aren’t as prone to violence, conquest, or battle when compared to other demons. This doesn’t mean they don’t have a violent or destructive streak, just that it isn’t seen by the standards of Hell to be all that prominent in their culture/society.

The 2nd Circle of the 'Cubi is a lot more tame and peaceful on the surface than the rest of Hell. Since they aren’t as interested in violence or conquest, their region of the 2nd Circle has historically been isolationist. They are a small region in Hell that has a lot of mountains, sharp rocky ridges, and hills that form the border of the 2nd Circle. Based on Dante’s Inferno, the lustful were punished in the 2nd Circle of Hell by being blown around by violent winds. This, in my lore, translates to a hostile climate with rapidly changing weather. For those demons who are not used to it, it can be hard to manage the drastic temperature changes, precipitation, and wind that characterize this region. Due to their small size and the difficult environmental and geographical conditions of the 2nd Circle, they have not been conquered by any of the other Circles so far. Trying to launch an invasion is difficult since it would take months of living in the climate just to adjust to its rapid weather changes and harsh environment. It is also not a very politically important region and isn’t really focused on much in Hell’s geopolitical landscape.

The government of the 2nd Circle is basically a bureaucratic monarchic empire. It has been isolated from the other kingdoms of Hell and so its government, culture, language, and to some extent population, has developed rather differently from the other Circles. This is in large part because of how damn difficult it is to conquer the region because of its harsh and unforgiving climate. The Emperor rules over the entire 2nd Circle after, many eons ago, the ‘Cubi decided to amalgamate their smaller regions (typically found in valleys between mountain ranges) into one larger government with regional administration to fend off external invasions and promote unity among their people. This Empire led a defensive against an attempted invasion from one of the other circles, and since then there has been a form of peace in the 2nd Circle. For some time after the ‘Cubi were recognized for their defensive strength and battle capabilities, but since it’s been thousands of years since then that image has worn off and been replaced by the one that is more common today, of ‘Cubi being weak and passive.

Each of the Empire’s smaller regions has an appointed governor from the Emperor who ensures each region pays its taxes, follows the laws of the Empire, etc. The Emperor has his own council of appointed advisors for different issues that stay in the Imperial Court; one for each region that governors oversee, and then extra advisors for specific concerns like economic development of the empire, military security and advancement, science and education in the empire, and advancement of the arts and Cubiaen culture and language. The line of succession does have gender parity, but the current monarch is an Emperor; there have been a few Empresses over the years, since it always goes to the oldest immediate descendant of the sitting monarch whenever possible. To get a position in one of these roles (either as governor or a council advisor) you typically need to be from a noble family. Science and education, and arts advancement is the one place where there is some limited class mobility; only one ‘Cubi ever gets the position at a time, but notable scientists or other such thinkers (mathematicians, philosophers, etc) can be scouted and appointed for their skill and contributions to ‘Cubi science and knowledge, whereas notable artists including visual arts, poetry, etc could be recruited to become the council’s arts and culture advisor. Otherwise, social stratification is a big issue there and most ‘Cubi don’t ever get the chance to rise the social status or class ladder. Out of all of the regions, the 2nd Circle has collectively less wealth than the others; they are not impoverished and typically have certain supports from the Empire as a result of tax payments or social support from within their communities for the peasantry.

‘Cubi tend to form very strong monogamous partner bonds with other ‘Cubi. They fulfill each other’s sexual needs and desires, while still typically feeding their energy supply from humans. This is not really considered cheating or even a kind of polyamory in their culture. It’s very typical for ‘Cubi to find partners, have families, and form very strong bonds within those families. This extends to within communities, and to a lesser degree throughout the Empire. Their Empire was formed as an oddity, not by conquest but by consensus. Their attitudes towards partnership and family is not necessarily biological but social, and influenced by some of their biological predispositions (ie their method of feeding on sexual energy). While their culture is mostly hetero-dominant, it is accepting of non-heterosexual couplings. While they recognize a kind of binary between male and female ‘Cubi, as mentioned earlier they do have terms for and a recognition of non-binary genders but it is fairly limited. Most non-binary ‘Cubi are sort of lumped together whether it is accurate or not, but linguistically and socially these gender roles are quite normal to them. Partner bonded couples who cannot biologically reproduce are often adoptive parents when a young demon is orphaned or when the biological parents cannot provide care. Typically, due to strong community bonds, these kinds of couples will take in local children who end up displaced. Their family ties are typically paternal, but in a case where there is no male parent one family name is still typically chosen. Partnership and adoption are considered a form of family integration. This is typically lateral, since social mobility is so limited in the 2nd Circle.

In terms of leisure and culture, they have a strong respect for the arts. Music and theatre are commonly accessible and most communities have some kind of local artistry. They also enjoy sport, typically contact sports since they are still demons. The most popular sports to both participate in and watch are things like tug of war, wrestling, boxing, and martial arts-esque combat sports (like a demonic version of MMA). Most ‘Cubi are literate, at least in their own language. As such, poetry and literature are also quite popular and there are many epic poems and legends about their defensive battles, pre-Empire society, and mythic figures. The popularity of these things, and the ability for ‘Cubi across the realm to enjoy them, are due to their strong Empire that has a focus on promoting arts, culture, leisure, and education. While social mobility is low, education is public and typically available to any ‘Cubi in the Empire should they decide to attend (and most do).

Certain aspects of their culture (less prone to conquest, battle, violence, more obvious love partnerships and strong family units) has had them seen in something of a negative light by the dominant demon “breed” and their culture in Hell (ie Dahlia and Damien’s Circles and their culture/society). Outsiders often see ‘Cubi as being delicate or pacifists at best, and submissive, passive, and weak at worst. Their culture is not readily understood or accepted in Hell’s mainstream dominant cultural landscape. This rift has only been further cemented by the 2nd Circle’s difficulty to integrate into other Circle’s kingdoms just geographically, and because the ‘Cubi government has ben isolationist for many many centuries. As a result, they are a sociological minority in Hell. They are not typically understood by outsider demons, and in many instances looked down upon or treated paternalistically. Many other demons don’t know much about their culture or society and see only the sexual aspects, the lack of outward violence, and some of the physical differences of ‘Cubi and make their assumptions based on that. They aren’t typically considered when other demons speak of Hell as a collective, and their Circle is ignored most of the time politically as other more populated and politically important Circles are fought over in endless wars of conquest. They are misunderstood and sometimes discriminated against if they end up travelling, which further enforces their isolationist government and suspicion of other demons. They typically have the most distrust of the 8th Circle because of the LaVey Family specifically. The claim that the LaVey Kings invented love or partnership in Hell rubs them the wrong way; while it is true that they popularized the idea outside of Cubiaen society and did introduce the idea of these partnerships being part of a military culture and a tool of battle strength, the ‘Cubi often see this claim as exaggerated and as a kind of cultural appropriation. Something they did for centuries and were seen as weak for is now popularized because someone from a different culture promoted it. They don’t have a problem with this becoming more recognized, but they do find it irksome that the 8th Circle gets all of the credit for it. In their Empire it is seen as a foreign propaganda tool to prop up the LaVey monarchs as somehow unique, and as a way for them to use the idea of partnership without having to be associated with the Cubia.

I’ll probably elaborate more on this later, and on Jin’s specific verse-related quirks as part of this culture, but yeah here you go I hope you enjoy and if you made it this far thank you for reading! <3

#q #hc #v; monster mash #monster prom oc #happy halloween.... owo

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irandrura · 4 years

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I will aim for three posts, I think, trying to give some general feelings on Three Houses after completing one route (Azure Moon). This post will be on world and plot, and will have a mixture of things I liked and things I thought could be improved. The second one will be on characters and will be mostly positive. The third one will be a grab bag of other thoughts on mechanics, tone, where I think 3H fits into the series’ overall trajectory, and other things that occur to me.

It’s also worth noting that at this point I think I’ll grant myself license to read spoilers for the other routes. This is mainly because I don’t think it’s reasonable to need to play dozens more hours, many of which just repeat content I’ve already done, in order to get a full picture of the plot. That said, I realise that reading a wiki and skimming the odd chapter transcript are not substitutes for the experience of actually playing a route, so I will not make any judgement on the other three routes in terms of quality. I do intend to play at least Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind at some point, and that should be a richer experience than just reading, but I probably won’t start another forty-to-fifty hour journey straight away.

So, world and plot!

I think worldbuilding is one of Three Houses’ strengths, and is definitely a big step up after Fates and Awakening. Fódlan’s worldbuilding is not perfect, and sometimes has a few cringeworthy elements – in particular the King Lear references in the Alliance are a bit cheesy – but for the most part it successfully presents itself as a rich, interesting world, containing diverse cultures, and a complex history.

The sense of history is particularly important to me, especially compared to the last few games. I’m glad that the game goes to some effort to give Adrestia, Faerghus, and Leicester a sense of a shared past, full of rivalries and alliances. I can imagine setting other stories at different points in Fódlan’s history – Loog’s revolt, the occupation of Brigid and invasion of Dagda, the Almyran invasion, etc. – and those stories still being interesting and fun to play. I can imagine using Fódlan, perhaps centuries in the past, perhaps in the future, as a D&D campaign setting and it being quite interesting. That to me is a sign of good worldbuilding. If the world could easily play host to many different stories, not just the one I’m currently playing, then it can probably stand on its own quite well. This contrasts strongly with, say, Nohr and Hoshido, which felt like they were really just built for Corrin’s adventure.

I also appreciate that it’s not just ancient history that matters, but also the twenty years or so before the game begins. The heroes did not burst on to the scene ex nihilo, but all come out of particular historical situations. Events like the Insurrection of the Seven or the Tragedy of Duscur give you context for what happens in the game. The heroes generally have parents and families, and those families are relevant. They all come from somewhere, and while the details often aren’t described, what you get is enough to start imagining their home lives, and what might be going on elsewhere in the world. I really liked that and felt it was missing from the last few games. Can you imagine asking most of the Shepherds about their familes, or about the lands where they grew up?

Similarly, the range of visible cultures is one that I quite appreciate. Even outside Fódlan itself, mentions of Dagda, Brigid, Sreng, and Almyra help to make the world feel populated. That’s only the other regions that we know much about: there’s also Morfis, Albinea, and Mach, so the world is clearly quite large. Further, these different regions all have some noticeable cultural traits: the people of Brigid are animists and believe in many spirits, the Almyrans are a warrior culture and seem vaguely Persian, and so on. Within Fódlan there are visible differences as well, so the titular three houses are nicely differentiated.

The role of crests in shaping the continent also appealed to me. I believe I commented before that it reminds me of Birthright, an AD&D setting from the 90s that I have a soft spot for. While crests aren’t quite as powerful as Birthright’s bloodlines and don’t have exactly the same effects, the idea of aristocrats with real superpowers passed down in the bloodline, but which if abused can twist people into horrible monsters, was quite reminiscent of that setting. It’s a premise I’ve always found relatively intriguing, and I like that Three Houses does spend a little while exploring the social stratification that crests have produced. There are some interesting marriage politics going on because of crests; that’s really fun for me. Nonetheless I think the game also takes the right approach by not making crests too overpowering, and by firmly asserting that a person’s worth is not dependent on whether they have a crest or not. If it hadn’t done that, crests might have had some uncomfortable implications.

That said if I have one quibble it would be etymological. I understand that the Empire is vaguely Germano-Nordic, Leicester is vaguely English, and Faerghus is Franco-Celtic, but these aren’t always incredibly consistent, and names can sometimes be a bit surprising. The name ‘Dimitri’, for instance, stands out as being slightly out of place. I suppose its origin, ‘Demetrius’, is a Latin name and thus appropriate enough, but today I hear ‘Dimitri’ as Slavic, which doesn’t fit the established pattern for Faerghus. Still, this is a minor quibble.

The one exception to my general praise for the worldbuilding is the church, which I think is a huge mess. Maybe another route fleshes this out, but from what I played, it is extremely unclear to me how the church actually works. Was there a previous archbishop, or has Rhea been succeeding herself over and over, changing her name each time? How has the church been involved in history? We’ve had the occasional mention of cardinals, possibly with secret identities, but they’re entirely invisible and don’t seem to do anything. I would have liked more details on the church and how it fits into Fódlan’s history, because right now it feels like the anomaly, to me.

Moving on to the plot…

This had a number of issues, in my opinion.

Azure Moon was very much Dimitri’s story. In some ways I like that Byleth is simply not very important to the story. You are not the hero; you are the hero’s mentor. Byleth is more active than, say, Mark was in Blazing Sword, but still fades into the background compared to the true protagonist. However, I have to stand by the judgement that Dimitri’s redemption was too fast, and it probably would have been better to drop some of the church-related content for this route and spend more time exploring the characters and relationships that are at the heart of this story. Azure Moon is about Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, Sylvain, Annette, and probably Ingrid at the core: this rising generation of Faerghus nobility, with the long shadow of the past over them, struggling to overcome the sins of yesteryear and the cycle of revenge in order to build a better world. This story is good and I liked it, but a bit more polish and focus could have made it shine.

In terms of actual events, though, I have to say that a lot of things in the story didn’t make a lot of sense. The most obvious case is probably the rematch at Gronder Field. I understand the desire for a three-way battle there as adults, a rematch that contrasts dramatically with the mock battle they fought as students. However, as cool as the scene is, I don’t feel the set-up for it made a lot of sense: in particular Claude and Dimitri have no reason to fight each other. Dimitri might still be bloodthirsty and vengeance-obsessed, but that should translate to a charge straight at Edelgard, and Claude seems cunning enough to let that happen without getting in the way. There might surely have been better ways to set up a conflict there, especially since the writers have the get-out-of-jail-free card of a faction of evil shapeshifters trying to foment conflict. All you need is for a few Slitherers to deliver false messages or instigate a skirmish or two to start a battle based on a tragic misunderstanding.

Similarly, my confusion at the Leicester Alliance disbanding and the Kingdom absorbing the Empire remains present. I can guess that they wanted every route to end with Fódlan united into a single realm, but in this particular story it seemed strange, given how much the story had focused on freeing Faerghus from Imperial occupation and on defeating Edelgard. Dimitri’s ambitions were personal, rather than the grand schemes to reorganise Fódlan politically that both Edelgard and Claude have.

I wonder if there might be an unspoken cultural difference here? As someone from a Western European background, I am quite comfortable with the idea that many different nations can rightly exist on the same continent, and see coexisting self-determining territories as a quite good result; but perhaps in Japan it might be more natural to think that “an empire divided longs to unite”? The game begins with the territories of the ancient Adrestian Empire split into three nations now. Perhaps, like Warring States of either China or Japan, they must be united back into one? Three Houses to parallel Three Kingdoms, perhaps? The Japanese title of the game does not mention Three Houses, to be fair, but the title is an allusion to classical Chinese poetry, so I wonder what assumptions or resonances might be in the background.

Moving along, the logistics of war in general stood out to me as rather odd. I can’t tell whether you’re supposed to be canonically returning the entire army to the monastery in between every battle or not, but even if you’re not, you march all over the continent with very little regard for things like plausible logistics. Invading the Empire, winning a battle at Gronder, and then stopping to run all the way back up to Fhirdiad and liberate it in a single battle seemed particularly odd, especially when you also somehow make time to visit Arianrhod way out in the west. I wouldn’t be that strict about this in most games, but Three Houses does have that lovely detailed map and shows coloured lines with armies moving around, so I felt that it drew attention to one of its own weak points. Here I think the game contrasts negatively with the Tellius pair, which also feature a bunch of continent-wide wars, but generally seem to avoid bizarre logistics.

Finally, let’s talk about the ending. As I mentioned in one of the linked posts above, I was a bit surprised that there was no resolution to the Slitherers subplot in this arc. I liked the scene where Dimitri asks Edelgard why she did all of this before the final battle, but unfortunately they just talk about ideals. If I were Edelgard I might have mentioned the part where I did all this at the behest of – while also hoping to turn on and destroy – a faction of evil subterranean wizards who have been fomenting conflict throughout all of Fódlan’s history. I might also have mentioned the part where I believe the Church of Seiros is run by a different faction of ancient immortal manipulators, since that also seems key to understanding why Edelgard thought such drastic measures were necessary.

Perhaps that didn’t come up because if Edelgard were to mention those motives, it would quickly become apparent that she has already achieved most of her goals, and there is no more reason to fight. By the time of Edelgard and Dimitri’s fateful meeting, the Slitherers have already been defeated (albeit inadvertently, when we killed Arundel), the Church of Seiros is already shattered, Fódlan is close to being reunited under one government, and both we and Edelgard know that Dimitri wants to establish a more participatory and egalitarian form of government that should resolve some of Edelgard’s worries about crests. If Edelgard were the utilitarian fighting for the greater good that she portrays herself as, she could simply surrender, arrange the sort of peace treaty that Dimitri clearly wants, share all her knowledge with Dimitri and Byleth, and work for a brighter future together.

The final cutscene was thus quite striking to me. By ‘Light and Shadow’, it is extremely clear that the war is over. Even if Edelgard were somehow to successfully kill Dimitri, she would be killed immediately afterwards, and no good could come of it. But Edelgard cannot surrender. It is the one thing she cannot do, that she will never do. After the heart of the story was Dimitri’s redemption, and his painful struggle to turn away from his crimes and start anew, it seems appropriate to draw this line between them.

Both Dimitri and Edelgard did terrible things: he from vengeful passion, she from sincere belief it was for the best. But he could change his ways, grow, and find a new beginning. She never could. At the midpoint of Azure Moon, Byleth offers Dimitri his hand, and taking that hand and accepting help is the point at which Dimitri’s redemption begins. At the end, Dimitri, having learned this lesson, offers Edelgard his hand… but she does not take it.

There were plenty of places where I thought the plot could be improved, in terms of time, pacing, focus, and even practical things like why certain battles happen or how troops get there. But ultimately the story worked for me, I think, because the emotions worked. I can excuse a lot of nonsense if I care about the characters and the emotions resonate. I would rather do that than have a story that makes perfect logistical sense, but in which all the characters are flat and boring.

Next time I’ll talk more about supports and all the other characters.

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