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theofficersacademy · 3 months

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Leo Farina Sara Rafal Poe Tharja Alcryst Lucina Edward Knoll Ares Seliph Ewan　Erk

WEEK THREE: The Refusal of What You Know TASK DURATION: Until midnight EST on Monday, January 22 TEAM TAG: #AOtau2024

Lucina and Ares lie dead, their bodies crumbling in a haze that the more attuned in the group may recognize as an overpowering consumption of magic. One executed by the clean blade Kleio(?) had given, the other brought to death by the sullied blade that had been passed on to Mother from your guileless and hardworking hands.

For several moments, shock and outcry from the remaining fill the formless dark, before it is summarily interrupted.

Those with keen hearing, or still in command of their wits, perceive a disappointed voice like ice. "I thought you'd do well. But you can't even commit to the job."

It happens in less than a second. The clean blade vanishing from Rafal's hand. A sing of steel carving air. Leo tipping backwards, head askew. A fountain of blood. The body crumpling like paper; the head rolling some feet away.

Kleio stands, the weapon in her hand newly wet. "Two of your coterie dead for nothing; the rest would still be infected. I risked my safety for this? None of you have improved."

You blink, and darkness again, where your body won't obey you.

"You came here to hunt a target. I hope you prove less limp about it than you were about this."

HUSH LITTLE CHILD, DON'T SAY A WORD.　farina, sara, rafal, tharja, knoll, seliph, ewan, erk

what you know

previously, the house felt lonely, a little isolating, and foreboding, but at least populated. you knew mother, father, and kleio were present even if you couldn't see them. now, your surroundings are old, peeled, and run-down, as though they've been abandoned for months. the feeling of impending ruin you previously had has blossomed into a sense of immediate danger. shadows have taken up residence here and crawl just out of sight. eyes watch you with malice from where you can't see. you feel as though every minute, you're traveling the landscape of an open war zone in enemy territory, like a place that was once home has lost all its warmth

you understand that in order to find pasithee, you must find the way into mother's room. completing your flawed chaos matter blade may be helpful as well

lucina, leo, and ares are no longer with you. after the events while it was dark, you can only guess they met the same, or similar, fate as poe, edward, and alcryst

no one appears to be newly ill. does that mean kleio was telling the truth after all, or was helping you? hard to say. was that even kleio? if not, who's kleio?

what to do

talk amongst yourselves. gather your bearings. discuss what happened, or don't

retrieve key components from the knave's tower. ( danger level: HIGH ) ( recommended: 4 muses. only one thread permitted at a time ). the materials to assemble the key to mother's room are scattered across three levels of the knave's tower, bathed in undispellable darkness. go with care, however, as the floors there are riddled with traps. and more than that, the tower is the hunting ground of the terrible beast. fall into its clutches, and you might never return

— you are searching for loss, denial, and hope. you know that one can be found on each floor. each floor also contains the ladder to the next floor — roll D3 per post to determine your movement. you may not move diagonally. once you have moved, ping rai. only the contents of the square you land on will be revealed — each time everyone has moved, ping rai. the terrible beast will move too, beyond your line of sight. on floors 1 and 2, it will roll D2 per move. on floor 3, it will roll D3 — equipment, rallies, etc. may be used in place of your own movement for the round — if a character is caught by the terrible beast: 　　　･　when the terrible beast reaches the nearest wall, the character will be dragged away 　　　･　everyone other than the captured may roll a D20 to help save them. you must be within range of your equipped weapon ( 1 range, if none ) in order to make a saving roll. on floors 1 and 2, saving the victim requires a cumulative 21 or higher before the terrible beast reaches the nearest wall. on floor 3, saving the victim requires a cumulative 30 or higher 　　　･　you may only roll once per round ( 1 round = players move, then the terrible beast moves ) 　　　･　the terrible beast is immune to status effects such as freeze, stun, sleep, bind, etc.

forage in the garden. ( danger level: MEDIUM ) you didn't finish everything mother needed last time. but if you're looking for pasithee, completion of the chaos matter blade might be a good idea just in case. be careful though, the gardens are no longer as friendly as they once were, and the world is more and more eager to take from you than ever to finish it, you will need: x3 of each: hammer tassels, little fangs, majestic blues, spotted ones

— roll D4 per post. recruit mastery grants 2 reroll chances 　　　･　1 : nothing is found 　　　･　2 : the scavengers have come for you and yours 　　　　　　　○　on enemy phase, scavengers will use steal on a random target for a random weapon or item, prioritizing equipment before weapons. they will escape the following enemy phase if not defeated 　　　　　　　○　on every 3rd time scavengers have appeared, roll D2. if 2, a master thief will appear. defeating the master thief will reclaim all stolen inventory 　　　･　3, 4 : you've found x1 of a plant you're looking for. apothecary access grants x2. roll D4 to determine find

power the furnaces for refinement. ( danger level: LOW )

— roll D4 per post. 　　　･　1 : the furnace stops working. Roll D3 to determine the cause 　　　　　　　○　1 : not enough heat. roll D10 to attempt to bolster it with wind or fire magic ( DC6 success ). each full rank in reason adds +1 to the roll 　　　　　　　○　2 : unstable conditions. roll D10 to attempt to adjust the interior ( DC6 success ). each point of dexterity adds +1 to the roll 　　　　　　　○　3 : furnace malfunction. unable to be salvaged. move onto the next one 　　　･　2, 3, 4 : you're making progress — 1 furnace is powered every 3 successful posts ( unless furnace malfunctions, then start over )

search for supplies. ( danger level: LOW )

— roll D6 per post. each full rank in heavy armor grants +1 to roll. each unit with backup grants the party 2 reroll chances 　　　･　1 : nothing is found 　　　･　2 : you disturb something in the house you really shouldn't have. existing leads are reset. roll D20, 10 or below: receive -2 HP. each point of either avoid or speed adds +1 to roll 　　　･　3, 4, 5, 6 : you've found a lead. the next person must roll 3 or higher to continue it 　　　･　when cumulative 10 is reached, roll for what you find: 　　　　　　　○　1 : planks of wood 　　　　　　　○　2 : scrap metal 　　　　　　　○　3 : magic residue 　　　　　　　○　4 : bandages, recover 1 HP per post for 3 posts, out of combat only, stops working if damage is taken 　　　　　　　○　5 : tincture, recover 2 HP, out of combat only 　　　　　　　○　6 : diffused potion, all party recovers 1 HP, out of combat only 　　　　　　　○　7 : combat salve, recover 4 HP, usable in combat 　　　　　　　○　8 : panacea, recover all HP, out of combat only 　　　　　　　○　9 : filament of light, raises max hp by 2, capped at natural hp 　　　　　　　○　10 : cold comfort, raises defense by 1 for one turn, consumed on use 　　　　　　　○　11 : will of resistance, raises resistance by 1 for one turn, consumed on use 　　

MOTHER'S GOING TO BUY YOU A MOCKINGBIRD.　poe, alcryst, edward, lucina, leo, ares

what you know

whatever procedure poliades subjected alcryst, poe, and edward to in the name of what they were trying to make, it seems to have worked. at least, that's what poliades said as they hand a see-through compartment over to you, inside it a single black lump of shadow ostensibly of your own making. they call it "meliboeus"

previously, the abandoned manor you'd found yourself in was empty, but safe. mundane, even. things are changing, however; even if it hasn't happened yet, a gut feeling tells you this somber peace won't last

three of your companions have joined you. lucina, leo, and ares find themselves waking up where alcryst, edward, and poe had previously

though they don't seem to know what exactly you're after, poliades has explained that in order to go "forward" and find what you're searching for, you must restore meliboeus to full strength

aside from that, there's one more thing poliades would like you to do. the library contains old records of this house as it once was. they would like you to understand how it all ended

what to do

talk amongst yourselves. gather your bearings. share what you know, or don't

search the library for records. ( danger level: LOW )

— roll D6 per post 　　　･　1 : you find nothing 　　　･　2 : poliades' magic has resorted the shelves! existing leads lost 　　　･　3, 4, 5, 6 : you're onto something. next person must roll 3 or higher to progress — when cumulative score reaches 10, ping rai

dredge the cellars. ( danger level: LOW )

— roll D4 per post. each unit with backup grants the party 2 reroll chances 　　　･　1 : nothing is found 　　　･　2 : you should be more careful wading around. roll D20, 13 or below: receive -1 HP, each point of luck adds +1 to roll 　　　･　3 : you find a token 　　　･　4 : you find one of the list below. roll D#Remaining for which 　　　　　　　○　1 : tyrfing 　　　　　　　○　2 : exalted falchion 　　　　　　　○　3 : nevermeltice 　　　　　　　○　4 : bohr

help meliboeus regain their strength. ( danger level: HIGH ) ( recommended: full party ) at some point, an unknown army besieges the manor. you're not sure where they came from or how they got here, but the damage wrought by their attacks is very real. poliades says this is fortunate, as they'd been otherwise thinking of how to devise an appropriate training regime for meliboeus. once again, he warns, be careful with your existence here

— it is highly recommended to keep an updated log of player actions and what is currently on the field due to the number of moving pieces in this task — at the start, and at the top of every round after, roll 3D5 to determine incoming threats 　　　･　1 : a desecrated one tries to batter into the house, 10 HP 　　　　　　　○　roll D3 to determine how many posts until it breaks in 　　　　　　　○　until it breaks in, the desecrated one can only be targeted at range and will not attack or counterattack. roll as if for full combat 　　　　　　　○　if desecrated one breaks in 　　　　　　　　　　— use full combat if engaging it 　　　　　　　　　　— while desecrated one is alive, it will act according to enemy phase at the end of each round, regardless of whether players targeted it on their turn 　　　･　2, 3 : burrowing squad 　　　　　　　○　requires 3 posts to clear out, narrative-only 　　　　　　　○　if not cleared out by the top of the next round, enters the house. deals 1 HP damage to each character on their turn until cleared 　　　･　4, 5 : airborne squad 　　　　　　　○　requires 2 posts to clear out, narrative-only 　　　　　　　○　if not cleared out by the top of the next round, begins raining burning oil down on all characters. roll D3 each round to determine damage dealt to all characters until cleared — every 4 threats cleared, meliboeus gains enough power to clear the house of all current threats. players are then granted 1 round of reprieve to focus on healing. poliades will also roll to cast fortify at this time 　　

IMPORTANT PLAYER NOTES. Please read!

if you are still short of the 10 post minimum for the grand prize, use this week to catch up. do not count on the critical interlude and finale to meet minimum activity. 　

you are not required to make sure every task is covered or spoken for. it's recommended to prioritize the plot-important tasks if unable to cover all of them. as before, you are welcome to move your character around through tasks and teams organically throughout the week as befits them. 　

all other notes from week 1 still apply. 　　

if you have any questions or are uncertain how to proceed at any point, ping mod rai.

#TOAApollyonOuranos2024 #AOtau2024

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disgracedvessel · 1 year

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WHAT MAKES A PERSONALITY

A template for analyzing features of a personality beyond listing adjectives.

SELF-CONCEPT

View of Self: A blessing for a doomed people, a hope for a dying dynasty, a mortal god. However, deep below the surface lurks doubt - was he merely a tool in the end, now stripped of all use? View of Others: Objects, insects, means to an end, inferior in all ways. Occasionally, someone strong of character may pique his interest and he will place them a step below himself: a trusted ally to fulfill his desires and serve him at his beck and call. View of World: There is no world beyond his immediate influence. Grannvale is its center, and as its (former) prince, he is to be the ruler of all. There is a strict hierarchy of power to be adhered to, and those who try to climb above their station should be knocked down. There is no good vs evil so much as strong vs weak, and the weak and spineless need someone to guide them. Motivations & Goals: To reclaim that which belongs to him, first by gathering power and influence again, then by staging a coup What they Value Most: Himself

EMOTIONAL REACTIONS

Reaction to Stress: Becomes physically ill. Moderate stress usually manifests as lightheadedness, difficulty focusing, migraines, fevers, and a general malaise. At higher levels, particularly after heavy dark magic use, experiences seizures. Reaction to Fear: Downplays or counters with overconfidence. “Can’t scare me if I scare you more.” Will run if his own life is in danger and chance of survival is slim, but will hold his ground in all other instances. Not foolish or reckless, but hubris is a bitch. Psychological fears usually manifest as recurring nightmares that he can’t shake. Reaction to Success: Loudly calls attention to it nowadays. In the past, success was a given and the ground he walked was worshipped (in some cases, literally), so he was always receiving praise. These days, either no one knows him/cares, or they hate him, but he lives on praise and attention so he forces others to acknowledge him (but also to affirm to himself that he is somebody even without Loptous) Reaction to Failure: Hot and fiery anger. He does not fail, and if he does, it’s not his fault. Whoever is to blame will be swiftly and viciously punished. Stews in this petulance until he can rectify the mistake or until he takes his anger out on something.

DEVELOPMENT

Ideal Self: The god-emperor he was born and raised to be, cherished more than even his father had been during his prime Areas of Growth: Tempering his ego, finding other sources of validation and identity, recognizing people for people and not in terms of how useful they can be to him, emotional maturity, reconciling his conflicting feelings about Loptous, learning to apologize, learning to settle Barriers to Growth: An outrageous ego protecting fragile self-esteem, reactive anger and avoidance, narcissism, grudges toward Seliph and the rest of his family, pride

#headcanons #out of character #// I realized I never filled this out for julius and was itching to write about him #// also I rarely write public hcs these days

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ulirblood · 1 year

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"lady edain!" he approaches, hoping to catch a moment to speak with her before the mission begins. seliph offers her a hesitant smile. "you probably don't recognize me, but i am seliph... sigurd's son."

she'd known instantly, that seliph must have been sigurd's son but grown. context clues made that easy enough to guess. she'd held seliph as a baby before and he'd introduced himself as being of house chalphy as well as king of grannvale. it would actually be pathetic if she were not to recognize him.

"yes... i am part of your past in grannvale, aren't i?" she manages to crack a smile. "i may not be the lady edain that was with you when you grew up but i still did hold you as a baby. it would be silly for me not to recognize you." a quiet warm chuckle follows as she takes his hand. "it's nice to see you again, grown and healthy, seliph."

#KEbattlefield2023 #{ ic. }#{ SON WHO IS TECHNICALLY NOT MY SON RN }#{ i personally headcanon that she would have helped take care of seliph when he was a little guy without deirdre so wee }

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louvay · 5 months

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You are hired to cater Lord Seliph's house party. It's a charming Regency villa built during the times of French Revolution... oh, the irony. But far from the somber undertone the tumultuous time cast, the villa is charming. The rooms are comfortable, and you begin to like the night as it progresses. Lord Seliph needs extra helping hands in this party, and you are promised a good pay if you can see the night through. Sure, you may hear some things aren't meant for mansion staff like you, but you can't help but noticing how juicy these things are. You have been walking in and out of boudoirs, and to the tables where people have their games and probably more. What a time to be alive. It is 1820, and you understand the post-Napoleonic war brought a merry feeling among people.

You can see how sorrowful Lady Lana is even though she tries her best not to show it. You are mildly annoyed that she tries so hard, however, because otherwise it will appear as though you are idle considering she practically tries to do your job. You did see her and Lord Seliph talk separately at a quiet corridor whilst everyone else is playing chess and card games, and Lord Seliph seems contemplative whilst she is leaving hastily.

Murmurs you catch as you pass some cupcakes make it easier to put two and two together. You understand why Lady Lana feels especially close to Lord Seliph. They are childhood friends and their estates border one-another, but the same snide murmurs speaks of the quiet yet shy Lady Julia, where she talks to Lord Seliph the most. Lady Lana is seen clutching a letter. You have a good feeling that you can earn a good tip if you are heartless enough to be her messenger.

You hear murder being whispered. Just the word, and you don't know who did it. It has never been brought up again, but you notice Lady Ishtar looks uneasy because she must have not realized she took the wrong champagne glass. It's not hers. It's Lord Sety's; you do know this because you served him that exactly five minutes ago. You can see her glancing at her butler a lot. You aren't sure if she is supposed to do that, either.

"He is the most able person at the field," you see some hooded figures crowding Lord Arion. "Perhaps just as we need..." Lord Arion doesn't say anything yet, but his gaze is straight towards the unknowing Lord Sety. You feel your heart sinking somehow.

"He is -- he is what?" you hear Lord Julius gasping. It was audible. He didn't realize it, for sure. His composure is gone, and he appears like a totally different person. "What do you mean... no, what are you trying to say?!" you feel goosebumps. You aren't sure whom he meant because Lord Seliph is just some distance away in front of him, while Lady Ishtar's butler is to his right, outside of earshot.

"This is dangerous," you hear a young man begging. His raven hair glistens because he stands too close to a candelabra. You are about to warn him because it is so easy to get burnt if he continues, but 'dangerous' makes you halt your footsteps. "If you are wrong, all eyes will be on us. If you are right, then..." his twin, sharing his hair color, simply shrugs. You catch a thing or two about 'mother', and 'murderer'. You have a good hunch that this isn't the kind of conversation you should be eavesdropping.

"He is not bad," you recognize Lady Tinni's voice. She is persistent. If only she was more comfortable with herself. "If you must do it still, can you spare him?" Lady Tinni's brother -- or so you assume because of their shared hair color -- 'hems and haws'. He is irritated, but somehow you just know it's not towards his sister. He leaves. His companion, a woman with green hair, runs after him. They are heading towards the chess table, where you are set to serve drinks next.

"If this is true, then this is bigger than yourself," you overhear Lady Tinni's brother's lady companion tutting. "You cannot manage an alibi in due short time, Artie. There will be witnesses." 'Artie'? You have seen the guest list when Lord Seliph asked you to arrange the seating for dinner. Among the invited ones, you don't remember there's a guest called Archibald. Should you be concerned of intruders?

"He is here." You stop dead by your track. The voice speaking just now is gruff, full of anger. A blond man glares at his chess pieces. You can tell that he's losing a lot to the lady in pink facing him. What an odd sight, you think -- this is a party, yet he dresses as though he's attending a funeral. "I'm sure of it. Finally, I will avenge my father."

The lady in pink in front of him is probably too fearless for her own good. She just pinches the blond man's nose. "And what is next?" she huffs. "He isn't the one who killed him. He didn't even notice anything when he invited me and didn't mind I brought a plus-one." The blond man doesn't reply, but something sounds like a 'clank' when he shifts in his chair. You now desperately wonder whether his walking stick is just good, or if it's a cane sword...

You can see a brown-haired lad whispering to his attendant. The latter... you wonder when this man slept for the last time. He looks very somber. You wonder if his soul is still intact because he barely touches all the cake slices and drinks you just put in front of him. They are too far from where you are now, but you faintly catch the word 'sister' spoken.

"No. We are not doing that." You hear a woman speaking. Tall, graceful, yet with an air of formidability about her, she is conversing with a woman in pink. This is not the chess player with the blond man prior -- this woman's hair is pink. "No. I think..." she glances at Lord Arion. The pink-haired woman follows where her eyes linger. Both sigh. You don't know what they are talking about, and you have a good feeling that perhaps you shouldn't, anyway.

You find a diamond. That's right, on the ground as well! You look back and forth. You swear you catch a glimpse of a young woman sprinting towards the door few seconds ago. Blond and braided. You pick up the diamond and hold it in your hand to show your good will. You must give this to Lord Seliph soon.

"First time?" someone nudges you. He's also blond, but he wears a bandanna. You sense void in his voice. He sounds exhausted, although probably not physically. He sharply glances at the diamond in your hand. "The lass just now..." you wait, but he shrugs. "Mayhaps just mine feelings." You ask him if he hates his job. He laughs sarcastically at your face.

You can't find Lord Seliph, but perhaps he is in his study. He has said that he will be there to catch up with some of his letters that he hasn't had the chance to finish reading today. Considering the senders might attend the party, he's going to tactfully choose which matter needs immediate, in-person attention and not. You have been to Lord Seliph's study before. His auburn-haired butler wonders why you are running there, however. Should you tell him about the diamond?

"That must be another guest. If you excuse me!" the butler leaves you. Lord Seliph's study is just at the end of the corridor. You hasten your footsteps, but you catch a glimpse of a young girl walking seamlessly. Silvery-purple wavy hair. You blink, and she is gone. You aren't sure of what you saw. You wonder if you need to see Lord Seliph at all...

You now have precious information in your hands, with nearly-guaranteed anonymous bullet-proof should you decide to do... ahem, some things, about them. After all you are not the only staff who went back and forth into these rooms and attended to these noble guests tonight. You are probably the last person to leave since you clean up after the guests, but hey, who knows; you will not be the only staff who does this, and half of the guests are probably too merry, too stuffed, or too drunk to care!

Perhaps some people need to be reminded of their faults...

I would definitely contact my local bishop and tell him that I will soon get hexed by a magical forest girl and will soon pick a fight with Lord Sety (He is bad at swordplay ergo the live tuna fish I use for this duel will reign supreme)

#seals answers your quandaries #great fic!

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yewfallen · 4 years

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🥭 : how important to my muse is their hometown, or where they’re from? are they proud of it, or considered a hometown hero? did they move away, or do they wish to?

fruity hcs.

febail hails from conote (though i imagine he was born elsewhere first, but had to be moved due to the disappearance of his mother) which is very dear to his heart. no matter where he is, that is where home is, but it is less the land there and more the people that make it up. with most of the adults executed there and the responsibility of child rearing put onto him, he legitimately sees the majority of conote as his family.

it is out of his love for them that he moved away, and judging from his recruitment conversation with his sister patty, i doubt he’s been there in years.

Patty: “Febail? What’re you doing here!? Don’t tell me you’re working for Bloom!”

Febail: “Patty? Are you fighting with the rebels!?”

Patty: “That’s right! We’re here helping the people and we’re gonna finish off Bloom! It was the Imperial Guard that killed the parents of all the orphans. Remember!? And now YOU are fighting with the very same army! What’s wrong with you!”

Febail: “You’re right. Sorry… I don’t know what got into me.”

Patty: “If you’re really sorry about it, then join up with us. We gotta bring peace back to the people!”

Febail: “Alright, I’m in. Patty, you sure have grown up since I saw you last.”

they both ask each other’s names on the battlefield as questions, as if they need to take a moment to even be able to recognize one another. the last line is also supportive of this read, implying years as opposed to months.

it’s also worth noting that bloom uses patty becoming a thief as leverage against febail to coerce him into taking a specific job, and there’s nothing in the game to indicate that patty is some well-known thief or anything. considering febail is implied to have been hiding everything about conote from bloom, it’s likely it took a considerable amount of time for bloom to get that dirt on him, further extending the time period febail’s spent away from home.

Lana: “I saw all those crying children clinging to you when we were leaving the Manster District. You’re like a father to them, you know.”

despite the time he’s spent away, when he returns mid-war, the kids there all still cling to him. he’s clearly well-loved. he might very well be a hometown hero if not something like it.

but he doesn’t want to stay there nor will he return after the war.

( the rest is under the cut because this post is getting long but also because i’m getting into late-game fe4 convos and also fe5 spoilers )

Febail: “But you [Patty] and I are going to look for her [our mother] when we’re all done here. …And then we can finally find out who our father is.”

take that line alongside his conversation in the epilogue:

Febail: “We’ll be making for Yngvi then, Lord Seliph.”

Seliph: “Yes, knowing that the one who’s going to take care of Yngvi is you really eases my mind, Febail. I know I can trust you.”

Febail: “Wha— no, I, um, that’s not... I never thought I’d end up this way, sir. But since I learned my mom’s the Lady Brigid of Yngvi, I finally knew what it is that I must do.”

we see yet again how much people mean to him rather than the place. more than that, though, we see that he finally feels like he has a purpose in life: to find his mother. he has no intention of returning to conote, but he wants to complete his family. he becomes lost in this dream, even, and it shall consume him for seven years as proven by his mother’s ending in fe5.

[...] her memory recovered seven years after the Holy War. The story of her reunion with her children has been a favorite of many bards ever since…

we know from this that febail was not successful in his search for that many years. his arc in fe4 explores how he grows to fixate on his birth mother, scrounging up for scraps of memory of her, vowing to search for her despite having no leads or even any reason to believe she’s alive, and introducing himself solely in relation to her. this is what febail believes he must live for now.

i want to believe, however, as tragic as many characters’ choices may be in fe4, that febail doesn’t lose his love for the children he raised. we don’t get a very detailed character ending for him, but i like to think he probably either adopted all the kids himself post-war once he became the duke of yngvi and was thus now financially stable OR he moved them to a plot of land in yngvi territory.

or perhaps in a timeline where both he and his substitute character asaello exists, he believes he can trust the orphanage with asaello, and once a year, he might make the trek to visit the town of conote and cherish the family he had made there, even if it’s not the family that brought him into this world.

#// MAMKGR SORRY FOR WRITING SO MUCH ON THIS ONE... i didn't expect this one to get out of hand #// at this rate i'll also soon have like every febail quote on my blog LMAO #long post ---#unbalancing-act #+. / inbox.#+. / hcs + metas.

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four-loose-screws · 3 years

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FE4 Suzuki Novelization Translation (Gen II) - Chapter 12

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

If you are interested in donating to support my work, please check out my Ko-fi here. Thank you!

———————————

Chapter 12 - Emperor Arvis

Fee, who'd been flying behind Altena, guided her pegasus up next to Altena's dragon. She had something she wanted to say.

When Altena looked at her, Fee signaled, 'look ahead and to the left.'

Altena nodded and looked left, where she saw the figures of about twenty people that looked like little specks in the distance. They seemed to be running.

'Is something chasing them?' Altena wondered, then signaled, 'let’s go that way.'

Whenever the liberation army began to march, the two of them would always fly up and gather reconnaissance. This day was no exception, and they had traveled towards the strait to investigate the empire's position.

They changed directions, and after flying a short distance, the pursuers appeared - a unit of dark bishops.

'They're about to attack!' Altena signaled, to which Fee replied, 'Understood.'

As they moved towards their destination, they also gained altitude.

When the time was right, Altena, who'd flown ahead, dive bombed.

The enemies noticed them, but because they were surrounded by grassy plains, there was nowhere for them to hide.

First, Altena thrust and delivered a killing blow with Gáe Bolg. Fee followed up and attacked another enemy with a silver lance. When they u-turned, one of the remaining enemies cast a black magic spell, and Fee's pegasus took the impact.

'A wound this small is nothing!’

Once Fee had flown high enough into the air again, she aimed at the enemy and dive bombed.

"Look Mister, dragon knights are beating up the enemies!"

"They're not dragon knights! They're Crusaders!"

"Nuh-uh! They're Thracian dragon knights!"

'Our prayers have been answered.' When Palmark opened his eyes, he saw a pure white pegasus swooping down.

"Yaaaay!"

"That's a Crusader! They're white, see? So they aren't dragon knights!"

Next, a blue dragon performed a divebomb.

The two aerial warriors defeated the dark mages, then once again gained altitude, and flew away.

"Huh? The dragon knights flew away!"

"Nuh-uh! I told you, they're Crusaders!"

"Hey, Mister, why didn't they come save us?"

"Just wait, everyone. The Crusaders still have enemies that they must fight. If we wait, they'll come save us for sure. Until then, we must be patient."

At that same time, a grueling battle was unfolding on the bridge over the strait.

The first able to cross the bridge and charge were the imperial armored knights. However, because they started on the bridge, it was impossible for them to spread out, and they were quickly pushed back.

'At this rate, should we switch to a swift counterattack, or wait until after we've weakened the enemy forces a little more?' Seliph needed to make a decision right away. 'This is the beginning of our fight in Grannvalian territory. Even if the enemy is risking their honor, they're probably trying to wait it out and gauge our abilities. There's no question that a calvary unit is very likely waiting behind the knights. If we go too far, we'll surely take a terrible counterattack.'

"Listen up, everyone, only the calvary will fight! But do not fully cross the bridge! Once you've finished your attack, lower the bridge, and stand by on the sands of the opposite shore.”

At Seliph's orders, the calvary attacked in turns, crushing the enemy's initial charge. But, just like Seliph had suggested, they did not fully cross the bridge, instead getting off half way, then went on standby at the beach on the left side of the strait.

Soon after, the second wave of enemies started their attack, and sure enough, there were calvary among them, just as Seliph had thought there would be.

Seliph waited in front of the bridge and defeated each incoming enemy one by one.

Before long, the enemy army tired out.

"All units, attack!!" Seliph shouted, stood as leader of the charge, and crossed the bridge, slicing through the enemy's formation.

Next, sword fighters and mages rushed towards them, and in response, the cavalier unit on standby finally went in to finish the fight.

At the same time, Altena returned and reported, "There's about twenty children on the edge of a cape to the east! Fee and I eliminated a group of dark mages that was chasing them. Because the fight near the bridge was about to start, we came back without confirming this, but there's a chance they may be the children taken from Thracia."

"Then let's go and see if we can confirm that’s true!" Seliph said without a moment's hesitation.

"Shannan, please take command and surround Chalphy Castle. But I want you to wait until I return to attack."

Seliph ordered his horse to gallop as his thoughts continued to race. 'I really want them to be the Thracian children.'

A large group of children turned towards Seliph and waved.

He jumped off his horse and asked, "Are you okay, everyone?"

They all cheered in unison, then rushed towards him.

"You're all okay? Thank the gods. Thank the gods…"

"I thank you for saving the children. I am Palmark, the bishop of Chalphy. The children told me they were taken from Thracia."

"Really? So you've been taking care of them? We hurried here to try and rescue them, so I'm happy they're safe. It is me who should be thanking you."

"No, I was merely following Emperor Arvis' orders."

"Arvis' orders?"

"Yes, His Majesty has been against the child hunts since the very beginning."

"Really?" Seliph asked. 'Lewyn was right. Julius… no, Loptous, really was the one to order the child hunts.'

"By the way, I heard that Lord Sigurd's son is a member of the liberation army."

"Ah, yes! I apologize for not introducing myself right away. I am Sigurd's son, Seliph."

"There is no doubt in my mind that this is yet another reason you were led to me. I actually have something to give you." Palmark said, and handed over the sword Arvis had given him.

"This-This is…!" It was the first time he'd ever see the sword, yet he felt as if he remembered it. And not just that he'd seen it before, but also held it, and knew how it felt to swing it.

"It is. It is Holy Sword Tyrfing, the sword passed down through your family.”

"I knew it…" Seliph took the sword, then grabbed the hilt and unsheathed it.

A dazzling light enveloped both the sword and its wielder as Seliph felt warmth flow through his body.

'This is the moment I become a Crusader.'

Once his entire body felt warm, Seliph resheathed Tyrfing.

"Why did you have this sword…?"

"There are many reasons… But I made a promise with a certain someone, so I cannot share them. All I can say is, they do wish for you to have it."

'Impossible, Arvis wanted me to have this…?' Seliph thought.

The person he thought would be most likely to have Tyrfing was indeed Arvis, and it made sense that Arvis would want to give him Tyrfing if he also freed the children. But, if it really was Arvis who did those things, Seliph questioned why.

'Who in the world would give the person trying to kill them their Holy Weapon? Arvis shouldn't be the one wanting to give it to me. Maybe he has a special reason of some kind?’ No matter how much Seliph thought about it, he couldn't come up with one.

"I understand. Then I won't ask their name. By the way, where is Emperor Arvis right now?"

"He is in Chalphy Castle."

'So it really was Arvis? Still, why is the emperor protecting Chalphy Castle? No, it doesn't matter if that is suspicious or not. I can finally kill my father's murderer. What a turn of events this is… for the showdown between my father’s murderer and me to happen at my father’s castle, and at the same moment I obtain Tyrfing, ’

Seliph felt that fate was working in a strange, big way.

Seliph returned to his army, then ordered everyone to protect the castle.

He left the fight with the castle soldiers to the rest of the army, then waited for the castle gate to be destroyed.

Finally, the time came.

Seliph unsheathed Tyrfing and passed through the castle gate.

In the large reception hall at the entrance of the main building was Arvis.

"Arvis! I am Seliph, son of Sigurd!"

"So you are Seliph?"

Arvis said and closely looked him up and down, evaluating him. 'Is this young man the one? His voice and demeanor is the same as Sigurd's was back then, aren't they? He just might be the one to do it. He could make happen what I thought only I could do…'

Arvis recalled the first time he met Manfroy.

He'd come on the night that Arvis had turned fifteen, and inherited Valflame.

Manfroy appeared from a shadow that had formed on Arvis' bedroom wall. He then explained that Arvis' mother, Cigyun, had inherited Loptous' blood.

"And what of it?"

"Lord Arvis, that means that you inherited Loptous' blood as well. If that information were ever to be made public, you would be sentenced to execution by being burned at the stake…" Manfroy said with a quiet cackle.

"Did you come to threaten me?"

"No, not at all! I am the archbishop of the Loptr Church. How could I threaten as sacred a person as one who has Loptous' blood? I came to promise you control over the entire continent of Jugdral."

"Impossible. Such a thing is but a dream…"

"Oh, it is no dream. Though the Loptr Church is publically banned, we've recently come to be very powerful in the shadows of the world. We will give all of that power to you. Once it is yours, then anything you can think of will become reality. There's just one thing we want…"

"And what is that one thing?"

"That when you become ruler of the world, you must promise to officially recognize the Loptr Church."

"I cannot promise such a thing. Go away, shadow man. Or else…"

"I understand. Tonight, I will leave it at that. But please think it all over. Think about becoming the emperor, and creating your own ideal empire…" Manfroy said, then disappeared back into the shadow.

Since then, Arvis had begun to take an interest in topics such as the Loptrian Empire's history, and the current affairs of the Loptr Church.

'The Loptrian Empire was undoubtedly bad. But I cannot fathom the idea that it is right to persecute the followers of Loptous after it fell. Just because they believe in Loptous, even those who’d done nothing wrong were burned alive…'

About three years later, members of the Loptr Church were executed in the imperial capital of Belhalla.

The victims were a young mother and her daughter, who looked to be only about three years old.

The girl's crying made Arvis cover his ears and run away.

That night, even after he went to bed, the memory of her cries kept him from being able to sleep.

‘If people knew the secret of my birth, then the exact same fate would be waiting for me. And if I had a child, then they too would be…'

Arvis rose from his bed, and said aloud, "I must put an end to this."

Not even a second later, Manfroy appeared once again.

After promising that he would officially recognize the Loptr Church, Arvis said, "But that is all I will do, Manfroy. I will not rebuild the Loptrian Empire. I will recognize your existence, but I will not entrust this world to the dark god, or any such thing. Do not forget that. Even if the blood of Loptous' family courses through my veins, it is the blood of Maira, who rose up against the empire. As the inheritor to both Fire Knight Fjalar and Crusader Maira's blood, I will change this world into one without discrimination, that anyone can easily live their lives in. I am the only one who can make that ideal a reality. It is for that reason alone that I am borrowing your power."

And so, for those reasons...

War and rebellion occurred all across Jugdral, killing many people.

'It was all for the purpose of building my ideal kingdom. Killing this young man's father was also for that purpose.'

After a long war, Jugdral unified, and Arvis worked as hard as he could to make his ideal a reality. At first, it went very well.

However, on that fated day...

Manfroy appeared carrying a black spellbook, and all of his ideals began to move in the opposite direction.

Arvis knew he had been betrayed, and tried to do something to change what was happening. However, his opponent's power was far greater, and all of his attempts failed.

There was only one path left: to entrust everything to the young man before him. He'd already given him Tyrfing. Now, he just had to give to Julia her birthright...

The youth raised the Holy Sword and slowly came closer.

In his face, Arvis saw Deirdre's features.

'So there really was something between Deirdre and Sigurd…'

At the Battle of Belhalla, when Sigurd had seen Deirdre, his face changed color.

'This man knows Deirdre.' Arvis had realized it right away. Deirdre also appeared to be searching her mind for her lost memories.

Arvis panicked and forced Deirdre to stand down before ordering the attack on the rebel army.

Because he'd loved Deirdre with all his heart, her memories had made Arvis suffer for a long time.

'What kind of relationship did they have?'

But Deirdre did not have her memories and could not confirm anything with him, so he’d succumbed to feelings of excessive jealousy at the time.

However, now, he strangely did not feel jealous.

'My ideals will live on in Deirdre and Sigurd's son. That is probably one more twist of fate. No matter the paths I could have taken, I can no longer turn back. The only path I have left is the one I chose.'

Purposefully seeping hatred into his voice, Arvis said "You've done well to make it this far. I praise you for your bravery. However, just wielding Tyrfing does not make you invincible. Long ago, my Valflame still set fire to your father, even though he had Tyrfing at the time. Your fate will be the same. You are both pitiful creatures. Now, come face me!"

While he spoke, Arvis prayed, 'Fire God Salamander, grant this young man power.'

The moment Arvis finished his words, Seliph lept in the air, aiming at his foe's chest.

Seliph was engulfed in a scorching fire, but he still managed to swing Tyrfing one time, two times, then once more.

Suddenly, the fire vanished.

"Deirdre… Julia…" Arvis whispered, then collapsed on the floor.

When the townspeople heard the news that the emperor had been killed and Chalphy Castle was returned to Sigurd's orphaned son, they all crowded around the castle, one after the other.

When Seliph raised the castle gate, both the townspeople and the soldiers of the liberation army all yelled in unison, "Long live Prince Seliph!"

They repeated it over and over again so many times that he thought they would never stop.

"How do you feel? Has avenging your father satisfied you?" Lewyn asked that night at the dinner table.

"To be honest, I don't feel very satisfied. Until now, I thought that killing Arvis myself and clearing my father's regrets would make me happier than anything else in the world. But now that it's finally happened, I don't feel as satisfied as I'd imagine. Rather, I feel a bit empty…"

"That's because your heart has overcome its hatred.You also recognize that Arvis was another pawn of fate. I didn't plan on telling you this, but now, I sympathize with him. That's how I knew that you had overcome your hatred, and I'm happy for you.

“This also means one more important thing. By overcoming your hatred, you have gained the qualities of a king."

"What does that mean?"

"You remember how happy the townspeople were today, correct? That's not just their happiness over their oppressor's death. Even if it was through rumors, stories of your words and deeds until now have spread, and the people have accepted them. And the way everyone talks to you has changed recently, right? They've begun to respect you."

"You praise me too much. I cannot allow myself to be happy right now, can I? Julia is still missing, and the war is not over yet."

"Yes, of course, that is true. Especially because you could say that the real battle has yet to begin…"

#fire emblem #fe #fe4 #genealogy of the holy war #nintendo #famicom #super famicom #snes #super nintendo #seliph #japan #japanese #translation #novel #light novel #fe4 suzuki novelization translation

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healresolve · 4 years

Text

In War and Love

“—You must care a great deal for… him, to ask on his behalf. What is he like, the friend whose fate is weighing on you so?”

@dezrosiers // ( continued from here )

It’s nothing short of a blessing, Lana thinks, that the professor offers his time to her outside of the classroom even after the sun has begun its descent and several topics are exhausted before she even notices evening cooling the temperate air. A lapse in conversation allows her mind to wander, veering off from an earlier path to territory better left untraveled.

But she is met only with patience, attentiveness when she does talk, and, after a moment of appearing detoured by his own thoughts, some guidance to bestow.

Instead of the honey and elegance baked into his speech, the words drip with raw sincerity. He speaks not wisdom first but understanding— a reciprocated acknowledgement of tragedy as no light matter and she is grateful that he does not neglect the sacrifice that oft accompanies it. There is a strange comfort to be found in a non-answer, to know that the years he has on her have brought him no closer to enlightenment. She accepts the honesty he offers with a small nod because it surely comes from the heart.

“I doubt there is hope for me if you are at a loss for words, Sir.” The borrowed wit of her mother emerges in an attempt to lighten the mood they’ve fallen victim to and Lana’s smile is intended as good will. She sighs softly into the air, settling beside him on the low bench.

Awareness is attracted to the slip of the tongue that she frankly had not even realized she made until her astute professor asks a question for which there is no easy answer anymore. She wants to say Seliph is her dearest friend and, back in Isaach, Lana had been confident that she was his too. But their world is no longer just Tirnanog. A fleeting glance is cast skyward, wondering if he still sees the same open sky.

“Lord Seliph,” she starts to create distance. It’s a balancing act these days. Seliph the childhood friend, the ideal, and now Emperor of a splintered population are all a part of him and the person he has become by choice and out of necessity, but all they seem to share in common is being beyond reach. Her feet twitch against the dirt. “is the Emperor of Grannvale, my homeland. We grew up together. He was the kindest boy I knew. There was always something special about Seliph, different than the rest of us I mean. The adults always looked at him as if they were waiting. I learned, once we were older, he was destined to liberate the continent from darkness. And he succeeded too, but afterwards...”

“I’ve watched him since the beginning so I know he tries harder than anyone to live up to all the expectations of others and please, understand that it’s not as if I believe he should simply abandon his duties... It’s just that he doesn’t feel like a person anymore.” At least, not one she recognizes. The admittance is wry. It is indisputable that Seliph has changed a great deal, but she, too, has changed and that is far more difficult to accept. “In truth, I fear this may not be my place to speak,” she relents with some resignation, the line of her lips slumping slightly just as her shoulders do.

However intertwined they may be, his story is not hers to tell.

#dezrosiers #in war and love (thread)#// lana got pretty verbose here whoops #// guess she really is virion's daughter

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fire-emblem-heroes-supports · 6 years

Text

Arvis/Seliph C-A Support

Written by animenutcase

CONTENT WARNING: Arvis’s marriage to Deirdre (his half-sister) isn’t going to be explored in-depth, but the subject is going to come up a couple times.

C SUPPORT

Seliph: Duke Arvis of Velthomer.

Arvis: …Can I help you? Seliph: I wanted to ask you something. Arvis: That’s fine, but we need to prepare for the next battle. Seliph: You wanted to unite Jugdral as one, correct? Arvis: Yes. My goal is to create a more equitable world, one without discrimination. Seliph: A noble goal. Then, may I ask why you killed my father? Arvis: …I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t know who your father is. I don’t even know who you are. Seliph: I think you do. Arvis: My apologies, but I’m afraid I don’t. Seliph: Then why aren’t you looking me in the eye? Arvis: …! Seliph: I was told that my face resembles that of my mother, Deirdre of the Spirit Forest. It’s also my understanding that she was the wife of Emperor Arvis of Grannvale… in other words, you. Arvis: So it’s true, then. I could theoretically have pretended that Sigurd had been trying to trick me when he saw her at Belhalla, but this… You look too much like her for it to be coincidence. Arvis: Heh. Of course you do. Deirdre looked too much like… Seliph: Like your mother. Arvis: How- Seliph: Given how the Loptyr Sect was nearly hunted to extinction, it’s not that hard to guess that there was some foul play involved in Julius becoming Loptyr’s vessel. Lewyn only suggested it as a theory, but I think it’s true. He had some spies in Velthomer who distinctly remember a portrait of Lady Cigyun. Arvis: Tch! Seliph: I’m not going to force you to talk about it, but I will want some answers eventually. Good day to you, Duke Arvis. [Seliph leaves.] Arvis: He really does look like her... [Arvis and Seliph have reached support rank C.]

B SUPPORT

Seliph: Why don’t you tell me about Lady Cigyun, Duke Arvis? Arvis: You just dive right in, don’t you? You’re more like your father than I thought. Seliph: I’m just curious about the sort of woman my grandmother was. Oifey told me about Sir Vylon, but he never knew my father’s mother, so I can’t ask about her. I’d like to ask about Prince Kurth, too. Arvis: Prince Kurth was a kind and wise man. My mother always looked happier when he visited than she did with my father. Of course, Father also seemed to prefer the company of women besides his wife. Seliph: Duke Victor was rather infamous. I’d heard a few stories about him, as well. Arvis: How unfortunate for you. My father was a blight on the House of Velthomer, and his death was one of the few good things that came out of the mess with Prince Kurth. Seliph: Was your brother another of them? Arvis: You know about Azelle? Is he alive!? Where is he!? Seliph: I-I don’t know. I only know what I’d heard from Oifey, Shannan and Lady Edain, and none of them knew what happened to him! Arvis: I see. I apologize for grabbing your shoulders. Seliph: No, it’s my fault for bringing up a sore subject. Arvis: And yet you brought up my mother. Seliph: I… apologize. Arvis: Don’t apologize. It was a joke. Seliph: (It didn’t sound like a joke…) Arvis: As for my mother… I’d always loved her long, silver hair. I remember it tickling my face whenever she hugged me. Come to think of it, Deirdre’s silver hair was the first thing I noticed about her as well. It was a rather unusual color. In hindsight, I should have been more suspicious. Seliph: I’d… I’d prefer it if we kept the subject on Lady Cigyun, please. Arvis: Of course. My mother was a timid woman, but she was capable of standing up when she needed to. When Father tried to have Azelle’s mother banished, she argued that she should be allowed to stay. Seliph: Wow. Arvis: At the same time, trying to keep Velthomer stable and keep Father in check took its toll on her. I can count the number of times I saw her smiling in the days before she left on one hand. Seliph: It sounds like things were already starting to go bad even before the war with Isaach. Arvis: You may be right. That’s part of the reason I became as ambitious as I did. My mother swore me to secrecy the night she told me of her Maera blood. If anyone learned of it, we’d doubtlessly be burned at the stake. I couldn’t condemn her for fleeing Velthomer, especially after I learned the truth of why she did so. Seliph: … Seliph: When exactly did you learn the truth, Duke Arvis? Arvis: …It was shortly after the Battle of Belhalla. I had done some digging and learned that around the time Sigurd set out for Verdane, a woman matching Deirdre’s description had been seen near the Spirit Forest where my mother came from. That was where I learned the truth. At that point, however, it was too late. When I returned to Belhalla, Deirdre broke the news that she was pregnant. At that point, all I could do was pray that neither of the twins inherited our Maera blood. Seliph: Do you… remember finding out? Arvis: I spent every day praying that the mark on his forehead was just a birthmark. The day it became clear that it wasn’t was the worst day of my life. Deirdre went to check on the children, but then there was a commotion in the twins’ room. I rushed there, but when I arrived, Deirdre was lying on the ground and Julius had turned into… something I couldn’t recognize. And Julia was… gone. Seliph: Duke Arvis… Arvis: I don’t know anything beyond that. If Julia is alive, then Deirdre’s sacrifice at least meant something. Please, tell me! Seliph: She-she was alive last I saw her! But… she vanished in Miletos. We think she might have been abducted by Manfroy. Arvis: …I knew I should have killed him when I had the chance. Seliph: Duke Arvis, you’re getting angry. I think we should table this discussion for now. I’ll be happy to tell you about Julia later, but please try to calm down. Arvis: Very well, then. [Arvis and Seliph have reached support rank B.]

A SUPPORT

Seliph: Do you feel better, Duke Arvis? Arvis: Yes, thank you. Seliph: I met Julia right after we began our liberation of Isaach. She was rather quiet, but I felt drawn to her. Even if Lewyn hadn’t asked me to look after her, I think I would have done so anyway.

Arvis: How did she look? Did she seem healthy, like she was eating enough? Seliph: Heh, she looked fine. She seemed a bit shy about eating at dinner, but I think that’s because she didn’t know us very well, and it didn’t take long before she got used to us. Arvis: Good. Seliph: She’d lost her memories, however. Lewyn said that when he found her, the only thing she could remember was her name, and only because the words “Julia, you must live” were ringing in her head. Arvis: …! I-I see. Seliph: I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you more. Arvis: You’ve… told me enough. You could have lied to me or refused to tell me anything, but you were honest. I’m grateful for that. Seliph: Duke Arvis, how much do you remember of the future? Arvis: Like I said, my memories only go up to the night of Deirdre’s death. Why? Seliph: … Arvis: …You killed me. Seliph: I- Arvis: Don’t. I’m not angry. Your father was an innocent pawn in my schemes. I don’t have a right to condemn you for avenging him. I merely want to ask how you did so. Seliph: I… We rescued some children that had been taken in the child hunts when- Arvis: Child hunts!? By the Lopytr Sect!? Seliph: Y-Yes. The Bishop protecting them was from Chalphy, and he gave me the Tyrfing. He wouldn’t say where he got it, though. Arvis: He didn’t say? Seliph: It’s strange. People were saying that my father wielded it at the Battle of Belhalla, so I’m not sure how it got into his hands. The only person who could have had it after my father’s death is the king, and after King Azmur died, it would have passed into the hands of the… next king. Arvis: … Seliph: It was you. You sent the Tyrfing out with him. You were the one who let the children go. Arvis: I should hope so. The very fact that the child hunts were happening under my watch tells me that something went very wrong under my rule! Seliph: You really don’t know, do you? Arvis: Tell me what happened in the future after Deirdre’s death. I want to know every detail of what the Grannvale Empire was up to. Seliph: You’re not going to like it. […] Arvis: Hah. Hahaha! Seliph: Duke Arvis? Arvis: Oh, this is rich! You mean to tell me that everything I’ve ever worked for, every sacrifice I’ve ever made, has been for nothing!? Seliph: … Arvis: I wonder if I’ve been cursed. I don’t know if my brother is dead or alive, I’ve married my own sister, my son is going to turn into a monster, and my daughter is going to lose her memories and be raised on the run, and now you’re telling me that I’ve even failed to create the world I dreamed of!? Seliph: I-I’m... sorry. Arvis: As long as I put an end to discrimination and inequality, I could understand. Sacrifices need to be made for society to advance, and my own happiness is no exception to that. But it was all for nothing!? Arvis: Heh. I wonder if this is a curse from your father. Seliph: No, I don’t think my father resents you. Arvis: What? Seliph: After I killed you, I felt… empty. I went to the cliffs near Chalphy and held up the sword, telling my father that I’d avenged him, and… I saw my parents. Arvis: What!? Seliph: My mother said that Lewyn had done a good job with me, then asked about Julius and Julia. But my father… scolded me. He told me that I needed to know the suffering of the common people. I don’t think he agreed with your actions, but… I think he understood why you did what you did. Arvis: … Seliph: This has been an… interesting talk. I feel like I’ve gotten to know you better. Arvis: … Seliph: I understand if you don’t want to speak any more. I know you have a lot to think about. Good night, Uncle. [Seliph leaves.] Arvis: Idiots, both of them… [Arvis and Seliph have reached support rank A.]

#fire emblem genealogy of the holy war #male heroes #submission #arvis #seliph #arvis x seliph #seliph x arvis #oh gosh i feel so bad for arvis now... ;__;#thank you for this support chain it was GRAND!

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dancerofdarna-blog · 7 years

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Character Sheet

(as always feel free to steal if you're interested in filling this out too!)

one picture you like best of your muse:

two headcanons you have for your muse that you never told anyone:

i. She’s good at recognizing faces and remembering names. She may even pick up on your name before you tell her if she’s heard it in passing. She’s a bit of an eavesdropper. She can call to mind details when they’re useful (such as overhearing a name or conversation and making connections).

ii. Lene gravitates towards loners. (Is that really a surprise considering Ares?) Although she does her best not to talk over the other person. She’s drawn to people that have few friends and those that are shy. She can be kind of shameless in initiating friendship. She gets along easily with others, but takes a while to warm up as in feel truly close to another person.

three things your muse likes doing in their free time:

i. Primping. Her appearance is important as a performer afterall. There’s a pleasant sense of satisfaction she gets from hair-care as limited as it was in the time period.

ii. She enjoys trips to the marketplace even if they consist of only loitering. You learn a lot from observing others on the streets. She’s picked up a dance technique or two that way. I also see her as the charitable enough to spare coin every now and then for street performers.

iii. Swordplay. She doesn’t train with a blade as much as a knight or mercenary would be expected to, but she’s no slouch. It’s a valuable skill for self-defense. Her defender sword is also a memento from her mother.

ten people that your muse likes:

Ares, Patty, Larcei, Tinny, Fee, Seliph, Diarmuid, Johalva/Johan, Corpul, and Arthur. (Honorary mention to Lewyn because she respects him. Actually, Nanna should be somewhere in there too. Lene just likes Nordions.)

two things your muse regrets:

i. Not listening more closely to the teachings of the nuns at the orphanage. She will sometimes catch herself thinking she would be better at a certain task if she had. She was never punished for acting out or anything, but we all know Lene has a bit of a rebellious streak.

ii. She does regret mouthing off to the wrong people. She’s working on it.

#out of character. (ooc)#dossier. (headcanon)#( I was tagged on my indie blog but decided to post here and reblog there)#(naturally these aren't ferp canon since i've just started up)#long post /#long text /

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theofficersacademy · 4 months

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Leo Farina Sara Rafal Poe Tharja Alcryst Lucina Edward Knoll Ares Seliph Ewan Erk

WEEK TWO: Everything You Thought You Knew TASK DURATION: Until noon EST on Sunday, January 14. From Jan. 14 - Jan. 15 : ██ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███ TEAM TAG: #AOtau2024

Let me tell you a story.

It started with happiness. Not perfect or idyllic by any stretch of the experienced mind, but to an inexperienced one, just that by virtue of ignorance, and innocence.

It led to injustice. To loss and to distance — out of misunderstood love, perhaps, if you're the optimistic sort. Misplaced guilt perhaps, if you're not.

Whose is this?

You could name a name, but you might find your own comes first to mind whether you intended it or not.

This is, after all, a story of the world at its dawning.

NIGHT IS SURE TO COME.　leo, farina, sara, rafal, tharja, lucina, knoll, ares, seliph, ewan, erk

what you know

you've woken up beside the rest of your missing teammates. rejoice, rejoice. though some of your allies definitely look worse for wear than when you remember them. you can only guess what they went through

poe, edward, and alcryst, however, are nowhere to be seen. there's an unspoken knowledge of what happened that hovers over those who'd last been with each of them

rather than separated, cramped areas, you all find yourselves now at the central, open area of a sprawling— complex? bewildering structures and open-faced towers rise high, high up both near and far, both fascinating and foreboding, showing some signs of wear and tear. some initial cursory exploration reveals a couple sections that resemble facsimiles of the places you'd just been: half-collapsed, tangled, dark corridors; a small, dusty library; a whimsical playroom. their size and scale seems more normal now, though. how had they been so large and maze-like before? | ref ref ref ( ignore the dolls but the rest of the vibe is on point, including the endless sky beyond )

and speaking of worse for wear, lucina, leo, and ares do not feel very good at all. those who knew about poe, edward, and alcryst's most recent condition may recognize similar symptoms. something might happen if lucina, leo, or ares use magic . . .

kleio was also present when you all awoke, recognizable to those who'd last been in the playroom. she explained that mother wasn't able to be here today due to being very busy helping to care for your father's far-progressed illness, but that she has left you with a few tasks she needs your help with. for some reason, this doesn't feel too surprising to you; mother has been around less and less lately. you haven't been able to find kleio since then

the world feels a little colder than you remember. lonelier. more distant. there is a sense of foreboding on the horizon, like ruin might be coming just around the corner. kleio had said that you were just overthinking things, that you shouldn't be worrying about things like that. but you can't shake the feeling of smoke and darkness, and the way everything and everybody you encounter is afraid to trust you, afraid to trust each other, thinking only of how to protect themselves

what to do

talk amongst yourselves. share what you know, or don't. decide the fate of lucina, leo, and ares — or take it into your own hands

forage for plants in the garden. mother wants x6 hammer tassels, x4 little fangs, x7 majestic blues, and x5 spotted ones

— roll D6 per post. recruit mastery grants 2 reroll chances 　　　･　1 : nothing is found 　　　･　2 : the garden distrusts you and lures you into a hazard. receive -0.5 HP. next person must spend their post freeing you 　　　･　3 : there's something hostile in the way! roll D3: 　　　　　　　○　1 : minor threat. spend your post clearing it 　　　　　　　○　2 : moderate threat. spend your post and the next person's post clearing it. all characters involved receive -1 HP 　　　　　　　○　3 : major threat. spend your post and the next person's post clearing it. all characters involved receive -2 HP 　　　･　4, 5, 6 : you've found x1 of a plant you're looking for. apothecary access grants x2. roll D4 to determine find from list above

purchase magic materials in town. the team begins with 600 obols to spend

— the materials mother wants: 　　　･　x3 powdered iph, at least medium grade 　　　･　x1 adderstongue, at least medium grade 　　　･　x5 decanters of endless water, any grade serviceable 　　　･　x2 whole lampito, at least high grade 　　　･　x1 stilled catalyte, at least high grade 　　　･　x1 engraver's ink, must be exceptional grade — roll D4 to determine the quality of seller you find. at C rank bow or above, add +1 to roll. 1 = low, 2 = medium, 3 = high, 4 = exceptional 　　　･　your team may decide to keep looking, but may roll only once per post — once you have begun negotiations, roll D4: 　　　･　1 : the seller charges you more than you budgeted for the item 　　　･　2 : the seller charges you within your means for the item 　　　･　3 : a lucky break! for whatever reason, the seller is eager to get rid of the stock, and doesn't charge you much for the item 　　　･　4 : something complicates the negotiation. feel free to come up with your own, or you may roll the list below: 　　　　　　　○　1 : a third party bids on the item, doubling its price 　　　　　　　○　2 : the item is stolen from right under your noses 　　　　　　　○　3 : the item's owner shows up, and will kill to reclaim it 　　　　　　　○　4 : something pulls the seller away urgently. they do not come back — once you have the item, roll D4 　　　･　1 : the item turns out to be counterfeit. start over 　　　･　2 : someone else spots that you have it, and they want it. roll D2 　　　　　　　○　1 : they're willing to buy it off you for 100 obols more than you spent. if agree, gain 100 obols and start over 　　　　　　　○　2 : they steal it from you. roll D2 　　　　　　　　　　— 1 : must spend the next post getting it back 　　　　　　　　　　— 2 : it's gone for good. start over 　　　･　3, 4 : you're fine

power and retrieve περιέργεια: artificial daylight ( requires 3 people; only 3 people may be doing this at a time )

— the team begins with 10 of each material: dark ore, ink sliver, star of evening, bog's breath — 1 person must mix the serum the machine asks for using the required materials. 　　　･　roll D5 per post: 　　　　　　　○　1 : purple serum — 2 dark ore; 1 ink sliver 　　　　　　　○　2 : blue serum — 2 ink sliver; 1 star of evening 　　　　　　　○　3 : gold serum — 2 star of evening; 1 bog's breath 　　　　　　　○　4 : green serum — 2 bog's breath, 1 dark ore 　　　　　　　○　5 : white serum — 1 dark ore; 1 ink sliver; 1 star of evening; 1 bog's breath 　　　･　if required materials are available, roll D3: if 1: serum failed and materials are wasted. if 2 or 3: serum created successfully — 1 person must craft materials. 　　　･　roll D4 per post: 　　　　　　　○　1 : dark ore 　　　　　　　○　2 : ink sliver 　　　　　　　○　3 : star of evening 　　　　　　　○　4 : bog's breath 　　　･　then roll D3: if 1: crafting went wrong, material not acquired; if 2: acquired material; if 3: acquire x2 of the material 　　　･　if reason C or higher: roll D4 instead: if 1: crafting went wrong, material not acquired; if 2: acquired material; if 3 or 4: acquire x2 of the material — 1 person must monitor and adjust the machine temperature. ( purple serum = hot. blue serum = medium warm. gold serum = medium. green serum = medium cool. white serum = cold ) 　　　･　roll D4 per post. each point of dexterity grants 1 reroll chance ��　　　　　　○　1 : temperature overadjusted, artificial daylight explodes. all roll D20, 10 or below: receive -2 HP, factoring in defense 　　　　　　　○　2 : did not meet temperature requirement. failure 　　　　　　　○　3 : satisfactory temperature control. success 　　　　　　　○　4 : perfect temperature control. success, refund 1 material used. roll D3 ( D4 if white ) to determine which — both serum creation and temperature control must be successful to create 1 artificial daylight

ease your mind with preparations. there's no saying this bizarre place can offer anything to fend against a coming threat, but you may as well look

search for restorative alternatives. with staves shattering and magic tenuous here, it may be a good idea to look into alternatives. kleio has pointed you to some research materials you might use to try your hand at an old-fashioned art called alkhemie

— roll D6 per post, each 0.5 points in magic adds +1 to roll 　　　･　1 : your efforts bear no fruit 　　　･　2 : the process blows up in your face, quite literally. existing leads are reset. roll D20, 10 or below: receive -2HP, factoring in resistance 　　　･　3, 4, 5, 6 : you're getting somewhere. the next person must roll 3 or higher to progress 　　　･　when cumulative 10 is reached, roll for what you get: 　　　　　　　○　1, 2: bandages, recover 1 HP per post for 3 posts, out of combat only, stops working if damage is taken 　　　　　　　○　3, 4 : ointment, recover 1 HP per post for 3 posts, out of combat only, stops working if damage is taken 　　　　　　　○　5 : tincture, recover 2 HP, out of combat only 　　　　　　　○　6 : diffused potion, all party recovers 1 HP, out of combat only 　　　　　　　○　7 : quick cure, cures most recent status ailment, usable in combat 　　　　　　　○　8 : combat salve, recover 4 HP, usable in combat 　　　　　　　○　9 : panacea, recover all HP, out of combat only

MORNING IS NOT AS CERTAIN.　poe, alcryst, edward

what you know

you've woken to an old and undisturbed must in your nose, to dust in the air and mundane silence. the skeleton of an abandoned house shelters you. at some point in the distant past it must have been an elegant homestead; now, it's faded, rusty, and peeling. | ref ref ref

none of the allies you were just with prior to waking up are here. a couple new faces stirred beside you — others from among the thirteen you first set out with

some wandering has chanced you upon the house's apparent only other occupant: an individual with inhuman appearance. despite what must have been a startling encounter, they've proven nonhostile, if perplexed to find you here. after some time had passed, however, they eventually asked you to help them with a couple eclectic tasks. they've introduced themselves as poliades

which means, if they're here, and they're dead, then you must be . . .

. . . that unsettling thought aside, you all feel fine now, which must be a relief after fighting for your life, in some cases quite literally. your magic now works as you remember it too

poliades has warned you to take great caution in anything you do, only warning that being careless with your existence here has irreversible consequences to yourself and others

what to do

talk amongst yourselves. collect your bearings. share what you know, or don't

power and retrieve the nepenthe caskets ( requires 3 people )

— the team begins with 10 of each material: nepenthe ore, crystal intrusion, god's blood, light miasma — 1 person must mix the serum the machine asks for using the required materials 　　　･　roll D5 per post: 　　　　　　　○　1 : purple serum — 2 nepenthe ore; 1 crystal intrusion 　　　　　　　○　2 : blue serum — 2 crystal intrusion; 1 god's blood 　　　　　　　○　3 : gold serum — 2 god's blood; 1 light miasma 　　　　　　　○　4 : green serum — 2 light miasma, 1 nepenthe ore 　　　　　　　○　5 : white serum — 1 nepenthe ore; 1 crystal intrusion; 1 god's blood; 1 light miasma 　　　･　if required materials are available, roll D3: if 1: serum failed and materials are wasted. if 2 or 3: serum created successfully — 1 person must craft materials 　　　･　roll D4 per post: 　　　　　　　○　1 : nepenthe ore 　　　　　　　○　2 : crystal intrusion 　　　　　　　○　3 : god's blood 　　　　　　　○　4 : light miasma 　　　･　then roll D3: if 1: crafting went wrong, material not acquired; if 2: acquired material; if 3: acquire x2 of the material 　　　･　if reason C or higher: roll D4: if 1: crafting went wrong, material not acquired; if 2: acquired material; if 3 or 4: acquire x2 of the material — 1 person must monitor and adjust the machine temperature. ( purple serum = hot. blue serum = medium warm. gold serum = medium. green serum = medium cool. white serum = cold ) 　　　･　roll D4 per post: 　　　　　　　○　1 : temperature overadjusted, nepenthe casket explodes. all roll D20, 10 or below: receive -2 HP, factoring in defense 　　　　　　　○　2 : did not meet temperature requirement. failure 　　　　　　　○　3 : satisfactory temperature control. success 　　　　　　　○　4 : perfect temperature control. success, refund 1 material used. roll D3 ( D4 if white ) to determine which — both serum creation and temperature control must be successful to create 1 nepenthe casket

dredge the flooded cellars. poliades specifically has asked you to look for 3 items in particular: a porcelain coin-holder shaped like a pig, a spool of colorful thread, and a hand mirror

— roll D6 per post. each unit with backup grants the party 2 reroll chances 　　　･　1, 2 : nothing is found 　　　･　3 : you should be more careful wading around. roll D20, 14 or below: receive -1 HP, each point of luck adds +1 to roll 　　　･　4 : you find a strange token 　　　･　5 : you find one of the list below. roll D#Remaining for which 　　　　　　　○　1 : tyrfing 　　　　　　　○　2 : exalted falchion 　　　　　　　○　3 : speed ring 　　　　　　　○　4 : prayer ring 　　　　　　　○　5 : nevermeltice 　　　　　　　○　6 : unreason 　　　　　　　○　7 : bohr 　　　･　6 : you find one of the list below. roll D#Remaining for which 　　　　　　　○　1 : pig-shaped coin holder 　　　　　　　○　2 : spool of colorful thread 　　　　　　　○　3 : hand mirror

IMPORTANT PLAYER NOTES. Please read!

There are no longer promises about what happens upon reaching 0 HP. 　

You are not required to make sure every task is covered or spoken for. That said, IC outcome of tasks may influence things within the narrative . . . As before, you are welcome to move your character around through tasks and teams organically throughout the week as befits them. 　

All other notes from Week 1 still apply. 　

If you have any questions or are uncertain how to proceed at any point, ping Mod Rai.

#TOAApollyonOuranos2024 #AOtau2024

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ulirblood · 2 years

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edain gen 2 meta

so, here is the only canon mention of what edain’s doing in gen 2.

Lester: ...So where is mother now?

Lana: She's working at the convent in Tirnanog.

Lester: I see. Lana, we need to do our best out here for mother and our missing father. Someday we'll be able to return with mother to her hometown of Yngvi."

she also has a mention by finn if you married her to him, in his conversation with lana. (i guess they find their missing father in that scenario :softsmile: ) but that doesn’t really give much as to what edain is doing in gen 2.

this essentially might as well all be headcanon, though the fe4 manga by oosawa mitsuki does supposedly support a lot of this (though i haven't read past gen 1)

so, what happens to edain in belhalla? well, my personal interpretation is that she flees with midir regardless of who she marries, because of course midir is her personal knight. i do think that belhalla being interpreted for edain this way is kind of :] hoo boy for the claude/edain pairing, where he (claude) tells her to live without him.

anyways edain tries to flee with midir and (potentially) her kids as well. midir doesn’t make it in this scenario, because of course all the fathers are said to have died in belhalla in one way or another, except.. idk, finn.

in gen 2 canon (not toa’s canon bc edain is still technically gen 1 in toa) she flees to isaach with oifey and shannan and the kids that you see in the light inheritors. (seliph, lana, lester, scathach, larcei, diarmuid). she ends up working for the covenant as a nun— which is not entirely unfamiliar work to her.

and.. okay :^] i kind of have the headcanon that edain cuts her hair short after surviving belhalla. her husband is essentially dead and i think it fits the vibes of mourning that she’d be in for a good few years after belhalla— plus it kiiind of makes it easier for her to hide away considering how much of her hair is a dead give away to who she really is.

being one of the only survivors of belhalla is emotionally devastating to her but she tries to stay strong for the kids as well as shannan and oifey. she’s a really good mother, even though she’s in continuous mourning. she makes sure that all the kids are cared for first before herself ( not enough food for everyone? she’d give her rations to the kids or shannan and oifey first before herself, for example). i can imagine there is a melancholic air about her at all times though that the kids may eventually recognize when they grow up.

she tells lots of stories about their parents— moments between them when she was in sigurd’s army and of their strengths and bravery. it’s hard to keep herself together but she does it for the kids. once shannan and oifey grow up that is a lot of help in her duties, but in general she tends to mother everyone regardless of her mental and physical state.

while of course she cares greatly for her own kids the most (don’t tell anyone she has favorites shhhh) i think she also plays a big part in seliph’s life, yknow. she was his only mother figure growing up, and oifey and shannan are hardly emotionally mature enough to be proper fathers at that point. i imagine edain would be The Parent Figure for him in his life. she also always tells seliph of his father’s greatness and his mother’s kindness. of how he inherited his personality both from his mother and his father, etcetera.

tldr:

gen 2 edain becomes a nun (again) in isaach with shannan and oifey, taking care of the kids up until they leave to yknow, change grannvale as a whole.

#{ headcanons. }#{ is it really a meta if basically none of this is canon :^] }

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companaich · 4 years

Text

Broken Ball || Ishtar & Iuchar

Participant(s): Ishtar, @sireneia / Iuchar

Words: 3,100

Type: C-Support

Summary: A few years after her wedding to Seliph, Ishtar accompanies him on a tour of the rest of the continent. An encounter with Iuchar proves more bolstering to her self worth than she had expected, although the tone and content of the evening itself leaves a toll on her.

“ Oh, Lady Ishtar! I can tell why it is that His Highness covets you so; the image of thunder striking no doubt describes you to a T. To what do I owe for your presence? ”

“…oh?”

Ishtar was taken aback for a moment, blinking at him - who was this? Another member of the Liberation army, it must be…no, wait, she had him placed now. One of the lesser sons of Neir, wasn’t it - Iucharbar? No, that one was dead. Just Iuchar.

Gods above, how long had it been since someone had complimented her on looks with no seeming motive? Before Seliph, for sure - possibly even from before Julius changed. It felt…good. To be flattered again, in a way she hadn’t thought she’d hear again when so many openly despised her.

Unable to help herself, a finger moved to start twisting the end of her ponytail around it as she stared at him someone wide-eyed as she sipped at her wine.

“Just visiting with the Emperor, of course - he intends to do such a tour of the country at least once a year.” She said, mouth a little dry. “…say again what it is about my image you find so striking?”

“ A visit from His Highness as well, is it? I’ll have to be sure to pay him my utmost respects when we cross paths then. ” It really was good news to hear he would be having company of the two of them, though a part of him laments the fact he had little to share that he found worthy of a visit. Restoration efforts would always take time, but if he could’ve somehow worked a miracle in time for an inspection by Grannvale’s most elite royal couple, Iuchar would have worn his own bones down to make it happen.

Dramatics aside, the axe knight does take note of the forewarning that this would be an annual event. His mind is so easily on the verge of thinking how to prepare himself for these following eventualities until the thunder goddess herself asks him to elaborate on his compliment.

“ Oh? ” he raises an eyebrow, much more intrigued by this unanticipated reaction. “ I can’t say I’m terribly used to lady nor lord paying my odes to beauty any mind, but for you I would be more than happy to indulge!

“ Lady Ishtar, you cannot be so blind as to your own finer traits, can you? Your eyes are a storm to which any man can get lost in! Your hair— surely, the fairy tales of silver-haired maidens were written of YOUR visage! And your stance most of all, it exudes a very attractive confidence. You’ve taken notice of the way you plant your feet in the ground in relation to the rest of the way you carry yourself, yes? ”

Perhaps it’s from a youth spent in Isaach around strong-willed women that clues him in on the vibe his words may carry for after a brief pause from his burst of enthusiasm, he reels it in and lowers his tone as he adds, “ Oh, of course, I do not dream to woo you. I have not the time for that, not when I have my hands full and my eyes having fallen on another a long time ago anyhow. ”

“Let’s just say it’s been a while since I heard someone other than the Emperor or my cousin bring them up.” Ishtar chuckled over the rim of her glass. In truth it had been a while since she’d thought of herself positively as well, a lingering resentment over her body and appearance considering who had previously controlled it. She hadn’t quite realized how starved she’d become for compliments from…anybody, really. And while the ones she got from Seliph she would treasure deeply, hearing them from people who she wasn’t in the midst of courting helped her remember that taking care and pride in herself wasn’t entirely unworthy of her time.

“I think, perhaps, our emperor’s mother might have been a better muse for silver-haired women. A fondness for it does seem to run in his family.” She chuckled again, cheeks flushing a little from the drink and the compliments as she closed her eyes and let herself live with them. For a moment she was younger again, flitting through court with all the confidence in the world, Julius watching with jealous pride from the sidelines…

“Of course. Another.” Ishtar’s shoulders locked up for a second at that, suddenly reminded of what Seliph had told her of him. Larcei. She glanced around the hall, the hand holding her glass shaking a little with rage and anxiety alike. “Is she…here, tonight? If so I had best excuse myself before something rash occurs.”

“ Then THAT is a crime. ” Iuchar raises his glass, tipping it slightly in her direction before he takes a sip from it himself. He places it down flat on the table before he begins to speak again. “ Though I suppose many a man grows too easily jealous; but what is the use of beauty if not for the world to enjoy it? Appreciate with the eyes, not with the body, you could say. ”

It’s cheap wisdom but old habits die hard. The urge to go at length about such philosophies increases despite a recess of his mind telling him he must act more MATURE. His love for the sentimental and the romantic was a fragment of the past that must be washed away so that he may be the prince that his people needed.

Just for tonight, at least, he could be this way.

Iuchar nods at the reference to Empress Deirdre. He recalls a little of her, though he hadn’t many opportunities to see her much before she had perished. He does recognize that she was of a saintly beauty, or at least that was how the people spoke of her; but she was more known for her tragedy and how Verdane loved her so. “ Perhaps, but I see a goddess before me. Her Royal Highness was nothing more than a far-off figure for the time she was on this earth— hardly the kind of person I can say one way or another is muse material. ”

When Ishtar’s mood noticeably shifts, Iuchar’s too changes to match with a silent concern. Before he can ask, she is the one to pose a question first.

“ …Ah. No, she is not, ” he answers. “ Last message I’ve received states she’s in Isaach. Rest assured, it would be quite the journey for her to make her way here tonight… ”

“Good. If she was here this would turn into something of an incident.” Ishtar growled. Her temper was far too gone to acknowledge his most recent spat of compliments, even though she had worked to tease them out - her confidence vanishing under a wave of rage and sadness that she never quite knew how to control.

She should have checked that the Isaachian delegation wasn’t here first - that was shortsighted of her. She wasn’t sure even Seliph could reign her back in should another confrontation arise, and she forced herself to take a steadying breath.

“How do you stand it?” She said after a moment, needing some kind of outburst before the tension building up inside her triggered some kind of attack. “Being around and near the people who killed your brother - every time I see Shannan or his cousins I remember Ishtore and Liza, and I want nothing more in the world than to strike them down. How can you just - spout poetry and rub shoulders with the ones who killed your brother?!”

IUCHAR KNEW A THREAT WHEN HE HEARD ONE. The axe wielder sips at his drink, hoping that the mood wasn’t going where he thought it was but it turns out that Ishtar’s growl was just a prelude for what was the to come.

Her outburst reminds him ironically of Iucharba — of dinners where his younger brother would voice displeasure at both him and their older brother and father alike. He’s surrounded by ghosts, and though in those memories he elected to remain quiet in the voice of such tumult, he thinks it would be a disservice to the graves of Dozel to offer only silence.

❝ To keep myself from drowning in the guilt. ❞ His voice is clear and decisive as he places down his glass, now completely empty, on the table between them. He remains calm though his countenance has long turned pitiful. ❝ I never cast the blame on anyone but myself for that sin — that’s the difference between you and me, Milady. For me, who struck Iucharba is irrelevant. We both knew one of us was going to die when we heard His Highness was on the move to liberate Isaach. ❞

“Unless you cut him down yourself that hardly seems like something you could blame yourself for.” Ishtar growled. Her fingers tightened around her upper arms, her long gloves the only things keeping her from scratching and clawing at the flesh as she used to. “My brother never wanted to hurt anyone, he just wanted to keep us safe-”

She snapped herself out of it with some difficulty, noticing the increasing number of stares in her direction. She gave Iuchar a strained smile, fingers still trembling and clenching her arms hard enough to bruise as she tried to keep her composure.

“I think I’ve quite ruined the night.” Ishtar said shakily, tasting something harsh and metallic in her mouth. She must have bitten her cheek at some point during her fit. “Could you show me to the guest chambers, sir? Seli–the Emperor can handle everything from here, I’m sure.”

DEFINING WHAT WAS FAIR had never been an easy task. He had prepared himself for her to grow angry, yes, but to make a scene was another thing entirely. He didn’t know anything about Ishtore really, and this is the first, maybe the last, time he hears of him.

Perhaps it was Jugrali fate to lose a twin. Julius, Iucharba, Ishtore… not to mention the tales of House Jungby thinking they had initially lost Lady Brigid.

❝ Of course, if you wish it. ❞ Iuchar pulls out his chair and stands, beckoning Ishtar to follow. As he leaves the room, he levels an icy stare at all the people who may begin to murmur ill words of the empress.

Tones of it remain in his voice accidentally once they’re traversing through less busy halls on their way. ❝ Earlier you said you ruined the night. I don’t think so. I think it better to express some raw emotion like that now and again. ❞

He chuckles a little under his breath.

❝ I find myself quite envious of the ability. ❞

“It’s not something my family approved of growing up.” Ishtar followed him sullenly, although she inclined her head slightly to show she appreciated his help. Her hands were still shaking as she clasped them behind her back, the worst of her fit fading with the intensity of her memories.

“Repressing it might have led to some…issues in how I deal with my darker moments these days.” The empress said quietly once they were alone, deciding that after her display in the banquet hall she may as well speak the truth. “I miss my brother every day. And when I see the people who killed him and his fiance spoken of like heroes…it hurts.”

She smiled, bitterly. “I’m sorry. I know you and Larcei are close. But I’ve spent the last five years avoiding being in the same room as her or Shannan, and that much will need to continue for as long as Isaac remains an ally.”

a lady groomed to be first a princess and then later an emperor’s wife would surely be suppressed by her parents. iuchar does not doubt that. however, he is not all too much an expert on it no matter how much he declares himself a fan of women. his house had always been a ruckus of rowdy boys, his father included. he scarcely recalls his mother now.

yet, despite this, ishtar lets herself speak to him. his guess is that this must be seliph’s influence then; he had always been the kind to wish to even the field — the kind of person who would build up others when they saw nothing in themselves. iuchar had thought that only a luxury afforded to the boy’s childhood friends, but he knows after years of fighting that this is not true. the woman before him is further proof if he still clung to disbelief.

“ no, it is quite fine, ” he replies back, formality used to coat his own uncertainty on how to approach this new truth. “ emotions may be held back, but that does not make them any less relentless in their attack on our souls. that, my dear company, is the beauty and the tragedy of living! ”

still, though he may offer empathy to the empress, that does not mean he can leave a particular stone unturned. “ it sounds like you believe isaach shall make an enemy of us one day. …rather soon, may i add? ”

“What? No.” Ishtar started a little at that, a confused look crossing over her face. Was that really the intention he’d taken from her words? She paused and worked over them again, groaning and cursing herself mentally. Yes, of course, she had said ‘as long as’. Gods forbid, she needed to watch her words.

Stupid of her. She was normally better with that. She pinched her nose and shook her head for a moment, recollecting herself.

“I’m not so incensed to believe that Shannan or his heirs would declare war on us one day.” She smiled at him, the fake diplomatic look sliding onto her face over the bitterness, the anguish and the alcohol-enabled rage.

“They won’t make an enemy of Grannvale as a whole…just one of me. And I’m afraid that isn’t likely to change until I die.” Her smile slipped, and she frowned again. “…Seliph speaks about sending our daughter to Isaach to be fostered for a few years once she’s old enough. I have spoken against it quite vehemently, but been unable to provide a true alternative.”

the brunet’s features relax when the conversation clears up. “ forgive my dire assumption then, your highness. ” though he hears her correct herself on her slip of the tongue, iuchar still apologizes nevertheless. his connection to isaach makes him feel like he’s in a precarious position here. he doubts a full-scale conflict all the same, but a tumultuous continent in politics was hardly much better…

“ i can understand why your husband would desire that. he grew up in isaach himself unless my memory of the events has been horribly misled somewhere. i am sure he is sentimental for his past home… ” careful, he cautions mentally to himself. “ i cannot presume to know him better than you, my lady, but i cannot imagine his highness to be unwilling to change his mind. do you not have a relative in silesse now? what of that? surely, it is a grand enough opportunity for compromise — you hold faith and love in your family in there, and it is the kingdom of your dear lover’s former tactician, is it not? ”

he finds as more words flow out of his mouth, his good mood is easier to recover. he’s smiling without realizing it, his eyes sparkling all the same as he praises the northern kingdom. “ i have heard tales that it is a simply wonderful landscape to be in as well. truth be told, i have always wished to visit there myself one day, though i cannot say the stars are so kind as to provide me reason to. alas! ”

“Yes. My cousin lives there - and the other grew up there as well, before he returned to Friege in my stead.” Ishtar said steadily. Her face slipped for a brief second on thinking about the home she could not dare to show her face in again before she shrugged, managing to regain some of her own energy as Iuchar spoke.

“The snows are quite beautiful there. I can’t imagine Swanhild would enjoy it, however - the child complains about our winters more than enough. Perhaps I should ignore my own grudge with Shannan and let her speak up as to where she could be fostered, once she’s old enough to understand at least.” Her smile slipped for a second before returning again, forced and with a certain eerie calm around it.

“I mourn my twin every day, that’s all. I find it hard to look his killer in the eyes without remembering his face.” She said steadily. She could feel he attack starting to fade at least, but she wasn’t particularly inclined to try and push her luck.

“I should try and get some sleep.” She said, haltingly. “When you return to the halls…tell Seliph not to worry about me. When he inevitably pushes for details, just tell him that I have it under control this time - he won’t be needed for now.”

Her smile flickered away and she sighed. “I’ll see you in the morning, sir. Thank you for helping me after my…outburst.”

“ of course, the child’s judgement may be best. i had not realized how the little flower had become; time becomes more and more a whir as each day passes! ” the reminder makes him wonder if dozel’s reconstruction might be running too slowly to make his people satisfied. he is no longer in the early stages of his youth, where each year was some grand, tremendous portion of time. he wasn’t changing so much anymore, for better or for worse.

iuchar peers into ishtar’s gaze, wondering if the glow of her smile has so quickly turned back to ice. it is at least not quite the same vitriol that had possessed her earlier that night, but her words do still sting. “ …it is natural to mourn your twin. heavens knows i do every day. ”

even in these halls, he still feels iucharba’s ghost despite iuchar knowing full well his brother had perished in isaach.

maybe that land too holds more of a sour taste for him than he wishes to believe.

“ of course, i will keep this in confidence from your husband when i see him. ” iuchar wrestles himself away from his thoughts, nodding at the request his guest had given him. before he turns, he too says, “ i look forward to the morning with the two of you. sweet dreams, my lady. ”

#Close the Book;Thread Archive

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theofficersacademy · 1 year

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Anankos Edain Edward Lyn

Seliph Camilla Merric Laslow

Marth Larcei Kent Soren

TEAM TAG: #KEBattlefield2023

WEEK ONE: Brothers and Sisters in Arms

The wagon you ride jolts upward, knocking you awake. Those two things alone should be enough to realize you’re far from where you started.

That is only confirmed when you take a peek outside, witnessing the massive caravan of convoys and soldiers marching behind you. An army, flying a white and burgundy flag emblazoned with the eye symbol of the Agarthans. Despite being deep behind enemy lines, though, your fellow soldiers are already treating you like friends, evoking the memories of your comrades from your home countries...

Dream Logic

As in all dreams, you have a vague sense of place and purpose, though they are up to your interpretation.

You’re in Rusalka. It feels like Rusalka, at any rate. While F��dlan is enjoying warm summer weather, you find yourselves bracing against the freezing winds of winter and snow-packed trails.

You are soldiers of the “Liberation Army”—the name comes to you as you try to recall who you’re fighting for. The flag shows a burgundy eye in the center. As for your fellow soldiers, there is very little tying them all together: Agarthans, morphs, soldiers of Daein and Cheve, but also familiar allies from the past wars you’ve fought. The only thing that unites them is uniform, mage robes lined with fur, and a shrill commanding officer.

You are in the midst of a civil war, trying to unite your fractured people. Your target is one of the holdouts, a principality hellbent on retaining sovereignty. Just the thought of Rusalka’s prince brings up bitter feelings, though there’s no telling where it’s coming from.

Places of Interest

The Taranis: A major river that you may recognize from your earlier misadventures in Rusalka. Beneath the thin layer of ice is clean running water to tap into, and it’s here where you will be making your base.

The Sealed Forest: Well, probably not, but it feels like it anyways. A tangle of tall trees that still bear their dark leaves in spite of the current season. It’ll be an important source of resources, but you’ll need to be careful of enemy ambushes.

Village of Teleos: Allied with your cause, they don’t stop you from marching through their lands. While they’re friendly, the children here are snarky little brats and there seems to be an endless supply of them to pester you.

Goal for this week

Your primary task is to help set up camp and get a start on constructing equipment. The commander expects to see these items in your inventory by the end of the week:

Deathrattle x1 (Needs 2 Wood each)

Gray Eye x1 (Needs 3 Stone 2 Chalkos each)

Vulneraries x3 (Needs 3 Herbs each)

Adamantines x5 (Needs 2 Wood 3 Stone each)

Tasks

As you set up camp, the dreams weave a lesson in incorporating magic powder known as “Chalkos” into your objects. This material powers the horseless wagons that you ride, connects different objects together to allow for communication, and can even give your weapons a magical kick. The possibilities are endless!

1d2 Chalkos 1d2 Wood 1d2 Stone for every post.

Note: Incorporating magic into your own weapons does not affect their stats, it’s strictly for flavor.

Your role is that of a “combat engineer”—no one expects you to be swinging your sword around like you’re some kind of hero, but they demand that you roll out the red carpet and sprinkle flower petals on their path anyways. Your job is to set up bridges and facilitate travel and communication within the Sealed Forest. As an extra incentive to take on more missions, you will be paid for every enemy you defeat need to set up bridges… unfortunately that also means getting attacked, but at least you’ll get paid for your troubles!

2d5 Obol 2d3 Herbs for every post, but everyone in the thread loses -0.5HP per day.

Village children pester you night and day, eager for free stories, free food, and the most dangerous weapons you have. Love them or hate them, they play around this area and know the forest like the back of their hands. Combined with boundless energy, they’d be fantastic at gathering. Of course, that comes with the cost of doing business with children...

2d5 Wood, the equivalent number in a random resource, 1d50 chance of getting an orichalcum. In exchange, lose Obols equivalent to the amount of wood gathered. (Ex: +5 Wood = -5 Obols)

Money talks here, and you could use some of it. In addition to your usual stipend, soldiers here like to trade services and knowledge for a little bit of coin. If your morals are particularly dismal today, you might even accept a bribe or two.

1d4 +1 Obols for every post.

PLEASE READ BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

What to Expect

Unlike recent lore events, Keras Kai Elephas will be mostly in the hands of the players. There will be a series of tasks in need of completing each week, but the players will determine HOW those tasks are completed. Resources will be granted based on post count, word count, number of muses in a single thread, and/or other mechanics, so the focus will be on generating your own content and developing relationships between your muses. However, we do encourage short, meaningful posts. Direct interaction > internal monologue.

A dedicated notetaker (or notetakers) will need to keep notes on what happens in each thread in your team, as well as track whatever counter a specific task requires. New events will happen each week depending on what your team did the previous week, and some tasks may not have immediate pay-offs. Follow your inspiration, but if you have questions about what is or isn’t allowed, feel free to ping a mod.

Lastly, every weekend until the finale, there will be a condensed, two-day mini game that will allow your team to gather a larger number of materials. This is an efficient way to stockpile resources or achieve certain goals, but in order for your muse to enter, they must have written at least two posts that week assisting another muse with a task.

Task threads do not have to be completed by the following week, but will no longer grant resources for posts unless otherwise specified. All members have permission to nudge their teammates to post if they feel like someone is taking more time than they should.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I only thread with my teammates?

Any threads taking place within the dream featuring the Flood can only be written with your teammates.

These aren’t the only threads I can do, right?

Of course not! These are just prompts to help give some ideas of possibilities. You’re always free and encouraged to make up your own threads, and feel free to ping Mod Ree to propose a task idea for resources.

How do I claim the resources?

In order to qualify for your earnings, the thread must clearly allude to the listed task and feature the task being completed. Your team’s appointed tracker will be keeping tabs on your totals.

Can I only do one task?

Nope, you can do as many as you’d like with as many different partners as you’d like! You can do the same task with more than one person and still contribute toward the resource goal.

What if my partner leaves or drops a resource gathering thread?

If the dropped thread has at least 2 notes (not counting likes, only reblogs with replies in them) and you have hit at least 400 words on your end, you may still claim the resources. This only applies if your partner drops out of the event completely.

#kebattlefield2023 #toakeraselephas2023 #toa event

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moczothe1st · 6 years

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Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 19: He’s a Late Blume-er

Part 18

Welcome back to FEIV! You may recall last week we killed Ishtore, a man with amazing lightning magic and truly astounding (not GOOD, but astounding) hair. He will be missed. I mean, not by me, but someone will miss him. I mean, not his girlfriend, she also died, but…. Look, it’s a whole thing. The key is that we took his castle, and nobody is gonna be happy about it.

(See? No happiness.)

Bramsel: Men, this is our chance! Jabarro, send in your brigade! Hit them hard while their backs are turned! Leave no survivors!

Jabarro: At once, sir!

Lene: Don’t you get it? He’s just using your loyalty to treat you like a weapon! I… I hate him so much!

Ares: Lene… no, that isn’t…

Lene: Okay, fine! Whatever! Go with him, if you love him so much! It’s your life to waste, after all! But you can just go forget we ever met!

Ares: Lene…

(In her defense, judging by last week we can safely assume she’s worked out Ares is the only thing keeping her from getting locked up in Bramsel’s rape dungeon.)

(Yeah, here it comes. And meanwhile, at the other evil castle…)

Blume: I want you to show these rebel pigs just what the empire can do!

One of those Three Names he Just Said: Yes, Milord. Leave it to us.

A Second One: We will never let you down, milord.

The Third: The rebels shall be destroyed quickly, cleanly, efficiently, and utterly. Excuse us, milord.

(All three of them are identical except for eye color and the game never says which is which until they’re on the field, so. NO clue.)

Blume: Hmmm. Everything depends on you.

(You may recall Tinni as being mentioned by a village two weeks ago, wherein they said she was much nicer than her family and the best person ever and definitely recruitable. And if Blume is her uncle, that means Taillte is her mom. Arthur will want to have a chat with this one!)

Blume: Hmph. One would think I could expect more gratitude from someone I raised out of the goodness of my heart after her mother died. Or have you forgotten my many kindnesses?

(Ass.)

Tinni: No, uncle…

Blume: Good. Now get moving! Remember, these rebels are responsible for murdering my dear son Ishtore, and his true love Liza! Avenging them is your mission, Tinni!

Banba: We will be the ones to claim Seliph’s head as a trophy this day. We mustn’t be beaten by Tinni’s unit.

Tinni: I… don’t know what to do anymore. Oh, mother… what would you do…?

She would probably shout a lot, if I remember her right. Now, our phase begins and…

(Dammit, everyone needs to shut up!)

Lene: I see right through you! The moment Ares is out of sight you think it’s okay to act all tough again, you vile louse! Don’t even think about coming any closer. I don’t need Ares around to stop you!

Bramsel: Of all the nerve! You little wench! Throw her in the dungeon! You’ll have plenty of time to think about what you’ve done there!

Lene: No! Ah… Ares…

Jabarro: Oh well. I guess it’s all in the past. You’re gonna forget ‘er sooner or later.

Ares: I beg your pardon? What exactly are you trying to say, Jabarro?

Jabarro: Heh… oh, nothing. Well, ‘cept that I bet Bramsel’s right about to…

(Oooooh, that was the wrong answer.)

Ares: T-this can’t be… Jabarro! How could you know his foul intent, yet let your tongue lie still?!

Jabarro: You can’t worry ‘bout the fairer sex, Ares. Have your fun with ‘em, but never stick around for when their lives come crashing down…

Ares: How dare you?! And to think you held my trust for so long… I must return to Darna! Lene needs me!

Jabarro: Nah, that ain’t gonna happen, see. Nobody, and I mean nobody, blows off my orders and turns tail on my watch! Not even you, kid.

Ares: … I’ve come far in your company, Jabarro, but our association ends now. If anyone wishes to stop me, Mystletainn will eagerly welcome your necks!

Jabarro: Grr… I’ll show you your place, whelp!

And with that, Ares reveals what sets him apart from his dad: he puts his personal morals above his oaths to jerks! Or he just really digs dancers, one of the two. Either way, he is now on the team!

And here’s our new BFF. Ares is an overall phenomenal unit; like Shanan he joins up with his Holy Weapon and can therefore wreck most of the enemies on the map, but unlike Shanan he actually has pretty solid growths and will likely be a much tougher unit by the end of the game than he is now. Better still, he has a horse and comes with three great combat skills, Pursuit, Adept, and Vantage. TL;DR, we need to get this man to an Arena. For now, though, I run him south toward the rest of the army to meet his new friends.

Now then. We have three armies to deal with. One moving south at us, following Ares. One moving west at us, with Tinni and the Three Stooges. And one moving north to try and make one more shot at conquering Leonster. Time to split the army. First, Fee is going to head toward Leonster, she can fly so she’ll beat the enemy there. She has an armorslayer sword and the enemy is all armor knights, she can hold the castle.

Second, to the east, there’s two swordsmen blocking us off from getting Leif, Finn, and Nanna to the rest of the army. Let’s move them.

… Finn. For shame. But at least you can promote now. I am going to send him off to our home castle ASAP. Going north to help Ares I send Oifey, Lana, Dermott, Shanan, Ulster, Johan, Patty, and Seliph since he needs to take the castle to save Lene. Going east are Leif and Nanna, as they’re already there, and backing them up will be Julia, Larcei, Lester, and Arthur, who is needed to recruit Tinni. I can’t see any reason this won’t work off the top of my head, but… I mean. Fire Emblem.

End turn!

Only one person could reach us, so this was a boring enemy phase. Next one will be much more… active. For now, though, let’s try to purge some of the northern enemy.

Well. This didn’t go badly, but not great either, barring Lana finally getting an Aideen-tier level. I just didn’t kill off as many as I’d been hoping to, and the enemy phase will be pretty dicey. I think I’ll have Finn stick around to help this group, rather than letting Lana warp him back to promote right away.

End turn. This will be…. Fun.

… *sigh* Well, I knew something could go wrong, but I didn’t see it being everyone dogpiling Johan of all people. Well, nice to be surprised, I suppose.

Reset.

This is becoming a pattern. I do something interesting, die, and have to go back to boring old ‘sit at the edge of their range and bait them out’. I know it works, but really.

Not bad at all! They tried to dogpile Ares this time, and like I said: he’s pretty badass. Probably would have died if Jabarro had taken a shot at him, but since it was specifically Jabarro’s range we were staying away from, we pulled through just fine. Now, to the eastern front.

… That was just sad, Leif.

Okay, our turn. First thing to do is clear out Jabarro’s unit. The man himself is a giant pain, packing both a Silver Sword and a Skill Ring to leave him obnoxiously accurate. Let’s send in some heavy hitters to roll him down.

And Shanan gets the skill ring, which he absolutely does not need. He does need money, however, so selling that later will be a nice source of income for him to keep Balmung nice and shiny. And from here, it’s really just a nice, normal purge.

And hey, Ares can chat with Seliph. I wasn’t planning to do it right now, but they ended up next to each other, so why not.

Ares: They call me the black knight, Ares. Perhaps you would recognize me better, however, as the son of Eldigan.

Seliph: What?! It cannot be… you don’t mean the legendary Lord Eldigan of Nordion, do you?!

Ares: The very same! I am the son of Eldigan the Lionheart, the man your father killed in cold blood! My noble mother, the Lady Grainne, died wracked with grief and rage at Sigurd! It is high time you knew my family’s pain!

(Weeeeeeren’t you an infant at the time, bro? How do you know?)

Seliph: That’s… I don’t understand. As I was told, your father and mine were the closest of friends. As tragic as their end was, I don’t believe our fathers would ever have begrudged each other.

Ares: That’s impossible… Sigurd was my father’s mortal foe! This… this is all I’ve known my entire life…

Seliph: Please listen, Ares. Would you consider traveling with my army? I know we can resolve this misunderstanding, if we just give it some time. I hold the late Lord Eldigan in the utmost respect, just as my own father did. Please, understand this.

(I don’t respect him very much, if that helps.)

Ares: Seliph… very well. I can stay my hand for now. However, be warned. Should I learn that even a single word of your claim is false, your life is forfeit in your father’s place. Do I make myself clear, Seliph?

Seliph: if that happens, then do as you must. Ares… I wish you could know just how ecstatic our fathers would be to know we’ve met at last. If only it had been under better circumstances…

Neat. Now, where were we? Oh right, IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR.

*snerk* I like how it took three people together to bring down the first Mage Sister, and Arthur alone completely wrecked the second. Anyway, I have him and Julia blocking off the enemy; as long as Tinni doesn’t fuck this up and try to kill her invincible brother, I think we’re in a good place.

…

She’s gonna, huh.

*sigh* End turn.

Okay. So far so good. But there’s still one more…

Julia, I know you hunger for blood, but please don’t kill this one.

Tinni you magnificent bitch, dodging on a 93% hit chance. I love you.

Our turn, and I start it with Arthur:

Arthur: Really?! Then you’re Tinni! Oh, I’ve finally found you!

Tinni: Er… who are you?

Arthur: Here, maybe this will clear it up. This pendant is exactly the same as yours, and I’ve had it my whole life.

Tinni: Y-you’re right, but… what are you saying?

Arthur: See, years ago, my mother was a warrior in Sigurd’s army, and after the war she fled to Silesse with her children. When I was little, my mother and my newborn sister disappeared… I was left behind with nothing but this pendant. I only recently learned what happened. It was King Blume of Alster. He abducted them. He took my family from me. The rumors all said Mother had died awhile ago, but they also said my sister is still alive. That’s you, Tinni! I’ve finally found you after all these years! I came all this way just to see you again…

Tinni: I… I never even knew Blume did that to Mother… it makes sense, though. I can’t remember much of her, but I know I never saw her smile or laugh. You’re… my brother… ohhh… sniff…

Arthur: Would you play down your arms and join our army, Tinni? We’ve still got so much to talk about.

Tinni: Mm. Thank you, brother. I never did want to fight…

And that’s that. Let’s take a look at our new recruit:

And there’s Tinni! She gets a lot of flak because she’s hard to build super-well, but honestly I like her. She’s also hard to make bad; she doesn’t have Pursuit, but neither did Taillte and she did just fine. I suspect the people who don’t like Tinni are mainly the people who didn’t really like her mother either; I know she has a pretty wide selection of the fandom who view her as too poorly-built to use and she should be left childless. But unlike most of these chuckleheads, Tinni actually has a character arc, and for me that’s enough to bring her along. And you know, it’s not like she’s bad at combat. Wrath, Adept, and Critical are all fine skills, and while she won’t have growths as good as her crazy brother’s, she’s still got two different Holy Bloods. In my experience, she’s gonna get on just fine.

………………………

And then, I don’t know, either I forgot to save or my file got corrupted and I lost the last two turns. I… I was very sad. So I had to re-do them, and since that many shots would make the update unbearably long, I will summarize: Ares got half the levels (people kept ignoring him to go after Ulster this time?) but he was able to kill his old boss and get the Skill Ring, Patty got a very good level thanks to Dermott leaving some half-dead dudes behind, and Julia almost murdered Tinni. But, on the plus side, Finn finally got warped home to promote.

*whistle* Take a look at that 25 Strength. That much power and a Brave weapon basically sets him up for the rest of the game, because he is gonna hit like a runaway freight train. Might have to be careful on defense, he’s only above-average in Speed and Defense and has no resistance worth mentioning, but as an offensive unit he’ll be a monster. Let’s test him out in the arena while we’re here, he won’t be needed on the battlefield again for this map.

Finn: Seven wins, gained no levels. He might be a bit overpowered.

Okay! End turn, this is going pretty well barring the occasional horrible glitch that I hate.

…. Well, other than that. I underestimated how quickly they’d get to Leonster and… *cough* may have forgotten to move Fee once or twice, so I think the enemy will be taking the castle after all. It’s not a big deal, they’re really expected to, but I’m still a little annoyed this is happening because I didn’t think. Ah, well, it will just be a quick detour to liberate it after Seliph finishes up at Darna. I have him head toward it, his army pausing at the edge of the defenders’ movement range (see, I can learn) and have the eastern group start moving up toward Leonster. Fee pauses in a position to challenge one or two of the armors, hopefully the whole group will turn to chase her and she can run up to the castle and hide inside. End turn!

Jerks. You know, it’s kind of unfair that any of them can take a castle, but we can only have Seliph do it.

God, you are just like your mother.

To the north, Darna’s defense line doesn’t take the bait. They must not move until attacked. Well.

Their loss. At our other army, I have Fee take out one armor unit:

And then run away, hiding out over the ocean to her west to avoid any other counter attacks. She hasn’t got much health left, so she needs to avoid any damage until I can get Nanna or Julia up there to help her out. They’re on their way, so this will be turning around shortly. End turn; no enemies are close enough to take a swing at us, so it goes immediately back to our player phase.

Fantastic. Darna will fall on our next turn, and shortly after that the other team should be running into the unit who took Leonster. Fee probably won’t even die. End turn! Once again, nothing on the enemy phase; they’re moving toward us, but they’re on the slow side. On our turn, Julia patches up Fee to gain a level.

Hehehe. I’m legit impressed by how well her speed is doing, it tends to be a lower growth. The rest of their unit parks on the local villages to await the incoming storm o’ units.

Now then, Darna. First, clear the last defender:

Bramsel is a general, despite appearances, and stat-wise he isn’t super impressive. His one and only real trick is that he’s packing a Horseslayer weapon, so cavalry had better be sure they’re gonna take him down if they take a swing at him. He’s got no defense against distance attacks, but, like a doofus, I sent all the mages to the other army. So, uh, Oifey… wanna try that javelin?

Bramsel: Darna is my city! Mine! Nobody will ever take it from me!

Well, it’s a start. Not sure this will work, but… Seliph, wanna give it a shot?

FUCKING PAVISE. Okay, so Darna will fall next turn. End turn. Ya jackass game.

And that’s Bramsel. Our turn begins, and Seliph takes the castle.

Lewyn: It was the last free land in Jugdral. In battle after battle, the overwhelming might of the Loptyr Empire had devastated the resistance. Ultimately, the last of the resistance soldiers barricaded themselves within Darna’s walls. Battered and wounded, they were nonetheless determined to fight to the bitter end. But then, suddenly, there was a miracle… from the heavens descended twelve gods, who bestowed upon twelve young warriors miraculous weapons and immense power. Thus were born the Twelve Crusaders, the heroes who led the resistance to victory.

Seliph: That was the legendary Miracle of Darna, yes?

Lewyn: The very same. And even as we speak, Seliph, another miracle is dawning. Just as the resurrection of Loptyr looms on the horizon, so too are the Crusaders themselves arising in our world once more…

Seliph: I beg your pardon?

Lewyn: Heh… don’t worry Seliph. You’ll understand soon enough.

(Well. Seliph may not have a ton in common with his father, but he clearly has Sigurd-tier obliviousness.)

And of course he can’t rescue Lene because Seliph is standing in the way. Ironic, really; we could save Lene, our dancer, if we had a dancer to move Seliph. That’s Fire Emblem Philosophy 101, kids. In any case, Lana starts warping people back to Melgen so they can have a shorter walk to rejoin the remaining action; Shanan goes first and Lana levels up.

Then, while he’s at a friendly castle, Best Prince takes the opportunity to run the Arena.

Shanan: Seven wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Speed, +1 Defense.

*sniff* I may cry. He’s doing much better than I’d expect from him, I tell you that much.

Now, to deal with the Leonster enemies, who are (finally) in range.

… Am I being trolled? Nanna? Are you trolling me? Because you’re doing the same fucking thing Ethlyn did. You aren’t her child, Nanna. Leif is. If Leif didn’t get any magic ever I could understand it. That’s genetics. But you’re just the same damn class! I hate you.

End turn. Bitterly end turn.

…. Bitterness increasing.

*sigh* 25% chance to hit and she took it right on the jaw. Fire Emblem, ladies and gents!

Let’s… try this again. This time, let’s go mainly for the commander and try to take away their Leadership Stars, see if that works out better.

… Welcome to the team, Ethlyn 2.

*sigh* Well, better. Nobody is dead, anyway. Lana warps Seliph back to Melgen so he can start the long trek over to take some castles for us, and Ares goes into Darna to rescue his gal.

Lene: Ares…

Ares: Oh! Is everything okay, Lene?!

Lene: N-no… it’s not… but someone from the liberation army rescued me… and… I knew you’d come, Ares…

Ares: Lene… I beg your forgiveness… I was a fool! I should have heeded you…

Lene: It’s okay… after all, you’re here now…

Ares: I swear to you, I’ll never let this happen again.

Lene: And I swear I’ll try to keep my big mouth to myself from now on! Don’t ever leave me again, Ares…

… Dark! Anyway, Lene has no signed up, and as you might have guessed she is Sylvia and Claude’s daughter. And like her mother before her, her stats and all that junk are irrelevant so I don’t need to waste time showing it! She’s a dancer so she’s amazing and will be very, very useful to the army in any situation. And unlike Sylvia, we can actually use her from day one because it doesn’t matter if she gets married. Go team!

Oh, and speaking of the team, time to finish that actual ‘war’ thing.

Not bad at all, barring the fact Arthur has apparently decided he’s done with Perfect Levels. And with that, the map is basically over. The only enemy units remaining are Blume himself and the three generals in front of his castle. So it’s time, I think, to have assorted folks and units do stuff. I sell Seliph’s Brave Sword so I can pass it around, and have anyone who hasn’t finished the Arena take a shot at it.

Patty: Up to seven wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +2 Skill, +1 Strength, +2 Luck, +1 Defense

Julia: Up to seven wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Ares: Seven wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +2 Strength, +1 Speed, +2 Luck, +2 Defense

Nanna: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Magic,, +1 Defense, +2 Luck, +1 Resistance

Leif: Seven wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Skill, +2 Strength, +1 Speed, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Tinni: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +3 Speed, +1 Magic, +3 Luck, +1 Resistance

Also, Lana gains some levels from zapping people around:

And some conversations happen.

(“Ugh. More of the commonfolk. Oifey, where is my peasant-beating stick?!”)

Lene: I’m Lene, the Dancer!

Seliph: Y… you’re Lene?

Lene: Ooooh? Mister Seliph, is this the first time you’ve ever seen a dancer?

Seliph: Y-yes, miss…

Lene: Hee hee… that’s adorable!

(And it ends there. Lene knows what she wants in life, and it is to laugh at dorks.)

(

... Picture here an image of Leif introducing himself to Seliph. No such image exists because I’m a doofus.)

Leif: My parents both died in the Battle of Belhalla’s prelude… they were felled by a Thracian ambush. My homeland, Leonster, soon founds itself in the clutches of an Imperial occupation, and fell under the reign of its Duke Blume. If not for my knight, Finn, I wouldn’t be here today. He raised me in hiding in nearby villages, and we awaited the day Leonster would rise again. We thought that day had finally come, but…

Seliph: … We both took to the battlefield around the same time, did we not? By now practically all of Jugdral knows of King Blume’s brutality. I sorely wish my army had arrived soon enough to properly aid you. You have my deepest apologies, Prince Leif.

Leif: No, Lord Seliph. I’m the one who should be apologizing. Our failure was squarely my fault. However, this isn’t over yet. I am the son of Quan, a man worthy of being dubbed a Knight of Nova. I refuse to shame his legacy, and so I’ll live on. I’ll fight on, no matter the cost. To that end, Lord Seliph, my comrades and I would like to join your army. I may not have much of an army left, but what I do have is yours. May we serve you well in restoring honor to Grannvale.

Seliph: Thank you, Prince Leif. Often have I heard it said that our fathers were inseparable friends, bound together to the bitter end in both life and death. Not to mention your mother, Queen Ethlyn, is also my aunt…

(“Oh yeah, we’re literally cousins, forgot for a bit!”)

Seliph: Both of your parents gave their lives to support my father’s cause. Prince Leif, you have my deepest, most heartfelt apologies for their sacrifice.

Leif: Thank you, but that isn’t necessary. I’m proud of my parents, and have the utmost respect for Lord Sigurd. The only hatred I bear is for the true villains, Emperor Arvis and King Travant!

(Holy crap, Leif is logically blaming the people actually at fault? Are we sure he’s an anime teenager?)

Seliph: As do I. Prince Leif, in the name of our late fathers’ last wishes, I seek to restore peace and light to all of Jugdral. Please, join me in my cause!

Leif: Yes, milord! You have my blade as your own!

Dermott: Perfect! I’m your brother, Dermott!

(“Excuse me? I was always told my brother’s name was Diarm-“ “YUP, DERMOTT, THAT’S ME.”)

Nanna: What?! What… are you talking about…?

Dermott: I didn’t know until recently, either. King Lewyn told me everything. In the war seventeen years ago, I was with the kids who fled to Isaach. But you were born after our mother went to Leonster.

Nanna: You… you’re my brother? Then where’s Mother now?!

Dermott: Er… ‘Where’s Mother’? What are you getting at here, Nanna?

Nanna: I haven’t seen her in so long… when I was around three years old, she left us and traveled alone to Isaach, to try and find you. She never came back. I’ve waited to see her again for years…

Dermott: She did? But… but I never saw her…!

Nanna: You… didn’t? Then where is she…

Dermott: The Yied Desert… it’s a treacherous place. Very few lone travelers survive it…

Nanna: … No! Oh, mother…

(And Nanna gains +1 Luck from that, because… tragedy… builds character…?)

Tinni: I am Tinni… Arthur’s sister…

Seliph: Ah, of course. I’ve been told your story, Tinni.

Tinni: Um… I’m sorry!

Seliph: You’ve nothing to apologize for, Tinni. With the likes of King Blume for an uncle, I completely understand. You had no choice.

Tinni: Are… are you forgiving me, sir?

Seliph: Certainly! There’s no question that you’re not our enemy, and it would be an honor to have you with us.

Tinni: Wow… you’re everything the stories say you are! I wish we could’ve met sooner…

Seliph: Heh… thank you. Listen, Tinni… I know fighting your own family is a painful prospect, so please, don’t force yourself if you’re at all uncomfortable.

Tinni: Sir…

He actually means that literally. Tinni vs. Blume is very painful to her, in a very literal, physical way. He’ll kick her ass.

All right. Now that we’ve gotten that all done, and Seliph has gone up to retake Leonster, the rest of the army turns to Blume. He’s guarded by three generals, all of whom have Silver Blades and Steel Bows, so there isn’t a safe range to hit them from. But that’s nothing new. The real problem is Blume himself.

Yeah. Yeah. You remember Mjolnir, I hope, from when Reptor made our lives hell with it. Well, Blume takes after dear old dad. He can’t double attack with it, his only ability is Pavise, but he’s still very fast and hits very hard. And to make matters worse he has a droppable Silver Blade, so ideally we want someone who can use swords to bring him down. Realistically that means ‘Shanan or Ares’ because another Holy Weapon is your best shot at doing it without dying.

So first things first, let’s move the guards.

Geez, these guys are beefy. That was to kill one of them. Ulster, can you do better?

… Sorrrrrrta? He didn’t get hit in return, at least. But I also can’t get anyone else in position to support him, so he’s probably gonna get pounded in the face next turn. Speaking of next turn, end turn!

CALLED IT!

Okay. Our turn, and there’s only one general left. Let’s clear that fucker out before we do anything else.

Ugh. I should point out that this is not actually the land of the Omni-Generals; Blume has four leadership stars and he buffs his troops up considerably. I take a few turns here to rest up, heal up, and send Shanan to liberate the remaining villages because he’s desperately short on cash. Julia levels from healing:

You might have noticed she didn’t gain a point of magic? She’s already hit the cap. Can’t go higher until she promotes. I love my princess. <3

Now. Blume. He has conversations with three different characters, two of whom should not be allowed anywhere near him. Since I love you guys, and I’m willing to use save states to cheese for story content, here they are.

(Frankly, I’m just amazed she hit him.)

Blume: Hmph! A likely retort, but only one of us will die this day, and it shall not be me!

(Well, he wasn’t wrong.)

Blume: Gah… impudent whelp! Just try me!

*whistle* Well. It was a close thing, but he clearly tried real good. It was caught at a bad moment, but that last shot was a crit that left Blume with only 13HP. And Ares is in range!

Yeah, we’re not done with this jackass just yet. Still, for the moment, Ares has a backup sword to use so he doesn’t burn through his Mystletainn all the time, and that’s all I asked for. Shanan spends the next few turns getting paid:

(Well. Only one now.)

Info Master: Ishtar’s ruling over Manster right now, and Ishtore’s posted at Fort Melgen, both doing Blume’s dirty work. Unlike their folks, they’re fine youths. You’ll be sure to face ‘em sooner or later… be on your guard, stranger.

(“They’re great kids! But, you know, they definitely will try to kill you.”)

Why Is He Smiling: His rule’s been one tragedy after another… Just when we thought he couldn’t get any worse, now he’s just letting those child hunts happen! We can’t take this anymore…

And with that, nothing else to do on this map, so let’s call it a day. Seliph, do the honors!

Lewyn: Eh, these sorts of things can’t be helped. After all, the war’s only just beginning.

Seliph: And yet, the citizens are already all so eager to support us! I’ve seldom seen such joy…

Lewyn: For the first time, they’ve got hope for a future free from the Empire’s abuse. YOU are the people’s last hope, Seliph, but the worst of the war still lies ahead.

Seliph: Mm. And yet, I’ve so much incredible talent fighting by my side! With such amazing men and women with me, I know no challenge will be too great!

(I kind of morbidly wonder what he says if you let everyone die except him at this point.)

Lewyn: Yeah… you’ll all do just fine, Seliph.

*whew* Well. Thank you for being chill about this for once, Lewyn. I enjoy you more when you aren’t bitching at me. Now then, see you all next week when… *shudder*

When Blume calls in… … … …

Her.

Resets: 24. It’s all downhill from here, folks.

Part 20

#Let's Play Fire Emblem #Let's Play Fire Emblem IV #Let's Play Genealogy of the Holy War #Fire Emblem IV #FE4 #Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War #my writing #lp #let's play

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moczothe1st · 6 years

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Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 11: A Little Pegassistance

Part 10

Welcome back to Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War. The only game that is also a secret government idiot-detector; unfortunately it can only detect the idiots in its own script.

When we left our heroes, they had officially been declared murderous traitors by a pair of men who look like, respectively, a blood-crazed Viking and a parody of a Nazi colonel, thus proving that people in Jugdral genetically have no ability to judge character by sight. Fortunately, Lewyn’s mom, the Queen of Silesse, offered us sanctuary in her own country, and we escaped. Let’s see how that goes!

Sigurd is now a traitor in the eyes of his beloved Grannvale. In desperation, his army flees to find refuge in the northern kingdom of Silesse.

Silesse was founded by the Wind Crusader, Ced. It lies under the watchful guard of valiant pegasus knights and wind mages, and for over a century since its foundation has maintained itself as a neutral nation and resisted all invaders. However, since the death of its king several years ago, the royal family has been plagued with strife over its inheritance and shades of war creep over the peaceful land.

(You may have heard of him.)

and has confined himself to Zaxon Castle in protest.

has set to work raising an army for himself as Thove Castle. Out of disgust at his uncles, Prince Lewyn left Silesse to travel the world years ago.

(“Rather than killing them both, which he could have done with his eyes closed.”)

Is there no end to the dukes’ avarice? Their lust for power will condemn Silesse, a beautiful and majestic land, to the searing ravages of a brutal war.

(Sigurd! She’s a queen, even if her sprite is just a recolor of that lady who gave Lex his Brave Axe. It’s ‘your majesty’.)

Rahna: I know Sailane is perhaps too small to house all of you adequately, and I’m sorry. But please, bear with me a while longer. I’m doing all I can to hasten your liberty. I’ve sent letter after letter to Belhalla to advocate for your innocence. As of yet, however, I’ve still heard nothing at all from King Azmur.

Sigurd: This… this has to be Reptor’s doing! First he betrays my father, and now he’s stopping your emissaries! He must be!

(Sigurd Logic Moments: 2! He’s growing!)

Rahna: Calm yourself, Lord Sigurd. I know well the pain you’re feeling, but you cannot let your grudges rule you. Your anger will not save your father. Hatred will only destroy you from within. I swear to you, we can and will find a way to set this right, but you must be patient.

Sigurd: You’re right… I’m sorry, your highness. I really appreciate all you’ve done for me.

Rahna: It’s alright, Lord Sigurd. Oh, before I forget… there actually has been some good news from Grannvale of late.

Sigurd: Good news, you say?

Rahna: A previously unknown daughter of Prince Kurth has been discovered. All of Grannvale is rejoicing at the news.

Sigurd: What?! Is that even possible?

(… Well you see, Sigurd, when a prince loves another man’s wife very much, he puts his royal sword into her Loptyrian cloak, and…)

Rahna: It took King Azmur only a glance to recognize her true heritage. She bears the Brand of Naga, the proof of a true heir to House Belhalla. There is no doubt, she is Kurth’s child.

Sigurd: I see… thank goodness. At the very least, this means the royal lineage won’t go extinct.

(“And if I had been paying even the slightest attention to the backstory, I’d know that’s my wife!”)

Rahna: That’s not all. The princess and Duke Arvis are in a relationship. King Azmur has given his blessing, and a magnificent wedding will soon be held.

(EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW-)

Sigurd: Arvis? Really?

Rahna: All who’ve seen the happy couple eagerly attest that this beautiful princess and Duke Arvis are perfectly matched. To say nothing of how happy the couple is said to be! Young love is wonderful, isn’t it?

(EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW-)

Rahna: … Oh, Lord Sigurd, I’m so sorry. I forgot. Your wife is still-

Sigurd: Deirdre… my wife’s still gone, yes… it’s been over a year since she vanished. She’s missed an entire year of watching Seliph grow up.

Rahna: I’m so sorry, Lord Sigurd, but be of good cheer. I know you’ll reunite someday.

Sigurd: You’re right. I feel it, too. I can’t give in to sorrow yet. I can’t give up on finding her.

Rahna: Ah, of course. I’ll be with you in a moment. Lord Sigurd, one last thing… beware Duke Maios of Thove. I regret to say my brother-in-law has long hungered to claim Sailane for himself. It’s only a matter of time until he goes so far as attacking you. I wish I could provide you with reinforcements, but…

Sigurd: I know. The capital is under the very same threat from Duke Daccar of Zaxon. You cannot afford to weaken your own guard. Daccar would pounce upon you given even a hint of weakness. Don’t worry, Your Highness. There’s nothing the Thove army can throw at us that we can’t handle.

Rahna: Ah, of course. I should be more confident in such veteran heroes as yourselves. … Oh! I’ve been talking for so long, I lost track of the time. Take care, Lord Sigurd.

Sigurd: You, too, Your Highness. Thank you.

Lewyn: You just chatted for hours and hours with Sigurd, yet you can’t even acknowledge your own son?

Rahna: My son? The one who abandoned me two years ago, going gods know where? How do I talk to someone who’s clearly not here?

Lewyn: Heh… so this is how it’s going to be. You’re still made at me, then?

Rahna: Of course I am! Do you have any idea how hard it was without you, and how worried I’ve been after you? That my own son could be so cold-hearted… I thought I knew you better than this.

Lewyn: Look, I know you’re upset, but I had my reasons for all this.

(“They were bad, but I had them.”)

Lewyn: But come now, I’m home safely! Surely that counts for something and you can forgive me? I swear I’ll make up for it and be the very picture of a good son. Hew, how about I give you a shoulder massage to start.

Rahna: Oh! What nerve, treating me as if I’m an old crone! Look, Lewyn, there are more pressing matters we need to discuss, and soon. Come to Silesse as soon as possible. Do not forget! Do I make myself clear?

Lewyn: … Sigh. I thought she’d never stop.

Mahnya: Indeed, she hasn’t been anything as lively as this since before you left.

Lewyn: Thanks, Mahnya. Knowing you’re at her side is a big relief. Look after her, okay?

Mahnya: Yes, sir! Rest assured, I will protect the queen with my life, on my honor as the captain of the Silessian Pegasus knights.

Lewyn: Thanks… oh, and one more thing. Are you gonna leave Erin here with Sigurd?

Mahnya: Oh. Eavesdropping, were you Erin?

Erin: You were about to tell him too much, so…

Mahnya: Ah. My apologies, Erin. There are things he shouldn’t know just yet, of course… Erin, I’ll be leaving with Queen Rahna and returning to Silesse Castle shortly.

(JUST SHUT UP AND GO)

Mahnya: You’ll stay here and keep an eye on Prince Lewyn. Best of luck.

Erin: Thank you, Mahnya.

(… What?! No! Don’t leave!)

Quan: Rest assured, we’ll be back, leading the full military might of Leonster to your aid. May that day come soon, my friend.

(I don’t need them! Finn is about to promote and you’re a godlike shatterer of men! Forget the army and just stay! AT LEAST LEAVE THE SPEAR!)

Ethlyn: I’m going with Quan, Sigurd. Don’t worry, though. We’ll be back before you know it! Take care of yourself.

(… eh, don’t feel the need to rush.)

Finn: By your leave, sir, I’ll be departing with my lord. Thank you for all you’ve done for us. Don’t give up, sir. I know the charges against you will be cleared and your good name restored. I know you can do this.

(*sob*)

Sigurd: Thank you. You’ve got quite the journey back to Leonster ahead of you. I wish I could do more to help you on your way. May your journey be a safe one!

And there goes two units I will sorely miss for this map. Also Ethlyn.

You know, this world would be a lot safer if people stopped decorating their castles in red.

Maios: Very well, relay my orders to Cuvuli: Move in on Sailane! Dithorba, I trust your pegasus corps are already briefed on their mission?

Dithorba: Yes, sir. Our task is clear. My squadron is to raid the enemy from above, disrupting their tactics.

Maois: Good. Now get to work! Grannvale will owe us a handsome reward for bringing them the heads of their infamous traitors!

And here we go. First and foremost, of course:

Mmmmmmm. Normally I would say Aideen is not combat unit material regardless of promotion, but her levels this run have been so great she actually is. Her magic in particular is so bonkers she’ll be nuking fools with the most basic of tomes now that she can fight; I have her buy a thunder tome from the armory and prep her for the arena. (Oh, and Alec is joining Noish on the sidelines. He’s not very good, and experience is best shared among the increasingly awesome super killers I’ve assembled.)

Sigurd: 7 wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Strength, +2 Speed

Arden: 4 wins, Gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Strength, +1 Defense

Lex: 6 wins, Gained three levels: +2HP, +1 Skill, +3 Strength

Azel: 7 wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +3 Magic,

Aideen: 5 wins, Gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Speed, +1 Magic, +2 Luck, +1 Defense

Midir: 2 wins, a new low. No levels.

Holyn: 7 wins, Gained two levels, +2HP, +2 Skill, +2 Strength, +1 Magic

Ayra: 7 wins, Gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Strength, +1 Luck, +2 Defense

Jamke: 7 wins, Gained two levels: +2 HP, +1 Strength, +2 Defense

Dew: 7 wins, Gained five levels, +3 HP, +3 Skill, +1 Strength, +1 Magic, +3 Luck, +2 Defense

Lewyn: 7 wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +3 Skill, +2 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Lachesis: 7 wins, Gained six levels: +3 HP, +3 Skill, +4 Strength, +2 Speed, +4 Luck, +1 Defense

Beowulf: 2 wins, what did you do, eat some of Midir’s loser pills? Gained no levels.

Erin: 7 wins, gained five levels: +4 HP, + 1 Skill, +1 Strength, +3 Speed, +2 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Bridget: 7 wins, gained three levels: +2 HP, +1 Magic, +3 Luck, +1 Defense, +1 Resistance

Taillte: 7 wins, Gained three levels: +1 HP, +2 Skill, +1 Speed, +1 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Claude: 1 win. He is no Aideen, to be blunt.

Wait, you say. Seven wins… for DEW?! Well, see, in among those arena wins, we also had much better stuff:

BEHOLD MY PEERLESS ARMY!

Oh, man, I’ve been watching them all languish in the teens waiting for this; the Paragon Band switched hands several times, and I do not regret any of them, even though they were stupidly pricey. Because our team’s overall power has just skyrocketed. Dew and Lachesis in particular just jumped from liabilities to ridiculous frontline killers. In addition to their giant physical stat jumps, both gained Pursuit as an ability, and Lachesis got a horse (!) and the ability to use any non-legendary weapon (!!!!!).

But… Midir. Uncool there, man. You need a jump. Where could we get something like that…?

Aideen: Of course. I bought it for you, after all! Silesse’s pegasus knights are a formidable foe. With a bow of this caliber in hand, I know you’ll be better prepared to fight them.

Midir: Milady… I still can’t believe this isn’t a dream! I can’t believe we’re actually married…. I’ve dreamed of this for so long.

Aideen: I’ve long dreamt of the same myself. I had wanted to act upon it for so many years, but I couldn’t, even at my loneliest… But… I think by now you can just call me Aideen. I’ll always look out for you, Midir. I’ll always pray for your safety.

Sweeeeeet. As I’m sure you can work out, this is something you’ll only get if Aideen and Midir are married; though to avoid you being totally screwed, if she married Jamke he gets the Brave Bow instead. I prefer Midir just because he needs the bow way more, frankly. Jamke’s Killer Bow is just as good and his stats are better than Midir’s by a solid margin anyway.

Trivia, if she marries Azel, then she’s the one who gets a present, a unique staff of some sort that I don’t recall off the top of my head. But they in general aren’t a great pairing otherwise.

So here’s the map. It looks wide open but it really isn’t; the whole southern half is totally closed off to us until we deal with Maios and Thove Castle to the far northeast. The current enemy force consists of a huge squad of wind mages moving toward our castle, a bunch of bandits moving toward all the villages because fuck you, and Dithorba’s pegasus knight unit who will start moving on the first enemy phase.

Not much to be done at first because nothing is near us; I just have everyone move out as far as possible; our first priority is to get to the villages before they burn.

Cuvuli: Move in! Teach the traitorous scum the terror of a wind mage’s wrath!

Okay, first of all bro, you’re literally committing treason, so maybe stop judging us. Second, wind mages are actually pretty wrathful, but they can’t actually reach us, so what follows is a scene of them all moving one space into the forest. Wrathfully. Afterwards, off to south, Duke Evilton Sr. has some fun.

Daccar: Heh heh… why, this little drama is finally getting interesting. Wouldn’t you say, Pamela?

Pamela: Indeed, sir. However, as I recall we didn’t account for Sigurd’s fugitives being here. Their strength poses a real risk to the plan. If Maios at least succeeds in weakening them, perhaps Silese’s fall will still go smoothly?

Daccar: Even if he fails, I still have my private deal with Grannvale in my favor. Their Lord Andre should arrive shortly with a battalion of reinforcements.

(Eep. And on an even worse note, Andre was mentioned last chapter; he’s Aideen and Bridget’s brother. If he’s working with Reptor and Langbalt…what happened to their father? We haven’t heard anything about him, but he was a friend of Prince Kurth just like Sigurd’s dad. He can’t be in a safe place right now…)

Daccar: Hehehe… my victory is certain, Pamela! I’ll be sitting on the Silessian throne by the end of the week.

Pamela: Without a doubt, sir!

Oh goodie, so Grannvale’s coming up here too. We can assume the deal is something like, “We make you king and you’re basically our governor in the region”, which you’d think an ambitious fuck like Daccar wouldn’t be down for, but maybe he really just wants a crown. Once again, our turn is just moving; the enemy should reach us next turn.

Unless they don’t move. Lazy bums. Well, we’re close enough to clear the first village.

Mmmmmmmmmm she’s such a badass all of a sudden. Nothing much else to do, though, so end turn…

Would you guys pick it up?!

Sigh. Well, on our turn, we’re close enough to take shots at them. Let’s rock this shit and try to clear out as many mages as we can before the pegasi get here.

Not bad! They’re generally pretty troublesome folks; wind magic is light and accurate, so the mages are usually pretty tricky to get rid of. But we’re making solid progress and nobody is in a position to get hit too hard. End turn!

*wince* Well, we took some hits, but mostly only to Erin, who can thankfully handle magic damage well. That jerk putting Azel to sleep is the real annoyance. Only Claude can fix him, so now I have to get him up there. Claude cannot fight to save his dumb life, so the first thing to get done here is to clear out the area. Kids?

Once again, not bad! I really love how Dew is able to fight an enemy and kill it in a single turn, like how real units do. And even better (I legit forgot this) Restore is a distance staff, so Claude doesn’t have to get too close after all. I then have Sylvia dance him, and he hits the army with the Fortify staff to pop us all back up to full.

Yes, he did gain two levels in a row there. Fortify is a Hell of a staff. Now then, some cleanup. Let’s see if we can remove Cuvuli and his leadership stars from the equation.

Nobody tell him that he’s only the first miniboss of the chapter and fighting him isn’t very far at all.

And there he goes! No more leadership stars and especially no more Sleep staff. I end the turn by smacking a few more of his pals.

Sigurd, you really need more strength. Even with your ring that gives you more strength. Well, only four mages left and we can start moving east at top speed. End turn!

…. Okay, three mages left. Not sure what that one guy who went after Bridget was thinking, but hey. Time to purge the last ones and move ourselves into the edge of the range of the pegasus squad as they just barely start to reach us from the east.

And yes, Taillte did go twice in there. Sylvia is running with the team because I actually want her to get married now. Claude gets himself a wife! And speaking of Claude…

Claude: I did return to Grannvale and attempted to relate the truth to His Majesty. But Reptor interfered before we could meet, and now I too am branded a traitor to the motherland.

Sigurd: Ugh. I’ve had enough of just sitting here and letting Reptor have his sorry way! I swear, I’ve half a mind to storm straight into Grannvale and end this once and for all!

Claude: No. You know better than to rely on brute force or to risk the common folk’s safety. For now, Lord Sigurd, we must endure.

Sigurd: But, Father Claude…

Claude: Make no mistake. I feel your pain, too, too but this crisis’s end now lies in fate’s hands. There is nothing any of us can do to save ourselves anymore.

… … … … Holy shit, Claude. Fatalist, much? I end my turn, fully aware of the crushing hand of oblivion slowly grinding me down.

Only Jamke gets attacked, and only one enemy hits him. But who cares? We’re all doomed and only fate and random chance can save us. *sigh* I… guess I should fight back, even though it’s pointless.

Sigh, there were a lot of misses there. It’s because of how there’s no point in fighting your destiny, I guess. Fate determined we should lose.

End turn. If it even matters.

One of the Four Great Heavenly Princess Falcon Queens of Silesse hits Midir, and does about six damage while leaving herself totally exposed. So, uh…

Thus passes Dithorba, I suppose. Don’t worry, she’ll have plenty of company soon.

And that’s the Pegasus unit broken. Time to move east, and fast; some of these villages are starting to get dangerously low. While the turn prepares to end, however, something new to show off…

Some happy couples have formed! Beowulf and Lachesis was pretty much set in stone, but I honestly wasn’t sure how Ayra would end up; either Jamke or Lex was the endgame, but I legit wasn’t certain which would end up coming on top. She spends more time with Jamke since neither has a horse, but Lex gave her that Brave Sword and got a boost from that. In the end, Jamke wins out, which works just fine for me. Hail Verdane!

Anyhow, now that we’ve broken Maios’s opening lineup, the defenders become our next issue. The castle has three lines of defense; two small ones made up of a mage commander and two mooks, and a major squad around the castle of three more mages and seven armor units. Pretty basic stuff, barring the fact that all the mages are using Wind magic and so they’re far more annoying than what we’re used to. Particularly this one:

Blizzard is the wind-magic siege tome, and it will be very annoying as we proceed. He’s hidden among the second small line with no indication he might be there, which, you know; always remember to look at your enemies, kids. Time to start our charge! First, Lachesis clears a village.

It’s so delightful that she can just do that now. I can’t express it. No other combat happens, sadly, because Silesse is full of goddamn forests and progress is very slow. Remember back in Verdane, when the map was full of forests and everything was slow? It was annoying then, and making it snow hasn’t changed that. These villages will not be giving us much money.

Though thankfully when we actually reach them, it’s pretty easy to clear ‘em. And we are finally able to reach the attack range of the enemy defense line, so on their next turn they should be taking a shot at us. It won’t end well for them. End turn!

I warned ‘em. Now let’s rock this shit.

Awesome! Now it’s time to get Erin and Azel to the final village, and we have four turns to do it. I think we got this. Unless something goes terribly wrong, of course.

Maios: Without this key, there’s no way they’ll ever get over here. Heh heh… I almost wish I could see the looks on their faces!

Nope, that actually isn’t a problem, we can lower that bridge again, and even if we couldn’t, we do have a pegasus now. Still, I mean, A for Effort. If some earlier bosses had tried that, we’d have lost back in frickin’ Jungby.

Also, Blizzard Dude takes a shot at Erin, but she’s a dodge champ and it doesn’t connect.

… Azel, less so. I didn’t realize there were more than one Blizzard Dude. See what I said about checking your enemies? I need to follow my own advice. Aideen patches him up and levels.

God her magic stat is so huge. What even is happening.

Erin hits the final village, but isn’t able to clear it…

She’s gotten a bit strength-screwed this run, I’m afraid. Still, I think we got this. The only way that village could fall totally is if she and Azel both somehow miss twice next turn.

… Unless we die from being Blizzarded, jeez. All three hit, and not one had an even 40% to do it. Just one of those little reminders FE doesn’t actually like you. Luckily, Lachesis still has a healing staff on top of her other amazingness, and she steps up to heal her hubby. He takes advantage of this to run up and clear the village, letting the rest of the army move on toward the Blizzard Jerks.

… You know, this is really weird. The speed and skill are normal for a pegasus knight, but she somehow managed to trade the normal ‘high offense’ for a fairly solid defense growth you usually don’t see in her class. She can actually take hits better than she can give them at this point. It’s weird and I’m not sure I like it, but it’s interesting to see.

Anywho, with the Blizzard Dudes burned down, let’s take some time to clear villages before we open up the path ahead.

Info Kiosk: If it’s still drawn and you don’t have the key, you’re not getting across. Mind you, if you have a thief’s sticky fingers at your service, that might not be a problem…

GEE I’M SURE THAT WON’T BE IMPORTANT.

Info Master: Divine heirs can wield even the most advanced weapons with ease, and’ll have an easier time growin’ stronger. ‘Course, it’s not every day you meet someone blessed with that sorta blood.

…………………….. That… really should have been shared in the first chapter, honestly. I mean, I already knew it, but…

Actually Innocent: If you don’t mind, perhaps you could do a little dance for us? It’s been so long since we’ve had time for respite or fun…

Sylvia: Yup, not a problem! If you think it’ll cheer everyone up a bit, then I’m gonna dance my feet off! … Okay! Heeeeeeeeere we go!

Sylvia: Whew… well, how ‘bout that? Everyone feelin’ a little better?

Not Even a Creep: Oh! What fantastic dancin’! I dunno how, but now I feel like I’m ready to give life my all! I can’t thank you enough, miss. Here, perhaps this magic sword’ll help ya out. It oughta do a fine job of keeping ya safe.

Sylvia gets the Shield Sword, which grants +7 defense to anyone holding it and which, nothing personal honey, she absolutely will not be getting to keep. It’s going to someone who fights.

As you might have guessed, this scene only pops up if Sylvia visits this one specific village, which doesn’t look any different from any of the others. It’s not even like, ‘the closest to the castle’ or something. It’s second closest to the castle. Totally arbitrary

No, the game doesn’t give you any hint to this.

Hahahaha.

Now, as the game hinted at earlier, Dew can lower the bridge by going to the space where it was lowered before. However, I don’t want to do that yet; this is a chance to kill off some of the enemy while leaving them unable to swarm us. I have Taillte and Midir move into the range of the enemy who have distance weapons, and get Lachesis and Aideen ready to heal them. End turn.

… It’s only as I do this that I realize his Brave Bow means he’ll be killing most of what he fights. So, uh… hopefully he dodges a lot!

Score. Midir, you can stick around.

… Taillte, Midir just rocked this, do not screw it up for me.

… Taillte, you just got a great level, do not die and ruin this for me.

Yessssssssssssssssss. Okay, now we can lower the bridge.

We’re still not friends, you little shit. And with the way clear, we can, as the kids say, slaughter our foes.

Score. All that remains is three armor units and the boss himself, and none of them can reach anyone who they could reasonably kill in a single turn.

… Wait, why did they go for Midir at range…?

Okay, better. I mean, it’s not that I want to lose, but I feel bad if they don’t at least try. Now, let’s kill them all!

And here we go! The enemy army for Thove Castle is broken, so nothing left to be done but kill Maios himself. He’s a baron, because of fucking course he is, and he’s packing the A-rank wind tome Tornado. Get used to this sort of thing from here on; 99% of enemy bosses are going to be barons with great weapons that will ruin your day. Lewyn’s other douchey uncle is going to be one too. Fortunately, we have him super, super outnumbered.

Once again, bro, insulting us by calling us traitors loses some impact when you’re in the middle of treason.

On the other hand, Midir basically bounces off him. This is going to be a giant pain in the…

….. Never mind, forgot she had this.

Okay, battle’s over. What follows is mostly people whiffing at him for three turns, but there is one good moment…

Well. He almost succeeded in family victory.

There we go. Not much left to do but clear out a few villages and start moving people South to the big giant half of the map we conspicuously can’t enter.

Info Master: House Velthomer wields the power of fire, as bestowed by the fire goddess Vala. And House Freege wields thunder, as bestowed by the thunder god Tordo.

… Neat? Yeah, other than the sword, they’re all like this, generally giving game backstory you probably already worked out because it’s blatantly obvious. It’s like someone screwed up and put these villages in here when they should have been in the prologue.

A few empty turns of moving later, we have two fronts; one protecting Thove, and one getting ready to hit Silesse to the south. Don’t worry if you don’t think to do this; the game gives you plenty of time to run back to either or both if needed. That set up, let’s take Thove!

(God, nobody likes their nobles in this world.)

Info Master; The entire population of Thove is rejoicing at his downfall!

Sigurd: Hm? Are you sure? I mean, I just conquered you. Am I not the enemy here?

(Does this count as a Sigurd Logic Moment?)

Info Master: Lord Maios was nothing but a tyrant. All he ever did was bleed us dry. You fight in the name of Queen Rahna, and there isn’t a Silessian alive who doesn’t bear the utmost adoration for our queen.

(“I mean, besides her two brothers-in-law and their revolutionary armies.”)

Sigurd: Is that so? Thank you. Anyway, in the interim I think I’ll leave governing Thove to you, sir. Once the crisis has settled, the queen will arrange a proper successor. Until then, I’m sure you’ll be a just governor to help heal Thove’s wounds.

Info Master: Very well. Please, Lord Sigurd, do all you can to protect the queen. She is a treasure to us, and a beacon of peace and kindness.

Sigurd: Rest assured, my good man. So long as I live, I will let no harm come to Queen Rahna. You have my word.

And with a zap of Aideen’s Warp staff, Sigurd heads off to join the southern front and Thove is ours. Let’s call it a fair end for the week, and cut off things here. Next week: Everything goes to Hell!

#Let's play fire emblem IV #let's play fire emblem #let's play #Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War #fire emblem 4 #lp #My writing

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