tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58662830302115623122024-03-20T08:03:27.236-04:00The Book of the ShadowsDRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.comBlogger325125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-83119901791238594302022-09-06T18:00:00.000-04:002022-09-06T18:00:04.756-04:00Summer Luna - E7 Art Project<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Ilynav: “Did you seriously follow me out here, dragon?” she
asks angrily.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Luna: “I have no interest in you. My sister is on vacation
with her friends and asked me to come along.” She answers dismissively.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">JAlter: “You have a sister?” She asks in mild surprise.
She’s trying her best to hide how giddy she is about meeting this dragon-girl. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Luna: “Yes. She can be a handful sometimes.” She answers,
blushing. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">JAlter: “I know the feeling.” She replies with a grimace. <o:p></o:p></p><p>
<span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">At the same time, Yufine enters the restaurant
in her swimsuit, casually chatting with another person. Luna smiles just a
little to see her sister, but JAlter grimaces to see her own “sister” coming in
as well. </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Having defeated the last of the Crypters and cleared the
final Lostbelt, the crew from Chaldea were looking forward to being able to
finally enjoy some rest and relaxation without the auspice of the erasure of
all of humanity. Or so they thought. Da Vinci detected something that seemed
strangely to have the signal of a Lostbelt, but Sheba couldn’t get a good lock
onto its coordinates. It was as if the world that they were trying to observe
had been so completely warped it wasn’t even something that could be considered
Earth anymore. The mana in the air was certainly dense, something more akin to
the Age of Gods. But the world was diverse, and more or less seemed peaceful –
not perfect, but not a world necessarily teetering on the edge of destruction
at the moment. That being said, she isn’t so sure it’s stable enough to stick
around for very long either. Everything they can detect about this world is
mysterious. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>So, Da Vinci comes up with an idea. She’s found a location
that they can Rayshift to, and it seems to be near a beach. So, she proposes
that they use it as their vacation spot and investigate the potential
Singularity or Lostbelt while getting some R&R. <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Alongside a number of the Servants they’ve met over the
years, Earth’s last master Rayshifts to the tropical getaway. There, they find
that they’ve arrived in a world that is very much different from Earth. It’s
not just the names of places, but the shapes of the landmasses are different.
The mana in the air is very strong. But the people… there are some strange beings
about. There are humans with enough mana to rival ancient mages. There are
human/beast amalgams of enough variations to fill a fantasy novel (which has
some of the accompanying writers and would-be writers excited). There are even androids
of enough sophistication to make Frankenstein look like an old model, and make
Babbage jealous. They even run into a girl holding a creature that looks like
it could be related to Fou, but talks! Like, real words, not just cries as if
it expects you actually speak animal! <o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>This… This is Chaldea’s strange vacation in the world of Orbis…</i><o:p></o:p></p>This art project began as a desire to draw Ilynav from E7 around late summer 2021. I knew Ilynav was unlikely to die and had been thinking about how they would save her, which spurred my interest in drawing her. But at the time I was having a hard time developing a solid plan for her outfit, and got stuck. Early 2022 As I was working through that, I came up with the idea for this crossover. Ilynav and Jeanne Alter from FGO have so much in common personality wise, I really wanted to have them share some real estate on a page.<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KYJGTh4a9941kswz4kO0k9mtAld3IE-xnugoepkWKVvSixNAkbN_mwReTQfzAa-xPCTXr7-TA24y5BxMpG7ECPw7uKTpr1oXjpMWnaJBBS072LB-OQTSc3StQPXL9YpTUkKpDu4ELQ_SW2VFbSG9dRPkQJflmiHvUMRFo7ePMHk4dSMwn8INAyM/s2436/60bcff1391e31950902580.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2436" data-original-width="1125" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6KYJGTh4a9941kswz4kO0k9mtAld3IE-xnugoepkWKVvSixNAkbN_mwReTQfzAa-xPCTXr7-TA24y5BxMpG7ECPw7uKTpr1oXjpMWnaJBBS072LB-OQTSc3StQPXL9YpTUkKpDu4ELQ_SW2VFbSG9dRPkQJflmiHvUMRFo7ePMHk4dSMwn8INAyM/s320/60bcff1391e31950902580.png" width="148" /></a></div>I came up with Ilynav's portion of the story, which is that she's still trying to repay Penelope for saving her, so is volunteering at a shop Penelope opens for the summer months at one of the few "vacation" beaches in Eureka. It so happens that Yufine has invited everyone to vacation there this year instead of the beaches in Ritania. Furthermore, Luna joins in because Yufine begged her to, and she's hesitant about refusing Yufine's wish now that their relationship is on the mends. At around this time is when the Chaldeans detect what appears to them to be a singularity and Rayshift to Eureka. As per usual, the Rayshift ends up with the group scattered, Jeanne Alter making her way to this beach bungalow where Ilynav is working, and where Luna happens to be arriving to wait to meet up with Yufine. JAlter is excited to meet a strong dragon-girl, but is trying to play it cool, leading to the above conversation. Meanwhile, Jeanne had been elsewhere and met with Yufine, their arrival being the closeout of this particular scene. <p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">My initial inclination was to start
with Ilynav and figure out Luna’s outfit later as I expected Luna’s swimsuit
options to require a lot more deliberation given the prevalence of options. For
Ilynav I thought I was already where I wanted to be with that, having her wear
something very similar to her “mother” Moro’s outfit as seen in her flashbacks.
But as I started working on Ilynav, I felt too much like I was just copying the
outfit, not adapting it, so I wanted to branch out a little more. The problem
became the limitation on what I could do to demonstrate a uniqueness. Because
of where Ilynav is in the image, how her lower half is obstructed by the bar,
you don’t have a ton of visual space for her outfit. That leaves out a lot of
options such as having her wearing pants, fussing around with what the skirt
looks like, stuff like that.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In any case, having unexpectedly
hit that wall, I shifted to getting Luna right in terms of how I wanted her to
be seated in the scene, etc. As I was doing that, I wanted to also think about
what to do with her swimsuit. Initially the plan was going to be a
sort-of-but-not-really “twinsies” setup with Yufine. I was going to have her in
a two-piece swimsuit very similar to HYufine’s, just adjusting a few bits and
changing colors – enough to see it as a different outfit, keeping enough that
it is clearly based on HYufine’s.<br /> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But moving beyond that, I thought
about what else was going on with the project and realized something. JAlter
has two swimsuit options; her in-game Berserker iteration from summer 2019 in
global, 2017 in JP, and one from (if I’m recalling correctly) a CE, and now a
figure, where she’s in a black swimsuit that is moderately similar to
HYufine’s. Jeanne also has a summer version who, by virtue of being a banner
servant and not a free servant, has different art for each of her Ascensions,
and each of those depicts her in a different swimsuit. Therefore, I immediately
had a few options for her swimsuit. I believe she also has a figure in yet
another swimsuit, but I didn’t consider it for this project (let alone confirm
it’s not one of the Ascensions). And, of course, HYufine exists. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I then started considering all the
other summer units and skins in both E7 and FGO, and in any other games I
played. I realized how relatively rare it is for a character to go with
anything other than a 2-piece swimsuit. Jeanne’s 2<sup>nd</sup> Ascension is a
1-piece sports swimsuit, so that does count. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I decided to do a 1-piece for Luna
too, but I wanted something a little more different as well – something not
definitively sporty, but something classy and a little sexy. I recalled Graf
Zeppelin’s swimsuit skin from Azur Lane and immediately thought something like
that matched what I was envisioning. So I started working from that to develop
Luna’s look.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vV-JaxEUMR6DfxrDFzTyudS9Ogj21RPOUo3DK_Qp3TO4uxpoV9J8np6b-kY7qw2NsNWSbYic4eyr1YHah8uvtBjFor_fJEOMwOscJ1RgeEFVXPHOtm1Yn6ZBXfF56FXu0a9_OKLaUMUuLTHw5Ta3Nvfpfn_IDO3bDPbEVhveSDT1bOkbI4qXY0c/s1400/75f84xdnc1g51.webp" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1400" data-original-width="1280" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9vV-JaxEUMR6DfxrDFzTyudS9Ogj21RPOUo3DK_Qp3TO4uxpoV9J8np6b-kY7qw2NsNWSbYic4eyr1YHah8uvtBjFor_fJEOMwOscJ1RgeEFVXPHOtm1Yn6ZBXfF56FXu0a9_OKLaUMUuLTHw5Ta3Nvfpfn_IDO3bDPbEVhveSDT1bOkbI4qXY0c/w366-h400/75f84xdnc1g51.webp" width="366" /></a></div>When I got done with the main body
of the swimsuit, I started to think about other tidbits I could maybe add, and
once again her sister brought to me a little inspiration. One of the more
clever parts about Yufine’s design is the fact that they use the basic symbol
of the Covenant Bookmark in her design. It’s on her EE, it’s on the bows in her
hair and on her sleeves, and is somewhat referenced by the ring and bow on her
tail. For her summer version people are quick to note the one on her left thigh
and her bikini top at her throat. But HYufine incorporates not only the
Covenant Bookmark, but the Mystic Medal. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The Mystic Medal incorporates two
elements for the main design – the blackish-orange crescent moon that most
think of immediately, but the biggest and central element is a flower with four
petals. While not 100% certain to be deliberate, a more simplified version of
the four-petaled leaf is incorporated in the hair band she wears (right
beside/underneath the real flowers in hair), as well as on the straps of the
top and bottom of her swimsuit. However, the sole white stocking of her right
leg uses a more exact version of the Mystic Medal flower in the print design on
her thigh – clearly different from the five petals of the flowers in her hair,
the flower on her sandals, and the flower print on her swimsuit.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> <img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="558" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh159V_2t_fOTPvEptqkShU-d1_-NDeGVgEsREWqYrwt9kbsANqQ2R9x8YsVApG_5Gdx7iLHsjiLXiI4A3OUaLJCgzTV0jmCLVnVmR-BZXFm40WVG04ZAuwQaM_t53UH1kA0wTsw6QYUSsWgX0CR-oVDiYg31YIflw_G_nM-1UdNGUWweF5ENcTxHE/w123-h117/9d6430994aae4105be07b27955e0da7a_1604292793.png" width="123" /></span><span> </span><span> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjRb9RVTkPKox0-vkkMz4LAS2SCJ_VCY5xyOdUrX3w4FkJnxjx6244YDG7kavzAMTqdLFzSQkTnvCXyIQ1vvOa9jOZyJTxZCnle2_h8lE_NjmW1nZDEkRNQaV4uEJi77GI4VojZ9LmqwoVrX9cijjaAVWngwnAGz0VTqxQ-ih-O0o-4yHb_IgtcY/s1000/2adb26aaf66f439d9e313b3d73483cec_1604292786.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1000" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjRb9RVTkPKox0-vkkMz4LAS2SCJ_VCY5xyOdUrX3w4FkJnxjx6244YDG7kavzAMTqdLFzSQkTnvCXyIQ1vvOa9jOZyJTxZCnle2_h8lE_NjmW1nZDEkRNQaV4uEJi77GI4VojZ9LmqwoVrX9cijjaAVWngwnAGz0VTqxQ-ih-O0o-4yHb_IgtcY/w188-h168/2adb26aaf66f439d9e313b3d73483cec_1604292786.jpg" width="188" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I think it’s one of the neatest
design elements they’ve included with any character in E7, and so I thought
that since my original plan for having the sisters match fell apart, I would
carryover and expound on that. So, I started looking for ways to add the Mystic
Medal and/or Galaxy Bookmarks to Luna’s outfit. It especially felt like a good
idea to go with once you considered the meaning of Luna’s name. So, going with
a bit of inspiration, I decided that Luna would have the same single leg
stocking as Yufine, that being the way I would bring in the flower from the
Mystic Medal. Then, instead of the star that is on the thigh garter that
HYufine has, I gave Luna the armlet and placed the Mystic Medal moon there. I
made the Galaxy Bookmark a feature of the swimsuit, setting it at the throat in
a similar spot to where one of HYufine’s stars is. Finally, the studs along the
“window” of Luna’s swimsuit are each half a star from the Covenant Bookmark.
Combine them and you get five stars, her summoned level.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">For the colors on Luna’s swimsuit,
I chose to make the main body match the Galaxy Bookmark’s crescent. I kept the
stocking to same as HYufine’s since that was the whole point of her even having
it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">For Luna herself I gave her the red
streak of hair for another super-inside joke. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In Azur Lane, when you reach 100% bond/friendship/affection with a unit, you can give them a ring. That gives
some of their stats a minor boost (3%, 6% after maxing out affection @ 200%),
unlocks a new voice line, some ships have new wedding-themed skins, adds
floating hearts to their image in the lobby and on their info page, and allows
you to give them a specific name. For me, paying for the ring is a waste. The
stat boost is too limited to help in anything but top of the tier of PvP, and
AL’s PvP is one of the biggest jokes I’ve ever seen in gaming. But if I really like a ship’s design, or I like its
wedding skin, I will use saved up rings or gems to buy a ring, and go ahead
with the oath. I also tend to put a ring on it for personal fun if I want to
give them a certain name. For instance, the first ship I oathed in the game was
Yorktown because I wanted to rename her Irisviel, that of course being in honor
of Irisviel von Einzbern of Fate. When New Jersey released I was rewatching Denpa
Onna to Seishun Otoko (<i>Ground
Control to Psychedelic Girl</i>) and so I renamed her Towa Meme, the mom in
that series. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">There is a certain PR ship in the
game. PR ships are essentially like Connection Heroes in E7, except the quest
to unlock each is hard time gated to a minimum of about 5 days, and the only
means of maxing them out is collecting enough “blueprints” which themselves are
random drops from certain randomly available research missions which are
passive, timed, deployments that usually require some kind of investment paid
to completion (gold, Wisdom Cubes(summoning currency), completing certain main
story maps a certain number of times, etc.). Long story short, even in the best
cases, even for mega whales and hardcore gamers, it takes several months to
fully max out a PR ship. However, some PR ships are UR level – ultra rare – and
therefore are typically the strongest ships in the game – basically a
literal example of what some people tend to accuse E7 of doing with MLs. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgA9cPgeBykrcdC53TA2vPDOHFwy1XMl8E_bzTMe7mUkAfu7Zjysmsyjc_qd_hpAY5ZEd7lJdGvXaQCPPUnnmUpLa2u5lY-c1xpkiUIODGbPIDceHRybTGNNUejVTyf5xwBpjuG0JmgEQVERZF8hQO2E31VKn1h0NExHJsKpHzLAMhzzGgCxoXedc/s2048/__aegir_azur_lane_and_1_more_drawn_by_yunsang__77d9c0e62836425d8969444489f1f61b.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1466" data-original-width="2048" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgA9cPgeBykrcdC53TA2vPDOHFwy1XMl8E_bzTMe7mUkAfu7Zjysmsyjc_qd_hpAY5ZEd7lJdGvXaQCPPUnnmUpLa2u5lY-c1xpkiUIODGbPIDceHRybTGNNUejVTyf5xwBpjuG0JmgEQVERZF8hQO2E31VKn1h0NExHJsKpHzLAMhzzGgCxoXedc/w351-h251/__aegir_azur_lane_and_1_more_drawn_by_yunsang__77d9c0e62836425d8969444489f1f61b.png" width="351" /></a></div>Getting to the point, one PR ship
is the UR KMS/Ironblood (German) ship, KMS Agir, who came out in the game a little more than a year ago. She is a buxom woman with white
hair and dragon horns… so I oathed her and named her ML Luna. There are a
number of KMS ships that feature a red streak in their bangs, the first being
Prinz Eugen. Mage Luna has a diamond-shaped stone in her forehead, just like
regular Luna. But Mage Luna’s stone is red instead of blue. Because of how her
hair lies it looks at first as if she has a
streak of red hair just like a KMS ship, which was a weird coincidence.<br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So, I decided to keep my Summer Luna’s gem
the same as her RGB version’s, and gave her the red streak of hair. My personal theory at the moment is Mage Luna might actually end up being Summer or some other alternate Luna (sort of like Fairytale Tenebria). There’s an entire
outlandish theory on that… A bit of a dumb idea, but if the stone is
color-coordinated to her element, then you could end up with base/ice Luna having a
blue stone, Mage/Fire Luna being red, meaning a Light Luna would have a yellow
stone, while Dark Luna would have a black or dark purple stone. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Initially I wasn’t sure what to do
about Luna’s footwear. I basically thought I would have to invent some idea the
way I did with her swimsuit. But as I was gathering references for the Jeanne
and Jalter bits, I realized that Summer Jeanne in her 3<sup>rd</sup> Ascension
sprite is wearing the same shoes as Summer Jalter, just colored different to
match her swimsuit. I decided that was as good an idea as any, so Luna is
wearing the same shoes as HYufine. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The last bit of Easter egg hunt
stuff is the star pattern on her swimsuit. I decided that, since I was already
doing the galaxy print on the swimsuit, it’d be a neat idea to include
something extra there. So, among the stars, are constellations. Or, there would be if you could see the entirety of her swimsuit. As she's seated you can see Virgo, which represents the end of summer on the calendar. The second is Libra, which is her Zodiac as summoned as her ice iteration. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I kept the Libra constellation partially hidden on purpose because the Zodiac of a hero in E7 has no real connection to the character themselves. For instance, Yufine is Libra, but her summer version is Taurus. So, if "my" Summer Luna is technically a variant of Luna, there's no telling what her Zodiac would be. That therefore means that there's no guarantee that if/when Mage/Summer/ML Luna comes out that she would be a Libra. I didn't want to arbitrarily assign her a new Zodiac, so I decided that if ever to draw her again in this swimsuit, the last constellation would be reserved for the one matching the future official variant of Luna that works best for my plans at the time. But, that constellation will be on her other hip. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Overall, I like how the star print on her swimsuit came out. As you will undoubtedly notice, if you're zoomed out you can easily spot the constellations due to the brighter stars, but when you zoom in you kind of lose them just a little in the myriad of stars. That wasn't the easiest thing to pull off for me, so I'm glad it worked out at all. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xxnAxYFFxgofSQOhVMxYYXDUsLnpq5bMfxUtuS07eRQWylroGbpK-GvSNslpg6NNbXH2ROMP8HhfZwrNr5pV4l1UjPj2KIrGiZeP4kPEEh3kz0rUV2K99T8gkhO9bDNdPSLfA-D5yw3XCYcu5tZwmC06peXndqwqHSVdivw7Tkx1TlIRkwtd854/s3840/Summer%20Luna%20exp%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="2160" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xxnAxYFFxgofSQOhVMxYYXDUsLnpq5bMfxUtuS07eRQWylroGbpK-GvSNslpg6NNbXH2ROMP8HhfZwrNr5pV4l1UjPj2KIrGiZeP4kPEEh3kz0rUV2K99T8gkhO9bDNdPSLfA-D5yw3XCYcu5tZwmC06peXndqwqHSVdivw7Tkx1TlIRkwtd854/w360-h640/Summer%20Luna%20exp%203.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>So there you have it. Summer Luna, my summer project for 2022. I don't know for certain who will be the project for 2023, but it will likely be either Ilynav or JAlter. For Ilynav I am still figuring out her outfit, so it's a little bit of planning work still due there. For JAlter I have the sketch done, but I've been going back and forth on changing almost everything about it, so that is its own set of problems. Good news is I have nearly a year to figure that all out. So, until next time... </div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-27939157399637982602022-09-05T05:00:00.001-04:002022-09-05T05:00:00.237-04:00Checking In<p>Hey folks, been a while....<span></span></p><a name='more'></a>This has been a trying year for me. I lost a parent at the beginning of the year. Had a nightmare of a move to another state. Then spent months searching for a job. And then most recently, after successfully evading it for the better part of 3 years, I caught COVID. Thankfully the COVID episode wasn't the really bad one where I had to be in a hospital on a ventilator, but man, even the mild case really takes it out of you - and this is from a guy who's used to dealing with being sick and has had 2 bouts with pneumonia in his lifetime already. <p></p><p>Altogether my plans for 2022 never got a chance to get moving, and never really found a rhythm. One of my original plans, for instance, was to transition to a more YouTube centric experience. I was planning to do a series of videos explaining and discussing the Book of the Shadows more generally, and even perhaps look at branching out to doing a weekly fan-fiction podcast discussing past/present/future stories both inside my story and in other ongoing or previous anime/manga/video game stories. Clearly, none of that happened.</p><p>So, I am checking in to let folks know that I'm not dead, nor is this fan-fiction franchise. I recently posted a couple new chapters of Geass R3 Alter, with another probably due by the end of the month. Writing, and then attempting to edit, in a variety of fugue states, means a lot of editing, re-editing, and re-re-editing, so the process is slower than it once was (though my pace of writing was never that great to begin with). </p><p>In terms of artwork, I pushed really hard at times to get my latest project ready. My personally set 1st, 2nd, and 3rd deadlines all ended up passing by (this was part of the COVID period), but I will meet one of the final deadlines. </p><p>I would normally, about this time of year, know for sure what the end of the year looks like in terms of art projects, but I'm not entirely sure. I can all but guarantee there won't be a Halloween project this year since I would have to basically move at lightning speed to get that done (don't even have a budding concept for a project there at the moment). There are a couple options I have for a Christmas project, but I just can't be sure right now if I'll get either of those done in time. Again, normally I'd be confident about something like that, but maybe because of the COVID fog in my head right now or the knowledge that little has gone close to plan this year, I lack the confidence to make a call that definitive. </p><p>To wrap up, Happy Labor Day to folks out there in the US. I'll be playing the Black Eyed Peas a few times to day in celebration. Looking ahead, I hope you can enjoy the continuation of Geass R3 Alter as I try to steam ahead towards its conclusion. Look forward as well to the new E7 pic I will have done soon, backing into a Ezeran Foundation Anniversary celebration. And should I make any progress on any other projects, I will be back here to highlight those as well. Until then, stay safe and happy. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-38440476630329562142022-03-08T23:00:00.001-05:002022-03-08T23:00:00.264-05:00If I Were Writing…<p> </p><h1>E7’s February/March Side-Story, A Game of Princes</h1><h2><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So, we’re a few days away from the
final part of the Vivian side-story, Game of Thr… er, I mean, Game of Princes.
This has been a really good story, which kind of sets up a pattern for SG at
this point; expect that the story they release in February each year to be the
best one they’ll release all year. Last year’s Valentine's Day side story,
despite some people complaining early on due to the mechanics of it, was a very
popular one, probably the most popular all year. The Valentine’s Day story the
year before that was also very well liked, again probably the favorite of the
year. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In any case, this story is unique
in that it has a very deliberate mystery element to it. I’ve got
stuff to say on the way the main story is going too, but I’ll save that for
another time. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Spoiler Alert for anyone who hasn’t
caught up on the side story yet but given the title of this post you should probably
already expect spoilers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So, the story starts off with
Vivian, our favorite busty city lord from Episode 2, waking up in an unfamiliar
location. She soon comes to realize that she’s been isekai’d, or so it seems. She
went to bed, woke up in an alternate version of Orbis with a bevy of people she doesn’t know from the Orbis she’s from. For example, Queen Diene
(whom Vivian should have little to no knowledge of) is alive and still queen, albeit
her husband the king recently deceased. She has a son, but it’s not Aither.
Rather, she has three sons and a daughter; Tywin, Ervalen, Kawerik, and Vivian.
That’s right, Kawerik’s also alive. And Vivian’s a princess. But they’re not
all <i>actually</i> Diene’s kids, because kings and their polygamist ways.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I could spend some time detailing
the complicated family tree here, but that’s not super important (I don’t think)
to the discussion I’ll be starting in a minute. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Apparently, some time before Vivian
awoke in this nightmare world, the Princess Vivian of this world was kidnapped,
possibly killed, by unknown assailants. Vivian’s arrival seems to be some sort
of providence, the princess not only surviving the initial incident, but even
freeing herself and escaping all the way back to the relative safety of the
royal palace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In this world where someone has
already tried to kill her once it seems Vivian then has the task of earning
Kawerik’s trust as he is initially the only one that knows she’s not the real
princess and suspecting she’s involved in the plot that’s claimed his sister
and may be trying to end him as well. She must also uncover what is going on, hopefully
to not just avoid another attempt on her life, but to find out how to make it
back home. All while fighting her affection for Kawerik, which is awkward since
they’re siblings in this world, or maybe not that awkward because apparently
there were already rumors that the two were romantically involved… royals man…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In any case, we find that Ras is in
this world too – unique in that no other E7 alternate world thus far has shown any
indication of an alternate Ras existing – as a fourth prince who is initially
suggested to be the king’s child from another woman not Queen Diene. We also have
Otille – an individual who has not had any real role in any stories in the game
– serving as an advisor to Tywin, the sort-of introduction of Mage Luna as an
advisor to Ervalen, and Tenebria serving as Ras’s advisor. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The introduction of Mage Luna is
interesting, albeit potentially misleading. We’ve known since Fallen Cecilia’s
release way back when that there is a person from her ML world that is a mage,
and looks exactly like Luna, who FCC blames for killing her entire family,
turning them into magic stones. That was considered to be ML Luna. That is more
or less the story of Mage Luna here in this side-story – she is a mage, fought
against dragons in a major war, was tricked into wiping out a village (by Tenebria) by
turning everyone to stone, and is now cooperating with Ervalen in a scheme to
try to right that past wrong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In reality, there’s not much reason
to doubt, then, that this world we see this side-story is the same world FCC
came from. Much like the misunderstanding and confusion about events in Dragon
Valley when Luna forced Cecilia and Yufine away, it’s highly plausible that the
same sort of event happened to Mage Luna, FCC, et al.<o:p></o:p></p><h3 style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">Who Done It?</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As the side story plays out, it is revealed
that Tenebria is intimately involved in much of what has been going on and may
in fact be the culprit for everything. She has apparently been brainwashing
Tywin with false visions of a future disaster, after apparently placing a curse
on him and setting herself up as the hero for curing him of said curse, driving
him to kill the princess in some attempt to avert the fictitious calamity she showed
him. She has been also corrupting Ras, making him believe he is weaker than he
is and has no choice but to obey her commands for his own wellbeing and safety.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But this isn’t the same sort of
plotting we’ve seen from Tenebria in the past, which makes me skeptical this is
the Tenebria we know, or alternatively that this is all Tenebria’s doing at
all. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In what is probably one of the more
important moments in Ep 1, we learn of how fractured the alliance between the
Acolytes really is. Kayron is more or less in lock-step with the mission of the
Archdemon – he very much wants to see Orbis destroyed. Nigal is an idiot underling, so he's more or less in the same category as Kayron - he will do what he's told. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Tenebria, however,
states rather clearly that she doesn’t necessarily care one way or the other if
Orbis is destroyed. In fact, she’d prefer it wasn’t destroyed. Not because she’s
secretly conflicted, or a good-guy playing at being bad. But because she
derives her enjoyment from tormenting and torturing others with her illusions
and nightmares. If Orbis is gone, so then is her source of fun. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Which is what creates the dilemma here.
If you accept the supposition that OUR Tenebria is responsible for what is happening,
that would mean one of two things; either she took Vivian to another world, or
she’s showing Vivian a nightmare. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Both are highly unlikely, for
mostly the same reason in both cases. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Tenebria likes to torment and
mentally destroy individuals. Despite the side story being told from Vivian’s
perspective, however, she’s not really involved in it. Yes, she’s investigating
the mystery of the princess’s disappearance/death, the reason for how it came
about, and how to get herself home. And, yes, she has been under some duress regarding
how to deal with Kawerik here knowing he’s not “her” Kawerik and will one day
sooner or later leave him to return home. But she’s hardly been forced into any
danger, forced to take on any burden she couldn’t have easily dislodged herself
of. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In other words, while she is the
perspective of the story, she’s not at all the focus. Most everything that is
happening in the story could happen without her. If this is a nightmare created
by Tenebria, it’s odd that Vivian hasn’t been made the center of it. Compared
to the Order of the Shield folks in Ep 1, or even the escapades in the Fairytale
Tenebria side story where she’s basically leading Luluca around by the nose, this
would be an exceedingly passive-aggressive means for her to target Vivian. She isn’t
even using people or places Vivian would know and therefore have more reaction
to, as other than Kawerik and Ras she doesn’t actually know any of the rest of
these faces, and this all seems to be happening in an alternate version of Ritania, not Cidonia. While the scene with Ras is interesting in teasing out Vivian’s
general personality – a want to help others even if not be fully immersed in
their situations – she’s not exactly shown to be in a place mentally where she’d
be <i>that </i>broken up if anything bad happened to Ras. And it’s not even as though
Kawerik’s been put in any real danger himself either. He’s actually played a
rather small active role in much of this story thus far.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The same applies if it’s Tenebria skipping
town to a new universe and dragging along Vivian. There’s no real reason she
would make Vivian tag along just to leave her to observe all this. It’d be one
thing if Vivian stumbled along into one of Tenebria’s misadventures, but that
isn’t the impression we’re given of events. That could change, showing Tenebria
messed with Vivian’s memory the same way it’s implied that she messed with
Tywin’s. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But the entire event’s setup seems
to strongly imply these events have been in motion long before Vivian’s involvement,
and therefore that this isn’t just a nightmare being shown to Vivian, but a
real alternate world. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So why is Vivian here? Clearly Vivian
herself would like to know that answer. It would seem as though she was merely
so unfortunate as to find herself stumbling through a Chaos Gate and into this
twisted version of Orbis. It is also relatively clear that her memories have
been messed with since she can’t recall how it happened. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">However, I’m not so convinced that
she was targeted for this. At least not by Tenebria. This nightmare, if that is
what it is supposed to be, is too tame for something meant to be torturing
Vivian’s psyche. There has been little to no cause for her to shy away from choosing
Kawerik’s side, a choice she was always going to make. The “off” nature of this
world is too pedestrian, too ordinary, to be a deliberate fabrication meant to
torment, as even ML Kawerik’s world seems like it would have been harder on
Vivian. No one else she knows or cares about has been endangered or threatened,
other than the general “end of the world” threat involved. She hasn’t had to
put herself at much personal risk, outside a plan she herself came up with to
use herself as bait. All of this would suggest that if it were Tenebria
responsible for targeting Vivian for a nightmare, she’s going about it in a
very different way from any of her past episodes. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But it isn’t an unreasonable
conclusion by any means. So far as we know of any other dimension hopping, nothing
about the individual who is doing the hopping changes. They don’t assume the
identity of their alter ego, the two continue to exist simultaneously. That’s
why we have, for example, or Cecilia and FCC, or the comedy duo of Charlotte
and LQC; one can cross to the other’s world without directly affecting the
other. Here, Vivian not only showed up in this world of Princess Vivian but did
so with the seemingly perfect timing to step into her shoes once the princess
was thought dead. That speaks to planning and forethought, not random chance. And
given that Tenebria seems to be the main antagonist trying to destroy this
world, it would make sense that she was the one that dragged Vivian into all
this. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">However, the more likely scenario,
and one I think a lot of folks to this point have smushed together with the
idea that “our” Tenebria did this to Vivian, is that this is the ML world that
FCC originated from. As I pointed out, the only reason Tenebria would drag
someone like Vivian into this would be to torment her and cause her emotional
and psychological agony. There is a distinct lack of that. She isn’t even
under the delusion that her and this Kawerik can/will be together forever, or
that he somehow survived, all of which would be far more heart wrenching once the
inevitable goodbye comes. All in all, this Tenebria’s plans seem directly
focused on destruction of the world, not destruction of the individual. Her
control over Tywin, her control over Ras, seems not driven by a want to see them
personally writhe in agony, as our Tenebria normally does, but in seeing them
effectuate a larger plan aimed at world destruction. Well, Ras's torment seems a little more personal, but that also would raise some complications.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This highlights a question that E7
has yet answered for me, which is does EVERYONE have an alternate world counterpart?<o:p></o:p></p><h3 style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">From Another World</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Certain individuals, I believed, by
their nature could not have an alternate world counterpart due to the
uniqueness of their existence. Ras, for example, can’t have an ML counterpart.
He was created by Diche to be her symbol and champion. To have an ML Ras would
presuppose that either Diche herself has a counterpart who thinks just like
her, or that Diche created multiple Ras’ and scattered them across other
dimensions. Both seem highly implausible, thus it makes more sense to presume
that there’s only one Ras and that he is the Ras from our Orbis. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I believed the same generally about
Kayron and the Acolytes at first, under the misbelief that the Acolytes were
created by the Archdemon the same way Ras was by Diche, and about the robots in
Politia since there are so many variables that would have to line up to make
that work. But we know now that Tenebria herself had a life before becoming an
Acolyte, in essence on the road to chaos before the Archdemon came along. We
can presume then that Kayron is the same (I have a pet theory on Kayron’s
origins I’ll share another time). But more than that now, we have the ML
version of Flan on the way. Flan was created by Politis and/or Belian. That she
would exist in another universe would presuppose that not only does Politis
exist in another universe (we generally assume that to be plausible) but she
had in mind to create a robot that looked exactly like Flan in that other
universe too, who also apparently has a sister the exact same way “our” Flan
does. It is a collision of the concepts of free will, creativity, and
predetermination, that is a little complex to dissect. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Regardless, the exercise refutes
that earlier supposition I had that some characters just couldn’t have direct
other world allegories. Therefore, it opens up the possibility that this
Tenebria, the one in this Game of Princes side story, is actually the Tenebria
of another world, once more on the path of evil and using the power of dreams
and illusions to cause chaos and destruction. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">All that’s well and good, but it
still doesn’t answer why Vivian and why “now”. At no point was Vivian convinced
she wasn’t in another world, at no point has anyone approached her sure she wasn’t
Princess Vivian, or at the very least who considered that she might be a Vivian
from a different world. Thus Vivian, and us, have no insight into the why and
how of her being in this alternate world. <o:p></o:p></p><h3 style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">Divine Intervention?</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This leads to my theory – we have a
meddling god/goddess. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">From what we know of the totality
of the E7 universe and its lore, Diche was in a disagreement with one of her
sibling deities. Diche decided to create, nurture, and protect Orbis. Her sibling, Ilyros, didn’t like the idea of her doing that, and so created the Archdemon to destroy
Orbis. Diche created Ras to repel the Archdemon, and thus began the cycles of fighting
the Archdemon, the world’s destruction, Diche’s rebirthing of the world. We
know Rekos also had its own deity, similar to Diche, whom was killed by Straze
and Faustus, Faustus being another likely creation of a sibling deity unhappy
with their sisters creating and nurturing these worlds with humans on them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Given that it’s known to have occurred
twice, there’s little reason to doubt it happened a third or fourth time as
well. Diche created Ras, the goddess of Rekos was killed before being able to fully
act but had empowered/protected Roana and Luluca as Rekos’ guardians and
protectors. It seems that the world that Vivian is in right now was set to have
a similar setup to Orbis, Ras being created by the goddess and placed in the
Sanctuary until he was prepared to save the world. But he was removed from the Sanctuary
early, likely by Tenebria’s direction through manipulating the king, and Ras
was kept weak by Tenebria so he wouldn’t grow into the threat to the plans for
destruction that the Ras of our Orbis is. That done, the goddess had to make a
new plan. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Since Princess Vivian had already
been on the trail of what was happening and presumably would act to stop it,
the goddess used her death as an opportunity to “lightly” intervene by brining in
another Vivian to take her place and finish what the first started. Vivian was
likely chosen since she would be capable, but also because she wasn’t overly
encumbered. Ras is busy trying to save the world again, so he and his cadre
couldn’t be called on. Of the individuals with the most influence, remaining, Diene
already dead, as is Kawerik, Tywin is already under Tenebria’s control so would
be suspicious if he suddenly changed behavior. Ervalen is not at all likely to
be of any use, half likely to team up with Tenebria than he is to cooperate in
stopping her. Luna’s already there trying to thwart Tenebria, so it’s unclear that
a second Luna would do anything but put Tenebria on higher alert. So, that only
left Otille and Vivian. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Curiously we’ve seen no other
Merus. That makes Otille’s own background in this world murky. We don’t know if
she’s a clone, a homunculus, or a regular mage. Either way, with little about her
known in either universe, it’s difficult to handicap how she would be helpful for
either side, easier based on her personality to see her saying, “I’ll help whoever
sends me back home.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Everyone in this side story, except
Ras, Diene, Vivian, and Tywin, is more likely to prioritize a return home over
helping this world to the point they’d potentially help Tenebria or willingly look
the other way for her if it got them out of there rather than fight her. <o:p></o:p></p><h3 style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">Dream Sharing</h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The second conceivable alternative
is that this is a Nightmare targeting someone else that Vivian also got caught
up in. Again, thinking back to the Fairytale Tenebria side story, Luluca wasn’t
the target of Tenebria initially there. She just found herself wrapped up in
that event. The problem is in figuring out who Tenebria was targeting and how
Vivian managed to end up trapped in their nightmare. Ras could easily be seen
as who Tenebria’s focus is on, but when since Ep 2 would Tenebria have been
able to target Ras that he wasn’t already occupied with other stuff, let alone
in proximity to Vivian that she would get pulled into it? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Even in an indirect manner, it’s
hard to imagine anyone who is close enough to both Ras and Vivian that it would
first pain them to see Ras being manipulated this way, and second would know
Vivian. That generally applies to everyone in this story, which is what initially
makes it so unusual that Vivian is involved – she doesn’t have any real
connections with anyone here other than Ras and Kawerik. She likely didn’t even
have any cause to be wary of Tenebria at all until the clues aligned that Tenebria
was responsible or adjacent to a number of odd elements about this world. That
isn’t necessary for Tenebria to act, but it highlights how random Vivian would
be as a target without more background on why Tenebria left Ritania for
Cidonia, all to single out Vivian for this nightmare that has little to
actually do with Vivian at all. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But, that’s why you read stories;
to see how they develop, where they started, and where they’re going. For my
money, Tenebria is “a” villain, not “thee” villain in this tale. We still need
to see who has been playing both sides and what their true purpose is. <o:p></o:p></p><h3 style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">So, If I Were To Write...</h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">If I were to write this plot out myself, I would probably choose the alternate world theory. We have Mage Luna here, and the story for her here matches up too well with what we know from FCC's, so it makes more sense that Vivian has found herself in that ML world than to say that this is some one-off creation by Tenebria. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Going from that, I believe the Tenebria we are seeing here is Light Tenebria, the Tenebria of this alternate world, not "our" Tenebria. I don't think she was planning on "our" Vivian showing up. She had Tywin kill Princess Vivian to stop her from interfering, and likely right now only thinks Tywin screwed it up. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">That leaves explaining how Vivian wound up here. I think it's highly unlikely to be a coincidence. It would be crazy to believe that Vivain just happened to end up in another world right after her counterpart died. It's likely that someone deliberately brought her here. If not the admittedly slim goddess theory, then another possibility is that Vivian herself, perhaps injured and/or dying, called on her alternate world self. Knowing that Princess Vivian was a proud, arrogant, anti-social princess, she likely wouldn't have trusted anyone else except maybe another version of herself. A hasty swap would explain why Vivian herself doesn't remember how she ended up in this other universe. I like this as a wrap-up for the story as it at least leaves a little happier ending than, "Vivian beats Tenebria, returns to her world, and Kawerik is left all alone. The end." </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-33598664111985932022022-03-08T22:30:00.001-05:002022-03-08T22:30:00.233-05:00A New Series - If I Were to Write.... <p> Hey everyone. It's been a while.</p><p>I'm starting up a new series of posts I'll be titling, "If I Were To Write..." In each of these posts I will introduce an in-progress story from (most likely) Epic 7 and explain what elements of that story I consider important, interesting, or impactful, how they fit with other elements in the game overall, and how I as a novice writer would tackle the at-the-time unfinished elements of the story. </p><p>In essence, these posts are an info dump of my thought process into a story as I am consuming that story, and reveals in some cases how a story or elements of a story feed into what I decide to do with a story when I select it for one of my fan-fictions. Each is a statement of what I generally think the best path a story can take would be, and then once the official story is complete matches up with my expectations. </p><p>If there is a large gap, that informs me of where I already have ideas on how to take a story and its characters and tell a new story different from the one they told first. It doesn't mean that the story they told was bad, or lacking, necessarily. Only that I have a different idea and I might like to run with it. </p><p>So, glad to have you around. Hope you'll enjoy. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-55196999688249197262021-09-07T05:00:00.001-04:002021-09-07T05:00:00.186-04:00Where the ML World Goes From Here (And Where It Came From)There's not a TON of factual info here, just a question (and hopefully some decent discussion) related to the E7 story of the world some of the moonlight heroes come from. Potential spoilers if you haven't completed Ep 3.<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Angelica/Charles/Krau/and Co.</span></h4>From what we know so far, the ML world of Riolet, LRKrau, and CCharles is a dystopian/Armageddon version of Orbis. There is little to no mention of the Goddess or the Archdemon, so we don't know with certainty what's causing the crisis there, although they appear on the Ritania side to be more technologically developed than "current" Ritania.</div><div><br /></div><div>By way of the story we got from the summer event, we know that Closer Charles is affiliated with some organization that at least temporarily captured Angel of Light Angelica. We need more info once she releases, since our assumptions about who she is appears to be warped a bit. <br /><br />Until now the general idea was that LAngelica was the Celestial that would split in two, the "good" part going to Orbis and fusing with the Angelica we know and becoming the eternally youthful High Priestess in search of retirement. Meanwhile her dark half went to the other world and merged with that Angelica and became Sinful Angelica. By way of last year's (2020's) summer event, we know Singelica wants to reunite with "our" Angelica to become one complete being again. <br /><br />However, LAngelica right now turns that idea on its head somewhat. We've been assuming the ML world of LRKrau and folks takes place concurrently to the Orbis story we've been playing through. But, to reconcile the LAngelica story, it would have to take place far into the past. We know "our" Angelica has already been alive, and around, for a long time; at least since before the Archdemon War 20 years before the start of the game. If LAngelica is really pre-split with the Sinful Angelica aspect, it would have to have been at that long ago time 20+ years ago. <br /><br />This makes some sense. If Singelica is also from that other world, the same world as CCharles, then she would have to have been around both after the story we see in the 2021 summer event, but before the 2020 summer event. In other words, the story in 2021's summer event about LAngelica is looking back at something from far before the current story. The 20 year time difference could therefore be explained as the time it took for Sinful to find her host Angelica, amass power, and make her move for our Angelica. <br /><br />This means that our Charles is as old now as CCharles was 20+ years ago... That makes for something to ponder. <br /><br />As of yet we don't know who rules the ML world's Taranor. We know ML Yuna is on the run from Taranor as she was the one that created OPSigret, although that story too is a bit confusing. The way OPSigret was released, it was implied that Yuna created her after "our" Sigret died. Some folks even began suggesting that the ML world was just future E7 Orbis. But that would clearly be unlikely now due to the time difference. You could get super creative - pun intended - to make the time issue work - Yuna herself becoming an android or automatic doll... It would be interesting playing that alongside some potential ML Politis stories (Politis ruling the world, potentially including Taranor, and the rebel organization waging a guerilla war against her). <br /><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Fashion Week</span></h4>This is by far the oddest ML world to imagine, if only because as an anime watcher the only thing that comes to mind is Kill la Kill. If you aren't familiar with that anime, give it a watch. I personally don't think it's as amazing as a lot of people think, but it is decent enough. And if you watch it you will swear that someone at SG brought in the blu-ray one day, made the team watch it, and said, "yup, we're doing that". <br /><br />But, so far as we know, it has nothing to do with Orbis. As far as we know from the tidbits related to DLili and TMLuluca, Rekos hasn't been destroyed by Straze yet. He has Fastus, in the form of scissors instead of a sword, and is apparently making clothes for Roana to be his top model fighter... or something. But if Rekos isn't gone, there's no reason to go to Orbis. And if there's no reason to go to Orbis, then this little pocket story will be complete when ML Roana is released, assuming there's little chance they make a light version of Straze. </div><div><br /></div><div>You could find a way to an Orbis connection. All you'd need is some kind of McGuffin on Orbis that Straze and Roana would come in search of, similar to the rationale for Straze coming to Orbis in the regular story already. But at that point I'd be making up random stuff.</div><div><br /></div><div>It really is a ridiculous story, only made more ridiculous in that it isn't so original that something doesn't exist to show how ridiculous it <i>could </i>be, only for that thing itself to be extremely ridiculous. </div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">See No Tiwig, Speak No Tiwig, Hear No Tiwig</span></h4><div>If there is no Faustus driving Straze to wipe out worlds, that would also suggest that there's no destruction of Politis' home world, no corruption caused by the red stones that fall to Orbis, and therefore a large chunk of the background that has built up the world as seen in Ep 3 would not have occurred. No Politis means no Politia, no red stone means Mort's plans never happen so no mad dragons destroying Senya's village, no Senya becoming a Dragon Knight, and no dragon knights at all so no Wintenburg. <br /><br />The effect's of Tiwig's actions are the direct cause of most of the E7 story, we are learning. Her absence itself could cause all sorts of havoc in terms of crafting a narrative. But we know that Fastus does still exist. So how does that effect Politis' home world? </div><div><br /></div><div>Politis' world was destroyed a very long time ago, prior to the Archdemon wars. We can assume to some extent that she arrived on Orbis after the start of the 7th cycle, as she and Belian seem to have no knowledge of prior world cycles, despite knowing about the Sanctuary and the Archdemon. </div><div><br /></div><div>We know that Straze came to Orbis after destroying Rekos. We aren't 100% sure where Rekos is. The clearest indication is that it is an alternate dimension, similar to the ML world. But, it's not the ML world, as the ML world Rekos does exist as per the TMLulu and DLili story. So it's a different alternate world. </div><div><br /></div><div>Therefore, we can assume Fastus destroyed Politis' home world before finding Straze and having him destroy Rekos (unless Politis' home world is Rekos, but that is a super complicating theory I rather not get into). </div><div><br /></div><div>This means, assuming similar events happen in a similar order across these worlds, Politis' world would have to be already gone by the time we meet the Lefundos, Wintenburg, and Politia MLs. Therefore, assuming ML Politis is from the ML world and not just a variation of "our" Politis, she will go a long way in explaining what this timeline looks like. Given how none of the continent is mentioned by any of the Ritania MLs, we can assume then that it either doesn't exist in nearly the same way, or at all. Read on for more.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dark Mage Luna</span></h4><div>Faustus destroying Politis is implied to be at least partially responsible for the red stones on Orbis. Only partially, since we also know that Faustus went on afterwards to Rekos, and there is something similar to the red stones (implied to be the body of Diche or another goddess) under the Sanctuary. But if that doesn't happen, there's not only no Politia, but Mort's use of the red stone to create mad dragons doesn't happen, at the very least delaying the formation of Wintenburg, if not completely bypassing Senya's wanting to become the first dragon knight. </div><div><br /></div><div>Except that we know FCC and Shadow Rose exist. So how did that world of theirs develop? It can be suggested that there was some inevitability to humans and dragons coming to war even without the mad dragons, but how likely would that really be to unfold in the same way? Would Senya have developed as a Dragon Knight without the power of the red stone to help her? One could argue that Wintenburg was inevitable - even absent the red stone Mort would have done something to drive the humans to seek their own city and come to power some other way.</div><div><br />But what of SRose and FCC? FCC is hunting down a mage who killed her family and turned them into magic stones, and she looks exactly like Luna. This action seems very similar to what was going on in the earlier parts of Ep 1 in the Suin village with the Chaos Sect, and before that with the corrupt officials in the church and Taranor with what happened to Kawerik. That would suggest a similar practice is occurring in the other world's Wintenburg as our world's old Taranor. </div><div><br /></div><div>There are a couple additional oddities with this, however. One, our Ceci isn't a dragon, or part dragon, while FCC clearly is. Second, FCC's blurb clearly indicates that Luna was the mage responsible for her family's death, not merely in the company of that mage. Barring the entirely plausible instance of her being mistaken, that would mean ML Luna's type and element are already known; Dark Mage. It's hard to imagine Luna as a mage, but assuming the role reversal between Ceci and FCC is not a one-off, that would suggest that maybe ML Luna herself is also not really a dragon either, but a human. </div><div><br /></div><div>SRose apparently hates Cecilia. Why? Who knows. But take everything together, you arrive at a simple possible story for Wintenburg in the ML world. Simply put, you have Ceci and Luna switch places. ML Luna is a human and the heir to the throne of Wintenburg, Ceci is a dragon. MLL, either as a betrayal or a function of the human/dragon conflict, turns a dragon village into magic stones, FCC being the sole survivor. SRose, loyal knight of Wintenburg, is Ceci's enemy because Ceci is Wintenburg's enemy. <br /><br />While I like this idea, it's not very well supported by any real facts yet. It's part of the reason I think the ML story of one of the dragons will be a big narrative event for the game, as there's just so little to go on despite the first two MLs associated with that potential story are a couple of the earliest MLs to the game. <br /><br />Its's harder to connect the Politia bits without fully inventing a reason for Politis to venture to Orbis (scientific investigation? imperialism of her home world?). If Politis' home world isn't destroyed, they'd have to manufacture a reason for her to leave it and venture to Orbis. If I head that route, there's no end to the number of stories that could be used to explain that situation. Exploration, imperialism, experimentation... best to wait for Politis' ML to come out, since that's likely only a month or so away. </div><div><br /></div><div>As for Lefundos, there's not much there. The only playable hero from Lefundos that doesn't have an ML is Ervalen. BRomann is an automatic doll from "our" world, so he's out of the picture. All we know about ATywin is that he is deceitful and hopes to rise in power riding someone else's coattails. He makes little to no mention of the ML world, or much about himself at all, so we don't really know anything from him. Since he doesn't even comment about familiarity with Schniel or Ervalen (so far as I can recall) we can only assume neither of them is of particular prominence in the ML world, which is a strange idea, or as more likely he just chose not to say anything. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lefundos' role in Ep 3 was actually rather small when you think on it. If not for Ras and his goal of unifying the efforts on the continent, Lefundos could have almost been entirely ignored. Meaning, absent Ras, the ML world's Lefundos is likely small and of minor consequence. No one from there has enough prominence to cross over worlds. If it were up to me to write it, I would imagine Lefundos being just a part of Politia, annexed in the early days of Politia's founding by Politis, or else Politia as we know it being a part of Lefundos and Politis rising to monarch of Lefundos in place of Schneil and Ervalen's families. </div><div><br /></div><div>It means we know zero about the other Lefundos and will be relying almost exclusively on ML Politis or ML Ervalen to ever learn anything about it. </div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">What About The Dolls?</span></h4><div style="text-align: left;">We have three other major Ep 3 units that don't have an ML; Kanna, Flan, and Landy. While it's likely Laika and Brinnus will be released sooner or later (one of them I suspect will be a ltd unit coming up soon), we don't know for certain an if or when on those two. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Chole's ML version is just her "present" self, while her non-ML version is her "past" self. It is implied this is also the case with 3* units Sonia and Ainos. It isn't strictly the case on Sonia/Ainos as you can't use one to imprint the other, but this is more or less the case narratively. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Fundamentally the idea of an alternate world version of a robot is a somewhat odd concept. It presupposes that, given the chance, Politis and/or Belian would recreate the almost the exact same physical model of an automatic doll. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That relatively minor detail aside, ML Politis will almost certainly not reference these three directly unless Belian also exists. suggested that Chloe and Ainos/Sonia are among the last dolls created by Politis, Flan, Landy, and Kanna coming along after she died. There's little reason to presuppose that Politis, if alive, wouldn't continue to be the creator of the the high spec dolls rather than handing that task off to even her own creation. Therefore, for Flan, Landy, and Kanna to exist in the potential Politia ML world, would suggest a significant change in Politis' mentality, Belian went rogue again, or Politis somehow designed in her ML world dolls her creation would make in our world. The first two seem far more likely than the last one.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I personally suspect that these three are going to get some manner of alt self MLs rather than other world versions. There is heavy suggestion at the end of Ep3 that the "old" Landy might not be recoverable entirely as she was, and that Flan's role is likely about to change greatly after Belian's fall. As for Kanna, she also has a "growing up" moment, so she's narratively due for some extended narrative related to her current self rather than exploring an alternate self. So, she'll also likely just go the Chloe route.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Finally, I'll include Choux here since I don't think I really need another section just for her. Choux's story has a number of unique elements to it. They sort of started using her as a support to the protags of Ras and Meru, but then she had no role whatsoever in the last couple chapters, and isn't even mentioned in the epilogue at the end of Ep 3. In story she was really just a sherpa helping Ras and co. get around unfamiliar territory and giving them some background info. It's hard to predict what an ML of her character would even be narratively, so I'll just say I don't know. </div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></h4><div>In the end, as it was when I first got into this game, I find the dragons the most interesting of the bunch. Yufine, Alencia, and Luna in the ML world are, I believe, going to be very fascinating, based on what we know of FCC. Luna as a mage is an odd class shift to imagine, but I actually think that would be an interesting class shift for Alencia - the idea of her as a wizened old-crone style witch having passed her dark arts along to her granddaughter Luna, maybe Yufine being a magical girl styled apprentice. And that doesn't even get into Mort, Senya, and Ilynav.</div><div><br /></div><div>For me the Politia story outside of Politis has a little lees promise, only because I don't expect they'll do much there. Part of me isn't even so sure that Politis will be an other world ML, so I'll have to see what they end up doing with her. </div><div><br /></div><div>And Lefundos, sadly, brings up the rear. It's not because I don't think it has potential, but the opposite - it has too much potential. We know nothing at all about ML Lefundos, and right now only one hero exists to say we have a shot of learning anything about it. If it's just filling in gaps with whatever, I can certainly do that. But that also makes it less fun to speculate, as those ideas have almost zero basis in anything concrete. I could make up anything and it could be just as right as it is wrong. </div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-73258024835278792512021-09-05T13:30:00.001-04:002021-09-05T13:30:00.194-04:00Drusilla at the Bistro<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Okay, so the story behind this
project is a little complex.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The original idea predates the
Euphemia Alter project by a pretty wide margin, actually going all the way back
to about the time of my Drider Kali project. As you can see here, the original
was a drawing I did by hand, which is something I stopped doing several years
ago once I had a pen tablet that was actually good enough for me to use as a
full time drawing surface. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhndllPgu-J3NRHwf8DSnXcfiyfvXhVLuvZi-u15eYpkaMGBjDf2BlcV1rm4pJRBQR8tgwdQm2BaXisZbhbHVZf9BnbTPgkwy3k72XHT8D4KuETslbua-EAYf-hrdDYSWj6Wi3z7YfKpGs/s2048/Drusilla+and+a+Bistro.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhndllPgu-J3NRHwf8DSnXcfiyfvXhVLuvZi-u15eYpkaMGBjDf2BlcV1rm4pJRBQR8tgwdQm2BaXisZbhbHVZf9BnbTPgkwy3k72XHT8D4KuETslbua-EAYf-hrdDYSWj6Wi3z7YfKpGs/s320/Drusilla+and+a+Bistro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In the beginning the idea was
nothing more than another Drusilla project. I had the Drider Kali image, had
finished up the Kali of the Two-Six image, had done the Drusilla and Yugi image, had the Beach Day in Crowell project started, so I was on a roll with Drusilla.
I sketched out this image on paper. As you can see it wasn’t even complete. It
was too large for the sheet of paper, so the top part of her head was cut off. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVJ0KEGjgpLaLxx8d1NFZpleWBorBabyZ79Fv1RGYWSnHzsI9oC3yDsoAMUX95p-YQzmV5nSzjaimdPmeUInDn9QJ5oWdUk89F0gJ3P8K5-Tfi7KrSbTUC3__EtHTg6HZsQuVQPDsaa0/s2048/Drider+Kali.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1706" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQVJ0KEGjgpLaLxx8d1NFZpleWBorBabyZ79Fv1RGYWSnHzsI9oC3yDsoAMUX95p-YQzmV5nSzjaimdPmeUInDn9QJ5oWdUk89F0gJ3P8K5-Tfi7KrSbTUC3__EtHTg6HZsQuVQPDsaa0/s320/Drider+Kali.jpg" width="267" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drider Kali</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqw3WF3dlj-5B6s5gWS0QGJRbWxJFcwtt-B0vvJ16E0l351DRFF30sYbgpSP0ZFawzubQTjMxh_vTzQx80L4pbXHf94w9dpEGLtO2B-f-As0RyKHhVBrtKSPRxCXaHQBHgBi5Bp8q-0A/s2048/Drusilla+and+Yugi+Arenzai.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1490" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCqw3WF3dlj-5B6s5gWS0QGJRbWxJFcwtt-B0vvJ16E0l351DRFF30sYbgpSP0ZFawzubQTjMxh_vTzQx80L4pbXHf94w9dpEGLtO2B-f-As0RyKHhVBrtKSPRxCXaHQBHgBi5Bp8q-0A/w233-h320/Drusilla+and+Yugi+Arenzai.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drusilla and Yugi</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7fLNZzjwbsBpIV4M8UTIZULVz5niCXtNHrWGEvYqoYfMd3ZUr-JZ7TuVGyMspdSj4C4HF-uQFiRkwBmkaFC3fX98gSwq3HxWKcG1bhMc6W1VKeGot6wLchJFxffSDG0KPfZgF-uCg5w/s2048/Drusilla+Beach+Day+In+Cromwell.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OGQyIUsb89ptB0YhcIB96BQNWhUIZ8E1Mk41TQC7nm67fE_f0QD69RjKFFzrpm_CSkzFNynOLrGr9Bc_aH6sjd9_XFU2iG3-IeplSUemSvacIm6QeDXbxVLCAIuUTIMTmy_2zq8uyuQ/s2048/Kali+of+the+Two+Six.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1923" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8OGQyIUsb89ptB0YhcIB96BQNWhUIZ8E1Mk41TQC7nm67fE_f0QD69RjKFFzrpm_CSkzFNynOLrGr9Bc_aH6sjd9_XFU2iG3-IeplSUemSvacIm6QeDXbxVLCAIuUTIMTmy_2zq8uyuQ/s320/Kali+of+the+Two+Six.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kali of the Two-Six</td></tr></tbody></table></a></div><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span><div><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span><br /></span></span></div> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Once I had that part done, I
started pondering setting. For this one I decided I wanted it to be Drusilla
sitting at a table having a drink of tea. In my head it was going to be set
either before or after Beach Day, so this was going to be Drusilla after the
trip to the beach, or before it, sitting down to a relaxing cup of tea.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Then the project stalled. I was
doing so many Drusilla projects, and then had other projects coming to mind.
Add to that IRL stuff that generally comes up and distracts, I put this on the
back burner and left it. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7uQnAu7O0rljVaoAkgju-ew7U8eTUM7oW9V2TtRyneNYkfV1QEUlKBN6Cyx9Cfjkwynt5-LUJiadjyjFpDwtwx5mQZc57usPBgCIbiE_tbkt3RjRHCrbq7mYABWTaurC4ZVUWEZY-WQ/s2048/Kimi+and+Yugi+Beach+Day+In+Cromwell+FC+Final+phase.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji7uQnAu7O0rljVaoAkgju-ew7U8eTUM7oW9V2TtRyneNYkfV1QEUlKBN6Cyx9Cfjkwynt5-LUJiadjyjFpDwtwx5mQZc57usPBgCIbiE_tbkt3RjRHCrbq7mYABWTaurC4ZVUWEZY-WQ/s320/Kimi+and+Yugi+Beach+Day+In+Cromwell+FC+Final+phase.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kimi Arenzai (and her dad)</td></tr></tbody></table>I didn’t come back to it until around the time I finally did the colored version of the Kimi
Arenzai image. At that time I had a few Cromwell stories in the works. In
particular because of my work on the Beach Day project, I had begun thinking
more about those people other than Yugi whom Drusilla would trust and rely on,
and building out those stories a little more. As evidenced by the Beach Day
project, C.C. would be counted as probably her best friend, so I decided to
re-engage this drawing as part of a quaint little image of the two of them
together at a bar or something like that.<br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">That hit another delay. With my
limited time, I wanted to focus more on the Beach Day project, or some of the
other projects I had in mind. I decided I had so many Drusilla images, I could
afford to work with someone else for a little while. So, I had the idea that
C.C. would be in this one, but hadn’t done anything to get that down.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZCwm2-iXay-jR-3EO3m22oI3LnZXDA5bC-tWeeTRHhv309piyKnoF6vFJBDWi7QmFURHYpwc9xHSSr0xml3fq_wRsIOubpPS-tMRMyFDA7Q17A44h63Ajd8s0J1blEeMZxYla7f8260/s2048/Euphemia+Alter.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZCwm2-iXay-jR-3EO3m22oI3LnZXDA5bC-tWeeTRHhv309piyKnoF6vFJBDWi7QmFURHYpwc9xHSSr0xml3fq_wRsIOubpPS-tMRMyFDA7Q17A44h63Ajd8s0J1blEeMZxYla7f8260/s320/Euphemia+Alter.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Euphemia Alter<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Then came the Euphemia Alter
episode. </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As you know from that project, it started while I was thinking about a
</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Cromwell Universe story I wanted to tell centered on Fate/Stay Night </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">(really
Fate/Apocrypha if you want to be precise). I was considering a </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">different
roadblock at the time, which was what to do with C.C. By then</span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I had already in
my story introduced the C.C. of the First Moon universe, </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">so Drusilla was
already familiar not only with the existence of alternate </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">universes, but
directly<span> </span>familiar with the versions of herself and C.C. in </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">that alternate
universe. I<span> </span>was wondering, therefore, if it might have made </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">better sense, just
to avoid retreading the alternate persona track even </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">more, that I cut Drusilla,
C.C., and probably Anzu and Rini, out of the </span><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">list of the Two-Six<span> </span>that would be
used in my Cromwell Holy Grail war.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">All that minutiae aside, I had
decided to come back to this drawing<span> </span>at the time I was mulling all of that
over. I had committed to the idea that it would be titled “Drusilla at the
Bistro” so that basically said what you needed to know about what the background
should be. But that only gets you so far. French bistro, Italian bistro,
outdoor, indoor, would the background be a shot of the shop, or would it be
something more naturally scenic? While something more technical and formed like
a shop would be a new challenge for me, I am typically captured by the idea of
something more scenic. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The actual story of the background
is a lot more complex than the image itself fully conveys, although you can
probably figure it out with enough careful deduction and attention to detail.
The mountain range in view, with the facility depicted, is Chaldea from F/GO. I
added another “facility” lower on the mountain. Since this isn’t the Chaldea of
“our” Earth, the exact facility and its layout is slightly different. The lower
facility is actually the “welcome center” of sorts, where guests actually
enter, hence it has a little more design to it via the wall of black glass
(still gotta cut down that danger of snow blindness). It’s obscured, but there
is a path that leads to a heliport. I also relocated it from the South Pole to another
mountain someplace with much friendlier climate, including a pleasant view of
the open sea. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As you can probably guess from the
apparent altitude, Drusilla and C.C. are not in a typical chalet. Functionally,
they are actually in a café on the observation level of one of Drusilla’s ships
as it maintains altitude near the Chaldea facility. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The Drusilla portion of the image
is fully original. As mentioned before, I was in the midst of a number of
Drusilla projects at the time, and decided to do one of her sitting down, the
idea turning into her sitting at a table having a cup of tea. I added C.C.
under the premise that C.C. is probably Drusilla’s best friend aside from her
siblings, Yugi, and her own clone. I plan on a “family dinner” project in the
not-too-distant future (hopefully) put Drusilla on display with them. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYEBrlw1Uy0jBWT6wFH7rfthp23IO4QpvQMp-cJ4TWXXzwcSOAgpxTNSYXMITA_hSTqaMLRgOrPdDb8dLK4X9aUIAkMVrjzKPACZwg-Yx45CKE-AcSCbvDEelYvKbtR72fFiDgJaNgCo/s2048/359876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1841" data-original-width="2048" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYEBrlw1Uy0jBWT6wFH7rfthp23IO4QpvQMp-cJ4TWXXzwcSOAgpxTNSYXMITA_hSTqaMLRgOrPdDb8dLK4X9aUIAkMVrjzKPACZwg-Yx45CKE-AcSCbvDEelYvKbtR72fFiDgJaNgCo/s320/359876.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I used this image of C.C. as the
basis for seating her at the table, though the positioning and placement of her
arms is clearly unique. I changed her facial expression. It’s meant to appear
that she’s teasing Drusilla about something. This was a holdover from when I
first decided that it would be C.C. sitting with her. It was at about the same
time I had done the Yugi and Drusilla project. The thinking was that C.C. was
going to be teasing Drusilla about what her plans were for the birthday date
with Yugi depicted in that image. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I normally have my characters,
within my stories, drinking some form of tea. The only real notable exception
has been the recent entries in the Geass R3 stories where I have Euphemia and
Shirley drinking quite heavily and regularly. In any case, for this image I
thought it better that this C.C., who is just a little more willful and in a
less inhibiting environment than most other iterations I’ve worked with, to
have something other than tea. It’s not always so easy to visually
differentiate between tea and coffee, so I didn’t want to do that. Not to
mention I don’t imagine C.C. as being much of a coffee drinker. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So, I instead gave her a sort of
fruity-like drink. We know what Pizza girl’s favorite solid food is, but we
don’t ever get a solid idea of what her favorite beverage is. When she’s seen
drinking something throughout the anime it usually appears to be water or
sports drinks. One of those is rather plain and the other is not really
something a bistro or restaurant would serve. So, like in the reference, I gave her a drink to “match”
her hair color. There’s not much way to define it one way or another, but I
will say that it’s an alcoholic drink, rather than just juice. I imagine this
C.C. quite enjoys her cocktails. She can’t really get drunk, so there’s nothing
to keep her from drinking a little heavily. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The dress and colors for C.C. are essentially originals. The fit is a little different, the skirt much longer. The colors aren't directly based on anything I can think of. Drusilla has a dark aura to her, regardless
of the things she does. Consequentially, her clothes are typically fairly dark
as well. In the next project I do with her I’ll probably make a concerted
effort to give her something much lighter in color, theme permitting. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Once more Drusilla’s hairstyle has
changed, albeit still featuring a braid incorporated into the overall style.
I’ve tried to match her hair color to the same as the others, but I can never
seem to get an exact match. Even using the eye dropper from the same original
files, even double checking the HSL and RGB codes, working within the same
program, the hair color just never quite matches up. I don’t know if it’s just
my eyes seeing it different for whatever reason, or what else I could do to
make the two fit. So, I gave up and started making some manner of adjustments
to try out a new similar yet different shade of indigo. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Other details of little note? I
originally made C.C’s lipstick red. However, it looked really awkward and
gaudy. I tried to ignore it for a long time, a couple weeks actually, and it
never until the end looked right. So, I finally just changed it to a light shade
of pink. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I'm not thrilled with the mountains. They're extremely "flat", and I more or less gave up on them. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I don’t have a real clue what the
flower is. It was kinda supposed to start out as a tulip, but I then thought
about going with a lily. But a lily seemed a poor choice too. And I wasn’t
going to do a rose. So it turned into this not fully descript orange flower
with spots. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The glass of C.C’s drink, the vase
on the table, the pot, and the cup Drusilla is drinking out of, are all the
same color, just with varying levels of transparency. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbWuvnD5kz2Vdc6-SuiBtbhX2cHzoGKr3JB8xbBXbYc1aRHj-UM0L3vIdtn111KCCWKjzLI4I7lDvstbmZcoMHieYjuCBR57vU3a8n16vV_khzmxV2GSZnm32XANYB7lapVCWiV9XPDE/s2048/Drusilla+at+the+Bistro.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifbWuvnD5kz2Vdc6-SuiBtbhX2cHzoGKr3JB8xbBXbYc1aRHj-UM0L3vIdtn111KCCWKjzLI4I7lDvstbmZcoMHieYjuCBR57vU3a8n16vV_khzmxV2GSZnm32XANYB7lapVCWiV9XPDE/w640-h360/Drusilla+at+the+Bistro.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">That’s about it. Can’t think of
anything else to ramble on about, so I’ll say I’ve covered everything, unless
someone comes up with a question. As of this posting I am about done with the
final line art for my next piece I plan on releasing for Halloween. I’ll admit
it’s not a particularly groundbreaking piece, but if you’re aware of my past
works and have liked them enough, I think you’ll like this one too.</span></div></div><div><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">An all new piece will hopefully
follow that in December for the holidays. This one will be part of the Beach
Day in Cromwell series of images. If you might recall, Beach Day in Cromwell is
a hybrid Christmas and summer series, where Arenzai Universe’s Drusilla is have
a beach outing with Yugi and their kids as a Christmas celebration. Due to the
offset timing between Earth and Neo Nemesis, it’s summer in the Arenzai capital
city at the time of year it would be Christmas in Japan on Earth. In years past
it’s varied whether I put out a new entry in the building collage for Christmas
or by the end of summer in the US, sometimes both. But, with the Bistro pic taking
up the summer slot now, and not having a more traditional Christmas idea ready
to develop let alone finish in time, Beach Day it will be. The entry will slot
in beside the Cornelia image. The character will go by the name Lishu. Good
luck to you in figuring out who that actually is before we get there since
that’s not the name of her real character. I’ll offer two hints. First, she has
a younger brother not related by blood. Second, there is no anime of this
character’s story yet. That just leaves you a few thousand manga to guess from.
<o:p></o:p></p></div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-55244876403491706592021-05-29T05:00:00.010-04:002021-05-29T05:00:00.195-04:00Disregard the Last Post - NEW E7 Farming Guide: Dog Walking Is Really (Mostly) Dead<p> So the big Rise update has been out for a couple days now, and you can mostly disregard my last blog post. They really did simplify things to the T.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><h2 style="text-align: left;">Old School</h2>For those who are viewing this as new players, or those looking back from the future and trying to recall what the whole "dog walking" thing is, here's the basic rundown of how maxing out a hero's level used to work;<p></p><p><span>You would want a single unit with a powerful and easily repeatable AoE attack to use on auto. The only units to fit the bill were pretty much Vildred, Arbiter Vildred, Lena, Dizzy, and HYufine (technically you could somewhat use Vivian this way too, but it typically will mean at least one extra move, and a specific additional artifact). The remaining slots on your ream were occupied by a Silver Phantasm, a Gold Phantasm, and one 2-star fodder. You then run about whatever map this setup lets you work through, swapping out dogs or fodder as they each max their levels out. Once maxed out, 2-star fodder was limit broken up to 3-star, silver dogs were broken up to 4-star, and those silver dogs were used to limit break your gold dogs into 5-stars, so that you can then limit break your 5-star heroes into 6-stars. </span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span>New School</span></h2><p><span>Here's how the new system works;</span></p><p><span>You take your best team for whatever map you feel like clearing - doesn't matter what kind of attack they have, how they use their skills, just the best team or team you most want to use on that map you are trying to farm. </span></p><p>And that's that. </p><p>Yes, you still need to limit break units, still need to feed fodder into one set of units, and then feed those into something else, and then feed that into your 5-stars to make them 6. But now you don't have to worry at all about the merry-go-round of replacing units after they max out their levels, or really keep track of the units on the team much at all. If it can beat the map reliably, and doesn't take very long, then you're all set. </p><p>Now, all that "excess" exp gets converted into penguins - an average of 2 1-star penguins per battle. It takes about 3 of these penguins and the paltry sum of 1800 gold to take a level 1 fodder to level 20. And since penguins are now condensed into ubiquitous 1, 2, and 3 star items, they completely empty out your hero inventory of all that used up space (assuming that was ever an issue for you). Given the rate you will be getting penguins, however, the change to off-inventory storage was a no brainer. Whenever you're ready you can jump into your hero inventory, feed penguins to any and all things in need of leveling up, and then limit break those in batches thanks to the old batch promotion update. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Gain and Loss</h2><p>It is a highly simplified system. You can focus exclusively on farming either event currency or catalysts, or even hunts, without stopping to think about your team in terms of placement of dogs or fodder. In fact, given the fact that the passive of the dogs don't' even come into play anymore, you don't have any reason to worry about dogs at all. You don't even need them, as their only utility before now was the enhanced exp they got off their passive, and thereby redistributed to the rest of the team if maxed out. </p><p>In fact, dogs are now such an unimportant aspect of the game I wonder if they won't at some point in the near future make some sort of change to them. The most obvious one would be to decrease the amount of exp they need to level up. In many other games the limit break item itself is locked to a specific item or to duplicates of the unit. I don't foresee that being the case in E7. It would be a step back in terms of their apparent efforts to simplify things. </p><p>That doesn't mean there is <i>no</i> use for them anymore. In terms of maximum efficiency of saving gold, the old dog walking method probably works out better. Via dog walking, you have no gold cost in leveling up, only in limit breaking. I would count this as a minor case. As noted, the cost of using the penguins is minimal. At worst you are spending under 50k gold to level a hero from 50 to 60. Still, for those hyper focused on their gold levels, that's one spot where gold usage will be going up. </p><p>In addition, they do still serve as easily identifiable, and in the case of silver dogs easily obtainable, fodder. And just as previously, silver dogs do save you just a touch by coming already max level 2, so you don't only have no need to spend the penguins on them to get them there, but save the paltry gold cost associated there too. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h2><div>The long and short end to this discussion is that if you simply choose the best team you can to farm the latest content you can in terms of both speed and reliability of your team, you're good. Just relatively normal farming in one day and I was able to collet a couple hundred 1-star penguins, a few dozen 2-star, and about 25 3-stars. And of course, every one of those 3-star penguins should be converted into silver transmit stones and gold. Some minor testing is still to be done to see if there are potential gaps in the new system where you might get better results. </div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, if there is a bit of advice to be had, I'd say there is even more emphasis placed on the rate up days for AP shop, as your best bet, similar to Spirit Altar double up days, is to choose those days to heavy farm the AP of your choice so that you can then spend the time until the next rate up leisurely spending the accumulated AP, maybe only going back to AP farming when you've used up your stock of catalysts. </div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-7123091549351600852021-05-20T21:00:00.004-04:002021-05-20T21:00:00.195-04:00Updated E7 Farming Guide - The End of Dog Walking?<p>In November of 2019 I made a post about the basics of gold farming in Epic 7. Here's an update in anticipation of some major changes coming next week.<span></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><a name='more'></a>Summary of Changes</h2><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">In my gold guide, my final conclusion was,</div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: center;"><span>"</span>In absolute terms, your better off farming hunts. It takes a lot to get good gear, so you'll need to keep at it a long time. The chance to get mystic medals in particular is extremely important, as there are few other ways to get them without spending real money. Any unwanted gear you get can be used to enhance other gear, used weekly in the Alchemist Steeple to make charms, or just sold for more gold. Furthermore, a stable and predictable rate of return from farming is better than the unpredictability of adventure where one or two really good runs can be offset easily by several poor ones. </p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">However, you will always need more gold. Everything you need gold to do has a form of battle that also lets you farm gold. And everything that you get from those battles is something you need to improve your heroes. Your best option most times is going to be to figure out what you need other than gold and focus on farming that. You'll see your gold supplies increase naturally that way. But, if you're looking for how to get a lot in as short amount of time as possible, hunts are usually your best bet. "</div></blockquote></blockquote><p>Next week, when the possibly largest update to date in the game takes place, there is one change that has received a little attention, the other has received a good deal more, but still not very much.</p><p>The first update is that when you are farming now, excess exp from max-limit units will be accumulated and turned into Penguins. As a result, the assumption being supported right now is that there's little reason to include non max-leveled heroes in your team. Instead, just farm faster, accumulate that exp into Penguins, and use those penguins to level up whatever you want.</p><p>In addition to this, Penguins will no longer be part of the hero inventory. They will instead be treated like items, therefore having unlimited inventory. </p><p>What does this have to do with gold farming?</p><p>Assuming a tidbit that must be figured out works as hoped - does the exp>Penguin function work in hunts or just adventure - regardless of whether you're doing hunts or adventure you will get two things of importance other than gold; exp penguins and Stigma. The penguins you'll be getting from the exp buildup will mostly be used to level up fodder, dogs, and eventually the target hero. But assuming they turn into penguins that function the exact same way as current 3* penguins, this would mean a potential windfall that can be converted into lots of gold and Silver Transmit Stones. </p><p>But in addition to that, as there is now no inventory limitation to gum up the works, you can spend single (lengthy) sessions dumping Stigma to summon penguins. Assuming you've got a maxed out hatchery, you will end up getting a decent number of 3* penguins. If you then transmit them, every 12 gets you 12 Silver Transmit Stones, and 624,000 gold. </p><p>This is such a substantial change that I wouldn't be surprised to find out they eliminate Silver Transmits from the award for selling 3* penguins. By uncapping the ability to accumulate Penguins, and also creating an additional means by which to gather more of them, if all the new penguins do is replace the want to use them for leveling a hero, that potentially translates into 52K gold per 3* penguin you can claim. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">A Lengthy Conclusion</h2><p>So here's the final conclusion - gold farming is even less important now than it was in late 2019.</p><p>The devs have increased the amount of gold given out for free, and decreased the gold cost of various elements of the game. And it has always been the case that the gold-crunch is more often a reflection of the choices of the player and not a defect of the game mechanics.</p><p>The fact is the two biggest gold-sinks in the game are gear upgrades and Secret Shop purchases. </p><p>Gear upgrades will naturally decrease over the long run as a player accumulates gear for the units they want to use, and become more selective of what they will upgrade and use. Even now I see folks who have played this game for as long, if not longer, than I have who waste a lot of gold upgrading gear they never should have spent resources on - rolling gear to +15 hoping to get high speed when it's purple gear that started with a 2 roll on speed, or where the first roll went somewhere else, and the second roll was a min roll. That sort of thing is more common w/ new players who are not privy to guides similar to this one, who are impatient to get rolling in the game, perhaps underestimating the crunch from the mid-game. </p><p>The fact is, the longer you go in the game, the less gear you'll actually want to bother upgrading because it will lack the stat mix or starting rolls you want. Further, if you are just a touch more methodical about how you upgrade gear - taking it to +3, +6, +9, and evaluating where each roll goes and the likelihood of a good end result, not just seeing base 4 speed and dumping everything into it to see if it max rolls all the way into speed - you save a ton of gold. The devs actually addressed this recently - the fact that the cost of upgrading gear spikes after +9 due to how much exp it needs, gold cost tied to exp cost. Therefore, if you take your purple (or lower) gear and evaluate it at +9, you will know if it's worth the added investment. Cutting off gear at this level saves you from wasting resources that will then start to accumulate appreciably for you. </p><p>And overall, the mentioned exp and penguin changes simply mean that no matter what you do in the game now, this isn't something to be overly conscious of. Easier collection of penguins means easier collection of Silver Transmits and gold in the long run. </p><p>Fusing about getting together a 3-hero team for hunts so you can toss in a dog, or having just the sole AVildred farming in adventure isn't <i>completely</i> dead however. </p><p>As some may know, my own exp farm team that I recommended for a while now has been to use AVil, one black dog holding the exp artifact, and then whatever other dogs or fodder or heroes to level up that you want. Now, the ideal farm team is likely to be AVil (or your farmer) and three max level dogs. Max level dogs get the most exp due to their passives. That will obviously get you more penguins quicker. And, as suggested before, you'll either be able to sell some or all of these accumulated penguins, or use them to level up other stuff while using the Stigma to buy hatch more Penguins in the Sanctuary, aiming to get as many 3*s as possible to sell. </p><p>That means that, rather than ending dog walking, this update will likely just make dog-walking the literal function of catalyst farming and anything else done in adventure. Obviously in harder adventure modes - Ep 3, the upcoming Ep 4 later this year - running with 3 dogs isn't viable unless you are using a super geared out AVildred, and even then I'm not so sure that's feasible either. You will likely need at least one other hero alongside him. </p><p>But I've also argued there's little point in farming Ep 3 right now anyway (can't be sure about Ep 4 since we clearly don't have any details on it yet). The drop rates in Ep 3 are not markedly better, the bump in gold is marginal at best, but it is significantly more difficult and longer. In other words your expending more effort for not nearly as commensurate a gain. Which is fine. It's not like the earlier farmable maps are any worse to work with, and natural evolution over time means that Rubicon will be crossed at some point. As a player seeking efficiency, however, it is irrelevant. Farming Ep 1.5 or 2 is perfectly fine, and faster, so there's no reason to worry about farming anything harder. By the time you're at the point of wanting to worry about farming Ep 3, you'll likely be already far enough in the game with gear and units that you won't care about where you farm anyway. </p><p>In reality, the Normal difficulty of the side story is likely the best farming location for gold. Even if you ignore whatever is in the shop, the shop always has gold as a purchase option for the event currency. It is never a bad idea to farm up whatever the event drop catalysts are, as there is bound to be a hero that needs them at some point (until the likely event of new catalysts being added in later chapters), and the epics have higher drop rates. Just overflowing with that particular catalyst, well then you can convert the "excess" into other catalysts. </p><p>The Normal difficulty has the best exp:energy ratio. In addition, it is a very easy battle for most anyone out of the early game. Therefore, your farming runs are much faster, a third to half the time of a high-level hunt run even with 3x dogs on your team. Even at the Hell difficulty you can likely run with 2x dogs and 2x DPS and still have faster clears than your fastest hunt teams. </p><p>Obviously some testing will take place to check on all of this and tease out how it all works. But for now, if you're someone looking to amass a horde of gold, you might want to plan on spending a lot of time in the next side story. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-4311810114572712752021-05-18T04:00:00.013-04:002021-05-18T13:02:31.737-04:00My First Commission<p> I was asked to create a specific piece by someone on DeviantArt a couple weeks ago. Here lies the result;<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/drosencraft/art/Nami-879856191" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrlM88kGjAJFnf5Ilenxg-ekwlKaDwvJ8-9nuBBHNVfg8fqqFu1te8cvrW7BHjAaZNZjOuYFZ-387Mnje3MJxdva59bz20J5-_TLTNJLxmAPRnXw3Iptj77ct0UZUK2d_k37EGGQfNaI/w640-h360/Nami+project+for+Azyndra.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Doing a commissioned work is a unique experience. There are definitely aspects that make it both more complicated and easier than an original piece. First off is the pressure of trying to get something done that is pleasing to a very specific audience of one. The requestor was super chill, so that helps, but there's still the pressure you put on yourself to do a good job for them. It's different from my usual works where I can be satisfied with any reasonable job I do. The design and element choice second-guessing that goes into planning and executing a project for someone else can be a burden.</p><p>At the same time, when the client has a sufficiently specific idea of what they want to see, you can free yourself from a lot of those considerations, as the constraints of their vision supplement the murkiness of your own. Of course there's some give and take, but this is a much easier process when the design by committee elements are kept to a minimum. </p><p>This isn't a project I'd typically do. I haven't done any works featuring Nami from One Piece. She's not even mentioned by name, as best I can recall, in any of my stories. She is technically a part of the First Sun Saga, as the Pirate King's crew is mentioned in the World of C story I have there. But my story never directly engages the One Piece crew. </p><p>Moreover, I don't have any plans to use Nami as a character in one of my stories or as a part of one of the Two-Six pantheon. That's not to say anything about Nami as a character. But Hancock Boa obviously features far more prominently in my stories, and Robin to a much smaller degree than Hancock. Even Trafalger Law features in one of my tales. I just don't have anything for Nami.</p><p>On top of that, the outfit is not quite in line with my typical aesthetics. </p><p>The request from the client was simple; from the images below, take the woman on the left, keep the thigh highs and shoes, but have her wearing the top, with the same eyes and facial markings as the one on the right. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqlvVPXjuyqX7yEPrUDms3JOdfhyphenhyphenD-TtahnNca9t3Rv2NaPSomvRt5euCeViIaVhZclBTIIeJWgDBuPR0UVfY6pMHiAj1J3BvzA55vIruEDfRWXz-ELxMTRuP6XQhG4t3IWC3etEiQec/s1811/requested____by_azyndra_by_k4zui_dehoz7q-fullview.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1811" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqlvVPXjuyqX7yEPrUDms3JOdfhyphenhyphenD-TtahnNca9t3Rv2NaPSomvRt5euCeViIaVhZclBTIIeJWgDBuPR0UVfY6pMHiAj1J3BvzA55vIruEDfRWXz-ELxMTRuP6XQhG4t3IWC3etEiQec/w226-h320/requested____by_azyndra_by_k4zui_dehoz7q-fullview.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgWIopeVyVB8tFwZI_jaLNpd245i7KSdjQV5Q5qeOvsHwutLwxvzHCombY_AoCsRWQkEupMGqsRrNKiVVcJSaiI1R-SdE4y-N-RTgbEzLX_-P52vDnSv8o1qA8ELA7G44XZUKI1mHDK4/s1600/d8e5bru-94919727-8ba2-464e-93a0-92d00057eed2.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvgWIopeVyVB8tFwZI_jaLNpd245i7KSdjQV5Q5qeOvsHwutLwxvzHCombY_AoCsRWQkEupMGqsRrNKiVVcJSaiI1R-SdE4y-N-RTgbEzLX_-P52vDnSv8o1qA8ELA7G44XZUKI1mHDK4/s320/d8e5bru-94919727-8ba2-464e-93a0-92d00057eed2.jpg" /></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2SY7xaBNtj4DF08LLKoKB63pUsuyBiddLHCoU6f4ywAZNOObTeLbWAvax_LdxUoL_hCZeRFnu1RjMAWIOor8pXqyATB-tlRgahv200ZU7CVD9xn8dcoeNNhLgwYZ9-83-ACQCLTPDkU/s1811/requested____by_azyndra_by_k4zui_dehoz7q-fullview.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /><div>Outside those requirements, I was free to do whatever I wanted. Given that, I decided to do a sitting pose, as the two reference images already have a standing pose and I wanted to differentiate somehow. I wanted to keep the general hairstyle the artist used for Nami in the primary image, so I replicated that. It's not too different from Nami's normal hairstyle in the anime, except for the hairband pinning back her bangs. </div><div><br /></div><div>Given the clothing choices, I had to decide what to do about bottoms for her. Given her mostly bare torso by virtue of the top, there were only two real options; shorts or a skirt. Given how she's seated the choice isn't super critical, but I went with shorts because I liked the concept better. </div><div><br /></div><div>Backgrounds are always my kryptonite, but this time the idea came really easily, even if I still need to improve my skills on execution. Originally I was going to have her sitting on a barrel. But, I didn't like that idea given how I'd already sketched out where her legs would be. Trying to keep the barrel with the idea that I finally arrived at for having her feet resting atop a treasure chest seemed too awkward, so I changed the barrel idea to a crate. When I did that, my idea of having her arm stretching down to the just beside where she was sitting, as if she were steadying herself, to having her holding a fistful of treasure from the chest. </div><div><br /></div><div>The chest was going to be opened and overflowing with random treasure. But I gave up on that idea and and opted for a closed chest. When I did that, I decided to have just one treasure piece in hand, that choice being a golden jewel-encrusted goblet.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wasn't sure entirely how to draw Nami for this. Oda obviously has a particular style, which is different from what the artist in the referenced image used. And as popular as One Piece is as an IP, and as popular as Nami is within that IP, there are tons of artists who have their won artistic takes on Nami. I wanted to respect both the referenced artist's style and Oda's style, so I kept some of the tone-downed exaggerations the referenced artist used, but I did play up some aspects to be closer to Oda's style. So, the legs and torso are longer, the chest a little bigger. Lastly, the referenced image didn't include her shoulder tattoo, so I added that back in. </div><div><br /></div><div>So that's that. I'm open to doing more commissions if folks have ideas I'm capable of working with. Feel free to reach out and let me know if you've got something in mind and I'll give you an answer pretty quickly. </div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-92209727940164616062021-04-21T20:48:00.000-04:002021-04-21T20:48:59.539-04:00Sailor Dragon Will Shatter You<div style="text-align: left;">Fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight, could this be the next collab in E7? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjJGZtXBU9KxV_50dhmMjiCIJhaShFMsrt69AK5dY5waYdZaQhJqBSlnQ39Qm5RJMeMr_eOOAOyyAtRuiJHuTgqpvgFHG-f20hcC3UU2VUb61IhG5VGMYzxo5DBRga-rxCTuel55TvRA/s2048/Sailor+Dragon+p3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1263" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjJGZtXBU9KxV_50dhmMjiCIJhaShFMsrt69AK5dY5waYdZaQhJqBSlnQ39Qm5RJMeMr_eOOAOyyAtRuiJHuTgqpvgFHG-f20hcC3UU2VUb61IhG5VGMYzxo5DBRga-rxCTuel55TvRA/w394-h640/Sailor+Dragon+p3.jpg" width="394" /></a></div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not likely. Not a terrible fit, but there's way better collabs they could target than Sailor Moon. So what's Luna doing here dressed up in a sailor fuku?</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Background</h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; text-indent: 0.5in;">If you asked me what got me into
Epic 7, the answer would be simple; dragon knights. Specifically, Luna. So you
can imagine my dismay to realize when I finally did start the game to realize
that she was a limited character whose availability I’d missed. It was actually
the second or third character from a game I’d thought about picking up around
that time that I wound up whiffing on (really wanted Elphelt and Noel in Girl’s
Frontline but I was too new to the game to really farm to get them).</p><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQhrRgnf-Qjm-SBdB5xzD4f1rCHkySLZJSSCv5du15vAAustT9CtqVxJ2skCMHvT7QGG2ZYrEh8ftZ6GVqG-1w0McQ7B7-x7fpN_fii2vaO3FB4fc128cvG0aS3kZSdd4-7irfdtOGrY/s2048/Red+Euphemia+Lily+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1308" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTQhrRgnf-Qjm-SBdB5xzD4f1rCHkySLZJSSCv5du15vAAustT9CtqVxJ2skCMHvT7QGG2ZYrEh8ftZ6GVqG-1w0McQ7B7-x7fpN_fii2vaO3FB4fc128cvG0aS3kZSdd4-7irfdtOGrY/s320/Red+Euphemia+Lily+final.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>But, I wasn’t too deterred. Cecilia
was an equally appealing character. More than a year later, when I started this
project, the fact that I didn’t have her or her ML version is only tempered by
the fact that I did get Luna during her rerun. Fun Fact, the design on the crown on Euphemia to the right was based on Cecilia's. <br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I fell in love with Yufine over
time; she’s just such an adorable little goofball. The fact that her JP voice
is the same as Rin’s/Ishtar’s in FGO is so funny and awesome. For a thirty-day
period she loved me quite a bit too – I got all my copies of her (3) on daily
free summons. I pulled her auntie off her banner in less than 10 summons,
though I’ve yet to get the right gear for her (that might change very soon).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I like dragons. That is kind of a
given if you’ve kept track of my work and my BotS series. Consequently, any
series that brings in a dragon-based character will get my attention. It
doesn’t hurt that they’ve got the most interesting story going right now too. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I was long interested
in doing some kind of art project featuring an E7 character. At first I was thinking of the main girl Mercedes. Indeed, much
of what has informed my decisions about Euphie Alter story wise for the end of R3 is linked to
Meru and her Archdemon transformation at the end of Episode 1 of E7. Tenebria,
who has emerged as a face of the E7 franchise, was another popular option. I
really liked the April Fool’s Day story with Meru and Tenebria as sister
princesses (should we call it “Burning” instead of “Frozen”?). Ras as a harem MC was hilarious.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In the end, this particular project
didn’t arise out of any of that thinking. This project came to mind while
hearing as a background drone the sounds of my Wyvern 11 team autoing through
the battle. Specifically, it was, as you can now surmise, Luna launching her S3
with her third S3 voice line, “On my honor as a dragon, I will punish you!” After
hearing that line I don’t know how many times over the prior four or five
months, it finally clicked in my head, “you know, that sounds kinda familiar…
yeah, that’s almost like Sailor Moon’s line. Huh, that’s kinda funny. I can’t
really imagine Luna as a magical girl. Although, that might be an interesting
idea…”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I started planning the project
right then and there. This all occurred in the last few minutes of a 15-minute
break at work, mind you. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As such, there are gaps in the
logic matrix. If you’re doing an E7/Sailor Moon crossover, there are more
likely and suitable options. For one, both series have a “Luna” so if anything
that would be a more logical starting point. If we’re talking magical girl
transformations, only one E7 character fits that bill, and that’s Tamarine. If
we’re talking personality alignments, one of the Outer Senshi would be a much
better option for pairing with Luna, particularly Sailor Saturn or Pluto. If
anything, Yufine makes more sense as Sailor Moon than anything. And of course,
if we’re going for the moon motif, Kise or even Tenebria fit far better on the
E7 side (though Tenebria would have to choose a villain… and now I’m getting a
Tenebria/Black Lady idea going in my head).</p>
<h2>Composition<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnNZYbs6fXZ989qKkdYyab8Ri5jurNClkreZmisOzoZZMGX_3cEmnEz-AAflX_uM03kSidMR8UGGqwuZaJXbysBidckYjMSHBhSiQnzNwK0zeF4XFNeDkCfssWQDWw_eRwBSliDRhljw/s2048/Luna+part+1.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipnNZYbs6fXZ989qKkdYyab8Ri5jurNClkreZmisOzoZZMGX_3cEmnEz-AAflX_uM03kSidMR8UGGqwuZaJXbysBidckYjMSHBhSiQnzNwK0zeF4XFNeDkCfssWQDWw_eRwBSliDRhljw/s320/Luna+part+1.png" width="320" /></a></div>When it came to how to pose Luna
for this image, my initial thought was that she should be in a sort of
closed-off stance. I imagined her being unaccustomed, maybe a little
embarrassed, to be in a sailor uniform. Rationally, that wouldn’t make the most
sense, seeing as how her normal attire in E7 is more revealing
than Sailor Moon’s. Any embarrassment she might have would have to do with
something other than any skin showing. That being said, it wouldn’t be entirely
unreasonable to imagine her being bashful just to be wearing something other
than armor, since everything we know of Luna at this stage says she’s spent
most of her life as a warrior and on battlefields. Her embarrassment could well
be nothing more than awkwardness from being in unfamiliar clothes; the trope of the tomboy feeling awkward in frilly clothes. <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">But as I actually thought about it
and sat down to work out the details, I grew less fond of that idea. I like the
confident, self-assured, Luna. I want my first Luna piece to reflect that of
her. The other option could come later with something more outlandish, but for this first Luna piece I wanted
something else, something more forceful. I wanted something like her ready to
strike an enemy, something to show her agility and power the way you see with
her S3 in the game. <o:p></o:p></p>
<h2>Moon Details<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">That then leads to the question of
which Sailor Moon are we dealing with. Sailor Moon throughout her series goes
through several powerups, and with each one gains a slightly new look to her
weapons and/or outfit. She never gets a spear, Luna’s weapon, so the next
closest thing would be any time after the first season’s climax when her Moon
Stick evolves to the full-length Moon Rod. But, that later gets shrunken back down to just a stick again.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In the end I settled for Super
Sailor Moon as her outfit is very colorful and vibrant, but not too much by way
of frills or accessories like wings as the galaxy transformation gets (or the
odd, bulbous, shoulder bits). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The minor issue
of the weapon, for those unfamiliar with the beats of the Sailor Moon story, just know that the Heart Moon
Rod, Moon’s weapon, is longest, and therefore the most like Luna’s spear, prior
to her Super form. It's not official, but some fan works I knew of did elongate the Moon Stick of her SuperS
form to make it more akin to her prior rod. This was likely from those artists not knowing or remembering the difference (I had to look it up myself in researching for references), perhaps similar to me deciding that they
preferred the latter weapon, but something closer to the older form. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Or maybe there was an episode or manga chapter where it was the case. Not sure. Regardless, I decided not to split
up the weapon and associated costume. And since I chose the SuperS costume, a
minor modification to the weapon to suit my needs seemed reasonable enough. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Other than that, the only thing
missing from Sailor Moon’s original SuperS costume is the red jewels in her famous
meatballs. I thought about trying to find a way to incorporate that into Luna’s
appearance, but I didn’t want to introduce a new hairstyle for Luna in my first
work for her, and absent that the only option left would be to create some
manner of accessory attached to her horns. Not impossible at all, I just didn’t
think this was a good call either, so I just left it out.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Dragon Bits</h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The Luna portion ended up being a lot simpler than I imagined it would be. There wasn't a whole lot I had to make up from imagination once I decided on the pose here. I did play around a little with the angle of the bent right leg, but not much. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The only semi complication was actually her ears. Unlike Sailor Moon who has a whole couple hundred animated episodes, plus a manga, to show off her appearance in various costumes, Luna has the one outfit as shown in the game and associated PVs. I also tend to like to see how other artists handle a character to see if their choices of how to express aspects of a character match my thinking, or if they offer a perspective I hadn't thought of. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Strangely, what I found with the small number of fan works of Luna is that though most put her in non-battle attire, so not what she's wearing in the game, they tend to leave the armor guard on her ears. That made me think hard for a bit about whether that was supposed to actually just be part of her ears - like scales from her dragon form. Looking at Mort, Alencia, and Yufine, they don't have it, but that's not conclusive. And the coloration does match her tail and horns more so than her armor, so there's potential reasoning there. Besides, why would you get armor to cover the top edge of your ears, even if they're elven shaped? But then again, why would only that part be scaled, and why would evolution see fit to have it grow spikes?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In any case, my judgment says that it is just part of her armor set. Would be curious what others think, or if Luna's art designers who worked on Luna could pop in and say what they had in mind. In any case, no ear covering for my piece. </span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Wrap-Up</h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">All told, this is the image I wanted to create,
so in that regard it’s a success. Just wish I could have gotten it done faster. Came up with the concept and sketch in April of 2020 and then it kinda just sat around without me working on it at all. Inb4 Sailor Moon as actually announced as the collab, lol! </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Anyway, hope you like it. I don't know when I'll do my next E7 project. Other than the sparse Tene/Black Lady idea floating in my head, I don't have any frim plans for anything right now. Kinda want to do something with Vildred too. For now though, take it easy. See you in the Shadows. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-69560057324465386612021-04-18T01:00:00.004-04:002021-04-18T23:53:40.298-04:00Beast of Sin Euphemia Alter 2nd Ascension<p><br /></p><h1>Intro</h1><h2><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In keeping with the FGO theme for
this art project, I planned to have 2<sup>nd</sup>, 3<sup>rd</sup>, and 4<sup>th</sup>
Ascension artworks for the more monstrous version of Euphemia Alter. The main problem
was figuring out if to retcon the last image as the 2<sup>nd</sup> Ascension.
If we’re strictly going by the lore of the R3 Alter story, the first Ascension
should look like more like my original Euphemia Alter image – in other words,
she shouldn’t look much different from regular Euphemia.<span></span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/drosencraft/art/Beast-of-Sin-Euphemia-Alter-2nd-Ascension-876738223" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8L-XM14Vr7AFs3EB8Mfpl7cOgUCoRgZFBxXFwIu3h72RZxEc-9MbNEk3HZ8AgGkLbQIlPyWIx3TG56kzClzoDjbiyDOBrah-zuYzDLsR5pFpewdYdCQVYN8gQEr_TMNfGhtYaPEZpSU/w360-h640/Beast+of+Sin+Euphemia+Alter+2nd+Ascension.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><h2>Lore</h2><h2><o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The rationale for this chimera-esque
form is that in reaching the endgame of her plans, the power she attains warps
her body further. In FGO terms, Euphemia Alter is more akin to Artoria or Artoria
Alter, while Beast of Sin Euphemia Alter is more akin to Lancer Artoria or Lancer
Artoria Alter; the same individual at a basic level, but very different expressions
of that same core. LArtoria is Artoria that used the lance instead of the
sword. BoS Euphemia is the Euphemia that reached the Root. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">As per the differences between this
BoS and the last, her power has reached a more refined state, which in turn
reflects in her appearance. In her initial tap of the powers of the Root and
the awakening of her inner greater potential, the power she attained was very
murky, chaotic, and unstable. It lacked the ability to radiate, thus her
clothes were dark. Her wings depicted a rainbow of colors, a demonstration of
how the power within her was itself unstable and fluctuating, not able to
settle on a form or color to depict her present form. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Now, having fused more deeply with
the power she gained, she has attained a divine radiance unlike anything on
this planet. Her golden wings impart the essence of the divine, while her horns
have grown further, reminding that this deified being is as capable of great
disaster as she is of great salvation. But her mind is clearer now, less hampered
by the burden of her new power. Fused with it better, she can wield it with far
less effort, thus her mind need not work nearly as hard to instruct her body
how to use this power. Her style of dress has changed to something overall more
befitting a goddess. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>
<h2>What’s Changed<o:p></o:p></h2>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8tt89ERn9g5QNlXXemmfGnLjpHssnLU9Vguw25XruTvc-WmB05u53x_3lnQq3q7Qt_UmA72vAyWoB81qele4n-RMmpP0QWAksWsAFnYY1tEP4RroIHaSPvmyvdrKjo-qf-S7vgzbMYk/s724/S147_Stage3.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8tt89ERn9g5QNlXXemmfGnLjpHssnLU9Vguw25XruTvc-WmB05u53x_3lnQq3q7Qt_UmA72vAyWoB81qele4n-RMmpP0QWAksWsAFnYY1tEP4RroIHaSPvmyvdrKjo-qf-S7vgzbMYk/w284-h400/S147_Stage3.png" width="284" /></a></div><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>The colors and style of her dress
should, hopefully, remind you of a Mediterranean design. This is a deliberate attempt
to invoke a part of her inspiration in this form, FGO’s Gorgon. I chose to simplify
the bottom half of her dress from the prior version, removing the outer “wing
guards” and retaining just the inner portion of the dress. I also more unified
the top and bottom portions of the dress, linking the two pieces with fabric
instead of the Geass sigil accessory hooking the two pieces. The sigil now hooks
the gap in the chest area of her dress.<br /> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpKLZEaoWqFMuIpagBSMEeg3MZ7jU289xjwNab99QH0y_NuAJLUlxcSZgtrVwNBvmrLa08qFNuIWwcBOAsUEcLmVenImc_dbbgEQFajBmht8SX7J6sI9zIkvtjGubqdFhvbX2cusmLN4/s724/S230_Stage1.png" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhpKLZEaoWqFMuIpagBSMEeg3MZ7jU289xjwNab99QH0y_NuAJLUlxcSZgtrVwNBvmrLa08qFNuIWwcBOAsUEcLmVenImc_dbbgEQFajBmht8SX7J6sI9zIkvtjGubqdFhvbX2cusmLN4/w284-h400/S230_Stage1.png" width="284" /></a>Speaking of, the top portion was
also changed, to be less of a swimsuit-style appearance to something a little
more traditional. This design is inspired in part by the dress worn by FGO’s Yu
Mei-Ren. Mei-Ren doesn’t have any real bearing on Euphemia Alter’s character. If
anything she would more align with Anzushiro of the Two-Six rather than Hime,
so there’s nothing more to look for there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The only other significant change from
the first Ascension is some additional “light” in her eyes. This was actually a
bit of additional lighting I had in the first Ascension, but I left it out in
the final version there. I went ahead and added it back for the 2<sup>nd</sup> Ascension,
knowing that there is a somewhat decent chance I will be going with something very
different for her 3<sup>rd</sup> Ascension.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></p><h2>Bonus Round: Meta<o:p></o:p></h2>
<h3>Passive Skills:<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Independent Manifestation A<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Avenger B<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Madness Enhancement EX<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Self-Replenishment Magic EX<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Divinity A++<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><b>Independent Manifestation A</b></p><h4><o:p></o:p></h4>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">This passive skill has been with Euphemia
Alter for a long time now, predating her search for the Root. This is the true
nature of the immortality, the Code, that punctuates the Geass cycle. In dying,
the soul is no longer tethered to the body and departs. For a soul that has left
its host body, independent manifestation refers to that soul’s ability, or magic
applied to a soul, to appear and act in the natural world. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A Code acts to bind the soul back
to the body, this seal undone only by passing the seal to another whose body
can accept it – one that has reached the peak of Geass’ power. Euphemia Alter,
however, does not have a Code. The form of her manifestation is more powerful
and more fragile. It is based in a very old magic, but one that a skilled enough
mage can dispel. However, it is a bit easier to implement than a Code, as it
foregoes the latter’s Geass, or any similar, requirement, needing only that
some more general criteria be met.</p><h4>
Avenger B<o:p></o:p></h4>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When all is said and done, despite
what she may say or personally believe, Euphemia Alter is an avenger. Her thoughts
and actions are dripping with he anger at the unjust world, and its unfair treatment
of herself and those she loved. Her goals are centered on overturning those
wrongs in her own way, seeking revenge against the world by forcing her will
upon it. No, her bloodthirst is not as potent as even many normal people’s
might be, but normal people don’t have the sort of supernatural ability she
does either. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Were she more aware of her own
state of mind on the matter her ranking here would arguably go either
direction. If she were to realize her place as an Avenger and reject that path,
her rank would decrease, if not vanish entirely. That being said, given the hints
of acknowledgement she has already shown, her general lack of outrage or
indignation at being called as such, she would likely only embrace the label if
forced to confront it, and thus the rank of this skill would likely grow. <br />
<br />
<span class="Heading4Char"><b>Madness Enhancement EX</b></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Although all of the Alters exhibit
this to some degree, Euphemia Alter’s is more unique. Hers is more potent, more
deliberate, and therefore more dangerous. An evolution of the Mystic Eyes Geass
once held by C.C., Euphemia explains to the aforementioned Grey Witch of
Britannia that, “if I don’t control my power, others kinda just want to make me
happy.” This places her skill more on the level of a divine charm than almost anything
else. However, as the end result does not seem to ever lead to anywhere good,
more often than not leaving the person self-destructively consumed with the idea
of their own inadequacy towards her, it’s less of making them love her and more
akin to making them hate themselves. She is the Beast of Sin, her every word
and every breath enticing the senses and leading you to act out on vices your
own mind rationalizes as beneficial to her in some way without her having to
even ask. And all it takes to fully corrupt a target? For her to not think too
much about keeping her latent powers in check. You may never even hear her
speak or look her in the eye to fall under her mad spell. <br />
<br />
<span class="Heading4Char"><b>Self-Replenishment Magic EX</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When Euphemia Alter began to
understand the world of magic, she immediately became one of its greatest practitioners.
That is because the only ones even approaching the realm of magecraft were the
Geass Syndicate, which Lelouch had wiped out. In a world abound in the latent
forces of magic energy, but few aware of, let alone able to harness, that phenomenal
power, she has little actual competition for the resource. By default there are
almost no beings who have a better skill at replenishing magic than her.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The kicker is that she also has a tremendous
capacity for it as well. Her magical circuits are extremely pure and potent,
the very reason she was selected as an experiment subject as a child. Like a
desert soaking up rain, the abundant magic of the world simply flows to her when
she starts to use her currently supply up, as the only nearby vessel open to
containing it. Even a little effort on her part can magnify the rate of
replenishment exponentially.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Given her natural qualities, even
were the world to have many more mages, her own skill would still likely rank
among the best, as she simply has more favor with magic to begin with. <br />
<br />
<span class="Heading4Char"><b>Divinity A++</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">What is a god? What is a devil? Humanity
has made assertions to this for as long as written or oral records go back in
time. Euphemia Alter proclaims herself a goddess, made manifest by the indulgent
actions of humanity. Most would hold that no creation of man could itself be
truly divine but may perhaps approach the divine. In this regard, surely Euphemia
Alter is a deified being, as close to a true deity as can be imagined. Few can
argue against this; her power alone can tear open holes across the world that
lead to other places and times in other dimensions. Her will alone made
manifest creatures that only existed in legend. She can displace both people
and objects temporally. Were she simply born this way no doubt she would be
considered to be born a goddess incarnate. Even absent the power gained from
the Root she would still be close to a divine being in the eyes of many. Now,
she surely falls just shy of true divinity.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p>
<h3>Stats<o:p></o:p></h3>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">Strength: A-<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">Endurance: A-<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">Agility: B+<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">Mana: EX<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">Luck: D<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0in 5.4pt; width: 233.75pt;" valign="top" width="312">
<p class="MsoNormal">NP: A+<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-74690433399748351322021-04-17T20:00:00.001-04:002021-04-17T20:00:00.186-04:00Big Update Day<p> Haven't had an update out in a while, so let's go a little bigger than normal today. <span></span></p><a name='more'></a>First up, a new chapter for the R3 Alter story. There will be 3 new chapters released over the next week, the first of which will be today. <p></p><p>Chapter 15, The Visit, will be a small expansion of the R3 universe and set up a conflict that will come to a head in just a few chapters. </p><p><span>Chapter 16, Counterstrike, will release on Tuesday. With the fallout from Ch. 15, the urgency to respond is growing, and nerves are starting to fray, as one reporter starts to piece together a darker plot behind the scenes. </span></p><p>Chapter 17, For Love Even I Jump At..., will be out on Friday the 23rd. It further expands the story universe a bit with several new characters, and builds a bit on the mystery brewing in chapter 16. </p><p>Next up, the other main draw for today, is this new image. This here is Beast of Sin Euphemia Alter, 2nd Ascension. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOiJ3E3x36CKCglzPRebKH-DgdtU6Mx4YGQTZ_MxXPWLB-vteD5SkypqObu63eGAPmuCf5On8QqJfWHIZ7BdY5rW8qDA41_TXl6XGy_IFro6rauT0lHFXtcwYbILfRKkCpCTtMLwuyMI/s2048/Beast+of+Sin+Euphemia+Alter+2nd+Ascension.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOiJ3E3x36CKCglzPRebKH-DgdtU6Mx4YGQTZ_MxXPWLB-vteD5SkypqObu63eGAPmuCf5On8QqJfWHIZ7BdY5rW8qDA41_TXl6XGy_IFro6rauT0lHFXtcwYbILfRKkCpCTtMLwuyMI/w360-h640/Beast+of+Sin+Euphemia+Alter+2nd+Ascension.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><p>I will have the usual write-up on her, throwing in some lore details and stats for a more FGO style experience, in another post. </p><p>That's all for now - quick and painless. Catch you later. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-78975051040961709882020-12-04T05:00:00.002-05:002020-12-04T05:00:15.035-05:00Beast of Sin Euphemia Alter<p>I only just realized this never made it up, which is really bad of me. Nevertheless, behold the angelic face of ruin. The amalgamation of gentle death and volatile passions finds release onto the battered world.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.deviantart.com/drosencraft/art/Halloween-Beast-of-Sin-Euphemia-Alter-859856100" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1152" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lzcXE46mM80lI2cwTytu9YcnM3whxlDLdqVhQ7O9goRxB1IguMSFuxK9_DwcjMRzzid1CJrJVrOauSny104zet1FLxurmXwPjLqYCrX1M7sEcBL8vf-U_sUO3mFT8gMcAVCDJLc-lpQ/w360-h640/Beast+of+Sin+Euphemia+Alter+.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>The original concept for this new image began when I started thinking about the ending for R3 Alter. My plans were that there would be three endings, much like a visual novel or similarly styled game. In at least one of the endings, Euphemia's plans fail and she ends up being corrupted in a very literal sense by the same power she was trying to attain. The result is that she transforms into a monstrous form. <p></p><p>A late decision I made was to mimic BoS Euphemia completely after an FGO servant, meaning this is not the last you'll see of BoS Euphemia. I haven't decided yet which this one will be, but it's either her first or second Ascension. </p><p>In terms of the actual artwork, my plans for her started with a desire to build around Tiamat from the Seventh Singularity, Absolute Demonic Battlefront, from the FGO mobile game and the anime. I also wanted to incorporate a bit of Archdemon Mercedes from the mobile game Epic 7. However, my plans for using Arch-Meru were based around the idea that the "real" Euphemia "perished" and her body was actually taken over by a malicious will, not unlike being consumed by the Black Mud from the Grail. </p><p>I changed my mind on that, however. I decided that I wanted Euphie Alter to be the owner of her actions from beginning to end. Her actions, whatever they ultimately would be, whatever effect they would have on the world at large come the ending, would not be explained away by something else or someone else. This is one of the messages from the end of the Geass anime - coming to terms with one's own actions and taking responsibility for the results. Given that Euphemia's life ends in the anime due to events outside her own control, I felt it would be in poor taste for her fate to again be to disappear under the tide of time again, her body moved by a will not her own. </p><p>From an appearance perspective, however, I ended up not directly borrowing anything from either. Aside from having horns, and they're not even the same style of horns, there isn't really any physical resemblance in BoS Euphemia and Tiamat. </p><p>If anything, you could make the case that BoS Euphemia has more in common appearance wise with Sessyoin Kiara. Euphie certainly doesn't have the same sort of lewd grin, but the not-much-there attire and the shared title definitely unite them stronger than anything between Euphie and Tiamat or Euphie and Archdemon Meru. </p><p>I deliberately went away from the super tightfitting clothes motif used by Tiamat and Meru, wherein you can't hardly tell if they're wearing clothes, or it's some sort of fabric-like skin, or maybe even tattoos or body paint. I went the opposite direction, her clothes basically draped on her body, barely held in place at all such that a light breeze could probably cause a wardrobe malfunction. Symbolically, the thing that is holding her dress together, much like what is sustaining her in the story, is a different form of Geass to anything seen before. </p><p>Her head is tilted to the side in a manner like that of Flare Corona from Fairy Tail. I wanted to have a subtly creepy affect to her, beyond any monstrous elements attached to her. Flare's appearance, combined with her off personality, was a fascinating touch in Fairy Tail, so I thought to borrow that. I was already going to give her horns anyway, so I decided on the mismatch in size as an element of the depiction. For that reason I'm leaning towards this being her first Ascension, as the explanation is that she is so unaccustomed to the weight of the lopsided horns, she's unable to keep her head up straight. </p><p>It's hard to see unless you get in close, but the horns are "scaled" with each scale having an internal red spot, an idea I wrote of regarding the scales of the dragon C.C. saw when she first found the reborn Euphemia. Her eyes are based on the other Alters in FGO, i.e., they're a pale yellow color, devoid of a clearly defined pupil. </p><p>I wanted to make her hands unnatural, yet recognizable. I didn't want to go all-out and make them dragon claws - that seemed too simplistic. At the same time, really crazy ideas like hypodermic needles or stuff like that seemed too B-movie craziness better suited for a science experiment monster rather than a supernatural one. It lacks a little flare, however, so I might revise that some in any future Ascension pictures. </p><p>Her feet, however, which cannot be seen clearly, will look like a prototypical lizard's feet. I specifically note that hers are more boney and gaunt than the actual beasts she commands. </p><p>Her wings were always going to be feathered, and growing from the small of her back. I noted in a something I wrote several years ago that typically when fiction writers depict creatures as angels or demons, wing color and the presence of feathers are only a couple of factors that give away the alignment. Often time demons are more readily depicted with wings growing from the small of their backs, while angels will have theirs in the more obvious and typical placement of the shoulder blade area. Given that demons are fallen angels, there really shouldn't be any difference. Nevertheless, it remains a handy visual cue. </p><p>Originally, the wings were going to be white to highlight the juxtaposition of her being both an incarnation of good and evil. But, I became enthralled with the rainbow phoenix feathers idea, and so that took over. </p><p>The trail was also always going to be a part of this project. Originally, however, I was going to have it end in a snake's head. This was to complete image of a chimera that her completed package of odd bits and pieces would add up to. But I thought a conventional snake head would be too dull. So I then switched to the idea of a cobra's head. A snake head was already out of place though. There is little if any snake imagery or mythology in Geass, certainly my R3 Alter story, so having a snake tail would make thematic sense on this project by itself, in context it would not. </p><p>The idea of a dragon head seemed to make more sense given the story. My hesitation, however, was in that the dragons mainly depicted in Euphemia's rampages in my story, much like those depicted for Jeanne Alter, are European style, not Asian. European dragons, even when they have long necks, are not really serpentine. Given that the dragon is different from Euphie Alter's dragons, I also made the horns of her dragon tail different from her own, again fitting more of Eastern depictions of dragons rather than Western. Color of the dragon's body as well.</p><p>The background has some elements that were always there, and some that had to change over time. The sky was always going to look the way it does - perhaps not always that exact color, but yes, it was always going to be a very dark, stormy, looking sky. I questioned whether to add lightning, and probably will if I stick with this background on other Ascension levels, but for this one I didn't think it was particularly necessary. </p><p>I originally wanted to do a city skyline instead of mountains. Unfortunately, my depiction looked very out of place and awkward, so I had to back off that. It's still possible I'll go back to a cityscape option when I work on the other Ascension art, but I don't know that for sure yet. </p><p>I gave her a massive cornet ponytail. With most of my projects there's commonly one element I choose to add for reasons I can't recall by the time I get to the ending. That's the case here with her hair. In her prior incarnations in the R3 Alter story, I make a point of trimming her hair down. For reasons I can't remember, I decided to got the absolute opposite direction. </p><p>That's just about everything on this one. If you do have any questions, feel free to comment or message me. I do wish I hadn't let so much time pass without checking that this write-up was posted. I have a few more things planned with this project, but none of those (maybe just one of those) will be ready before the year's out. In the meantime there's plenty of story out there. I've posted several chapters for the R3 story in the last couple months, with at least one more due out soon. It could be the last bit of story for a while. Next year is gonna be busy for me, so I won't have time to do a lot of writing. Enjoy the story as it comes. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-61669415103443653322020-09-05T06:00:00.033-04:002020-09-05T06:00:06.861-04:00Good News, Bad News<p> So I did a coin flip, and you'll be getting the bad news first.<span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Bad news is that there will be no image project reveal until Halloween. Due the to ongoing upheaval from Covid-19, work has been an absolute dog. I've been working a lot of overtime (12 hours this week alone) and so I've found myself zoning out while trying to finish it up. Five vacation or off days this month went up in smoke thanks to work, so that put me back quite a bit.<p></p><p>Aside from the work stuff, it's the anniversary period for a number of mobile games I'm playing, and anniversary means big events. Big events in gacha games typically mean above-average farming opportunities for a variety of resources. Long story short, with how little time I have otherwise to devote to personal activities and hobbies, a big chunk went that way during the brief siesta I've had from school. </p><p>On to the good news. The next chapter of the R3 Alter story is on the way.</p><p>Baring any further unforeseen hiccups, I should have the next couple chapters up on fanfiction.net sometime Sunday evening EST. It should be chapters 9 and 10. On top of that, I am tentatively certain that I will have chapter 11 done in time for Halloween as well, maybe even chapter 12. </p><p>I will also say that I am planning a video series of sorts. I'm trying to put the content together and get the audio recorded and all that good stuff, but it will essentially be a video blog for the Book of the Shadows. I want the first "real" video to be the introduction of the artwork I'm working on now for Halloween. Beyond that, I want to use the videos as a way of introducing and discussing the anime and characters that take center stage for my works.</p><p>In any event, look forward to the R3 Alter story update in the next few days, and stay tuned for any other news down the line. </p>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-50178418417926495382020-08-05T05:00:00.113-04:002020-08-05T05:00:06.580-04:00Updates on ProjectsIt sure has been a hot minute since I've updated my progress on anything. So, here goes...<span><a name='more'></a></span><span>This has been one crazy year. Unlike many people, I haven't had to stay home without a job. That's the good news. The downside is that I've been working nearly twice as hard for about the same amount of money. School never stopped for me either; we wen't directly to online classes without missing a beat. So, while that has kept the overall disruptions to my personal life to a minimum, that also means that the months that the world has been dealing with all those Covid-19 related shutdowns has not translated to any extra time for me to do anything more than normal with the BotS series. In fact, I've probably had less time this year than in years past, which is a wee-bit frustrating. I'm not complaining. With my track record of allergies and colds over the last few years, I thank God I haven't caught it, and I'm even more thankful that no family or friends have either. </span><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>Regardless, it isn't as though I've had NO progress on the BotS related front. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>The planning is coming along nicely for the R3 Alter series, as well as its successor, R4 Alter. I'm really excited to get into the R4 story, mainly because I'll get the chance to play around with characters I haven't had the chance to work with before. Namely, these will be characters out of the mobile game E7. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>Unfortunately, no other entry in the BotS franchise has seen any work of late. It's now been a fairly long time since I touched any of the main series, particularly First Moon. And while I've had incremental spurts of ideas for Cromwell, those haven't really blossomed. Thinking about it is really disappointing, but when my time is stretched as thin as it is, I don't really have the luxury of delving into multiple story threads at one time. So, for now, R3 and R4 get my attention. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>This has, in turn, effected my art production. I've had a couple sketches in the last several months, and one of them will be another feature piece for R3. I've had to push back completion on it a few times, most impactful of which was the disuse of my laptop. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>I have an HP notebook, a 17" 2-in-1. The main selling point for me when I bought it was that I could use it to draw with, same as if it were a pen display. Just past 2.5 years old, the body of the notebook started swelling, like something inside was getting ready to burst. It got where the screen can't close all the way flat. The only culprit could be heat, but, since I've never felt it heat up that much and everything technically still works, I don't know for sure. I actually have an old phone I was mainly using as music player and alarm clock that had a more severe version of the same issue. In that case the entire screen separated from the body.</span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>I had to stop using that laptop for fear its problems get worse. Now that I've finally got a little time off from work, I plan to pull any files off that laptop and save them elsewhere before it fully goes kaput. I'm really disappointed because I loved that laptop - probably the best one I've ever had. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>I was also using that laptop for school, but that's a no go too. In all, the loss of that laptop was a productivity hit of at least 30-50%. Where I had a dual-screen setup in my room where I could watch TV or stream stuff on one screen, work on something else on the other, and have that laptop in front of me, now that laptop is gone, and that second screen had to go to a second PC that is now mostly dedicated to my online classes. If I had the money I would either buy a new laptop similar to that HP, or buy a Cintiq-like pen display. Sadly, I'm far from being able to afford those options right now (otherwise I probably would've at least bought an additional monitor by now). </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>Taken all together, I've got too much going on to make any promises art or story wise as far as the BotS series is concerned. I am optimistic that I will at least have a couple new chapters of R3 Alter ready by September. I'm also really, really, hoping to get this latest art project done around the same time too. I want to use some of my time this next week I have off from work seeing if I can nail down a new art process, but who knows if that'll fit in with the work I have to do for class (got final projects and exams over the next couple weeks). </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>If all works out, you should hear from me again later this week. I want to do a quick post about the games I've been playing and not playing, as well as the state of the anime landscape right now. If that doesn't end up happening, you can expect to see a post here in early September - Labor Day weekend most likely - about the new chapters for R3 Alter, and maybe an art piece to go with it. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>Until then everybody, stay safe, and take it easy. </span></div>DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-42339936896887956382020-04-20T05:00:00.000-04:002020-04-20T05:00:06.396-04:00Red Euphemia Lily<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When I first started this project,
the concept was as simple as the original title – Red Euphemia. At that time,
this project was set to be done before I got around to the Euphemia Alter one. It
was as simple as Alter’s – Euphie in Nero’s dress, that’s all. But once I
latched on to the Euphie Alter project and started the R3 Alter story alongside
it, this one took a backseat. By the time I came back around to it, my theories
for how to manage her color scheme shifted. I wanted to so something a little
more, a little different.</div>
<a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><br />
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<a href="http://fav.me/ddv1epu" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1600" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh63qE31Fntvf9F45oVvW_o6f1-XrTTmaO07q0KP44BLb70pKhmHghnYGolihd1B1kisYDNNlX8rDuHTD-IvHCfAcHUoa196yiY4ZhqX1wnEY4P6kDq3AGLSxMdErwnyacVTe_GpXdyXmA/s400/Red+Euphemia+Lily+final.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
My idea shifted to cladding Euphie
in white. My original thinking was that red was a fitting color for Euphie as a
variation on pink. But that was “wrong” in the sense that as much as pink might
seem to be the color most fitting for Euphie, she never wears it. And
conceptually, Euphie would probably want to avoid red as much as she could. I
even considered in R3 Alter if she might not have wanted to dye her hair
another color just for how traumatized by the color red she would possibly be
after reincarnating. Even if not traumatized per se, if she had any real
cognitive recognition of the title thrust on her, she would likely, if even on
a subconscious level, likely avoid wearing anything red, let alone a red dress.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But I was also resistant to the
idea of having her either in the bondage dress of the original Nero Bride, or
the somewhat less BDSM newer version. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
First, given the similarity to straitjackets
of the Geass universe, I wanted to careful about the context for using that design.
While not terribly large, the chance that this concept could become a part of
the R3 Alter story meant that I might be remiss to carelessly use up that
possibility here. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Second, the bride motif didn’t fit
any ideas I had going for Euphie. I certainly wasn’t about to have her marrying
Suzaku, nor did I have any metaphysical, spiritual, or ideological marriages to
throw her into, so I didn’t want to suggest that I did by having her in that
situation visually. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That all considered, I ended up
back at original Nero’s dress. If I wasn’t going to use Bride – and given
Sports Nero from Nerofest, and Caster Nero, were out of the picture of
consideration – that was the only one left. That made the most sense anyway
since I was aiming for this pairing purely on Red Saber’s aesthetic, not on any
affinity between the characters. As such, looking to deviate from that dress
itself would have been odd. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That is what led to the idea to do
white for her dress. That, in turn led me to consider white for the sword…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h1 style="margin-top: 0in;">
<u>Color of the Sword<o:p></o:p></u></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
From a rhetorical standpoint, the
Aestus Eustus wielded by Nero is red and black by default. This can be
considered its natural color. When she switches over to Nero Bride, the bond
she has with the sword reflects the change in her mentality and countenance,
therefore it purges its red color for silver/white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, the white Aestus Eustus visually
represents a purer and more innocent wielder. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIJIB3rPt2yxcXqSUCu2qReOXpNskbSG6-OmkBXCRRuJLYVhrP_nLLp8SjTPxG9B1dcheIsVLUdAoueAPAjFoOY-pcRmShOXM2g0MxM8mYY2wo8OXD6nUeq5dXULU0D3TbzBI3boEg0g/s1600/__nero_claudius_and_nero_claudius_fate_extra_and_fate_series_drawn_by_hitsukuya__bb7d171aefb6af16fca4e429aad0d147.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="990" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIJIB3rPt2yxcXqSUCu2qReOXpNskbSG6-OmkBXCRRuJLYVhrP_nLLp8SjTPxG9B1dcheIsVLUdAoueAPAjFoOY-pcRmShOXM2g0MxM8mYY2wo8OXD6nUeq5dXULU0D3TbzBI3boEg0g/s320/__nero_claudius_and_nero_claudius_fate_extra_and_fate_series_drawn_by_hitsukuya__bb7d171aefb6af16fca4e429aad0d147.png" width="247" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In transferring the sword to
someone else, this can be viewed in a couple different ways. First, with a
subjective view you can say that the person holding the white sword is purer
than they otherwise would be. Red would be their default self, while white is
their more innocent self – the same as with Nero. For Euphemia, that is hard to
imagine. To get “purer” than the default Euphie would mean she’d have to be
preaching total pacifism or something like that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The second view, which would work
better in the Euphie case, but is a little stranger as a concept all to itself,
would be the objective view. Here, the red sword is an external assessment; a
universal basis not unlike a general definition of good and evil. The white,
therefore, would be only reflecting where the individual falls on that
spectrum, namely the fact they are on the other side of the median. This would
somewhat subvert the lore on the sword, implying that the sword has some sort
of good/evil bias unto itself rather than merely reflecting the user’s will. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I get into all this because this
implies a certain message for the Euphemia image as a whole. If the second
model is chosen to explain Aestus Eustus’s form, then there’s not much to read
into Euphemia’s appearance; she becomes no different than she normally would
appear. If the first model better explains the sword, however, then that would
imply that this Euphemia, despite wielding a sword, is somehow more innocent
and pure than the iteration of Euphemia seen at almost all other times. How,
then, do you explain what a “more innocent” than innocent Euphemia actually is?
That would help tremendously to frame the connection to Jeanne d’Arc if you
start pushing Euphie into saint territory, but it becomes hard to frame. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If I give her the red sword, the
question ends up turned a bit. Not quite a full flip, but close to it.
Following model one would thereby imply one of two things; either that there <i>is</i>
a purer Euphemia that is possible, or that she could never wield the white
sword. If the existence of the white sword is acknowledged, then it would mean
that there is something about Euphie that is at the very least less pure than
Nero Bride, which is a difficult thing to frame. But if you say that she simply
can’t wield the white sword, that implies that not only is there something
lacking in Euphemia, but that somehow there is a person in the Geass universe
more pure and innocent than Euphie. Short of children too young to even touch a
sword, who in the Geass universe would that even be?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Going with the first model, the
switch from the white sword to the red doesn’t change outcomes much, if at all.
It would still imply that, like the second model, there is a purer version of
Euphie to be seen. But, this model is a little more forgiving so long as you
adjust your perspective just a little. If instead of viewing the potential of a
purer Euphie you view this one as darker, you satisfy all considerations. Now,
this Euphie can be seen as something closer to the Geass controlled Euphie that
was Princess Massacre. Of course, that raises the specter of declaring that the
Euphie who gunned down all those people is the “real” Euphie. That could be
mitigated by viewing Princess Massacre as an outer extreme. There’s no saying
that Euphie with the red sword is not as innocent as the Euphie we see all the
time, but isn’t as terrible as Princess Massacre. But, this would imply that we
have never seen the “real” Euphie, since the model presupposes that the red
sword represents the default persona. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Part of the issue is that there is
no darker Nero or Aestus Eustus that can be seen in the lore. Unlike with
Artoria and Excalibur, we don’t know of a darker Nero wielding Excalibur Morgan
while also knowing a lighter Nero wielding Caliburn. We’ve yet to see Nero
Alter or Berserker Nero, so we don’t know what form Aestus Eustus would take
for her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In any case, discussing a darker
Aestus Eustus escapes the immediate point. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Regardless the outcome, the first
step is to select the model that best aligns with the reality. Therefore, model
one makes the most sense. The lore makes it clear that the sword only responded
to Nero’s will. It isn’t so sentient as to weigh the will of the world, nor is
it otherwise implied to have a static barometer on the relative will of its
wielder on a broader level. Therefore, model one makes more sense. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That means the issue is whether
this is the default Euphemia or a more innocent Euphie. The leading impression
is that this is default Euphie. Although the dress is obviously different from
anything she normally wears, it is the default dress of Nero. Further, the
colors are that of Euphie’s own default dress. This would lead to using the red
sword.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
At the same time, if Euphie is ever
to wield white Aestus, there isn’t a lot left to do in color to match. Though there are colors, the paleness of those colors is such that switching to white is
likely to carry limited impact. And again, not completely foregoing the earlier
discussion of implied meaning, what is the alternate Euphie, either implied to
be currently holding the white sword, or that we haven’t seen holding the red one?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It’s at this point that the
discussion turns to potential original colorations. This wouldn’t necessarily
refute or debase the working model. Remember, the model simply says that red is
the default color but that it changed color to match its wielder’s personality
at the time. Functionally, the red parts of Aestus change to white. This isn’t
quite the case for Nero’s dress. Her dress isn’t merely a white version of her
red one, but an altogether new dress. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
By shifting perspective once more,
you get a simple solution. Regardless of the reasoning or the method, the fact
remains that Aestus Eustus changed to match Nero, whose own clothes were
changed to fit the style she desired to reflect that persona. So if you work in
a slight bit of reverse, Aestus Eustus is white because Nero is dressed in
white. So, if I have Euphie in a light-yellow dress, then Aestus Eustus should
respond and assume a color that matches the dress she chose to reflect her
inner self. In simplified terms, for Nero Bride Aestus Eustus is white because
her dress is white. For my image then Aestus Eustus should be light-yellow
because Euphie’s dress is light yellow. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This answer is more elegant. It
nullifies all that questioning of purity and whatnot, and adds a touch of
personal taste beyond a simple recitation of Nero’s design. It matches her
dress precisely, which makes far more sense here than the red or white options.
It would be one thing if the other elements of this crossover were too slight
to be so easily picked up on, but that isn’t the case. Using some nonstandard
color isn’t going to risk throwing anyone off and losing the impact of having a
crossover. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<u>Pose<o:p></o:p></u></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The idea was to have her appear
somewhat “flighty” or uninhibited. The concept behind Nero’s appearance is that
she is boundlessly self-confident. Despite how others might attempt to
criticize her, or what doubts she may have inside, she faces it with determination
and certainty that her skills and abilities will pull her through. When
questioned about the fact that you can see through the front of her dress she
replies that it’s not that you can see through it, but that she is allowing you
to see through it. In other words, things are the way they are not by chance,
but because that is the way she wants it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
That is a marked difference from
Euphemia. Euphie isn’t nearly as confident as a person as Nero is, despite
holding many similar self-doubts. It could even be considered a tad bit of a
stretch for her to be so bold as to wear something so revealing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In which case, if she is to wear
something like Nero’s dress, there are two directions you can go. You can have
her curl up and be in a very closed off, shy, stance, or you can have her
embrace that more open and less modest appearance. I decided I’d rather show
her embracing it, and so I chose an image of her more in keeping with that.
She’s not overly expressive, but you do get a sense that she is at least comfortable
here, not shyly or embarrassingly forced into this sort of dress. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I also considered having her in a
more combat-ready pose, but I actually have yet another Euphie image planned
along those lines. That one is canon to R3 Alter, so the planning is a little
more detailed. This one is definitely more to show off Euphie and this
aesthetic more than anything else.<o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
<u>Background<o:p></o:p></u></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As usual, I didn’t have a very clear
concept for a background. I always knew what I wanted for the background on the
C(li)ne and Alter images, but this one was not so. Ultimately, since this Euphie
has a similar feel to the C(li)ne Euphie, I decided this image should have a
background that had a similar vibe too. The addition of the sea back there was
accidental. When I was doing the gradation of the sky, I ended up with a light
blue strip on one of the revisions. I decided to just keep it and adjust the
color a little. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The grass is nothing spectacular;
not as good as some of my other projects. I wanted to take a more muted
approach to the background – less detailed – to keep focus on Euphie as the
subject. I’m not too happy with the result, so I’ll likely go back to my usual
way of doing things next time. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
On the other hand, I do like the
cloud. It came out exactly as I wanted, so I’ll likely repeat the process for
similar style clouds going forward. I didn’t want to add too much of a cloud
layer, but I also didn’t want to leave the sky too barren. Having the sun back
there, or switching to some nighttime scene, would have thrown off the lighting
I had already applied to Euphie. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The rose petals and the rose stem
were sort of late additions too. I wanted to add some flowers. In retrospect, I
don’t regret going with roses – they are fitting for the royal subjects of this
piece. But, I do think I should have paid more attention to color choice there.
Yellow or white roses would make all the sense in the world. Even blue roses
would have had a nice supernatural touch.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<h1 style="margin-top: 0in;">
<u>Canon v. Non-Canon<o:p></o:p></u></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The question of if this image is
canon or not to the BotS in some sense, specifically R3 Alter, was potentially
fluid throughout, but never really shifted from a “no” in any major way. While
my logic in the choices for color was based on the idea of it being R3 Alter
specific (possibly R4), the conditions that originally made it a no never
really shifted enough to make a yes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The first real hurdle was that I
never intended to make this a story-specific piece. This as part of a minor
series of images I arrived at the idea of while musing a story idea for
Cromwell. In the same vein as Euphemia Alter, this Euphie here was conceived of
as a possible identity for a Fate crossover in Cromwell whereby the heroes
summoned for a grail war were all based on the Two-Six. Considering if Hime
might fit into a role or another, Nero was considered, and therefore Hime in
Nero’s garb surfaced as an idea. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But the plans formed in the fevered
state under which I massaged the edges of the concept didn’t lend to any
decision on Hime’s inclusion in any real way. And as a consequence the end
result was for my attention to end up drifting to Euphie Alter, for whom the
outlines of a story had emerged. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I revisited the idea of a
Nero/Euphie mashup again, imagining that it would be an intriguing idea, but
thematic concerns and barriers emerged and that idea lost steam. For one, and
this is particularly glaring in some of the Nero stories in FGO, Nero is Roman,
while, at least as far as her lineage goes, Euphie is British. Now, this has a
lot of room to fudge some facts on the Euphie side of the equation, what with
the schism between Britannia and England that is the backbone of the
world-building in Code Geass. But even there little doubt remains that Euphie
is “British” and therefore from a FGO standpoint would align far more with
Artoria or Boudica than Nero. This is in part what makes the Jeanne/Euphie
pairing also a bit circumspect, since chances are that the Britannia of
Euphie’s lifetime was likely to commit some act akin to the Britain of
Jeanne’s. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Thematically having a Roman, one of
the most well-known, as the representation of a Britannian trying to reclaim
the fictional heyday of Great Britain, would not make much logical sense. Given
that all other linkages between Nero and Euphie are threadbare at best, there
wasn’t a lot of reasoning that would make a thematic approach to such a pairing
work in any real sense. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If nothing else, the argument can
be made that Artoria and Euphie are of the same blood. Even if you want to go
off-the-wall and say that Euphie awakened dormant Artoria blood in her veins
and transformed into dark Artoria, that insane concept holds more water than
the same revolving around Nero, or most any other concept centered on Nero
pairing to Euphie. Much of the histrionics of Britannia centers on the idea
that Camelot and King Arthur were real enough for Britannia to fashion almost
all of itself after that era.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Which runs to the second issue – a
lack of a story. When I started R3 Alter, the basic concept was always that she
was adorned in the regalia befitting a return of Britannia to the days of
Camelot. Who else to dress like than the “once and future king” if she’s going
to be reclaiming Britannia? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Having Euphie in Nero’s regalia in
any acknowledged way in a story would require some form of justification for
why she would choose a Roman over a Brit. What is there about Rome, and Nero in
particular, that would so inspire that pairing over an Artoria? Certainly there
is not obvious alignment in their personalities or life stories to warrant such
a cross. With no basis to serve as the base of a story, that option leads
nowhere. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Yet this is because I am talking
about aligning Nero and Euphemia. If we step back out of the R3 stories, you
get an entirely different picture, and that is because you are dealing with a
character that is herself only in part based on Euphemia, not wholly Euphemia
herself. Hime of the Two-Six may share Euphemia’s appearance, but persona wise
could be a dead ringer for Nero. And that works. That’s because the Euphie that
is descended from Artoria is just one version of Hime, one of her past lives in
the wide multiverse. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This in turn defines how this image
of Euphie could potentially be canon to the BotS, just not R3 and its progeny.
If Euphemia as a descendant of Arthur is just one possibility of Hime’s past
lives, there is little to say that Nero is not simply another. That is indeed
what I do for Hime, including Nero as part of her pantheon of personas. As such
this image immediately becomes viable as a part of Hime of the Two-Six. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In that backward sort of way, this
makes this image eminently plausible for R3, or more likely R4, just from the
fact that Hime would always have the potential to show up as a part of
Euphemia, or as a summoned servant in R4. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But that is a kettle of fish of
circuitous logic that I rather avoid. That becomes less about wanting to tell a
story and more about wanting to force a story into being. So, to reiterate the
answer to the basic question, no, this image is not canon to R3 Alter, or R4
Alter. It is potentially canon to the Third Moon Saga or Overture, more likely
Third Moon. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-51155385508261031452020-02-05T05:00:00.000-05:002020-02-05T05:00:01.617-05:00Angelica and ML Angelica. What Could They Be?<br />
<h1>
<b><u>Goddess Sister<o:p></o:p></u></b></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
There are few things I enjoy as
much as crafting stories. Even if they’re utterly ridiculous, it is tremendous
fun to take an idea and just let it travel where it may. That was what I did
with the theory I came up with several weeks ago for Luna’s mother, Francesca.
I’m basically doing that again here, this time with Angelica.</div>
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I do try to keep to things
reasonably plausible for the world in question, and discount that which has no
real basis. For example, a number of folks like to adhere to the theory that Bask
is Aither’s father. But, that clearly isn’t possible. We know Aither is less
than 20 years old. We also know Bask died in the last Archdemon War. Unlike the
modern world where there is invitro fertilization and the freezing of sperm,
eggs, and embryos, such things don’t exist in Orbis. Heck, there isn’t even any
indication that the syrupy sweet and pure affection the two held for each other
had progressed beyond the hand-holding stage, let alone to baby-making. Add to
that her apparent age at the time, and the fact Aither would have had to be
gestating in her womb for around five years more before he would be born, Bask
is clearly not the father, baring some off-the-wall reveal that he survived or
came back to life. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<h2>
<b><u>Where It Comes From<o:p></o:p></u></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Both within and outside the
confines of the Epic 7 story, Angelica is a bit of the mystery. Despite
inhabiting a world where humans have longer than normal lifespans, where it’s
not terribly uncommon for individuals to look younger than their true age, Lady
Angelus is noted by many to be uncommon in here lack of aging. In fact, little
is known about her or her past at all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In a mini side quest during the
Small Miracle Christmas event, a short-lived attempt to track down the details
of Angelica’s past ends in failure, only alluding to a girl who may be similar
to Angelica, but who lived too impossibly long ago for the two to be the same. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
During Diene and Bask’s side story,
a young Bask meets Angelica shortly after being placed in charge of Diene’s
safety. At the time Angelica is an unknown young-looking girl, not even a
member of the Conclave yet. Bask asks her name and she pauses a bit before
coming out with the name Angelica Angelus. This moment strongly suggests that
the name “Angelica Angelus” is one that she either stole or made up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In that same interaction, Bask
comments about her age. He at first calls her a teenager. She reacts with a bit
of anger, as if insulted, which leads him to guess that she is in her twenties.
This elicits the same reaction from her, thus Bask decides it best not to
continue and drops the matter entirely. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This tells us that, at a minimum,
Angelica at that time had to have been either somehow younger than 13, or at
least 30. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Now, unlike Diene, we don’t have
any images of Angelica at the various times of events in the story to know for
sure how similar she appears at various times. They use the same default art
for her at all times. It’s the same for all characters really, so any comments
about appearance can only be taken at face value. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Assuming that the reactions about
Angelica are true, or at least reasonably close, that leaves little room for
doubt that Angelica isn’t a regular human. She is absolutely something else.
But what?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<b><u>Theory 1: An “Actual” Angel<o:p></o:p></u></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Angelica’s angelic demeanor is hardly
in doubt. Her voice is soft and airy, her speech is very wispy. She evokes
nothing but a pure aura to her. And she is always espousing wisdom that she
bases on the goddess, Diche. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Yet, the first encounter shown of
Angelica suggests that she isn’t actually particularly religious. In fact, she
seemed to be relatively aloof, if not disbelieving, of the mantras of the
Conclave. She appears to have held views seriously opposed to those of the
Conclave. At the same time, she assumes a seemingly boundless confidence in the
goddess that is as natural as anything else in the world. It allows for a
minute window into an out-there idea; Angelica is the incarnation of a spirit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The idea is that Angelica was
actually a spirit. Given the instability due to the Archdemon Wars, and the
sacrifices connected to it, Angelica grew exhausted by her role in supporting
the world. However, unlike Vildred and Corvus who resolved to seek their form
of revenge against the world, or the Nocturnes who sealed themselves off and
chose to just accept death, Angelica thought to go out to see the world more as
a normal human than anything special as a sprit. She chose the body of a young
girl to take up residence in, the girl having been killed in the fighting
during the war. Having incarnated into the body of a human, she is lacking the
total power she would normally have as a spirit, but is also more powerful than
an average human. The only ones who can match her power as a Soul Weaver are
the likes of Diene or Ruele, who held within them the power of a Spirit Lord. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Being a spirit herself, Angelica
isn’t able to turn the other way so easily when seeing others suffering, thus
her aspiration of living a life of quiet idolatry as a regular human fell apart
when she found herself relied on as a skilled healer. Despite holding back on
her full powers, she was a pinnacle among Soul Weavers and became a spiritual leader
of the Conclave. When the Archdemon War came to an end with the sealing of the
Archdemon, she hoped Diene would supplant her, but that didn’t work out as
Diene instead became queen of Ezera. Furthermore, with the darker elements of
the Conclave being exposed and pushed out, her role as an inspirational head
developed into one as an actual leader. Ever since, Angelica has been serving
as the head of the Conclave, training other Soul Weavers in the hopes that one
day one of them will become powerful enough to take on the burden so she could
finally retire and return to her original ambition. <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<h2>
<b><u>Theory 2: ML Angelica is Celestial Ange<o:p></o:p></u></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This theory holds a little more
water, but is similarly out there. From what we know about C. Meru, the
celestials are willful beings who have a like to do what they find of interest
to them, and are not above playing the long game. We also know that the
celestials are able to change and adapt their appearance pretty much at will,
and are not bound by the rules of Orbis. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The possibility, therefore, is that
the “real” Angelica is actually a celestial. Seeking to escape from wherever
she was and whatever her responsibilities were, she came to Orbis in the midst
of its Archdemon War. Similar to Luluca’s arrival on Orbis, Angelica was
immediately in a situation where her powers were needed. She demonstrated her
abilities and that caught folks’ attention. She likely used her incredible
healing powers, which led people to assume she was a Soul Weaver. She likely
fled that situation, not wanting her time on Orbis confined to that role.
Sometime later is when she met Bask and Diene in the forest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
By this theory, Angelica is
actually a Celestial who left her original world behind. Rather than wanting to
travel around the way C. Meru does, Angelica instead only wanted to find
someplace where she could just get by without doing a lot. This was working for
her until she became involved with Diene, Bask, and Krau. As a result, she
became depended on by the Conclave, becoming its leader, and the spiritual
support for the religion centered on the goddess Diche. However, she assumed
this would be a short-lived thing. Her lack off true piety, she assumed,
alongside the eventual defeat of the Archdemon, would have someone more suited
appear. And not having to run around the way Diene did, she thought she could
skate by not having to do much. That didn’t happen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When “Ange” came to Orbis, she
picked a young school girl she saw as her avatar, expecting that no one would
pay her any mind that way. Unfamiliar with the humans of Orbis, she didn’t take
into account things like age or aging. By the time she realized that she messed
up by not at least picking an older body, or artificially aging herself a
little at a time, she thought it was already too late, and that it would
instead raise suspicion if she suddenly started to grow older. She instead
decided she would make believe that her lack of aging was a result of her
superior powers as a Soul Weaver. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So, there you have it – the two
theories behind Angelica’s origins. As I said, neither is particularly likely
from a practical standpoint. Given that ML Angelica was datamined months ago, I
don’t know that you can really craft an ML Angelica from an Angelica with these
backgrounds. Potentially a tweak or two would make the Celestial Angelica idea
work, but again, not likely. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If I had to guess on the “real”
outcome for ML Angelica it’s likely she will be simply some older version of regular
Angelica. Maybe not a “bishoujo” type, but perhaps an elderly sage type. I
could honestly see them going either way, though we all know the bishoujo route
likely has more selling power. As for the mystery of her age, it has fallen out
of style in the last decade or two, but shounen stories used to be super big on
the concept of a sage veteran’s powers simply making them look younger. Think
of Genkai in the Dark Tournament in the Yu Yu Hakusho series, or Natsume Maya
in the Tenjho Tenge series (look them up). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As for her abilities as a character
in game, I don’t know how you can improve Angelica’s kit without her becoming
terribly broken, so she would likely have to use some newer mechanic. I think
of stuff like continuous heal, a cleanse, or adding Reflect to her barrier, on
top of her current kit, as having too much chance of being OP given she already
has some of the best heals in the game to boot. But maybe a defense buff could
work, if not swapping out her current kit for one with continuous heal and a
Reflect barrier. Adding a revive would be too simplistic and just make her more
like a copy-and-paste of Ruele and Maid Chloe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
She could undergo a complete class
change. Even though their respective kits didn’t really change that
dramatically, Vildred->A.Vildred and Kise->J.Kise went from Thiefs to
Warriors, so ML Angelica could well end up as something other than a Soul
Weaver. In that case, predicting a niche or kit for her is all but impossible.
Do you go Mage and become more of a hybrid support unit? Knight and become the
second coming of Clarissa? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But we’ll see. It probably won’t be
too long until we know one way or another what her deal is. Either way, it’ll
be interesting. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-82129936504170065762019-11-13T02:00:00.001-05:002020-12-03T23:07:25.561-05:00New E7 Players Tips - Farming Gold<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I want to do a series of posts with some tips about things that newer players, or even some veterans, might not know or realize, that may make their E7 experience a little easier. First up is gold farming.</div>
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Gold is one of the most important parts of this game, but not as all-consuming as it can be in other games. Virtually everything in this game requires gold; leveling up with fodder, limit breaking your heroes, awakenings, and most importantly, gear leveling and crafting.</div>
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Every PvE battle you engage in will give you gold of some amount. Generally, the best return on energy investment is one of the Hunts; Wyvern, Golem, Banshee, or Azimanak. As a general rule, there is no reason to do a Hunt of a lower level than you are capable, so if you can do Wyvern 7 you shouldn't have any reason to do Wyvern 6, if you can do Azimanak 11 there's little reason to do Azimanak 10. The only exception is the instance of farming while dog-walking, but that is something I'll get into in another post.</div>
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The point here is, the higher level hunt you do, the more gold you get. Simple enough.</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: center;">Things get a little trickier when you get outside of hunts or runes. When you start trying to farm gold in adventure or side story missions, your results are not quite so predictable. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The video below is from a couple of runs (auto-battle, no auto-repeat, highest difficulty) I did on the last stage of the Halloween side-story event this year. As you can see at the top of the rewards screen, the EXP bonus (not relevant to this discussion) is 50%, and the gold bonus is 45%.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0_Vk4593HH8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0_Vk4593HH8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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As you'll see in the video around the 3:04 mark, in that first run I get a little over 33K gold. The rewards screen shows this as one of 4 "Acquired Items" with the others being one 2* fodder, one piece of fodder gear, and 97 units of the event currency. On the award screen after the second battle (around the 6:38 mark) that took place right after the first, the gold haul is all the way down to 18K. Here, there are 7 drops, including an additional piece of fodder gear, 3 Skystones, and a lesser weapon charm. </div>
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That is a 13K difference; a whopping 40% drop in gold income from one mission to the next. So, what was the cause? Why does it matter?</div>
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The why it matters part is easy; each of those runs was 30 energy. The first run yielded 1100 gold per unit of energy used up, while the second gave just 600. As limited a resource as energy is, the whole point of this discussion is how to make the best use of it. Knowing that your activities could yield a 40% difference in the outcome is important, especially for F2P (free-to-play) players. </div>
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<br /></div>
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That leaves the critical question of why this happens. The reason is simple, if not particularly desirable. </div>
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The Basics of Gold Awards</h3>
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In every battle (that provides gold) there are three means of gathering gold. The first is by simply clearing the mission. There is a default base amount of gold that is available for every battle you finish. The second is defeating enemies. When you defeat a group of enemies in Adventure or the Side Stories, there is a chance of them either dropping gold, a piece of fodder gear, a fodder unit, <strike>homemade snacks</strike>, or a catalyst. The rarity of the other stuff all but guarantees that you will always get some gold. </div>
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The third is through chests. Chests, similar to defeating enemies, has the chance to drop gold, equipment fodder, <strike>homemade snacks</strike>, and catalysts, Skystones replacing the 2* fodder. </div>
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Because of this, the drops you get from the battle has a direct impact on the gold you get. Chances are that if you get no fodder, no catalysts, or anything else like that, you will have the maximum gold for that mission. Each drop that you get decreases the amount of gold you get. And because the chance of drops is random, you have no means of knowing for certain from one mission to the next how much gold you might get. Some runs you will get a lot of gold, some you'll get hardly any - it's all random at that point. </div>
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The hunts are different because of the fact that drops are static. Every hunt you will get four things; gold, the relevant crafting material, stigma, and what I'll call "other". The "other" comprises energy, Skystones, gear, mystic medals, and bookmarks.</div>
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Pros and Cons</h3>
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So, does that mean you should never farm gold anywhere other than a hunt? Not necessarily. The question of how to go about this is a little more complex.</div>
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Because our question is all about how to best get gold while not wasting energy, the answer is mostly dependent on how capable you are at doing multiple things. There is usually a pretty good chance that if you are running an adventure or side story mission, you can sneak a fodder unit or a dog into the formation. Doing that will allow you to train up that fodder for eventual use in leveling up some other hero you're working on - and there's almost always another hero you're working on getting up to max level. </div>
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Also, as mentioned before, there's catalysts, and in the case of side stories, event currency, that you can get form those battles. Additionally, there's the potential for burst income as chests have the potential to give you up to 25k gold. Add in any bonuses and you're going to pull far more gold in that battle than you would from any other on those runs where RNG gets you one of the larger gold chests.</div>
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The whole debate boils down to this; hunts give you a high and stable amount of gold if you can do the more difficult hunts, but you're likely only going to be able to farm whatever the hunt drops. Farm adventure or side story and you are more reliant on luck to get you as much gold as if you were doing hunts, and lose out on gear, skystones, and mystic medals, but you can train your fodder up a little easier and get catalysts needed for awakenings or skill enhancements. </div>
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In the end, here's my best advice - don't worry too much about it. The fact is, you will always need gold. How you get it is more dependent on what else you need to do. If you have a set of gear but your character isn't leveled up, and you don't have the catalysts to get them advanced, you'll have to get farming for catalysts or farming up fodder anyway. And if you have your hero max level and all their abilities maxed (or at least where you want them) you'll have to get to gear farming regardless. </div>
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Pets</h3>
<div>
Do pets effect the equation? The answer depends. There are several pets whose passive effect gives you a chance to get extra stuff - extra gear drops in hunts, extra runes from the spirit altar, extra chance on catalysts. How this effects your gold depends on which pet bonus we're talking about. Generally speaking, if the effect is to give you an extra or bonus of the item, that drop is counted separate from all others. For example, a run on Wyvern 11 with no gold bonuses gives you 29.6k gold. I have an S rank pet that gives a 7.5% chance at getting an additional piece of gear per run. When this chance triggers, for that run I will get 5 drops instead of 4; the usual stigma, gold, and crafting material, as well as 2 gear drops. With that extra gear drop, my gold income remains at 29.6K. That is because the gear drop is an "extra" meaning it wasn't actually dropped by any enemies. </div>
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<div>
If this were instead adventure and the effect of the pet was something like having an extra chance for a catalyst, that is actually manipulating the drop rate of the catalysts available in that battle. In this case, you run the chance of an enemy dropping a catalyst when they otherwise would not have. In this case, your gold haul would be impacted because whereas you might not have received a catalyst, and therefore received more gold, you now did receive a catalyst and therefore got less gold. </div>
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<div>
There is also a pet that applies a chance for a bonus percentage to the gold you get after a battle. This would work just like the bonus in my video above - it would tack on to whatever total of gold from drops or chests you received in that battle. So, assuming it was a chance for 10% more gold, instead of receiving 45%, when the pet's ability triggered, for that one battle, I would have received 55% gold. </div>
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Conclusion</h3>
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In absolute terms, your better off farming hunts. It takes a lot to get good gear, so you'll need to keep at it a long time. The chance to get mystic medals in particular is extremely important, as there are few other ways to get them without spending real money. Any unwanted gear you get can be used to enhance other gear, used weekly in the Alchemist Steeple to make charms, or just sold for more gold. Furthermore, a stable and predictable rate of return from farming is better than the unpredictability of adventure where one or two really good runs can be offset easily by several poor ones. </div>
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However, you will always need more gold. Everything you need gold to do has a form of battle that also lets you farm gold. And everything that you get from those battles is something you need to improve your heroes. Your best option most times is going to be to figure out what you need other than gold and focus on farming that. You'll see your gold supplies increase naturally that way. But, if you're looking for how to get a lot in as short amount of time as possible, hunts are usually your best bet. </div>
DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-74608429813236775762019-11-06T03:00:00.000-05:002019-11-06T03:00:04.923-05:00Luna, Luna, Cecilia, Cecilia<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
First with the release of Fallen Cecilia, and then with the
story we received in the epilogue of the Halloween 2019 event, I think I have
an idea of what the developers and writers plan to do with the story of Luna
and Cecilia. It’s a bit complex, and there may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t
done the Halloween event. Mind you, this is only my own theory, so take it as
that. There is no clear evidence to say that I’ve got this right. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
Background on the Players Involved Here<o:p></o:p></h1>
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If you read the little bit of story that Dominiel has on
Stove about Fallen Cecilia, we are told that in ML Ceci’s world there was a
human mage named Luna. Luna was responsible for a grave betrayal that led to
the death of a number of Ceci’s comrades, and thus Fallen Ceci has gone on a
quest to get her revenge against that mage. Whoever this mage was, they were
powerful enough to be able to kill dragons, so they aren’t exactly anyone to
mess with. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, in the Wintenburg we know of thus far, the non-ML
Cecilia’s mother is named Francesca. Francesca is likewise known as a badass
who can take down dragons like nobody’s business, and even sent the Cidonia episodes’
resident villain, Straze, running. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Cecilia grew up with a friend named Luna…<o:p></o:p></div>
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This Luna is a half-dragon, half-human. Similar to
Francesca, Luna is also a major wall of destruction. The two were apparently
good friends. But, she has a kindly personality with Cecilia and the
younger-sister-like Yufine. <o:p></o:p></div>
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At some point prior to the start of the E7 main story, Luna
seemingly betrayed Cecilia, pushing her into a portal in a gorge which whisked
Cecilia to Ritania. Ever since, Cecilia has been searching for a way back home
to Eureka, haunted by the brief glimpse she had of the one she thinks was
trying to kill her. But Winterberg is surrounded by a powerful magical barrier that
keeps others from leaving or entering, under the pretense of guarding against
the chaos and dangers of the Archdemon Wars in Ritania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the Halloween 2019 event, Cecilia is exploring a haunted
mansion with Yuna and Serilia, where they discover a Chaos Gate. Venturing
through the Chaos Gate, Cecilia is able to travel once more back to Winterberg,
and once there comes face to face with Luna. Luna all but admits to having been
the one that pushed Cecilia from that cliff, and after a battle with Cecilia, once
more pushes her through the Chaos Gate, bidding her to never return. <o:p></o:p></div>
<h1>
Francesca, aka ML Luna<o:p></o:p></h1>
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So this part of the theory is where it all starts. It’s a
little out there, but I think there’s plenty of support for it based on what we
know about the story behind Luna and Cecilia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Everything we know about the Luna we are most familiar with,
which admittedly isn’t a whole lot, tells us that she was always very kind and
considerate. She was beloved by both former residents of Winterberg, Yufine and
Cecilia. <o:p></o:p></div>
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But something changed and she seemingly became cold,
standoffish, and if her camping compatibility is any indication, incapable of
getting along with others. Unlike Yufine and Cecilia, who from our perspective
look no more draconic than Luna, Luna is only a half dragon. And from what
we’re told from various supplemental materials, half-dragon Luna looks identical
to mage Luna.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But from the images of Francesca that we know of, the woman
on the Draco Plate artifact, Luna and Francesca also share a very distinct
resemblance. Now, this could be coincidental – we know anime and game artists
can sometimes have same-face syndrome across multiple characters. But assuming
for a moment that the similarities in appearance aren’t merely coincidental,
one can certainly see Francesca as appearing much like an older version of
Luna. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Here’s my theory;<o:p></o:p></div>
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The mage Luna from Eureka was conducting dark experiments.
She used the conflict between the dragon clans to manipulate both sides,
turning the dragons into magic stones, much like Kayron was doing in his gambit
to revive the Archdemon. When she was confronted and chased down by Cecilia,
she wound up passing through a Chaos Gate, ending up in Winterberg. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Once in Winterberg, Mage Luna had to start her work from
scratch, and had this new world of dragons to work with. With her knowledge and
strength gained in the last world, she rose to power in this one. She used the
threat of the wars in Ritania as a pretext to erect the magical barrier around Winterberg,
effectively holding captive the dragons that were the source of fodder for her
experiments. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Not unlike the homunculus experiments that yielded Mercedes
and Sigret, or that which created Sez, Mage Luna, now going by the name
Francesca, created human/dragon hybrids. The most successful of these was the
Luna we know. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Luna was an obedient protégé, naïve to the manner of her
birth or what Francesca was up to. Luna was even suitable as a big-sister
figure for Francesca’s “daughter” Cecilia, likely even spending more time
beside Cecilia than Francesca did. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One day, however, Luna discovered Francesca’s secret. Like
she had done in in her home world, Francesca was preparing to carry out a
large-scale experiment that would sacrifice a great number of dragons of Winterberg.
She tried to kill Francesca, and though the world recognizes her as dead, Luna
knows that Francesca actually faked her death and escaped. In order to protect
the two dearest to her, Luna sent Cecilia and Yufine through a Chaos Gate,
knowing that there would be almost no way for them to get back to Winterberg.
Ever since, she has been engaged in a desperate struggle against Francesca,
while bearing the brand of a traitor. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So, what do you think? Will this be anything close to what
happens? I think that until Cidonia’s story is done they’ll tease out little
tidbits like the Halloween epilogue. But, once Cidonia is done, I expect Winterberg
will be the next region we’ll visit, and we’ll get the full story of the land
of dragons. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Luna or ML Luna will play a
part in helping to defeat Straze. I have another theory, even further out
there, that Celestial Mercedes actually came to Orbis to keep an eye on the
entity that has been assisting Straze, which I believe is also connected to ML
Luna. <o:p></o:p></div>
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E7 has played it fairly straight with most of their characters
and their stories. It is clear they have been holding back on making Luna out
to be a pure villain, so my estimate is that she won’t be one. If the latest Stove
event is any indication, Luna is a definitive fan favorite. Typically franchises
who have popular but undefined characters are hesitant to make them into
outright villains. They will usually only go so far as making them anti-heroes –
have them do bad things for reasons the story will treat as the right ones. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Regardless, this could turn out to be an exciting story. It
is one of the most intriguing sub-plots in the game right now. I’m looking
forward to its development.</div>
DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-86906262259513502002019-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:002019-10-31T06:00:02.659-04:00Monster Girl Drider Kali<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 48px;">It seems like ages ago that I originally started this project. I wasn’t even sure I’d have a project for Halloween this year, but here it is. After releasing my most popular piece several Halloweens ago, I’ve finally brought it back in full color. It’s like the 1950s all over again.</span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">History</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The delay on this was brought
entirely on indecision and inattentiveness. After the original drawing was put
up, I was like, “okay, let’s do this. Coloring time… right after I get this
other project going.” And that led to another project, which led to another
project, which led to another… you get the idea. By the time I circled back
around to this one, I ran into so much indecisiveness it’s unbelievable. Not one
color consideration was simply settled. Not one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsXRFOtzMkAyz7wDsaeDtN0t_tYsorfGk5f4hzDXXJ2YahErdKVrF3xC5KmxtKhComNgST09KWJAdE3OHKNfMR-Xa5JvnlzmYU_-PxeKqajHYjOFVm5nMpcGi5ibygWaeCGVAXoCeiv0/s1600/Drider+Kali.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsXRFOtzMkAyz7wDsaeDtN0t_tYsorfGk5f4hzDXXJ2YahErdKVrF3xC5KmxtKhComNgST09KWJAdE3OHKNfMR-Xa5JvnlzmYU_-PxeKqajHYjOFVm5nMpcGi5ibygWaeCGVAXoCeiv0/s640/Drider+Kali.jpg" width="532" /></a></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Color<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I take that back; the eyes were
settled pretty easily. I knew right away I wanted to do the yellow on black
pigmented sclera. There was no way to make her more creepy from a color and
lighting standpoint than to paint her sclera black. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But from there I waffled back and
forward on every choice I could make with respect to the colors of everything
else. The dress design was borrowed from Kantai’s Koungou, but I didn’t want to
copy the colors. Should she be lighter or darker skinned in her monster form?
Should her hair be darker or lighter? Should I change the hair color entirely?
What color should the spider fur be; black or brown? Should I paint her nails
to match her hair, her eyes, her dress? Going through a number of combinations,
all of them seemed really off, really bad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After getting frustrated for a bit,
I set it aside. I would come back every once in a while, get upset about my
inability to figure it out, try a couple random ideas, and give up again for a
while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The issue comes down to a lack of
conviction for any potential idea because each deviates so far from the norm
for her. With no unifying concept or theme in terms of color theory on this
particular piece, it left it rudderless. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, here are some rules that this
experience has helped me establish for Drusilla/Kali. First, she has to either
go dark or super light on hair color. Her native hair color is a purple. It’s
not a particularly dark purple, but if you go lighter, it starts to look odd on
her. Except that if you go really light, like white, silver, or platinum blonde.
So that basically allows me to cut out all the middle ground colors. I also can
cut out a lot of the primary colors. I can do yellow, but only if that yellow
is platinum blonde. I’m not going to do blue, red, or green because they’re not
her colors. Of the secondary colors, the only ones that would align with her
are going to be violet and purple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Skin tone can always be a tricky
thing. Too light and it looks like you’ve got a ghost. Attempts to darken it
can leave them either looking like they got a crappy spray-on tan, or they’re
in blackface. Or you end up with the character in some color that doesn’t match
any human you’ve ever seen. My attempts were looking more like the bad spray-on
tan sort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As always it’s best, if you find
yourself going off the rails, to take a step back and simplify things. So that
is what I did here in the end, instead of trying to make this some ridiculously
overly complicated mess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In terms of the hair and skin tone,
I went with what worked for Drusilla Arenzai’s “Beach Day in Cromwell” piece.
The hair still ended up being just a little tricky because for whatever reason,
despite attempting to compensate settings, it was looking like a different
color on my desktop compared to my tablet. Didn’t have the same problem with
the skin tone, eye color, or anything else really, so I’ve no idea how that
issue came about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At any rate, I reconsidered the
original idea that ostensibly the spider portion of this image is based on the
black widow spider. I considered just doing her dress/kimono in the same colors
of black and red. Typically for something like this you would see the main body
of the outfit in black, with the trim or lining portions in red. I wanted more
contrast between her clothes and her spider body, rather than potentially
making it seem like the two were somehow blending together. You’d basically have
a giant black spot taking up almost half the image. There was also the
“not-black black” option, but I’ve made it known before that I’m not terribly
fond of that artistic tool. Add to that what I had in mind for background, and
it would just have been weird to do it that way in this case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the concept still held that it
should either way be some sort of darker color. Soul Eater’s Arachne, who
serves as the main inspiration for Kali, wears a dress that is that not-black
black, so that’s no good. Considering the options, the color of poison in most
representations is purple. Thinking that way, some shade of purple would be
appropriate. Maintaining that it should be a darker color, I basically took her
hair color, played with the red and blue balance, and upped the black level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I went with red and black for the
trim and lining, keeping with the established theme. I chose black for the
“stitching” on the sleeves, and the straps binding the front. I also kept the
coloring of Arachne’s fan – a dark gray frame with a black body. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That also settled the question of
the color of her spider body. My idea for considering brown in the first place
was to acknowledge one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, the brown
recluse. Kali of the Two-Six isn’t much of a black widow to begin with. While
her relationships tend to be less than healthy, they don’t typically fall to the
level of a black widow. She is, however, quite the adept crafter of potions and
poisons, and her very aura is like a poison (see Soul Eater for details on
that). That is how Semiramis from the Fate/Apocrypha series ends up as part of
her pantheon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That said, I drew this image in
looking at and under the consideration of a black widow spider. Thinking about
deviating from that would make for an interesting alternative project, but for
the sake of dispelling the complication that stymied this project so long in
the first place, there really was no reason to piece together anything not
dealing with a black widow spider. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Background<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For the background, I sort of
always had the idea that it would feature spider webs, but hadn’t thought too
hard about it. I typically craft my backgrounds to fit the character I’m
drawing, particularly as it pertains to colors. Obviously, the real world
operates the opposite way, but this isn’t the real world after all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The idea I had from the start was
simply that there would be spider webs in the background. What I wasn’t sure
about was whether there would be anything else. Would I do a rustic room
covered in webs, a dilapidated version of a modern home, or just some abstract
background of cobwebs? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again here, I decided to make it
very simple – a dark background with a very large spider web on which she
stands. Given how large she is relative to the rest of the image – the fact
that her front legs aren’t even fully in the image – there isn’t much that can
be fittingly done for the background without going back and expanding the
overall image itself. Expanding the image just to fit more random stuff for a
background that won’t end up adding much overall to the story of the image
didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Maybe if I was better with backgrounds in
general I would feel differently, but just don’t see a reason to here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I tried to add an appropriate
amount of highlight without overdoing it. It is a dark image overall, so having
her being too much highlights, defining the highlights too much, would be out
of place.</span></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There isn’t much else to say here. There
are a few more Kali/Drusilla pieces in the works, but I’ve got no timetable on when
those will get done. There is one I’m doing with Drusilla and C.C. that I’m
looking forward to finishing soon titled “At The Bistro.” It’s based in the
Cromwell Universe and features the two ladies sitting at an outdoor café overlooking
a river. The line art on the ladies is all done, so it’s just doing the background
the way I want it. I even know most of the colors I’ll be using. I want to release
this one no earlier than Valentine’s Day, possibly save it for a springtime
date. Don’t make any steady plans for those dates, however. If another project
distracts me, or some element of the project holds me up, who knows when it’ll finally
get done. But, to be sure, there are plenty of Drusilla projects to come in the
future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-76283880582612473422019-10-30T06:00:00.000-04:002019-10-30T08:39:56.835-04:00Halloween 2019 Project 1 - Kali of the Two-Six<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's October 30, one day before Halloween. Here we have the first of two project to mark Halloween of 2019, the last Halloween of the decade. </span></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">When I started this image long ago,
it was a black and white drawing with no real idea about how I would go about
colors. The original character I based her on had one color theme, the
character her identity developed into had another. The personality swath she
began to cover as a character has yet another series. As a result, the main
challenge for me became figuring out exactly where “Kali” – the supposed
progenitor of all the Drusilla variants – fits into that pendulum. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dark Persona<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The biggest part of Kali’s persona
is the fact that she isn’t actually much like most of the versions of Drusilla
I explore, particularly the Drusillas of First Moon and Cromwell. They are far
more social, far more outgoing, far more engaging, than Kali herself is. Conversely,
the Drusilla in the First Star Saga is far darker than the others, but too
uncontrolled. She plays more like the Arachne of Soul Eater, or as if she was
infected by Kali’s madness. And this isn’t for lack of skill or grace or
beauty. Kali has every bit as much, if not more, than any of the Drusillas. But
Kali is also much “darker” mentally. She lacks reserve, discretion, that the
others have. I shade her much closer to, arguably beyond, who Arachne was in
Soul Eater. The madness effect that Arachne deals in with that series is the
very essence of Kali’s being. Much like how Ashura exuded that essence that
just drove those who could sense it insane, so does Kali. Not out of any
nefarious means or desires, but the sheer overabundance of desires.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you had to frame who Kali is in
the most accurate terms, she is probably Sessyoin Kiara out of Fate/Grand
Order. She likes to pursue her own sense of pleasure, regardless of the effect
that may have on others, or even herself. But this isn’t centrally focused
anywhere. It’s not as though she is filled with lust like Kiara, but that she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> be. If she becomes interested in
being a masochist, she will become the greatest masochist you’ve ever seen,
putting characters like Konosuba’s Darkness to shame. If she wants to be a
sadist, she can make Esdeath look like a saint. If the urge strikes her, the
likes of the efforts and sacrifice for a Holy Grail war would be equivalent to
making a sandwich for an afternoon snack. She wouldn’t, and hasn’t, hesitated
to go to the extremes of universal experimentation that would make even the
three goddesses of the Tenchi universe stop and think. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of all the Two-Six, her
capriciousness is the most divested from considerations of their impacts. While
Ceres may go off from one place to another at the drop of a hat, she is at
least weary enough of the impact that can have so she’ll limit her interactions
and bonds with others, and try to distance herself before her inevitable
departure. Izanami’s actions are focused, despite their terrible repercussions.
What might seem like her being capricious is actually true malice. Even someone
like Hime who is something of Izanami’s opposite is capricious to a large
degree, but only so far as to say she is enforcing a justice that sees her at
the pinnacle of authority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Kali doesn’t concern herself with
questions of good or evil, right or wrong. Not because she has some
philosophical judgment on the question, but because she simply doesn’t care to
be bothered with the question. Whatever catches her interest is hers to explore
in any way she wants, to whatever extent she wants, everyone else and their
rules or norms or morals, be damned. She pesters Anzushiro, asking permission
to start a sexual relationship with Yugi, not because she likes Yugi and wants
to be nice and have her sister give him up for her sake, but because she is
curious about why Anzushiro loves him, and thinks a fight with Anzushiro would
be too much of a pain to deal with just to answer that question. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of that is to say that Kali of
the Two-Six and Drusilla Arenzai maybe be two fruits from the same tree, but
they’ve got very different tastes to them. They may be cut from the same cloth,
but you’ve got two different outfits going here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And so, while they’ll obviously
look very similar in many ways, they are going to be different in others.
That’s why, in this project, I wanted to mute her colors and surroundings. It’s
a little funny to think of “mute” colors in an image that features vibrant
purple, almost blue, hair, and electric blue pumps and design features on a
dress, but those minimal pops in color don’t take away from the deliberate overall
feeling of a lack of vibrancy in this image. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://fav.me/ddjc87y" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1503" data-original-width="1600" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWH7VLSCq29qRUG2-T2hUw_zS6s5ae2GtSLP84Rby0pNIz7fuJ-En8CYhwfV42nk_TL_Z0vY-yTXzvtloQxXsL-lUHj8O1fVdQaqXwMca3zYhbAw2buimCnukH8ptv9vL61RulziYJxMk/s640/Kali+of+the+Two+Six.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eyes <o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The primary source of that feeling
has to be the eyes. In my continued explorations of eye design and color
features in this project series, here is another one for Kali. Drusilla’s eyes,
in both Cromwell and First Moon, are the color of pure gold. In First Moon, I
introduce the idea that when very upset or using a lot of power, her sclera –
the white of the eyes – turns black and you can see a spiderweb pattern in her iris.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I try to hide the spider motif a
little more here. I do the two-tone black that some anime tend to do in red or
yellow with characters that are supposed to be turning into/have turned into demons.
I then make her pupils, in their “slit” shape, a very dark red. Without much
imagination, you should be able to recognize the combination of the iris and
pupil as the familiar sight of a black widow spider. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The thing is, fully zoomed out,
while you can probably see that there is something going on with her eyes, they
do mostly look like black holes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Combine her eyes with her
relatively bright colored hair, and her ashen-pale skin tone, she looks like
death. She has all of her beauty, but still looks like she cannot be alive. You
probably wouldn’t want to approach her in real life, no matter how beautiful
she appears. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Physical Profile and Dress Design<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And she is supposed to be very
attractive. Another subtle nod to her spider theme, she has a very thin
profile, seemingly very long limbs. Akin to other characters defined as particularly
beautiful in their original source materials like Boa Hancock in One Piece or
Euphemia Britannia in Code Geass. Even her neck and fingers have that look to
them of being very long. Functionally, she is about as tall as Athena (Boa
Hancock) making her the second or third tallest of the sisters at somewhere at
or north of 6’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The dress design is a combination
of two anime dresses. The first, evidenced by the sleeves, is Arachne from Soul
Eater. That one should be fairly obvious as I use it in most of Drusilla’s
artwork. The second, much less obvious, particularly if you’re not an anime fan
of a certain age, is from the character of Elizabeth out of the Trigun series. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Elizabeth shows up in all of I
think two episodes of Trigun – the one where she is introduced and Vash spends
the episode as her bodyguard, and the other being a brief shot of her in the
montage at the end of the last episode. As odd as it may seem, my original idea
all the way back when I was first starting the Book of the Shadows series, was
to have Elizabeth be Yami’s mother. That is why Yami’s mother’s name is
Elizabeth. Well, that stuck around for a long time because I never actually
began writing much of anything about Yami’s mother. Once I did, however, it
became obvious that using Elizabeth, as minimal of a story there was to build
with, wouldn’t work. So, I kept the name, but she became more or less an
unidentified character in terms of assigning an anime character to her image. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At about that time, I was also
working on the story of one of the alternate universes Anzu and Runa visit
while chasing down Yugi in Advancing Shadows. In that alternate world, Drusilla
is Yami’s mother. So, via that game of “six degrees of separation” I arrived at
the idea of this dress design. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, the chest portion of this
dress has undergone multiple revisions over the years since I first drew it. At
first it rose a bit higher, covering more of her chest. Then I decided to make
it match Arachne’s more and gave it a web pattern like Arachne’s dress. Then I
went back to striking the web design in favor of something more like adult
chibiusa/Black Lady’s. Then I struck that and lowered her neckline very low.
Then, finally, I built it back up again as seen in this final version. It’s a
change that has no real “meaning” in terms of what it matches, how, or why, so
it’s about as close to an original design element as I have in this dress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Accessories and Other Details<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The design of her pumps was
originally based on something, but I can’t for the life of me remember what. It’s
not a particularly fancy shoe design, but I know there was an anime character I
based it on for some reason or another. I have no recollection whatsoever who
that was now though, let alone why it was seemingly important enough that I
remember I did it, but not why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The background is very simplistic.
The original plan called for an originally designed combination of a doghouse
and a roost just behind her. As is my intent for the greater project, I want to
have all of their spirit beasts represented in the image someplace or another.
So, that would require, to some extent, having them interact with the
creatures, or providing the associate paraphernalia of keeping such… pets. In
my original project, a phoenix was perched on the roost, and there was a spider
web on a part closer to the bottom portion where the doghouse portion was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But my doghouse bird perch wasn’t
precisely the sort of design I envisioned, and I wasn’t happy with the design
on the phoenix. I’ve decided I would work on a redesign of those elements, but
don’t have anything really that good in mind. Not knowing what the design will
ultimately look like, I don’t have any idea if it will even fit into this image
in any way, so I have no choice but to leave it out. As a result, the actual
image here is reduced some. I cropped out some of the space that is supposed to
be behind her, to our right. I mostly left the space I did so I can use it as a
future spacing reference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Now, the floor is a special case.
This Kali image is just one part of a series of images, comprising the
Gathering of the Two-Six project. It was the project for Nehellenia where I
decided on the flooring – choosing hardwood instead of carpet, picking a color,
etc. But the other parts I’ve completed – Anzu, Hime, Athena – all rest between
these two. For the sake of minimizing future work I need to do on this image, I
thought it better to leave the floor mainly blank until I fill in that gap
between images, rather than drawing in the flooring features and not knowing if
they at all will match up. The baseboard’s design is super simple, and only
really demarks where the wall ends and the floor begins. There’s less need to
guess about dimensions or anything like that, and even if ultimately they
aren’t on the exact same latitude, moving one image up or down shouldn’t effect
much of anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Touching back on color, the main
body of the dress is a sort of light purple/lilac color. It’s a very pale
color, and I didn’t add any real sheen or shine to give it extra pop. This is
deliberately so that it can remain a fairly muted color, trying not to take too
much from her deathly pale complexion. It definitely isn’t a silk dress or any
such thing. In my memory this color was the same for Elizabeth, though I
confess I never went back to check on that, so it’s quite possibly totally wrong.
But, nonetheless, it’s a good color for her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Also, in my mind the bottom trim of
her dress was blue, close to the blue I use for the bow and shoes. I can
sometimes be overly focused on inconsequential details. In this case, it was
the fact that the toe of the shoe poking out beneath the folds of the dress at
the bottom would have made them match, thereby the detail of the shoe ending up
lost. I gave her red shoes instead, matching the shoes to the band of red
across the cleavage of her dress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Her fan inverts the fan that
Arachne has, making the frame black and the inner portion dark grey. The couch
is grey because I couldn’t think of a better color. In the Anzushiro image that
started the project I originally made it brown, but that was mostly because I
was basing the design on a couch at home. I ultimately changed that into a
bench. I kept that bench design for Athena’s because I was still working off
the elements established in Anzushiro’s. But in reality the original intent was
always a couch and those projects will eventually be reworked to meet that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Having brown wood floors, however,
meant that brown material for the couch wouldn’t be a particularly smart design
choice. So, I had to come up with something different. I wasn’t completely sure
on the material, but I’m mostly of the idea that it will be leather. Blue
wouldn’t work well because it is such a dominant color for Anzushiro and
Athena’s dresses, and shows up again so much here in Kali’s. Black was a
possibility, but I wasn’t too sure I liked that one. White was also a
consideration, as were light blue, tan, and various shades of green. There’s
definitely a strong possibility I could change this again at some point but for
now this light grey seems the best choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Final Thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That’s about all there is for this
project. It marks the fifth completed entry into the Gathering of the Two-Six
project; we’re almost halfway. The good news on that is I do have another image
that is very, very, close to being done. The bad news is that I don’t really
have much clue on the last six. Serenity’s image will be done next year unless
some sort of hiccup develops. I have an idea that I attempted for Nue, but I paused
on that when it didn’t go the way I wanted, so I have to figure out if I’m
going to start that one from scratch, or rework it until it matches my plans. I
have that completed Izanami drawing I need to color, so there’s that too. I don’t
imagine that one should be terribly troublesome, but I haven’t given any thought
to colors yet. I think it’s suited as a precursor to my All Hallow’s Eve
release. I hope you like it. See you again soon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-51989206680990885372019-10-30T00:00:00.000-04:002019-10-30T00:00:14.715-04:00The Vagabond Ras Skin – Why It’s Not a Spec Change, and Why Meru Is Different<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another topic that crept up and has
had wavering attention in the E7 Global community since its “suggested”
appearance has been Vagabond Ras. This is the version of Ras we see in the
Unrecorded History portion of the game, the post-Ritania story of Ras’s travels
back through Reingar, Ezera, Solayuu and the rest of the first 10 locales we
visit, during his quest to rid Mercedes of the Archdemon’s taint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At this time there were many fans
who thought this was a sign of an upcoming specialty change. Well, as of this
writing, that never happened. And it likely won’t.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<h1>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It Simply Wouldn’t Make Sense<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every Specialty Change has one
thing in common – it is a quest to make the original character stronger. Vagabond
Ras is the opposite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to the story, Ras has
tired after the battle with the Archdemon. He is weaker. And by the end of the
trip, having convinced Diche, the Goddess that empowered him and gave him his
immortality, to leave the world to its own devices, he is little more than an
experienced human in terms of power. In fact, much of the dialogue in the
Cidonia story has been his reflecting and/or lamenting the fact that he’s not
as strong as he used to be since he no longer has the Goddess’ protection.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Based on that story, there is no
way that Ras, as his vagabond self, could be a Specialty Change. He hasn’t
gotten any stronger. It’s the opposite; he’s weaker. Given that, there’s simply
no rationale to have a specialty change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That Leaves A Skin<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, if not a Specialty Change, that
pretty much leaves two options – a new character, or a skin. But, as we just
established that Vagabond Ras is a weaker version of regular Ras, at best only
as strong, a new character wouldn’t make much sense. Strength and ability wise
you wouldn’t be able to justify him being 4 or 5 stars, and there isn’t even a
reason to assume he’d change from a fire elemental. Creating a brand new 3* Ras
doesn’t make much sense at all, not in the way something like Seaside Bellona
made some specious sense. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Instead, Ras would be more likely
to go the route of Sez – he’d just get a skin, probably as an Epic Pass like
the other skins we’ve had thus far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This potential didn’t really exist
when Vagabond Ras first appeared in the story because there hadn’t been any
skins yet. But, that clearly isn’t the case now. There are only 2 examples;
Sez’s summer outfit, and Angelica’s schoolgirl outfit. One is connected to
their appearance in an in-game event, the other isn’t. The thing about skins is
that they can be connected to a story or event, or not. The developers have so
much freedom with how to handle skins, they can do almost anything they want
with little regard to the details of the game or anything like that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why Not Arch Meru?<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If Vagabond Ras is suitable for a
skin, why not Archdemon Mercedes? Well, I think that is actually very
plausible. If you’re looking for a way to get that aesthetic in the game the
way many fans seem to want, but don’t want to go down the complex road of how
to balance her as a hero, how to make her available enough for folks to get
while suitably difficult for a prized unit, just making her a skin for regular
Mercedes or Celestial Mercedes makes a lot of sense. You would even like to do
it for Halloween.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But, this option isn’t without its
own issues too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For one, that would not likely
satisfy most folks. Unlike Vagabond Ras, we already know what a full kit of
abilities and attacks looks like for Arch Meru. There is already a ton of built
up expectation for her being a playable character. For her to then end up being
just a skin would most certainly be a letdown. How much of one? Who knows? Many
people will still jump at getting her as a skin anyway, so from a pure profit
motive standpoint, there likely isn’t any reason not to just make her a skin;
make the same or more money, save about half the headaches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another consideration, however,
would be the character the skin works on. Like most things involving Meru, they
would likely make it as applicable to regular Meru as they do to Celestial
Meru, so the likelihood would be that you can just run an Arch Meru skin on
whichever Mercedes you want (read as: Celestial Mercedes). Let’s face it
though, other than newbies or weirdos like me, most folks are going to want to
put it on Celestial Mercedes since they likely haven’t even had a set of gear
on regular Mercedes since clearing Chapter 1. It wouldn’t make a ton of sense
to make it available <i>only</i> for Celestial Mercedes – unless you have some
side story to explain that decision. And I don’t know that a lot of people will
care that Celestial Mercedes would get the skin and not regular Mercedes. But
again, story wise, it would make sense for either regular Mercedes or both
regular and Celestial, not Celestial alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>In the end</b></span>, I do think they could
go the route of having Arch Meru as a skin, but it’s not likely they will want
to do that and then have to deal with a bunch of folks complaining incessantly
about not making her a character. I don’t know that is necessarily the case for
Vagabond Ras. I’m sure Ras receives just as little, if not less, use than
regular Meru, but Vagabond Ras is not the cure to that. All the “hope” and
“power of friendship” speeches are not going to make Ras stronger now than he
was before. A future version of Ras maybe – the Ras that will likely emerge
towards the end of the Cidonia story – but not the Vagabond version. Vagabond
Ras is an easy target to pin hope of a buffed Ras that players can use for
content, but he’s not a real, honest to goodness, proper vehicle. We probably
need to wait until we get closer to the end of the Cidonia story for Ras to get
some sort of powerup – however Smilegate makes room for that in the story. I think that around this time would also be the best bet for a Ras release - probably somewhere near next anniversary. </span></div>
DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-44703068786273388742019-10-23T00:00:00.000-04:002019-10-23T00:00:01.719-04:00Archdemon Mercedes Comes to Epic 7<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I’m not sure there are any fans of
E7 that wouldn’t love to see Archdemon Mercedes appear as a playable character,
and a good number of folks are convinced that Smilegate and Co. have already laid
the ground work for that; they’re just biding their time until they reach the
point of adding her.</div>
<a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Much of the debate is around how
they will add her – a specialty change of regular Mercedes? A specialty change
of Celestial Mercedes? Or an entirely new character? So, here’s a quick
estimation on which way I think they could and should go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Spec Change Celestial Mercedes </b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
First, what about a specialty
change on Celestial Mercedes? To me this is the most remote possibility.
Celestial Mercedes, unlike the majority of other Moonlight Summon heroes, is
not actually much connected to Mercedes at all. The story we get about
Celestial Mercedes, which I think itself has rather large implications for
where the E7 story can eventually go, tells us that Celestial Mercedes is
actually a being known as a Celestial. Basically, she’s an alien. When she
arrived on Orbis, she needed to take on the form of a native being. Mercedes,
for whatever reason, was the most compatible form, so that’s who she copied. If
you want to be super t4echnical, we don’t even know for sure that Celestial
Mercedes is a ‘she’ or just a ‘he’ that that didn’t care about gender consistency
– or even genderless. In any case, Celestial Mercedes and Mercedes are
connected only by appearance – and the intangible element of compatibility. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Now, that’s not to say it is entirely
impossible for her to be specialty changed into Archdemon Mercedes. This is an
alien that could readily assume another’s identity. If it so chose, it could conceivably
decide, that Archdemon Mercedes is an interesting form, and very powerful, and
want to adopt that identity. Or that as ostensibly one of, if not the, most
powerful beings on Orbis, adopting the identity of the Archdemon would let her
rule the world. That being said, that would seemingly push the appearance of
Archdemon Mercedes in the game that further out. At best it would appear
unlikely to happen until we get a few more chapters through the current Cidonia
episodes. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
It could be a very interesting choice,
but I don’t think it’s the most likely. There is also the fact that up to this
point all specialty changes have been to otherwise relatively easily obtained
3* heroes. Celestial Mercedes is not only a 4*, but she’s also a Moonlight Summon.
While that doesn’t necessarily make her super hard to get, it does make her
considerably harder to get than the other spec. changes, even more than fellow
mystic summon Rikoris. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Spec Change Regular Mercedes<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The second option is the specialty change
of regular Mercedes option. This makes a lot of sense because of the fact that
this is basically what happened in the story – not by her explicit choice, but
she was granted increased power and took on a new form. And from a practical
aspect, “everyone has her,” since she was given to everyone as a basic part of
the story. If you play the game you not only got Mercedes, clearing every
chapter of Ezera World got you the item to max out her imprint too. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But, crafting that story is more complicated,
and there are other considerations too. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
To begin with, the story of the
specialty changes has been that the character, such as Carrot or Rikrois,
wanted to get stronger for their own individual purposes. The story told through
the specialty change quest is their actions in pursuing that, eventually
reaching that goal. It’s supposed to be a personally positive story. It’s hard
to see how you make it a positive story that Mercedes decided to turn to the
dark side. I’m not saying a character pursuing power for evil isn’t a part of
the spec. changes we’ve seen. That’s certainly the case for Butcher Corps Inquisitor
and Chaos Sect Axe. But for them individually it was their own personal target
goal being fulfilled. Everything we’ve seen of Meru tells us she only even took
in the Archdemon’s power to protect everyone, especially Ras. There is not much
chance she would willingly go looking to regain that power unless the main story
took a dark turn – something on the level of the Vildred to Arbiter
Vildred, or Corvus to Dark Corvus. That would mean something like Ras
dying, which isn’t likely to happen anytime soon (would that trigger Epic 8?). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Practically speaking, there is also
the problem with spec. changing a character that cannot be picked up. Meru isn’t
in the gacha. You only get her at the beginning of the game, and then the items
that up her imprint from clearing the Cracks in the World. At this point a large number of folks likely don’t even have her anymore, long since feeding her to
Celestial Mercedes for her imprint increase. That means the devs would have to
create an event to re-award her just so everyone had the chance to then go and
do a specialty change on her. But, if you have to basically gift over a
character just so everyone can <i>not </i>use her while finishing a quest to convert
her into another character, what was the point? It would be different if she
were in the gacha from the very beginning, but at this point reintroducing her
just to allow for a specialty change quest for her doesn’t make the most sense in
the world and amounts to little more than empty content. It is doable, however. This would essentially look just like the Summer event when they gave away Kikirat and Yuna, the difference there being that Kikirat was a limited character making a return, and Yuna, though obtainable via connections, is a 4* that rarely drops in the gacha. Furthermore, even as good as they are, they are not as game-breakingly good as Arch. Meru. likely will be. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The fix here for that is fairly simple,
however; just add Mercedes to the Covenant Summons. If they’re that keen on
making Archdemon Meru a specialty change, then just add regular Meru to the gacha
– problem solved, mostly. That way anyone who wants to keep regular Mercedes, or fed
theirs to Celestial Meru, can just roll for her. She is a 3* so she won’t be
super hard to get, certainly less than if she were a 4* or an ML 3*, though that will require who knows how many rolls on
whatever banner anyway. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>ML 5 Archdemon Mercedes<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The third option is to just make
Archdemon Mercedes a brand-new hero. This to me seems like the easiest and most
likely option, but is probably the least popular. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Archdemon Meru is Dark, so if
she’s in a gacha she will be an ML summon. What’s more, if you adhere to the
lore, it’s hard to not see her as a 5* if you’re going to start from scratch
and not do a spec. change. She is the feared Archdemon, incarnate. She is the
last boss of the main story for Ezera. She is supposed to be at the very least
on par with A.Vil and Kayron. There is a very good case that if she isn’t the
strongest character in the game at release, something went wrong. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
While I’m sure Smilegate will cash in
big time on the banner she debuts on, the collective rage from the rest of the
community will be quite intense I imagine. Even more so if she turns out to be limited. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But, making Arch. Meru her own hero
would free up the writers to do anything they want story wise to get there
without trying to shoehorn it into the established lore for spec. changes. It avoids
the problems of availability of the base character for many heirs, albeit by creating
a brand new one in terms of RNG on Mystic or ML summons. But, if we’re being honest here –
and this is coming from a guy who thinks $10 on a gacha is a tough ask and hates the idea of spending a bunch of money
on gacha – there’s not really a more fitting option here. As great as Angelic
Montmorancy or Axe God or Falconer Kluri are as spec. changes, they’re not at
the level of a Judge Kise or a Luna or ML Ken. Archdemon Meru <i>needs</i> to
be a nat. 5* ML unit if they go the route of making her a new character.
Everything story wise we know of her thus far says so. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Of course, this is a game written
and programmed by people. They can do anything at all they want and come up
with a cover story to explain how they got there. And frankly any option that
isn’t her being a 5* ML summon just makes her easier to get, so people will
ultimately be content – maybe not <i>happy</i> if the spec. change Mercedes
option isn’t chosen, but more or less content. But if we play by the rules
already on the table, then whenever she comes our way, Archdemon Mercedes will
be needing your Mystic Medals or Galaxy Bookmarks – and your luck – however you
manage to come by enough to add her to your party by rolling the Mystic and
Moonlight summons. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I think that given what we've seen of Mercedes in the latest chapter of the Cidonia story, and the ongoing theme of Ras having lost power, not to mention how currently hopeless the battle against Straze is setting itself up to be, Mercedes is going to be presented with a choice. I'm not entirely sure who, but someone will come forward with the proposition that the only way to save Ras and/or defeat Straze will be with a power like that of the Archdemon or the Goddess, and since the Goddess is gone, that will leave whatever remnants of the Archdemon's power remains. Given her having already harnessed that power once, Mercedes will make the choice to do so again for the sake of saving Ras and defeating Straze. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If they want to go for a real twist, we'll find out that the Archdemon never really left Mercedes. It was weakened, but has had control over Mercedes this entire time, hiding out and pretending to be the real Mercedes until it could regain all its power. This encounter with Straze and the chance to get the relics of the spirits, is the Archdemon's chance to regain power now that the Goddess is gone. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So, what do you think?</div>
DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-84806802143766003732019-10-18T06:00:00.000-04:002019-10-18T06:00:05.600-04:00A Reintroduction to Kali<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">With a new project release, a
reintroduction is in order. This is all about Kali of the Two-Six.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Kali of the Two-Six is a cloud of
dystopia within the Two-Six. She is absolutely capable of all sorts of
debauchery and malicious action. However, her threat comes not from her want to
do many of these things, but her unconscious mind’s acknowledgement of the potential
and possibility that <i>someone</i> can. More so than any of her sisters, Kali
is fascinated by the mechanics of the world, particularly that of the mental machinations
of others. Her curiosity is incessant, like that of a young child. And through that
curiosity her restraint in doing all she can to satisfy that curiosity is
threadbare. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Kali’s most destructive aspect, however,
is not her own activity, but her effect on others. She exudes “madness”. Everyone
around her becomes consumed by an unyielding desire to, like her, satisfy any desire
that takes them. It isn’t as sudden as a transformation, but more like the
breakdown that comes after endless prodding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">A voice starts in their ear, telling
them to fulfill some middling desire. That voice keeps repeating the same
message, urging them to make their desire come true; “Do it. Do it.” It never
rises to the level of a shout or a yell. It never becomes anything more than a whisper.
But it becomes constant, and it becomes clearer. What at first may have been
nothing but a whisper heard in a stray moment of quiet once or twice a day,
becomes a record playing in the background of their mind at all times. It never
tells them what “it” is, only that they should fulfill their desire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">In this state, the person us overcome
but their own desires. Someone angers them and that briefest of thoughts that
the source of that anger should disappear leads to attacking and killing the
irritant. A hint of lust towards another, and they suddenly try to rape that
person. Any one of these incidents will cause fear and apprehension in anyone
that knows of it. That accelerates the voice, and they too seek to end the
threat. Now, they too start attacking others, killing others, to ease their own
dear of being attacked and killed. And as such the spiral grows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">In a way, Kali is something like patient
zero for the Rage Virus. Albeit threadbare, she is in possession of her mental
faculties and her sense of inhibition. She chooses when and where to let herself
go past these internal limiters. She is infected just like everyone else, but
she doesn’t suffer the same as everyone else. But when she comes in contact
with others, she spreads that sickness, and they are not able to resist it the way
she does. And so they fight, and they kill, and so a town, a city, a country, a
world, can spiral down, down, into chaos.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Her sisters are a temper on that valve. If
they are around, the effects are limited – unless of course we’re talking about
Izanami.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">My concept for Kali began when I first
conceived of the Two-Six. There were only six of them back then, and the plan
at the time was to have two groups of three, diametrically opposed to one
another, as the basis for an overarching conflict at the backdrop of the First
Moon universe. This idea was in turn based on the Cthulhu mythos, and was set
to establish an “inner/outer” dynamic. That got toyed around with in framing it
as inner/outer planets sort of like the Sailor Moon series. That led to an idea
of having them represent sins v. virtues. That would have ballooned the count to
14… Long story short, in paring back my plans, I was still in need of a character
on the “bad” side. I wanted her to be a very sexy individual, sort of embodying
the worst aspects of a fully uninhibited sexual appetite. She was going to be
extremely lewd, wear the most erotic clothes, and everything she said was going
to be laced with sexual overtones and inuendo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">So, that was the sort of character I was
looking for. And eventually I came across the original unaffiliated image that
became the basis for Drusilla Arenzai. However, by the time I got to the
planning portions of the Arenzai part of the story, my thinking changed. I didn’t
have any interest in essentially writing up a hentai, and given the direction I
was taking the Arenzai story, that sort of characterization didn’t fit so well
anymore. I needed to tone it back somewhat; change Drusilla from just an
unfettered bundle of sexual energy into something more refined and controlled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">As a result, even though Drusilla still
retains her relatively exaggerated sex drive, encompassed by the choice to make
her a succubus, she is a different kind of predator. It became less about her
chasing her prey, more about luring it in or finding it caught in her range. I found
myself gravitating more and more towards Arachne from the Soul Eater series,
until eventually I decided that I would allow the two to be subsumed, taking
what parts of Drusilla’s identity I already had in place then, and seasoning it
with aspects from Arachne’s, particularly the visual aspect and some
particularities such as her “Madness Enhancement XXL.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Kali has various “incarnations” in my
story. There is her “true” self, Kali of the Two-Six, who resides in the
Rosenckruez universe as Drusilla Rosenckruez. She is the closest to the
original concept I had for her character, the least like Arachne. She is more
brash and lewd than the others. That threadbare sensibility I noted before is
much clearer. She has an air of aloofness, but crystal clear eyes, as though she
can see the whole world in the same detail as a structural engineer looking at their
blueprints. She can often appear slovenly kept, evidence of her periods of
disinterest. But given her feminine charms, this can play as a bit of seduction
at the same time. She absolutely picks up on when she is enticing another, and
will often times play this up for no reason other than to see what reaction
results. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Drusilla Arenzai of First Moon is the
more “traditional” version of Kali I play with in creating the others. This
version is less the mad social scientist, but retains the same intellectual
brilliance. While Kali is aware of her sexual magnetism she exudes and
willfully toys with others using it, Drusilla of First Moon constrains herself.
She is aware of her own beauty, and is not aloof to the effect she can have on others,
but doesn’t readily trade on that ability to entrance others with her physical
grace. That being said, she can be exceptionally passionate when the time comes,
First Moon displaying this in her mad dash to try and win Yami’s affection. Her
intelligence shines through more here because it isn’t being abrogated by flights
of fancy or casually mentioned plans for atrocities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Drusilla Arenzai of the Cromwell
Universe is my most complete, most detailed, version of Kali (and probably my favorite).
She has all that passion and outgoing nature that is First Moon Drusilla, but
also the focus and attentiveness that defines Drusilla Rosenckruez. Cromwell
Drusilla starts off more like the polar opposite of Rosenckreuz personality
wise. She is very demure, very prudish, in the way she keeps herself. Being
physically identical she obviously has the same beauty and allure to work with
in that regard, but until her encounter with Yugi had only sporadic relationships
that barely held her interest beyond a date or two. Oddly enough, in beginning
that relationship with Yugi, getting married and starting a family, she becomes
less inhibited, more relaxed and effervescent. To put it in game terms, her charisma
was ranked A and then moved up to EX.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , serif;">Unlike the other Kalis, Cromwell
Drusilla has absolute control over her Madness Enhancement and utterly stifles
it. She generally rejects violence, whereas First Moon Drusilla accepts its use
in generally any circumstance she might need it, and Kali herself feels no way
about it either way. Cromwell’s uses her amassed intellect not to probe social
behaviors or impress a married man with her ability to maintain her rule, but
to pursue an expansion of her kingdom to every possible place in her universe,
one negotiated acquisition at a time.</span></div>
DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5866283030211562312.post-37015364632560613222019-09-02T06:00:00.000-04:002019-09-02T06:00:10.310-04:00Nehellenia of the Two-SixThe contours of her character have always been very clear to me. Nehellenia would be close to Serenity, as close as Chibi-Usa and Hotaru in the Sailor Moon series. <br />
<a name='more'></a>But because of that, I really wanted their Gathering pieces to reflect a trade-off between them. I didn’t go that direction with their outfits because of other considerations, namely a reflection of their pantheon, or at least a primary representative of that pantheon. That plainly left color.<br />
<br />
I already established with Anzushiro and Hime that the Two-Six have a different hair color than their pantheon form. Anzushiro is Dark Magician Girl with white hair. Hime is Euphemia li Britannia with red hair. So, I knew different hair color was something Serenity and Nehellenia would have.<br />
<br />
I then considered one or the other with golden blonde hair while the other had silver hair. Issues came up with that. I was concerned about how much like Sailor Moon Serenity would look with blonde hair – which should be significantly since their similarity in appearance was a plot point. It’s just as bad if she’s in silver, because that then gets to Chibi Usa’s “real” mom, Neo Queen Serenity, who did have silver hair. Getting into explaining all that away would be a pain, particularly since I try so hard to keep the Sailor Moon story separated for obvious complicating reasons. No such bar exists for Nehellenia, however, so it would be perfectly acceptable for her. Silver and gold, as well as black, are Nehellenia’s main colors anyway, so moving the around on her design would make sense.<br />
<br />
But silver itself has a problem. Silvery hair is only barely distinguishable from white hair. Anzushiro already has white hair. It wouldn’t be totally unacceptable for her to have silver hair, but it would not be a primary choice.<br />
<br />
There was also the consideration of whether to change her hair color at all, for the concern of breaking the thematic line that rests behind her character. Nehellenia is in one regard a retelling of the Princess Kaguya story, which I support by including Houraisan Kaguya in her pantheon. Princess Kaguya is a representation of the Yamato Nadeshiko concept in Japan, which, among other traits, looks for a woman with long, black, hair. But, there are other characters that could represent that concept. Namely, Nue represents a somewhat corrupted version. Either way, that opens up the potential to be a little loose with the potentials.<br />
<br />
I wanted to go with pink. It came from an idea I pre-planned for Eve and Lilith. The inspiration those twos’ relation derives from is out of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito, where Eve and Lilith are sisters. The idea I go with is that Lilith is so fond of Eve that she tries to mimic Eve from time to time. I go with the idea that Eve started sporting blonde hair so as to not stand out when she was first exploring the mortal worlds. So, Lilith changed her hair to blonde too. For her Gathering project, it’ll go the other way; Eve (C.C.) will have blonde hair, Lilith will have green.<br />
<br />
It’s not terribly different from what I did with Rini and Anzu too, the idea there being that Rini’s natural hair color is pink, and as twins, Anzu’s was too, until she began to awaken to her heritage and it turned blonde. Thus, Anzu with pink hair is her harkening back to her old self.<br />
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I wanted to do the same for Nehellenia and Serenity. At first, that was what I went with; Nehellenia with pink hair, and that looked completely fine, to the point it almost looked natural for her to have pink hair. But that also seemed kinda plain. So, I went back to a rarely used gimmick for me regarding hair and tried to give her a sort of multi-tone hair style, where her hair transitions from her normal black at the top of her head, down to Rini’s pink at the ends. I tried two versions of this; one with pure black and the other with “not” black.<br />
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These three total options each “work” in a sense, but none seemed quite right. Particularly in this image, you have the issue with this particular bow and its color. With her hair pink, the bow ends up looking black rather than dark green. With the pure black option, the bow stands out the best in contrast. With the “not” black, the dark grey color ends up looking like it’s tinted green.<br />
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Flipping it the other way had better results – the top of her head pink, the ends of her hair black. I initially thought this would look much worse than it did, but the trick there was to have enough of a buffer. If I left the black part too narrow a band, it would end up looking little else than her hair having been dirtied by dragging on the floor, like she was some child who went playing in the mud and got her hair filthy or something. The other benefit of going pink to black instead of black to pink is that it now conveys pink as her true hair color more readily, whereas the other way it looked more like she had dyed her hair pink and the dye was washing out, or her hair had grown out, without her reapplying any dye.<br />
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Still, something seemed just a bit off, so I went with one more element and added streaks. I wanted a streak of hair to just add to the already present tricolor pattern/motif that was developing for her design. I went with orange because it didn’t stand out too much from her pink hair, was a good reminder of her divine-beast affiliation, and was a bit of a red herring given the one she is sharing this image with.<br />
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I also did a small change to Nehellenia’s hairstyle for this piece. For whatever reason, the idea of a character with hair dragging across the ground as she walks irks me. I know already the fantasy aspect of a lot of things about these characters, least of all having hair so long in such a rainbow of colors. But taking it that little extra step is bothersome. So, I made a small change, which is to put her hair in a ponytail. Now, in reality a simple ponytail would likely make little more sense than letting hair that long stay loose. Thinking so, I considered shortening it even further.<br />
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Strangely enough, that led me to think about another addition to Nehellenia’s pantheon – Marianne vi Britannia. Does Marianne fit Nehellenia’s theme? I think so. Beyond similar physical appearances, you have two characters who suffered a feeling of rejection and loneliness that drove them to do terrible things. Nehellenia’s actions are certainly depicted more as purely selfish evil, whereas Marianne’s are more likened to misguided but well-meaning. That distinction works for me, however, as I had already set forth the idea in Nehellenia’s backstory that she was more misunderstood, needy, and gullible, than outright selfishly evil.<br />
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In any event, I decided to use Marianne’s hairstyle to augment Nehellenia’s. They have similar wavy patterns to them, and images of Marianne with her hair in a bow are exactly what I was looking for. I shortened her hair a little more than I initially thought to, but not a ton. I mean, I did shorten it by what probably amounts to a full twelve inches relative to what it really should be, but when it still looks like your hair might still reach the ground, I don’t know that lopping off a foot translates to much. Marianne also has a similar hairstyle that opts to use a crown braid instead of a ribbon, but I chose the ribbon option because I thought the braid wouldn’t work well with the hair buns Nehellenia has, and I wasn’t about to get rid of them.<br />
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The exact image I used as a reference is by an artist that goes by the name “Nardack”. I really like their work, and use an original character they created for one of my stories (I also name a flying city in that story “Nardack Hive Complex”). Nardack’s piece featuring Black Lady and Nehellenia is probably my favorite Nehellenia image I’ve come across on the net. Nardack does something slightly different with her hair, having little spurts of it curling away from the main body. At first I was going to replicate that too, but I think I like the seamless flow of the original Naoko Takeuchi artwork better. It was a tough call, but I went that route.<br />
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For colors of the dress, I chose the green of Nehellenia’s official outfit, in place of the light pink of Featherine’s dress. I kept the same basic colors from Featherine’s dress for the triband, but darkened their shade so they would match the now darker coloring of the base dress. I swapped the spot for the blue and green purely for stylistic sake. The sash is the cream color of the outer portion around Nehellenia’s dress. The string tie is the same red and white as on Featherine’s sash.<br />
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I decided to add a translucent piece on the arms and upper torso, like Black Lady wears with her dress. The color I chose is based on the cape Nehellenia ordinarily wears. It’s the same color, just made more translucent. Because I did that part, I went back and added the choker and bracelets. This helps the whole ensemble more resemble Black Lady’s better, which was also part of the plan.<br />
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That about sums up this image. I was supposed to post a walkthrough yesterday of Nehellenia's story in my Book of the Shadows, but that plan didn't work out. I should be able to get it finished up today, however. It's fairly detailed and lengthy, so I'll probably split it up into a couple pieces. Until then, take it easy.DRosencrafthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03453574857681372208noreply@blogger.com0