katherinakaina

[katherinakaina]

#sand plague voice #don't listen to her! #pathologic

[katherinakaina]

Kains absolutely have parallels with biblical Cain. They are probably even implied to be his descendants.

As far as I understand (I'm not a religion studier) Cain's curse primarily consists of two things:

1. Not being able to farm land.

Oh my! We found why the town has zero agriculture! The only thing that grows there is twyre that feeds on human blood!

Also, a contradiction of sorts, Cain is a city founder but also a fugitive and a wanderer? Realistic, if you live for 800 years or so, but I think if fits thematically with the Kains. They are the ones who found the town and they are the ones who can't let it be set in place. The town is constantly moving forward because of them.

2. You can't kill Cain. He's being cursed to live a long life. I think they didn't invent hell yet? So it was the punishment I suppose.

Parallels with Simon are on the nose here. Funny that Cain seems to be immune specifically to murder and yet Georgy is convinced that the murderer exists. Though he also thinks that the higher being killed Simon so... Is the murderer of Cain literally God? He was like 'this one's mine, no kill stealing guys'.

And... Author is the murderer of their characters. When you start the game you are the murderer and the cause of the plague. You are, like, a higher being, right?

So, anyway, Maria says to Artemy that she's afraid of death. And Artemy replies: 'So don't die, aren't you a Kaina'. I think it's a confirmation. What else can he mean?

Pathologic and the Town's Russianness: 1

For part 1, let's explore the naming conventions Pathologic uses, and whether its Town characters have Russian surnames.

The names of the townsfolk are remarkably non-Russian

The Kin, of course, have their names in their own Steppe language, which is a conlang that Ice Pick Lodge conscructed based on Mongolic and Turkic (mostly Buryat) tongues. So, no questions with that.

But what about the Town itself, and the names of the people living in it?

For starters, it must be noted that the foundational workings of surnames in Russian are pretty much the same as in most European languages: a surname denotes someone's ancestor's relation to craft (such as the most common surname both in English - Smith, and in Russian - Kuznetsov, meaning exactly the same), kin, appearance feature, or other such concept.

As an inflected language, however, Russian adds special suffixes to its usual roots to arrive at surnames. The most well-known of them is, of course, -ov. In the example above it turns kuznets (smith, as an occupation) into Kuznetsov (Smith, as a surname). It is also used to form the archetypical Russian surname: Ivanov, that is, related to Ivan. It is, however, by far not the only suffix used, and there are multiple others: -in, -tsyn, -shyn, -ev, -tsev, -y, and more.

Most of these allow to construct feminine forms by simple addition of the ending -a (Saburov - Saburova); but some are more complex (Olgimsky - Olgimskaya). Such complexity usually marks suffixes used in other Slavic tongues: -y in particular is often seen in Belorussian and Polish.

With all that in mind, let's explore the names we find in the Town-on-Gokhon. And the thing immediately striking is just how little surnames formed from Russian roots and Russian suffixes there are.

First, there are obviously non-Russian surnames, such as Ravel, Block, Longin, Feugel, Yan, Croy. Most of them appear to come from other European languages.

Is that probable for a Russian Empire stand-in? Yes. It was a multinational state, and there were enough Europeans among the elite for Vyazemsky to bemoan in mid-XIX century that "the Russian God" is "God whose favour falls on Germans". (Then again, hardly surprising under the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty, ethnically German and only taking German wives for generations, despite ruling Russia).

Then, there are the surnames with Russian suffixes: Saburov, Stamatin, Lyuricheva, Olgymsky, Dankovsky. But the thing is, none of these have Russian roots! Saburov is based on Tatar (patient, hardy); Stamatin on Greek (persistent, stable); Lyuricheva, Olgymsky and Dankovsky are Slavic-sounding, but appear to be unique to the game's characters. As a side note here, Dankovsky is apparently based on a name from Gorky's Old Izergiel (Danko, a brave who ripped his own heart out to light the way for the rest of his peope).

Now, is that probable? It's stretching the suspension of disbelief a bit. Yes, there had been Tatars among the Russian elite since before the day Kazan was conquered by Moscow, which reflected in their surnames. Yes, priesthood surnames could include Greek roots. And yes, the Western Slavs were also in the Empire. But it's hard to imagine all of these coinciding to entirely drown out the surnames based on Russian roots!

All in all, this distribution sounds like a conscious artistic choice, making such an assemblage less likely for historic Eastern Europe rather than Central one.

As a sort of postscript, for these who could be bothered to read this far down. There's an interesting quirk about the female surnames in the game: in Russian, unless a surname ends with one of the Russian suffixes, it retains its basic form (same as the masculine) even when women use it. Thus, Lara's surname is Ravel, same as her father's; same thing with Croy. But there's a curious exception: the Kains. Their surname is obviously based on the eponymous Biblical character, Cain. The only thing is, Cain is not a Russian word, and thus the women of the family should apparently still have the surname Kain. Yet they do not, they use Kaina - which suggests that their surname uses the Russian suffix -in: just someone related to something called Ka-, perfectly normal, totally a word, no primordial killers in sight.

Whether that is simple wordplay, a way to show the lineage deeply assimilated, a way to take the focus off the Biblical relation, or anything else, is up to the reader to decide.

#pathologic

[katherinakaina]

Pathologic is meant to be weird unsettling bizarre both vaguely familiar and alien. Uncanny. And Russians are the intended audience. It is meant to be uncanny to us in the first place. Of course it is not authentically Russian. And not authentically buryat or anything in between. It is made up.

Pathologic and the Town's Russianness: Intro

I've noticed, it's common enough to see talk about, say, Russian colonization of the Steppe among the Pathologic community; or the language everyone speaks in the game being in-character Russian, or any similar ideas that equate the Capital-centered civilization that founded the Town-on-Gorkhon with the historical Russian Empire.

But the funniest bit - as for me, - that for a Russian, most of Pathologic is purposefully coded by Ice Pick Lodge to feel generic Eastern European, if not even European in general. Let me go with a brief rundown.

So brief, in fact, that this post will only serve as an introduction, and not to make it overly long, I'll write up more in separate ones.

So, the elephant in the room: Pathologic is not meant to be perfectly realistic.

The first thing that needs to be said here is: of course the Town on Gorkhon is not meant to be 100% lifelike. If you will, it is a realist painting, rather than a photography. Very visibly theatrical scenery rather than a faithful depiction of the town. It is obviously done on purpose, too: partly for gameplay reasons, party as artistic choice.

Some things had to be sacrificed for the overarching plot to make sense, so, let's call them logical limitations.

The Town is relatively large (10k+ citizens at the very least), and it's economically important, so realistically, of course it would have a hospital and multiple medical professionals. Checkhov, for instance, managed such a clinic in Zvenigorod in his youth, and that town barely had three thousand souls then. But of course nothing like that can be present in the Town as it would entirely undermine the game's premise of a handful healers fighting against the Plague and their own prejudice against each other.

Similarly, there can't be telephones (while by the rough time period of the game, somewhere in the 1910s to 1920s, there were already first automated exchanges introduced), nor electrical or even optical telegraph to connect the Town to the larger world (a technology about a century old by then), for obvious reasons.

Thematic limitations are necessary for the game's themes to work better.

For instance, Saburov is a commandant, not just a governor (and I believe he's refered to as such in the English translation of P1). But where's his command? He doesn't seem to have a single soldier under his leadership, just the ragtag town militia. Why's that? Because the game has to make the uniformed Army, when it arrives, feel utterly alien to the Town, and incompatible with it.

As another example, the only lifestock the Kin seem to be herding appears to be cattle. That's an economical absurdity for nomadic pastoralists. With no sheep, no goats, no camels, not even horses, they can't establish a sustaintable subsistence economy. But of course with the game so focused on cows, both in its visual language, the Kin mythology, and other aspects of storytelling, presenting cattle to be just one of the many species the Kin herd would reduce the impact of the game's message.

To continue in that vein, the Town interacting with the Steppe is one the game's major themes: so overgrazing by those huge herds the Bull Enterprise with its thousands of employees should be slaughtering can not be shown; and the cultivated fields (which a steppe near a major water source readily allows) that should surround the Town cannot be, either.

Then, there are the tech limitations: with seven thousand workers (as Aglaya estimates the losses in the Termitary), the Bull Enterprise must be slaughtering insane numbers of cattle every day; of course all these herds cannot be shown, just like the thousands of ordinary citizens doing the ordinary jobs that keep the Town running cannot be visible.

Finally, some of the Town's unfinished, sketch-like nature is pure artistic choice. I think the perfect example is the table lamp in Isidor Burakh's room - unplugged, yet shining brightly. I don't think it's Ice Pick simply being careless: it is more like they're blinking at us, saying "remember all of this is not real".

If anything, I must say I have an issue with some of the choices made, and particularly with the Kin dress. Some of the Town characters are fine to wear rags (such as Clara or Murky), but why do the Kin, universally (other than, perhaps, Taya, their supreme leader)? Compare their crude dress with its huge stitches to what was worn in Middle Asia at the time in reality. Even beggars wore much better than a highly respected figure like Aspity. Sure, those are to be taken as essentially theater costumes, but as far as culture-specific costumes go, they are wildly unflattening.

But the important thing to take from this part: some of the simplifications and the generalizations are necessary for the game to work, on many levels. They're not about representing a particular culture well, just about making a good game.

#pathologic #amazing post #keep them coming

[katherinakaina]

Fun fact! Aspity says "disgusting clots" in English, which is a poor transportation. In Russian she says "сгустки" - lumps, the same name Olgimsky's mansion has. Not a coincidence, considering how much she must be thinking about that house.

Btw, town as a machine of oppression doesn't exist separately from town as a machine for miracles or town as a living organism or town as an artificially constructed theater stage/sand box. All those metaphors go together and never contradict each other.

While I'm posting about my pathologic transcription, I'll make shorter posts about my takeaways. About the literal health of the environment around town, we get a couple people on day one to give context. The most obvious is Aspity, but to get an idea as to why things are as she says, you have to talk to a drunkard, called a Carouser, and a Tot.

The Tot mentions a "Rotten Field," and when asked what that is, he says:

"It’s where they bury the bulls’ bones. The place is covered with fur instead of grass, and it’s all bones bones bones underground. Bones and horns. Yeah."

Why are so many bones and horns and hides being thrown into a field instead of being used in some way? Either for jewelry, clothes, or for tradesmen's tools, these things have a variety of uses.

The Carouser, when asked about the Abattoir, says:

"Hundreds of bulls are being slaughtered there- what else is there to know? It is our humble town that provides the whole Northeastern region with beef! Or even the whole country mayhap."

It's because of the massive scale of the Bull Project that so much excess material is being produced and then thrown into the fields and rivers as waste products. Nothing is in higher demand than meat, nothing is needed as regularly, and perhaps the people in the Capital and in other towns are less interested in buying blood or bone. It's not profitable, the Olgimsky's don't view it as anything but by products of more lucrative things.

Aspity says:

"All that water comes from the Steppe and it isn’t exactly clean. Yesterday I inspected all the springs in the area; there seems to be no more clean water around. That salty taste is everywhere, it’s reddish in colour, and there are disgusting clots in it."

And when Bachelor asks for more information, she says:

"The towsnfolk store water in home-made reservoirs. This modest supply should be enough to help us last a little while, but afterwards we’ll have to drink that bloody mixture."

Bachelor reacts to this with disgust, and can even insist she is lying, perhaps because he had been benefitting from this disgusting reality in his life in the Capital.

Aspity's whole point in starting this conversation is to make blatantly clear some of the side affect of the Steppe's occupation, which is that the waste material of the Abattoir is dumped into the river and land. This problem would be lessened in severity if the community was manufacturing meat not for the sake of providing for the entire country, but just for the local population. Obviously, this would be less lucrative for the Olgimskys (who don't care as long as they don't suffer any loss) but it would mean that the people who live here would better be able to care for themselves and the land with no need to think of supporting an entire country off the backs of one small community. The occupation of the Steppe, the running of the Bull Project, will not only destroy the Kin and lower classes, but will also eventually kill the town, the higher classes and even the Olgimskys as well. When the water runs out, it will run out for the lower classes first, but it will eventually run out for everyone.

More on Fat Vlad trying to talk about this all as if it were an inescapable, natural reality (and the Bachelor's fighting against this notion) later. Sort of how some people think that the way the world works, capitalism and such, are natural laws instead of constructed ideas (horrible fallacy).

#pathologic

[katherinakaina]

So I had a dream right, and I was in labour. But then the labour was transferred (???) over to Artemy from Pathologic. As in he was giving birth instead of me. Then I had to coach him through the birth. I don't know what this means. I am upset.

#now we know #pathologic #artemy burakh

[katherinakaina]

No, Artemy does not brush it of! He is a man of action, he's immediately thinking about solutions. Look, he's like, oh god, dude, just tell me what to do to prevent this. I'll do anything.

i still can't deal with this fucking dialogue it drives me insane. daniil didn't even invite artemy to discuss their research that day, he just invited him to talk, specifically about how he felt. the fact that the bachelor would even think of being so vulnerable and hopeless in front of someone is chilling. but who else would he choose. daniil thinks artemy's the only one who can understand how he feels. he's the only ally he has left. what reaction was he hoping to get when he told burakh that he was going to kill himself? probably some reaction at least.

and as artemy you can just brush it off completely, just how fucked up this is haha

#pathologic #daniil dankovsky #artemy burakh

[katherinakaina]

I like the idea that Artemy was basically in Daniil's shoes many times - small towns with weird local culture, crazy local drama, deadly local pathogens. He grew to love his home town also by proxy, through knowing many similar places. Something he shares with Aglaya probably, ergo their common appreciation of this unique environment.

is there ever any text implying that artemy spent his time away from town-on-gorkhon in the capital, in either game? a good portion of fanwork or discussion about pre-canon artemy puts him in the capital, but i don't think that's intended to be the case.

the narrated introduction at the beginning of his route in classic states that "Artemy has been travelling from town to town learning theoretical and practical surgery for several years". i can't recall if specifics of where he's been are ever stated in pathologic 2, aside from the dialogue options which imply his studies were interrupted by being conscripted as a soldier.

but i can't think of anything he says ever implying that he's been to the capital, so i'm inclined to believe that he hasn't. i imagine he's probably been to medical schools in smaller cities, though, as well as some hands-on apprenticeships. i think the implied itinerant lifestyle in his years prior to returning is worth emphasizing more, too. it gives the impression that he never really had the chance to put roots down anywhere while he was away, while also not feeling fully connected to his hometown either due to leaving at a relatively young age.

(the first game hits the idea that he's disconnected from the town especially hard, with virtually everyone but big vlad and rubin acting like he's an outsider who they've never met before. i think on some level this works, 10 years is a long time, but patho2's attempts to make it feel like he has at least distant familiarity with the town's older residents is one of the better moves it makes.)

#pathologic #artemy burakh

[katherinakaina]

name them. now.

#basically all diurnal ending feels like fanon to me #everyone survives #even bachelor is hanging around #aglaya is the only one who died #you can pretend she left with block #in p1 several characters die regardless even in Artemy's ending

[katherinakaina]

i don't think you play pathologic i think pathologic plays you

#one way or another the hero has been bitterly deceived #all this time he took himself to be a living man trying to rescue his fellow human beings #beyond doubt this belief has filled him with fervor #helped him reach the finale #and even be somewhat #triumphant

[katherinakaina]

Bachelor humble and Haruspex humble. Let them all hold hands.

Seriously, Daniil doesn't want to destroy the town, he just doesn't see a better solution. The same goes for Artemy. If they listened to Clara (or Rubin), they would both agree that it's a lesser evil. The problem is that to both of them Clara seems like an unhinged charlatan. They don't take her seriously. They have some respect for each other, but zero respect for her. And Rubin isn't there to speak on her behalf. Typical trying to make a doctor listen to you while a girl, honestly.

I'm curious, what's everyone's favourite alternative Pathologic classic ending? I have many thoughts myself

#pathologic

[katherinakaina]

Pathologic characters shall never escape their fate!

The last character you drew/wrote about is now stuck in the last game you played. How screwed are they?

#I'm a very single-minded individual #pathologic

[katherinakaina]

More on the stars and constellations thing. Katerina says that she had prophetic dreams about tweens and she was puzzled about which twins these are. And guess what. Apparently Gemini constellation appears in the sky in September.

And the Serpens is on its way out, so maybe that's why Katerina predicts Daniil's death. Idk, I don't believe in this bs, but Katerina does! And it's fiction so anything goes.

My fixations lead me places.

While researching the fact that there's apparently a star named Capella, which is the brightest star in Auriga constellation, which touches the Taurus constellation in a very peculiar way (it looks like the Auriga drags the Taurus by the horn), I started reading about every star in Serpens constellation, which lies on the opposite side from the Taurus and right under the Draco and also has a star which in some Russian sources named Khan. (send help)

So, there's apparently a Soviet science fiction trilogy, which has one of its books taking place in the Serpens. It's called 'The Heart of the Serpent' and is apparently about cool utopian future and stuff. But that's not all! The next book is about anti utopian totalitarian state established by colonialist settlers from earth and it's called... 'The Hour of the Bull'.

The first novel is called Andromeda. It's hard to tell what it's about but it has steppes there.

I'm going to read it.

#aaaaa

[katherinakaina]

My fixations lead me places.

While researching the fact that there's apparently a star named Capella, which is the brightest star in Auriga constellation, which touches the Taurus constellation in a very peculiar way (it looks like the Auriga drags the Taurus by the horn), I started reading about every star in Serpens constellation, which lies on the opposite side from the Taurus and right under the Draco and also has a star which in some Russian sources named Khan. (send help)

So, there's apparently a Soviet science fiction trilogy, which has one of its books taking place in the Serpens. It's called 'The Heart of the Serpent' and is apparently about cool utopian future and stuff. But that's not all! The next book is about anti utopian totalitarian state established by colonialist settlers from earth and it's called... 'The Hour of the Bull'.

The first novel is called Andromeda. It's hard to tell what it's about but it has steppes there.

I'm going to read it.

#pathologic #daniil dankovsky #artemy burakh

[katherinakaina]

Let's go deeper.

While whirlpool is mostly about conflicting currents, Омут is rather a whirlpool created by a deep hole on the bottom of the lake or river. The deep whole itself is called омут as well (fish lives there too). It is an ominous sounding word that implies bad outcomes, because you can easily drown in Омут, it's a hidden danger. Омут is used in common speech as a metaphor for troubles that drag you down with them.

In modern Russian it's mostly associated with the saying: in quietness of 'stillwater' there are hidden demons. I think that's why they translated it like that, to keep the association with calm and quiet water, that is implied by this very common saying. But beware, something sinister may be hiding there.

So. Омут is a contradiction itself. It's both the whirlpool and the hole. Both movement that drags you down and your still dead body. It's a rather cool name for a building.

you know how in english, the Farkhad-built house in which Eva has taken residence is called the "Stillwater", implying this sense of calmness, stillness, the flatness of an unmoving sea, perhaps dormancy; whereas its russian name is Омут — "whirlpool", "maelstrom", implying quite the opposite: a constant movement, perhaps even drowning. hehehe

#pathologic #eva yan

[katherinakaina]

Wow, nice. Good comparison. This good doctor meme makes me sick in the exact same way Daniil hate does. Let's all make fun of him. Autistic people are so cringe and off putting and emotional. Hahahhaha

i drew this with my finger, i am not a finger artist

#let's all laugh #pathologic #daniil dankovsky

[katherinakaina]

thinking about a younger katerina

#yuri beam #💥💥💥 #pathologic #clara saburova #katerina saburova

[katherinakaina]

"Sex isn't special!" "Sex is just like any other activity you could be doing!"

No, ugh... Listen, to disagree with puritanism you don't have to make oversimplified statements that are just factually incorrect.

Like, most of evolutionary psychology is bullshit, okay. But it would still be beneficial to know the first thing about evolution. So you could be confused by ridiculously wrong statements if nothing else.

Saying that the one process by which given organism replicates itself will not evolve to have some level of significance in majority of the population is, to put it scientifically, very silly.

Sex is special. You are at risk of having babies by doing that! That's, like, the biggest investment of your entire life. You are programmed to care at least a little bit.

If you don't care, really truly don't care, then it's you who's special. Be special! Wear it with pride. But make no mistake about your fellow humans. We are all animals here. Birth control and hookup apps did not overwrite the entire history of life on earth.

#let's be real #that's the one thing you don't do to children #that's the one thing you don't do to relatives #sex #asexual #aromantic #purity culture #puritanism #evolutionary psychology