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besiegedhunter · 27 days

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Sette Colli

Because I want to talk about it after reading somethings from various pages of Terra: A Journey, which this post will include spoilers for as well as the CN server in general and so I'll put them down beneath:

So, for anyone not up to speed or needing a refresher, Sette Colli is a city in Siracusa with a legend attached to it that was first mentioned in the "Rewinding Breeze" event's "Stories from the Sky" story:

It's a fairy tale from Siracusa and so likely very fictitious but as stated afterwards, this city does exist in modern times so that much is real:

This is the real only mention of the City in the game, while the She-Wolf does get a Play in Integrated Strategies - Phantom and the Crimson Solitaire, which is just referencing the story told and not really the City.

Now my intended purpose of this post is to discuss the City itself but because they're really intertwined, like if the She-Wolf ends up being important it'd have to be alongside Sette Colli and there's more context in game regarding her than there is Sette Colli.

There's also the context behind the city and the story's inspiration which is that of Rome, seeing how the She-Wolf is also what the wolf that suckles the founders of Rome in it's creation story. The Seven hills also references the seven hills that Rome was founded on.

As for the context around the story of the She-Wolf: in the poster of the play you can see the She-Wolf and her children depicted as actual wolves and the story doesn't clarify that they were Lupos, in fact the She-Wolf leaving to the moon implies that in the least she was a different type of entity and her children may follow in that logic.

Meaning you have a group of supernatural wolf siblings that once existed in Siracusa. This is an identical description of the Signore dei Lupi, Beast Lords who reside in Siracusa and whose relationship with each other is described as siblings:

What's more is that the Signore dei Lupi fight among each other:

So with the similarities between the two, it feels likely that they could be one in the same, with little changes here and there that didn't get into the fable and gives more legitimacy to the tale.

Now for Terra: a Journey, Sette Colli doesn't appear in the Siracusa section of the book, however it is mentioned in the Terran Technologies section.

There's a twist:

The Sette Colli city established by the She-Wolf's tribe does not exist. There's no historical evidence that it did and if there was, it is said to be outside of any known country. But as stated by Shamare: Sette Colli as a city does exist. And Terra: A Journey backs this up, just in an unexpected way.

See, there was a Seven Cities Federation that seemingly has no connection to the story of the She-Wolf, although I'll say that all of the origins of the name offered in the book are entirely speculated and with modern day Sette Colli existing in Siracusa and the book referencing the She-Wolf's story that, in my opinion, this federation likely at least took some inspiration from the tale.

Putting that to the side for now. This Seven Cities Federation would create the, let's say template, for mobile cities. The first mobile city the book calls it, however they didn't have the resources to fuel it, at least then, and so the Seven Cities Federation disbanded and to quote the book: "Now the only thing that holds that name is the place."

Confirming that this hasn't retconned Sette Colli out of the lore in it's entirety. I believe it just means that the Seven Cities name from the federation was attached to their mobile city, which assumedly wasn't retconned to have not been taken over by a mafia and hence: still in Siracusa.

I suspect that Sette Colli being chosen as the first mobile city might be because of the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."

But to gloss over what this means:

The Seven Hills region that the She-Wolf's tribe settled is either purely fictitious, lies in the wastes outside of Siracusa's current borders or it is within Siracusa but possibly due to the terrain/changes in the geography from that time has yet to be discovered.

A new Sette Colli was built, being the first Mobile City to be created but of which the Seven Cities Federation did not have the resources to fuel themselves and so it was returned to Siracusa wherein a mafia family would absorb it into their territory.

I'll wrap back around to this in a bit with a curious theory, albeit one I'm confident in and for now return to the story of the original Sette Colli and the She-Wolf's story, because as much as this raises the question of it's legitimacy, I also think the Siracusa section adds some historical context.

See, the original She-Wolf's story takes place, sure in an possibly fictitious location, but likely not an actual time period in Siracusa's history, for Siracusa did have a time period of constant fighting among tribes due to famine:

And as shown, the Famine was caused by the presence of the Signore dei Lupi, a group fitting the description of the She-Wolf's children during the earliest days of Siracusa. I'm going to draw attention back to me saying that it's possible that the Sette Colli from this time period or at least the region the story was founded in, might've really existed, since everything else did.

The "Changed the name of their tribes to families" belying the origin of the mafia is also found in this time period and because of the Signore dei Lupi... in a way.

Really, the only thing of question is whether the She-Wolf existed and if she did, was she a Beast Lord like the Signore dei Lupi or maybe even a Feranmut. It's not too out of the question when Ya from Vernal Winds, another Feranmut, has some features more removed from the typical dragon and more Canine like in appearance.

There's also the Will of Sami's true form that also does not appear fully like a typical dragon:

And statistically speaking, Feranmut are often there when a country is founded or prominent enough. Take Sami here or Kjeragandr.

There's even a possibility that the relationship the She-Wolf has to her children is replicable with the She-Wolf and the Beast Lord Signore dei Lupi, thanks to the apparent treasure trove that is Sami:

Anma is the Beast Lord Amma that features in Skógrinn Svartr Vill Einn Draumr and Expeditioner's Jǫklumarkar. The timing between Sami's rest and the Ancestral Twins being born, with the Father of the Ancestral Spirits being attached to Sami making it possible for a Feranmut to create a Beast Lord, hence She-Wolf's children being Signore dei Lupi.

And maybe without the She-Wolf being there to balance the Signore dei Lupi, it resulted in the abnormal eco-system and famine.

Simply a theory.

Wrapping back to the city itself, there's one probably one more reference to it in game, though it's impressively annoying.

See it doesn't refer to Siracusa or really any other country that this 'Seven Cities' are a part of and casts an impressive amount of doubt on everything about itself because, well,

What I'm talking about is the "Seven Cities-Style Restaurant" dormitory theme:

"A room that reproduces the atmosphere of a Seven Cities restaurant. Is the food to your liking?"

How it draws doubt to itself is that it's the description of the "Upscale Menu Display" says the following:

"A detachable hanging price list. A Seven Cities-style restaurant opened by Victorians, in Columbia? How strange..."

Which goes further because it's a "Seven Cities-style Restaurant" opened by Victorians, in Columbia, further recreated by Rhodes. There's another line, being for the "Seven Cities Patterned Floorboards", that cast doubt on it:

"A commonly used floor style from the Seven Cities? The natives might disagree with that."

And besides a possible reference to: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, where the setting is in Italy, in the description for the "Large Notice Board" there's nothing exactly linking it to Siracusa.

But to quote what Terra: A Journey, has to say about 'seven-cities': "The only thing with that name now is the place" and with it referencing the possibly fictitious Sette Colli from the story, it's likely that this Restaurant is supposed to be a recreation of a Sette Colli restaurant.

Maybe something propping this up is the description for the "Real Wooden Accent Wall.":

"Decorate wall laminate to be placed on the wall behind the front desk. After all, the soul of the Seven Cities resides in its wood."

How? Well, the Terra: A Journey's Siracusa section puts massive emphasis on wood cutting, mentioning it several times:

Axes led to Siracusa's civilization, woodcutters and a logging camp who would find an surprisingly important man and where he'd be kept, forestry is one of Siracusa's most considerable resources.

So to say that 'The soul of Sette Colli, a Siracusan city, is in it's wood' is genuinely very probable.

Now, here's where I bring up Projekt Red because I always have to:

In the story of Little Red Riding Hood, Red's inspiration, you have Red Riding Hood herself, Grandma, the Big Bad Wolf and the Huntsman/ Woodcutter.

We see in Red's story how she is Red Riding Hood and her relationship with the Signore dei Lupi called Grandma is inspired by the Grandma and Big Bad Wolf of the Red Riding Hood story.

And while Red herself is also the Huntsman who slays the Big Bad Wolf or "Wolves" for Red, there's room for the Woodcutter variation of the story.

And with the historical context behind the She-Wolf of Sette Colli and the almost undeniable proof that the Signore dei Lupi are the basis for the She-Wolf's children, and that HG would bring Sette Colli up again in Terra: A Journey in such an important role as the first Mobile City,

Well I think Sette Colli deserves to be the setting for a Limited Event and that Red would be the perfect candidate for it with her ties to the Signore dei Lupi, themes of family and possible forestry.

But regardless, Sette Colli is an interesting place.

(Projekt Red for 5.5)

#arknights #siracusa #projekt red #she-wolf of sette colli #been meaning to talk about the she-wolf for awhile #and this book #and I think this has finally pushed me to do just that #I've never felt more ready for red alter #and no #it's not just this #but it is from multiple things in the lorebook

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goosefeather · 8 months

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finished riverstar's home which is uhh the first super edition i actually finished since graystripe's vow?? i wanna say??

anway! final review: not enough death!!!

(actual, long review under the cut)

riverstar's home is Good. granted i had no expectations for it and kind of forgot it was a thing until it came out. but for a super edition that most people were like "huh? riverstar? really?" it really knocked it out of the park

and i just really think that the erins had a theme in mind (finding home and what that means to our guy riverstar) and the text actually supports that. and i know, most books do this and it is something we all had to learn in high school english. however, warriors has a thing where the messaging is telling us one thing but the actual text is saying something completely different (think of like... everything to do with bramblestar)

that being said, i liked reading about a young riverstar (yes, my character tag for him is river ripple and i prefer that but y'know riverstar is shorter) and his struggle to find a place in the forest territory. it's actually a really good coming of age story that really resonates with anyone who has like moved out of their hometown and has felt incredibly isolated because of that (like me!)

also as a dotc Enjoyer i really liked seeing the events from riverstar's perspective. unlike uhh the last two super editions where the new viewpoint didn't add anything (or it retconned something to make it worse!) or added in things that were just kinda... bad (still dont like brushpaw), riverstar was just enough of an enigma that it worked. like from gray wing's pov, riverstar is an Established Cat on the river and he plays it well. but in actuality he's just a lonely guy trying desperately to maintain his friendships while trying to carve out some space for himself. it's interesting and fun and even the one eye and slash bits that i didn't care for in dotc were fun to read about from his pov

unfortunately, this is dotc so the last half Drags. like it makes sense, obviously, after riverstar feels settled into his life and home and new role as leader, someone from his past comes back and makes him question all of it. love it, really. the problem is once they leave and make it a journey! idk what it is but the minute these cats start wandering off territory it turns into a snoozefest. tell me one book where a journey to some place was Fun to Read and you cant say TNP cuz we both know it wasnt

also, im so sorry, i know we love women here and we have to cuz the erins don't but i dont like finch. like the most she shows up to help with fighting slash's rogues and riverstar was like "she was feisty!" or whatever i knew it was So Over. im sick of this thing where they introduce a she-cat just for the purpose of giving our main male lead kits. it was bad with gray wing and slate and it's bad with finch. remember when she almost stayed behind? i was hoping so hard that it would stick

and like compare finch and riverstar to say night and riverstar (im not pitting two bad bitches against each other give me a sec). before riverstar leaves to go back to help the park cats, night is nervous, her and riverstar have been through a lot together and they lean on each other. so she's vulnerable with him and he's like "oh im sorry i dont think of you that way??" and she's like "no!!! you idiot!! as a Friend" and yeah it made sense cuz we've seen them grow together in real time. finch got None of that because she is not meant to be a character and it bugs me

however, clear sky came in to save the day and cause problems on purpose at the end so the book ended on a high note (for me)

and uhh yeah, this is already pretty long and i actually have More Shit to say cuz i genuinely did like this book a lot i just wanted to get my thoughts out while they were still rattling around in my brain

god i didnt even talk about how i wanted more cats to die

#it's looonng #anyway talk to me about dotc #i really really like dotc #and this book

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