I wanted to say, bc I saw someone mention Geralt as an example of a predetermined character in an rpg that works, that yeah, I fully agree it can work! But in Geralt's case, for example, he's a well established character who's fully written before you start the game. He has his own traits, his flaws and shortcomings, history, relationships, etc. He's just as well written as any other character in the story, and the only things you have power over are his choices and a bit of his fighting style(sometimes his hair as well), but everything is made to fit with who this character is as established before the game even starts. Think of the origin characters in Baldur's Gate 3, it's the same thing- they're not customizable, they're established before you even start, and the only control you have is over their journey. None of these are ever meant to be a blank slate, and they're written as such.
With this Phyre character it's like they're trying so so hard to tread the line between "this is a character that stands on their own" and "this is a blank slate you can fully customize". What you end up with is a very "meh" sort of character, who's not one or the other, without enough wiggle room to make your own story however you want and not enough to get attached to them as they are. We get attached to Geralt bc he's a fully written character in the game, you just control his actions. The problem with Phyre is that they're neither a fully written character nor fully yours to write.
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Lightning, water, and fire! Like forever before the plot starts. By the time the plot starts, the lightning and fire deities have been subjected to punishment by the two gods that picked them.
Oh (the fire deity) is first to be punished. They basically decide that since they're going to live for a long time, gotta set some long time goals! And they opt to be the wrath of the gods since most of the other deities are too 'soft' in their opinion. So Oh just. Smites humans. This isn't really a /good/ thing and in their defense mentally, they do it to help Ymber since he's the softest of them all. So their punishment by the gods is to be split in two, effectively halving the power of one into two. (Now they are in a male and a female body and use both male and female pronouns apart since they together make they but apart it feels weird to be they. But prior to the split they use they/them. Also the split bodies go by the names Ohiwe and Ohime.)
Fulj is the second to be punished. She falls in love with a mortal woman and that is a crime according to the gods. Mortals and immortals are not to be together and it will only bring suffering to both sides. So her punishment is her memories of the woman are stripped and her body basically broken to the point she can't remain physical all the time.
Ymber, unfortunately, is the one who blames himself for the discoveries and punishments. If he had only tried to restrain Oh more then maybe they would have chilled out and stopped before being punished. If he had only tried to persuade Fulj to not continue seeing the mortal woman so often perhaps she wouldn't have been punished. So he's just increasing the guilt on his shoulders every day that he remains unpunished since the elder gods have both laid down to rest. They can't enforce their laws anymore and none of the deities are keen on harming one another at this point. They just want to continue existing in peace.
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Can we talk about mitsuham I think we should talk about mitsuham yes I’d like that very much
Imagine Mitsuru her life has been planned out for her by a bunch of men her choices are not hers to make every move is political she is nothing but a tool forced to fight as a child never allowed to burden anyone with her feelings. Her life isn’t hers, it’s never been hers for a second, she exists to further the careers of the men around her. The first two friends she makes are both boys and she was in charge of leading them, using them just to further the Kirijo agenda. Genuine friendship did blossom between them, but things fell apart pretty quickly. Shinjiro can’t control Castor, something is seriously wrong with him, he kills someone, then he leaves and the Kirijos cover it up. Was it to protect him, or to protect themselves? Mitsuru certainly doesn’t know anymore but she’s lost a friend and can’t reach him again, he’s too traumatized by personas and Akihiko is still there but he’s always so stuck on Shinjiro and Mitsuru feels like she failed both of them. Just more men for her to let down by not being good enough
Then there’s Kotone. Sweet, strong, clumsy, talented Kotone. She’s so bubbly and friendly, but behind those warm smiles is horrible loneliness. Pain. But she’s never ever gonna let anyone see that. She busies herself by taking care of everyone else, listening to their problems and never burdening them with her own feelings. She can just fix everything and make everyone happy if she works herself hard enough. She just has this way about her, so reliable and so kind
And Mitsuru watches Kotone from above. Trusts her to be the leader, or maybe she just wanted to push a burden onto someone else for a change. Someone who’s able to take on burdens with a smile for fucks sake. And Kotone leads, seemingly effortlessly, and is able to recruit several members in a short time and achieve just so much more than Mitsuru could in her entire lifetime. Just, perfectly. Without even possessing any prior knowledge of the dark hour or personas. And she does this while being so emotional, so social, so weird, so fucking cute, it’s absolutely nauseating. This should be fine, right? It’s what Mitsuru’s always wanted, for someone else to ease her burden. And hell, it’s a woman too, a woman who’s perfectly capable of doing it all without a bunch of men helping her. It’s inspiring, isn’t it?
But there’s the pain. The envy. Kotone is perfect and she doesn’t even have to try. Mitsuru on the other hand has been shaving herself down to nothing just to be allowed a place. She makes the perfect grades and wears the beautiful clothes and applies the fucking makeup and is mature for her age and never speaks out or feels anything that could possibly make her be seen as a human, a filthy fucking human. So why does a woman as unashamed as Kotone get to have it all? And why is Mitsuru still here, still acting as the Kirijo tool, still doing whatever she possibly can to hurt herself to make a man feel better? Why isn’t she useful anywhere? It’s not fair
And then when she actually spends the time with Kotone she’s trying so hard to be that wise and mature figure she’s always been, trying so hard to force herself to smile through the pain, but she’s talking to someone who can see right through that shit cuz Kotone Shiomi invented lying through her teeth to make others feel better. It’s annoying really, how Kotone is supposed to be the childish one, yet it’s Mitsuru who can’t get it together and can’t seem to look into those bright eyes without breaking. And Kotone isn’t disgusted by what she sees, even though Mitsuru is being unreasonable and emotional and talking about wanting to run away and how much she hates her life and how she’s not only eating fast food but enjoying it, letting herself enjoy an indulgence that won’t make her pretty anymore. No, Kotone sees this and listens and encourages it and celebrates it, celebrates how utterly human Mitsuru is. She holds her hand and says "let me take on your burden". And it’s horrible, this kindness, Mitsuru hasn’t even broken all her bones to make Kotone happy, so why is she being so fucking nice? And then something breaks, and Kotone defends her. Stands up for her against a man. Lets herself once again take a hit to protect someone else. And it’s just too familiar, too much to fucking bear, and it pisses Mitsuru the fuck off. And she is able to tell a man to go fuck himself, because no one gets to fucking talk to this girl like she isn’t the most amazing person ever to exist. Not after everything she’s done, everything she still does, not after giving her all and never once asking for anything in return. And in standing up for Kotone, Mitsuru is able to stand up for herself for the first time in her life. And she looks at Kotone and says "let’s take on each other’s burdens"
Oh and also they watch a scary movie together and hold hands and ride a motorcycle and Mitsuru calls Kotone adorable I mean that’s pretty gay man
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had a thought about my D&D party and how everyone goes about their grooming/self care routines and the end result is my new headcanon for elves in fantasy settings.
the reason why elves have long hair is because its a social status- not of good breeding or anything, but because braids and styles of braid indicate status.
are they married? are they in the military? are they single and looking to mingle? are they single and NOT looking to mingle? are they a noble? are they a baker?
a military man who is single will wear hair totally different from a man who is a baker and married.
anyway cute idea of the party's former military elf braiding a "married" braid into his crush's hair only to panic and want to unbraid it when they come to his home town.
"did you hear? while he was on leave he got married!"
"No, really? how do you know?"
"the teifling girl- look at her braids!"
"oh... my.... and he didn't invite his own mother!"
"Mother, its not what you think-"
"it looks like it! she is a lovely lady, very polite, if only i could have braided your hair! indeed who DID braid it for the ceremony?"
"no one, mother, listen-"
"YOU DIDN'T BRAID YOUR HAIR FOR YOUR OWN WEDDING???"
"Lady vantis, if I may ask, who died?"
"I am mourning my son's love for me!"
"Mother the wedding hasn't happened!"
"I can still hear him some times! which reminds me i must teach his widow the mourning braid!"
"I don't see what the problem is, we practically are married."
"The problem is there is a "to be married" braid and that would have been more accurate."
"but THIS is accurate."
"Please don't say that around my mother, there is also a braid for "betrayed by child" and i don't wants the neighbors talking."
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ; 1/3
TRANSCRIPT:
Some Nights Ago...
magdalena: [whispering] Your highness, why on earth did you drag me out here at this hour?
luca: Well, your majesty, I was laying in my bed, deep in thought—
m: Of course.
l: —when I realized that I never got a dance with you at your ball.
m: And?
l: And I plan on remedying that. May I have this dance, fair lady? ...Please?
m: …[lets out a lengthy sigh] Oh, alright.
. . .
m: Speaking of the ball… Will you finally admit how you recognized me?
l: Simple—the mark on your neck. I am the one who gave it to you.
m: What mark?! You gave me no such thing! I would surely remember—
l: [grins] The scar, your majesty.
m: Oh.
l: When we were children, the last summer before the war, we visited your family. Here, at this castle.
m: Yes… I remember now. You were quite the nuisance, even at that age.
l: And you were quite the prissy little girl.
m: [furrows brows] Touché.
l: Still, I developed a crush the moment you looked me in the eyes. I tried to impress you, of course, which only led to you liking me even less. So I found a dusty sword to show off my sparring skills.
m: [gasps lightly] It was you!
l: Indeed. There I was, practicing in the maze, and then there you were, skipping past my hedge.
m: You could have killed me!
l: I could have, and that is why I dropped the sword and ran. Luckily for me, all I did was cut your hair and a small section of the back of your neck.
m: …I was distraught over losing my long hair, you know.
l: But was it not impressive that it was a clean cut?
m: Luca!
l: [snickering]
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