dekw

Gonna snipe this one here because I can, and because sniping alternate answers to questions wasn't in the rules. And because I wrote an answer to it just to figure out what the proper answer was. At the time I gave the song its name (for the most part, I name the songs, being Soundtrack Guy), it mostly felt like something that fit. Once I went ahead with that, the reasons later became apparent. So the long answer is... In HaruFE, as is common enough with works of Haru if you ever get the chance to be familiar, there's a relatively common element of warped perceptions. While this can apply in a standard surrealist sense (Was that real or just an illusion? Are you just going crazy? Can you be going crazy because what you saw was real and shouldn't be? And so on and so forth), one thing that's actually a relatively common departure from the usual handling of surrealism is that in these kinds of stories Haru writes, one of the Big Questions is not whether what you saw was real, or whether what you saw matters... but instead, what is capable of seeing. Can the world itself see? Can the Void? Can history? In all the odd dream-like quirks making it difficult to tell what personifications are real and magical, and which are just strong implications of the mortal mind, the driving question becomes less about "What can be seen" and more about "What can see?" After all, what good is seeing something true if there's never a single way to share it? In HaruFE, as we have seen, this takes the form of Truth. Truth's edge was a monstrous weapon, at least by its statline... before it vanished. The shrine has had... interesting interactions with a tiny thing known to some as the Truthstone. Add the odd, amorphous narrative mass known as the Void to the mix, and just what Truth is starts to become confusing at best and impossible at worst. Maybe that's a commentary or a lesson on the importance of what we actually do with objective, laid-bare facts. Or maybe it's just something that's happening -- with Haru, you never really know. Life, on the other hand, isn't quite as strange. It's not been analyzed the same way, but it shows up here and on the artifact of a staff that seems to peer into the future, which is aptly and relevantly named Balance of Life and Truth. Life is... living. Delusional, intelligent, fighting, dying... something is alive or it isn't. While there's cases where the line is blurred a little if you look closely enough, life comes and goes, and it is what it is. It adapts in a way that Truth does not, and tends not to leave scars that reality can't handle in the same way that Truth descending to Void does, and has already done (I leave it to you to guess which parts of that are historic, and which could possibly be due to the community's actions). It's notable that the one thing that can vaguely predict the future is named after balancing these things -- the Truth, for whatever it is, and Life, the only lens through which Truth can be perceived. Finally, we return to the name of the song, and all the earlier walls of text now pay off in the form of an explanation. The Circle that Wrote Life from Truth is history itself. As HaruFE starts up, we see a lot of old things returning to the fray. Holy weapons. Fragments of the past. Wars and strife lighting themselves anew. History has a way of repeating, and it’s not too picky (am I personifying history here, or does it really have a pull of its own?) about the details. The Circle that Wrote Life from Truth, as such, is a nod towards the creation of the game itself, and that's why it’s named as much for a full-game menu theme. Truth was there, and Life was made to experience it, and history goes on — that’s everything in a nutshell, right?

Question of the Day: Compare and Contrast yourself HARUDOKU with Napalm Harudoku and Napalm are both prolific incendiary devices sharing a number of obvious similarities – they both burn brightly, both serve a role as harbingers of CHAOS and DESTRUCTION, and by definition of incendiary, share a strong affinity for the aspect of fire. At a glance, it would almost seem as if they embody the same ideal – however, closer examination actually reveals a significantly larger list of differences between the two than one might expect. The obvious point of comparison between Harudoku and napalm is in their nature as incendiary devices. There are, of course, some easily seen similarities – both burn brightly and should be given some space by mere mortals (for sake of temperature tolerance), and both provide large quantities of fire. However, despite the obvious visual similarities, the natural affinity between the two seems to end there. While napalm historically has served as a strong fuel for ignition of various targets, by the nature of fuel that means that provided ignition napalm will be consumed. Harudoku, on the other hand, is a perpetual flame, and in fact has been observed to increase in quantity and quality when on sufficient fire*. Looking back historically, it is easy to actually find a disturbing disparity in terms of comparable roles in incendiary munitions: historically, napalm has served a significant roles in water-based military units such as the U.S Navy, whereas Harudoku is actually known to have significant issues working with water1. This could, on the other hand, serve as one side of a sort of cultural liaison – while Harudoku has shown a traditional closed approach to the topic of water, she has not shown a complete unwillingness to work with it, provided sufficient incendiary context2. This, as seen later, will not be the only instance of important cultural bridges between the two subjects. Beyond what is directly related to their incendiary nature, it is also worth considering the other physical properties of Harudoku and napalm for comparison, although in this case there is less similarity provided. For one, napalm is a liquid, and Harudoku, while primarily on fire, is a solid. Furthermore, napalm on fire tends to have an opposite effect to a Harudoku on fire – while Harudoku on fire tends to draw in or welcome people, napalm unfortunately deoxygenates the air, leading to high quantities of materials poisonous to the average human3. Research is inconclusive (and nonexistent, reverse-consequently), on whether a Harudoku lit with previously applied napalm exhibits the general tendencies of her ordinary self, or standard application of napalm. Now, in the context of the Harudoku, it is important to note that perpetual autoimmolation is not just a state of affairs, but is a way of life and spiritual philosophy – as such, it is also important to look at other non-physical aspects. However, given that napalm can often be found lacking in sentience, one can’t look directly at choices or ideologies. That does not, however, leave one with nothing to examine – instead, one can look at the linguistics and attempt to determine a similarity of purpose. First of all, the chosen names themselves actually bear some resemblance – Harudoku is a direct conjoinment of two Japanese words4, and napalm is actually joined from the roots of two acids: naphthenic and palmitic5. Napalm also has a verb form (to attack with napalm)5, where Harudoku is known to exist in other active verbal forms, such as KER-HARU, or “Haru happened”, which can indicate a similar form in terms of incendiary maximization. Finally, it is a known fact6 that Harudoku exists in a constant state of ‘a’, but it is a lesser known fact that modern napalm is actually Napalm B, thus providing a degree of alphabetic synergy. In conclusion, Harudoku and Napalm actually have a remarkable number of difference more than immediately meets the eye — once you get past the initial incendiary similarities, the remaining similarities are more in metaphysical purposes than in direct resemblance. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however — while one might initially be disappointed at how proportionately little Haru directly resembles napalm, it could easily be argued that this is an important point in a healthy cross-cultural relationship between future time-travellers that are also living napalm elementals and strange, omni-ignitional human ambassadors – especially given that a great deal of synergistic similarities are verbal and linguistic in nature, which is a key component in any diplomacy with such a being. *citation needed 1: [10:38 PM] : As a connoisseur of being on fire, what is your opinion on getting steamed to death [10:38 PM] Harudoku: water is involved [10:38 PM] Harudoku: so [10:38 PM] Harudoku: less than enthused [10:41 PM] : wow [10:41 PM] : so close-minded [10:44 PM] Harudoku: I'm [10:44 PM] Harudoku: waterist 2: [10:45 PM] : what if the water was on fire [10:45 PM] Harudoku: hydrist [10:45 PM] Harudoku: I'm hydri-- [10:45 PM] Harudoku: okay [10:45 PM] Harudoku: I could see that 3: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/napalm.htm 4: 4/27/16, 12:25:29 PM] dekw: How does the syntax of your name work japanese-wise [4/27/16, 12:25:34 PM] dekw: Is it just two separate words in meaning [4/27/16, 12:25:40 PM] dekw: This is important and will be cited [4/27/16, 12:25:55 PM] Harudoku: oh [4/27/16, 12:26:00 PM] Harudoku: It's two seperate words, yes [4/27/16, 12:26:14 PM] Harudoku: For maximum confusion, it's [4/27/16, 12:26:52 PM] Harudoku: ハル毒 5: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/napalm 6: Q.E.D