Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Interdimensional Observer]

Looks like the Earth is about to get a temporary second "moon".

 

34 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Now with timelapse.

This is the plot of Xenoblade X2.

We already have Professor B as a traveler of spacetime who became stuck. What's the harm in having a second?😛

11 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Thanks for the strawberry history lesson.

Not a problem.😄 -I wanted to throw out the factoids, as a way of making the estate come more "alive and relevant", a little something that happened there that went well beyond the absolute monarchal estate of the Bourbons.

 

16 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Your trip there better not end up like this guy's.

Bloodline's choice to do a European grand tour instead of sticking to Transylvania was creatively different.😀 Even if: Atlantis and Castle Proserpina aren't real, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is tourist-trappy for an Italy stage, and why did Germany get stuck with a Munitions Factory?😝

[Acacia Sgt]

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Looks like the Earth is about to get a temporary second "moon".

Quick, tell Mossdeep Space Center to send a rocket! Just gotta watch out for Deoxys...

20 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Bloodline's choice to do a European grand tour instead of sticking to Transylvania was creatively different.😀 Even if: Atlantis and Castle Proserpina aren't real, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is tourist-trappy for an Italy stage, and why did Germany get stuck with a Munitions Factory?😝

Well, it is WWI.

Apparently the castle in the background of the stage is meant to be Katz Castle. Don't know if there were any important metallurgy or ironwork factories nearby. I guess they just wanted to "explain" why the Creature is the miniboss. Assembled in the factory.

Edited Saturday at 04:25 AM by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

So TIL regarding Crash 3...

"Death Route" remixes were created for a few level themes that ended up never getting them. The weirdest thing is, among them were for the racing and airplane levels. Like... how would that even work? The racing levels can at least have the road split in two for alternate paths (though then what would happen to the race then?), but the airplane levels are open areas.

Unless it somehow would've been the themes for Area 51? and Rings of Power. But it would feel weird to have the remix play all level-long, maybe.

Though now that I think about it... the alien sign in Road Crash does not send you to Area 51?, despite how by all accounts... it should've? I guess that's one way to make it work to merit the Death Route remix.

Other level themes that got unused remixes are apparently the jet ski and underwater levels. Neither are hard to implement alternate paths for, and Deep Trouble in fact has one, housing the Red Gem. Maybe it was planned to be a proper Death Route, but it was scrapped to instead have a different access method... though then why would the track still go unused? Who knows...

Edited Saturday at 06:43 AM by Acacia Sgt

[Codename Shrimp]

7 hours ago, Armagon said:

 you were in London at least once right? Did you ever get the London Pass?

Nope

If you plan to visit costly attractions often it might be worth it (if you get the 7 day one), but London has alot of free attractions as well. Museums for example are free.

 

The london pass doesn't include public transport, right?

Edited Saturday at 10:59 AM by Codename Shrimp

[Dayni]

There goes the neighbourhood

7 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

Is it at least looking like things might ease up in the next while?

Feeling a little worried about it myself, but shh

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

When is it not lol.

I'm just not hoping to hear all of Paris is burning because of you

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I just hope they've added bathrooms, I've heard it said that even by the standards of the day, Versailles was stinky. No toilets, perfume and excrement mixing in the air.

I'd assume there are, but I haven't been there in nearly 2 decades and am not recalling.

3 hours ago, Armagon said:

Now with timelapse.

This is the plot of Xenoblade X2.

  Oooh, timelapse.

What are you drawing in? Mostly curious because of the reference tool that you used at the start.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Looks like the Earth is about to get a temporary second "moon".

Well there's enough ways for the world to end off that plot point

Saw the headline, interesting how it's going to slingshot itself back into the asteroid belt.

[Interdimensional Observer]

18 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Well there's enough ways for the world to end off that plot point

If you're looking for a world end, there was this space news from ~10 days ago.😛

It's possible that Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, are space rocks that were captured by Mars. Although scientists presently don't have the evidence they require to rule out the alternative "moons born of debris from a massive impact on early Mars" hypothesis (which ofc is how the Earth's Moon came to be).

[BrightBow]

I wonder if Celia's cult is related to the order of Ecclesia.

Just has this vibe. What with them only having 3 members, all hanging out in a massive building.

Edited Saturday at 12:30 PM by BrightBow

[Armagon]

2 hours ago, Codename Shrimp said:

you plan to visit costly attractions often it might be worth it (if you get the 7 day one), but London has alot of free attractions as well. Museums for example are free.

 

The london pass doesn't include public transport, right?

I don't think it does but it's not just me, it's my dad as well. So the London Pass could save us some money even if we're only there for two days.

We are renting a car tho, to road trip across the UK. London -> Cardiff -> Liverpool -> Edinburgh -> Sterling -> back to Edinburgh -> Manchester -> back to London.

2 hours ago, Dayni said:

Mostly curious because of the reference tool that you used at the start.

Yeah that was a really nifty 3D perspective grid. I can move it around and such and the box it comes with helps with the physical space.

 

[Codename Shrimp]

2 hours ago, Dayni said:

s it at least looking like things might ease up in the next while?

Nope

41 minutes ago, Armagon said:

So the London Pass could save us some money even if we're only there for two days.

72 pounds a day per person is pretty hefty unless you plan to visit like 3 attractions a day. Also if you plan to visit the british museum plan atleast half a day for that!

Edited Saturday at 02:25 PM by Codename Shrimp

[BrightBow]

Gotta love Soma storming the base of some evil cult with nothing but a, as the game puts it, "cheaply made pocket knife".

...well, that and the ability to throw bones, I guess. That's gonna make all the difference.

It's crazy just how empty this entire castle is. All those rooms that only contain like one enemy and nothing else. Or bigger rooms that have corners that also just exists to house one enemy. Practically the entire cellar under Gergoth's tower is a good example of the latter. Those enemies aren't placed to be obstacles and they are not in a good spot to be farmed for souls. It's just wasted space.
It honestly feels like there used to be tons of treasure in the castle that got removed in order to force players to farm for souls for the crafting system.

 

[Saint Rubenio]

2 hours ago, BrightBow said:

I wonder if Celia's cult is related to the order of Ecclesia.

Just has this vibe. What with them only having 3 members, all hanging out in a massive building.

It has three members and two of them were recruited due to their whole "born on D-Day (for Dracula)" thing. It's not like Barlowe who raised his pupils, I mean both of the two amigos are older than Celia. At the same time, Celia isn't exactly all that old, so it's not likely she spent decades heading a cult of one in a game-sized castle.

...Maybe she was going for a picnic in the forest, stumbled into the castle and thought "welp, might as well start a dark cult of three while I'm here." I mean, what else would you do if you found a free castle full of monsters?

Edited Saturday at 02:53 PM by Saint Rubenio

[Interdimensional Observer]

The Mayans liked their mushrooms.🍄

[Acacia Sgt]

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

..Maybe she was going for a picnic in the forest, stumbled into the castle and thought "welp, might as well start a dark cult of three while I'm here." I mean, what else ould you do if you found a free castle full of monsters?

No, it's stated they built the castle (with lots of monster labor work, I'd wager), since it was for Soma to use if they managed to force him to embrace his Dark Lord role. Since Celia ardently believes that "for God to exist, the Devil must too". Which is, interestingly enough, the same thing Alucard tells Soma at the end of Aria. About Light and Darkness needing to be in balance. Of course, Alucard wouldn't be as foolish as to force said balance to exist, unlike Celia there.

On the subject of castle building, I'd say Olrox tops it off in the novel. The "castle" he makes is actually built by using Legion itself (using magic to make it look like an actual castle instead of... well, it's Legion we're talking about), with Puppetmaster providing the monsters that inhabit it.

Edited Saturday at 04:31 PM by Acacia Sgt

[BrightBow]

16 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Since Celia ardently believes that "for God to exist, the Devil must too".

If Dracula is the absolute evil to counterbalance the absolute good of God, I wonder who this "Satan" is who left his ring at the top of the castle.

[Acacia Sgt]

17 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

If Dracula is the absolute evil to counterbalance the absolute good of God, I wonder who this "Satan" is who left his ring at the top of the castle.

Well, in early Castlevania lore, it was Satan whom Dracula made his pact with. Of course, that was retcon away in favor of having Chaos instead.

It's worth pointing out that Satan's Ring is actually called the Dark Lord's Ring in Japan. The implication is that it's actually the Ring of Vlad. Though the Devil Ring from OoE is still named as such in Japan.

Lore-wise, it's likely the story of the Fallen Angel Lucifer still exists, but Dracula was considered the greater evil just by virtue of having numerous undisputed recorded appearances and havoc-causing. Specially after the 1999 appearance.

[Interdimensional Observer]

55 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It's worth pointing out that Satan's Ring is actually called the Dark Lord's Ring in Japan. The implication is that it's actually the Ring of Vlad.

-A mistranslation buries a possible stray Relic, I was not aware of that.😮

58 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Though the Devil Ring from OoE is still named as such in Japan.

In that case though, it's one of the tarot rings. It's a name chosen by Konami not to allude The Devil, but to complete the Arcana. Shame collecting all 22 rings doesn't do anything. I'd take a "Blank Ring" representing our Empty Tome of a protagonist. A ring whose mounting is left empty, like a blank card, in being undefined, it contains all possibilities.

[Pengaius]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...Maybe she was going for a picnic in the forest, stumbled into the castle and thought "welp, might as well start a dark cult of three while I'm here." I mean, what else would you do if you found a free castle full of monsters?

I'm like 95% sure that Graham Jones from Aria founded their cult (I think it's in one of the Glossary entries which is why we know the cult is called "From Light"), Celia just inherited the position. Also I think the village area where Hammer and Yoko set up shop was built by the cult for non candidates to live in until they kool-aided themselves into monsters, though I don't think anything official supports that theory.

[Acacia Sgt]

6 minutes ago, Pengaius said:

I'm like 95% sure that Graham Jones from Aria founded their cult (I think it's in one of the Glossary entries which is why we know the cult is called "From Light"), Celia just inherited the position. Also I think the village area where Hammer and Yoko set up shop was built by the cult for non candidates to live in until they kool-aided themselves into monsters, though I don't think anything official supports that theory.

No, they're separate cults. The glossary entry doesn't say that.

Quote

-----------------------------------The Cult-----------------------------------

A religious cult headed by the priest Celia Fortner. Its formal name is
"With Light." It preaches that for God to be absolute good, there must be a
being of absolute darkness. Rather than revering a dark lord, it believes in
its presence, and reveres God out of fear of the dark lord.

The most the two have in terms of interaction is that Graham's desire to become the Dark Lord inspired Celia's scheme.

Quote

------------------------------------Graham------------------------------------

Graham Jones
A man who was convinced he was Dracula's heir. He was born at the same exact
time as Dracula's downfall in 1999. He was defeated by Soma in Dracula's
Castle last year. It was his failed attempt, however, that gave Celia the idea
of creating a new dark lord.

 

Edited Saturday at 06:33 PM by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

-A mistranslation buries a possible stray Relic, I was not aware of that.😮

Yeah. Further supporting this, perhaps, is that its appearance in Dawn of Sorrow matches the Ring of Vlad's appearance from Symphony of the Night. It's kinda hard to tell:

 

But both at least follow the idea of being silver and adorned with a red gem. Symphony's gem looks much larger, but other than that, they're very similar. But, as it is, both rings have had redesigns over the years. It's mostly the latter's Japanese name and description that outright says it was Dracula's, and well, the only other ring with such a description is the Ring of Vlad.

30 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

In that case though, it's one of the tarot rings. It's a name chosen by Konami not to allude The Devil, but to complete the Arcana. Shame collecting all 22 rings doesn't do anything. I'd take a "Blank Ring" representing our Empty Tome of a protagonist. A ring whose mounting is left empty, like a blank card, in being undefined, it contains all possibilities.

What, that's not the Fool Ring?

[Dayni]

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you're looking for a world end, there was this space news from ~10 days ago.😛

It's possible that Phobos and Deimos, the moons of Mars, are space rocks that were captured by Mars. Although scientists presently don't have the evidence they require to rule out the alternative "moons born of debris from a massive impact on early Mars" hypothesis (which ofc is how the Earth's Moon came to be).

Least it sounds like no issue in practice.

Interesting that they're unsure with those compared to this moon. Suppose the evidence is easier to get.

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

The Mayans liked their mushrooms.🍄

They predicted nuclear explosions? /s

[Saint Rubenio]

4 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

No, it's stated they built the castle (with lots of monster labor work, I'd wager), since it was for Soma to use if they managed to force him to embrace his Dark Lord role. Since Celia ardently believes that "for God to exist, the Devil must too". Which is, interestingly enough, the same thing Alucard tells Soma at the end of Aria. About Light and Darkness needing to be in balance. Of course, Alucard wouldn't be as foolish as to force said balance to exist, unlike Celia there.

On the subject of castle building, I'd say Olrox tops it off in the novel. The "castle" he makes is actually built by using Legion itself (using magic to make it look like an actual castle instead of... well, it's Legion we're talking about), with Puppetmaster providing the monsters that inhabit it.

Oh, I see.

4 hours ago, BrightBow said:

If Dracula is the absolute evil to counterbalance the absolute good of God, I wonder who this "Satan" is who left his ring at the top of the castle.

Some goober.

2 hours ago, Pengaius said:

I'm like 95% sure that Graham Jones from Aria founded their cult (I think it's in one of the Glossary entries which is why we know the cult is called "From Light"), Celia just inherited the position. Also I think the village area where Hammer and Yoko set up shop was built by the cult for non candidates to live in until they kool-aided themselves into monsters, though I don't think anything official supports that theory.

You may have been incorrect, but I do like the idea that all the leaders of single-digit-number-of-members cults are friends. Graham, Celia and Barlowe. A friend group of three, all heading cults of three or less! It's so neat!

[Dayni]

28 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Graham, Celia and Barlowe

Formed their own club waiting for the Drac to be back chilling with Barlowe's ghost

[Saint Rubenio]

13 minutes ago, Dayni said:

Formed their own club waiting for the Drac to be back chilling with Barlowe's ghost

I wipe my butt with the timeline. Barlowe is eternal.

[Interdimensional Observer]

@Armagon, since you'll be in Paris and London, just feel like mentioning what's likely a five-second tourist attraction of both cities- obelisks.

In 1830 AD, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, gifted the king of France an obelisk. This was one of the two obelisks erected at the entrance of the Temple of Luxor by Ramses II (r. 1279-1213 BC), and the last pair of ancient Egyptian great obelisks (smaller ones continued thereafter) ever commissioned. The obelisk was brought to Paris and set atop a pedestal at the Place de la Concorde, in 1836.

Later, in 1877 AD, Great Britain received an obelisk from the Egyptian government. This obelisk had been ordered by Thutmose III (r. 1479-1425 BC), and placed in the city of Heliopolis (now buried beneath modern Cairo). In 12 BC, however, the Roman Empire decided to relocate this obelisk in their newly-conquered province, to the Caesareum of Alexandria, a temple built by Cleopatra VII (the famed Cleopatra). Due to the ancient relocation to Alexandria, this obelisk is now commonly known as one of "Cleopatra's Needles". It is presently located in London on the Victoria Embankment along the Thames. (Its sister obelisk was simultaneously gifted by the Egyptian government to the United States, and is located in NYC's Central Park.)

--- (Unnecessary for your trip history information!🤓)

The oldest fragment fragment we have of an Egyptian obelisk dates to between 2305~2279 BC, roughly during the reign of Teti, pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty (the last of the Old Kingdom dynasties, the preceding Fourth Dynasty being the one that built the Pyramids of Giza). Obeliskos is a Greek word, meaning "small, pointed pillar". Tekhen was the native Egyptian word, but of uncertain origin. The square pillars, which usually slightly tapered upwards, would be topped by a pyramidion in Greek, or benben in Egyptian- "to shine/radiate". Almost all Egyptian obelisks were made of red granite from the quarries of Aswan near the First Cataract of the Nile (waterfall/rapids). A failed obelisk -it had a massive crack at the base- from the reign of Hatshepsut or her stepson Thutmose III, remains almost-extracted, and helps us understand how the obelisks were made using along with the tools they left behind.

Obelisks represented solidified rays of the Sun. And the pyramidion would sometimes be covered in gold or electrum (a naturally-occurring gold & silver alloy why wasn't this the 2nd Gen third version?), to make it reflect the Sun's rays. Benben is also the Egyptian name for the "Primordial Hill" from which the god Atum, surrounded by the primordial waters of chaos, created the world some versions say via self-love, by hand or with his shadow. So the pyramidion and thus obelisk as a whole, also represents the Egyptian creation myth. (Well, the myth according to the city of Heliopolis, whose Egyptian name was Iunu- "the City of Pillars".) The base of an obelisk would sometimes feature the imagery of baboons, because the Egyptians thought baboons prayed to the Sun like they did (due to certain baboon behaviors). On the shaft of the obelisk would be nice things written of the god to whom the obelisk was dedicated, and usually the pharaoh/person who commissioned the obelisk would have their name written for eternity on it too.

The Fifth Dynasty of Egypt (2575-2150 BC) began the construction of obelisks with large altars at the base at its solar temples (smaller pharaonic structures b/c big pyramids were too expensive). The Middle Kingdom (1975-1640 BC) saw obelisk construction spread, and it was the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC) sculpted the slenderer, taller obelisks which are known of to this day. The New Kingdom also usually erected obelisks in pairs at the monumental gateways (pylons) to temples, why is uncertain. After Ramses II, the smaller Egyptian obelisks which continued to be constructed, lasted until Ptolemy IX Soter II (r. 116-107, 88-81 BC) dedicated the final pair to Isis at a temple on Philae Island.

The first foreigner to develop a liking for Egyptian obelisks, was the great King Ashurbanipal (669-630 BC) of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This very cultured man sacked the Egyptian city of Thebes in 663 BC, and had two obelisks brought back to his capital of Nineveh (in modern Iraq). The Roman Empire under its first emperor Augustus began extracting obelisks in 10 BC, placing the first inside the Circus Maximus atop the central barrier known as the spina. Charioteers would do laps around the obelisk, which kept the spirit of Sun-worship alive, as chariot-racing symbolized Apollo/the Sun making its procession across the sky. Later obelisks would be brought to Rome (and one to Constantinople), as for the Romans, initially, relocating these Egyptian pillars was seen as act of taking righteously-earned spoils of conquest. The result is that Rome is now the city with the most obelisks in the world- 13. As for Egypt, none of the great obelisks that remain there are still in their originally-intended spots, the article claimed. After the fall of Rome, obelisk exportation would stop until the 19th century.

If you read it, I hope this little lecture on monoliths didn't bore you.😜

 

4 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

But both at least follow the idea of being silver and adorned with a red gem. Symphony's gem looks much larger, but other than that, they're very similar. But, as it is, both rings have had redesigns over the years. It's mostly the latter's Japanese name and description that outright says it was Dracula's, and well, the only other ring with such a description is the Ring of Vlad.

Thanks for the visual comparison and info.

-For a moment, I was thinking the stone might be retroactively the Crimson Stone that Lament of Innocence invented, and is the thing that turned Mathias Cronqvist into the powerful evil he is. -But then I remember he wears that on his chest (and is perhaps oddly not spoken of enough after LoI).

4 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

What, that's not the Fool Ring?

No, the Fool is the Arcana that is beyond human artistry.🎨

 

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

They predicted nuclear explosions? /s

With enough magic mushrooms, water lilies, and tobacco both smoked and consumed as a liquid (which is more dangerous than smoking, but recent archaeological evidence says yes the Mayans drank tobacco), maybe?

2 hours ago, Dayni said:

Interesting that they're unsure with those compared to this moon. Suppose the evidence is easier to get.

While Mars is a fair distance away -outer space & all- you'd think with all the rovers they've sent to the surface of the Red Planet, that they would've sent something already to the moons. But I guess funding for space research isn't that plentiful, and the dreams of finding accessible water/microbial life/landing humans on Mars takes priority.

[Acacia Sgt]

45 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Thanks for the visual comparison and info.

-For a moment, I was thinking the stone might be retroactively the Crimson Stone that Lament of Innocence invented, and is the thing that turned Mathias Cronqvist into the powerful evil he is. -But then I remember he wears that on his chest (and is perhaps oddly not spoken of enough after LoI).

Yeah, the Crimson Stone seems to be an explanation for that ever present gem in the... brooch? Cloak clasp? Anyway, that Dracula always has.