Tempest Trials+: Nihility & Dream (Part 1)

[Diovani Bressan]

A new Tempest Trials+ Series is coming, titled "Nihility & Dream"! 

 

The curtain rises on Nihility & Dream, a series of events focusing on the story of Peony and other álfar!

Plus, story elements that feature Special Heroes chatting will be released on the 4th day and 7th day after the event starts!

The bonus allies of this TT+ are:

Donnel's skills at 5★ Lv 40:

A farm boy from the countryside of Ylisse out enjoying the ocean with his beloved pot.
Appears in Fire Emblem Awakening.

 Wooden Tackle+ (Mt: 14 Range: 1)
At start of combat, if unit's HP≥25%, grants Atk/Def+5 to unit during combat, inflicts Atk/Def-X on foe during combat
(X = 25% of unit's HP at start of combat; max 10), and restore 10 HP to unit after combat.

 Reciprocal Aid
Unit and target ally swap HP. (Neither can go above their max HP.)

 Atk/Def Form 3
If unit initiates combat or is within 2 spaces of an ally, grants Atk/Def+5 to unit during combat and unit makes a guaranteed follow-up attack.

 Chill Def/Res 2
At start of turn, inflicts Def/Res-5 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def+Res total through its next action.

And the Sacred Seals are:
* Description for the enchanted version of each sacred seal *

 Spd/Res Ideal 3
At start of combat, if unit's HP = 100% or if [Bonus] is active on unit, grants Spd/Res+5 to unit during combat.

 Atk/Res Rein 3
Inflicts Atk/Res-4 on foes within 2 spaces during combat.

You can also earn some Divine Codes: Ephemera 7 by reaching the 6,000 score, and a Water Blessing by reaching the 12,500 score.

The next event in the series, titled Nihility & Dream 2, is scheduled for Ver. 7.8.0. Because the story of Nihility & Dream is told through a series of events,
you will be able to view the story on the Tempest Trials+ event page after the event is over, even if you didn't participate in it.

[Diovani Bressan]

I have not been doing the TT threads for previous events because there wasn't much to discuss on them. Only the TT rewards (unit and seals), they they were usually discussed in the banner's thread once the datamine was available.

But for these Tempest Trials that have a story series, I think it was valid to go back in creating these threads so we have a place to discuss the story.

[Mercakete]

Glad to see another of these. Still, I'm surprised it's not "Dreams and Nightmares." Did IS suddenly decide to change Book 4's theme, when so much "nightmare" was thrown around before? Anyway, guess this means we'll get Ascended Peony since the description mentions her by name. I hope this also addresses Freyja's coma. Maybe have Goat Aunt show up?

[ARMADS!!!]

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Glad to see another of these. Still, I'm surprised it's not "Dreams and Nightmares." Did IS suddenly decide to change Book 4's theme, when so much "nightmare" was thrown around before? Anyway, guess this means we'll get Ascended Peony since the description mentions her by name. I hope this also addresses Freyja's coma. Maybe have Goat Aunt show up?

 

 About dropping the "nightmare" part from the title, I saw this on the feh wiki related to the part 1 of this new TT+ (the spoiler tag contains minor spoilers with the "explanation" for why that's the title, which is in the description of the new OC character, and also more info about the new OC):

 

Spoiler

The new character here will be Eitr (who's obviously a woman because waifu, also kudos for having a name that looks way too much like both Eir and Eitri), the servant of the ruler of nothingness (hence "nihilism"), she's an arcane blue cavalry beast, her weapon effect is pretty good, specially considering you can give it away like that:

 

Arcane Nihility (14 mt):  "Accelerates Special trigger (cooldown count-1). At start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 25%, grants Atk/Spd/Def/Res+5 and Atk/Spd/Def/Res+X to unit, inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-X on foe (X = current bonus on each of foe's stats; calculates each stat bonus and penalty independently), and deals damage = 15% of unit's Spd during combat (including en dealing damage with a Special triggered before combat), and also, if unit's Spd > foe's Spd, neutralizes effects that guarantee foe's follow-up attacks and effects that prevent unit's follow-up attacks during combat. If unit transforms, grants Atk+2 to unit, inflicts Atk/Def-X on foe during combat (X = number of spaces from start position to end position of whoever initiated combat + 3; max 6), and also, if X ≥ 5, reduces damage from foe's first attack by 30% during combat."   I wonder if any beast will be able to inherit it, or just blue beasts or just cavalry beasts.  Eitr's stats at lv40 are: 40/44/46/33/16, there are is no info about any skill (neither special or assist) apart from her weapon      - This is Eitr's page on feh wiki if you wanna check her art, description, VA, etc: https://feheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Eitr:_Hand_of_Nothing  - And this is Nihility and Dream part 1's page (which inlcudes the opening and ending texts of part 1, I didn't read it because apart from Eitr's identiry I don't want spoilers): https://feheroes.fandom.com/wiki/Nihility_%26_Dream_1    I guess this means we can expect to see the ruler of nothingness, and since Eitr is apparently another goat girl, I expect her to be related to Freyr and Freyja in some way, maybe the ruler of nothingness is too? maybe it's their dad/mom (who'd be Nerfus' sibling I guess)?

 

[Perkilator]

IS released a video to go along with this:

 

[Diovani Bressan]

IS knows that the Book 4 is such a mess, so they didn't even bother in doing a recap of the story like how they did with the videos of Book 2 and 3.

Instead, we got dancing fairies that has nothing to do with anything. This is kinda like a April 1st video that happened in July.

[Mercakete]

Ooookay, so the new character is another goat girl (I guess IS is done with dragon lolis and likes goat girls now?) and...makes not a lot of sense. I'm glad IS reminded everyone that Freyja is in a coma (not dead) by establishing that the fairies are in her dream, but teaming up dreams and nightmares with a common enemy instead of focusing on the duality between dreams and nightmares feels...wrong. It's like they're trying to force a "good-guy-ification" on Freyja and the dark fairies. Watch them turn this into "Freyja was bad because the nihility made her do it so forgive her and feel bad for her." Otherwise, it's not a bad move bringing in that encroachment that the dream peeps were dealing with when they made the fairies. It's just that it feels like there's also that other goal of attempting to force the player into seeing the nightmare people as their allies. And what about Lif? The dark fairies were going to join him in his undercover mission with the gods, right? I can't quite remember if Plumeria was left behind to watch over Freyja or not, but I feel like that happened, so if it did, again, that's good canon consistency, but that other element just feels wrong. And you know the new goat girl is going to be another "poor thing, she doesn't want to do this, we need to save her" and then "yay! We're friends now! Now let's destroy someone who isn't cute since it's okay for those people to be evil and killable." *sigh*

Anyway, that said, I feel like Lif's story will come around at some point. It looks to me like his mission went very, very wrong. Thrasir was worried and chasing after him, it was alluded to that he was trying to save Thrasir when he was re-raised from the dead to serve Hel's handmaid, "what happened to the dark fairies?" seems to be being answered now (not that we know where Triandra is yet), and Rearmed Lif (in castle text) alludes to being our enemy in the future since he's bound in service to the gods and they're terrible. Seriously, this all feels like it's building up to the last book where we destroy Alfador (and thus the old gods) via Ragnarok (especially since our enemies have been getting more and more divine, with Possessed Veronica being Book 1's boss, Book 2's being a Muspell-empowered conqueror, Book 3 being the goddess of death, Book 4 being the goddess of nightmares, Book 5 being...an inventor, honestly... Book 6 being the goddess of broken bonds, and Book 7 still in progress, but now we're dealing with the realm of the gods itself, even if we haven't gotten to Alfador yet.) It just really looks like it's building up to that. Even with these TT stories, 3 gods and an up-and-coming goddess have died (Nifl, Muspell, Ymir, and handmaid lady whose name just isn't coming to me right now.) Counting only gods or godlike servants (not empowered mortals -- I am counting the fairies, the undead, and the empowered humans as empowered mortals), here's the count: Book 1 has 0. Book 2 has 0 (2 after the Fire and Ice TT+ series.) Book 3 has 1 (2 after the Life and Death TT+ series.) Book 4 has 2. Book 5 has 1 (though he was never mentioned by name and was absent the whole time: Nidavellir's dragon.) Book 6 has 4. Book 7 has at least 4 (but one of them has 3 major forms, so arguably, it's 6) but after this TT+ it could be more than that and I'll explain why. Anyway, as you can see, there's a progressive increase with Book 5 being an outlier, and that is probably to give a brief focus to the lack of gods (seeing as that was more or less Eitri's main motivation: despair, feeling abandoned by their god.)

And now, to further accent the point, I want to turn people's attention to some key details I see in the goat sprite of this new lady. She has those prismatic gems floating above her head, and hanging over her chest is the symbol of the...uhh people who live in that god-realm-of-light place Book 7 is dealing with right now (Asir?) So, she is definitely a "realm of gods" person. That said, the way she talks, she has a boss. So, she's probably more like Elm and Ash: a servant created from god powers. I still count her as a "god being" but my bet is that she serves the deity of nihility like, as stated, Elm and Ash.

[Ice Dragon]

42 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

That said, the way she talks, she has a boss.

Her in-game description when you tap her name is "Unquestioning servant of the ruler of nothingness, she lacks the confidence to express her own will."

Her epithet in Japanese translates to "Servant of Nihility".

So yes, we'll almost certainly have a god of nihility coming up later that we'll have to punch.

[Diovani Bressan]

So we are getting at least two new female characters with this TT series: Eitr and her boss, who Eitr already said that it's a "she".

I will guess the Ruler of the Nothingness is also a beast unit, although she could be a tome unit.

I also wonder how many ascended/rearmed heroes we will get here... Based on the two previous times, a new character or Alt introduced in the TT ends appearing in that same month's New Heroes banner... with the exception of the TT Part 2, because that month's New Heroes is CYL banner.

That means Eitr will probably be in the New Heroes of this month. Then the part 2 will not have a new hero, neither Part 6 since it releases in December and that month's New Heroes will have the Book 8 OC. So we have:

• Part 1 (July 23) - Eitr
• Part 2 (Aug 23) - No new unit since CYL is that month
• Part 3 (Sep 23) - ???
• Part 4 (Out 23) - ???
• Part 5 (Nov 23) - ???
• Part 6 (Dec 23) - No new unit since Book 8 begins that month

I will guess that the Ruler of the Nothingness will be one of these units, probably a Rearmed Hero like Eitr. Then the others 2 will be Ascended versions of Peony and Triandra. I don't think Mirabilis and Plumeria will get anything.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Diovani Bressan

[Mercakete]

1 hour ago, Diovani Bressan said:

So we are getting at least two new female characters with this TT series: Eitr and her boss, who Eitr already said that it's a "she".

I will guess the Ruler of the Nothingness is also a beast unit, although she could be a tome unit.

I also wonder how many ascended/rearmed heroes we will get here... Based on the two previous times, a new character or Alt introduced in the TT ends appearing in that same month's New Heroes banner... with the exception of the TT Part 2, because that month's New Heroes is CYL banner.

That means Eitr will probably be in the New Heroes of this month. Then the part 2 will not have a new hero, neither Part 6 since it releases in December and that month's New Heroes will have the Book 8 OC. So we have:

• Part 1 (July 23) - Eitr
• Part 2 (Aug 23) - No new unit since CYL is that month
• Part 3 (Sep 23) - ???
• Part 4 (Out 23) - ???
• Part 5 (Nov 23) - ???
• Part 6 (Dec 23) - No new unit since Book 8 begins that month

I will guess that the Ruler of the Nothingness will be one of these units, probably a Rearmed Hero like Eitr. Then the others 2 will be Ascended versions of Peony and Triandra. I don't think Mirabilis and Plumeria will get anything.

So, it's unlikely, but it could be that Eitr winds up being the new book freebie. Maybe not this version, but she really has "you have to go on a journey with this character and solve the big, world-ending problem this person is facing" vibes.

[Diovani Bressan]

3 hours ago, Mercakete said:

So, it's unlikely, but it could be that Eitr winds up being the new book freebie. Maybe not this version, but she really has "you have to go on a journey with this character and solve the big, world-ending problem this person is facing" vibes.

I don't think that, honestly... She gives me Eir vibes, though, that is on the side of the enemy at first but at the end becomes our ally, so I can see your point.

I still thinks she will be this month's Rearmed Hero, and her story presence will be for this series only.

[Othin]

4 minutes ago, Diovani Bressan said:

I don't think that, honestly... She gives me Eir vibes, though, that is on the side of the enemy at first but at the end becomes our ally, so I can see your point.

I still thinks she will be this month's Rearmed Hero, and her story presence will be for this series only.

According to precedent from the TT storylines of the past two years, we should be able to assume she'll become playable this month.

Ice and Flame:

• July: Nifl
• August: Pirate Surtr
• September: Muspell
• October: Ascended Fjorm
• November: Thorr
• December: Ascended Laegjarn

Life and Death:

• July: Duo Thorr
• August: Duo Nina
• September: Rearmed Lif
• October: Ascended Eir
• November: Ganglot
• December: Ganglot

In other words, the bosses are picked from:

1. The guest OC from the month's New Heroes banner
2. For December, the guest OC from the previous month's New Heroes banner
3. A seasonal unit from the seasonal banner (particularly for August)
4. A mythic hero from the end-of-month banner (only seen with Thorr so far, could plausibly extend to legendary OCs as well)

This isn't necessarily an exhaustive list of possibilities, but it really doesn't look like they're interested in using these to seed new units more than a month ahead of release.

[Aedan7479]

14 hours ago, Perkilator said:

IS released a video to go along with this:

 

Well, we've gotten our Chibi Playhouse, now how long before someone breaks out into a musical number? And how trippy can they make it?

[Ice Dragon]

On 7/6/2023 at 10:40 AM, Mercakete said:

Glad to see another of these. Still, I'm surprised it's not "Dreams and Nightmares." Did IS suddenly decide to change Book 4's theme, when so much "nightmare" was thrown around before? Anyway, guess this means we'll get Ascended Peony since the description mentions her by name. I hope this also addresses Freyja's coma. Maybe have Goat Aunt show up?

The series Tempest Trials' names were only written in that way presumably due to space constraints. The Japanese names were less cookie-cutter. However, this is still the first series Tempest Trials for the two themes to not be the same as the original book's, presumably because Freyja and the dark fairies aren't the antagonists this time. Additionally, the Japanese name of this series doesn't use "dream", but instead "nightmare". This implies that the two sides of this conflict are the god of nihility and the dark fairies and that the player and Peony are intruding on this conflict rather than being directly involved in it like we were with Fjorm and Eir.

Additionally, I wonder if it'll actually be Freyja or a dark fairy that gets an Ascended version instead of Peony this time.

 

The series Tempest Trials so far have been:

 

Ice & Flame is "氷神炎神" (hyōjin enjin), "God of Ice and God of Flame".

Life & Death is "生と死の王女" (sei to shi no ōjo), "Princesses of Life and Death".

Nihility & Dream is "虚無が、悪夢を" (kyomu ga, akumu wo), "Nihility has ***ed the Nightmare". The verb is omitted. It's normal in Japanese to omit the verb when it's already known from context, but it can also be done to intentionally create ambiguity.

[Mercakete]

4 hours ago, Ice Dragon said:

The series Tempest Trials' names were only written in that way presumably due to space constraints. The Japanese names were less cookie-cutter. However, this is still the first series Tempest Trials for the two themes to not be the same as the original book's, presumably because Freyja and the dark fairies aren't the antagonists this time. Additionally, the Japanese name of this series doesn't use "dream", but instead "nightmare". This implies that the two sides of this conflict are the god of nihility and the dark fairies and that the player and Peony are intruding on this conflict rather than being directly involved in it like we were with Fjorm and Eir.

Additionally, I wonder if it'll actually be Freyja or a dark fairy that gets an Ascended version instead of Peony this time.

 

The series Tempest Trials so far have been:

 

Ice & Flame is "氷神炎神" (hyōjin enjin), "God of Ice and God of Flame".

Life & Death is "生と死の王女" (sei to shi no ōjo), "Princesses of Life and Death".

Nihility & Dream is "虚無が、悪夢を" (kyomu ga, akumu wo), "Nihility has ***ed the Nightmare". The verb is omitted. It's normal in Japanese to omit the verb when it's already known from context, but it can also be done to intentionally create ambiguity.

I legitimately find this interesting, and fun to think about. That said, the pattern breakage still personally makes me uncomfy, and no amount of explaining is going to change that.

Also, I don't know about that. True, IS has a weird fondness for Freyja, but she's already a goddess. Also, alive. These TT+ bonus stories have all seemed to be about preparing for the time after Ragnarok, choosing new rulers of realms and concepts which previous gods had overseen. (Fjorm for Nifl, Laegjarn for Muspell, and Eir for both Ymir and Hel.) Since Freyja doesn't need to be replaced (yet), but Freyr does (since he died), I'm thinking Peony will step in there. Also, it would explain why the heck she's even in this story (other than having a "good guy" presence/light in the edge.) I guess Freyja could take over both dreams and nightmares, though, and Peony could be a red herring, or there to affirm her (Freyja's) new status.

[Diovani Bressan]

42 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

Also, I don't know about that. True, IS has a weird fondness for Freyja, but she's already a goddess. Also, alive. These TT+ bonus stories have all seemed to be about preparing for the time after Ragnarok, choosing new rulers of realms and concepts which previous gods had overseen. (Fjorm for Nifl, Laegjarn for Muspell, and Eir for both Ymir and Hel.) Since Freyja doesn't need to be replaced (yet), but Freyr does (since he died), I'm thinking Peony will step in there. Also, it would explain why the heck she's even in this story (other than having a "good guy" presence/light in the edge.) I guess Freyja could take over both dreams and nightmares, though, and Peony could be a red herring, or there to affirm her (Freyja's) new status.

In this case, Fjorm and Laegjarn didn't become rulers of their kingdoms. I could argue that maybe once Laegjarn returned to Múspell Laevatein could give her the throne since she is the older princess, but I don't think Hríd would do the same for Fjorm.

But about the "taking their places as ruler" thing, I really thought that would be the way of this TT series: Peony would become the Queen of Dreams, and Triandra would become the Queen of Nightmares. Two siblings taking the place of two siblings. Maybe that could still happen, but it's too soon to say.

[Mercakete]

18 hours ago, Diovani Bressan said:

In this case, Fjorm and Laegjarn didn't become rulers of their kingdoms. I could argue that maybe once Laegjarn returned to Múspell Laevatein could give her the throne since she is the older princess, but I don't think Hríd would do the same for Fjorm.

But about the "taking their places as ruler" thing, I really thought that would be the way of this TT series: Peony would become the Queen of Dreams, and Triandra would become the Queen of Nightmares. Two siblings taking the place of two siblings. Maybe that could still happen, but it's too soon to say.

You misunderstood me. I didn't say there was any throne assension. Rather, that they replaced specific rulers of concepts. Also, that they're being set up for it, not outright replacing them now. They'll be already in place, this way, so that the concepts (fire, ice, dreams, etc.) don't have a vacancy in the position of ruler/handler once Ragnarok happens (which it hasn't yet.) Stability can't exist without order, and if you get rid of the old system, you need a new one (or, in this case, keeping the old system but replacing the ones running it.) I'm talking gods (for lack of better term in order to convey the general idea I'm tryi8ng to get across (though "handler" or "ruler" is more accurate -- though not a ruler of people/geographic location) and concepts, not rulers (of people/geographic regions) and kingdoms.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Mercakete

[defensedefumer]

Here is my playthrough with bonus unit Ymir. Ninja Camilla is unstoppable in my team!

 

[Mercakete]

So, the bonus story this time was just the Niflians hanging out. Still, Ylgr saying "I hope Hrid can join us next year!" gives me hope. (She's also the only Summer Niflian I have.)

[Etrurian emperor]

The tease that Hrid is going to hog a spot next summer kinda send chills down my spine.

[Mercakete]

If nothing else it'll complete the Summer Nifl set, and it's not like the Niflian girls aren't given a lot more attention (except Nifl herself, but that's because she's newer.)

Edited July 14, 2023 by Mercakete

[Diovani Bressan]

I will not be surprised if Hríd ends as the 4* hero or TT unit for next year's Summer Banner.

[Etrurian emperor]

38 minutes ago, Mercakete said:

If nothing else it'll complete the Summer Nifl set, and it's not like the Niflian girls aren't given a lot more attention (except Nifl herself, but that's because she's newer.)

I think there's a difference with Hrid and his sisters. Male slots are intensely competitive. Usually there's only room for one male, or maybe, maybe two on a given banner. So Hrid getting the summer spot means a more interesting male won't be getting it. And given Hrid is hardly an exited character that somewhat means the male slot gets wasted that particular summer. 

Not all male additions can be winners but with Hrid it would go to an oc that's particularly unimportant.

[Xenomata]

8 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think there's a difference with Hrid and his sisters. Male slots are intensely competitive. Usually there's only room for one male, or maybe, maybe two on a given banner. So Hrid getting the summer spot means a more interesting male won't be getting it. And given Hrid is hardly an exited character that somewhat means the male slot gets wasted that particular summer. 

Not all male additions can be winners but with Hrid it would go to an oc that's particularly unimportant.

They could make him the backup of a Duo/Harmonic hero. Yeah he won't technically be summonable as a summer hero, but that'd be a way to let him be on a summer banner without "taking" a slot.

[Sunwoo]

They could've just put Hrid on this banner as the TT+ reward or something and given Luffy a different alt >_>