"Well? What are you staring at? Do I have something in my teeth?"
Eyyy it's the long awaited Mael skeleton form ref! How many refs does he even need? Yes. The answer is yes. You can tell my main syndrome is terminal.
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Additional design notes ⬇️
I've actually been trying to figure out how his signature furnace would work in skeleton form for quite a while, considering the notable lack of skin and therefore lack of his chest scar to channel it from. I was just about ready to concede defeat and make him lose access to that particular power in full lich form, when I was hit by an epiphany~
I spent a while scrolling lich/undead character artworks on Pinterest for inspo when I came across a picture of a skeleton with its sternum broken off, making its ribs look sort of like teeth, and I was like, HOLY COW WHOA bingo. Still, the issue of Mael's scar remained, and then I had an idea:
What if the infernal stigmata - his cursed scar(s) - was literally branded into his very soul, not only his flesh? It does make sense in hindsight. It's why his Departing scars remain despite his regenerative immortality, after all - what with him having bound a demon's soul to the wounds sustained from a God. It's something that will manifest on Mael even if he were reduced to just a ghost, a literal inescapable curse that follows him through any and all forms he might take.
Thus, the furnace remains more or less unchanged, manifesting out of the central spark of magic within Mael's ribcage and burning away his sternum to create the signature fanged look of the Soul Eater's brand. The bone around it changes color to black to stand out better, which I explain by localized Shroud magic. You would be able to see a subtly shifting shadowy texture, strongest at the tips of the ribs.
I think I neglected to mention that his portal teeth actually move, did I? Well, yes. They do. Imagine the subtle motion of centipede legs, and you're getting close to what I have in mind. Likewise, his ribs-teeth will do the same, further emphasizing the unnatural factor of everything he has going on. (And evoking the imagery of a snake's ribs. Yes, snakes "walk" on their ribs. You're welcome.)
GW2 news again! Off the back of their Live-stream
Not a lot this time but tl;dr
Confirmation they intend to work on GW2 expacs (with the same current annual release schedule they have had for SOTO/Janthir/VoE) after GW3 is released
They'll be addressing each area of the game for modernisation and other changes from Core, then going through expac to expac, with a schedule of 1.5-2 months between each of those releases for the next year (or 18 months not sure, think they are counting from now and not from when VoE concludes)
They later addressed their intention to finally explore some lingering plot threads that have been hanging in the air for a long time for future GW2 expacs
They said that GW2's version of the Hall of Monuments would be a mix of stuff that applied retroactively and required you to replay it, albeit with very loose non-committal language to one or the other
The dev teams are completely separate for each game. This is a relief for me because I remember how rough Living World releases could be back in the day, when development teams were different between each release and there was a distinct disconnection and clear lack of communication between them. Nice to know GW2 & 3 probably won't have that
Trying to think of the lingering plot threads too…
All that comes to mind is:
The Charr Imperators that were implied to be up to something (Janthir epilogue)
Torment, at a stretch
Some Dwarves resurfaced but seemed to immediately get forgotten (perhaps by design) and by extension the Underground that Primordus destroyed and caused Asura to flee from is potentially open for exploration again
Malyck
Foefire
Wwwwhere's the Nightmare Court?
Bangar
Norn can return to the Far Shiverpeaks with the absence of Jormag
Tomodachi fractal courtesy of @commanderteag featuring the characters of himself, me, @lost-wayfinder and @mithosis . This interaction between Eyrhys and Mael had me rofling.
something something extremely sexy when magic users resort to physical violence. yeah i have the power of god and anime on my side but i also have THESE HANDS. i cast Punch You In The Face. i take my magic staff through which i channel the vast energies of the elements and the cosmos and i cast Severe Concussion And Skull Fracture. casting time for xenoglossy too long, chose the quicker route of Stab You In The Throat.
Rules: make a poll with five of your all-time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favourite
Thanks @lady-quen for tagging me
Anyone who wants to count this as me tagging you🫵
Doing this on a gw2 blog, I fear the answer is right there.
I can finally officially announce I've been granted the honor of being an ArenaNet Partner! So, of course, I had to make a little debut post featuring my beautiful fangy man, Maelmordha. Thank you so much to the GW2 fandom for making this possible! I would not have gotten this far without you! 🫡
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