I can ArT and stuff. I like games,cartoons and things! Repost account is @FAR-From-Official-2 I have Instagram @far_from_official Discord nearforbidden0, Twitter too! @farofficial9
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Do:
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Your level of genius is making me both jealous & feel insightful dude i genuinely enjoy reading your blogs so much thank you for being in this world with us ❤🩹
Thanks a bunch, and I'd say the same for your AlephSys art as well since it's kinda hard for me to come by nowadays. Other than that, it's either making a funny/funnily-angsty analysis, fixing up a rant analysis from my sis (another avid Re99 fan but been pretty busy with work these days) on Root, or both...But it's still great to know that there's people that share similar ideas and bounce off each other with different interpretations and skills.
Hope you have a great summer and best of luck on any future ventures! :D
While I'm slowly puttering along 3.4's Pre-Storm Protocol, imagine my surprise with Marcus' tutorial through the Toybox and found this little nugget of dialogue:
Even if it took a bit of digging to find the actual The Idealist since it connects to either a poem/literature website, a 2014 book by Nina Munk, and finally landing on a 1950 page in the New York Times, the whiplash I got was pretty real (even if the conversation ends just as quickly as an Assistant recruit)...And then the (toy) pieces began to pile up on Aleph and co. interacting with the Toybox in less-than-subtle ways now outside a mysterious red phone booth, the linguistic breakdown, and a couple thought experiments on the side.
So that got me thinking about the potential timeline for the simulations and when Aleph was officially put in Foundation custody. Given X's direct confirmation that this P-SP likely happened a couple days after 2.8 Paradise Regained, well after Vereinsamt, and is a couple months before Long Long Way and Campaign's Tale (definitely trying to give Vertin a breather/cope with losing her mom to the 10th Storm)...Then I look at Gnomon's timeline, albeit still in-progress with Spring Unending mentioning 1996 and Heron’s time likely being 1596, and immediately remember that Time Travel is a perfectly balanced trope and will definitely not melt a person's brain with a chronological gaming experience :)
Other than that, it also brings out a another side conflict with Ludwig and the Aleph(s) on top of ticking off another box on my theory of The Depths + Zahir hijacking Laplace’s less-understood tech to figure out how their collective minds work under a microscope (among other funny hijinks in the earlier Storm Protocols if you read between the lines). Cause how else is the LSCC supposed to know about this strange human's connection to a mini Storm simulation box? Besides Lorentz aka. "Enigmatically Enigmatic Girl" of course, and I'm sure it's going to be a ride once Serpent Club gets released on Global since she wanted to avoid Argentina with a thousand-yard pole after her little conversation with Aleph.
And yes, even if it somewhat sucks that their psychoanalysis warzone is stuck on the sideline, and neither of them figuring out they're in the same building now, the fact they went down the mindset of "I want to pick apart your brain and find out what the fuck is wrong with you?? And I'm going to do it in the most unethical way possible, even if it's in a simulated environment, and make it everyone else's problem...Platonically, of course!" is extra hilarious if Adler is actually the third wheel in all of this and completely unaware of this "playground" cat-fight.
After all, he's mainly pissed with Ulrich freaking out about the toy pieces being more efficient Laplace employees (ie. Stripping away an arcanist's eccentricities and making them act more machine-like than the ferrofluid himself) and Ludwig creating a "universal language movement" through the power of Proteus (which also has theological backing from Carl Jung, alchemy, and the Collective Unconsciousness theory); he's still grieving Greta and trying to be a unofficial uncle-figure to Marcus for obvious reasons...
Typical Laplace office drama here :)
I know it's going to be a couple months or so for the Year of the Honse patch to drop on global, so I figured I could put up a little guessing game about the remaining tarot garments and who relates to them on a painfully (un)subtle way. Also having the more than interesting lore drop from Aleph (more specifically with Feast of Imagery/Paracelsus) enforcing the idea that all the garments/garment series are alternate universes almost on par with Limbus' mirror worlds and may or may be some interesting fic potential in the larger story.
...And speaking of Aleph, the only one I'm really betting on is my man(s) (more than likely Zahir to complete the quartet) being The Fool for lore reasons :)
Here's a couple tarot explanations I could find for those who don't know the in's and out's of tarot divination (Labriynthos and Tarot).
0. The Fool: ???
1. The Magician: Melania (Red and White)
2. The High Priestess: Druvis III (Shrouded in Thorns)
3. The Empress: Eternity (The Golden Nurturer)
4. The Emperor: ???
5. The Hierophant: ???
6. The Lovers: Jessica (The Sound of Paradise)
7. The Chariot: ???
8. The Strength: ???
9. The Hermit: 6 (A Hymn to Seclusion, surprise jumpscare in the 3.5 preview btw)
10. The Wheel of Fortune: ???
11. The Justice: ???
12. The Hanged Man: Medicine Pocket (Forever is Too Short)
13. The Death: ??? (Just making the obvious assumption that Charon fits the mark for more than one reason :)
14. The Temparance: ???
15. The Devil: Anjo Nala (The Forbidden Fruit)
16. The Tower: Kakania (Guardian of the Broken)
17. The Star: Voyager (Choir of the Stars)
18. The Moon: Semmelweis (The Wax and Wanes of the Heart)
19. The Sun: ???
20. The Judgement: A Knight (The Evergreen Soul)
21. The World: Ulrich (A Glimpse of the Cosmos; aka. The one-man powerhouse in Reveries right next to Flamey :')
Zahir: Hey Aleph, here's a little hypothetical question for us to mull over. Since we're now sitting atop another Panopticon without the risk of the Storms sweeping us away, what would the future be like if we were to drift along a stream undisrupted by time? Could it be an Earth claimed by Mother Nature from our childhood? A glittering utopia as our Laplace friends work towards? Or a dystopia of cold metal and phones with permanent eyes, always watching the populace and pulling the strings from above? But no matter if they're arcanist or human, living or dead, we should know by now that there will still be some kind of spark to show their independence; a mind that is always thinking and creating, and a concept that no machine could ever dream of replicating to its fullest extent...
Aleph, 2am insomnia striking again: …I would be glad to know that you graced me with your presence again, but I'd rather not have you working part-time as my sleep paralysis demon.
Zahir: No worries, you know how our minds race when we're deprived of our usual stimuli...-Also I've heard that you've been having some trouble coming up with long-term solutions lately, so I thought I'd check up on you :)
The Idealist, clawing at the bars of his enclosure: -THE TIME OF ENLIGHTMENT IS NOW! I can finally prove myself in curing this Babylonian affliction, the Linguist and I have spent months studying for this very purpose!! Aleph I beg of you, release me from the prison of your mind and this accursed door before us!!!
Aleph: ...There is nothing gained in charging into the meeting like a madman, especially if your words are twisted beyond disbelief. And even if you wish to prove yourself in this passion project, the Linguist went up in flames alongside that computer held together by tree sap and Critter dreams.
Potential Aleph fic ideas since I'm pacing the Reverse 1999 tag like a anxious tiger :)
Foundation/Manus Aleph AU
-Imagine if you will the extremely slim chance of Aleph "joining" either side as a victim of circumstance (aka. After the First or Second Storm); since it could be in the hypothetical timeline of him adjusting to the new norm of hyperthymesia and two extra voices in his head. Or before he goes completely off the rails and commits himself to a mental asylum.
-While he'll still be full neutral since his mental health will deeper in the gutter, his alters are going to do everything in their power to become a gigantic pain in the ass for the higher-ups. Whether it's the Foundation with their pillars of order and "treating humans and arcanists equally", or the Manus being anti-human and anti-mixed unless their knowledge or skills will benefit them in the long run.
-Is this somewhat of an excuse on the Foundation!Aleph side to give Horropedia some pre-canon speculations since they're bareboned at worst, or kickstarting Merlin's manifestation since the Foundation has education-approved pieces from Foucault? Yes, absolutely.
-Is this also an excuse on the Manus!Aleph side for Forget-Me-Not to have a existential crisis or Ms. Grace's stress spiking through the roof about being ratted out as a Foundation mole? Also yes, plus everything about Anima bursting into flames at the thought of a human somehow getting in good graces with Arcana...Although getting the Schneider treatment and having a first-hand experience with Urd is a interesting concept to think about too.
Aleph and Nautika interactions
-Me, checking Ao3 for the fun of it: ...What do you mean there's absolutely nothing on these two goobers even being in the same room together!? The pursuit of all knowledge and the pursuit of the unknown is right there for the picking!!
-Plus the pieces were already coming together in Paradise Regained that "The jewel crafted from a forgotten goddess"/The Die of Comala is made with the same material as the Antartica ritual gate, on top of both of them indirectly interacting with Arcana as the Mother Spirit/The Sufferer could come up as a semi-uncomfortable conversation piece too.
-Although I'm all for Idealist and Merlin immediately fighting about Nautika possibly using her new arcane skill to repair the Die for their own reasons.
Reveries in the Rain shenanigans
-Whether it’s a computer program like Somnambulism or a giant lucid dream like Three Doors, there has to be some kind of writing potential with how eerily uncanny it is (also the main theme is The Vibe :).
-Stairs fading deeper into an “ocean” with creatures familiar and unfamiliar, and encountering someone you should know by heart, but something about their behavior seems...off. Almost like something molded them out of clay and seafoam and nothing else...
-Also adding onto my headcanon of Reveries being a larger collection of Storm water than the Spinning Wheel, the Suitcase team of choice would definitely be weirded/freaked out with its effects while Vertin is just vibing with the atmosphere like a regular old Tuesday...The day, not the creepy hotel maid :)
-And it all circles back to Aleph since Vertin would be more than eager to fill up her question backlog on the Reveries; especially when it centers around the endless pursuit of knowledge and the destructive lengths someone would go to achieving it...Whether or not he gets ticked off with Vertin prying into his past vices is up to interpretation :)
Aleph on Insight: The arcane currency called Sharpodonty and the Dust dropped from the Supreme Law...What answers do they provide?
"Answers" :)
Tbh, Sharpodonty Clan more or less confirmed the idea that this is just Idealist and Merlin arguing about how important the currency is supposed to be to their goals, especially for a human like them. Also the added irony of Idealist latching onto Sharpodonty as "ancient and wild creatures" despite being a civilized currency for arcanists while Merlin wants to "control" Dust in medicine form while being catnip for Carbuncles/Critters in particular...
Maybe that's why they made their own currency in Comala, it's less of a headache :)
So a Mathematician, a Hyperthymesiac, and a Divinator walk into a bar…
Of course these three have been rotating in my mind since Flowing Feast handed us the silver platter on how Reveries/The Depths are perceived; either through some hapless victim or one of the few that have a deeper connection to this sea of collective consciousness (plus the Subconscious Tests have some truth to their personalities/goals give or take). Not to mention that all three of them are obsessed with and despise the Storm for messing up their flow (pun intended) on a perfectly predictable future for all.
While Beryl's character file confirming her perception of the Depths the second she was born, the same goes with 37 seeing Soul Numbers albeit not understanding the existential weight yet (as explained in 5th-18/Outside the Cave), but whose to say that Aleph was first seen as a prodigal genius until the potion of Stockholm 1996 "woke him up" to his role as the beholder of Everything Ever via hyperthymesia (including Knotted Thoughts/Thought Knot/The Anti-Jellyfish just for the fun of it). That being said, they absolutely deserve to interact with each other and try to justify/argue their view of the Depths with Pythagoreanism, nihilism, and spiritual indifference respectively.
And I could include Hissabeth in the existentialist club since she ticks off almost all their boxes, but she and her siblings are more obsessed with space travel, which is pretty valid history-wise since we know more about astrology over what dwells in the ocean below.
Despite having the big-brained moment on Aleph's connection to the Depths and/or being interconnected to Reveries in the Rain with Folie et Deraison, especially after A Flowing Feast practically confirmed it, I love the idea that Aleph's alters have their own methods of exploiting the Depths for justifiably petty reasons - Exhibit A with the Gallery of Bewilderment (perhaps another way to call the Archive of Imagery?) since Idealist passed the mantle to García on completing his magnum opus "for no discernible reason" until now...
García: I'm honored to know that you entrust me to work on your exhibition... But I don't understand the vision you're aiming for. Is there a reference to this sculpture?
Idealist, struggling so hard not to resort to plurality: Oh, so you want a reference point? I can give you one, mi ilustre cuervo, since it has been plaguing my dreams ever since I was a babe! Close your eyes!!
[Gets flashbanged by the horrors of the Wailing Whirls]
García: ....
Idealist: I will leave you to it, Garcia. But please do tell me if you see any lingering shadows or hear voices that stretch beyond the graces of the morning light, ok? The Die of Babylon will see fit to aid your plight in time. :)
Me, desperately scrounging together my unilogs and clear drops for Brume: ...Now that I also read her character story, would it be extra funny if she even gets a crumb of content with Aleph? Nevermind seeing some of her dialogue with Felicienne and already wearing herself thin having one extra voice in her head (that's also her ex-employer and toxic situationship), at least she didn't get her spirits extra crushed with the fact that she's not the special one in the Suitcase here...Yet.
And that's not even getting into the fact that she faced only a fraction of the Depths in Flowing Feast and still was expected to figure out how the Storm works on her own. You know that she's going to try and flaunt her experience as a "bonafide Storm survivor" while Aleph and co. just hand her receipts on the multiple Storms he foresaw and avoided just by bunkering down in Comala or taking a little boat ride down to Antarctica :)
Find an abandoned computer in one of your Awakened colleagues' office, said-Awakened who happened to mysteriously disappear in a fit of hysteria for about a year
Find the weirdest nightmare blunt rotation of linguistic madness spanning from a few months and thousands of messages all dated in the early 21st century
Talk to this "Aleph" person, who you're convinced is just a haunted computer program from how stilted the conversations are going on; claiming he is not a machine, and can answer any question with absolute certainty while also believing he can transcend from mortality through language
Aleph also tells you he knows you're an assassin out to get Ludwig, even if neither of you have any idea on where he could be, so it goes nowhere
He's right on the assassin part of your profession, but you don't want to say anything outside of the two cold cases cliff notes you told him to test the waters
Also find out in the same conversation that the "Idealist" is the one who originally had this word vomit of a text chain with Ludwig, but assume that he and Aleph just share the same computer
"By sheer coincidence" the arcane equivalent of hope, dreams and duct tape holding said-computer together catches on fire; losing all that valuable data that could help with locating Ludwig.
A few "Storms" later, you're tipped off that an arcanist is interested in your "investigation" in Mexico and intends to write it all down into a book
You find out through this plucky little writer that she and Aleph are penpals, and not only that, he's human
While recounting the convoluted face-to-face meeting, offhandedly revealing that Aleph and Idealist are not only the same person, but also has another quack named Merlin in the mix too; who was involved in multiple arcanist deaths via larping as Recoleta's characters' from a completely different novel
Going back to after Ludwig's office was engulfed in flames, a surprise third alter ego who hardly agreed on anything Merlin says elected to send you to their Torture Nexus simply because you're a criminal scum in their eyes (which thankfully went nowhere)
There are four alter egos living in Aleph's brain...It's just that one of them had no idea that language project with Ludwig even existed
Aleph is currently locked away in Foundation custody, but also able to be in Timekeeper's team (of course)
You hear through the grape vine that Recoleta has also been sending two other editions of Turquoise Serpent Club to Aleph, more than likely scrutinizing it with a fine-toothed comb on anything assassin-like in his eyes
Name Day, curious on how a human is able to possess such knowledge goes to ask about his life stories… to get none other than Idealist (the only one that forgot his own name)
Loggerhead also asks a question about long term memory and got absolutely nothing from Aleph as well
So...Anyone else putting their thoughts and theories on what Tides of Thought is supposed to be? Other than being a belated confirmation in A Campaign’s Tale that this “centralized entrance into the Depths” could be what Manus attempted to open up during Flowing Feast (especially with its theme of nightmares and collective madness), I have another blurb/theory rant I would like to consider since the nightmare-incarnate is a familiar face for a really specific reason…
Also said-rant is courtesy of my sister, a silent but avid Reverse ‘99 fan for now, who is more than seething about the Amber Room lore drop for obvious reasons and how Vertin's childhood in the Foundation was basically doomed from the start :)
TLDR: Tides of Thought is possibly Zahir's true method of transcendentality (and/or becoming "It"/Lord of Dreams/Deceitful Nightmares as a result), and Merlin was too stupid to realize the writing on the wall on why they're interested in those textbook sociopaths.
From the slight divergence in their Borges story and even Answering Machine, Zahir is interested in prolonging the search for the one-sided coin by not actively searching for it physically, but through the psychological mechanism of the mind(s) as the "Philosopher" and attempting to will it into existence instead - Especially with learning more about how powerful the Depths is shaping reality through the collective thoughts of others (ie. the French Blue, UTTU ghostwriting for Pandora when her presence/memory began to fade, maybe the concept of reincarnators like Spaphodea too, who knows...).
Other than being a living dictionary through the Depths, Zahir's whole purpose of being is to extract a unified image from the memory of all things (aka. The Archive of Imagery). And a zahir has the ability to contaminate reality and dreams and blur it into one; either through a concept, a person, or an item like an unassuming coin. Book-Borges gets that warning far too late when he's encountered by his late wife in a dream, and becomes bedridden after days or weeks of obsessing over a centuro coin and the immortality of the mind...
Hence Artificial Somnambulism and possibly getting infected by the Tides of Thought all the way back in Chapter 3-4 (since philosophy also applies to dreams/oneriology and Kakania is a massive contender to this practice as well).
With AS, Vertin lives through her memories of her SPDM times and her growing curiosity of the outside world, with some interesting discussions on Gnosis/knowledge from another path, Chaldean Oracles, and the principal's speech on the balance of the world's knowledge through philosophy...The only thing that temporarily breaks her immersion in the dream is the concept of death, something that she witnessed time and time again with the humans she wanted to save from the Storm and Schneider was her breaking point...
Then guess who shows up on the second fucking stage in Tides of Thought?
Even if it definitely angers me that neither the main wiki or huijiwiki put up the full description of Deceitful Nightmare, the fact that it latched onto a lullaby of all things also lines up perfectly well with the Tides relationship with the Depths; lulling its victims to dive in deep by dangling in the core concept of their desires, and boy howdy did Campaign's Tale make that front and center for Vertin with the Amber Room experiments.
Sleep now, sleep tight, just close your eyes and everything will be all right. The gentlest voice one hears at the edge of a dream. When it first learned this lullaby, it carried many into deep sleep. After humming it again and again, it began to soothe the Nightmare. [The Nightmare’s Lair, bottom of Tides of Thought]
This nightmare is essentially a riptide of dreams and memories that seems calm enough on the surface (the pearl inside a oyster shell per se), It uses that serenity to lure victims into the vortex to their doom. Regret and Malice, their minds on the brink of Descent and Collapse, all overviewed by the Fount of Malice and Nightmares itself.
...In a extremely long story short, Zahir may or may not have decided to use this power to stir up Vertin's gay thoughts on Schneider again, even if it's literally a blink-and-you'll miss it moment in Nouvelles. Cause even if she didn't know it, that pure emotion and affection was something she craved for a long long time up until now once she has a more solid goal of finding and securing Urd. Cause even if she barely remembers the times her mother visited her every night, it lingered just close enough for her subconscious to latch onto that love until those months under Artificial Somnambulism, reliving that hope and pain like it was yesterday and wondering about the world outside this disciplinary prison she called home.
But it was at that moment, even if she didn't realize it, the Depths of Myth had its sights on her and her convictions; leading her down a path to her fate on the origin of the Storm and her own lineage...
The word “utopia” derives from Greek. It means “no place.”
People cannot understand the structure of the labyrinth, yet they continue to follow its paths. They cannot comprehend the mechanics of fate, yet they believe in its jurisdiction. As if, by doing so, everything will naturally fall into place.
[9th-13: Master of the Labrynth; spoken by a mind that shouldn't exist in Aleph's anymore but does, an obsession to find a connecting thread to all of humanity, a one-sided coin you could say...]
And despite It being a creature with no face and no form, why does it look like a straight-jacket?
The creation imitates its creator.
It won’t wake up, neither will the will of this place.
So...Anyone else putting their thoughts and theories on what Tides of Thought is supposed to be? Other than being a belated confirmation in A Campaign’s Tale that this “centralized entrance into the Depths” could be what Manus attempted to open up during Flowing Feast (especially with its theme of nightmares and collective madness), I have another blurb/theory rant I would like to consider since the nightmare-incarnate is a familiar face for a really specific reason…
Also said-rant is courtesy of my sister, a silent but avid Reverse ‘99 fan for now, who is more than seething about the Amber Room lore drop for obvious reasons and how Vertin's childhood in the Foundation was basically doomed from the start :)
TLDR: Tides of Thought is possibly Zahir's true method of transcendentality (and/or becoming "It"/Lord of Dreams/Deceitful Nightmares as a result), and Merlin was too stupid to realize the writing on the wall on why they're interested in those textbook sociopaths.
From the slight divergence in their Borges story and even Answering Machine, Zahir is interested in prolonging the search for the one-sided coin by not actively searching for it physically, but through the psychological mechanism of the mind(s) as the "Philosopher" and attempting to will it into existence instead - Especially with learning more about how powerful the Depths is shaping reality through the collective thoughts of others (ie. the French Blue, UTTU ghostwriting for Pandora when her presence/memory began to fade, maybe the concept of reincarnators like Spaphodea too, who knows...).
Other than being a living dictionary through the Depths, Zahir's whole purpose of being is to extract a unified image from the memory of all things (aka. The Archive of Imagery). And a zahir has the ability to contaminate reality and dreams and blur it into one; either through a concept, a person, or an item like an unassuming coin. Book-Borges gets that warning far too late when he's encountered by his late wife in a dream, and becomes bedridden after days or weeks of obsessing over a centuro coin and the immortality of the mind...
Hence Artificial Somnambulism and possibly getting infected by the Tides of Thought all the way back in Chapter 3-4 (since philosophy also applies to dreams/oneriology and Kakania is a massive contender to this practice as well).
With AS, Vertin lives through her memories of her SPDM times and her growing curiosity of the outside world, with some interesting discussions on Gnosis/knowledge from another path, Chaldean Oracles, and the principal's speech on the balance of the world's knowledge through philosophy...The only thing that temporarily breaks her immersion in the dream is the concept of death, something that she witnessed time and time again with the humans she wanted to save from the Storm and Schneider was her breaking point...
Then guess who shows up on the second fucking stage in Tides of Thought?
Even if it definitely angers me that neither the main wiki or huijiwiki put up the full description of Deceitful Nightmare, the fact that it latched onto a lullaby of all things also lines up perfectly well with the Tides relationship with the Depths; lulling its victims to dive in deep by dangling in the core concept of their desires, and boy howdy did Campaign's Tale make that front and center for Vertin with the Amber Room experiments.
Sleep now, sleep tight, just close your eyes and everything will be all right. The gentlest voice one hears at the edge of a dream. When it first learned this lullaby, it carried many into deep sleep. After humming it again and again, it began to soothe the Nightmare. [The Nightmare’s Lair, bottom of Tides of Thought]
This nightmare is essentially a riptide of dreams and memories that seems calm enough on the surface (the pearl inside a oyster shell per se), It uses that serenity to lure victims into the vortex to their doom. Regret and Malice, their minds on the brink of Descent and Collapse, all overviewed by the Fount of Malice and Nightmares itself.
...In a extremely long story short, Zahir may or may not have decided to use this power to stir up Vertin's gay thoughts on Schneider again, even if it's literally a blink-and-you'll miss it moment in Nouvelles. Cause even if she didn't know it, that pure emotion and affection was something she craved for a long long time up until now once she has a more solid goal of finding and securing Urd. Cause even if she barely remembers the times her mother visited her every night, it lingered just close enough for her subconscious to latch onto that love until those months under Artificial Somnambulism, reliving that hope and pain like it was yesterday and wondering about the world outside this disciplinary prison she called home.
But it was at that moment, even if she didn't realize it, the Depths of Myth had its sights on her and her convictions; leading her down a path to her fate on the origin of the Storm and her own lineage...
The word “utopia” derives from Greek. It means “no place.”
People cannot understand the structure of the labyrinth, yet they continue to follow its paths. They cannot comprehend the mechanics of fate, yet they believe in its jurisdiction. As if, by doing so, everything will naturally fall into place.
[9th-13: Master of the Labrynth; spoken by a mind that shouldn't exist in Aleph's anymore but does, an obsession to find a connecting thread to all of humanity, a one-sided coin you could say...]
And despite It being a creature with no face and no form, why does it look like a straight-jacket?
The creation imitates its creator.
It won’t wake up, neither will the will of this place.
And also adding to this semi-convoluted theory is a story refresh in Artificial Somnambulism when it first dropped, cause good lord does some lines of Vertin's "inner monologue" doesn't line up at all since she's essentially a blank slate in the dream and is more-than-likely part of the Foundation's mental health program to refocus her goals as Timekeeper and one of many cogs of the machine that is the SPDM. Though the vid doesn't exactly mention some side interactions before speaking to the Instructor, but they sure are something :)
Special Training Ground α (Literally the first level and has loads of implications on another voice other than her Narrators leaning over her shoulder here, especially with the seriously weird blend of first-person and Vertin's perspectives of things.)
[Encountering Manus members]
In the shadow of the ship hide several rioters of Manus Vindictae. Speaking of which, what does Manus Vindictae mean? Is it some kind of arcane skill? Their bodies look just the same as anyone else’s, but the creepy way they move around somehow seems to be slimy and logy. Black slime dropping from the gaps of their armors and robes, they look disgustingly creepy. I have to admit I am curious about the nature of the slime, but I will never, ever touch it. Curiosity doesn’t always result in action. That’s the difference between human and moth.
(Meanwhile Moth/Ms. Grace/et al. begins to sweat nervously…)
Those satisfying their curiosity without consideration will eventually pay for their thoughtlessness. I’ve been there. And that was quite high a price. The rioters of the Manus have spotted me and their screams pierce my ears. It seems I can’t describe them as friendly. My eardrums slightly ache, as if there’s a ball bouncing on them. At last, everything is settled and nothing is left. I am clear what I should do. I have made up my mind, and all I need is a little push. I will beat them to prove myself.
Mind you, this is after Vertin enacts the Breakaway if this AS is attempting to course-correct her curiosity of the outside world in the subtlest way possible...But Vertin realized at the first few minutes that she couldn't remember anything when the dreamscape comes together, trying to put together the pieces on what she's supposed to do as a person and the soon-to-be Timekeeper...
But then she goes fuck it, and slips into another dream (Misty Lake α) when everything is said and done so she can find something that's more than entertaining than the sanitized factory of martyrs she grew up with.
No wonder the Lord of Dreams latched onto the labyrinth that is her brain this early into the story, no matter how nonsensical and semi-wholesome her interactions with her coworkers/arcanist recruits may be :)
Do you think the Amber Room is related to the White Marble House? They are "closer to the limit", after all.
While I was being flooded by 3.6 poster hype and the Laplace gang getting a full story to let the shenanigans loose, I had to rack my brain around where I might've heard about the Marble House other than Campaign's Tale and maybe Pre-Storm Protocol...But given the Foundation's constant need to preserve humanity/arcanist history by any means necessary (ie. SPDM sanitizing every kids' culture/language into a cookie-cutter template, the adults working under heavy supervision and other bureaucratic horrors), the Amber Room experiments and the Marble House are all an attempt at preservation and decoration of what they believe the 21st century is suppose to look/behave like without putting into consideration that they already have a couple people who grew up and remembered the dreaded age of 1999 before the Storm happened! ...And of course adding to the growing relevance of The Depths as a separate force that the Foundation/Pax House/Manus have zero clue on how to control or harness its power without serious consequences (ie. Everything with The Cave, Folie et Deraison, Flowing Feast, "Fountain(s) of Youth", etc.).
Although it definitely lines up with the trope of "time travelers" being seen as delusional/crazy by their home era since the Storm displaced everyone else's memories on what the future is supposed to be, I'm all for it trying to flesh out that existential horror of being the lonely person in a crowd of so-called friends and family...
Also looking forward to how the story will flesh out the Foundation and/or Constantine's goals in the future and being just as shitty as Manus, I'm also all for Vertin eventually deviating from their grip even if it was barely hinted at all the way back in 1.4 w. Artificial Somnambulism (though that also adds to the strenuous task of documenting the story since the wiki is bareboned at best and stacking up the theories on the Depths leading her along after Urd escapes the Amber Room or even earlier than that).
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