I was honestly so glad when Kat Kingsley called Roathe manipulative at Tennocon narrative panel because it confirms one important thing - his words are Literally Not True. Nor they are inherently false most of the time, but there's an interesting tactic he uses during his conversations with Drifter. Despite living in what seems to be a pretty classic empire, he's a post-modernist. He handles the discourse by relying on different narratives, but he doesn't create strong new ones. Instead he blurs the ones that were already presented.
The Yuvan Theatre and continuity convo is the most indicative one I think, specifically the second part of it which goes:
"So you see the tradition of practicing continuity itself originates from people's desire to uphold the regime so it wouldn't fall which would set the whole Origin System on fire"
"So you guys didn't kidnap children for this practice?"
"I mean we did but think about where you heard it and how there are so many different factions living on the ruins of the empire who might find this fact somewhat useful"
and he's right. that's how narratives are created, and often in politics it's not the fact that's important and "useful", but its interpretation. But Roathe doesn't give any specific ideas about who might be preserving this information for their use and interpretation, he just shifts the framing from "The Orokin Empire = Big Bad" to "Who benefits from painting the Orokin Empire as Big Bad?". in a way he creates a narrative about a narrative
Either he does it to justify his plan to rule the Big Bad Empire himself without resolving its problems on a more fundamental level("look, it's far from flawless, but talking about its flaws is also Political") or just because he's a huge yapper, but it's certainly an interesting thing he often does.
Interesting because the same tactic is often used in modern propaganda
I like it that everyone in the hex is canonically bisexual but Iâd also like to headcanon that the Drifter caused Arthurâs to awaken his repressed bisexuality
So remember how Amir has the KIM chat about how he and Kaya sent an unexploded domestik drone through one of Kaya's portals?
How funny would it be if DE made it that there was a small chance (like 10% or something, idk) of said drone just showing up mid mission and exploding?
Or like a silly deus ex machina in a quest. Especially funny if it shows up in the Tau system
Just feels like it would be such a waste not to do anything with it
love when ppl ask to see pics of my axolotl and are expecting something cute + pink + all smiles and instead with genuine fear in their eyes, and in their heart, say WHAT the fuck is that.
one of my least important but favorite things about Drifter/Roathe is that there is either not really an age gap at all there or Drifter might actually be older, depending on how long we were in Duviri LOL
People like to focus on Roathe's claws, and they have every right to -they're delightful. He's literally got a raptor claw specifically for gutting which probably makes that particular finger useless for just about anything else. They're dangerous, they're tantalizing, I love it
But i just wanna focus on his palms for a minute as well. Sword-steel-plated. With heat vents to channel Uriel's fire. If he wants to he can slap someone and leave a searing palm print. He doesn't even have to go full brimstone, the heat from his hands alone is enough to do some decent damage.
That said, he's burnt and branded Soma with his hands a couple times before. Sometimes on accident, other times as part of their spiel. He loves it.
The devil tilted his head a moment. Something in the drifterâs tone was off, it almost reminded him of Lyon during moments where he was fighting to remain lucid.
âThat depends on what you need, usurper.â
âHighly precise blade between Atlas and skull. And then some sort of big damage to other tissueâ
Roathe stiffened, lowering his voice to keep quiet âYou want me to kill you out here? Why involve me in your suicide plan. It wouldnât work anyways, we both know that youâll just get back up in a few hours, and time will loop if that doesnât workâ
âThatâs the point. I need to force the void energy building up inside me to put me back together. I canât kill myself with the minimum of unpleasantness that someone else can. And, well, youâre the most familiar with death not being the end for friends.â
âAnd why must you damage yourself?â
âThink of me as a tank of sorts for void energy. You can fill me with it, and thereâs no problem. But if you put too much of it in me, things go wrong. Compared to the kids, Iâm not sure what is wrong with me, but itâs like thereâs no off switch, no enough, and death is the least imposing way to bleed off enough pressure to stay controlledâ
Roathe circled, tail brushing the drifterâs back âLeast imposing, so there are other ways?â
The drifter doesnât answer, and Roathe pivots back around to face them âSo, you come to me for a painless death,â he looks them dead in the eyes, âAre you sure?â
Thereâs a half nod, then Roatheâs tail twitches to life, plunging directly at the back of their head. He knows the drifter is dead, so he lets them slide off the spine and onto his shoulder.
A second strike to the chest to puncture the heart, make the recovery longer, and he carries the corpse to the nearest couch. He lays them out upon it and says âI am not going to be the one to explain to Marie if she stumbles in,â and then, he waits for their flesh to mend
Roathe: I was born into and lived in an Orokin-supremacist, genocidal, eugenicist, fascist society where we partook in psychological, sexual, and political games for fun. This was all normal and I gladly participated in all of it. Oh, did I mention I was sent off to boarding school by my parents and almost never saw them? It was okay though.
Roathe: We had this thing called Continuity where you'd transfer your mind into another person to take over their body to become immortal. It started out at voluntary though and then became a punishment. It was a normal part of society but I acknowledge it was bad, even though I partook in it myself many times.
Roathe: I was a concubine to a bloodthirsty, murderous, general that I both loved and hated. She forced me to have sex with her knowing that we both wanted to kill each other. I did it willingly though, and even agreed to her plans to kill all the Orokin so we could take over. It was all part of the very regular and very normal games we played.
Roathe: Oh, also she wanted to turn me into a Warframe too. It didn't happen, but then I willingly took a serum that transformed half my body into a warframe in the most painful way, together with letting me escape the genocidal society, so it all worked out!
Roathe:
Roathe: I have no psychological effects from any of this.
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