The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland.
Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.
Chapter 8: Is It The Light You Fear, Or What It Might Illuminate
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Lace, Hollow, and Shakra are chilling together in the Queen's Gardens; meanwhile, it's time for more Mantis Politics! A look at what's happening with Deepnest, Hornet's immediate future plans, and Vise's leadership ability.
Also, the Green Prince has a bit of a crash out! It was probably a bit overdue...
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Transcript:
Page 1
Lace: So... why are we shilly-shallying about?
Shakra: Hornet-Wielding-Needle--
Lace: Yes, yes... I know what the spider would do. But why wait?
Lace: You never hesitated in ransacking my kingdom. Surely for so savvy a wayfinder, the fungal expanse poses no more threat than Bilewater's detritus.
Shakra: Dondakku! Even if such conduct would not jeopardize my friend's alliance, this is no cursed land whose denizens attack with mindless abandon.
Shakra: It is no burden, child-wielding-pin, to rest... to reflect. It is a gift.
Lace: ....finding your "wisdom" dull does not mark me a child. In fact... I suspect I am very much your senior. You really ought to show me proper respect.
Hollow (signing): Okay!
Lace: No.
Page 2
Vise: Entrances to the Fungal Uplands have been secured, with minor activity reported at the gates of the Weeping City. However, Deepnest remains our primary concern.
Hornet: Apprise me of the current situation.
Vise: Ten or so cycles past, a routine patrol was ambushed without warning by a dirtcarver swarm. We hoped the incident isolated... but attacks persist, crawling ever closer to our core.
Hornet: Do you believe these coordinated strikes?
Vise: No. Though they demonstrate a viciousness not seen since the days of the infection, they overwhelm by sheer numbers rather than strategy.
Hornet: Ah! That is... concerning.
Hornet: But it seems unlikely a new power has emerged to claim the region. Something else has slunk from the shadows to disturb their nests. But what, I cannot say.
Page 3
Vise: The Gardens are not similarly besieged?
Hornet: They make a poor target, so steeped in godlight. However, I go soon to tend my mother's shrine; I will inform you, should answers present themselves.
Vise: In the interim, can nothing more be done? Perhaps the Lady might lend aid--
The Green Prince: Pah.
The Green Prince: I had feared you a dullard, but in truth you are a fool.
Helter: That's out of line!
Vise: Peace, Helter. Our new friend has been naught but courteous 'til now.
Vise: Insult or no, I would learn what provoked him so. Tell, then. What earned me so grand a title as fool?
The Green Prince: Mere disappointment that you so readily forsake your own tradition to chase pale grace.
Page 4
Vise: ...the Lady is an ally, one I thought we shared.
The Green Prince: Ally or no, she is a god. No good ever comes of drawing their gaze.
The Green Prince: Did you mistake me a wanderer? An adventurer? I am neither. Because of them, I am a prince without a people, orphan of a land lost to all memory but my own. Because of them, I am nothing.
The Green Prince: So ally with them if you must-- But know this: They will take everything, and they will not ask.
Page 5
Vise: ....
The Green Prince: ....
The Green Prince: I... I don't...
The Green Prince: Forgive my forwardness.
Vise: ...no, you honored my ask... now I will honor your answer and think on your words. for now, prior orders hold. Attend the borders...
The Mantis Lord: ....
Vise: I and my guard will take the lead investigating matters in Deepnest.
Vise: The meeting is adjourned.
The Mantis Lord: Foreign Lord, named kin.
The Mantis Lord: I would have us speak.
we gotta get back to torrent distribution, i just watched someone eat eight grand in bandwidth charges because they ran a direct-download piracy site with local file hosting through cloudflare. torrents were invented literally for this exact reason
i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3
unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it
i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map
i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs
this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.
crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.
I know it's unfair vilification and stuff but it's also a lot of fun to see old media and stuff where people were SO scared of big animals like lions, sharks, crocodiles and wolves were fully expected to just come and eat you the moment you stepped into their territory. In older media we also made that assumption about gorillas and in still older we thought it'd be whales.
But some animals that will actually fuck you up got left behind. Boars will kill you and eat you. They're way more likely to do so than any of those other things actually. Hippos, obviously, got off like bandits always being depicted as cute and dopey. And then there's the squids. Not giant kraken size squids. The eight foot squids that hunt in packs and will fuck you up if you fall in the water at night. I can't BELIEVE people slept on that. It's like all they cared about were the huge deep sea ones we never see. The medium size wolf pack squids were right there.
Oh some of you don't know about the squids. I talked about them in another thread that went kinda viral somewhere or other but one of the reasons you should not swim in the open ocean at night in many parts of the world is that the water starts teeming with these:
And as you can see it is not like instant death, they too are just animals and they are often just gently curious about the presence of humans!
But people who study and dive with sharks will tell you you're safe as long as you stay calm and know what you're doing. The world's leading professional night divers and experts on these squids, specifically??? Stress in every interview and article and paper they write in that you simply do not fuck around with these squids. They know what they're doing and they still all have at least one story of being attacked, in some cases having to be hospitalized. Considering just how rarely anybody puts themselves in the pitch dark nighttime ocean on purpose, let alone during a squid feeding frenzy, it sounds like they're quite a bit more likely to consider you potential food than other marine predators.
We also don't know how many fatal attacks might have ever happened, because what humboldt squid like to do with large prey is just drag it away into the darkness forever. The two worst attacks ever proven involved two or three squid at a time latching on to a diver (in BOTH cases they were professionals and knew the risk!) and jetting straight downward with enough force that both divers suffered injury from the sudden pressure change alone, including burst eardrums, nearly passed out and they probably would have died if they hadn't broken free.
In general, people who die drowning in the dark open ocean are either never found, or they're found in pieces picked over by enough scavengers that the precise cause of death can only be narrowed down to "the sea." But now you know ONE of "the sea's" possible murder weapons :)
There's a short section on Humboldt squid in Wikipedia's entry for Cephalopod attacks on humans:
And if you can get past some of Animal Planet's hokey presentation style, this video includes a bit of interview with one of those professional experts who still got nearly squidded from existence:
There is of course some debate about all this, with some arguing that all proven documented attacks occurred on people with reflective diving equipment, which they say the squid must have mistaken for the shine of fish. However, there are lots and lots of people who have to fish around these squids to survive, who do not have access to that kind of equipment, and also have a consensus that if you fall in the water when big squids are out hunting you might disappear without a trace or perhaps just get your head bitten open. With many modern science guys agreeing with this sentiment, this is one case where the "they're just misunderstood sea friends" crowd is kind of outnumbered.
The sea at night is theirs and not ours is all. It's not ours during the day either but since we are neither marine nor nocturnal animals we are double fools in the eyes of the squids, which by the way are these eyes:
Absolutely! Also, the Humboldt squid will hunt in packs, sometimes with one flashing brightly to draw attention while the others approach in near unseeable camoflage!
I absolutely adore Humboldt squid. I saw a doc once where a scientist was cage diving to study them, and one of the squid squeezed it's entire massive body through the cage bars, bit the guy and squeezed right back out.
Why isnt this an animal that's already long gone viral like honey badgers once did. This is the animal that actually gives no fucks. People really are just that obsessed with bigger squids I guess? But the bigger ones frankly come across as big softies in comparison. One big sea monster can never be as intimidating as a thousand coordinated man sized sea monsters.
This is why I thought that if mermaids had a cultural equivalent to lycanthropy it'd be weresquids. Fun fact nocturnal marine life increases activity on the brightest nights ie the full moon.
The apocalypse has come and gone, and against all odds, Pharloom remains standing. The time has come for Hornet to return to Hallownest, accompanied by friends and allies: Shakra hopes to explore the mythical land beyond the wastes, and properly lay to rest a member of her own tribe; Lace fears unraveling without the aid of a Weaver, while contending with the immensity of a future free of her mother’s threads; and the Green Prince lives only only to spite the Citadel, passively seeking a more honorable end than might be found in the rubble of his homeland.
Meanwhile, Hornet returns from Pharloom with magic and knowledge that might aid in the slow recovery of Hallownest and Deepnest–and perhaps offer the chance to call home the sibling she once thought lost to her forever.
Chapter 6: Finally Equipping that Compass You Bought
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Folks have been asking about whether Ghost and/or the Shade Lord will make an appearance! Well, it doesn't happen this chapter either! Instead we get a totally different miracle: some of the characters are actually talking and communicating with each other (with varying degrees of emotional honesty).
I ended up pushing through and finishing the last page a day earlier than predicted! I'm genuinely unsure how well received this chapter will be, because it is so, so, so text heavy--likely one of the most in the entire comic. However, these conversations are important because it explicitly establishes the core motives (or lack thereof) of most of the central cast, and points us in the general direction the plot will be taking.
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Hollow Knight Fanart Masterpost
Transcript:
Page 1
Lace: You.
Hollow: !?
Lace: You have some explaining to do.
Hollow: ...
Hollow [signing]: Sorry to wake you.
Lace: That is not what I meant and you know it.
Lace: Really? You have nothing to say? I know you can talk.
Hollow: .... ...Ah.
Hollow: S...ssssorry... Ssspeak-ing isss difff-- diffffi-- difffff-- haaaard. I ammmm--
Lace: Stop!
Lace: Just... stop. If harm befalls you, the spider will unstitch me thread by thread.
Hollow [signing]: Sister likes you.
Lace: Do not start with that nonsense.
Page 2
The Green Prince: I am surprised at the Hunter's absence from this interrogation.
Shakra (quoting Hornet): "They are old enough to manage the disasters of their own making."
Shakra: So she spoke before departing for an audience with her pale mother.
The Green Prince: ...
Shakra: .... You are ill at ease with this state of affairs.
The Green Prince: I had long ago heard tales of Hallownest, Kingdom Eternal. Truthfully, I suspected it another silken lie.
The Green Prince: I knew the spider for what she was... and I have witnessed before how the ceaseless appetites of beings pale leave naught but bile and bone.
The Green Prince: To walk peaceably among gods... such a feat staggers the mind.
Shakra: Hornet-wielding-needle has invariably proven herself my ally and friend. But you share no such bond, noble bug. Why then did you heed her call?
The White Lady: What wish is held for Hallownest?
Page 3
Hornet: I suspect the answer unknown to even himself.
Hornet: His late addition to our party was... unexpected.
Hornet: I feared the grief sunk so deep that my words lacked power enough to reach him.
The White Lady: You diminish yourself, child.
The White Lady: The Beast needed not a god's light to marshal her savage lands, but a fervency of spirit reflected by the magnitude of your own.
The White Lady: And what of the others? The warrior bears striking resemblance to another visitor, long ago.
Hornet: Elder Hu. He lived among the mantises before the Infection drove him to madness. Despite his violent end, his memorial is maintained. Shakra seeks to perform his final rites.
The White Lady: A noble endeavor, but one much impeded by present circumstance. Travel through the Fungal Wastes has been restricted, as the situation between the Mantis Tribes has evolved in your absence. Skirmishes at Deepnest's borders intensify with every passing cycle.
Hornet: I am neither Deepnest's queen nor its minister.
The White Lady: I understand. Regardless, your counsel would be welcome. But for now, the matter will keep. Tell me instead of the Pale Child you have brought under my boughs.
Page 4
Hornet: Lace is of no threat to you, Lady.
The White Lady: No... she is far too frail, with that brittle shell of pale silk. Yet her fierce heart blazes, even to my wavering sight.
Hornet: Even knowing it would damn her, she cut herself free from her creator's malignant web. When I chose to pull her from the void, I shouldered a duty to see her maintained.
The White Lady: It is honorable of you.
Hornet: ... Or perhaps cruel, to bind her to myself, even figuratively.
The White Lady: Unlike the other souls bound within your shell?
Hornet: ....
The White Lady: I require neither explanation nor excuse, child. To exercise such power only speaks of the perils faced in the land of your foremothers.
Hornet: Power alone could not preserve me. Faith turned shield... Song turned care... Joy turned defiance of the end itself. I survived on strength borrowed of others. Including yours, Lady.
The White Lady: Mine and your sibling's. The flower you spun of memory and soul carried the blessing of two gods. I feared even that might not be enough to sustain you in the dark.
Hornet: ... it was not.
Page 5
Hornet: The bloom's light failed before we reached the surface. We lived by the mercy of the void itself. Or rather, its Lord.
Hornet: Did you know? That this was their fate?
The White Lady: Nothing more than idle speculation.
The White Lady: Even bound, I felt the world shudder when the Old Light Fell, and the void rushed in to claim its right. That ancient, primordial god reborn, the Lord of Shades.
The White Lady: And then... it vanished... Without enacting its overdue vengeance, leaving naught by withering plague and collapsing dream.
The White Lady: The Abyss was sealed... the void sea calmed. With no trace of that vessel--
Hornet: Ghost.
The White Lady: ...that Little Ghost.
The White Lady: ... what is it you intend to do?
Hornet: I aim to restore them to us.
Page 6
The White Lady: You propose to reopen the Abyss... too invite that dark god back into our lands... to try to pluck a single shade from its legion. A fool's errand... yet my censure does not deter.
Hornet: I fear not the impossible, Lady... else I would not stand before you now. My course is set.
The White Lady: You have your father's bearing.
Hornet: An unwelcome comparison... And one I cannot determine as praise or condemnation.
The White Lady: It matters little. To place in you my faith, as I once did him... what you ask is no small thing. Yet my hope stirs anew. So for you, my daughter... and for the children I so callously cast away...
The White Lady: I will set aside my fear... my grief... do not prove me again a fool.
Hornet: I will not, Majesty.
The White Lady: Then it is enough.
Actually your society is the freaks for shooting everything that moves and burning half your "nature reserves" every year so that upperclass dandies can eat leaded pheasant. North Americans are the well adjusted ones here, your country has become a desolate suburban lawn in island form
my opinion as an american is that we spend way too much time trying to save african megafauna and nowhere near enough time making fun of the english for turning an entire island--which was once a hazelnut food forest--into a goddamn lawn.
bill bryson once actually wrote down in a whole book and got published that the english were superb gardeners and i about threw the book out the window i was that outraged. the english!!! the fucking ENGLISH. them? that's who you want to laud? the english
the
THERE ARE A GRAND FUCKING TOTAL OF ZERO STAPLE CROPS ORIGINALLY OR EVEN PRIMARILY CULTIVATED BY THE ENGLISH. NONE OF THEM. NOT POTATOES NOT WHEAT NOT TURNIPS NOT RYE. THEY GNAWED THEIR ISLAND DOWN TO A NUB FOR NOTHING. THE WOLVES AND BEARS ALL GONE FOR NOTHING. THE WILDCATS AND BIRDS AND MUSTELIDS AND INSECTS, GONE IN THEIR THOUSANDS, FOR NOTHING. FOR SOME SHEEP. FOR
THEIR MAIN AGRICULTURAL EXPORT IS FAMINE
anyway the english approach to agriculture, biodiversity, and environmentalism is roughly on par with a dog's approach to someone else's homework and everywhere in the world that has inherited their cack-fisted disdain for nature has suffered immensely. i can't overstate enough how bad things have been and still are.
please make fun of them. it's the least they fucking deserve.
Vaguely reminds me of how much Australia gets flack for its "cracked up"/dangerous wildlife. Or the emu war. Like at least they have biodiversity. People act like the world is solely OUR playground and the animals are an obstacle which couldn't be further from the truth.
If I had capital-s Superpowers I wouldn't use them to punch alien gods, I'd use them to become a science youtuber.
"Hi guys, welcome back to the channel, I've got a real treat for you today! You might notice the lab looks different, I didn't want to risk putting anyone else in danger with today's experiment and if you've been reading the news this week you'll know that a bunch of big important people on Earth are pretty mad at me right now, so I'm shooting this episode on the moon!
"This is uranium-238, an extremely rarified form of the uranium used in some nuclear reactors. If I get the camera closer, you see that 'snow' appearing in the image? That's caused by individual radioactive ions escaping from the uranium. It's warm to the touch and very pliable. See how easily it's bending? Compare that to how much force I had to use to flatten out that tungsten cube last week, remember how that took both hands?
"Anyway, I know what you're going to ask,"
*voice clip of Snake from metal gear solid saying 'But how does it taste?'*
"Well, we're going to find out! I'm just going to tear off a tiny bit here... Hmm. The taste and texture is similar to lead, but warm and a little fizzy. That would be from those escaping ions hitting the skin cells of my tongue and bouncing off. I'd better spit this out quickly, if one of those bounces back into the uranium it could-
*a loud but muffled explosion sound is heard*
"Okay, so that was what's called a fission reaction! A little nuclear explosion went off in my mouth! That was certainly a new experience, I don't think I want to do that again. It wasn't nearly as much fun as the lava I ate back in the Hawaii video.
"Well, I'm going end this one here and get all these things ready for the next part of their journey. Stay tuned for part 2, where we see what happens when I throw the world's entire nuclear arsenal into the sun! As always, stay safe, stay curious, and have a Super day!"
The song that plays during the final battle which uses Morningwood the Elf's leitmotif but mixes in Goblin Steve's as an indication that the two have reaffirmed their friendship and are fighting in perfect sync
