Sergeant Cephala

Inkling | F | Former sergeant of the octarian army | Figuring out modern Inkopolis life, one day at a time | ShotPro Main

[sgt-cephala]

Hello chumblr. My name is Cephala, but my friends call me Cefla.

At a young age, I was abducted by the octarians and taken away to Octo Valley. For the next few years, I would be trained relentlessly to become Octavio's top general. Stern, tactical, commanding, heartless. Then came my first battle. And upon seeing the faces of those I've hurt, my sense of morality came flooding back to me and I realized the genocide I would be talking part of, and I couldn't stand it.

So I turned against my soldiers, trying to stop the deaths of more innocent Inkfish, to which, I saw myself in the mirror, and realized how different I was. As punishment for my treason, I was subjected to solitary confinement and tortured with 'the goggles' for many years (pried the goggles off after a few months).

It was only after hearing the heavenly melody for the first time did I finally manage to escape my prison and sneakily leave the valley and reach Inkopolis City. From there, I survived off of food scraps and got my gear from stuff left behind the shops after dark. Then once I managed to get enough stuff to register myself for turf war, I managed to find myself some friends and discovered the joys that come in this place. I'm currently working at Ammo Knights and working towards buying a house and finding my birth parents.

Feel free to ask me anything about my time with the octarians and my current life in Inkopolis.

[sgt-cephala]

Stuff that has been dropped off for me to look at as an Ammo Knights employee:

An Octo shot

A sloshing machine and bloblobber that had jammed because someone added laundry detergent

An ink tank with the fill hole being weirdly damaged (liked it was rammed with a cylinder)

Blueprints for a memverse weapon

A grizzco blaster

A grizzco stringer

A modified e-liter with a burst tank

A splattershot nova fan

An extra large bamboozler

And someone's phone with an *interesting* lock screen

To the person who left their phone, please come pick it up before I toss it to Sheldon. It's been three days.

[sgt-cephala]

Sorry about the late upload but I promised to reupload what I said in my comments so people can understand my condition for the future.

@sgt-cephala

Sure, it's a lot though.

Before the octarians used audio based brainwashing to control their soldiers, octoling goggles contained a special, kind of parasitic strain of ink that would connect to the brain through the eyes to force compliance. More potent strains of this ink were used for PoW interrogation and punishment for those in, solitary confinement. With highly prolonged exposure leading to something akin to proto-sanitization: loss of all free will and absolute loyalty to the directive.

When I found out about the truth of the war I'd be fighting in and stood up against Octavio, I was sentenced to this solitary punishment. I was able to forcefully get the goggles off after a few months, but I was still left in a stupor of nothingness for a while, left in my bare container. It was only after hearing the heavenly melody did I snap back to my autonomy and escape to Inkopolis.

I am still haunted by this curse though. Whenever I see the goggles again, what remnants of the possessive ink starts leaking out, trying to reconnect and turn me into the King's drone. I still get nightmares about that ever happening, and that's why I asked about the Memverse in the past, to see if it could sever that connection and finally be free of my past. Sorry if this is a lot to unpack. Are there any therapists or something along those lines in Inkopolis that I could talk to about this instead of trauma dumping on chumblr?

(OOC: Reupload of OC lore from my own comments)

[sgt-cephala]

TW: Serious, past Trauma/torture, PTSD

I had one of those days again. One of the Grizzco workers decided to open up their bonuses inside the store. They ended up pulling the goggles.

It got really bad this time, and I couldn't stop it from leaking out. I had to run out to the back alley so that people wouldn't see the obviously odd octarian ink pouring out of my eyes. I've never had this bad of a reaction before, but I guess it's been a while since I last saw it. Whatever happened in solitary still haunts my body it seems, no matter how much time passes.

Haddock, it's still dripping. I don't know when I'm going to be able or dry enough to get back out and interact with people, so I'm just going to stay here and post updates when things happen.

If anyone wants to talk to me or ask about my condition, please comment below or send me an ask.

(OOC: sorry about the sudden and unprompted lore moment, finally figured out more of her backstory and needed to post)

[sgt-cephala]

I heard that in Octarian culture they eat noodles without utensils, no chopsticks or anything! Is that true??

That was mostly reserved for the low ranking machine operators and octotroopers. Because during my training with the octolings, we were taught to use chopsticks to pick up small objects and peculiar foods to improve our muscle control and trigger discipline. And also to make us more presentable when we were Octavio's escorts in diplomacy meetings, which happened more than I expected. Don't know if the citizens do or not, I was never told how impoverished the rest of the Octo Country is.

[sgt-cephala]

Hello chumblr. My name is Cephala, but my friends call me Cefla.

At a young age, I was abducted by the octarians and taken away to Octo Valley. For the next few years, I would be trained relentlessly to become Octavio's top general. Stern, tactical, commanding, heartless. Then came my first battle. And upon seeing the faces of those I've hurt, my sense of morality came flooding back to me and I realized the genocide I would be talking part of, and I couldn't stand it.

So I turned against my soldiers, trying to stop the deaths of more innocent Inkfish, to which, I saw myself in the mirror, and realized how different I was. As punishment for my treason, I was subjected to solitary confinement and tortured with 'the goggles' for many years (pried the goggles off after a few months).

It was only after hearing the heavenly melody for the first time did I finally manage to escape my prison and sneakily leave the valley and reach Inkopolis City. From there, I survived off of food scraps and got my gear from stuff left behind the shops after dark. Then once I managed to get enough stuff to register myself for turf war, I managed to find myself some friends and discovered the joys that come in this place. I'm currently working at Ammo Knights and working towards buying a house and finding my birth parents.

Feel free to ask me anything about my time with the octarians and my current life in Inkopolis.

[sgt-cephala]

Because my posts are starting to get some traction on chumblr, I thought it would be good to reblog my intro so more people could ask me questions.

[sgt-cephala]

OMG I think the heavenly melody helped me escape to Inkopolis.

[sgt-cephala]

Now that Shellendorf is offering free classes on Inkfish history, I started spending my nights learning about events that happened during my period of servitude and whatever wasn't taught by the instructors. Any areas that I should focus on feel free to comment. I know about the octarian side of the Great Turf War and some modern events. Idol culture is already on the list.