Reading Snegurochka recount her conversation with Kal'tsit made me realize that she's really one of my favorite characters ever.
For the majority of the story we see Kal'tsit in a state of extreme duress; responding the present disaster. The 'present disaster' being a semi-constant tide of problems that she only barely has a handle on.
But that isn't the only form that she takes.
In moments of relative peace and calm, Kal'tsit has a wisdom unparalleled after millennia spent on Terra, and has become so experienced with talking to people that she can offer a few momentary words that can validate a person's efforts, even their identity.
Kal'tsit's actions in this flashback is simply reviewing a spilled paper from a minor assistant, but the choice to do so, the willingness to do so and encouragement left such a lasting impression on Snegurochka that even a decade later, it's still an experience that she remembers and values. This one interaction, not even a five minute stop, had massive ramifications on Snegurochka's life and education.
And then the flashback is drawn back to the present context, of not knowing where Kal'tsit is, the journey currently happening a desperate bid to find her again. I realize that, we have been depending on her this entire time. Working off of her wisdom and guidance, thriving through the concise and tactical encouragement she provided.
The entirety of Rhodes Islands mourns and misses her, is adrift without her, because she influenced everyone in such small, vital, and meaningful ways.
I really really like Harold Craigavon as a character and how he fits into the world, because he's doing a lot of stuff for the story, even on a ludonarrative level of his bossfight. While he shows off that casters can be overwhelmingly powerful, though that was already known, it establishes that they can be so nigh-unstoppable that forming an entire squad around and to just support them is a practical and effective approach.
Suffice to say, the Victorian Dukes are nothing if not ruthless and practical, so the Duke of Caster would not entertain Harold if he didn't deliver results. Soldiers only get old by surviving and winning, after all.
This isn't the first time we've seen this either. In the main story Faust and Frostnova are both leaders of squads that directly work with and utilize their leader's arts to great effect. Faust isn't possible to pin down or find cover from, because any one of his Phantom Crossbownmen could be him. Frostnova's storms leave foes vulnerable, or can work with her Yetis to freeze opponents more easily.
Similar to Harold in multiple ways, Frostnova dominates the battlefield in such a complete fashion that her squadmates invest in protecting themselves from the residual effects of her arts so that they can operate normally:
While only one of Frostnova's units benefit directly from the cold, the icecleavers that deal 250%/300% damage to frozen units, the Victorian general's army, thrive in Harold's snowstorms. With a Duke behind him and taking care of all of his equipment and expenditures, they get stronger in the cold. They were trained in it, and dominate it, and likely represent what Frostnova could have become if she had a few more years to sharpen her craft and squad cohesion.
To make a bit of a jump, recall how I described casters as being unstoppably powerful; now I want to bring your attention to the mighty Wendigo; the most powerful entities that existed on Terra. Regularly described as such.
Now lets look at one of my favorite scenes in the game, Kal'tsit's stand off with the Emperor's Blade at the end of A Walk in the Dust: (WD-8 Before:)
Kal'tsit directly compares the strength of Wendigos to veteran war Casters. They were deployed together to fight off Collapsals. Sami employed Snowpriests, also Casters of incredible strength. The only one we directly know of, Santalla, was fighting a one-woman guerilla war against the expansionist country of Ursus itself, depicted in The Black Forest Wills a Dream.
They can't find her, they can't stop her; they think that she's a spirit, not a caster, not a person. Because how could a person summon blizzards at will, who could roam and stalk in such hostile environments? They can't push the border anymore because of her alone. (In the Biting Cold:)
So when we come all the way back around to Harold; as a veteran caster with a proper catalyst and no oripathy (r.i.p. Frostnova), he has no physical reasons to hold back. His squad is designed around him, and can safely be in just the vicinity of his arts. His opponents are stuck desperately keeping their heat sources on, just so they can fight, just so they can hold their blades, only for Harold to precision strike them. If you manage to harm or hinder him, he can switch tactics and begins repeatedly nuking the entire battlefield. He, will be fine. His men, will be fine.
But you will not.
Harold's bossfight is one of my favorites, not just because it's engaging and tense, delightful and frantic: it flexes so much of the world and lore. The music pairs so well, the almost whimsical tones of the snow and ice giving way to the unrelenting wrath of a blizzard with malicious intent, the deep bass aligning with the truck sized icicles descending from the sky and crashing down. It shows off how the battlefield and militaries in the setting warp around casters.
What must it have looked like to have seen multiple Harolds, multiple veteran war casters all closer to their prime, working together to fight back extradimensionals? Each with no reason to limit themselves, no worry in harming the Wendigo frontline.
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As a parting note, you know what else is cool? Patriot, who presumably fought on one of those frontlines, then met Frostnova and Faust. When they showed an aptitude for arts, he tutored them to fight in the same way, as part of a purpose-built squad. They and their arts are powerful indeed, but he has seen firsthand how they are best leveraged.
I was watching this excellent lupoknights clear and reminded of both this traumatizing post and about frankly one of the hardest levels in the game, BB-S-4 via the overwhelming presence of the Deathveil Assassins:
The game uses these entities in an exquisite way, as everything in Babel was exquisite, after all. The first time you see one they essentially function as a boss, only showing up by the eighth level, and only one showing up. The level BB-8 is built around them, weaving their way through the entire field, easily clearing operators that you put in the way with their enormous 1,500 ATK.
Of course, the first attack they do once losing their invisibility does double damage, easily one-shotting most operators, and regaining invisibility once they're no longer blocked.
You learn a healthy respect of the Deathveil Assassins, of their potent ability to cleave through your units, and effective defenses with 60% RES and 40% dodge. Of the fact that if you somehow manage to block one and start chipping it down, it'll leave your operator's range and may compromise your layout.
Despite 'only' being an elite enemy, it certainly feels like a boss, and you're relieved that you only had to deal with one.
And then BB-9 happens.
You see these monsters walk into the level, each and every one capable of cutting down your strongest operators, thirteen working in tandem when only one was a lethal threat. All of them in consort working to slaughter someone that you come to care about deeply. As soon as you see it happen you know there's no way that the scene will be anything but bloody. That it isn't a one-sided butchery is a surprise.
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The game uses this ludonarrative harmony of the danger that they represent brilliantly, utilizing game mechanics to instantly convey the relevant message. It's legitimately something that I think is worthy of emulation, of a wonderful example of game design. And; all of this is information conveyed without a single word; information and an experience available to those that don't read the story!
But if you do choose to engage with the story, what is revealed about them is chilling. Each and every one, desperate for Kazdel to succeed, desperate for the Sarkaz to survive in a world that hates them, resolve themselves to end the civil war the only way they think they can; killing Theresa.
But that requires killing Theresa. Of regicide, of betrayal and slaughter of their own kin. Crimes so grievous that they can't stand the thought of their names being permanently associated with Theresa's death in history. Each cut away their horns, stripped themselves of skin so that they couldn't be recognized or identified.
What initially seems like an elegant yet fairly simple design, perhaps edgy and blunt with the amount of pure black with red accents, becomes utterly horrific. The black cloth covering every square inch of their body must be fused to their exposed muscles, glued in place with blood. They voluntarily flayed themselves, to try and avoid being remembered.
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Babel is an event that, to me, is defined by both regret and understanding. Everyone knows why it has to be this way, and no matter how much they regret it, still follow through. I don't think this is epitomized anywhere else as much as this scene; Theresa identifying each of these people by name, on a personal basis, before extinguishing them.
She understands why they do this, she probably figured it out as soon as they walked through the door. Even as they approach their king with blades drawn, they almost beg forgiveness, beg understanding for the actions they already regret as they take them.
She understands, they understand, and violence ensues. The Doctor loathes themself for what 'needed' to be done, but still follows through. At any point in the plan they could have called it off, but decided that the regrets are a smaller price to pay.
The Deathveil Assassins are a personification of Babel's motifs, and I think it speaks to the nature of Kazdel itself, of the Sarkaz, that they give up their identities, their bodies and souls for a perceived greater good. Just like the Doctor, these people, in their own words damned themselves.
They are a perfect confluence of themes, game design and writing, and that should to be recognized.
Arknights has a lot of very strong setting threads; the main one, The Abyssal Hunters, Musical Germany, Lesbians Lab, etc. But as I've begun reading Near Light recently, the Kazimierz Saga is making a very strong case for itself by immediately featuring an oripathic blowing himself out like a candle in front of a live audience...
Man, Arknights is bleak sometimes.
Kazimierz is probably one of if not the worst place to be for the infected, where not only do people hate you and bureaucracy actively attempts to stamp you out, they cheer for your death. They cheer for a brutal, violent thug to maim you with injuries that last the rest of your life, if not outright end it. (NL-2 Before:)
Arknights is often willing to be a rough and brutal story, depicting the worst parts of humanity and the depravities that it's willing to explore; but so far, I think that the Kazimierz arc has the most realistic portrayal of it. Of people being ground underfoot by corporations and one another once they lose sight of commonality.
'Avg darkduel' is one of the best tracks in the game.
I love and adore it so because it elevates and fits and contextualizes the scene on the shore, the climax of Ato, so so well. A classic duel between warriors; of impending violence and pain- but in this case not truly necessary.
There's considerable sadness and regret in the track; a tragedy of someone so stuck in their own delusions that they've trapped themself. So far gone that the only way they can be stopped is in a fight; more focused on the beautiful shore and beautiful night than his (percieved) impending demise.
Darkduel is Mifune, of the bitter, jaded, resigned man, drawing his sword for a fight he doesn't believe in. It's only on principle, only because 'that's the way it's supposed to go.' The song is his bittersweet wish of a beautiful ending to a desolate life, being granted.
He could draw no Chi Xiao, and he could never win against Hoshiguma's reforged Hanya.
By comparison his boss theme, while bombastic and frenetic, partially rings hollow. It's a song for a fight and more importantly reflective of the illusion. It scores a battle that was never necessary, one he insisted upon, and doesn't tell his real story or character. By comparison to his real theme, it's just one that illustrates the danger and lethality of his sword.
As a yakuza he was powerful and peerless till now, a master swordsman and tactician; but these things didn't bring him any actualization. He developed and maintained his skills to cut others down and compose deadly strategies, but never in service of something that fulfilled him.
Which is why, his boss theme feels one-note; it's him embracing the facade one last time, rather than ever finally growing past it.
I will be remembering their confrontation on the shore at the end of Ato for a long time, crystallized in my mind through this OST.
A thought that occurred to me about Kal'tsit's participation during the coalition war, the eastern crusade of Crusade of 898 is that she didn't wake the doctor. She only explored that avenue by the events of Babel in 1090.
Kal'tsit went out of her way to initiate, organize and form the coalition; a combined force of the Gaulish, Leithanians, and Victorians. An extremely drastic action, believing it to be truly necessary to avoid a significantly higher amount of suffering and bloodshed: (12-11 Before:)
(Genuinely one of my favorite scenes of the entire game.)
While this wasn't a total success, Kal'tsit even temporarily dying in the process, she and the coalition still prevented Kazdel and the Sarkaz from becoming unstoppable. But even at this point, believing that her actions were necessary to prevent mass hardship and misery, didn't wake the Doctor.
But she did to try and save Babel.
Succeeding with the Eastern Crusade's mission constituted a larger threat; a more important problem for the world itself than what was a single civil war.
The two of them spent at least a century together, if not nearly two, and I think that this experience shaped Kal'tsit so much, that the bond she had with Theresa was so strong, that she was willing to stop at nothing.
Kal'tsit played the best possible card she ever had to try and save the situation. Kal'tsit woke the Doctor out of what I believe to be love for Theresa. Faith in her partner, desperation to help and support her, a fundamental need to see her future of goodwill succeed and carried out, all drove her to break protocol and open the sarcophagus early.
There wasn't even a guarantee that it would help, that the Doctor would have any capacity or even willingness to help or change the outcome, and still Kal'tsit did it. (M8-8 After:)
Something I've been thinking about was that not only did Rankin have sort of a Talulah moment by forcing that man to kill his son, but Amiya sort of did too in 16-18:
Beside this being another visually grand moments of the story, a storm of azure flame filling the sky and catching High-Speed Warship shells out of the air- it's an action involving flames invoked by anger taking place in Ursus; something that has had extraordinary significance in the past.
Amiya has always sought resolution over escalation, attempting to quell problems rather than win them, but this feels like a turning point to me. Here, she draws a line. Here, she embraces the fact that she is the Demon King of the Sarkaz, Wielder of the Black Crown, and if a fight needs to take place, it's one she will win.
Amiya has always been selfless and careful, but the text here doesn't say until everyone is safe; it says "Until the score is settled."
All the Unrevealed
This isn't the only time that Amiya has done this though, and it's why her actions with, driven by anger, are different this time; emphasized this time. In All the Unrevealed from See You Soon, she uses her brand of magic to protect the Sarkaz army:
Here, she talks to the marauding fleet that have come to stamp out the Sarkaz in one fell swoop for good. Amiya prevents what would have been a genocide, and is making very clear her stance that there will be peace. Even in the most controlled and benevolent scenario when faced with atrocity, Amiya still states "I will not rule out violence if necessary."
She's been presented with the same situation twice now, but the second occasion brought about enough rage to instead draw Ying Xiao; her sword rather than her healing staff. It makes me wonder how far things would have gone if the Fourth Army hadn't relented, if she would burn the ships down, if she would go far enough to break something inside of her.
The chilling, excruciating pain of the mines be extinguished is similar to Talulah finding evidence of her compatriots being starved. It wasn't necessary; only cruelty. Where Talulah went wrong (besides having Kashchey in her head) was that she took action against the village and burned it to the ground; proactive, but maybe also overkill or even vindictive. This is a catastrophic moment for her because she loses all control and restraint, retaliating and literally settling the score.
Abnormal Spectrum and Ursus plotlines in general focus a lot on fighting for what's right, for better circumstances, and Amiya as the protagonist has always been the one that the narrative will always back up and support. Here we see the Miners rising up and attempting to find something better than being worked to death, and so too do we see Amiya get filled with fury that bursts out into the firestorm. It presents a perspective that it is extremely valid, correct, to be overwhelmed by the senseless violence and try to stop or prevent it with any means necessary.
By virtue of Amiya's rage Chapter 16: Abnormal Spectrum, by this one moment in contrast to another, hammers home even further that standing up for yourself, others, and saving lives through force are righteous choices, ones that can justify even violence.
I really liked Ulpianus in the recent Path of Life event, because outside of the John Bloodborne-ness, all of the cloak and dagger behavior and being as reserved as possible in Stultifera Navis was entirely justified with the demonstrations of Horatia and greater Aegir. One of his first actions back in Stultifera Navis, stating that the hunters should not return to the ailing Aegir, was also immediately justified when they get dragged into a spotlight, forgoing much of their initiative and drawing malicious attention. How much does he accomplish, by himself, because he works in the dark with no oversight?
Somewhere midway through PoL we find out that Aegir hasn't stopped trying to create hunters, they've been trying, even despite the ethical concerns, but repeatedly failing. I believe is because Ulpianus as a key scientist kept an important part of the process to himself so that it couldn't take place without him, which is also immediately justified upon finding Aegirian artifacts and evidence of being lied to in the firstborn nest.
That all pales in comparison to the end result of the waterway project (which is unexplained for the majority of the plot, worryingly), that needed the dormant nanomachines to be assimilated for it to succeed. This would have come at the cost of Milliarium's obliteration if not for the decisive actions of Jordi, Lucilla, and other members of the cast. This also means that not only was Blandus fallen, leadership above him were aware, and incorporating his naivety into their plans, if not taking direct steps themselves to usurp Milliarium and keep Blandus' sabotage under wraps.
I begin to understand, empathize, and now fully trust Ulpianus over Aegir when I find out that they were willing to desecrate a city of tens of thousands in what was only a gamble for success. Ulpianus, like Kal'tsit, is among the most innately aware of the arrogance and overconfidence of Aegir, and the danger that it represents.
