#caltheris

[shadowtofen]

It all ends so painfully and slow, my pareidolia.

✌️🥹 anything for a friend

[yyunalescaa]

“Where do the Shadowsmith names come from?”

This post isn’t really that serious and I wouldn’t look too far into this. After my post about “Astra Malorum” I just went full off the rails trying to see what other insane things I can connect to Black Ops 7.

In all honesty, I don’t have an official answer for this. They are most likely names that the writing team workshopped that sounded really cool and kind of imposing. But someone asked this anyways and I got cracking.

όθᾰρσῐς

When I first heard the name Caltheris, it sounded a lot like όθᾰρσῐς (kóthărsĭs). Or as we use it in English “catharsis”. The dictionary defines “catharsis” as: the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. It comes from the Greek/Latin word that means “cleanse” or “pure”. It used to have a physical meaning only for purification practices. And was also used to describe purification rituals in Homer’s works. And while this is a big fat nothing burger here, it is interesting that in a way the Shadowsmiths to perform a kind of purification ritual on our characters to make them whole again.

θηρῐ́ον

Veytharion was a little harder to track down. I was not determined to find Greek or Latin roots here, merely words that may be similar to either part of the name. And in my research I somehow came across θηρῐ́ον (thērĭ́on). It is the Greek word for “beast”. There’s no real mythology behind this, other than the constellation Lupus was later named “Therion” by Hipparchus of Bithynia. Interestingly enough, this name is used to refer to one of three beasts in The Book of Revelations. So Tank Dempsey, I fear you are just doomed to be seven degrees from God.

It’s really hard for me to say that this is what the writers intended for their names. Though given how much Greek and Roman mythology has wormed its way into this story (as you’ll see more on this blog lmao) they may have done what any writer does when they need an imposing and ominous name. Look up the Greek or Latin word and add some zest. But without a third Shadowsmith name it’s hard to say if this was done on purpose. Don’t worry, I’ll be on the look out in map 3 now.

[thegreysamenjoyer]

Caltheris have also commented on Grey’s split-second decision to keep Maxis’s eggs.

[yyunalescaa]

Mythology Monday in Black Ops 7

Yeah I think that's what we're gonna do from here on out lmao.

I wanted to do this post later, but seeing as we’re rolling into January with Map 3 on the horizon, I can’t resist. Did you know Veytharion and Caltheris have internal code names? I know I sure didn’t until a few days ago. And I found the name choices to be really fascinating and I do not think these choices were made on accident.

**I may interchangeably use the Greek and Roman names of these gods just to make things less confusing. Especially with Caltheris as they’re mixing mythology (did y’all not learn from Disney?). Please understand, I do know that while both have their Indo-European roots and were roughly borrowed from each other, Greek and Roman mythology do have their differences. They are not always the same, or even similar. But if Treyarch is going to be mixing the mythology (again, learn from Disney) then I will too. But purely so nobody else is super confused. Got it? Cool.

When I first saw this, I realized exactly what Treyarch was probably trying to do here. Hermes is the god of a couple of things. He is mostly known as the messenger of the gods, primarily the personal messenger to Zeus. But he was also the god of: herds and flocks, travellers and hospitality, roads and trade, thievery and cunning, heralds and diplomacy, language and writing, athletic contests and gymnasiums, astronomy and astrology (Theoi). He also played a part in assisting Perseus in slaying Medusa, and giving Odysseus the potion to protect him from Kirke (Circe).

But I think some people forget his second crucial role in mythology. Hermes was responsible for leading the souls of the dead to the Underworld. This role was appointed to him later, after being send to Haides to try and find Persephone.

Veytharion does act as Hermes during this story. He has been a messenger and guide to Tank and Maya. Though at this point he’s basically guiding souls back to life instead of to death. Butttt this leads me to another theory I have that you’ll see probably next week.

This one, I will admit, has me scratching my head for a couple of reasons. Uranus (or sometimes spelled Ouranos) is Greek mythology, while Neptune (or known by his Greek counterpart Poseidon) is Roman mythology. And as stated above, while you may be able to get away with interchangeable names the myths do have their differences. Uranus was also a protogenos, or primordial god. Meaning he is the personification of something in nature rather than a human like god. Neptune is a human like god who rules over several things much like Hermes (and all of them really).

Why she has two names they use interchangeably is lost on me. Especially since Uranus represents the sky and Neptune is the god of saltwater, while Caltheris is a rock on the desert planet of Mars. And it would seem maybe more fitting (or too on the nose) to call her Ares. The only connection Uranus and Poseidon have to each other in mythology is the Uranus is Poseidon’s grandfather.

It is possible that maybe this is in reference to the Titanomachy? Uranus is the father of Cronus, who castrated his father and devoured his children to prevent himself from being overthrown as King of the Gods. One of those children was Poseidon, along with Hades, Demeter, Hera and Hestia. Zeus was the only one who was safe and later saved his siblings and killing their father. The Roman version goes roughly the same way from what I remember. Honestly? This is completely plausible, but for brevity I’ll explain my Titanomachy and Theogony theory in another post later.

I do think going forward all the Shadowsmith’s will be internally referred to as either a Greek or Roman deity that somehow relates to the narrative. Any gods or goddesses you want to see mentioned in the next map?

[yyunalescaa]

Every time they nerf the boss I'm reminded of that one time Amon in FFXIV had a bug that would autowipe the party on Curtain Call. And I'll probably be making one every map release.

[foxqueen-katarian]

Had to explain the difference between Aethirion (Judgment and Law) and Iltheris (Mercy and Redemption) to a friend today and they couldn't quite grasp the idea that Aeth doesn't care about nuance, while Ilth cares so so much about nuance, and that is why they are often at odds. And eventually had to just say Aethirion is Old Testament God and Iltheris is Jesus. If Jesus was a mouthy little fuck who regularly was like 'Hey, somebody should go punch my dad.', and God's response was to have a temper tantrum and then sulk because no one else except other Old Testament God Caltheris (Fate and Judgement/Vengence) That did not help, and if anything only made it so they had more questions.

[foxqueen-katarian]

I was going to ask if there was any intentional naming schemes you used ie, Therivor, Eryndor, and Nyxalor all being knowledge deities and ending in ‘or’, and if yes what Iltheris, Vanoris, Caltheris, and Nytheris had in common, but when I went to check spelling there was new one (or maybe Injust missed them??). So, instead what’s going on with Lytheris?

To answer both of these, it was not intentional, for everybody created post ‘Oh, God there are so many V names what have I done!’ freak out I used a dice rolling name generator one of the people I play D&D made to help quickly name NPC’s, and just rolled a lot of 8’s for name endings.

That said if you wanted to pretend it wasn’t all just happenstance. Ili, Van, Cal, Ny, and Solvaris (and Ly) are all connected in some way to movement or travel.

Iltheris is known as the Wandering Guide, and helps people to find the paths towards mercy and forgiveness.

Vanoris the Wandering End is the god of journeys, migration, and impermanence. He is the travler who you meet at the crossroads that points you into the future.

Caltheris the Guiding Lantern is the god of luck and prophecy. He lights the paths of destiny so that mortals may find their way.

Nytheris, goddess of tides and storms, she neither helps nor hinders those who would sail her waters, only asks that they take no more than they give and show proper respect.

Solvaris is the Keeper of the Last Gate, the one who stands at the end of the road of life and ushers you into death.

And Lytheris, who is new because I have a problem, is the god of choice, of self-written fate, creation and luck. He saw the paths Caltheris had lit and said no, I will find another way, and did not wait to hear the response.

~

Lytheris is what happens when you have a thought that doesn’t need to be fleshed out but you’ve been ruminating over your Selkie interpretation for three days and need a break from it and your brain goes ‘How do baby Gods come to be?’ followed by ‘What if Zaryx and Veliflare had a kid’. He’s still a tiny little thought experiment and I don’t know if I’m going to keep him or roll some of my ideas into Caltheris, or get rid of Caltheris and move the things I like about him over to Lytheris.