#celia_karin_roscoe

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022 // Loose Images No.6: “The Hand of Jeremiah” and Celia Roscoe.

Welp, I did not get as much ready as I had hoped to. I spent a lot of this week smashing my head against a mountain of old code from years ago that I meant to update and never did, or that I did not know needed updating until I actually dusted it off again and subsequently felt compelled to update it. Arduous stuff!

Celia is actually animated to climb the tree, and she does quite elegantly! But! She is not yet animated to sit down properly, and my myriad neuroses will not permit me to send a screencapture out with missing frames. No, no, no.

Therefore, in the interim, you get this: Celia goofin’ off in the branches (she’ll actually do more next time, I swear!) and a somewhat colourful expository moment about the tree in the graphic, below.

Enjoy! :y

This big tree is a member of the species Corymbia terminalis-III salite; a hardwood that likes salty, rocky soil and which has been growing on that spot since before the Erusa Skyfall disaster. The girl sitting in it is Celia Roscoe, who you know. This tree is named "The Hand of Jeremiah." Celia named it that. Celia has only told her mother who 'Jeremiah' is and it's a secret.

C. terminalis-3 salite trees absorb salts in the soil and minerals they grow through and inter it in their thick, scab-like bark. The trees regularly shed their bark to eliminate excess salt, and, normally, the wind and rain will carry the discarded salt-laden wood off before it crumbles and re-salinizes the soil. 'Jeremiah’ is in the shelter of the Matan Escarpment, though, and the bark does not travel very far before it decomposes, and that is why this particular tree has such a broad space around it for it to thrive in. Others like it can be found growing in oceanfront groves and scattered across salty alluvial plains. The species of tree is now fairly rare on Luan-II, as non-seaside plants tend to die out as the salt in the soil is depleted-- a task they were specifically bred and engineered to perform in biocycle-terraforming situations.

A thick pseudolignotuberous root crown can support several trunks and stems per plant, sending thick, woody runners out from an original trunk and growing thick, appendage-like roots that may eventually branch into new, connected trees. The result is a plant with a thick, central trunk and several heavy, insect-like 'legs' splaying out in all directions, sprouting smaller trees of their own. These legs are where the species gets its nickname: Roga's "Walking" Corymbia.

Salite bark can be ground and used as a pretty-okay seasoning, but you really have to like salt. It tastes terrible on its own.

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021 // Loose Images No.5: Celia Reflection

I said I would try to get another game post out last week and I find myself here a day or two late, but not empty-handed!

I thought you might like an animation of a girl walking away from herself. Every video game needs a publicity image of a girl walking away from herself. (I think I got the ‘too speedy’ problem under control, too!)

Here is an excerpt about her:

This girl is Celia Karin Roscoe: Athlete, Adventurer, Unstoppable Force of Nature.

She is one of Mayor Roscoe’s many granddaughters; the only child of Miles Alexander Roscoe and Fruitshark, of Exiles; two years your superior.

By man or machine, her energy is unrivalled. There is no secret she cannot uncover. 'Restraint' is a word in her vocabulary: the forgotten name of a sad pretender crushed long ago beneath her overwhelming force of will.

Water stopped her, once, so she learned to swim. Trees and rocks stopped her, too, and she taught herself to climb. You suppose that, someday, gravity will become a nuisance as well, she'll do something about it, and you'll never see her again.

Celia regards you as her best friend. You go with her on her adventures sometimes but can seldom keep up.

Tomas Radomr likes her, but whatever Celia likes is so far away that nobody can see it.