#fault analysis

[nomsfaultau]

Fault analysis never stops tbh

[nomsfaultau]

I will never be normal about Tubbo and Philza’s dynamic in Fault. It’s so complex and messy. Because from Tubbos’ perspective, it’s ’this is the man who destroyed our best friend, but also the only reason Tommy survived the trauma of the Foundation. We recognize Philza capable of love, and the bloody cost of it is unbearable. Just helping him is against our morals. This is a monster in the shape of a human, one that proves the Foundation right. Philza is what we see in our nightmares. He is abhorrent. He keeps us safe and soothes our pain. He, no, it isn’t a person.’

And then from Philza’s perspective it’s ‘this person is the reason I’m still sane. As a god I never knew mortal terror before, and Tubbo alone saved me. They are why I can remember my children. They are the only reason Tommy survived the trauma of the Foundation. This is a child who is hurt and scared and I need to protect them. Tubbo is scared of me, is revolted by me, and I am bound by oath to them. I am supposed to love them, so I force myself to. If I lose Tubbo my principles might shatter. They are vulnerable. They sabotage the safety of my children. They are mine.”

So, like I said before, it’s your average step dad trying to bond with the new kid.

[nomsfaultau]

One of the larger miscommunications between scp Tubbo and The Blade (of which there are frankly many) that I think really shapes Tubbos’ perception is the difference between their similar power systems. Because with Tubbo they have a massive choice in who is in the Hivemind, and assume The Blade chose to be the vessel of a violent god. Potentially they even think he allowed every single voice in, probably via evilly and non consentually going around ripping people apart to join The Blade’s Hivemind, given Tubbos’ traumatic associations with Collecting and how they equate The Blade with senseless violence. This category is more in the lines of casual assumptions not really considered, more subconscious than anything. I feel like this could be cleared up pretty easily.

What IS more of a problem is that Tubbo is fairly in control of who is fronting in the Hivemind (too controlling even). Even more crucially, Tubbo doesn’t understand that The Blade does NOT have control of his own body in certain conditions* and so legitimately couldn’t stop The Blood God from disabling Tubbo. Meanwhile The Blade feels kinda bad (and actually will have a crisis once he learns some crucial information, but spoilers) but ultimately feels like it isn’t fully his fault. He takes responsibility for his actions, but not necessarily the entire blame because that was The Blood God, not him.

But to Tubbo, it reads as ‘oh no it’s not REALLY my fault I nearly killed you because the evil person I chose to have in my skull was fronting (something that I could have stopped if I cared enough to)’ because that’s what it would mean if it was Tubbo who’d hurt someone.

Which. Yeah. Obviously the problem is far greater than that misunderstanding, but the stark differences between their headmate systems certainly isn’t helping.

[nomsfaultau]

Haha I totally didn’t forgor that I have (checks journal and winces) four entire panels of the Rose animatic finished but not colored. And have for months. Anyway, symbolism essay below the cut:

(What is safe ain’t the same as what is good)

This line exemplifies the fallacy of the Foundation, where in their effort to keep the world safe, heinous acts are committed. The scene depicts Rosalind being destroyed so the Foundation can gauge how dangerous Tubbo is and thus guard against them. Though coerced, Tubbo chooses their safety over their perception of what is the good moral decision.

Rosalind also proves the inverse; what is good may not be safe. Though abundantly flawed in her perception, she initially joined the Foundation believing she would be serving humanity, and in the end only endangered herself. Her leg is severed, showing how she could have fully escaped on her own had she not tried to rescue Tommy and Tubbo. Again her efforts to be good doom her. Rosalind is depicted pleading with Tubbo, trying to reach out for help that they refuse to offer, severing her arm. Tubbo refuses to look at what they are doing to her, just like how Rosalind initially refused to believe her initial impression of the Foundation as a benevolent institution was flawed. 

Interestingly, in the choice between Tubbos’ head being cut off and Rosalind being murdered, neither outcome leads to death. The Foundation is sure that decapitation will not kill Tubbo, and despite their guilt Tubbo knows Collecting Rosalind into the Hive means she is still alive. There is only the illusion of death on both sides, which the Foundation endeavors to maintain so that the workers and anomalies both believe the other is a lethal threat. It is essential that each fears the other so that the oppressive system is maintained. 

(so lay compress to the aching)

For all the last stanza discussed love as sacrifice, this panel emphasizes that love is also solace. It depicts Tommy and Tubbo comforting each other in the direct aftermath of Rosalind’s Collection, though with Tommy still hesitating to fully embrace Tubbo. Frequently it is compassion for each other’s pain that teaches Tommy and Tubbo compassion for themselves. Only for their love for each other do they survive the Foundation. 

Sprawled across the floor in Red and honey lay drawings of the things they yearn for. For Tubbo, it’s the flowers of the home they were torn from. For Tommy, it is the stars he can barely remember and the Collector he feels abandoned by. It’s also notably the first hint of Philza’s true form, though it wasn’t yet revealed that Philza was a dragon. These representations of the things they long for, be it freedom or support, are what fuel their determination to persist. And, of course, each other. It is love that keeps them going, for better or worse. 

[nomsfaultau]

I recognize exactly zero people follow me for this type of content, but this is the kind of nerd I am. The following post is an exploration of Tommy’s anomalous ability (Red) on bacteria, specifically on gut microbiota systems, as well as the implications. Link to the research paper that finally convinced me to write this post, though I’d deffo been toying with thoughts for a while. 

The main question is this:

Some important details that have been established: 

Red causes individuals to attack indiscriminately (excluding Tommy)

Red effects germs

Red does not cause the cells in multicellular organisms to attack one another (else the effects would include some symptom of that, such as white blood cells attacking the body. Allergy attacks, the like, I haven’t researched this vein as it isn’t what occurs)

The main idea that I started with was that Tommy’s gut bacteria would be fascinating as a result of the fact he often consumes Red due to not having a fork. Tommy’s main concern is that it makes his meals slimier and taste Red-er, but theoretically there’d be massive disruptions to the stability of his bacteria system. Specifically in the fact he’d be constantly sending it into overdrive competition, likely decimating colonies of helpful bacteria. Instability builds resilience and all that but the constant waves of self destruction would leave decimated diversity and have severely reduced redundancy. He’d almost constantly be in an undesirable stable state and likely unhealthy. Go far enough and you get the question of if he can properly produce all the enzymes needed for digestion. Unless he was getting probiotics pretty constantly, his microbiota would be incredibly unstable and fluctuating wildly. Major health problems would arise. 

This is not seen to occur, so it leads me to the question of how Red interacts on the microbiology level. I can see two directions that this can be taken in: Possibility 1. Stomach acid denatures Red—and other processes to render Red useless. 

Red is classified as a biohazard by the SCP Foundation, though it is not entirely clear what that entails. If it’s treated as something biological, its effects could be disrupted by the acidity. Ergo wouldn’t effect digestion. Hurray, Tommy can still eat stuff. (Could possibly still be used for toothpaste? I would have to research mouth bacteria.)

For someone who isn’t Tommy: Good news! All the bacteria in body isn’t now single mindedly trying to kill them. Also wouldn’t be permanently affected by Red should it become integrated into their body via digestion. 

This further rises the question of what can be done to eliminate Red’s affects. It is noted to not cause reactions after it has dried. I am assuming there is some type of denaturing from temperature. Furthermore it does not appear to retain effect merely for staying wet. The evidence for this is two fold: 

There have not been uncontrolled outbreaks of zombie-like mindless violence from contaminated water.

Presumably Tommy has showered at least once in the last x years. He is canonically mentioned to have showered inside the SCP Foundation, who could be decontaminating all water he uses. However, there is a period of a few months between the appearance of Red and his capture and Mother Innit would NOT allow him to get that stanky.

Ergo Red can be made into a safe state that can come into contact with people both externally and internally without problems. Especially given British/American water sanitation procedures tend to involve bacteria. Because Tommy did not cause a water safety crisis of disastrous proportions, I’m going to assume temperature/UV (possibly) at minimum effect it. Could be internal body heat destroys it. Other possibilities: Acidity naturally, dilution of the substance (minimum dose necessary?), or time since disconnected from Tommy.

Possibility 2. Red only affects super organisms. 

Now it’s a strenuous definition, but I think it makes a lot of things easier. The gut bacteria would be considered part of the person. Because frankly if we went all the way and individual cells started fighting each other inside a multicellular being…it would drastically conflict with what’s depicted. So Tommy wouldn’t be destroying his digestive system and probably a lot of other things.

A question would then be ‘what constitutes a super organism?’. Possible solution: 

Souls. They are an integral aspect of the Fault magic system. However, based off my components of a soul (memory, emotion, true name/agency, bonds) it rises the question of if the bacteria in question have souls. Which I kinda don’t think they do. Then again they are single cell organisms so that wouldn’t be a concern on their own save when they’re contributing to the whole. A body integrates their gut microbiota into their soul, likely through the bonds aspect Red recognizes via the individual soul. Bacteria then count as individuals unless they’re contributing to a multicellular organism, in which case they’d not fall into infighting. This is viable because Red is shown to affect bodiless souls such as voidlings. Therefore it has some recognition of the soul for the purpose of constructing super organisms. 

Now, if it’s effecting exclusively souls that’s a problem, because I’m still unconvinced germs have a soul by Fault’s definition of one. I think Red transcends both soul and being, which ever is necessary in order to cause conflict. I’d go into that but this is already lengthy and it would involved insanely massive spoilers. 

One problem: Tubbo is a super organism by classic definition. However, Tommy’s Red does not affect the whole of Tubbos’ hive mind, instead individual bees. Though the personality known as Tubbo is an amalgamation of many souls, so I think that can function as explanation since it is shown the bees technically have their own thoughts/emotions even if they’re very small bee feelings. Bees have their own definition as super organisms due to their own digestive bacteria. Turtles all the way down. But notably, not all the way up, or we could involve macro cohesive units such as, say, entire countries going to war. 

Plants though. Very different forms of sentience. And if we take into account mycorrhizal networks and consider them as creating super organisms (not of the same species, but as earlier established between humans and gut bacteria this isn’t a pre-requisite of classification according to Red) what happens once contaminated by Red? Is an entire community of plants going to attack? What would that even look like?

So the biggest question of all: What happens when Tommy touches grass?

[nomsfaultau]

I’ve never really talked about it, but SCP Philza’s gender gets weirder the longer I look at it. A conceptual/metaphorical being doesn’t necessarily have much use for a gender (unless human interpretation of the concept involves gender). Nearly all conceptuals encountered in Fault (mostly voidlings) use they/them or the occasional it/its, but Philza distinctly doesn’t. Very few conceptuals are powerful enough to create a physical body, which Philza did in order to become humanish. I think in that quest Phil found it convenient to have a gender when interacting with humans. And he mostly registers as male bc patriarchy and it made things easier, but also societal expressions of gender changed so much in human history so Philza doesn’t have a super firm grasp on it. And given how tied Philza’s physical form is to mental state and self perception, his body’s sex was pretty fluid over the millennia.

So Philza ends up as a genderless being that presents in a way that modern western society would read as conflicting gender markers, such as having a beard and long hair, deep voice and name ending in -a, etc. (Emphasis on characteristics being gendered based on customs, of COURSE.) I think it makes for an interesting contrast with scp Tubbo, who has multiple genders from the hivemind, but who presents with more stereotypical androgyny, ie lacking traditionally gendered characteristics.

[nomsfaultau]

More animatic! Slowly but surely

Analysis under cut! Tw religion and suicidal thoughts

This stanza depicts the Foundation’s false removal of Tommy from Philza’s Collected. 

The first line speaks of the symbolic marriage of the church to Jesus. This aligns with Tommy’s dynamic with Philza as one reciprocally devoted to a god. However, it is a relationship that is seemingly severed. In reading the bland document, Tommy’s self deprecating thoughts appear in red between the lines. Tommy believes he isn’t providing a ‘dowry’ i.e. he doesn’t believe he is able to make up for the burden he is on Philza. The line (the pyrite is showing through) is two fold. It represents both Tommy thinking Philza has finally seen through him as well as the false nature of the Foundation’s forged contract.  

Tommy imagines Philza disguising hurting him through acts of affection, as shown with Philza embracing him even as he claws Tommy open. This reflects how later Tommy finds Philza’s physical affection painful even after realizing he wasn’t really unCollected. He associates the affection as a precursor to pain that’ll only make it hurt more when Philza truly abandons him. 

Lastly, (It won’t buy you that empty tomb) is paired with an image of Tommy in his Grey period as a result of being abandoned. If the empty tomb -i.e., resurrection, a deliverance from tragedy- cannot be earned, instead you’re left with a filled tomb, alluding to Tommy becoming suicidal.  

[nomsfaultau]

brain stuck on scp Philza analysis today. But anyway there’s an aspect of his character that to me is important but due to plot structure will never really get explored. That being how he interacts with normal humans, because we only see him with his Collected or the Foundation (enemies). Evidently he has a blatant disregard for human lives if he see it as being in service to his Collected. But in normal contexts I believe he’s very polite, and kinda, and all together apathetic to the average mortal. He doesn’t really care. Can’t, really, if he’s to survive eternity with sanity in tact. But he’ll still be friendly and helpful despite emotional distance. Like, he could be friends with someone, but his Collected are always the priority and if the friend’s annihilation serves his precious people he’ll do it in a heart beat. I think he makes some designation of which mortals are important depending on how they interact with his Collected, such as the Collected’s friends family coworkers etc. But that still isn’t caring about them, only what they can do for his kids. And it’s such a shame bc I think it’s such an interesting aspect of his character but there really isn’t anywhere to explore that in Fault.