#indra chaudhari

[cordate-chordata]

Commission of Indra and Amashilama from Axiom Verge 2 :D

Alt. bg and transparent bg under the cut

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

Wakes up in a cold sweat

Axiom Verge 1 is a subversion of the classic masculine power fantasy, while Axiom Verge 2 subverts the classic feminine one.

Hear me out. First let's define both really simply. The masculine power fantasy is essentially one of becoming one's own self, and exerting their power upon the world in their name. The feminine power fantasy is one of union, nurturing and caring for another. We can further simplify these ideals into two lines. The masculine power fantasy is to kill the father. The feminine is to save the daughter.

That's the most barebones description but it's just to get us off on the right foot. Essay below the cut going into detail

In AV1 we follow Trace. All along we're set up with a simple idea, Trace must survive, grow to master his environment and his abilities, and go on to slay his foes. The Rusalki.

Wait what?

Yes, the Rusalki are a controlling force on Trace. For him to fight his way into the masculine power fantasy he must use his power to buck the control of another and choose for himself what is right. But that's not what happens. In fact, he works with them. Why?

Athetos is the final position, the ultimate masculine form of Trace. He makes clones of himself and each fail to become. They're stripped of name and identity and these "lesser selves" are now subservient only to Athetos. The Father. The Master. If Trace wishes to become a man, he must prove himself unconquerable and stand evenly with Athetos.

That's the nightmare segment. We see Trace literally chasing after an ideal self he can't keep up with. We see him become one of the failed clone monsters and experience being a puppet, it's the masculine nightmare. He is a failure, he will be subsumed, he must become his perceived ideal self.

But it's all a trap. Trace doesn't just man up and beat the toxin that's mutating him. He has help from Ophelia. See, there's been a secret this entire time in the background, have you caught it?

When Trace finds his mutated other selves, he tries to reason and they will not listen. They're caught up in the masculine narrative and there are only two ways out of it. Destroy Athetos, or change the script.

Trace, who has been nurturing and healing the Rusalki despite their power over him. Trace who has to use his understanding, and for whom a boss fight isn't glorious single combat. Trace who bears the ultimate yonic symbol in the Axiom Disruptor. Guns are generally phallic symbols but this one's design but this one disrupts (heh) the narrative symbology to a different one.

Empathy, sacrifice, and grace are often hallmarks of the feminine power fantasy. There is much to be said about whether these are healthy themes but for now, in present moment, that's often what they are. It is in showing empathy to his failed clones that he finds purpose beyond meager violence to face Athetos. It's through empathy that he connects with Elsenova and the other Rusalki who then grant him the power of making connections to defeat his foe. He sacrifices his own pride and it allows him to see the world for what it truly is rather than a playground to be remade in his image. The address disruptor may seem a tool to do just that at first, but in actuality it cannot change what has not already been changed. Most of all, he sacrifices his ultimate masculine form in Athetos, refusing to become powerful to become understanding. His method is not to subjugate his potential lesser selves and become the standout example but simply to be, in the world he is in.

Indra is taken by the hand along the path of the feminine. She comes to rescue her daughter and must work under the mercy of the Arms. A class of people who have power, and power over her as a kind of patriarchy. Indra! A world-class CEO is now a victim of a system and a culture that simply doesn't value her for what she is.

And just like Trace, the further she goes along this path the more misled she is. She is expected to sacrifice everything, even her life for her daughter. She must care for Damu and balance catering to the desires of the figuratively-masculine Amashilama.

Trace suffered being the victim of toxic masculinity. Becoming isolated and dejected and discarded. Indra becomes the victim of toxic femininity, sacrificing until there is nothing left to give. She is used for her body and her mind is a discarded, useless thing. But it is from that mind that Indra flips her own script.

She remakes her body in her image, as she likes. Have you noticed the hacking tool that makes her the master of her demesne? The phallic symbol of the ice pick? Each tool she has leads her closer to her destiny and the more she makes a name for herself the more empowered she becomes, to the point she makes her own name for herself in the world. Everything Indra is given puts her in the position of that brave and empowered masculine, even and especially, the ending.

Should I talk about how Indra's body is used so that Amalshilama can get at her real goal? The next generation of Arms. How she is literally used to produce and bequeath the next age to the patriarchal Arms? At how Indra's past self takes on the feminine role of sacrifice and fulfills the idea of motherhood by reuniting with her daughter, and how that leaves our mechanical Indra free to pursue her name? (Presumably Ophelia?)

Indra's pursuit saves her life, in a sense, and she becomes greater than the simple story she was placed into. As Trace did. As they both did and in so doing did not become victims of masculinity and femininity. In fact, all throughout their games they win by pushing past the constraints humanity would place on them.

And just. AUGH. The symbolism! The way Trace carries larva on his back being "injected into". The way Indra is given actual soldier's weaponry. The way Sudra is still until the Disruptor is picked up, almost a symbol of beginning life. The way Indra seeks a way to allow Damu to build a body and follow in her example. To literally make himself.

Axiom Verge is so good actually.

[bright-eyed-dizzy]

the axiom verges as little animal crossings!

[chaoscontrolled123]

axiom verge 2 is out today!!! i'm only a couple hours in but i wanted to draw my headcanon for indra before i saw any close-up pics of her in the game haha

[synthwave-ninja]

Finished yesterday Axiom Verge 2. Impressive as expected! Here's some fanart from me.

I wasn't sure, but I think dark sclera fits the theme.

[sudra]

something something injoke about indra being one of those rich furries

[atwas-gaming]

A few Axiom Verge headcanons:

Trace is aro-ace and his least favorite nickname is "Ace Trace."

Hammond is only a couple of years older than Trace, but she tends to act like a mother to him.

Trace was adopted and was never able to find his biological parents, and he has no living relatives that he knows of.

Trace used to hate his last name because no one could say it, much less spell it. He started taking more pride in his last name when his published papers began gaining notoriety.

Athetos discarded the name Trace when he realized that he didn't belong on (didn't come from?) Earth, so he truly is "without place."

Samara didn't run away because of Indra's absence, Indra just thinks that because that was what their last fight was about. Samara was secretly studying under Dr. Hammond, first through the technology and information that Indra, um, "acquired" from Hammond, and later by directly contacting Hammond, herself. Samara knew her mother would never agree to allowing Samara to join in Hammond's experiments- particularly the one involving the "afterlife"- so Samara left. She never told anyone where she was going because she didn't want Indra to confront Hammond directly.

The Disruptor was designed with the ability to physically connect itself to its user, through both Athetos' DNA and his particular "PatternMind" brain function. That's why Trace is the only other person who can use it. The Disruptor physically attaches itself to Trace's arm. He can remove it when he needs to, but despite its size, it isn't heavy, and it feels like an actual extension of his own arm.

[atwas-gaming]

Just finished AV2 for the second time, and I got enough items for a post-credits scene. Looks like Indra (the real Indra, the one who died while saving Ophelia) made it to the "afterlife" with Samara and Hammond.

I kept trying to figure out where I'd heard the name "Samara" before. You ever hear of the story of the "appointment in Samarra"? It's a reference to death. She did die, as well as Hammond did.

So, all the Sudrans who died to the "pathogen" (which I think may be the result of Damu's shapeshifting nanotech)- are they in the afterlife beyond the filter, too?