LitMoR bookclub starts officially tomorrow! It's gonna be really fun and exciting and I'm looking forward to it. I've wanted to reread the series for a while anyway, so this is a good excuse.
I'm gonna warn the like...6 people who follow me and actually pay attention to or give a crap about what I play, there will be some live blogging and notes and generally excited posting happening. I get chatty when I'm excited (or nervous, and those do happen at the same time more than they probably should), so. Yeah, just warning people know about the big posts about the big cool fanfic series.
Oh boy, so I posted a conspiracy theory chart here (pre-chapter 24), for the connections between characters in @grayintogreen's Life in the Margins of Redemption series on AO3. Here is the updated version:
Quite a lot of messy updates. I also added unhinged/unsupported ideas in teal, but everything else is supported by text.
More excerpts under the cut:
So first, let's look at Lucien's captures/kidnappings. I didn't get that deep into any of them in the last post, but we'll go in chronological order.
Jagentoths (815)
As mentioned in the earlier post, the Jagentoths offered Heather Dougal 1,000 gold for Lucien, which she turned down. Then their thugs murdered the Dougals and took Lucien to the Jagentoths. Reese mentioned they could sell Lucien for 800 if they passed him off as a girl. The numbers didn't match up.
It turns out that A. Allard specifically wanted to "make sure the brat bleeds," to whatever end. That explains the discrepancy with the amounts.
2. Dodger (815)
This wasn't discussed in the last post, but in there's something divine in the way screams can sound, Dodger also caught Lucien and forced him to join his gang.
Of course, Dodger was then murdered by one of the other kids 4 years later (819), and Lucien was alone on the streets until he met Cree, Tyffial, and Jurrell.
3. Jagentoths (824)
Then the Jagentoths caught Lucien and his friends in 824, beat the living crap out of them, and sold them off. Turns out Lucien's big buyer on the coast was A. Allard:
There was also a letter to provide context:
So, for whatever reason, A. Allard was not satisfied with Lucien living on the streets with other orphans. Why didn't he care what the Jagentoths did with him in 815, but he was disappointed in 824? Did something change? Or was living on the streets of the Run not terrible enough? What was their goal in making Lucien suffer?
(Note: I don't think Lucien was actually 12 here, probably just so slight that he seemed younger than he was.)
4. Claret Orders (824)
Next, the Claret Orders rescued the kids before they reached the coast (from OUADYA):
This one turned out to be relatively benign, and judging by Vax's comments in the Commune (discussed below), this was the Raven Queen taking action.
5. Somnovem (833)
So, this is a pet theory: I don't think DeRogna killed Lucien for her own purposes. I think the Somnovem wanted her to.
Think about it. DeRogna had nine red eyes. If she got all of them before the ritual, why did the Somnovem give her more eyes than any of the Tombtakers? If she got them after the ritual, why did she have any after killing Lucien? Neither makes sense unless the Somnovem had some special purpose for her.
In addition, the Somnovem's plan for the Nonagon hinged on getting Lucien's soul into Cognouza so they could force him to fix things. But if an Astral Projection spell had worked properly, then Cree could have gotten him out with a simple Dispel Magic, unless the tether to his body was cut. Destroying such a tether is only possible with very specific things that explicitly are capable of it, like a Githyanki sword or an Astral Deadnaught's attack. So the Somnovem probably couldn't break an Astral Projection tether.
But DeRogna didn't break the tether. She broke Lucien's soul. When Lucien comes to in Cognouza (also in screams), Ira suddenly decided to bring up DeRogna and tell Lucien that she took the tome:
Why? What purpose was there to tell Lucien that unprompted? I think Ira wanted Lucien to fill in the blank because the Somnovem didn't say DeRogna sabotaged the ritual--Lucien assumed it.
And if that's the case, then Lucien never had a chance once he was convinced he needed to do the ritual. The Somnovem had been planning to kill and capture him from the start. And that explains why Ophelia had nightmares of the Somnovem when she was pregnant in as in the painted parlor, ophelia dreams.
So, yeah, the Somnovem have been planning to get their Nonagon for a long time, and I think DeRogna was just the final piece to get that done.
Anyway, the remaining kidnappings (6-8) were in the LitMoR stories themselves, so I won't recount them. That's just keeping track. Lucien's almost to 9! I bet he gets a prize. (The prize is suffering.)
Onto the second topic: The Allard Family!
As discussed above, there was an A. Allard that tried to buy Lucien, but Ashley's too young, so it must have been someone else. Then Jester sent Sendings (TO ASHLEY) that got us more.
So Ashley had an uncle that was also an A. Allard, but he's dead. This also confirms that Ashley was NOT involved in the Jagentoth's torment or the attempts to abduct Lucien earlier. So Jester sent to her mom, then Ashley again:
So now we know Ashley had an uncle named ALDER (A TYPE OF TREE) and a brother named Pomeroy (APPLE ORCHARDS), both dead. HMMMM. And based on Alder's letters, Marion was deceived that he was nice. They're all shitheads.
Considering that the prior post noted that Ashley wasn't supposed to get the Blade of Broken Mirrors, he might have been the reason they're both dead. After all, if Alder was actually doing the work of interfering with Lucien's life (and theoretically fucking with Cognouza), then he was probably the one with the knife. If Ashley was the "black sheep" maybe he was rejected by the people carrying it out. No way to know for sure yet.
Next is Rowan, or her new name, Marianne Mardoon:
Honey hair, hazel eyes, and asymmetrical bangs. SHE'S ROWAN! I KNOW IT! She even visited the coast a few months back--perfect timing for the Court of Nightmare's party. Even though Rowan was a half-elf and Marianne is a human, that just bolsters the idea that she's a changeling!
(Note: Alder died 3 years ago... the same year that Lucien died. That's quite a coincidence. If it really was Ashley that did it, why did he do it at that time? And if he did, why is Rowan/Marianne helping Ashley now? Maybe she doesn't know. THE PLOT THICKENS.)
But anyway. Marianne was engaged to Alder from the coast. The only Alder from the coast that we know of now is Alder Allard! So since someone had to have tipped him off about the purple tiefling being raised by a nice elderly couple, that must have been Marianne. And if the Allards were trying to make Lucien "bleed," then Marianne probably also was the reason Ophelia was adopted by Jack Mardoon to take over.
And now Marianne is leaving for the east:
What is to the east that the Seven would be interested in? Bazzoxan and the King's Cage! That's the last champion the Seven need to break the fanes, and that would complete their group of 7.
(Note: Because they have Zerxus, they don't need Yasha for the fanes. But considering Jayne's prior interest in Yasha (especially how her in danger triggered Molly going berserk), I don't think that means the Seven don't have plans for Yasha.)
Next, let's look at the stuff we learned in the Cleric Club's Commune:
First, the Court of Nightmares wasn't a front for anything.
Yves Allard was just doing his own thing, not some ulterior motive beyond the Court's activities. But as the last post showed, Jayne was there messing with stuff. So that suggests Jayne wasn't working with Yves when she was messing with Molly. Considering that Jayne is truly devout to Tharizdun, perhaps that just solidifies that Yves was a poser like the rest of the Court.
Second, the Betrayer Gods as a group aren't involved in this conspiracy:
Judging by the description, that it "begins and ends everything," they "tried to contain it," and it's not really anyone's ally, I bet this is Tharizdun. And it seems Tharizdun can affect fate just as well as the Matron--suggesting that the glimpses of creepy stuff we saw in Ophelia's side story wasn't just Cognouza reaching out, but the Chained Oblivion as well.
Of course, that might have still been Cognouza, but the darkness and ooze makes me think Tharizdun was involved in putting Ophelia (and Lucien) in the Somnovem's sights. Since it can affect fate, perhaps it was the reason Lucien was Ruidusborn too.
Third, Vax cheats with the Commune a bit.
Lucien wasn't meant to "live." Like, Vax is bending the rules here, but he might be keeping in the spirit by being cryptic. Did he mean that Lucien wasn't supposed to survive or is it the distinction of survival/living that Lucien threw at Molly previously? Hard to say. Maybe Vax is referring to the theory that the Somnovem might have been the reason DeRogna killed him, so his death was always the plan. Or maybe he wasn't supposed to have control of his own life. Cryptic jerk!
Vax also said "every single bit" of Lucien is at risk. I feel like he's also including Molly as part of Lucien there. Then Vax warns Cree not to let him falter "for love or for selfishness." So there's going to be risky choices where choosing love or selfishness could ruin everything. But if he included Molly as a "bit" of Lucien, could that also mean Molly might make such a choice? Maybe!
Next, let's talk about the Pattern.
During Beau's presentation of her conspiracy theory chart (hahaha), Lucien and Cree noted that the shape of it was reminiscent of the Pattern. However...
Lucien never got that good of an understanding of the Pattern despite that it was something apart from Cognouza and the Somnovem. As mentioned in the prior post, patterns are important to the Allards, strengthening the idea that the Pattern has something to do with Tharizdun. It could be how Tharizdun influences Cognouza's corruption, but it doesn't seem like it would be outright control. If it was control, then there'd be no need for the Allards to do anything to fuck with Cognouza because Tharizdun would do that itself.
And speaking of the Pattern, the Somnovem previously hinted that even though they don't have the book, they might be able to reach out to people that have survived Molly's/Ira's attack:
And the only known survivor is Trent Ikithon. Oh, boy! Looks like this could get way worse.
(NOTE: READ THE SIDE STORIES. THEY HAVE JUICY BITS.)
So that's all the updates for now. This is getting even more juicy!
OKAY SO, here is a shitty conspiracy theory map for the connections between people in @grayintogreen's Life in the Margins of Redemption series on AO3.
Turns out Scrivener is useful for charts as well as drafting really long stories.
Here's a few excerpts to back this up:
Let's start with The Seven. They're the masterminds behind a lot of what's going on. The current members are Ashley Allard, Jayne Merriweather (both co-leaders), Gabriel Ferreira, Obann (idiot who doesn't know what's going on), Jourrael (geas), and Zerxus (geas).
Gabriel's reveal as a member included some background about the Seven:
His mother's line was a family of Tharizdun worshipers, much like the Merriweather family. Given that pattern, and that Yves Allard was also a worshiper, it's safe to assume the entire Allard family is as well, which explains Ashley's involvement.
But Ashley's the one running the plan about interfering with stuff, not Yves!
Presumably Ashley still plans to get the Laughing Hand, just not yet.
So that would be their Seven members. And they wanted to delay Cognouza's return! They did this by getting Lucien away from the Somnovem and interfering with the other Tombtakers gathering the crests.
Ashley is the one that ensured the MN would find a way to get Lucien away from the Somnovem because he put Twiggy and the Happy Fun Ball in their path.
Ashley's the one that intervened with Tyffial in Aeor, and (presumably) had Jayne (and maybe Obann) inflict a geas on Tyffial, Zoran, and Otis.
Jayne was personally invited to Yves Allard's party in OUADYA and knew Obann's plan for Yasha.
Oddly enough, Ashley wasn't at the party. He wasn't invited?! Some kind of falling out maybe. Ashley had a brother, so maybe there was some family strife that got resolved with murder so he could get the Blade of Broken Mirrors.
Ashley being the unfavorite Allard would explain SO MUCH about his need to lead and have everyone's attention.
But, anyway. At the same party, Jayne pissed off Molly to get him to go feral...
and kill Yves Allard...
and/or to get Molly to lose control and let the Somnovem take over? Or was that a test?
So the Seven know how to trigger Molly for sure. But to what end? When do they plan on making that shit permanent?
Gabriel also kept an eye on the Mighty Nein for Ashley while the group was in Darktow.
And Jayne checked in on the Somnovem after Lucien's rescue to ensure they were feeding off of the chains at the fane they had broken when they first escaped to the Astral Sea.
So the Seven are manipulating the Somnovem and the Nein, and they're waiting for some specific time to try to get Cognouza back. We just don't know when, nor why Molly would be useful as the Somnovem's puppet. Maybe they just want a body separate from Cognouza and the Nonagon's body has some specific use.
That's all we know about the Seven for now. They're behind everything and have some timeline they're working on.
Next is Shadycreek Run. There's a few loose ends there that need tying. First, when Lucien was 5, before the Dougals were killed, thugs showed up and offered 1,000 gold for Lucien.
Now, I thought it'd be the Jagentoths at first, BUT once the Dougals were murdered and the thugs took Lucien to the Jagentoths, Reese commented they could get 800 gold for him. They didn't have a buyer lined up!
So it couldn't be that the original buyer was from or went through the Jagentoths. It must have been that they heard about some buyer and decided to get some quick cash by taking Lucien by force, but they couldn't find whoever the original buyer was. So SOMEONE ELSE wanted Lucien as a kid and didn't get him.
Later, when Lucien, Cree, Tyffial, and Jurrell are caught by the Jagentoths, Ionos bragged that he found a rich buyer for him on the coast.
Which is where Yves Allard's estate was! We know Ashley is too young to have been plotting this scheme since Lucien was a kid (which would have been behind the 1000 gold offer), so it probably wasn't Ashley's plan. Thus, it might have been an older generation's plan. Yves? Probably not, since he was off having a party and being useless. Another Allard then!
And that brings up another thing: why would Jack Mardoon adopt Ophelia? C'mon, that was just too weird.
And it seems awful convenient that the Mardoons have a no kid policy. That means Lucien would have HAD to be left behind.
But Ophelia went through with it, leaving Lucien with the Dougals, and pretty much anyone else in the Run would have sold him in those instances above. It seems that plan fell through.
But the Allards were on the coast if that's actually true. So who was their contact in Shadycreek Run?
This brings us to Rowan.
At the Court of Nightmares party, Jester ran into a weirdo that stuck out just a bit too much!
Rowan is another name for the mountain ash, a tree that is native to Ireland and grows red berries that look like eyes. That's a little too convenient. Plus the Allards (Ashley and Yves) have names derived from trees! Ashley-> Ash and Yves is another word for the yew tree, which ALSO has red berries. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.
So let's figure out where else we might have seen Rowan. Rowan's appearance was unique because of asymmetrical bangs...
and gold eyes.
Caduceus also had a vision of a gold figure with antlers (very fey) near where his family was turned to stone.
And both of those are similar to Solana, who was the quartermaster on Gabriel's ship.
And again, Gabriel was tracking the Nein for Ashley. Now, granted, Rowan was a half-elf, whoever was at the Menagerie had antlers, and Solana was an eladrin. But you know what other fey-related race often has metallic skin/features? CHANGELINGS.
/tinfoil hat
If so, Rowan could be anyone who has gold motifs. That is a LOT of people, admittedly. Fjord, Nott, Cree, Chance, and a few others have been described as having gold eyes. But maybe they need to be hazel. The only person seen up close enough to be sure was Rowan so far. Maybe we'll get a closer look at others.
And since there's a gap in Shadycreek Run, I bet Rowan (or IS THAT THEIR REAL NAME..?) was the contact in the Run for the Allards. Which means they would have been responsible for Jack adopting Ophelia. So Rowan has to be older and have some connection to the Allards, but probably NOT Yves since he wasn't doing anything.
SO Yves probably also had a sibling. MORE ALLARDS! But what happened to that one? Maybe the same thing that happened to Ashley's brother.
I offer some memes because I just finished getting up to date on the single best critical role fic I have ever come across, and I feel the need to offer some of what my 2 braincells thought while reading it
spoilers for basically all of LitMoR under the cut and general tomfoolery
and a bonus for everyone caught up to chapter 24:
This is a VAST oversimplification of the plot but I have a small brain and felt the need. Anyway read life in the margins of redemption guys pls and thank you <333
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