did you guys know BBC basically made a mini brocedes rpf style short film to open for 2014 Abu Dhabi, aka their first title fight? it's really melodramatic
this has been scrubbed clean from the bbc website and internet at large, only mention of it was on a fan forum blog from 9 years ago. so I spent a few hours going down a rabbit hole of caches and false leads until I found a reupload with 95 views, and wanted to archive it on my blog. so please enjoy!!
bbc literally doing rpf and hiring child actors to play baby lewis and nico having a rivalry over hot wheels 😭 cut to their real life moments
With Azure's release coming soon, I wanted to gather all of the information we know and try to solve the story of Azurewrath. I'm basically becoming Game Theory.
There are three main points to be made:
The Spawn Cult
Azure
Two-Time
First off, we should talk about the cult itself. We know that Elder Amarah is the chief of the village based on the investigation logs we get from aspenslastbreath.neocities.org. They mention that many robloxians have gone missing while exploring the forest around the village which is most likely how the cult gets their members or sacrifices. We also know that this is a hoax and Amarah knows this because in this quote:
We learn that Amarah discards the bodies in a random room somewhere and even feeds the sacrificed bodies to the other cultists, but they don't seem to know this.
It seems that Azure was trying to tell the other cultists about this, but they don't believe him, we'll come back to this later.
Anyways, The Spawn Cult is ran by manipulating and cannibalistic robloxians that brainwashes others into their group.
Next up is Azure. Where or how he ended up in the Spawn Cult is currently unknown. It's likely that he's one of the missing robloxians that went into the woods and met Two-Time there when they were gathering wood one day. One day, for whatever reason, Azure explored into the cult's bloody secret and seemed to try to tell other cultists, bring attention to himself in the process. Azure then tries to form a plan to leave the cult with Two-Time, but that doesn't go well.
Azure is sacrificed by Two-Time by what he thinks is a malicious reason, but I think Two-Time was under manipulation. I'll talk about that later, but we know that Azure is then resurrected by The Spectre.
I would like to talk about what Azure could represent for Spectre's cult. There is a theory floating around that Spectre's cult is going to have 7 members representing the 7 deadly sins, this was brought forward with the addition of Noseferatu representing gluttony. Based on the mention that Azure's full name seems to be Azurewrath, but this seemed to be changed to Aspen. Maybe Azure is a nickname given to him by either Two-Time or Spectre. Either way, the fact he turns into a giant flower demogorgon makes me think he represents wrath.
Anyways, next, we have Two-Time. Two-Time is a very complicated case, but I think the main reason of their sacrifice was to feel acceptance. We know that they were ignored by the cult and had a one-sided parental bond with Amarah. It's possible when Amarah found out that Azure knew the cult secret, they manipulated Two-Time into thinking that the Spawn had chosen Azure as a sacrifice to stop him from telling anyone about the hoax. Driven by the want of acceptance and to please the Spawn, Two-Time did it, but they weren't heartless as shown in the Nightshade skin. Two-Time grieved over Azure's death and drowned in their guilt until Hanahaki Disease took over and killed them, causing them to end up in Forsaken where they're soon to meet their greatest sin within the cult.
So that's what I think happened to Two-Time and Azure, a tale of two lovers both driven to madness.
Hey guys, I'm trying to run a reference made by a modder here : "[the] Jath system is based on a single line of obscure lore from Mass Effect Galaxy, this place is found in the Sin'kelar Cluster".
For those of you who don't know, Mass Effect Galaxy was a 2009 mobile game bridging the gap between ME1 and ME2, specifically about the adventures of Jacob as he thwarts the conspiracy and assassination of a cell of batarian terrorists and gets in Cerberus' orbit.
Now, both the Nemean Abyss and the Sin'Kelar Cluster are offscreen places that just get a few stray mentions in ME2, so anything canon to flesh them out is welcome. However, I cannot track down "that single line of obscure lore" because I have found no other mention of the Jath system on Internet beside the page presenting the mod and there is only one playthrough of MEG I could find on YouTube, which does not contain the obscure lore of yore (presumably because of chosen dialogue options).
If any of you have any idea as to what the obscure line of lore is or how to find it, please let me know.
Ooc - So i'm replaying the KH games, (for the 10th time) but i'm trying to do a comprehensive lore analysis (ik ik i have NO LIFE). D'yall want updates on fun lore things i realize on the way or should i keep the yapping to my main?
The following is several posts about the Theory Crafting and Lore Hunting Communities.
A Proposal For Fan Theory Etiquette
My Thoughts On Game Theory
Why I Don't Like Game Theory
A Problem With Theorizing Part 1, 2, 3, 4
What Parallels Are And Aren't
A Problem With Mario Theories And Lore Hunting
Related Posts
A Rant About The Treatment Of Spin-Offs In Video Games
How Retcons Are Supposed To Work
Lore evidence hierarchy, as I see it, ranked from least to most reliable.
Cut content. Look, it's not in the game anymore. It's interesting and can provide avenues of exploration, but it's literally not fucking canon.
Trailers and other promotional material. I'd typically rank these even below cut content, but Elden Ring was working from a far more concrete lore Bible than previous games. Still, stuff can change very late in development.
Hearsay and rumor. Typically, item descriptions should rank much higher. However, that changes immediately if the item description includes "people say," "it is rumored," "it's been said," etc. If weasel words slip into the item description, it should immediately raise some red flags. Yes, sure, that is a thing people say. Is it true, though?
Character statements. Along the same lines. People lie. People mislead. People are just plain wrong sometimes. If a character says it outright, take it with a grain of salt and consider their perspective before you accept it as gospel truth.
Environmental storytelling. The things you actually see in-game. The locations of items, and what you find nearby. However, this is stll subject to the vagueries of game design, and it can cause problems when you take things too literally (IE, try to interpret markings that are just a commercially available texture pack).
Item descriptions. The closest to concrete, objective information you'll find in a fromsoft game. Item descriptions are the bread and butter of lore analysis. The only exception is if it's presented as hearsay, in which case it falls to level 3. However, minor translation errors can cause major confusion, so refer to the original language if you can (and most of us can't). Also, bear in mind that items found earlier in the game are likely to be more vague, and also earlier in the timeline.
The actual literal events of the goddamn game. Your headcanon is not reality. Your fix fic is not reality. This shouldn't be up for debate, but I see it far too often.
[I/D : Screenshot for Sissia of the Central Nation showing Levi, Adra, and Crowley on the wall. Crowley is saying "Hahaha! How have you been, little wall?! It’s like you’re a part of our origins!"]
Having now read through every route's game script of the Central Nation of Sissia, I figured I'd tried to put together all the Kielce lore across the different routes into one. If you want to read them yourself, you can do so either on the game menu if you've finished the game, or [here].
This will contain details unique to most of the routes, so technically, there are spoilers, but they are discussed entirely within the world of the play. I will edit in a few minor clarifying details with no route plot information from routes as I find them now that I'm going through things with a finer tooth comb.
It will spoil some things that are in the stage script only epilogues too, so please read at least one of them before reading this, or you'll be really confused. Two, ideally, especially if the first one you picked was Crowley's.
Don't ask me why a rather big piece of character information, that is kind of a twist, is hidden within epilogues only on the stage script in the menu. We're nearly the full year into Havenna Lore drops, apparently this is just how Neji writes. (And given all the lore hidden in weird bonus material, also how Ishida and Towada write.)
The Nation of Arbine and the Republic of Quatra, which is to its east, were at war for 77 years. Many lives were lost on both sides, and there were plenty of children made orphans in the process. We know little about Quatra before the end of the war, but Levi describes it as having "warmth" and Crowley says it had a very strong culture in the arts, including song and dance. After Arbine wins the war, 20 years before Sissia joins the troupe, Arbine begins calling the 77-year-war the 'War of Joy.'
They force the people of Quatra into servitude, build a wall around the country, and mark them with a tattoo of a horse on their shin. The hostility gets so bad in the upper military ranks of Arbine, that they begin calling Quatra "the nameless country" or "the nameless servant country." The culture of Quatra is stamped out within the nation, possibly beyond simply forcing everyone into labor for the sake of Arbine, and anyone in Arbine who even discusses it with anything but scorn is suspected of treason.
Arbine is ruled by its "commander and king" (always said together like that) who has the surname "Arbine" like the nation he rules. His top advisor, confidant and strategist is Major Azur Hybird. The military elite make up the aristocracy of Arbine, and their positions are expected to be passed down.
Arbine is a strict military state, with border patrols and street patrols in addition to a standing military that citizens are quite acquainted with. They are able to freely interrogate and detain anyone, but murder seems to be considered a crime in Arbine, regardless of the nationality of the person killed, even, seemingly, for low ranking patrol officers. (We only have Crowley's potentially joking word here, though). The high ranks can order and carry out death sentences sans trial of any kind, of course.
The military aristocracy is also the high society of Arbine, and they attend parties and engage with what they consider 'high culture' including national dances - Arbine does have a national dance troupe.
Arbine's language is called "Arbine". It appears to be different than the language of Quatra or at least a different dialect, though one suspects they have some degree of mutual intelligibility. Carlo says the further east one goes in Arbine, the simpler the pronunciation of its language gets. Accents are shared to some extent in the border region, as well as words. Carlo says Arbine has 'a certain roundness' and that the first letter of Carlo is pronounced 'more elegantly' than Sissia's accent usually does.
Carlo illustrates the linguistic drift with the word Kielce - which is the Arbine term for Circus, a word used in Quatra. Carlo says no one but a historian or a suspected traitor would know that word these days, so maybe once it was also used in Arbine, or maybe a historian would merely be more familiar with the arts from Quatra.
So, 20 years ago, the war ends. As for the future members of Kielce at this time, Chance, at least, wasn't born yet.
Levi Caineman, who was born to Arbine parents, was orphaned by the war and was taken in across the then-wall-less border when he traveled there in search of food. Once the war ended, he was taken into an orphanage on the Arbine side of the wall, while his foster mother, a Quatra, was left behind it.
At some point, Levi will meet Crowley. Crowley is, though it's unclear who knows this but him, an illegitimate son of the 'commander and king' of Arbine, so his full name is, in fact, Crowley Arbine. It's never explicitly stated in the play if Crowley creates Kielce as a troupe or not, or the origin of its name "The Central Nation of--" but in the practice dialogue it is confirmed that Crowley and Levi are the founding members of the troupe.
As for when it was founded, Crowley considers the first Border Performance, which takes place ten years before the present of the play, and thus ten years after the end of the war "part of our origins." It is likely the name, too, partially a form of protest. Given the troupe's founders - an openly avowed revolutionary with a personal connection to the throne, and a fascination with Quatran arts, and an Arbine boy raised for a time by a Quatran foster mother, I'm sure this was very much part of their motivations.
Crowley is, after all, enthusiastically a traitor. (He maintains everyone in Kielce knows this, and no ones statements fully discredit that assertion in other routes. No one ever quite says the first performance WASN'T an act of rebellion or treason.)
Crowley says he's the one who brought Levi in and raised him up to be ringleader. At some point, Kielce, including Crowley and Levi, ends up performing at a party for military aristocrats. How this happened or how it went down, we don't know, other than apparently everyone was thoroughly amused. At this point, they aren't suspected of anything treasonous, but are considered 'low' entertainment.
In attendance is Major Azur Hybird's son, Adra Hybird. At this point, Adra has already been dancing for most of his life. It is unclear how old he is. But he decides that this is the kind of dancing he wants to do. He leaves the life of a Military Aristocrats son behind and runs away to join the circus -- Kielce.
(It is not implied Adra is younger than the other two - on Levi's route, Adra remarks that Levi has grown into quite the man, which, if anything, implies Adra may be a bit older than Levi.)
By the time of the first Border Performance, which is ten years before the present, Adra is a well established member of the troupe, enough that he is involved with choosing to do it. He seems to be one of the senior members in the troupe.
Fan Carlo Albus, on the other hand, is a newcomer to the troupe ten years ago. It seems she joined enough after Adra that she's talked about as another sort of 'generation' - when talking about Kielce's style being a talent showcase, Crowley says its more pronounced now that Carlo and Chance have joined.
Carlo watches the border performance from the side, not on the wall. Also watching that day is Isaac Bazmaz, an Arbine child from the border region who lives near the wall. He is watching with a friend of his. On Isaac's route this friend is explicitly Sissia, a girl from Quatra who he met through a crack in the wall. Isaac talks about the wall as having always been near his house, suggesting that he is under 20 years old, or at least, not much older. Chance Orlando, as stated, is under 20. He doesn't watch the border performance, but hears rumors about it as a kid in Arbine that later inspire him to join.
Crowley is one of the leads in the performance, which he also wrote. This is, to him, intentionally an act of rebellion and revolution. The fact that it doesn't overthrow the nation makes it kind of a failure in his book. Adra says his motivation is sort of to stick it to the military aristocracy and their backwards ideas, both about Quatra and discrimination and their authority and control in general. Adra is also quite annoyed at their elitism. Levi doesn't give an explicit reason for it the first time, but when asking to do it again, he mentions love of theater and love of freedom as absolute principles he leads Kielce by. One imagines his foster mother on the other side is a motivation, as well.
The performance is seen as treasonous and puts the entire troupe on a watch list. According to Major Azur, the 'commander and king' of Arbine has pushed to imprison everyone in the troupe since that day. (It is completely unclear if either the Major or even the 'commander and king' himself have any idea who Crowley is.) Every member who was around at the time tells Sissia that it was quite the controversy and ordeal, and caused a lot of trouble.
Isaac makes a promise to his friend to one day stand on the wall with Kielce together. Sissia, watching from the Quatra side, is already being forced into labor, despite seemingly being a child. Sissia dreams of one day standing on that stage, too. Both Isaac and Sissia will eventually follow that dream to Kielce.
It seems that despite the displeasure of the ruling elite, Kielce continues to operate and have many fans. Their popularity is seen both as a threat, and, one assumes, a bit protective, as it's quite clear that Arbine is aware of the precarity of it's absolute control.
Adra notes that even members of the military attend the shows. Not all the fans share their ideals, of course, and will report things to the authorities.
Kielce has a standing theater within Arbine, but their base seems to keep a very 'traveling circus' aesthetic. It is possible they are both a traveling company and one with a home base. It's unclear when this was built.
Chance and Isaac are recruited the same day by Crowley. Isaac says that if it weren't for Kielce, he'd 'still be working at a factory'. They are still considered relative newbies by Carlo by the time Sissia is recruited, but they seem to have been around long enough to be pretty established as staples of the troupe.
