#pytha

[worldwithinworld]

Psst, Darrow, you're a Red.

[peoplegettingmadatredrising]

[pseudogirlie]

Could you share the Pythia lore with us? :eyes:

🌠✨YES!!!✨🌠

Her lore is based on her class/background (Astronomer) and the Blade of Night and Flame item description.

(first: 'Heirs of the glintstone sorcerers' was a typo during translation.) Ignoring that! She was a part of a college of astrologer's who lived in the mountains with Fire Giants. Prior to the Erdtree/Two Fingers/Marika etc... The Astrologer's she lived and studied with, only just started experimenting with prime evil magic.

Pythia had a talent for prophecies since childhood and kept it a secret at the behest of her family. However, she chose to share this with her fellow Astrologers. When she revealed her talent, a group of them drugged her and inserted glintstones in her eyes in an attempt to enhance her prophecies and view the primeval current. When their experiment failed, the group took her to the bottom of the mountain and left her to wander and eventually die. Until the start of the game when she's reborn! ^__^

[hyena-frog]

Random headcanons that have no bearing on the plot:

When Pax grows up, he is his mother’s height at most. Very tall for a Red but short for a non-Bronzie Gold. Sevro is in denial that Pax is taller than him until the difference is too much to ignore.

Electra on the other hand is Victra’s height and bullies Pax mercilessly about it. She’ll lean her elbow on his head, look around in mock bewilderment like she can’t see him, that sort of thing.

Calypso is the opposite. She is her father’s height but has her mother’s looks. She enjoys teaming up with Electra against Pax even though he is taller than her.

Diana-Selene is an enigma. She looks related to her sisters but isn’t obviously Barca or Julii either way. She’s bubbly and excitable. No one understands where she came from. Still, in some ways, she scares Pax more than Electra does.

Pax has a celebrity crush on Cassius. Cassius is the only major Rising figure he has never met, so there is a certain mystique about him. On rare occasions, Darrow would talk about him with a weird mix of fondness and wistfulness. So Pax associates Cassius with good things. Pax knows the bad things Cassius did but he can’t help the positive association through his father. (Virginia talks about Cassius even less and is strictly neutral and guarded.) Talking about Cassius agitates Electra, though, so Pax keeps this all to himself.

Cassius and Julian met Apollonius several times growing up since he and Karnus were drinking partners. Apple’s personality stressed Julian out but Cassius, like Darrow, was fascinated by his flamboyancy.

Before the Institute, for a year or two, Julian was obsessed with Rim culture. He even studied Japanese since it’s still commonly spoken there. This baffled Cassius but it made Julian happy so he endured the obsession. Cassius still understands some Japanese to this day but can’t speak or read it. Karnus made sure to crush Julian’s spirit about liking Moonie stuff at every chance because he hated anything Julian liked on principle.

Pytha has known Cassius since he was born. They obviously weren’t close at the time, but she crossed paths with the Bellona kids often enough for Cassius to know her name. He is grateful for their serendipitous reunion after the Rising. It is comforting to have even a small piece of House Bellona with him. Still, he was a bit startled by how fast she adjusted to calling him by his first name rather than dominus, even though he insisted on it.

Pytha loved to blast loud techno in the Archi. Lysander always hated it. Cassius did at first too but he grew fond of it over time. He’ll never admit it though.

After living on the Archi for so long, Cassius is used to living in cramped spaces, and fighting space pirates in tight corridors. Wide open areas make him nervous. Sort of the opposite of Darrow’s claustrophobia, but it’s not a full blown PTSD symptom in this case.

Cassius enjoys playing Karachi. Lysander hates it because it relies on reading people rather than strict game logic. (I’m pretty sure that was stated somewhere in Iron Gold, actually, but I can’t find it.) Diomedes is weirdly good at the game, like to a scary degree. Ajax hates card and board games in general. He only ever played them with his mother because she never judged him harshly for making bad moves.

Holiday used to third wheel at Trigg and Ephraim’s outings early on in their relationship because Trigg was too nervous to go alone. After they became more established, they did go on dates with just the two of them, but Holiday would still often join them because they had a lot of fun together. It turned out Holiday and Ephraim got along really well. In the end, Trigg often had to do damage control on their appalling behavior when they got too drunk and unruly.

[spiffyspuffy]

Wanting Lysander to die in the next book because he’s a colorist piece of shit

Wanting Lysander to be redeemed because his death would break Cassius and Pytha’s hearts

[worldwithinworld]

I'm imagining an alternate ending to Light Bringer in which Cassius doesn't find out about Eidmi and leaves Lightbringer believing Lysander will accept Diomedes's plan. Maybe Lysander even sends Pytha with him. After defeating Atlas, Lysander is feeling so exultant and proud that he doesn't even see this as a betrayal of Cassius. Rather, he's very self-congratulatory about how he's being so mature and understanding now. In the past, he might have felt resentful about Cassius being close to Darrow and supporting the Rising, but now he can just be grateful to Cassius for raising him and accept that they are on different paths now. Just as he's cutting his own puppet strings, he is freeing Cassius to go live his own life. He figures this is probably the last time they'll meet, but Cassius will understand. And who knows? Maybe at the other side of the war, they could reunite and Cassius will acknowledge that Lysander really had been right.

Cassius will leave thinking, "I did it! I reached Lysander and saved him again!" Then, bam! Lysander attacks the Garter. Cassius feels utterly betrayed and devastated. That's not his only problem, though! He's facing a ton of suspicion now from the Rising and the Raas' side. Pytha's in big trouble, too, if she's there with him.

Darrow already wanted to send Cassius with Volga, but now it might be the safest place for him anyway. So, the return to the Core that Cassius was already so afraid to make because of his reputation making him almost universally hated by both Republic and Society supporters is now even more daunting! He not only killed Ares, he also raised a new genocidal tyrant! He not only betrayed Octavia, he also turned on another Lune! He's also travelling with a bunch of Obsidians who recently rebelled and went on a warpath and are trying to course correct. Any hope of returning at Darrow's side as a noble knight protecting the weak is gone!

And Lyria's there, too. She's like, "Nearly the whole solar system may hate my two best friends, but I'm gonna love them so much harder than the haters can hate!" And she saves everyone somehow.

[worldwithinworld]

Red God theory: Darrow will try to return Cassius's body to Julia. Darrow hates Julia, but he knows how important Cassius's home and family were to him, so he arranges a meeting with her. 

Julia will be horrified by the state of Cassius's body. (Part of the reason Lysander sent him with Pytha was so Julia wouldn't see and be upset.) Julia will also be impressed by how much respect and care Darrow shows Cassius. 

That will be the start of some real conversations between them. Darrow refusing to meet with Julia was one of the things that sparked the conflict initially in Iron Gold. So, this could rectify things and tip the balance of power to the Republic.

[worldwithinworld]

Lysander's last moments with Cassius and Pytha show better than anything what sort of family they were to him on the Archi. Lysander had his complaints, and Cassius apologized for his shortcomings, but Lysander grew up with complete confidence that Cassius and Pytha loved him. Their love was such a constant for him that even after he utterly betrayed them, he still expected and was surprised and hurt not to hear some kind words from them. Characters in these books think Lysander was privileged to be born heir to the Morning Chair, but his real privilege was this little family he got. It's incredible to me that he could choose to trade in that kind of love for some boxed diseases.