@noctis.sky

[fessus]

Hey.

Heard a lot of people talking about getting info from bars or work or w/e. Solid plan, but there's another source that'll also give some people downtime when they need it.

MMORPG: Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

bc I know someone is gonna ask. There's a pretty big one I've been checking out called Planet of Battleforge that looks pretty cool but I can't make a guild without more players. Obv I'm willing to take on being the guildmaster even if I can't cover everybody's monthly fees, but it's not like it's super high. Anyway, message me if you're interested, I need bodies.

Ig I can help with picking classes and usernames.

Comments

[saviorexe]

Strength in battle, unity in militarism. The power of the army itself to secure peace. In a way, that’s right, and it’s almost flattering; as long as I hem away all the other aspects.

You mentioned the gods of your world once to me. Do you have one like that?

[fessus]

You took that in a different direction but that all matters too. I just mean sometimes war means something on the inside. "Steel tempered by battle is stronger", like that. Means if you struggle to figure out what you're gonna do or who you're gonna be then it's worth more.

An astral that's focused on war you mean?

[saviorexe]

A battle of the internal kind, then. The most poignantly hard-won — I can’t argue against that.

Yes. But honestly, I’m curious about any of them.

[fessus]

Yeah it's supposed to be a good thing, it just sounded weird when I described it.

There's six, the Hexatheon. It's easier to remember them all if I just list them like this:

Titan, the Archaean
Shiva, the Glacian
Ifrit, the Infernian
Ramuh, the Fulgurian
Leviathan, the Hydraean
Bahamut, the Draconian

Makes it kind of obvious what their specialties are ig.

[ Someone has beaten this into his brain. ]

[saviorexe]

[It’s informative, if nothing else. And easy enough to equate which “astral” is associated with what, but…]

Sounds like you have it thoroughly memorized. Though these names are oddly familiar.

The “Draconian”. Is Bahamut especially severe?

[fessus]

Yeah lots of people have it memorized, six isn't a lot.

And idk, really. I haven't met him or talked to him. I know he's pretty closely tied to the royal family though.

[saviorexe]

[...]

Are we not speaking strictly in terms of... mythology?

[Met him or talked to him. What.]

[fessus]

Huh?

I guess some of the stories could be myths, what are you asking?

[saviorexe]

I'm asking if you really are able to meet any of your gods.

[This would be a few degrees more shocking if he wasn't aware of the presence of gods here; Loki and Thor. Even so, there is a sense of surprise that seems keen even over simple text.]

[fessus]

Well that's not an if, I've met two of them so far.

[ ??? ]

[saviorexe]

[???

Magic. Gods. “Daemons”, apparently. He shouldn’t be surprised.

Clarification, Markus thinks, is probably required.]

When I said I was named after a god of war, I meant it in strict reference to mythology and folklore. Mars isn’t a god that I can walk up to and physically meet. Add that to the list of differences between your world and mine.

[fessus]

[ ... wait. ]

I've read about Mars here, though. That's a planet. You guys named a planet after a god that you haven't met?

Why would you make up a fake god?

[saviorexe]

[“You guys”, Noctis says, like Markus had a hand in naming the planet Mars. There’s a half-second pause as he conjures up an explanation.]

Different cultures have different histories and religions, and within those come fables, folklore, and myth. Narratives that describe and attempt to explain how the natural world works, or what forces preside over the shaping of mankind and civilization.

To the ancient Romans, Mars was anything but “fake”. [Even if the connection to Ares was something that couldn’t be historically overlooked, but — you know what, he’s not getting into that. Noctis can just look it up on the internet.]

And who knows, maybe he is very real even now. There are Norse gods among our number here, after all. The rules don’t really apply anymore.

[fessus]

[ Okay, he's trying to follow this logic. Give him a second. ]

So you've met some gods here, but Mars isn't real. But maybe here he is. But the people who made him up thought he was real?

Did someone forget they made him up? Did they think characters in books were real too?

[saviorexe]

[That's not following his logic at all. That's-

Maybe he's not explaining well. Markus never professed to be an expert on any sort of mythology or how it grew to become part of the zeitgeist, not when his experience was through the consumption of literature, and not actual... research.

But he can Try.]

Let's start over.

Think of an ancient civilization, with limited technology and no real scientific advancements as both you and I know it. Livelihood at that point relies heavily on forces beyond their control, on nature itself.

The sun, for example. The reason for life being able to sustain itself on the planet; this civilization doesn't know it as a star that the Earth revolves around, only as an inexplicable entity that dictates their daily schedules, that allows crops to thrive, or to wilt under its heat.

And so it isn't seen as just some bright object in the sky. It becomes a god. Something to be worshipped; a being with its own story and motivations, especially in relation to how it applies to human life. They're the kind of stories that are built on... knowing that something larger than yourself exists. It isn't the same as jotting down a narrative in a book.

[fessus]

Okay?

I get that with the sun. But war? You know how war happens, and if you're gonna make up stories about what these gods are doing you still have to realize they're fake at some point. [ SOS, this isn't working. ]

It's still a cool name, though. Just kinda different from what I'm used to with the background ig.

[ A pause. ] I'd show you the astrals if I could. I only have the blessings of two so far, but if we were back home I could at least let you meet them.

[saviorexe]

You might know how war happens, but can anyone really dictate the tide of it? How each battle will play out? How to keep morale high, how to keep armies healthy, how to grant fortune and courage to each foot soldier that's eager to fight for whatever cause they might call their own? Give that agency to a god, worship them, pray to them, believe in them, and all of that uncertainty is out of mortal hands.

I'm sure there's comfort in that, somehow.

[BUT WHATEVER he's going to link you to a search engine if you have more questions about gods and mythology, Noctis. At least they both like the name.]

You'd show me? [What?] How?

[fessus]

[ Can anyone dictate all of that? It hits him in that moment that he's supposed to, whether it's possible or not, and the unintentional hit close to him has him pausing for an extra few seconds. ]

Yeah ig, I'll read up. That stuff's actually pretty cool. I get people trying to put their problems in bigger hands, anyway.

And I just mean they come to help me out sometimes so if you stuck around long enough you'd see them.

[saviorexe]

I think that’s just human nature. And it’s probably even easier to feel that way, when you come from a world where gods can be met and interacted with.

[It’s android nature, too, for those who have woken up. To believe in something bigger than themselves, inlaid in each line of code. Markus decidedly does not skew the conversation in that direction, though.

Noctis speaks so generally on a fascinating subject, though… Give him more detail!!!]

Can just anyone receive the blessing of an astral?

[fessus]

Yeah, ig it would be. I never really thought about it like that since most people don't ever meet one. They have Messengers that do most of their talking for them, esp bc they speak a really different language.

[ Which... is almost as much information as he has on them; he didn't really grill Gentiana much. ]

Idk that kind of makes it sound easy. I went through a lot of trials to get their attention and idk if they'd want to speak to someone else, or at least idk that anyone else has the blessings. They make their own decisions.

[saviorexe]

[Markus' skepticism would be spilling over at this point, in regards to his belief that Noctis is just a guard. But he told himself he wouldn't push it, and so he doesn't.

Though he's a little disbelieving that Noctis just doesn't realize how... questionable this all sounds.]

What sort of trials? What qualities do they have to see in someone, to be viewed as worthy?

[fessus]

[ ... okay, it's sinking in, realization is slowly dawning. ]

You're seriously interested in all this stuff considering you're never gonna go to Eos.

[saviorexe]

[rip Noctis, it's too late now]

I'm curious in the aspects of your world that are wildly different than mine. Is that so strange?

[fessus]

Ig not but this is just really specific. And they each look for different things so there's no one set answer anyway.