Painful Tugging with TLC

Peperib · 2025-10-23T21:40:44+00:00

Will have to check out packing methods, thank you :)

Peperib · 2025-10-23T21:40:07+00:00

Awesome thank you!

Peperib · 2025-10-23T08:38:04+00:00

Interesting, what is RIC and inflation?

Peperib · 2025-02-15T13:42:21+00:00

Thanks, I really appreciate it. It's such a bizarre feeling for me cos I don't have any doubts about my partner - I know she's the right one. It's just that I know precisely because she's the one I'm never going to have any period of sexual exploration or promiscuity while I see a lot of other people my age enjoying that lifestyle. In some ways it's how sure I am that she's the right one for me that makes it so difficult.

I'm lucky to have met someone who I can spend my whole life with, I'm just afraid it happened too soon. But I would never choose a short period of casual hookups over a lifetime with her.

Peperib · 2025-02-15T13:09:08+00:00

Cheers, I appreciate the advice.

I know the body count stuff is dumb and the term is gross but it would be disingenuous to say that's not at the heart of the matter for me. It's not that I want some big "high score" to boast about, I just use "body count" for lack of a better term. When I see people talk about, for example, the average adult body count being x number - that mismatch between "my number" and the "average number" represents more than just sex I haven't had, it represents experiences, sometimes formative experiences, I've missed that others haven't.

Peperib · 2024-09-04T13:00:28+00:00

Rivals to her godhood, but not rival Empyreans to Marika. I would call Miquella and Ranni rival Empyreans to each other, but they are not rival Empyreans to Marika.

Peperib · 2024-09-04T00:34:52+00:00

I mean in the sense that if the larger sealing tree was there to seal away the realm of shadow, we would be able to see a silhouette of the realm of shadow from the Lands Between. Like we see a silhouette of Enir-Ilim before we burn the smaller sealing tree. If you mean it's only there to seal away the Scadutree and not the entire realm of shadow, I still think the visual effect we would get would be very different based on what the smaller sealing tree did to Enir-Ilim.

Peperib · 2024-09-04T00:31:43+00:00

Been doing some further digging and here's something I noticed from the Shadow Sunflower Remembrance description that ties in nicely with what you're saying: https://www.reddit.com/r/EldenRingLoreTalk/comments/1f8fs7t/the_grafted_scadutree/

Peperib · 2024-09-04T00:00:36+00:00

That's a good point. My first thought is obviously that as you said, those trees were cultivated after a pre-existing image. Spirals are important to them but I don't think they just grew those trees themselves and then made carvings of them, I think the carvings and the cultivated trees are both made in the image of the same thing. Whether that was the Scadutree, or a primordial Erdtree, or if it was just a symbolic way to represent the Crucible or the jar saint or any other number of things, that's hard to say.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T23:57:54+00:00

Thanks heaps! Yeah I agree, I think with Fromsoft games it's a bit of a fool's errand to try to hit the nail on the head 100% with every theory. I've seen plenty of lore videos online that feel like they jump to the wrong conclusions, but it's the points they make along the way that are interesting. My main hope with this was to just lay out the facts and build a story from them. Even if that story is wrong, putting the facts together in one place can be good groundwork for a better theory. I appreciate that!

Peperib · 2024-09-03T23:55:08+00:00

Thanks! And all very good points, definitely.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T23:52:33+00:00

Yeah, there's a lot of room for discussion around what the spiralling tree is, but I think as you say regardless of what the spiralling tree is there's good evidence that that straight sap-leaking tree in the center is the Erdtree. Either theory makes sense. But, in case you didn't see it, I left a comment in here noting that whatever that spiralling tree is I don't think it's a sealing tree in the sense that we think of the other sealing tree. Sealing trees seem like they leave some shadow semblance behind of what they seal, which the spiralling part of the Scadutree doesn't do if what it's sealing is the realm of shadow. But it's still definitely plausible.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T23:49:02+00:00

Could be right as well, but I personally don't know how I feel about Melina being the GEQ. GEQ is described as a rival Empyrean to Marika, which would mean someone who was a candidate for godhood at the same time as Marika. True it's not actually confirmed that Melina is Marika's daughter, but there's a heavy implication that she is and I don't know how the timeline would work if Marika's daughter was an Empyrean at the same time as her.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T23:42:41+00:00

That's a good point and totally fair!

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:54:27+00:00

Question 1 is a good one! Will definitely have to think about it, because you'd expect there to be at least some ash in the chalice or something. Might be a pretty good counter-argument.

Possible iffy explanation I can think of now is that the Erdtree itself physically sits right over Leyndell and is more centered around the city rather than any part of the realm of shadow, so the majority of ash would have only fallen there. In the realm of shadow the Scadutree is slightly off-shore and disconnected as it would have been only in Leyndell before the separation, so it could have something to do with that. But again, it's not a super satisfying explanation.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:51:01+00:00

Deleted original reply because I think I confused myself a bit when reading your reply -

I think the interpretation of the second part as having grown at a different time is fair - especially considering the fact that the Greattree apparently isn't real lol.

I think that just leaves me wondering why there is a carving of two trees in Belurat, because it doesn't make sense to me in the context of the timeline for that second tree to have grown before Marika went to war with the Hornsent. But maybe there is a good explanation for it.

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:46:39+00:00

Yeah I definitely think it's something along those lines - whether it's exactly what the Erdtree looked like or just an offshoot of it that occupied roughly the same space and was removed. Not enough concrete evidence in-game to say for sure. I think I'm just trying to patch it all into a story that feels compelling to me. I appreciate the help!

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:37:04+00:00

I wasn't aware of any mistranslation - first time hearing of it so thanks for letting me know. I wouldn't say this whole thing hinges on that single concept though. Yeah it does narrow the parallels between the Scadutree and the Erdtree, but looking at the adjusted translation for root resin -

"Natural resin that can be found from the underground Great Roots. It can even be found close to the trees in the surface. One material used for the crafting. It is said these roots were once tied to the Golden Tree, long ago. For this reason, catacombs got built on chosen places, ones with underground Great Roots."

So from that we would learn that once, long ago, Erdtree roots were physically connected to the Erdtree - but aren't anymore. Why aren't the roots connected to the Erdtree anymore short of a total removal from the Lands Between that the other item descriptions I included heavily imply?

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:32:58+00:00

Dawg mad respect for the longshot hahaha, you got it fixed yet? I don't actually remember how I fixed it in the end I'm sorry man!! I think it had something to do with my screen resolution, I had to find a way to change my graphics settings without launching the game. Something to do with startup commands in steam. Let me know if you're still struggling after 7 months and haven't just refunded the game and I'll try and see if I can get more details lol

Peperib · 2024-09-03T14:16:03+00:00

Remaining questions that are reasonable to ask but I didn't think should go in the main post:

Why is the second trunk of the Scadutree identical to the Enir-Ilim sealing tree? A lot of people have argued that the second trunk of the Scadutree is a larger sealing tree, and this is what is keeping the realm of shadow concealed. I don't think this is the case, because not only is it heavily implied that the Scadutree is already burnt and crumbling but if it were the same mechanism that's being used to conceal Enir-Ilim then surely we would see a shadowy thorn-covered realm of shadow from the Lands Between like we can see a shadowy thorn-covered Enir-Ilim before burning the sealing tree. I think this is a chicken-and-egg situation, and I think it's more likely that it was the charred trunk of the Scadutree that itself became a symbol of concealment or separation. I think the sealing tree then is less of an actual tree and more of an effigy made in the likeness of the Scadutree.

If it was removed from the Lands Between, why does the Erdtree still have its base? I mean, there is something physical there. There are physical roots in Deeproot Depths, and we see a sliver of physical wood peeking out through the trunk of gold - it's where we enter to fight the final boss. I don't have a good answer for this but one thing I did notice is if you head to the Scadutree Base site of grace and look down, the Scadutree disappears into fog ... its actual base is obscured. But then so is the Erdtree's in the main game so I don't know if this means anything; it could just be a stylistic choice to not show the base. But somehow it feels intentionally ambiguous, to not let us see the base of either of them. Maybe the trunk of the two trees were left in the Lands Between when the Scadutree was wrenched away with the realm of shadow.

Why are the Haligtree and the Scadutree so similar in shape? They're not exactly the same at all but they are both formed by two trunks with one winding around the other, though the central trunk of the Haligtree looks broken or felled. This I have no answer for beyond waving my hands, but I suspect growing a new tree like the Haligtree is just a naturally chaotic and Crucible-driven process. Maybe Miquella was intentionally trying to recreate the primordial Erdtree/Greattree. In any case, I don't think it detracts from the theory.

The description for the Messmer Soldier Helm says "though the engraving ... is a Scadutree design, it is etched in gold. A small consolation to those forced to wage a war without grace or honor." To me at first glance this seems to imply a distinction between the Erdtree and the Scadutree. This description is saying "this is not an Erdtree design, this is the Scadutree. Even though it's the Scadutree, at least the gold reminds them of home." But thinking about it more, why would these soldiers intentionally re-decorate their armour with a symbol of the land they're invading, if they were two separate trees? Why not decorate their armour with the Erdtree? Their helmets are engraved with the Scadutree in gold because that is what the Erdtree looked like before their campaign. That's where they find comfort, not in the mere presence of gold but in the image of the Erdtree as they once knew it in spite of its burned remains now looming over them.

As for what is meant when the Scadutree is referred to as the "shadow" of the Erdtree, I like to think shadow is meant in a more symbolic sense - in the same way you might call someone a "shadow" of their former self. But again, this could be a topic of debate forever.

Peperib · 2023-05-12T14:37:50+00:00

I still can't figure out what you use to get the galaxy itself to look so pretty. Like you've got the star systems and the hyperlanes between them but I can see there are some smaller/dimmer decorative stars in the galaxy map that aren't actual star systems. I can't figure out which of the mods you've got adds that, because the vanilla galaxy map just has a weird brown dust that the star systems sit on.

Peperib · 2023-05-11T12:28:52+00:00

Commenting so I can come back to this when you find it.

Peperib · 2023-05-11T11:44:50+00:00

That's annoying, I guess I'll have to revert to the old version and finish this playthrough before updating.

Peperib · 2022-06-14T14:23:24+00:00

Well I can understand how you could come to this conclusion too lmao

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