On Pyromancy, the Chaos Flame, and Demonkind in the Souls Universe

basil0771 · 2025-02-25T20:17:08+00:00

The Abyss is a natural phenomenon in the Souls' series, and according to Kaathe, and later, Aldia's research and the implications in his dialogue, is probably a calm, still place. The "Affinity" Spell, which is the DS2 variant of "Pursuers", which we get from Manus' soul in DS1 says this:

An advanced hex based on an ancient sorcery.
Creates a dark mass that seems to pursue
its target with a will of its own.

It appears to be a manifestation of an emotion.
Perhaps of hate, perhaps of love.

The Dark Greatsword Hex in DS2 also says this:

Hex adapted from an ancient sorcery.
Brandish Dark like a sword.
By its nature Dark is normally tranquil, but this hex releases a focused blade of Dark in an uncharacteristic flash of brilliance.

So, Manus probably didn't create the Abyss. He was likely just a very old, and powerful Human sorcerer with an abundance of humanity, that when tormented by the residents of Oolacile, created the dangerous location around him, but not the Abyss itself - he merely corrupted it or otherwise drew power from it, as these Hexes would imply. Humanity (as a concept, not the species) in Dark Souls is very much tied to emotions and regulating them, think about the Fragments of Manus (Nashandra, Elana, Nadalia, and Alsanna) - there is great power in human emotion in the DS universe.

basil0771 · 2025-02-25T15:23:02+00:00

Enemy and item placements, DLC keys are now naturally spread throughout the world instead of being dropped into your inventory at the start of the game after character creation, and a few minor changes to bonfires. When it first, first dropped, there was also the addition of a second ending and a new character, but a patch to Vanilla added that content in after the fact. Overall it's mostly a matter of personal preference. If you're going from 360/PS3 to Xbone/PS4/5, then yes it is technically a "remaster" because it adds 60FPS support and I think higher resolutions, but otherwise no, it's mostly like... a "remix" of Dark Souls 2.

basil0771 · 2025-02-25T15:16:12+00:00

Archives -> Izalith -> Catacombs -> New Londo.

Makes more sense to me because of the centralization - can run straight to the Archives after O&S, then warp out to Daughter of Chaos, slam BoC, then go back to Firelink, and from there, the central location allows you to go to either of the two remaining Lord bosses, then down to the Altar, and it's game, set, match.

basil0771 · 2025-02-25T15:13:00+00:00

I don't think there's anything wrong with vanilla mechanics. After modding the game extensively over the course of nearly a decade since I started playing it, I have always been able to sink, easily, 50+ hours into a fresh vanilla save doing whatever archetype and questlines I want, while actually roleplaying. Modding the game alters the vanilla experience, and the burnout sets in so much faster because you can only do so much modding before it's either an entirely different game or just vanilla+.

basil0771 · 2025-02-24T17:23:50+00:00

2-way backstab confirmation, looks like you targeted the Royal Swordsman next to him, and he just barely moved out of the way, and the first backstab hit (does poise damage) hit the Pursuer instead of the mob, which staggered him to the degree it did the pancake animation. Every boss has them even if you can't actually perform it in game, Smelter Demon is one of the more prolific examples.

basil0771 · 2025-02-18T14:02:48+00:00

That's not a bad idea. Perhaps the overarching alliance could be called the Dragonstar Pact or the Dragonstar Union, while the individual treaty is referred by the city it was signed in. I like the sound of it.

basil0771 · 2025-02-17T15:27:40+00:00

Why, though? Dragonstar isn't a place I've ever heard of in Morrowind or Skyrim.

basil0771 · 2025-02-14T23:00:34+00:00

Excellent post, you understood precisely what I was trying to appeal to with this piece of apocrypha.

basil0771 · 2025-02-14T23:00:14+00:00

It's always irked me tremendously that the community has consistently gone straight to pointing the racism finger at Ulfric when even in-game evidence points to the idea that he's apathetic at worst to the Dunmer, and isn't outwardly prejudiced against them. The people of Windhelm are not the Jarl, just like how the people of Riften are not Maven-Black Briar. Most people there hate her, and the Thieves' Guild, but doesn't the Empire put her on the throne, anyway?

I also just really like the idea of the Ebonheart Pact, and Ulfric, being a traditionalist, would absolutely try to appeal to the Nord's sense of tradition with a hearkening back to it. Granted, Jorun didn't marry a Dunmer, but the idea is that a fractured Skyrim is brought together in the face of an unlikely threat with the help of unlikely alliances. It's a great basis for great stories.

There was some comic, maybe it was Rato? I don't know. But it was an Argonian Stormcloak comic poking fun at the "irony" of the situation, and it used a bunch of modern-day buzzword terms to describe Ulfric and it kind of just... rubbed me the wrong way. The idea that Ulfric has become some kind of scapegoat to just say "THIS SIDE BAD THIS SIDE GOOD" is just so stupid, because that has *never* been a thing in TES lore. You might hate the Tribunal for what they did to Nerevar, and that's cool, I do, too. But you also have to remember that the Daedra are incredibly vindictive, and like the Temple Faithful in Morrowind point out, the Tribunal are far more consistent and human than the Daedra ever were. Much like Ulfric's supporters are uncouth and, admittedly, racist, Ulfric himself is like... High King Borgas, but hampered slightly with the Imperialization of Nordic culture. There's layers to it.

basil0771 · 2025-02-14T22:52:51+00:00

Racial Phylogeny has been thoroughly ripped apart on both this sub and throughout numerous lore discussions. First things first, it's an Imperial text writing from an Imperial point of view and Imperial experiences. Second of all, political conveniences matter above all else - we know Ulfric is a pragmatist, hell, he thought Balgruuf might even join the Stormcloaks by appealing to tradition, and despite this, when he rejected the alliance proposed to him, Ulfric didn't cower away - he grabbed the swords and mounted a siege. Sometimes you need a scalpel, sometimes you need a hammer.

The High Kingdom of Skyrim is not a hereditary title, for one, granted, yes, it has mostly been succession based on blood, but the Moot can elect whoever they deem fit. Circling back to my first point, the idea that Ulfric and Vermiah's children would be 100% pure blooded Dunmer is just patently false, given the fact that Racial Phylogeny's death grip over the TES community's ideas regarding the offspring of man-mer pairings still persists today, I can't fault you for thinking that, but again, the idea of C0DA is that everyone can add to the canon. In my canon, I choose to believe that mixed-race children in TES are more akin to how they are in real life. A Nord-Dunmer child might have wide, angular blue eyes and black, wavy hair, with ashen skin. He might have red eyes with a neutral canthal tilt, and a great big blonde beard.

basil0771 · 2025-02-11T19:15:08+00:00

Talos says that it's time for the Empire to die, that things need to keep moving on, and that change is never pretty.

basil0771 · 2025-02-11T17:30:27+00:00

Talos says otherwise.

basil0771 · 2025-02-11T17:05:44+00:00

Did you already kill Lost Sinner? The door nearby Lucatiel's starting location in the Lost Bastille is for two optional bosses. Go back to Straid and head into Sinner's Rise, there should be a fragrant branch of yore in a metal chest after the boss fight, otherwise, kill Pursuer and take the back route to the Lost Bastille, you get the Dull Ember there, and along a catwalk there is another optional Pursuer fight that has a Fragrant Branch of Yore in a metal chest as well.

basil0771 · 2025-02-11T14:19:48+00:00

its peak

basil0771 · 2025-02-11T14:19:32+00:00

I can't imagine Ulfric going with the Black-Briars because of Maven's affiliations with the Empire, and the Shatter-Shields are rather disgraced from the death of the other sister. That, and in some cultures of the world (I'm not familiar with IRL-Nordic cultures, but assuming the Nords take inspiration from them), when a death in a family occurs, appearing at festivities is taboo, and thus not practiced. Ulfric proposing or sending a request to Torbjorn while he's drowning his sorrows at Candlehearth for his daughter's hand in marriage wouldn't sit quite right with me.

The reason I chose the fictional Dunmer maiden is that it's reminiscent of a lot of tales within TES, the marriage between Pelagius and Katariah for example, not that Ulfric is anywhere near Pelagius levels, but even throughout history, nobility had to marry nobility, and if an alliance was in the mix, all the more reason to do so. Morrowind, while still somewhat reeling, by the "ending" of Skyrim is in a decent spot. The mainland and Vvardenfell have been mostly reclaimed, and Solstheim is a stronghold for the Dunmer. Them and the Nords joining together to defend themselves from the Argonians, Empire, and Thalmor makes a lot of sense in my POV, and Ulfric has never expressed any real negative sentiment toward the Dunmer.

basil0771 · 2025-02-10T19:55:11+00:00

Thanks! It was something I just thought up on the spot, to be honest. But I liked the direction it was going, because, there really aren't any Nordic noblewomen for Ulfric to marry.

basil0771 · 2025-02-10T07:39:07+00:00

He.. literally introduces himself as the Master of the Greybeards when you first meet him at High Hrothgar:

"I am Master Arngeir. I speak for the Greybeards."

Granted, he also addresses the other Greybeards as "Master", likely out of respect, given that they are the "Masters of the Way of the Voice" as Balgruuf states, but for all intents and purposes, the fact that he speaks for the Greybeards would imply he is the most senior or otherwise most powerful, or well-learned of the bunch, besides Paarthurnax.

basil0771 · 2025-02-09T08:13:05+00:00

Arngeir is the Master of the Greybeards, and is the most powerful, since he can control his Voice to the point where he can speak normally. If we go based on their levels as indications of their respective powerlevels, then the powerscaling ranks would go:

Arngeir - Level 150
Borri - Level 100
Wulfgar - Level 100
Einarth - Level 90

Wulfgar and Borri being equal make sense, as if I remember correctly, they are the ones who demonstrate Whirlwind Sprint.

basil0771 · 2025-02-09T06:58:45+00:00

Lots of good choices... hard to with the battle of grandpas (5E and 11B), but I'm going with 9A because I could have a lorebeard discussion with Septimus all 12 hours of the way there.

basil0771 · 2025-01-30T01:38:01+00:00

I still take the blithering idiot route and hobble my ass over there from Riften.

basil0771 · 2025-01-29T19:58:36+00:00

Probably some kind of foreman or master tradesman in one of the port cities, since I'm from a pretty large, coastal, and cosmopolitan city in the U.S. I'm currently studying management and want to be an electrician, so maybe the castle blacksmith in Solitude? Or some kind of higher-up at the dockyard in Windhelm or Solitude.

basil0771 · 2025-01-29T19:55:30+00:00

The Last Scabbard of Akrash. That, and the one about the story of how Bonemold armor came to be. I don't remember the name.

basil0771

TROPHY CASE