Latest Posts by ariibees - Page 2

First off, thank you for making this writeup! The Dungeon/Temple lore has always been particularly nasty to try and make sense of so it's helpful to see how other folks interpret it. Had some thoughts to add on the subject!

Regarding defeating Plantera slowing down biome spread -- this could tie into the theory that the Dryad(s?) created Plantera!

There is a very loose connection between the Dryads and the Jungle; most obvious is that the Dryad in-game has the Jungle as her liked biome. In her happiness quote for the jungle she says "I kissed a tree in the Jungle and I liked it." While this is mostly just a funny little reference, it does gain a little more depth when you remember the Dryad turns into a tree in the end credits. The items found in the living mahogany trees are also pretty thematic for the Dryads -- the staff of regrowth and flower boots specifically.

Then consider that the Dryad sells purification powder, analyzes world purity, and pushes the player to purify the world. Combining this all together makes a nice little link to the Dryads creating Plantera with their own magic. Of course, our Dryad can only do so much being she's the last of her kind, but defeating Plantera releases a big burst of that Dryad magic that was put into creating it, slowing biome spread worldwide. Bit of a reaching theory, but we don't have much to work with on this one, haha.

Changing course completely -- you had disregarded the fact that a voodoo doll is found in the Underworld, but I would say it's pretty relevant considering the existence of the Diabolic Sigil bearers and the Molten Legion (and in a different way, the Necromancers and Ragged Casters).

The Diabolists and Molten Legion both explicitly run with the hell theme -- Diabolists wield flames "as intense as any in the Underworld," and drop a classic devil-style trident (though devils in-game drop unholy tridents -- more on that later). The Molten Legion members are immune to On Fire!/Hellfire debuffs and like Diabolists can light you on fire.

Now for a side tangent on shadow magic/shadowflame. You see this kind of magic in a few places -- Goblins specifically manipulate "shadow energy," summon spirits of the dead with it, and cast with shadowflame/use weapons that inflict shadowflame.

Devils and demons are immune to shadowflame, and although they don't inflict the shadowflame debuff proper, demons are stated to cast "shadow magic" in the form of their demon scythes, which inflicts the darkness debuff. Red Devils respectively drop the Unholy trident, which links on its own back to the Corruption (see: Unholy water, unholy arrows, etc.) and the Corruption's shadow orbs.

Back to the dungeon, the Ragged Casters inflict the blackout debuff, a stronger version of darkness, while Necromancer beams are also referred to as "shadow beams." The Clothier also casts shadowflame skulls, a shadow'd version of the skulls you can cast from the Book of Skulls dropped by Skeletron. Now look at the shadow chests in the Underworld -- they contain hellfire weapons and a shadowflame weapon.

And how do you open shadow chests? With a key from the dungeon.

(Side note: the Lunatic Cultist's Ancient Doom projectiles also look similar to the Clothier's shadowflame skulls, but they don't inflict any relevant debuffs. The LC does have fire magic similar to Diabolists, but this seems to be a part of an elemental magic theme rather than a hell one specifically.)

(Side note #2: While their attacks obviously look different, the demon scythe item is actually just a recolored version of the water bolt item! Both spellbooks have the same design on their covers.)

(Side note #3: There's also maybe another link to be made involving the obsidian-scaled serpents that once ruled hell, the Eater of World's shadow scales, the wyverns/phantasm dragons, the obsidian summoning set, the obsidian skull, and the obsidian lock boxes, but it's much more reaching in my opinion.)

Anyways, this was a lot of words to say that there's a quite significant link between the Dungeon and the Underworld, and the fact that there's a voodoo doll found in both locations only adds to that! Link that with the Witch Doctor mentioning voodoo magics/having the same happiness dialogue for both the Dryad and the Guide, and the connections you had previously established between the Dungeon and the Lihzahrd Temple and we're starting to get...something. Not sure what, but there's something here!

Rambling once again: Dungeon

In the lore, the only thing we're told is that the Dungeon used to be a prosperous city, now in ruins, with its inhabitants kept undead by a curse.

Firstly, I'm guessing that the "curse" is the same curse as the Skeletron. When the Dryads ripped out parts of Cthulhu's skeleton, they left the bones near the dungeon, but something, something, hate, let me tell you how much i've grown to hate you - "The disembodied bones of a former tyrant pulsed with a hatred so strong, it left behind a mighty curse which guards the Dungeon". Remember that. Secondly, the Lunar Cultists appear near the Dungeon, Mechanic was thrown into the Dungeon where they forced her to build the mecha bosses. So, the Dungeon is like their base. Why? Here's the next thing; "former tyrant" is Cthulhu, and what is a tyrant without something to rule over? I say that the people of the Dungeon, in life, before Cthulhu has fallen, also worshipped him. Most were left to rot away and remained as skeletons; and the Lunar Cultists we see in-game are the leftovers of this bigger cult, those who, although also maddened, have managed to keep at least some consciousness, and instead of rotting away like the others, were made immortal and had their aging process slowed down <- this is a personal headcanon based on nothing, just keep in mind that the curse can do that, it is important for my eventual Clothier lore.

Now, what *was* the Dungeon? Many of the enemies we see in-game from there are either mages or "parts of an elite military unit in their past lives". There's several factions: Necromantic Order, Ragged Brotherhood, and the Diabolic Order(?) are the mages. Diabolists do hell magic, Necromancers do shadow magic, Ragged Casters summon spirits. Some supra-natural dark magic, that's the first big thing. We also get the alchemy/bewitching table from the dungeon, there's potions scattered everywhere, so, yes, they were doing magic. Then, the "warrior" factions: Molten Legion (matching the Diablosts' hell magic), Rusted Company (matching the Ragged Brotherhood's 'tattered' theme), and an unnamed one that is for Marching Bones/Blue Armored Bones; there's also the "military unit" spread throughout the Dungeon, consists of Snipers, a SWAT team (ok i guess), rocket launcher guys, and knights/guards. A lot of military. There's also ninjas because what would you do without them. The only ones who don't fit into this military-cultist shitstorm are the Angry Bones and Cursed Skulls, giant and non-giant. I assume those were just regular inhabitants.

What we have is - a military-focused city with dark magic practitioners. Interesting.

Another thing is the Dungeon's connection to the Jungle/Jungle Temple. The chests/keys in the dungeon have been cursed by Plantera. Plantera awakens after from the fallout after we defeat the Mechanical bosses (though I guess that's not very surprising, if you're a floral being you're probably sensitive to changes in the soil, and there's no way 3 giant fucked up mechanical things, which are, mind you, imbued with Souls so evil they had to be sealed away by the Wall of Flesh itself, are good for the environment). We get stronger enemies in the Dungeon once Plantera (a giant thing who gives access to the Jungle Temple, a "Guardian" - remind you of anyone?) is defeated, Cultists arrive once the Golem is defeated. And, remember, we have Lunar Cultists - and while the existence of Solar Cultists is implied, considering the robes Clothier sells and the unused White Cultist Archer enemy, we've never once seen Solar Cultists. Except we have. Remember, the Golem has a lot of Sun motifs.

The Lizahrds are basically the opposite to the Lunar Cult. What exactly that means for the lore - eh, who knows. Probably they were one of the races, along with the Dryads, trying to stop Cthulhu from returning or something. I've seen the theory that Plantera was made by the Dryads, that seems kind of cool. I'll think about that later.

That's about 80% of my brainpower for today used up. Thanks for listening folks.

A little note, a giant stretch, but worth mentioning: the aforementioned Bewitching Table from the Dungeon can also be bought from Witch Doctor, a Lizahrd, once the Wizard appears. Books can also be bought from the Wizard. Btw, don't those two words sound familiar. And, there's something about the Witch Doctor selling (allegedly) voodoo things, and voodoo dolls appearing in the Dungeon (and technically in the Underworld, but that's irrelevant). I think speculating about the Witch Doctor and the Wizard's connection to the Dungeon would be the lore equivalent of a crackship, though, if that even makes sense.

source: planetaryaether on tiktok

So that's why the cult wanted the Clothier.

Doodled Chris while in a meeting this morning. Outfit loosely based on the nebula set w/o the hood, but took some liberties with the design.

Not really meant to be an accurate representation of late-game Chris, but getting to draw him in the fancy hardmode gear was fun!

A ranger and her (bronze dragon) drake!

Bringing this one back after the Queen of Thieves BOMBED OUR HOUSE

Yeah, you know I was riding my own comic making hype train while making this.

Hello @purity-town & @mtqcomic! I know you might (and probably won't) ever read or see this because time abosutely hates comic artists lmao, but I wanted to say thanks to you both for inspiring me to start making comics! Btw, both your comics are wonderful and I've grown to love all the characters within them.

Also, sorry for potentially mischaracterizing the characters, I suck at picking up personalities; and sorry cris for accidentally messing up your eye 😭

WOOOO another year of a great Artfight! Thank you to everyone who attacked me and everyone had such cool OCs!! See you all next year!!! <3 (Seafoam we so aint winning 😭)

CHARACTERS:

Adriau @adriaue

dark5tars @/undyinglybroken (insta)

Raillue_ @raillue

rosesnoteswings @rosesnoteswings & ariibees @ariibees

Posting some more art fight attacks now that the event is over! Not all of the ones I did, but some of my favorites :) Character credits under the cut.

Top to bottom, left to right:

Velos | LonerEevee (Tumblr, Artfight)

Fein | Yampie (Tumblr, Artfight)

Horntail | RandomObject (Artfight)

Ansel | Kaiiquz (Tumblr, Artfight)

Zenaku Jintao | Shadowflux (Artfight)

died 2000 born 2024 welcome back y2k!! (crowdstrike)

Another animated attack for art fight, this one against user LeoparDusk! An aarakocra who was in Drakkenheim when the meteor fell, being corrupted by it, and eventually becoming the Crimson Countess.

My favorite attack I've made so far for art fight! Iterator OC Six Divine Feathers belongs to user Kyaiimn

I don't actually own any animation software, so this was all done in Unity using a combination of 2D rigging (pearls, iterator body) and using basic C# code to script in certain effects (the spinning halo). I was careful to make everything loop on the 2-second mark, and then opened a running window of my "game," screen-recorded it, cropped the boundaries of the screen recording, and then converted a 2-second slice to a gif.

Some doodles I did while watching some training videos for work; info below the cut.

Lunatic Cultist and Guide having a quiet moment together sewing up the doll that would eventually be bound to his soul. At this point in time the LC's fine manual dexterity wasn't the best, while conversely Andrew's hands were relatively unscarred beyond normal callusing, so he got to be the one to do it.

Some concept doodles for the Goblin Tinkerer; haven't decided on his clothing yet but I want to avoid the Half Life scientist look, haha. It's a difficult balance; I originally went with goggles, but it didn't look like "him."

Ailyra, a Dryad OC based on another D&D PC; still playing with her outfit. One of the more powerful dryads, she didn't just have dominion over plants, but both interpreted Terraria's will through reading the weather, and controlled it to her own ends. This was mainly through giving blessings in the form of rain for crops, but she had wickedly terrifying control over lightning as well, reflected in the scar radiating out from over her heart.

Bruh,,,,

are there any other terraria content creators who’d wanna join a discord for the terraria fandom? i feel like there’s so many of us lol 👀

I can’t be the only one who keeps typing zonai as nomai right..  👀 (I think theyd get along)

i love this little game <33

while drawing this i ended up subconsciously taking way more inspiration from this work than i expected, so you should go look at it bc it rocks

(Almost) feels like home

*climbs into your askbox like an old friend* I just wanted to come and say I vibe so hard with your feelings about Outer Wilds! Unfortunately for stupid reasons of physical impediment I'm unable to play games with a controller and it is, as it turns out, pretty impossible to play on mouse and keyboard, so i had to experience it through other people's playthroughs which was a huge shame. but nevertheless, I absolutely agree with "rewrote my brain"!!

Interestingly enough, I had the exact opposite experience with the control schemes -- I played the game using keyboard & mouse pretty comfortably, and absolutely would have suffered with controller. In the early game the controls do take some getting used to (particularly the delayed jump and zero-gravity maneuvering) and I was using a pretty awful button mapping setup earlier on, but with the exception of [THAT SECTION] that controller can arguably-slightly-cheese I preferred the ease of looking around and aiming my scout that kb&m provided. Though I'll admit I'm biased in that regard, as I've gone to pretty comical lengths to avoid having to use a controller for anything (looking at you, Sonic Adventure 2) and thus never really learned how to hold/use them.

That aside, even though you didn't get to play the game on your own, I'm glad you were able to enjoy other folks' playthroughs -- there are some seriously awesome ones out there. Since it's impossible to replay Outer Wilds for obvious reasons I always try to push people towards experiencing it on their own first, but in a situation where you can't I'm glad you still got to see it through one way or another.

As for the actual point of the ask hahaha, yeah, gosh, this game just fundamentally dug into me in a way others haven't. I legitimately went through the five stages of grief over the game's ending.

The game is also just great at putting you in the shoes of the Hatchling. With the exception of like, continuing a save after getting the kazoo meme ending which technically "doesn't happen," you explore the world and learn everything entirely in-character, which made it all hit much harder for me. It didn't feel like I was observing a story, it felt like I was the one making it and uncovering the mystery and having all of this happen to me. That and the fact that I had some personal things going on in my life around when I played Outer Wilds that aligned with the game's themes, leading to it kinda taking me out on a very personal level.

Outer Wilds also just seemed perfectly engineered to suck me in, haha. It's got computer simulations! Black holes! Quantum mechanics! I was the kinda kid who lived for space documentaries so getting to fly around and explore everything was amazing. Going through environmental puzzles, reading adorable exchanges with the nomai, getting to see the most incredible sights (the door falling away at the [SPOILER] and having to make a leap of faith to get across the gap was amazing), and putting it all together in a wild red-string conspiracy board...I completed the entire game over the course of like, 2-3 days as I recall? Just entirely immersed for that time.

It's inspired me so much in my stories and how I think about mysteries. It's the best time-loop game out there, and the presentation of the sandbox mystery is just unparalleled in any other game. Hence why everyone who's played it is left looking up Youtube playthroughs and chasing that high again -- personally I think going into the original Subnautica game blind touches some of the same feelings, but you're never really gonna get the Outer Wilds Experience again.

The mechanics are great, the mystery is presented wonderfully; I fell in love with the environments and the characters and the dialogue. The themes were tied into the story very naturally and hit me right in my core. Obviously I can't really replay it, but I do sometimes boot it up just to reread some sections or go hang out on Giant's Deep for the ambiance; it's comforting and nostalgic in a weird sort of way.

Sorry that this response isn't anywhere near coherent. I'm very, very tired right now, and I love Outer Wilds a lot and won't pass up a chance to ramble about how great it is. It's a very special game to my heart and dug into me in a way other games often can't do. It's not for everyone, but if it is for you it's REALLY for you. Clearly I like it and clearly you like it. So thanks for climbing into my askbox and setting me off, haha.

My dearest followers and mutuals and friends and lovers. I am going to extend one deadly serious question to you on this beautiful afternoon.

What is your #1 video game recommendation

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(Not my characters, original comic: @purity-town )

Little progress video of the last chapter cover. I don't usually keep progress snapshots, so it's kinda cool to watch it come together.

Chris' personal quest in Drakkenheim is to find a way to stop the spread of the contamination and eventually cleanse the city of the Haze. To facilitate this, we've spent the entire campaign thus far taking notes and building a red string board of everything we've learned. It's been getting out of hand.

(Screenshot below the cut, mostly spoiler-free because the picture is pretty crunchy due to how far I had to zoom out to take it.)

More Chris because I like to draw him

shout out to everyone who participated in the january-february mass depressive episode