(no subject)

[fridgeninja]

If we make it all the way to our current Jaunt, there's a few movies left.

In that time, as long as we're discussing the new things we're learning about the Arcana, maybe we should review the old things, as well. There's a lot left out of these movies...


The Fool, who goes by Don Orlea, doesn't do a very good job asking questions, but he seems to be easy to speak to. He probably can't help not answering; his archetype doesn't know the answers.

The Magician, or ROSE, seems tricky but friendly. She managed to pretend to be a Traveler for most of a Jaunt. We know she's very close to SAGE, or Hermit, and that she cheated somehow when she took us to rescue him.

High Priestess is mysterious. She uses a lot of different names, and in Questing Country, she pretended to be someone's Spirit Companion.

Empress, or Mei, is mothering. She shows up frequently to check in, and she cares about how we're doing even if she doesn't understand it. Star matters to her, too.

Emperor, or Hakan Caesar, represents rules and order and fatherhood. He and Empress seem like a team, even though their archetypes disagree on a lot of things.

Hierophant is dead. I'm not sure how many of the details about that we know, but we had some theories I'm happy to discuss - unless anyone's heard anything definite now?

Lovers, or PSYCHE-chan, is allied with the Devil, and opposes Magician and Hermit. She shows up for weddings. She's friendly in a way, but it's because we're toys she likes to play with.

Chariot, or Cairbre, is about action, and doesn't talk much. They don't seem to be very good at disguising themself, either.

Strength, or Durga, seems to be pretty positive, but also doesn't talk much. I know that most of the people she's marked think pretty well of her.

Hermit, or SAGE, tried to leave the game once, and was captured by Lovers and Devil. We rescued him, but now he's a wolf.

Fortune, who won the last game, is dead now. Technically, it's Fortune's rules we're all playing by.

Justice is about clear decisions. We shouldn't expect Justice to take sides. I don't know much else about this version of the Arcana, and I don't want to make assumptions based on the card.

Hanged Man was so relaxed that he didn't seem to care about losing the game. He's also an Arcana that we know declined to Mark certain people. Some of them are more picky than others, and some are more greedy than others, and some care more about the rules. That's useful to know.

Death seems pretty straightforward and willing to talk, but has been involved in some past decisions that hurt Travelers badly. 'Death' in the Tarot deck means 'change,' so he's not as scary as you might think from the name.

Temperance is also dead.

Devil-san, or MALBOLGE, is most likely to abuse, mistreat, and punish Travelers, or to deliberately hurt other Arcana.

Tower represents violent change and disaster, and was pretty bad at pretending to be anyone else.

Star is dead.

Moon is tricky and untrustworthy - it seems like some Arcana know how to lie and some don't. I'm not sure Moon knows how to tell the truth.

Sun definitely doesn't lie. Apart from Death, Sun's probably told Travelers more than any other Arcana.

Judgment isn't an Arcana I have very much experience with, so I'm not sure what to say about them, except that they're usually positive in a deck of cards.


For me, it makes most sense to help Sun to win, if we're playing their game at all. But I'm sure other people have much more information than I do, and I might have gotten some things wrong. I'd like to hear what everyone else has learned about their Arcana, or what they think. We should probably discuss our theories, too, at some point.

Comments

[scarsolderthanyou]

So we want someone to win who doesn't lie and who tells us things?

[That seems like a very narrow choice for deciding a winner. Yes, he knows there's more to the Sun card, he's read the descriptions written up in the liminal library. But it still seems awfully narrow to him.]

Do we know what each of these idea-people have said they'll do if they win?

[Stone's still relatively new, and while he knows the term Arcana just fine, he's happy to use other words. Like idea-people. That's what they are, after all.]

[fridgeninja]

We know a few.

Sun is the only one I trust absolutely to being telling us the truth about those things.

[all_onis_are_true]

Ah, if it is all right with you, may I possibly discuss more things about a couple of them? I... do not know how to lock down these communications I am afraid.

[Private; Psychic Protection II]

[fridgeninja]

I've protected this conversation. As far as I know, no-one else can hear us now unless we let them.

I'd like to be able to share whatever we know, but I won't repeat it without your permission.

[rustyhonesty]

Last time I spoke with Lovers, she explained to me about why she and Devil trapped Hermit inside the Grid. Apparently, Hermit defines the two Arcana and keep them separate... but he wanted to stop doing that. That would have meant Lovers and Devil would have lost their individuality. They didn't want that, but Lovers didn't want to kill him either so they chose this method.

[fridgeninja]

He might keep all of them separate. 'Separateness' is one of the things he represents...

[razorblade_empress]

Judgement's planning on continuing Synodiporia after they punish the so-called "Antisticides and Exploiters," with Hermit, Lovers, and Devil being the first group.

[fridgeninja]

Antisticides?

[venetianprince]

When I spoke to Judgement, they said that too, about punishing "Antisticides and Exploiters." But they also said that the fate of the Travelers they would leave up to their Chosen. I think they're more interested in punishing other Arcana, not so much Travelers...

[fridgeninja]

I know what 'cide' means, but I'm not sure about 'Anti-sti.'

[mytearsaremine]

Justice seems pretty cool, to me. I mean... she didn't go on about punishing anybody. She just wanted her friends back, and to stop the elder gods.

Just to be honest, and stuff, she's mine. And she promised to fix me and make me human again if she won. So maybe I'm biased. But I like her.

[fridgeninja]

We're matched the way we are for a reason. I don't like PSYCHE-chan's ideas for her victory, but I still think she's interesting, and I don't regret being marked by her.

[reallymean]

You say that Death and Sun have told us a lot - what exactly have they shared? And how much of it have we been able to verify?

[fridgeninja]

As far as verifying goes, about the best we can do is get similar accounts from Arcana that don't like one another, and whose behavior seems to indicate friendliness or reliability.

We shouldn't assume 100& that we have the correct impressions.

[fridgeninja]

As for what they've told us: I think it was Death who explained what happened in Moebius and what happens when we die in Liminal Space. Sun-sama is the one who told us the most about the basic structure of the game, who explained a little about how Marks function, and how Arcana had died in the past.

In each case, we haven't found any contradictory evidence, and there wasn't any firm obligation on their part to answer at all. In addition, if we understand their archetypes correctly, Sun-sama should not be able to tell deliberate lies.

[smokeandcarbs]

[Jean doesn't like the network, so he speaks slowly and carefully, lest he makes some silly mistake.]

Strength described the act of choosing us as "imbuing a like-minded individual with her trust, hope and power". She is clearly saddened by Fortune's death. Said she was her dear friend. She also told me she almost died as well.

[Strength also promised him she would return him home if she won. He prefers not share that information in the network, since they are talking about supporting the Sun and he has no idea whether the two are allies or not.]

[fridgeninja]

Strength-san almost died?

Did she say when?

[leftbehindagain]

Death wants to put a stop to this contest being conducted at all. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that was also Tower's goal, just... more destructively, on account of Tower's archetype.

He's extremely upset to have any association with Moebius.

[acapriciousthing]

Wanting to stop the game is the most mature thing I've ever heard from any of the Arcana.

[crouching_sin]

Justice has been very clear, at least on the one occasion I've spoken with her. She seems very willing to work with Travelers, especially those who have been subjected to a lack of her archetype.

[fridgeninja]

That would be all of us.

[thornsofmalkav]

Hi, yes, I'm the one whose animal companion Shekinah disguised herself as. Uh, Shekinah is what I call her. One of my friends calls her Joan. She's the High Priestess.

Anyway, she was perfectly nice to me, but she does speak in riddles. Like, she can't not speak in riddles? But she is nice and she did personally kick out that Yellow King dude when he was poking his tentacles in here and I get the feeling what she wants is for us to, like, think and to look inwardly and all that stuff. Have epiphanies and self-revelations. She basically charged me to get mystical and stay mystical.

Personally, I would be totally good with her winning if we have to pick someone.

Also, uh, regarding Fortune, some of us have news on that front. More on that soon.

[cloudpotter]

[that's some attention honing in on you over the Network, Thorne. It's a good thing Yakumo knows better than to call out what are apparently Secret Plans in public, but he's now pretty damn sure you're one of the 8 people who Justice had to go and rescue a little while ago.]

[cloudpotter]

Justice wants justice for the murder of Sinregado, whom the Elder Gods killed. This round of Synodiporia began as a result of their action.

Astræa has said that if she achieves the World, she would first use the power to revive the fallen Arcana. Then, she would use another segment of the power to return Travelers to where they choose to go. With the final part of it, she would deliver what retribution she can to the Gods who killed Sinregado and made this game necessary.

Fortuna is the one who created this round of Synodiporia. Not only are the Arcana playing by Fortuna's rules, they're also playing using the mechanisms that she 'left behind'. Apparently, these are mechanisms that the remaining Arcana are unable to perfectly understand, and thusly are unable to manipulate.

It's been some time since I spoke about these particular things with her, but I'm willing to share the memory of our conversation. There may have been something I missed in our discussion.

[fridgeninja]

Do you have the ability to share memories? It's something I've been working on learning, but I don't have the trick of it yet.

[loyalrebel]

Why do any of them deserve to win?

[fridgeninja]

I don't think I said anything about anyone deserving to win at all.

[dino_zarf]

Empress thinks we're children.

She cheated, in the marking process. She wasn't even supposed to be on the Jaunt where she marked Zoe, but she couldn't resist Rosie.

[Though really who can resist Rosie?]

They didn't say so specifically, but I think they're the ones behind the agreement that Rose was a guest, not part of the game.

[fridgeninja]

That's something to be grateful for.

Although, being thought of as children will make working with her harder.

[otomechapilot]

Fool thinks of Hermit as a friend and Death as an ally.

Ambrose said he promised to put us back where we started, with everything we learned along the way - which fits what he means so good it hurts. I think I believe him.

[ninjayeehaw]

I wonder what that makes Fool an' Magician, then, if they're both on Hermit's side. Don't necessarily put 'em on the same team there.

[papacerberus]

I have some additional information about Emperor. He is all order. That which is beneficial, and that which cages, subverts, and strangles. I suspect many of the other Arcana reflect both sides of their attributes similarly.

He has also said he trusts Empress implicitly, but not the others, and that they have discussed together what each would do if they won.

He spoke a little of what he would do upon winning, but it was in vague terms. He did specifically answer my question and confirm that Traveling doesn't interrupt the cycle of reincarnation, and said the revivals of the dead Arcana would be reincarnation in my idiom.

[fridgeninja]

Hm.

Maybe I should become a better Buddhist.

[bite_the_hand]

I know what happened to Hierophant. They were killed by the other Arcana. When Hermit tried to leave and Devil and Lovers stopped him, Hierophant got caught in the crossfire somehow.

I spoke to Cairbre just before the last Jaunt started. I wanted to know why it agreed to let Devil and Strength send us back to Harrogate, knowing how dangerous it could be. Turns out the Chaos wasn't supposed to be there, but even if they knew they probably would have gone along with it anyway unless Strength or Devil had changed their minds, because they're all that afraid of infighting after what happened last time. It also said something about needing to stick to tradition even though it doesn't like it because they need to all try and fill in for the missing Arcana, but I don't know if there's a reason for that besides being worried Devil might try to kill somebody else if they don't.

I learned some other things from Cairbre too. The Marks help tie us to Liminal Space somehow. Even if something tries to bind us to a world, the Marks will bring us back here when the Jaunt ends and Liminal Space stops being connected to that place. It said that's why they didn't interfere with Harrogate when the Chaos did show up, because waiting to let the Marks pull us back was safer for them. That thing was stronger than any one of them, and Cairbre told me something like it is what killed Temperance.

[Eren pauses for a short moment to let everyone have a chance to think over all of that information before he moves on to one of Souji's other points.]

I don't know what Sun's plans are, but I know Cairbre wants to do. It wants to keep Traveling, starting with going to all of our own worlds long enough to let people go back to living there if they want. But it'd give us the freedom to choose to keep Traveling with it if we don't want to go back. It's promised to give those of us that do keep going more control over what happens to us, once we're Traveling by its rules instead of Fortune's. It also seemed willing to let us stay at our worlds as a Jaunt so we can take care of any responsibilities we might still have there before we keep Traveling, as long as we'd be getting important things done while we're there.

If we do agree to play their game, I think that's one worth fighting for. People should have the chance to go home, but there's a lot of Travelers that can't go back. And the Chariot's all about moving forward and having the power to take control of your own fate, right? That's a good thing to influence the worlds with.

[fridgeninja]

I'm going to have to take back "doesn't talk much."