Castlevania Season Three and Anti-Christianity

That God may forgive us, let us forgive men,

We are all on this earth as temporary guests.

Prolonged fasting and prayer is in vain

Without forgiveness and true mercy.

-The Prologue of Ohrid, February 27th, Hymn of Praise (emphasis mine)

If you think that the show Castlevania is anti-Christian, I ask you to consider the above lines. Do any of the Christians in the show do anything like that? Or is the author of the show commenting upon the supposed Christians he sees in the real world? And if he's commenting upon Christians in the real world, is he commenting on you? And, in case you are still telling me you're not like the Christians in the show, I must ask:

Are you forgiving those that offend you, no matter how much they don't deserve it?

Are you feeding the hungry? Clothing the naked? Visiting those in prison? Helping heal the sick, even if it's just sitting there and being with them as they suffer? Are you caring for those less fortunate than you, especially if you don't think they deserve it?

If you're not then please, shut up. Cause Mr. Ellis is talking to you. And you'd do best to listen.

Oh wait, that means me too.

CRAP

The problem is that, without the divine mission of forgiveness (which is at the heart of all real Christians, I wish I was one of them!) the world (interior and exterior) starts to look a lot like the world that's portrayed in Castlevania. The strong prey upon the weak, the broken-hearted cannot heal and grow, and the only comfort you can gain is in tribal ties that only mean as much as they can help you ignore the breaks in your own heart on behalf of THE CAUSE.  Yes, that means your own little personal crusades against evil are useless, because saving the world only means that you are keeping it from burning it down while the actual predators in human hearts continue, unabated. And that means they'll come back, usually right under your nose. No, you will not create conditions where that stops as long as you see the world in terms of who is hurting who. That's what the characters in this show are doing, and it is utterly futile. Mr. Ellis knows it. Forgive or abandon all hope. And no, there is no other way. There are no righteous causes to go for, no action that can be done to redeem your soul.

Because, at the end of the day, if the only thing that matters is who is hurting who, you wind up with a bunch of stakes in your front yard, with all the failed projects of your broken heart serving as reminders that this way just doesn't work. Because it doesn't. THE CAUSE, be it stopping Trump, or stopping Hillary, or stopping abortion, or ending world poverty, or ending globalism or nationalism or any of the other isms that are almost entirely deadly sins to our souls ends with the below picture every time, all the time, without exception, although it's usually your own interior front lawn.

I pray I learn in time.

And, in case it wasn't clear, I highly enjoyed this season. This show just keeps getting better and better, with good and honest character work and some genuinely thought-provoking and soul-tearing stuff. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but man, as it goes on, it continues to be mine. It is dark, without being hopeless, cynical, without losing heart, and the characters are uncompromisingly portrayed in a way I wish more people would start doing. It's a tour de force. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I'm certainly going to keep watching.

Knives Out

I was going to go see Knives Out with my mom over Thanksgiving... and then I don't know what happened?

Here I am, months later?

I really don't have much of an excuse.

Point is, Knives Out is an amazing movie... and kind of a strange Rian Johnson film. His usual trademarks are here: a young brunette lady and two white dudes who are opposed to each other, with emotional ties between all three of them, sometimes romantic? I mean, it's not, not here, but the triangle is definitely set up. The interesting thing, at least to me, is how Johnson plays the triangle that he's set up.

Martha is the squeakiest cleanest brunette that Johnson has ever made. I wouldn't say she isn't complicated, but every last thing that makes up the character reinforces her innate goodness.Whenever  there is a question of whether Martha does the right thing or not she, invariably, picks the right decision. And it works! She holds faith and she not only gets exonerated from any suspicion, but gets her a nice and shiny house! And I don't hate her! I actually think it's nice to have a character that is just a genuine salt-of-the-earth lady, who just wants to make sure that the right thing is done, even if she can't quite figure out what that may be at times.

Blanc is not the main character. Repeat that with me. Blanc is not the main charater. He is an epically cool antagonist, one that more than deserves a sequel. But, for most of the movie, Blanc is the antagonist to Martha. He is there to get the truth, which could rip apart Martha's family. His goals appear to be utterly the opposite of Martha's, while obviously being affectionate towards our kind-hearted protagonist. The interplay between these two characters is the heart and soul of the movie.

And then there's Hugh. No, I will not call him Ransom.

Asshole.

I was one of the people who, when I saw Evans playing this character in the trailer, laughed. Evans has always been a smartass, and he finally got to return to his roots as someone who openly does not a flying fig whatever you think. As the third corner of the triangle Evans plays his role with a gleefully greasy charm that could only have happened by having to play the only character who could have out good-guyed Martha: Captain America. I mean, I want more of Evans chewing scenery. Please, Hollywood, I beg of thee!

Yes, Hugh is another antagonist. In fact, everyone else in this thing seems to be. Hugh just happens to be the frontman for a sea of wretches and scumbags, all of whom have been using society to feel OK with whatever it is they're doing. Of all protagonists in a Johnson film Martha is the most alone. I mean, even Brendan from Brick at least had Brain! Martha doesn't seem to really have anyone. The pressure is exerted upon her from each and every side, and while she does triumph she is not unscathed.  And this has nothing to do with the politics; trying to put this movie under a political light is just outright stupid. For those of you on the left, your ideology is trashed just as much as the alt-right, if not more. So love of God please get off of the fake moral high horse you think you have. 

Yes, I felt better after that. No, I'm not alt-right. Or liberal. They're all evil bastards, far as I'm concerned.

The only thing that matters, the only thing, is that they're all against Martha at the end. Left, right, it matters little, they all stand against the beacon of light and goodness that the movie has so convincingly erected. Johnson is not known for his comfortable endings. Brick's ending lives up to its name, smashing you in the face with something I find more heartbreaking every time I watch. I still haven't figured out The Brothers' Bloom's ending. Looper's emphasis on suicide to get things done still jumps out at me. And The Last Jedi's showing of Rey shutting out the confused, overwhelmed, and vulnerable villain Kylo Ren still gives me pause. There was a moment, just one moment, where Ben may have come back, and she turned her back on him. 

I do not pretend to have a definitive view on any of those endings. But this ending is the hardest one to watch. It sticks in my head and torments me. Martha won. She stands above them, in white, as they stand in the gathering grey. How much does it matter what their facial expressions are? They all betrayed her, even the ones who you would have figured wouldn't. They all revealed their true colors. Goodness and kindness did, in fact, triumph over evil and greed and self-deception.

But for how long?

I've no bloody idea. And neither does Johnson.

Hallucinations: Session Two

Last time... Zilya, an assassin from Novstrech, and Karel, a barbarian from the northern town of Preyderi, broke into a golden cube which had surfaced outside the town of Novstrech. They had broken into it, but managed to trigger a lockdown. Exhausted and pissed off, they hunkered down for a few hours to try and get some sleep.

When Zilya awoke a few hours later she didn't feel tired anymore, although she was still pretty angry at things. Karel had calmed down but still hadn't slept any. Karel had found a large secured storage locker the previous night. So when she woke up Karel took Zilya over to where he remembered it being. He didn't remember properly. He had mapped it wrong.

So when Zilya opened the locker it spat gas right into her lungs.

Zilya could barely see straight from how nauseous she was. She cussed out Karel as she wretched, trying to throw up. After taking a few minutes to make sure she wasn't getting worse Karel looked through the locker. There wasn't much, just a map. When Karel unrolled it he realized he was looking at the more northerly ranges of the Ledaye Mountains, which his hometown Preyderi was a few days south of the more southerly reaches of of those mountains. The map, which Karel had to dust off, showed what looked like a bunch of different stations, way up in the world. Karel couldn't read the language, however.

They then started scraping off some more gold from the walls, putting it into sacks they'd brought and attached them to their belts. Zilya asked Karel why he was out and adventuring, way down in the south. Karel told her that his friend Arron was wanting to make an inn, but lacked the funds for the initial investment. Karel wanted to fix that. Well, and you know, he wanted to get rich too. Zilya.

They decided to go to the other locker, which Karel elected to bust open, since Zilya still felt really nauseous. It collapsed on him, and cut his arm, about to the bone! Wincing, Karel picked through the remains with Zilya: they found a battleaxe and a dagger, along with a horseshoe that was powerfully magnetic. Karel also showed Zilya the hole in the floor, which allowed her to see the ghoul who was hanging out on the next floor down. Zilya wanted to go down and kill it, not to mention continuing  to loot the place.

They took the elevator, as opposed to the glass tube. They hit the blue button and descended. The walls of the blue tinted room, illumined by a freshly-lit torch, showed rotting furniture. Karel found that there was a secret door behind a bunch of rotting couches; it opened onto a stone tunnel, leading out of the cube. Karel and Zilya investigated the walls on the blue floor. The blue-tinted gold was a higher karat, and thus harder to collect, and even harder to store. 

And then they heard movement from down the stone tunnel. Someone was coming.

The Giggling Dark: Session Twenty-Six

Xellous: the main character, a fifteen year old male played by Ryan. Last session he encountered the first side-effects of the Nameless, who can wipe humans of all their memories.. except these particular humans, who all seem to identify as Charles. Odd. Xellous wields a pair of bracers called Vulcan, which make him phenomenally competent in hand-to-hand combat, give him an understanding of khen-zai anatomy and tech, and set targets struck by him on fire.

Telos: A hero from another place, another time. Telos had gotten stranded on this planet in combating the Nameless, years ago, and is now traveling with Xellous and Kora.

The Khen-Zai: A wicked remnant of the unknown proto-race. They designed humans, elves, and numerous other races, to serve their perverted and twisted ends. When the Nameless manifested the khen-zai abandoned their creations to their own whims. Until now. Now they want their former property and the planets they're on back. One of their top leaders, 7-of-10, has claimed the right of parley with Xellous.

Kora: Xellous's wife. She had been kidnapped and had her memories wiped clean by the khen-zai. She has a baby son, Gerard, who is currently down for his nap. She wields the bow Pyra, which is known for being able to blow up practically anything it hits.



Kora was no longer panicked. She was reaching for Pyra. Xellous calmed her down, telling her this was the first time any khen-zai had come to just talk. That could not be wasted. this was different enough that they needed to find out what was going on. Kora glared at 7-of-10, bu she nodded assent.  Turning to 7-of-10, Xellous graciously thanked him for coming to talk to them, using the full ranger of aura communication that khen-zai used. The black khen-zai was impressed. The rumors about Xellous were all true: Xellous was seriously gifted in aura manipulation. He asked Xellous how he had managed to learn something so sophisticated, given humanity's penchant for rough materialism. Xellous shrugged; he had just picked it up, naturally. 7-of-10 could hardly believe a human could have done it, but the evidence was there before him. Xellous was unique.

7-of-10 told Xellous and Kora that the Nameless were just a bit more to the west, and that he had come to stop them from facing certain doom. that would be a shame, given how unique  and interesting a group they were. They had far exceeded all expectations of their stock, and the khen-zai had gone from annoyed to pleased with their progression. And they wanted to help Xellous continue to evolve. He was a far more valuable asset than enemy, as far as they were concerned.

Xellous asked to talk with Kora a minute, alone. 7-of-10 condescended. Stepping back a bit, Xellous asked Kora if this was she could go along with. Kora was pale and trembling, but she agreed that if the khen-zai could help them get to her mother they needed to follow up on that opportunity. She gave her assent.

Xellous came back to 7-of-10 and was about to-

Telos came along.

His sword rang, raging lighting began to pour out from within the blade.

Xellous and Kora shouted at Telos to stop! Interposing themselves, they explained that 7-of-10 wanted to talk about the problem of the Nameless, of whom they had no idea how to deal with themselves. It might help get to Kora's mother. Telos paused, and then put his sword back in its sheath, the lightning fading as he did so.

Xellous told 7-of-10 they were willing to talk. What did the khen-zai want to discuss? 7-of-10 said the khen-zai wanted to help Xellous develop a device that would allow him to face the Nameless... which had nothing to do with Telos, Kora, and even Ikuinen Lampo. They didn't need to see what the khen-zai had to show Xellous. Xellous needed to come with him, back to the mothership, The Triumph of Thought.

Xellous could see right through that.

They wanted a lot more of him than that. He wasn't being told half the truth.

Channeling as much as he could into his aura Xellous demanded 7-of-10 be honest with him., here and now. He said there was no way they would trust with the khen-zai with something like that, how stupid did he really think they were?? 7-of-10 screamed that that no evolved monkey could speak to him like that! A wave of destructive energy came out of 7-of-10. Xellous pushed Telos and Kora out of the way, covering himself in an aura shield. The blast, which ripped up all the ground around him, merely bruised him, but the effort of making the shield hurt his body more than the blast. He charged 7-of-10, hitting him and setting him on fire with Vulcan. Kora had an arrow flying from Pyra a second later. Xellous breathed a sigh of relief.

The arrow bounced off of 7-of-10's flaming armor, exploding behind him, harmlessly.

There was a jetpack built into 7-of-10's body, which was powered by his own biological aura. 7-of-10 threatened Kora, telling Xellous he needed to surrender, because 7-of-10 was going to kill her. Even now the khen-zai wanted them to work together, on their terms. It wasn't too late.

Xellous redirected the aura flow in 7-of-10's body into the jetpack and winced in pain at the toll it took on him. 7-of-10 fell to the ground, surprised. Xellous grabbed him, holding him in place. Kora screamed at Xellous to get the hell out of the way! Earth beneath 7-of-10 was reaching up, grabbing him, responding to Telos's spell. Xellous jumped, focusing all of his aching aura on keeping 7-of-10 from shifting away.

As he passed out from the pain he saw Pyra's arrow flash.

The Undertow: Session Eleven, Trait Vote the First

So here's the traits Mikansia had that we were voting on:

Impulsive
Dutiful
Watchful

I suggested the following:

Change Impulsive to Noble
Mikansia had willingly surrendered herself to the dark elves because it would end the siege against Elfwatch. If that's not noble then I'm not entirely sure what you would call it.
 
Add Deadly Precision
Mikansia was already an incredible fighter at Sword B6, but she had a number of encounters with Krakeru, who was a G8. She had to learn to see through the noise and horror, and ended with an incredible roll against Krakeru to end his threat, once and for all. She's become one of those rare sword fighters whose skill will probably be talked about for generations to come.
 
Add Fearless
The whole ten sessions saw Mikansia not only face her own inner demons, but quite a number of external ones, with increasing courage. She's been forged into something completely different than she was at the beginning.

Lena laughed and returned:

Change Impulsive to Compassionate Defender
Lena didn't know about nobility, but she did think Mikansia's journey was one of compassion. Of moving from revenge to love. And then, out of love to defending what she loved. It's a part of her now. 
Add Fearless
We both laughed and agreed on this one, full stop.
 
Add Driven
 The resolve to chase down your father, endure the Nameless, and fight back against interior corruption shown by Mikansia was nothing short of extraordinary. Driven was suggested by Lena to represent how much of an interior juggernaut Mikansia had been.

Obviously Fearless is going to stay. I liked Compassionate Defender more than Noble, as it was more descriptive of what Mikansia had become. And Driven certainly described every last thing Mikansia had done, so that was a no-brainer. We were originally going to change a Trait and add two, but we couldn't say no to Driven.

Obviously, Mikansia was exiled from the Sword Singers for desertion. But the General, grateful for single-handedly saving Elfwatch from the siege, made her an Honorary Member of the Fer Militaries (2D), and recommended she go to a criminal organization known as The Sword Runners. Elves are very stingy with their superior weaponry, and so there is a thriving black market for elven arms and armor in the Fer Kingdoms. This demand is met by lots of criminals, humans and elves alike, who have commandeered flying ships and now go between the Ring of Tears and the surface. The Sword Runners are known for their egalitarian and more squeaky-clean nature, as far as criminal organizations were concerned.  And so, after a few months of helping make sure that Elfharrow was completely razed to the ground with the help of the new dragon they had on their side, Mikansia, Nomi, and Akseli went and became members of The Sword Runners as enforcers.

Mikansia's exploits on the surface were legion, and she got four reputations to sum up what she had done. By the dark elves she is still known as the "So-Called Yetekaida", as she is clearly their enemy, but is still destined to channel the Nameless, at least in their minds (1D). The story of her sacrificing herself for Elfwatch has earned her the moniker "The Savior of Elfwatch" (2D) amongst the human societies of the surface world. But to the elves of the Ring of Tears? She is a "Sword Singer Deserter" (2D) and is to be tried and executed for abandoning them in their time of need against the Nameless. And then, to a small section of folks, she is "The Killer of Krakeru" (1D), who was well-known monster in his corners of the world.

The next session's opening situation is that Mikansia, after a year on the surface, has finally gotten the resources to get her back into Kotae Mah. She wants to go and see Jabez's parents, and talk to them, and just... sit. Just for a moment. She and Yngvar are very concerned with the fact that Jabez somehow was exile near Elfharrow, which should not be possible. The elves know what they're doing when they launch people out of the ring; they don't want them just going and joining the dark elves. So the fact that Jabez wound up outside of Elfharrow points to a systemic problem that no one is probably addressing.  So Yngvar went back to the Ring of Tears to begin looking on the inside of the system, prepping for Mikansia to come back and do some digging around herself.

I'm Still Playing Breath of the Wild

I'm currently stuck on getting rid of Seath in Dark Souls. I've been meaning to go get him, and I've been having fun with the game and all that, but I've not been playing recently. Maybe it's because I've been doing a ton of really emotionally intense TTRPGs, particularly The Undertow which, while cathartic, is still a story about a woman coming to terms with the fact that she comes from a system of exploitation, rape, and demonic possession. So maybe I'm not really wanting to run into something which is also the product of exploitation and lies and filth as well? Who knows?

Anyway, I just keep finding myself in Breath of the Wild. I'm not upgrading hearts, at all, so I'm creeping along in a world that can very easily kill me, but that's about the only similarity I'm seeing with Dark Souls. The world is bright, open, and quiet. There's all this cutesy sound effect stuff with cooking, the people you run into are pretty chatty and helpful, by and large, and it's just so friggin' relaxing. It's a similar feeling I get to actually being outside, surrounded by the woods back at my in-law's house. You can't get the exact same thing in a video game as you do out in the real woods, but there's this sense of calm that pervades the world. There's nothing immediately pressing that you need to go do.

But the thing about Breath of the Wild isn't necessarily about how relaxing it is. There's multiple mechanical systems that have interesting little bits and bobs about them. You've got climbing, which uses differing amounts of stamina based off on how you are moving. And yes, rain completely and utterly hoses you at lower stamina levels, but some of my most enjoyable times in the game happened in a rainstorm, when I found myself going into unexplored territory out of sheer necessity. The system allowed me to appreciate the environment that had been crafted. I was interacting with the world.

Combat itself isn't the most interesting thing, but it certainly has enough tidbits to make it fun. Dodging, reflecting, sneaking, all of that works, and it works well. It's simple, intuitive, and keeps things moving. That being said, it's a lot simpler (and more fun!) to find creative ways to use the environment to kill off creatures. Master Mode kind of skews with this by giving the creatures health regeneration, but we'll get into why that isn't necessarily a problem in another blog post. Regardless, my current run is on normal mode. And it's a lot of fun to fight when I have to, but more fun to find ways to not fight at all. Which is clearly the design intent.

I've always loved weapon breakage. Yup, I know, a lot of people hate it, but it goes back to the core of the game: exploring the world. You cannot just wade through the world, killing willy nilly, ignoring exploration, because your weapons break. That and the fact that there are no health regens outside of towns without grabbing food means that you are always pushed back into the environment. You have to note areas that have specific foods and scrounge when you don't have what you need.

And then there are those moments when you just run into sheer beauty.

I mean, wow. Just wow. Playing this game you get immersed in the sheer beauty of it all. And yes, Dark Souls has those moments as well, but they're purposefully rare. Every time I wind back up at Firelink Shrine I stop and bask in just the sheer beauty of that area, in the music, in the view from the top of the Shrine, in the conversations I can actually have with the people there. But the rest of that game is a trudge through darkness. And yeah, I enjoy it, and I really want to go back to it, but right now?

I'm just basking in the beauty of Breath of the Wild. Again.

May the Power Protect You: Tommy Oliver (MMPR White)

The White Ranger is one of the most unique characters in the game: he doesn't have a dedicated role. Even Trini, who was the jack-of-all-trades of the original five, has at least something of a dedicated role: she piggy-backs others and combos with them. She has some form of focus. MMPR White doesn't have a focus. He has a little bit of everything. It can make him the lynchpin for any number of teams. Play Tommy if you want to fit in almost anywhere, regardless of what others have picked. He is the exception to the rule that character ability and deck, together, determine how a character plays.

Guardian Light is one those character abilities that's really useful, assuming it's remembered. Someone will be sitting there, taking damage, and they'll turn to Tommy's player and go "Wait, don't you have something to increase the number of shields on this card?" And the Tommy player will go "Oh, shoot, right! I do! Here you go!" Everyone laughs and the Tommy player is a little embarrassed. Don't worry; anyone who's played Tommy has been there. But that's alright. Other people can remember that ability if you want them to. They benefit from it, after all. More defensive teams benefit from Guardian Light since it allows them to get their combos off, whereas more offensive teams will be able to keep cards out of their discard pile.

Rallying Light is a very simple ability: lose all your energy, gain one! It's not very flashy, but I have a thing on this column for pointing out that not-flashy things are usually just as, if not more, important than the big damaging stuff and rerolls and whatnot. Rallying Light lets you keep your momentum going. You know you can afford to be more aggressive, because the energy pool will go just a tad bit farther. It's not something that impacts White Ranger's deck, but White Ranger isn't really about himself, but about his group. And having this once a battle buff helps keep the group rolling along. It's a nice little psychological bump.

Flash Kick is my favorite MMPR White card, full stop. This one card has saved entire fights for my group, particularly if you double it up. Re-rolls don't work on it, unfortunately, since those abilities apply to attack rolls. But when this thing lands? It feels so good. And it's pretty easy to recover as well. This card is a no-brainer, fire and forget when you get it! It's easily one of the most valuable cards in the game.

The other card I find myself gravitating towards all the time is Guardian Armor. It's the highest unconditional energy gaining card that in the game. It allows you to eat a hit and gain a good amount of energy. And the beautiful thing is that you don't have to be the one to take the hit, at least not right away! Just putting the card back on the top of your deck can be done for any number of reasons, like knowing that it'll be there for the next combat. Sure, you might eat a hit using it, but that's usually not the end of the world, not if it lets you get your group moving again.

Saba Slash is the most flexible power weapon we have to date. Roll five dice and divide the damage however you like. Well, I mean excepting GUARD, which works against anything with the word ATTACK in it, unless otherwise specified, which this card does not. But still, with that level of flexibility, it's hard to not use this card in pretty much any situation you can afford it. This card exemplifies what MMPR White is all about: being useful in any situation, at any time. I tend to use it with impunity.

The Tiger Zord's ability to play a zero-cost card after a Maneuver (read: Dragon Dagger works with it just fine) is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. Pair this up with a Maneuver granting another card and you can start a chain reaction of combos that let you get some serious momentum gain. The game just works so much more smoothly with the Tigerzord's existence that you can almost guarantee being able to outpace the enemy.

The White Ranger is the one character I know of whose deck and ability interactions are not intrinsically intertwined. A true jack-of-all-trades, the White Ranger fits into any and all groups pretty seamlessly, always filling in the gaps of your group construction. He may not be able to do anything as well as anyone else, but no one else has his breadth. The White Ranger is very much so the person to pick if you want to do a little bit of everything.

In the interest of clarity, I helped playtest Rallying Light. A sincere thanks to Jonathan Ying and Renegade for the opportunity.

EDIT: A heartfelt thanks to Tom Chorn for helping me further clarify a point I was trying to make on Guardian Armor.